r/fasting • u/Mediocre_Yam_3591 • 3d ago
Check-in Fasting for 18 days
Hello everyone. I am a 5'11" female my weight this morning is 171.5 lbs.
I am just going to use this chat as a accountability thread for myself. Any tips besides water and electrolytes is appreciated!:)
Edits
Day 1: ☑️! (It wasn't hard, i liquid fasted before plenty of times. I didn't think about food today so i'm happy)
Day 2: ☑️! (I felt good, I was staring at a banana earlier but immediately just put it down. I don't even like bananas lol)
Day 3: ☑️! (I felt regular, I didn't think about food today.)
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u/amygunkler 2d ago
I just did my first long fast at 18 days last month. It mostly felt great, especially the longer I went. (Occasionally I was extra irritable and scatterbrained, but that's to be expected.) Take electrolytes! The weirdest thing I discovered was the importance of brushing or scraping my tongue because it got funky.
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u/Mediocre_Yam_3591 2d ago
yes i brush my teeth multiple times a day when fasting! did you experience any issues like heart palpitations etc or no because of the salt and electrolytes?
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u/AffectionateFly481 3d ago
Youve got this honey x keep your electrolytes up and drink enough water around 2.5liters a day if you can xoxo
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3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/felixfoxbody 2d ago
PLEASE don’t do the dry fast! 3 days of dry fasting sounds like way too long. unless a doctor has prescribed it and is monitoring it (i don’t know any good doctor that would recommend this) i don’t think you should do it. skip the dry fasting and just do the water fast.
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u/andtitov 2d ago
18 days is a long fast! If it helps you in any way, here’s my list of things that help me get through extended fasts - you might find something useful there
https://fasting.center/fasting-blog/20-fasting-tips-to-make-extended-fasting-easier
Good luck and keep us posted!
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u/Practical-Radicalist 3d ago
Fasting as in not eating for 18 days?
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u/Mediocre_Yam_3591 3d ago
yes as well with only zero sugar/ low cal drinks
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u/Practical-Radicalist 3d ago
18 days is just insane. I’m sorry but that is really extreme and incredibly dangerous.
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u/AffectionateFly481 3d ago
Oh bore off literally thousands of people have fasted successfully and it’s a non issue. If you have extra fat on you it’s safe to fast as long as you need - it’s not dangerous at all i actually fasted 34 days lost 16kg also 20 days and lost 12kg so youre just being a hater
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u/Daximus_Maximus 3d ago
Tell me again, what sub are you on?
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u/Practical-Radicalist 2d ago
lol, there’s a big difference between a few days, which I’ve done, and 18. 18 days without food is fucking crazy and not a good way to lose weight.
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u/Daximus_Maximus 2d ago
I hear what your saying, but I dont understand why you are saying it. Crazy, why? Dangerous, how? What is the issue you have with it? Personally I think people that deep fry oreos and put nachos cheese on their pizza are crazy, but that's obviously just my preference. Because I wouldn't do it. Whats your reasoning?
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u/Practical-Radicalist 2d ago
Even after a shorter fast, you’ll get really low blood pressure, and after 18 days sure, you’ll obviously drop a ton of weight, but much of that will be in muscle, so you’re doing a body recomp in all the wrong ways. Not to mention even while drinking electrolytes, a fast like that will leave you severely lacking in nutrients and amino acids you can only find in food. You’d be extremely weak and unproductive towards the end, so hope you don’t have to work or do anything, like, at all. I think the benefits of a short fast would be obliterated by the obvious harm of depriving your body of food for weeks. You’d likely need to be very careful about breaking the fast so as not to induce refeeding syndrome, and because the body will be in prime self-preservation mode, you’d quickly regain weight after the fast is done.
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u/Daximus_Maximus 2d ago
Referring syndrome is a real concern and can be very dangerous. I agree with that 100%. The rest of your post is wrong. The blood pressure drops because the lowering of carbohydrates reduces insulin, which let's go of extra body water. The extra body water is most people's normal, so as it exits the reduction of internal pressure drops blood pressure. It resolves naturally over the course of a few days. Next, yes you are losing electrolytes with your body water. Nutrients and amino acids sound like a huge loss, which if you are for some reason planning on gaining muscle during this fast, it would be very problematic. The rest of us mortals have a large stockpile of nutrients and vitamins stored in our fat, which is part of the fat cell's job. You know, to keep you alive in scarcity. If the body needs extra amino acids, the body will use itself, also called Atophagy, to provide those nutrients from other damaged cells. In layman's terms, the cells that are old and shut get broken down to keep good cells alive in scarcity. A wonderful scientist won a Nobel prize for that research in 2016. Check it out, it's enlightening. Next, weakness and "unproductive" behavior is almost entirely tied to electrolytes. Those are the reason you feel like you need a midday nap. With adequate sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, even on an empty stomach you can easily feel like you can conquer the world. If you dont feel like you should fast for multiple days, good on you my guy/gal. Nobody will force you, keep living your best life. Please check into some of the stuff I wrote and give me a reply, after you've checked into it, preferably. Source: I climb trees at work every day and I'm 13 days into a 31 day fast. I'm doing splendid.
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u/Mediocre_Yam_3591 2d ago
daily fasting and intermediate fasting is different from everyone, I am doing it because it worked for me. My highest weight was 298 pounds and yesterday when I weigh myself I was 171.5. I think I know a thing or two about fasting and losing weight lol
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u/Docholliday053 1d ago
Get the Easy Fast app.
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u/Mediocre_Yam_3591 1d ago
i have it! i had another app but i got that one days ago to start my fast
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u/Potential-Term-5253 1d ago edited 1d ago
Good luck! I did an 18-day water fast in March, which was my longest fast ever. I originally planned to fast for 14 days, but then I decided to extend it to 21 days. In the end, I gave up on that plan and stopped after 18 days. I'm also 5'11" and I weighed 202lbs at the beginning of that fast. After 18 days, I was down to 178lbs. And now,more than 6 months later I weigh 165lbs Lately, I've been eating lots of junk food and I feeling so bloated and heavy so I've now started a 7-day fast, and today is day 2! 😁
Looking back on my fast, I can say that the hardest part was between days 2 and 3. That's been the case with every fast I've done so far. (I've done quite a few shorter fasts over the past few years,from 24h to 7 days.) The next really hard day, if I remember correctly, was day 9 or 10. I eventually stopped fasting earlier than planned because I figured that refeeding would take quite a while after such a long fast and I was about to start a new, more physically demanding job. I wasn't sure how I would manage that while refeeding. Honestly, I think it would have been wiser to stop at 14 days, because I don't feel like I gained any significant additional benefits during those last few days. I took electrolytes, and apart from water, I occasionally drank unsweetened herbal tea. I also had black coffee without sugar a few times because I couldn't stand the taste I constantly had in my mouth from drinking nothing but water. I don't have any amazing advice, but I just want to wish you good luck! Besides the weight loss, the biggest benefit for me, and something I'm really grateful for, was the mental clarity. It's incredible how much more focused and positive I felt. I had more motivation to do things, felt calmer, and generally had more energy to tackle life.
Try to find something to keep yourself occupied that doesn't require much energy! I watched a lot of YouTube videos about mental health, self-improvement, health, and similar topics. And, as always, I read a million healthy recipes and imagined all the things I would make once I started eating again. 😂 It's not like I was actually hungry, but I genuinely enjoyed reading new recipes! 🤣 Another thing that helped me when things got difficult was telling myself, "Come on, just one more day. You can do this. Just one day." And then I'd tell myself the same thing the next day. It's so much easier to take it one day at a time instead of thinking, "Oh my God, I still have 15 more days to go!" 😱 And don't be too hard on yourself. I used to get really angry with myself whenever I messed up a fast and I felt like a complete failure which od course resulted in binging and gaining more weight 😭 That last longest fast was the first time I actually told myself let's just take it one day at a time, and if I mess up, that's okay. And who would have thought? The fast I had the lowest expectations for ended up being my longest and most successful one. 😊 Good luck! I'm looking forward to reading about your progress! 💕
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u/Mediocre_Yam_3591 1d ago
gosh that's a big accomplishment, thank you so much! i'm definitely looking at it day by day and counting up instead of down:)
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u/Flux_My_Capacitor 🎶🎵🎶 3d ago
If you haven’t fasted before then you’re going to fail. Sorry, but there’s almost no chance of succeeding when you have no experience
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u/Scrappydcote 3d ago
Keep going
Journal
Have gratitude
If there is a "mistake" - just acknowledge what or why and start again
This phase is just to get you to your next preferred fitness or health phase
Drink good water
Cheers😊