A bit of background: my wife and I have dabbled with prolonged fasting every couple of weeks, lasting 24-48 hours or so. Regularly, and consistently, we practice intermittent fasting on a daily basis, keeping our feeding window from 30-60 minutes a day. We refrain from junk food and eat home cooked meals.
My wife and I completed our first 7 day (168 hour) strictly water (and Morton Lite Salt) fast this last Wednesday. We each lost about 13 pounds. Coming off of the fast, we wanted to stay in strict ketosis going forward. We broke it with a single scrambled egg and it passed right through us. The next day we had some deli meats (turkey, pastrami, ham). The following day we had two scrambled eggs with some diced up sausage. That brings us to today (Saturday), where we had a salad with cheese, lettuce, and carne asada. We felt fine each of these days. We have each taken keto strips and confirmed we are in deep ketosis (10+milimolar). We only drink water.
We have done our research and have read this subreddit daily for years. Despite feeling physically fine and eating at a caloric deficit (we are walking 3+ miles a day and lifting a moderate about of weights), we are gaining weight day by day. We have each regained about six pounds. I know enough to know that it is mainly water weight and retention, and we understand and are fine with that.
This brings me to the question we have, and the purpose of this post, that I, for the life of me, cannot seem to find addressed anywhere (neither on this subreddit or on any blog/website that covers these topics): we are retaining everything since we have stopped fasting. We haven’t had a significant bowel movement since last Wednesday, and we have eaten a decent quantity of food and drank a large amount of water. None of it is passing through us, and we are not even urinating out the expected quantity we are putting into ourselves. Again, we knew from the anecdotes and research we had done on the topic that a lot of water weight would come back, as well as a regular amount of food within our bowels that is circulating through your body continuously, but when we look in the mirror we are just getting more and more bloated. It is happening to both of us in the same way.
In looking into this and searching for any applicable keywords that could lead to an answer of what to expect from here, I only found one reference of someone saying that it involved fat cells emptying as you burn them. Those empty fat cells then fill with water for an unspecified amount of time, at which point they dump the water in a “woosh” (as it was called). We looked for any other reference to this, scientific or not, and couldn’t find one.
So anyways…has anyone else experienced this? I expect the bloating to eventually stop and for a “great release” to eventually happen, but this was just unexpected to last this long. We both looked in the mirror on day seven and thought “wow! Look at these results!”…only to now look in the mirror days after, even following a strict and relatively healthy diet, and we are so bloated we look as we did before the fast.
Any feedback or links to applicable resources would be helpful. Thank you.
PS: To everyone who participates in any way in this community: thank you for providing such a great resource of information and motivation on a constant basis. It is appreciated more than you’ll know. For every person you see post or participate, there are thousands and thousands of others that silently/covertly benefit from this place. A big thanks.
Thought I'd share my experience with my first 7 day fast. I tried recording as much as I could that might be relevant. I did a DXA (body composition) scan, blood cholesterol and glucose test at the beginning, end and 3 weeks after my fast. During the fast I monitored ketones, resting heart rate, glucose, weight and how often I pooped (I wasn't the only one curious about this!).
I've written up how it went and what happened here:
//stephenwatts.com/my-experience-with-a-7-day-fast/
It was a great experience overall for giving my gut a rest and mentally knowing I can go that long without food. I lost a lot of weight but I also lost a lot of muscle, even accounting for water loss from the muscle. Not sure if there's much I could have done to prevent that, or I just have to accept that's a part of prolonged fasting?
Next month I'll experiment with some repeat fasts of shorter duration (24-36 hours mainly) - let me know if there's anything you find useful or missing from my write up and I'll try to include it for next time.
M42, 5’11” (180cm), SW: 178.2lbs (81.1kg), EW: 163.2.6lbs (74.0kg)
TL;DR: Not as transcendental of an experience as I thought it would be. The lows of hunger were not bad. The highs of first food after a week were not that high. I lost a little weight. My sense hunger is a little better calibrated. I survived.
Background
First extended water fast – 7 days (Sunday to Sunday). Previously I had done hundreds of 24-hour dry fasts and one 48-hour dry fast.
WHY: curiosity, test of will, to reign in my abysmal snacking habits, and I wanted to hit CTRL+ALT+DEL on my sense of hunger. I expected to lose wieght, but gain most of it back, which was fine.
The Fast
DIET, SUPPLEMENTS: I drank about 3 liters (12 cups, 96oz, 0.75gal) of water a day. In the morning I would take 3/4tsp (4g) of sodium chloride with water. In the evenings I would take 1/4-1/2tsp (2-5g) of potassium chloride with water. I took a bath with 2 cups (500g) of epsom salt for magnesium (got tired of drinking salt water, so made the skin do the work). For sit down meals or social settings, I would drink a pellegrino mineral water. I also chewed probably 60 peices of sugar-free gum...
CIRCUIT BREAKERS: I decided upfront I would stop the fast if I experienced:
vomiting/nausea > 24hrs
sustained lower blood pressure
unusual heart rate patterns
consistently low blood glucose
diarrhea > 24hrs
Results
DATA: I tracked 9 sets of data during the fast from hourly to daily. Resulting charts can be seen here. Discussion of the data can be found on this post in r/dataisbeautiful.
HUNGER: "How hungry do you feel?" #1 question if someone discovered I was fasting. I asked myself once an hour and recorded it. I used a 4-point scale:
0 - no hunger
1 - hunger that I could distract easily
2
- hunger that was difficult to ignore
3 - really wondering if I am going to make it
Pre fast, I averaged hunger of 0.2 over a day. During the fast my hunger averaged 0.8. Post fast, hunger has been 0.0. Around 20% of fast was hunger that was tough to ignore. Only twice did I get any real pangs (Days 3, 4). For me Days 2, 3, 4 were all about the same average hunger.
WEIGHT: Peak to trough, I lost 15lbs (6.8kg). My guess is half of that was muscle/liver glycogen stores and associated water and the other half was split 50/50 between fat and muscle. I gained 5lbs (2.2kg) within the first 24 hours of breaking the fast. I suspect weight will bobble around 170lbs (77.1kg).
ACTIVITY: Nothing changed for me. I worked M-F 5am-4pm. I ran/walked 16 miles for excercise during the week. I cooked dinner for my family. I felt fainter Days 5, 6. My heart rate would go higher than expected for a particular activity (i.e. vacuuming or painting). But nothing was "off limits" becuase of the fast. I did go on one hike with two friends on Day 5. Very steep climbs. Heart rate hit 180bpm. I was exausted for several hours after that - even the rest of the fast.
BLOOD SUGAR: My lowest reading was 65mg/dL. As I got further into the fast, my blood sugar would increase after excercise. My average was 78mg/dL throughout the fast and never became a concern.
KETOSIS: I used urinalysis to test for the presence of acetoacetic acid, indicating ketosis. First traces showed up 18 hours into the fast. By day two test strips were pink (moderate). Day 3 and beyond were purple (high). Coming off the fast indcators fell sharply after my first meal, but low readings persisted for about 48 hours after the fast.
OTHER VITALS: Heart rate and blood pressure never manifested any persistent readings that were of concern.
STRESS: My work is quantitative and results driven. Each day I know how my results compare to the last twelve months and can tell if it was above or below average. During my fast, I had 20th, 12th, 21st, 14th, and 71st percentile days (the week was a 12th percentile week). They were the types of days that would normally drive me to a package of oreo cookies for self-medication. The fast prevented some bad habits from surfacing, but I didn't feel like the days were more difficult becuase of the hunger. I didn't notice any increased curtness or impatience.
COMPLICATIONS: I came into the fast with two injuries. A pulled hamstring and an injured back joint/disc, which I had been nursing with informal physical therapy excercises daily. Both injuries persisted through the fast with no real change. I had two notable complications during the fast: diarrhea and back pain.
| COMP #1 | Diarrhea presented on Day 6. Normal bowl movements had ceased since Day 3. I had determiend to stop if diarrhea persisted for more than 24 hours, but since I only had 24 hours left, I just pressed on. But I suspect the issue may have been related to Complication #2. |
| COMP #2 | Back pain was masked by the back injury I had coming into the fast. Around Day 3 I noticed the pain as different from the injury. Day 5 I was worried. I have Gilbert’s syndrome, a recessive genetic mutation that results in my liver underprocessing biliruben. Usually it has no effect, but its symptoms (yellow skin and eyes) get worse during episodes of intense excercise, menstration, and NOT EATING! Day 4 my wife noticed my skin and scleras (whites of the eyes) were yellow. Day 5 they were worse. Biliruben is elimnated via kidneys (after gut bacteria work on it) through urine and via liver (after gut bacteria work on it) through stool. So now my concern is that my with nothing in my gut, billiruben is backing up in my blood and causing problems for my liver, hence the back pain. I also suspect that may have been the cause of the diarrhea which was very liquid and very yellow. I debated stopping Day 5 and Day 6. My eyes looked a little better on Day 7, after the diarrhea. It certainly gives me pause before considering a fast longer than a week. The back pain subsided by morning after I broke my fast. |
Experience vs Expectations
I read a few fast journals/videos, so I was curious to see how my experience compared to others'. Here are a few observations:
Things I expected that did happen
I was cold: I wore a sweatshirt/sweater all day with colleagues in short sleeves.
Mouth tasted metallic/fruity: that has even persisted some after breaking the fast.
Things I expected that didn't happen
Skin: I didn't notice any clearer, more elastic, more youthful skin. Just more yellow...
Sleep: I was worried about hunger interrumpting my sleep. I hit 7-8 hours. No issues going to sleep. No problems waking up (other than the usual). The only interuption was urinating during the night later in the fast, which is usually not an issue.
Emotional: I didn't find myself more cranky or impatient.
Mental clarity/focus: I kept hourly figures on this one along side my hunger statistic, but nothing came of it. I didn't feel any enhanced ketone high. I found work more productive becuase I was tyring hard to avoid thinking about how hungry I might feel.
Tummy grumbles: I expected a lot of grumbles. I experienced significantly less than on my normal diet. Almost non-existant.
Vision: I didn't feel my vision improved any.
Things I didn't expect that did happen
Salts were huge: I didn't think salts could have that much of an impact on me. But after the illness of swiging brine wore off in a few seconds, I felt MUCH better after. It made me realize how much of my past dry-fast discomfort was not food, but water and salts...
Mucus/sneezing: I didn't have any allergies or runny nose during the fast, but I sneezed more. When I ate, drips and sinus inflamation came back.
Muscle soreness: I was surprised how little my legs hurt after runs and hikes. I thought it was the epsom salt baths. Within hours of eating, a week's worth of muscle soreness hit my legs - crying for attention.
Flatulence: intestines clear out, stay empty, but then fill back up after breaking the fast. They will push out any air left in there. It was a lot.
Breaking the fast
I ate 200 calories every 2 hours for the first 24 hours (the portion I was awake). The meals I had were:
watermelon, bone broth
cucubmers, half a banana, bone broth
mashed potato, 1/2c kiefer yogurt
salad greens, potato leek soup, 1/2c kiefer yogurt
2 eggs, tomatoes, onions, herbs, bone broth
bell bepper, Raw Juicery Mucho Matcha (cold pressed kale)
carrots
I didn't have any negative reactions to reintroducing food. Blood sugars were all over the map after these simple meals. I expect BG will remain high until muscle and liver replenish sugar stores. My blood sugars were not that reactive before the fast, so that new behavior concerns me somewhat.
Benefits
I feel better after the fast. Hard for me to say if I am better than a week ago or if my body is just telling me "Thank you for feeding me, please don't starve me again."
I expect to gain back most of the weight. I haven’t changed my lifestyle other than this last week, but if some of the weight stays off, great…
Hunger and snacking is different post fast. It's dangerous to forecast what will change based on a few days after the fast, but I feel like my sense of hunger has recalibrated. I don't feel as snacky. I don't finish a meal and have a hankering for something sweet to finish the meal. I can eat a big meal and not feel an energy crash. The reflex of dismissing the thought "let's go see what is in the kitchen" is still here from the fast so far. If that all persists, it will be a pleasant take away - exactly what I was looking for.
EDIT 2018.05.22: 2-week follow-up can be found here on r/fasting