My friend lost about 20 pounds on his 40 day water-only fast. I take it that's unusually low?

And I'm hungry now... very very hungry. Hit all-of-a-sudden at about 8:30pm. Probably one of the only times I've been hungry my whole life. That's about 45 hours in, give-or-take.

Thanks for the info! I'll keep you posted.

I concur with much of what chirontherainbowbridge had to say and disagree with most of ALB's advice. This is because I'm a Natural Hygienist who is walking the walk as much as possible. I'm proving with my life and taking the evidence from other Hygienists that Natural Hygiene is a Life Science that is correct according to Nature's Laws. If at anytime I discover a disparity between the Science and nature, I'll then have a good reason to doubt but so far, everything that I've read is backed up well even if it contradicts other science.

Hopefully that sets out my position and why I'm adding weight to those who recommend getting knowledgable about the Science behind fasting, not just following the unscientific experience of some of the people on this site. 150 years of practice and the monitoring of 10s of thousands of successful fasts gives the old and new masters incredible clout in my book.

Now with that out of the way, may I recommend that as you're already on the fast and probably cannot quickly lay your hands on Herbert M Shelton 's Fasting Can Save Your Life , (available from the National Health Association, http://www.healthscience.org),
that instead you reach into the Life Science course http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/credits.html
sections on Fasting (Lessons 44 thru 49) and read them right away. They give a balanced view of the Fasting process and later, if you're interested, you can start at the beginning of the course and get quite a bit of additional background on Natural Hygiene/Life Science itself.

You've not stated why you're fasting or how you decided on 20 days. As with all things, having a goal is paramount to knowing if you've succeeded. You don't sound like someone who needs to lose weight but you must expect to lose a lot at first and at a slower rate as time goes on. If you're fasting for healing purposes, every bit of exercise you do hinders the process to some extent by diverting energy from your reserves that could otherwise be used for healing.

Also, don't confuse hunger with a growling stomach. Hunger is felt in the mouth and throat and is nothing to do with the uncomfortable, all-empty feeling in the stomach. The same with thirst so when you have a dry mouth and throat, that's a clear sign that you need to drink some water. But do it in small amounts and then see if you still feel thirsty 15 minutes later. If you do, then drink the same amount again. After awhile, you'll be able to judge how much water to have at one time.

The crucial part of fasting begins when you break the fast and you'll find this information in the aforementioned course and other references. Don't take it lightly but also don't fret over it unduly.

I hope that this helps!

NH...