A 3-Day 80-Hour Water Fast: After 80 Hours (The End)

Well, I had planned to break my fast with breakfast this morning. And I did have breakfast, and it was morning, however, I'd been awake all night.

Weird thing, was a stubborn insomnia. I suspect my body was waiting to be fed with a certain anticipation. I mentioned in a previous post about the mental side of doing such an unusual experiment. I had no fear of failure, unless something physical went wrong, such as cramp or nausea. It was crystal clear to me that this was feasible and potentially beneficial, so pushed through the wobbly second day. So, I may have been too forceful in dangling breakfast to my subconscious; indeed, I could even smell the soup!

So, I did the 80 hours - was more like 82 but who's counting at this point - and, for the moment, feel better for it, though will have to wait a few days to see if there are any visible signs of improvement regarding my immune-disrupted condition.

What did I eat this morning? Broth with Moringa noodles and an egg stracciatella with a drizzle of olive oil - perhaps more than a drizzle.

Just add olive oil!
_{Photo by Piotr Miazga on Unsplash}

Any lessons?

Preparation

Physical preparation

I rather did this haphazardly, but knowing the holiday was coming up, I'd often skip dinner, so would go about 16 hours without food. This was not done with any rigour, or vigour, as would have a snack if I was truly hungry. Was more to practice the effects of hunger and that feeling hungry soon passes.

Mental preparation

This is something I hadn't honestly considered. Again, it seemed obvious, but after reading of so many people giving up, perhaps this aspect should be taken more seriously. The physical preparation helps, the knowledge that it is doable and potentially beneficial help too. One can issue commands to one's subconscious and, if the command is serious and important, the subconscious mind will obey and not put obstacles in your way. If it sounds like a "mini me" inside, then that's because it is; the subconscious is where our beliefs and behaviours are stored, whether we are truly conscious of them or not.

This wasn't going to be a long essay of how to overcome unconscious patterns of behaviour. There are techniques, but all of them require a command be issued that is unequivocal and of the utmost importance.

Water

More water, I think. I noticed that on the 3rd day I wasn't getting thirsty, then noticed I hadn't drunk as much as I had the previous days. Noticed signs of dehydration in the urine, so had to force myself to drink more. Was downing just under 2 litres per day, but was looking like only 1 litre on the third day, before I consciously upped it.

This was supposed to be water-only, so sometimes just added a sprinkle of natural salt to keep electrolytes stable. I know some people will take tea or coffee, which have zero calories but they disrupt metabolism. Anything that says "sugar free" I avoid anyway as will include aspartame or sucralose or any other artificial sweetener - just look up neurotoxin or metabolic dysfunction for any such sweeteners. Had some real coffee earlier and felt like it made me sweat a bit; interesting to see such reactions that we probably rarely notice with habitual foods.

I shall have to investigate whether any teas or infusions could serve as vectors to take in micronutrients without disrupting the ketogenesis. The fasting-mimicking diet has gone down that road, so will research that further.

Vitality

Well, day 2 kinda sucked! Feelings of slugishness and brain-fog took place. Nothing serious, such as nausea or giddiness, else I would have stopped. The third day felt much better and clearer; indeed, as mentioned above, couldn't get to sleep at night. Should have stayed up to do some work, but my body felt tired even though my mind was wide awake.

Could quite easily have carried on, except I had told myself where the finishing line was and was happy to eat some simple food. Next time won't concern myself as much about monitoring the situation and may get more work done with the extra hours gained from not eating nor shopping for food. Although I do have to feed my daughter; this fast is not advisable for children.

Weight loss

This wasn't done as a weight-loss protocol, so I actually forgot to weigh myself on day zero! Checking yesterday and today didn't help much, but I have lost about 6kg in the past two weeks, as was measured when I went for some blood tests. I'd guess about half of that was lost in these 3/4 days, which seems a lot but was probably half a litre of water and 3kg of carbon dioxide. At baseline metabolism, we exhale about 1 kg of carbon dioxide per day, so with zero calories coming in that mass has to come from somewhere. (mmm... double-checked this and nobody seems absolutely sure, but taking an average of estimates it looks like we have a net loss of about 1kg per day of carbon dioxide and water combined, taking into account the oxygen inhaled.)