Earlier this week, I wrapped up my first 3-day fast. I’ve previously fasted for 24 hours on multiple occasions, so the idea isn’t new to me, but this was my longest fast by a good distance.
Specifics:
- I fasted from Thursday 6pm until Sunday at 5pm. Daylight savings time started on that Sunday so the actual fasted time was 70 hours.
- I drank black coffee using my usual cadence: two cups caffeinated followed by a variable amount of decaf. No coffee of any sort after 12pm.
- I drank 120 oz+ of water each day, with three LMNT electrolyte packets per day, approximately one at each meal.
- I also added a half teaspoon of sea salt during days 2 and 3, which helped me feel generally better.
- I also drank Diet Dr. Pepper (which has zero calories/protein/fat/carbs, so it didn’t break the fast).
- I intentionally restricted carbs for the days leading up to the fast; my diet was primarily meat and fruit.
Here are my thoughts in no particular order…
I didn’t really get hungry until the end
This surprised me. I know how it feels to be approaching dinner when you haven’t eaten since yesterday (which is to say, hungry), but for whatever reason, this wasn’t a problem on days one or two. As the end of the fast got closer, my stomach started to ache a bit, and I was definitely hungry—more on that in a moment—but for most of the fast, I wasn’t terribly hungry.
Sleeping absolutely sucked out loud
I’m a B- sleeper, generally speaking. My sleep during this fast was a D+ at best. Lots of waking up in the middle of the night, feeling restless and fidgety. I skipped my usual nighttime supplement regimen on the first night but added it back on the second night. Didn’t make any difference. This may have precipitated the next point.
Regarding the energy everybody talks about…
I got none of this. I was useless for most of it—just super tired. My saintly wife ran interference for me so I was able to chill for most of the weekend. I kept waiting for a swell of clean, focused energy to arrive, and it never came.
My head hurt pretty much the entire time
This was annoying. It was a mild headache, like 3/10, but it hung on for the whole fast and for much of the day after. Only after I got back to regular meals did it the headache finally abate.
I broke the everloving hell out of the fast
Everything I read admonished me to gently reintroduce food once the fast was over. I tried, I really did.
I started with a mug of bone broth, followed 30 minutes later by three scrambled eggs. I felt fine. An hour after that, I practically inhaled a perfectly cooked 14oz New York Strip, pictured above. My wife also (coincidentally) made cookies, so I had some with ice cream. A little later on, I had a protein shake and a protein bar. I felt like the frickin’ Very Hungry Caterpillar because, despite all of that, I still went to bed feeling a little peckish.
The good news is that my insides handled that caloric onslaught with poise. Other than some tummy rumbling—which I would have expected no matter how gently I broke the fast—everything felt fine.
I lost five pounds
I haven’t weighed myself in the four days since I broke the fast so I suspect it’s all back, but it was pretty funny to see how fast my body shed water and perhaps a touch of fat.
Bowels
Regularity took a few days to return to normal. We’ll leave it at that.
Would I do it again?
Sure. It wasn’t miserable, but it certainly wasn’t fun—and I don’t think it’s supposed to be unless you’re a weirdo.
My tentative plan is to incorporate regular 36-hour fasts. Finish dinner one night, then don’t eat until breakfast two days later. According to all of the YouTube Science I’ve been consuming, this should give me plenty of metabolic benefits without any serious lifestyle disruption.