Fasting

OK, this is a thread for the issue of fasting.

Your thoughts, your experiences, etc.

Here's the impetus for the thread.

Last Saturday, I spent most of the day eating junk food. My wife says that I'm an emotional eater, and that a sure sign that I am under stress is that I pig out. The last three weeks have been very stressful at work and with family, so a KFC binge on Saturday evening was not out of the question. My diet has way too many carbs and way too much salt.

I'm 6'0", normally 195 lbs. In the last six weeks, I spiked up to 203.4 and felt absolutely miserable. I was 180 in college.

So, Saturday night, I did a lot of research on the physiology of fasting, which is really quite interesting.

I ended up Sunday morning deciding to do a 7 day water only fast. So, since 8 pm on Saturday, I have not put a single calorie into my body... drinking 3-4 quarts of water a day. This was not a fast for spiritual purposes or weight loss, but an attempt to reset my metabolism and my eating habits. After the fast, I'll break it by slowing refeeding with primarily veggies and soups for the first couple of days, then trying to keep carbs pretty low and more complex than simple.

Amazingly, no headaches, no horrible hunger pangs. Energy and concentration levels are fine. Went and walked 3 miles Sunday afternoon. I was in court for 7 hours on Monday. A little stomach grumbling occasionally on day 1 and 2, but fine today. I went to dinner with my wife and breakfast with a colleague without dying even though I watched them eat and only drank water.

I'm now at the day 2 3/4 mark...40 hours. According to all my research, my body should now have burned up all the available glucose and will burn nothing but fat and a miniscule amount of protein for the next four days.

As of 7 a.m. this morning (hour 35), I feel fine and I've dropped down to 196.0 -- 7.4 pounds in less than 3 days.

I anticipate dropping another 2 pounds per day, if the research holds true.


Have any of you done any fasting, or researched it, either for physiological or spiritual reasons?

This is a truly weird experience.

 

I have, but it always becomes about losing weight > prayer so I end up stopping, because I can't stay in the right frame of mind and it'd turn into an eating disorder if I kept it up. My father in law (pastor) does a 30 day juice fast every year, and he's in quite good shape - loses between 20 and 30 pounds during that period. The only thing I would add is that water / juice fasts should probably be accompanied by a doctors visit, just to make sure nothing funky is going on.

I'm actually thinking of trying another fast after I get a few other things sorted, see if I can't get back to my pre-cancer weight.

 

I had a checkup fairly recently and all the numbers were good, except for the extra 15-20 lbs I'm carrying.

I agree that a doctor's check up first is a great idea.

I intentionally decided to NOT make it a "spiritual fast," to avoid the guilt that I know I would heap upon myself for "failing" to "pray enough(TM)". I also intentionally decided to NOT make it about losing weight.

My goal is (1) exercise a little self-disciple and (2) physiologically reset the insulin clock and metabolism and (3) draw a hard line that I could begin eating a healthier diet.

Taking the "spiritual" and "lose weight" pressure off what is already a physiological challenge seems to be keeping me in a good frame of mine.

I hate to say it, but I'm really not "suffering" at all. Just too many trips to the bathroom.

 

A good idea methinks, making it about discipline. I've always found the first 3 days hard, and then it's pretty easy after that (until it gets hard again I'm sure).
...just don't eat pizza as the first thing you eat after you've had enough of water.

 

I will now share the "wisdom" of my research for those who may not have looked at this before.

First three days, give or take, the body is burning glycogen, which is glucose (simple sugar) stored in muscle cells and some in the blood serum. A whole lot is stored in the liver. Once you burn the initial "gas in the tank," which takes about 3 days, then the liver says "Ok, no more glycogen. Let's make some ketone. Which it converts for fuel, using stored fat as the fuel source.

Supposedly, (even though I haven't had any real hunger feelings beyond those you would experience missing a meal), once you enter ketosis (converting and burning ketones), the hunger goes away and you just mellow out for about 2-3 weeks. ONly after the excess fat is burned up does the body turn to muscle, which is extremely dangerous, since it then eats your heart.

And I agree. Breaking the fast correctly probably is the most important part.

 

If our body is a temple, then I suppose even fasting for physiological reasons or self-discipline could be considered spiritual, although, I do understand why you are making a distinction.

 

I agree. I tend not to make "sacred" v. "mundane" sort of bifurcations, but in this instance, since so many Christians do, I wanted to be sure in my own head that I wasn't attaching some pseudo-righteous motivation to my actions!

I have enough problems with other people trying to lay guilt trips on me without me sub-consciously doing it to myself!

 

Forgive my ignorance here, but I've heard that fasting, (not sure whether it's a one time fast or many times of fasting), actually does more harm to your metabolism than good.

 

The medical research is pretty clear that for the person on the average American diet that is carrying at least 15 lbs excess body fat (which is a huge percentage of folks, including me), a fast of a week or less does no harm to the body.

During the first 3 days, as the body burns the glycogen out of the muscles to feed itself, there is a miniscule loss of muscle tissue, no more than you would get from a really hard workout.

It is when you go on an extended fast or have a low body weight to begin with that fasting gets into muscle tissue. In fact, the entire process of ketosis (starting in day 3, when all the glycogen is gone), is designed by your body to protect muscle and organ tissue.

 

UPDATE

Now in the midst of day 4, running on 92 hours of H2O only.

Feel fine. Working as usual.

No hunger pains. Went to dinner last night and watched them eat, and went to lunch today with clients and watched them eat. No distress other than psychological!!!

Weight this morning 194.6, so down 8.8 lbs for first 3 days.

 

Now in Day 5.

Feeling fine, but hate one of my partners (did I say hate? I mean loathe, despise, abhor, revile) for inhaling a plate of steak, 2 eggs, latkes, and a bagel in front of me this morning.

Yes, although I am not suffering any hunger pains physically, I am obsessing with food in my head. Oh well, only another 56 hours to go.

Weight down to 193

 

Day 6 Update

Well, still feeling good. No headaches, no real hunger pains, clear headed and got a ton accomplished yesterday. Probably one of my more productive days in quite a while.

My poor wife has been suffering through the last week, eating alone and feeling like she shouldn't eat around me or cook, which is a real drag for her.

So, I decided to break my fast tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow. That way, we can go out to dinner (as is our usual Friday night plan), relax, hear some live music, and she won't feel like an alien in her own house. Probably go to one of our favorite restaurants that has a great hummus and tomato-basil soup.

Will be easing back into eating pretty light, but definitely going to try to avoid a lot of carbs. If my research is good, I should be able to eat a fairly normal diet without the carbs and probably maintain all the weight loss.

This morning weight was 191.2 lbs. Even with a light meal tonight, I expect that to be about 190 in the morning.

THis has been a fascinating experiment. Learned a great deal about food, nutrition, and all of the sociological factors that affect me eating and food choices.

 

Quite an adventure Rabbi. I commend your determination and will power.

In this entire process, have you ever taken a blood sugar reading? Just curious as to how low it is. I'm all about numbers these days.

 

I have not, but from my research, blood sugar during a true water fast normally drops into the 3-4 range.

 

Thanks.

Primary thing I learned is that eating is primarily psychological, not physiological.