Re: Numero Uno

A water-only fast is a test of your mental fortitude. The "limits" you face early on in a fast are purely mental ones, and the physical limit of a fasting body comes many days into a fast. I am sure that your mental fortitude mustn't be a question for you after your successful battle with cancer. And, congratulations. ;)

Let me preface that everything I write about the experience of fasting is coming from my own personal experience.

As you have read, the first few days are the toughest. It's that third day, "hump day", that marked the peak and descent of the difficulties. These days are the hardest because the WANT for food is nearly overwhelming.

Our body craves the stimulation from the foods we have been packing it with, and that sensation is what we have deemed to be "hunger", which it is not. It's the body reacting out of addiction to the lack of what feeds the addiction...food.

But, like a smoking habit, after the third day the side-effects from cutting off the addiction fade away, and I was left feeling very comfortable from day four on.

I feel like it's time to mention that I hope you have been eating very sensibly the past 24-48 hours. It's important to keep in mind that the food we are putting into our body during the days leading up to the fast are going to have to come out "on their own", that is, without help from more food to help push everything along. This being the case, it's really important to me to start my fast with a few days of very light eating, which for me consisted of fruit and spinach.

Whatever is left over in your digestive system as you begin a fast is going to have to be dealt with by your body, and this can get very uncomfortable. Diarrhea seems to be common in the first 2-3 days of a fast, but this is really just a necessary thing to happen for your body to start the process of cleansing itself. The less crap you have in your system at the start of the fast, the less crap that's gotta come out.

Moving on...Days four and five mark further decrease in the want for food. I have, do, and will always love food (cooking shows are the only thing I DVR) and at this point in my fast I was able to surround myself with basically anything and feel no appetite or lowering of my dedication to my fast. In fact I began to really love the smells of everything that people were cooking/eating around me. Yet, I never touched any of it.

For me, my fast is untouchable. I have my reasons, as you obviously do as well. I am armed with my knowledge from past fasting and plenty of research, and I am comfortable knowing that what I am doing is positive, and positive only. THIS, knowing this is what allows me to move through all the "road blocks" of my fast without so much as blinking an eye.

It's commitment. If you understand yourself enough to truly KNOW that you are capable and there are NO excuses for "giving in to temptation", then you will have no issues on your fast. Again...mental strength.

From day five of my fast until right now (end of day 19) I've felt remarkably similar the entire time. My only issues are a slight decrease in my muscle strength (not bad), a noticeable decrease in my overall energy and stamina, dizziness (with vision fading out to black and then back to normal) when I stand up too fast, ONE bowel movement (day 11), I am more cold more often, and my sleep periods have become shorter (which seems odd....).

The only other thing I've had to deal with is nausea, and this has ONLY come when I've had too much water. I entered into my first fast thinking that basically what I had to do was replace all the food in my diet with just a ton of water, and that's a water fast.

No no. Bad idea.

Listen to your body. It will tell you when to drink water. You will have some days where you're drinking a significant amount, and then you'll have days like I had today where you reach the end of the day and you realize that you've had less than a glass of water. It's all OK. Just keep listening to your body.

And...when your stomach hurts and you don't feel good and you just don't know what to do to feel better, DON'T reach for the water...instant nausea. No fun.

When it comes to how long you're going to fast for I think you have the right idea. You need to head into a fast with the understanding that your body is the keeper of time, not your mind nor the clock. I initially set a goal of seven days, because my previous long was 6, but after I hit seven I realized that any arbitrary time I set up for the duration of my fast was just unnecessary and all I needed to focus on was going through my day as normal and making sure I got rest.

As for me, I still don't know when I'm going to end this fast. My cravings for food are seemingly coming back, and I can already taste the first drops of OJ hitting my lips...but who knows when.

Best of luck to you. You've found a pretty sweet place to get information and support when it comes to water-only fasting. This forum is bustling with activity hourly and so there will always be a friendly ear to shout questions or concerns to.

Hope this helps you on your fast!