My personal thoughts on my 81 hour fast. Was it a positive or negative experience?
Fasting is primarily a movement of willing abstinence or reduction from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. The act has been used for religious and spiritual purification for centuries and can be practiced in many different forms. An absolute fast (dry fasting or respirationism) is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually 24 hours, or a number of days. For the Michael Mosely fans, intermittent fasting (or what is labeled the 5:2 diet) has become a popular practice of late for use in weight loss.
There are medical reasons for fasting before blood tests or surgical procedures but as to whether fasting can help rid the body of waste buildup is still a matter of controversy. Fasting advocates claim that the practice can effectively treat serious health conditions, from arthritis, chronic skin conditions, colitis to heart disease, immunity, stress and depression. Studies can suggest the positive biochemical changes that occur when food is restricted, but they can also yield psychological benefit as well.
Without going into detail with the research (I think if you are really interested you will seek evidence based information yourself), the purpose of my blog is if the thought of undertaking fasting has ever crossed your mind, then my experience might be an interesting consideration before committing to such an extreme practice.
Firstly, what is your purpose for undertaking a fast?
For me, there were a few things I thoroughly considered before attempting fasting. I was looking for;
- Mental clarity
- Relief from sinuses
- Better uptake of nutrients post fast
- More energy
- Complete detox
- To challenge myself mentally & physically in a way I’ve never pursued before
Given my intention was to do more than 20 hours fasted, it was never my objective to pursue this for fat loss, so it’s important to really clarify your reasons for undertaking fasting as this will give you an understanding of a suitable time frame for you to achieve what you desire from doing this. A few of weeks prior to my 81hr fast I practiced with intermittent fasting. I fasted on four separate occasions for different periods. I consumed food for 8hrs followed by fasting for 16hrs, and then I tried eating over for 4 hours and fasting for 20hrs. I felt this was a nice lead into the longer fast and prepared my mind and body for what I was about to do so I was somewhat familiar with what I would be up for.
Work and exercise while fasting
During my experimental shorter intermittent fasting I still exercised and noticed my performance in aspects of strength and power remained unhindered and my body weight was maintained. In the 81hr fast period I exercise on day 1 and trained quite vigorously after the first 19 hours fasted. Thinking my body was prepared for this as it was in the intermittent fasting experiment, this proved to have come at a cost as by day 2 & 3 I simply had no energy to do light exercise such as yoga, movement training or even stretching – I felt completely drained. It is documented that physiologically there is a transitional phase when the body has to generate energy to function from storage as opposed to relying on it coming from the food we eat. This is an energy-costing process but the body up regulates based on the presumption that starvation is occurring and adapts to provide energy, but at the same time it goes into conservation mode, so I interpreted by flatness to my body not being able to provide enough energy for me to do basic movement easily.
My choice to experiment with trying to do formal activity meant that it was essential for me to drink plenty of fluid during a fast. My choice was filtered water (~4-5L/day), green and white tea. Fluid acted as a filer for my stomach receptors, which made me feel full, and I can definitely say drinking tea saved me from quitting early so I highly recommend it.
Exercise aside, during day 2 & 3 there was no doubt that my mind felt foggy, slow and distracted which made running business and contributing fully to family life quite challenging to master. What I found interesting was that despite how I felt subjectively, I improved my brain function by 8.8% (this was assessed by a comparing to my baseline test scores through the brain training app Lumosity).
Life after Fasting
Coming off the fast I chose to be very careful about what foods and drinks I consumed over the first 48hrs. If you are mentally strong enough to complete more than 3 days of fasting you will need to continue this strength after so you don’t consume an abundance of food. What took me by surprise were the intense cravings I felt for high fat foods such as nuts, seeds, avocado, trail mix and toasted muesli. I hadn’t experienced that desire since my competitive bodybuilding days so it was interesting to relate the two experiences. My body weight readily returned to my pre-fasted stable weight, but I felt bigger and leaner than my bodybuilding stage condition.
My energy levels felt sensational for two days after breaking the fast, however I was very flat on the third day. As time went on I found a nice, consistently high level of energy for the rest of the week despite a severely sleep deprived state as a result of my 9 month old baby who fell sick at the same time. Writing this 2 weeks post fast, I’m still experiencing that consistent energy level that I was hoping for. As a bonus, I have not suffered from sinus problems that were getting quite severe and frustrating before I began the fast.
Did I accomplish what I envisaged?
If I relate back to my purpose for undertaking fasting, then I can come out saying:
- Mental clarity: Despite feeling sluggish during, my brain speed and clarity went up by 8.8% and continues to climb post fast
- Relief from sinuses: Yes, definitely a win!
- Better uptake of nutrients post fast: Yes but be careful of cravings when exiting fasting and plan to eat simple foods firsts.
- More energy: I have far more energy on far less sleep, but during the fast it wasn’t enough to exercise, work and socialise and I didn’t expect the extreme tiredness day 2 and 3.
- Complete detox: I was pleased I gave my body a chance to be able to operate without eating food (even healthy food, it was great to be able to experience this) but I was grateful I kept my fluid intake high in the process.
- To challenge myself mentally & physically in a way I’ve never pursued before: Being a competitive sportsman my entire life, physical challenges in the way of exertion are not new to me, however fasting differed as I really had a chance to listen to myself through the practice of a different physical challenge my mental capacity was the biggest improvement.
Would I do it again?
Fasting is definitely something I’ll be doing more of. I’ll continue to do the occasional block of intermittent fasting for a week or so as I found this to be manageable in terms of fitting into my lifestyle. I would absolutely love to experience a fast longer than 81hrs annually, but to be realistic, in order to get the utmost benefit form such a practice it would require complete isolation from my day to day life where I could remove myself away from any distraction and solely focus on the journey. I’d love to hear how your individual experiences go if you decide this is something you wish to pursue!
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