Hi veryone. Day 21. I’m feeling very unhappy right now. Have been feeling the pressure from others to get my life moving. They were shocked when they saw me yesterday. My face is so thin. Decided yesterday to break the fast today. Around midday today my pulse was around 60, just a little over normal and I had some feelings of hunger. An hour ago I decided to have some coconut water from a carton to break this fast. I had a few sips, mixing it well with my saliva. Tasted disgusting. I had about 6 small mouthfuls. Then I had a bath and a little rest. But to be honest, I just don’t feel hungry right now. But I don’t see how I can get any thinner or weaker whilst living on my own not having the strength to anything. Now I’m not really sure what I’m doing. Should I start on juice or what? I know only I can make the decision. And now my pulse is up again around 80. Too be honest, I just want my strength and hunger back now. Worried it may not come back. I feel that what I have been doing is different from somebody fasting just for weight loss. Best wishes to everyone from Michael.
sorry to hear about you feeling unhappy. I think you are doing something different from fasting for weight loss. That you do not "know what to do", suggests to me you should do nothing. It's too bad others have visited you with their shock.
Do you remember Shelton saying "natural hunger always returns". He was asked again and again. I know you very much want to fast to completion. That is a big part of your concept of all this, yes?
Otherwise, why not have broken it on day 15, say? Here's my suggestion: that you not do anything to break the fast more, until the new moon tomorrow. Why? you said the coconut water tasted awful.
(edit: also, it's taught that nothing new gets begun in the last three days of the old moon, and I've seen that borne out again and again, esp. with regard to life-altering projects, like a long fast, and the return -or more properly, the way onward from a long fast.)
Is there anything you actually WANT to drink/eat? If the answer is no, then ancient wisdom would say, if you do not know what to do, do nothing. You will not expire, so there is no need to worry about that. As for how thin and weak you feel--I feel somehow that this is your 'cross', if you will. You are (edit:
were)very attached to feeling fit and strong--and as you said awhile back, you recognized an addiction to sport...(edit: which I know you've worked at overcoming)
(I'm not aiming to judge you at all--just want to remind you:
you *will* gain this strength back; you know this. The weaknss and emaciation is temporary.)
You might consider this experience a deeper facet of breaking through that kind of body-mind thinking. That you feel unhappy after this meeting with others suggests you are on the other side of the bridge from where they stand.
Does any of this resonate?
If so, I'd be glad to offer more 'pep talk'. :-)
Mainly, I think you ought to suspend decision, and as I was told at the close of my recent ten-day retreat: put a little fence around the young tree (you) to keep the cows from coming near.
Maybe wait on doing more until tomorrow. And do not beat yourself up for having succumbed to 'eating'. You did it out of guilt (for making others uncomfortable),
more than any clear-eyed wish. (or genuine hunger) Isn't that true? Put it behind you.
PS--if you do/or have decided to carry on with breaking the fast, then make the decision (declare it inwardly) that you decided to, rather than feeling that you were forced. You see what I mean? It's important that you not feel after all this journey, that you abandoned responsibility for yourself--and let others 'take it' from you. (even though we both know they mean well, and all that). Either way--you can choose to love yourself. EFT is really good sometimes for handling these emotional glitches--as is Bach flower essences, as I think I mentioned before.
Thank you for your post Chiron, much appreciated. I will wait until tomorrow. I didn’t have a little juice with feelings of guilt, I genuinely wanted to end this fast. But my body is telling me I’m not ready. But time wise, I don’t see how I can go on much longer. Anyway, everything always works out fine. Thank you once again. Sweet feelings from Michael.
What you describe sounds more like anorexia then just fasting. There is a difference between water fasting for health and weight lost and one lacking hunger due to depression.
I hope Chis pops in here with some of his reasoned thinking, because I don't think we're talking about anorexia at all--Nor do I think the comment is at all helpful
at this stage, in *a water fasting forum*. Plenty of people have water fasted while being not overweight at all, ( yes, even underweight people have fasted!) and yes, it's a different experience than the one an obese person goes through--For a start there are less stores of fat; the repair work though can go very deep, and subtle. And one regains as much weight as they need, if the re-feeding is done mindfully. Anyway, with all respect, now is not the time for second-guessing another's process that is very near completion, but at a critical stage. This water fast of Michael's was undertaken partly for health reasons, and not as some sort of food disorder whim.
I was not talking about weight. I was explaining the lack of hunger and depression read a lot like anorexia then simply detoxing. Please read carefully before making assumptions.
It is said all our problems, physical, mental and emotional, revisit us during a fast. Unfortunately, many of us are the involuntary uses of food as a drug to mask our feelings.
In my case, I am starting my fast tomorrow, and I am expecting a huge depression as I "peel my onion". I know it is a necessary process and have prepared my mind for it.
I (carefully) read what you wrote. Sorry if you got the impression I didn't.
"What you describe sounds more like anorexia then just fasting. There is a difference between water fasting for health and weight lost and one lacking hunger due to depression."
This doesn't seem to relate to Michael's situation per se, but more to a reading of his comments today. I don't know whether you've been following his progress daily...It doesn't appear so. I haven't seen you posting here in the time I've been around. Without getting a bigger picture of the whole fast, it's understandable that you might have the impression you did.
Hi Genuine thank you for your concern, but I am not depressed. I started this fast to overcome a serious health problem, the immediate symptoms of which have subsided. I am also very much into sport and never had any desire to lose weight. I simply want to get well.
about the coconut water:
I looked at some in the health food store recently, thinking it would be good to have to break the fast (maybe the same brand you have: not cheap)and found that it had some sort of preservatives. You may well have reacted to that. I did! and didn't buy the stuff. I'm sure it's nothing like fresh young coconut water such as I used to love in Africa.
I'm betting your body doesn't want any packaged juice--no matter how good 'they' say it is.
If you do 'eat' or drink, maybe someone can bring you some watermelon. You can suck it, and when ready, chew a fist-sized piece, and spit out the pulp. That would, perhaps be ideal. (the chewing would get the body moving)
I've remained silent on these posts; however, now I'm going to jump in and add my $.02 worth.
I go with my vibes and every time I read one of your posts my vibes are saying you're pushing this too far. I don't know why you felt the need to fast but you did and I respect that.
What's coming to mind to me is to juice something with high nutrition and drink it slowly: Celery , tomato, apple.....I'm thinking "light" juices. Perhaps blend it with a spoonful of spirulina powder.
If your vibes are saying break the fast - even though you have no hunger desires - I'd say follow your vibes.
Hi Raine13. Thank you for that. Normally I am well tuned into my feelings so I am surprised at my confused feelings right now. I undertook this fast because I was suffering from inflammation, my first serious health problem. I would now like to end this fast but don’t want to lose out on the benefits. But there are commitments I need to attend to soon which are adding a bit of pressure. Thank you once again for your concern. I will check my vibes tomorrow.
You will want to break your fast with orange or grape juice diluted.
Since you have gone so long dilute it 25% juice 75% water at first.
You may feel improvement with one small pinch of Sea Salt on your second day of juicewater.
It tastes like crap (ccnutmilk) because its your body's way of protecting you from eating too much too soon. The juices suggested will stimulate your digestion to awaken and start again. You will start to feel restored and at that point you can increase your juice to 50/50. When that feels comfortable two solid fruits and water for your day will be your first solid meals.
Take you time.
Michael,
there are many things that can decide the length of a fast, and where the time-factor is just one of them.
If your vital signs are ok then there is no reason why you shouldn't continue, but after saying that, only you will know when enough is enough.
In all of Sheltons vast experience with the fasting process, he stated that hunger will always return in all "savable" cases, by which he meant those who were NOT beyond help and where the life-force of the body was too diminished thru disease to enable recovery.
Shelton ususally had these kinds of cases AFTER the patients had already been the rounds of allopathic medicine, with their life destroying chemo's and radiation treatments and so forth, so he was a last ditch attempt to survive.
As you were not suffering from any life-threatening condition pre-fast (to our knowledge) there is no reason why the fast should not continue until your food reserves have been depleted, and where genuine hunger will return as the most important point to note, and accompanied by other unmistakable signs as listed in the FAQ....
If time is of the essence and fairly limited now, and where the refeeding period should at least extend to an equal number of days of the fast itself, then you are best to break your fast on limited but frequently administered fresh juices of orange or apple or both or similar freshly extracted juices such as watermelon.
If the body does not experience the genuine return of hunger then your powers of digestion will be diminished and need to be nurtured back over time, into full digestive capacity.
Fresh juice, not canned or bottled juice is always advisable, as the former contains live enzymes which greatly assist the body with digestion.
If hunger does return, then the digestive powers will be extremely efficient, and where hunger and the desire for food will need to be controlled with limited quantities of food for at least the first fortnight.
Whatever you decide, my advice is to "build-up-slowly" and not to overeat within the initial post-fast period.
Hi Chrisb1. Thank you for that valuable post. Day 23. You’ve inspired me to continue a little longer, though to be honest it’s getting a bit stressful being here on my own. Too be honest I haven’t had one good day during this fast. It’s hard to get to sleep and I feel terrible in the mornings, can barely stand up. Just worried how much longer this will go on for and how much thinner I can get.
Would there be no benefit in stopping now and slowly building up my strength and then fasting again in the spring?
Michael,
day 23: well done.
Stress is the last thing you would wish on anyone who is fasting, as this will dissipate food reserves more rapidly, which is not the goal.
The first lengthy fast can be very trying (as was my own) and sleep is always that elusive factor (and quite normal) for most fasters.
There will be a massive benefit to your body & overall health if you broke the fast in the next day or two, which will reap massive dividends if you break your fast correctly, and adhere to a few lifestyle changes post-fast. Of that there is no doubt whatsoever.
The refeeding period post-fast & thereafter is just as important as the fast itself, and where I would strongly advise you to study Sheltons online book, and in particular, these chapters....................
Michael, Chris said he was going away for a few days, (but I thought I saw him pop in earlier today, so I hoped he'd pipe up.)
Anyway, my thought on the re-feeding. That this is a time to be patient. If you are going to keep on with the broken fast, then have patience now, as much as you did before. You've not eaten for many days--in some ways your body might still be content to go on further, you know, regardless of your differing ideas about the need to get back to your life. I mean, your body doesn't care what it looks like.
You see what I'm saying? In a few days you'll eat more, and so on...You will regret any force on your own part, which would be a waste of energy. So anyway, patience. If you keep on, then just have a little fruit like Watermelon (?) every couple hours, (which would amount to a few spoonfuls.) Unless you can get hold of a real young coconut.
Anyone have the re-feeding chapter of Shelton's handy to post?
"The care that must be exercised in breaking a fast is in proportion to the length of the fast and to the general condition of the fasting individual. The approved plan is to break the fast on liquid food, using for this purpose fruit juice, or tomato juice, or Watermelon juice, or vegetable broths. Fruit juice--usually orange juice--is used most often.
Orange juice, grapefruit juice, or fresh tomato juice are excellent with which to break a fast. Watermelon juice or the juice of the fresh pineapple or of fresh grapes may also be used. A half a glass may be given at the start. After an hour, another half glass may be given. Juice may be given every hour the first day. The second day a whole glass of juice every two hours may be employed. On the third and fourth days give the whole orange or grapefruit and on the fifth day other foods may be added. Large meals should not be attempted in less than a week. These instructions are for the long fast. A short fast requires less care in breaking and is usually followed for several days by an eliminating diet."
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diary of a 6-week water fast 
