So generally I do the following fasting schedule
- Daily: 18hr fast
- weekly 24hr fast
- monthly 48hr fast
- quarterly 72hr fast
- yearly 120hr fast
I don't water fast as hydration is really important for good health and prolonged fasts make it really easy to get dangerously dehydrated.
How is it for me? Often the 24 hr fasts are the most difficult for me as a lot of hunger signals persist for me during that time, generally after that point I am all gravey.
For the quarterly and yearly fasts I try and line these up with time off from work because I like to do a lot of reflection and creation during these times for me. The reflection is usually pretty good, creation... well... results have varied.
I’ve fasted for a couple days when depressed and it was fine.
What I can never compare anything to is suffering food insecurity. When I was a kid the union my father was a part of went on strike. My mom didn’t work. I was in kindergarten, and I was starving all the time. Some days it was just flintstone vitamins and juicy juice. Sometimes just a pack of snack crackers. I remember being so excited to get those. Once I was so hungry I climbed the cabinets and was gnawing on dried out brown sugar because it was the only thing I could find. That earned another flintstone. I received a few granola bars from my teachers.
For a long time I used to go into any new house and explore the kitchen and make sure there was food. Also, I end up feeding all my hungry kids now. Costco saves me there.
Sorry you dealt with that level of food insecurity
You're a good person for making sure those hungry kids kids eat now that you're grown
✌️
I fast (no food) yearly, sometimes multiple times a year. I just finished a 6 day fast a couple weeks ago. It was amazing, one of the easiest fasts I've done, and I hiked every day, read a couple books and taught my book group about fasting and all of its benefits. I highly recommend EVERYONE fast for at least 5 days. It will change your life.
I’ve gone three weeks and change without a single calorie of food. Not by choice - medical thing. Lost about 30 lbs give or take. Was hard to start eating again once I did. Lost additional weight beyond the 30. Went from fat to skinny. Took years to eat properly again. Now I’m fat again :)
Was interesting for many reasons.
- it’s possible if you’re injured to not be hungry and starve to death without feeling any hunger whatsoever
- while I lost fat, I lost more muscle. Crazy how the body canibalizes itself.
- still need water, that you can’t go without. But you can go a long time without food. I could have easily gone weeks longer I think without food.
- Hug your family and always tell them you love them. I lived through my ordeal and gained perspective, but many young people die without saying and doing the things they should.
No idea. I didn’t drink for three weeks either but I had an IV feed of saline. I think you die of thirst in a few short days.
Yeah the general rule is about 3 weeks without food, roughly 3 days without water.
About 15 years ago I got my first colonoscopy and back than the prep was just horrible.
You basically went without food the entire day before, while at the same time take these prep meds that made you shit every hour or so. Good lord it was horrible as hell. If memories serves I was allowed to drink the day before but nothing the day off.
You get dehydrated so fast and it wild how terrible that makes you feel. Add to that, the taking a shit contstantly and almost immediately you are not shitting, it is more like pissing out of your ass.
The prep you have to do now is not that intense and really isnt that big of a deal, comparatively,.
15 years ago is 2011 but you made it sound like 1911.
Besides all that, how would a doctor let you be dehydrated? If oral fluid is off the table, what stopped you from an intravenous one?
How much the process has changed in the last 15 years it may as well have been 1911.
Have you ever been put under a general anesthesia as part of an outpatient procedure?
You are always dehydrated when that starts.
I don't think I've ever been fully anesthetic but I accompanied my relative for a stomach-scope a few years ago. It only involved emptying the stomach the day before and drinking a lot of water. I know the colon is a different organ but just wondering what is wrong with IV.
Three days, no food, no water. Nothing by mouth. Was in hospital, so I had an IV bag at least. And tons of dilaudid the whole time… it was quite the experience. They fixed me, though! Was in there for almost a week and a half tho. Getting to eat again was as awesome as the Dilaudid was.
I don’t wanna doxx myself for hospital reason, but let’s just say it was very uncommon and serious and I was apparently in significantly more pain than I thought I was. I’m never birthing a child, but multiple doctors told me it was worse than childbirth. Yayyyyy! Luckily I’m 99% better and it is not likely to happen again.
Dilaudid is morphene but MOREphene. Like, extra mega strong morphene. They gave me morphene at first and decided I could use something stronger. I did not complain!
Damn sounds scary. I hope I don’t get that whatever it is.
Any tips on how to avoid that?
Totally random! I wouldn’t worry about it—it’s very very rare, it’s not commonly terminal, and it generally never comes back. I’ve never met or heard of anyone else having it (which is why I don’t wanna go into detail, I’m sorry!) so there’s likely no chance you’ll ever have to worry.
But damn, was it hurty @w@ if my mind wasn’t already solidified about not birthing kids, it would be now hahaha
84 hours without food (that's 3 full days plus the extra night after). Didn't feel too bad since after 24 hours my body gave up asking for food so I felt kind of lethargic but not hungry. I did it as a kind of personal challenge, probably ill-advised, but it wasn't too bad for me. I still drank plenty of water throughout that time. I wasn't even that hungry when I broke the fast, I just had a light salad, then I felt really hungry in the hours afterwards..
I do at least one 30-day juice fast and one 10-day water fast each year. As well as 3-5 day fasts every month I am not doing those. I think I may have gone a day or two without water before, but I don't recall ever doing it intentionally.
on the day to day I regularly do 12h during the day without food (almost every work day)
I've done a few 2 and 3 day fasts for various reasons
I've done 3 or so day stints when sick with rotavirus and when I fucked up my shoulder and waiting for surgery
All in all going with out food for 3 days is not too hard
I've done just shy of 2 weeks without food. I've never gone more than like 10 hours without water though, at least not while awake.
Fasting is fine. "Hunger" is usually anticipation of food. Once you push past the initial feeling it simply goes away.
Not drinking water sucks. Everything feels awful after a day without water.
Around a day and a half without any source of food, limited water and building my own shelter in the middle of nowhere. Would not recommend on the thirst and hunger side, but it was quite peaceful. I ended up eating a little bit of my flavoured chapstick, I was quite hungry and thirsty. Thankfully weather was mild so no heat or cold related issues shelter wise. I've been camping in tents when it's gotten so cold that frost formed inside the tent, that's not fun either. Once I made it back to civilisation, I had a long shower, drank lots of water, and ate two full plates of food. Almost threw up afterwards from overeating.
Did a week as a challenge/experience. I read up a bit beforehand and just made sure I got enough water and electrolytes. Was getting hungry during the first day and more during the second, but then it just kinda stopped. I felt tired and weak a bit but apart from that everything fine.
Without food, just shy of 24 hours. Slept around 12 hours after almost pulling an all-nighter, then never got hungry enough to get out of my room until late in the night. Was groggy all day, didn't feel hungry for several hours, then it nagged for another few hours until it gnawed at me and I couldn't do anything without thinking about food. So I ate, surprisingly only took a normal-sized meal to satisfy the hunger.
I've gone without water or food for about 9 hours at a time on several occasions. Mostly just makes me lethargic at the end. But the most memorable time was when I went on a trail with a couple friends for about 4 hours. It was the middle of summer in an arid climate and I realized I forgot to bring water about an hour in. Was very parched and heart racing by the end, but didn't bother me too much. Then chugged about 3x 500 mL bottles as soon as I got back in the car.
Without food, I think 2.5 days (somewhere around 2.5 days). Wasn't bad, although I sometimes get dizzy when standing and it exacerbated to the point I was worried I might actually pass out (but I didn't; just felt like a had a very low-grade fever for a couple minutes after?)
colonoscopy. I mistimed things I think and got home really late on the last day I was supposed to be able to eat and by that time it was too late. And I might not have eaten before work...
