30 Day Trial - Water Fasting

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

I am sorry that I did not see this until after you did your your fast. I fasted 22 days. Dr Shelton fasted 6,000 people with daily enemas. It did not hurt them. Then after that he fasted 34,000 people without an enema. He felt is was not needed. Ask a doctor how do stop the peristalsis (the contractions) in the colon without drugs that happen 24 hours a day. He will say that you cannot. Then tell him that with fasting it stops. See you don't need to go since no food is going in. Your colon took a vacation for the first time in your life.

You do not need a gallon of water daily. It is just a lot of extra work for the kidneys, but it sounded like you were using it as a drug (medicine) to get rid of bad breath. All this information is on my website on fasting along with quotes from 18 MDs. Also it includes a quote from the New England Journal of Medicine saying that fasting is a good way to lose weight as you have discovered.

So during a fast your mouth becomes an organ of elimination. So your buttocks are not supposed to smell good. Also your tongue gets coated during the fast and you can watch it to see how it is working. Now if you have fasted like over 30 days and your tongue clears, that means to stop the fast right away.

I started out needing a gallon of water a day, and after that it topped off to needing maybe 48oz a day to curb hunger pangs as well as feel well.





Eating has been a treat so far...though I have only just started implementing grains back in. A serving of oatmeal with a tablespoon of pure maple syrup is incredible. I feel like I am eating a lot, but I am not getting too full, I mean I had two salads today and they were heavenly...it felt like a lot of food, but I know it wasn't.

I am going to start tracking all I eat, as I don't think I am getting enough calories. It has been mainly fruits and vegetables. I am able to say no to pretty much anything fast food-like, and tasting something allows me to know if I want any more. For instance, movie popcorn, which before I would eat half a bag of before and get sick, I thought tasted disgusting. So I ate the honey nut cheerios I brought with me.

Everything tastes better and I feel phenomenal.

I did like not pooping though, lol.

[Peekaboo]

I am wondering, if I am intaking nothing but water, what is my body storing into my fat cells?

I have easily lost 10lbs if not more. I unfortunately don't have a scale.

I have been craving healthy, whole foods and am excited to eat again. I have decided to start breaking the fast on the 28th day, to keep it a nice even 4 weeks.

The detoxification of my closet has resulted in enough money generated from ebay sales to purchase a Vitamix, which will segue perfectly into my February 30 day vegan trial. I also picked up a copy of the Veganomicon to go with it.

I am excited to eat again, and I feel rather great. I like the fact I am not tied to food in any way and believe it will carry over. I can say no whenever I like. People who were criticizing me at the start are now commending me on my tremendous amount of "willpower". Which is great to hear, but it really isn't tough after the first week. I believe the fast has reinforced my positive outlook as well.

Hey, Lucas

Great for doing so well on the detox. While you're fasting you do not lay down any fat, but actually burn fat, that was why your breathe smelled. It is what we do after the fast that is essential. But so far you've seemed to do really well in concentrating on fruit and veg and if you keep going this way, you'll not gain weight again. But the 4 cupcakes your boss were going to eat, would not be a good choice, but then you knew that already.

I've gone back to doing short fasts and eating more veg.

All the best
Peekaboo.

[Lucas]

So far my diet has been 98% vegan as well, I havent really decided to follow a vegan diet per se (I am a vegetarian at the moment), but dairy and eggs haven't been all that appealing to me as of late...cheese looks too heavy for me to eat as much as I liked it. I have to use past tense because my tastes are so open now.

I get my replacement vitamix tomorrow, so that really excites me...I want to make some fresh pasta sauce and have a nice plate of angel hair.

[Lucas]

Well, lets not get into the VitaMix dilemma right now, but I want to say one thing...I dont think I am interested in eating cheese anymore.

We made a really healthy pizza tonight and I decided to give cheese a try now, since it has been a week, and we put I light topping of mozzarella...and now I feel sick. I have eated everything else that resides in the pizza, but this is just an awful bloated feeling. I think I may proceed with my 30 day vegan trial now...I figured I had to try cheese and see, but the results were not great. It just doesnt make me feel as good as vegetables.

[Barcs]

Very cool stuff, Lucas. It was nice reading through your experience. Was this your first fast? I've read in a few places that for your first fast you shouldn't go longer than 3 days to a week at the most. I'm currently on day 5 of a water fast. Last night my stomach was pretty upset. I felt a little bit nautious and bloated as if my stomach was full of gas for some odd reason. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I took one Tums last night to settle the stomach. If I didn't it probably would have resulted in a trip to hug the porcelin god.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Barcs

Very cool stuff, Lucas. It was nice reading through your experience. Was this your first fast? I've read in a few places that for your first fast you shouldn't go longer than 3 days to a week at the most. I'm currently on day 5 of a water fast. Last night my stomach was pretty upset. I felt a little bit nautious and bloated as if my stomach was full of gas for some odd reason. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I took one Tums last night to settle the stomach. If I didn't it probably would have resulted in a trip to hug the porcelin god.

My first fast lasted a day, my second 2 days, my 3rd 2 days and this one, my 4th, was 24 days. The previous 3 were failed 30 day attempts.

I dunno if taking tums was a good idea or not, but listening to your body is important, but personally I think the first week is detox and your body will try and trick you into eating something. Once 10 days comes around you can start discerning between physical and emotional hunger and its easier to control. Your body is efficient and easily satisfied...your emotions are a humongous brat, throwing tantrums when it doesn't get what it wants, when it wants it.

Even after the fast I have to work to keep my emotional hunger in check.

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

Originally Posted by Lucas

I dont think I am interested in eating cheese anymore.

I absolutely adore cheese, but it hates me. Everyone I know notices that they feel crummy after eating cheese. And I read somewhere that there is something in it that is addictive which seems perfectly plausible to me. But I don't know where I read it, so excuse me for spreading cheese propaganda .

My point is, good for you for figuring out what works for you. Good luck with the vegan thing.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by {aspiring_to_clarity}

I absolutely adore cheese, but it hates me. Everyone I know notices that they feel crummy after eating cheese. And I read somewhere that there is something in it that is addictive which seems perfectly plausible to me. But I don't know where I read it, so excuse me for spreading cheese propaganda .

My point is, good for you for figuring out what works for you. Good luck with the vegan thing.

Well, it wasn't just the adverse effects, but also it was very salty and didn't taste as good as I remember it. I haven't eaten outside of the house since I stopped fasting though, so maybe I would like other pizza. I am not that interested in trying though.

[Barcs]

I don't know if I could ever stop eating cheddar. I absolutely love it. I guess we'll see though!

Ok, well I had those stomach pains again last night, but didn't take a tums for it. I've been burping and passing gas a lot the last 2 days. Today I still feel like my stomach is full of gas and it is quite painful at times. Did you get this feeling when you fasted, Lucas? Last night I lost a few hours of sleep, and if it keeps up tonight I might consider breaking the fast. This is my first fast and I've gone 6 days so far. Maybe I should break it and attempt again later in the year. Thanks for the advice!

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Barcs

I don't know if I could ever stop eating cheddar. I absolutely love it. I guess we'll see though!

Ok, well I had those stomach pains again last night, but didn't take a tums for it. I've been burping and passing gas a lot the last 2 days. Today I still feel like my stomach is full of gas and it is quite painful at times. Did you get this feeling when you fasted, Lucas? Last night I lost a few hours of sleep, and if it keeps up tonight I might consider breaking the fast. This is my first fast and I've gone 6 days so far. Maybe I should break it and attempt again later in the year. Thanks for the advice!

Yes I had things similar to that, and right around that point in my fast. I bet the tums had something to do with it, but listen to your intuition. If your intuition (not your bratty body) says its time to break the fast, then do it. Theres no "failure" in fasting. Even a 3 day fast can have tremendous benefits. Detox can really bring up some problems from the digestive system that feel like problems, but are just things being expelled.

Whenever I got gassy, I would give myself an enema, and most of the time it was waste with gas behind it and it cleared up.

[MasterD]

Hey lucas,
Good job man. You really got yourself a great coaching ability as an added benefit. Started fasting again too. I have tried it in the past; but made some big mistakes and I have learned a lot to do it more succesfully now. I have completed day 2 right now. No idea how long I will do it, since I have decided that I will take it day by day and let my energy and stress levels decide for me. Definitely not going for the 30 days, since I am already at a 10% body fat percentage and can't lose too much weight (otherwise I would definitely go for such a period this time). May do it for 3 days. May do it for 10.

Btw.. Are you really experiencing that clean, serene feeling when you wake up for instance? Hardly any morning brain-fogginess?

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by MasterD

Hey lucas,
Good job man. You really got yourself a great coaching ability as an added benefit. Started fasting again too. I have tried it in the past; but made some big mistakes and I have learned a lot to do it more succesfully now. I have completed day 2 right now. No idea how long I will do it, since I have decided that I will take it day by day and let my energy and stress levels decide for me. Definitely not going for the 30 days, since I am already at a 10% body fat percentage and can't lose too much weight (otherwise I would definitely go for such a period this time). May do it for 3 days. May do it for 10.

Btw.. Are you really experiencing that clean, serene feeling when you wake up for instance? Hardly any morning brain-fogginess?

Thats a really great point about the coaching! I would definitely do it for 10 days as a minimum if you feel you can...after a week was the real breakthrough for me. Everything changed after a week.

I had that clean serene feeling and then I went out to eat for the first time...not fast food or anything, but this nice Mexican grill. I ordered just a side of Rice/Beans and Guacamole, and ate it witch chips. I also had a Dos Equis.

Bad move all around. I felt like crap afterwards, got some of the worst heartburn I ever had in my life and nearly crapped my brains out. We also spent about 30 dollars for a meal that turned me inside out.

I will never complain about the price of frozen fruit again.

The residual paradigm shifting effects of this experiment astound me, and I do believe I will be doing extended fasts every January. My diet has completely changed.

[MasterD]

I am 5'10" tall and started the fast weighing 143 pounds. I am not overweight and that's why the fast will probably be a lot harder for me. I am on day 4 right now and my weight dropped to 137.5 pounds. That's 5.5 pounds down, though probably primarily waste and water.

I feel extremely weak this morning and sweated like a pig last night. I have lower back pain, bad breath, stiff joints and muscles, etc.. definitely detoxing. I am not hungry at all; the only thing I want is more energy; and the only reason to break the fast right now would be to increase my energy; not to satisfy my hunger.

I will definitely do a long fast; like you did; sometime; but I want to do it in complete rest and close supervision.

I am still taking it day by day and let my energy levels decide since I still want to get some work done in the midst of next week.

[MasterD]

The rest of yesterday I felt extremely weak. This morning is the same. I am on day 5 of my water fast right now. I have to sit on the edge of the bed for at least 30 seconds if I want to get up otherwise I will faint. It even costs me extreme amounts of energy just to turn myself around in bed; not to mention grabbing my laptop and typing this message.

I weighted myself and I went down to 134 pounds with a body fat percentage of 7.3% (3.5 pounds down). That's a 2.05 pound FAT loss in 1 DAY (in comparison to yesterday 137.5 pounds, 8.6% body fat), . Right now I am doubting the accuracy of the scale; because that is about 9000 calories burned on fat alone (I started this fast weighing 143 pounds with a body fat percentage of 10.4% on the first day; that's a 5.08 pound fat loss in 4 days, total weight loss 9 pounds). What's going on?

I will probably complete this day and probably even tomorrow, but I am almost sure that I am going to break on the 7th day; because this seems to be too extreme to be doing completely by myself.

[Barcs]

Originally Posted by Lucas

Yes I had things similar to that, and right around that point in my fast. I bet the tums had something to do with it, but listen to your intuition. If your intuition (not your bratty body) says its time to break the fast, then do it. Theres no "failure" in fasting. Even a 3 day fast can have tremendous benefits. Detox can really bring up some problems from the digestive system that feel like problems, but are just things being expelled.

Whenever I got gassy, I would give myself an enema, and most of the time it was waste with gas behind it and it cleared up.

Thanks for the advice. I believe the Enema did help. I just have one question about that actually. Did you use baking soda, and how long are you supposed to hold the water in for? I held it for about 10 minutes or so.

Well anyways I did end up breaking the fast after 1 week total. I figured that was a good time frame for my first water fast. Now that I have a better idea about it, I'll probably go for a 2-3 weeker in the fall and make a habit of doing this twice a year. Overall I feel great now and lost 13 pounds in one week (which is on top of another 10 pounds the week before the fast where I ate really light). So now the plan is eat healthy and exercise.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by MasterD

The rest of yesterday I felt extremely weak. This morning is the same. I am on day 5 of my water fast right now. I have to sit on the edge of the bed for at least 30 seconds if I want to get up otherwise I will faint. It even costs me extreme amounts of energy just to turn myself around in bed; not to mention grabbing my laptop and typing this message.

I weighted myself and I went down to 134 pounds with a body fat percentage of 7.3% (3.5 pounds down). That's a 2.05 pound FAT loss in 1 DAY (in comparison to yesterday 137.5 pounds, 8.6% body fat), . Right now I am doubting the accuracy of the scale; because that is about 9000 calories burned on fat alone (I started this fast weighing 143 pounds with a body fat percentage of 10.4% on the first day; that's a 5.08 pound fat loss in 4 days, total weight loss 9 pounds). What's going on?

I will probably complete this day and probably even tomorrow, but I am almost sure that I am going to break on the 7th day; because this seems to be too extreme to be doing completely by myself.

I hear you, I completely felt the same way. It felt like getting up was the hardest thing I ever did! Do you have any emotional support, outside of here? It helps to have someone who believes in your crazy experiments!

[Lucas]

Master D, please check in when you get the chance, I want to hear how its going/went!

[MasterD]

Checking in...

I broke the fast on the 5th day, as I was getting weaker and weaker. I ate a lot of fruit that day; probably too much, because at some point my eyes began to swollen and I started sneezing. It took a lot of days to get my strength back and I have been eating some bad foods in the meantime. In the end not a very beneficial fast so to speak. Right now my strength has pretty much returned and I hope to make some more improvements the next coming days.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by MasterD

Checking in...

I broke the fast on the 5th day, as I was getting weaker and weaker. I ate a lot of fruit that day; probably too much, because at some point my eyes began to swollen and I started sneezing. It took a lot of days to get my strength back and I have been eating some bad foods in the meantime. In the end not a very beneficial fast so to speak. Right now my strength has pretty much returned and I hope to make some more improvements the next coming days.

I now believe it takes a couple spins to get an amazing fast.

I would imagine eating bad foods would be part of the reason it took you so long to get your strength back.


As for me, I pretty much cannot eat anything processed anymore. The closest thing to fatty foods I can eat is avocado. We went to a Mexican restaurant, and all I could really stomach was getting some Tortillas and dipping them in the salsa. I tried rice and things and it was too greasy...even the chips were borderline.Their guacamole was too salty, and I love guacamole. I just make it at home now.

[Barcs]

Well, it's been almost 2 weeks now since I broke the fast, so I think I'm ready to attempt the full 3 weeks to 30 days. The only problems I had during the first one was the excess gas and the mental cravings for food, but I purchased an Enema so the gas shouldn't be a big problem this time plus I'm sure the mental addiction will eventually go away. I gained a good portion of the fasting weight back already but not all. Lucas, how much of the weight lost by fasting did you gain back?

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Barcs

Well, it's been almost 2 weeks now since I broke the fast, so I think I'm ready to attempt the full 3 weeks to 30 days. The only problems I had during the first one was the excess gas and the mental cravings for food, but I purchased an Enema so the gas shouldn't be a big problem this time plus I'm sure the mental addiction will eventually go away. I gained a good portion of the fasting weight back already but not all. Lucas, how much of the weight lost by fasting did you gain back?

I will weigh myself tomorrow to find out.

[Lucas]

I weighed myself today with the same scale I used when i came off my fast, and I weigh 172lbs even...which means I have LOST 2.5lbs since breaking my fast!

[Barcs]

Good stuff Lucas! That's good to hear. I plan to start the official 30 day trial tomorrow. Thanks for all of the info and inspiration!

[Ashlar]

I know this thread is a bit old, but:

Thank you so much for going to all the effort of sharing your experience with us, Lucas. I really appreciate it. I'm new to the forums, as you can see, but I have the feeling I'll be around for a while.

I plan to start a week-long fast pretty soon, once I can get a few days off work. I was just talking to a new (international) work acquaintance last night, and we got onto the subject of fasting and he has done many fasts, up to a week long; and I found out first-hand (though i'd already read about) the benefits and reasons for going through with it. Hopefully I'll one day get up to the 30-40 day level, but I plan on building up to that -- I think environment also plays a big part, and I'd need to get away from work for a while (IT consulting and training) if I were going to do that.

Anyway, thanks again to Lucas and to many of the other people that posted and shared knowledge and insights.


-A-

[Mjbrookerjr]

"Since you guys seem so interested, I will tell you a story. At my part time job I sit next to this guy named Matt. He annoys me. Mainly because he is the most negative guy ever. He has a drawer full of candy and junk and he was trying to tell me he was "hypoglycemic" but it came out as "hypochondriac", which I think was a Fruedian slip Anyway, he told me how he is hypoglycemic and also diabetic, and I asked him why he eats so much sugar (2 Krispy Kreme Doughnut Hole Cups a DAY) and he said because he didnt care if he died.

I don't talk to him much. However it is fascinating to watch him just eat and eat. Same with my hefty manager John...he comes back in saying "they finally put good **** in the vending machine", and what does he have in his hand but 2 packages of hostess cupcakes. 4 cupcakes! Now, I am a fan of cupcakes, but man...thats a lotta crap."

Haha, since I have your old job, I know what you're saying, but I do think you changed alot in that office, noone in that department really eats THAT much, dunno how much they did before I came but I do recall hearing you talk about it. Another thing, I love you, of course I supported you, I was also worried, you know...You're my brother. Course I'm gonna not really support it THAT much... But you pulled through, and in a sense, you're a great mentor and rolemodel. You've helped me alot throughout the years. It's great! I'm looking forward to what kind of personal development I can find that best suits me!!