Fasting thread

Idolater

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?
The last time I fasted in the name of Jesus Christ, it was to show the body who was boss, and God rewarded me.
Was your fast "God" related?
What is wrong with you? How can even in plain text you come across as this irritating? Is it a gift? Or do you have no idea you're doing it?

"God" related indeed.
 

Idolater

"Matthew 16:18-19" Dispensationalist (Catholic) χρ
If I didn't suspect from having read some of your earlier comments in this thread that you are trolling him, it would really surprise me that you would say that.
lol Hoping's a king troll. Trolls like Username are waiting tables, while Hoping's the head chef.
My guess is that, if for no other reason, people fast because they, by experience, have come to consider it beneficial to their health in one or more ways. Wouldn't you guess as much?
I have so much ... stored nutrition, that it literally logically makes eating superfluous for me rn. Superfluous.
 

Jefferson

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I've never done a fast for anything longer than about 36 hours. I can do 24 hours pretty easily but it seems like three days would be really hard.
You'd be surprised. People who have done multi-day fasts will all tell you that, for some strange reason, day two is the hardest but then it gets easier. Maybe because your stomach does most of its shrinking
on day two? I don't know. Whenever I have set out to do a 3 day fast, the same thing always happens at the end of the third day and it's time to eat. I'm never hungry. I've stretched it out to 4 1/2 days before. Same result. I have no desire to eat. Day 4 was a breeze. So easy. But day two was so hard.
 

Idolater

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You'd be surprised. People who have done multi-day fasts will all tell you that, for some strange reason, day two is the hardest but then it gets easier. Maybe because your stomach does most of its shrinking
on day two? I don't know. Whenever I have set out to do a 3 day fast, the same thing always happens at the end of the third day and it's time to eat. I'm never hungry. I've stretched it out to 4 1/2 days before. Same result. I have no desire to eat. Day 4 was a breeze. So easy. But day two was so hard.
Day two is now no longer hard for me. I'm on my second consecutive day-six rn. But again, I've got stored nutrition to spare, which is why I'm doing this, because as I said previously, based on my measurements, there's literally basically zero reason for me to eat at all for a while. I've already eaten enough for a while.

Hardest day for me now is the fourth or the fifth.
 

Jefferson

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Day two is now no longer hard for me. I'm on my second consecutive day-six rn. But again, I've got stored nutrition to spare, which is why I'm doing this, because as I said previously, based on my measurements, there's literally basically zero reason for me to eat at all for a while. I've already eaten enough for a while.

Hardest day for me now is the fourth or the fifth.
That's really interesting. Yours is a unique case from my experience.
 

Hoping

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What is wrong with you? How can even in plain text you come across as this irritating? Is it a gift? Or do you have no idea you're doing it?

"God" related indeed.
As has been shown here, some folks fast for other reasons than to "chasten" the vessel...a religiously oriented fast.
Some do it for weight loss, and I have heard it can be used to identify allergy causing foods...a physically oriented fast.
 

Idolater

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That's really interesting. Yours is a unique case from my experience.
I mean like it's Saturday morning. The last time I ate was Saturday night. 156 hours. I woke up un-hungry. I'm having a hard time just planning my meal which I will eat now to break the fast. I can't stay focused on food, my mind is racing, thinking about other things. I have to eat (I'm just not going beyond six days), and the idea of eating is just another chore for me rn, and I've got higher priorities than eating on my list, so I'm distracted.
 

Idolater

"Matthew 16:18-19" Dispensationalist (Catholic) χρ
As has been shown here, some folks fast for other reasons than to "chasten" the vessel...a religiously oriented fast.
Some do it for weight loss, and I have heard it can be used to identify allergy causing foods...a physically oriented fast.
:/

So what? Who cares?
 

Jefferson

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I mean like it's Saturday morning. The last time I ate was Saturday night. 156 hours. I woke up un-hungry. I'm having a hard time just planning my meal which I will eat now to break the fast. I can't stay focused on food, my mind is racing, thinking about other things. I have to eat (I'm just not going beyond six days), and the idea of eating is just another chore for me rn, and I've got higher priorities than eating on my list, so I'm distracted.
Have you learned about the safest ways to break a long-term fast?
 

Clete

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You'd be surprised. People who have done multi-day fasts will all tell you that, for some strange reason, day two is the hardest but then it gets easier. Maybe because your stomach does most of its shrinking
on day two? I don't know. Whenever I have set out to do a 3 day fast, the same thing always happens at the end of the third day and it's time to eat. I'm never hungry. I've stretched it out to 4 1/2 days before. Same result. I have no desire to eat. Day 4 was a breeze. So easy. But day two was so hard.
That's what I keep hearing. I guess I'm just not that motivated to do it yet.

You may aleady know this but from what I've learned, the reason you stop being hungry is primarily because your body switches fuel. It goes from burning carbs for fuel to burning fat and, as you say, your stomach "figures out" that it's regular dose of food isn't coming and so stops sending the hunger hormone signals to your brain.
 

Idolater

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Have you learned about the safest ways to break a long-term fast?
I watched Fung talk about it once yes.

That's what I keep hearing. I guess I'm just not that motivated to do it yet.

You may aleady know this but from what I've learned, the reason you stop being hungry is primarily because your body switches fuel. It goes from burning carbs for fuel to burning fat and, as you say, your stomach "figures out" that it's regular dose of food isn't coming and so stops sending the hunger hormone signals to your brain.
Your body uses carbs, protein and fat for fuel when you're eating normally. But when you stop eating then yes you do transition to using fat stores for energy exclusively. That takes c. 24 hours but certainly by 36 hours you're cruising on all body fat by then.

When you're eating (unless it's 100% fat, like guzzling peanut oil I guess lol) your body's also secreting insulin (even protein triggers insulin secretion, not just carbs /sugar /starch), and when you're fasting now insulin's at bay. Insulin retains water among other things, so when you do fast you drop body weight quickly but a lot of it's water.

Once the water's gone from insulin levels dropping, your body weight reduces at a much more modest clip, closer to what you'd calculate your resting metabolic rate would consume (although unless you're laying in bed all day you're demanding more energy than just that).

I track my waist circumference with a tape measure, this doesn't show the volatility you see in body weight measurement, which as I said is influenced by water retention from dropping insulin levels. It's a more stable measure.
 
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JudgeRightly

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I've lost 18 pounds so far and it doesn't just jump right back on me if I go back to eating like a normal person for a while. That's especially true after a 24-30 hour fast. It seems to reset whatever my body thinks is its "normal" weight.

How long did this take?
 

Clete

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How long did this take?
About 8 weeks.

It would have been much faster had I tried harder but I figure I'm going to stick with it longer if I just sort of take it easy. Basically, I eat what I want when I want. The only thing that's changed is the "when I want" part. Some days I feel like skipping a meal, other days I don't. The best part is that weight stays off of me during the "I don't want to" part.

If you want to really lose weight quickly, combine intermittent fasting with Keto. Basically, eat one Ketogenic meal per day and go one day a week without eating at all. You'll be skinny as as rail in no time flat.

My way is slower but far more enjoyable and easier to stick with. Life without Dr. Pepper is not a life I want to live!
 

JudgeRightly

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About 8 weeks.

It would have been much faster had I tried harder but I figure I'm going to stick with it longer if I just sort of take it easy. Basically, I eat what I want when I want. The only thing that's changed is the "when I want" part. Some days I feel like skipping a meal, other days I don't. The best part is that weight stays off of me during the "I don't want to" part.

Ok, good to know.

If you want to really lose weight quickly, combine intermittent fasting with Keto. Basically, eat one Ketogenic meal per day and go one day a week without eating at all. You'll be skinny as as rail in no time flat.

That's REALLY difficult as a truck driver... Doing a bit of research, though, it doesn't seem impossible, so I may try that route...

My way is slower but far more enjoyable and easier to stick with. Life without Dr. Pepper is not a life I want to live!

It's going to be really hard doing a keto fast without being able to eat rice, of any kind...

I love rice...

Especially steamed rice (like the Japanese make) or Taco Bell riice that you can get on the side...
 

JudgeRightly

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So far, I've gone two days with only a single meal around 8pm both days. Will probably do it again tomorrow, and then when I get home, I'll eat normally, and then restart on Monday.

The hardest thing so far is finding something for my brain to focus on instead of using my hands to snack on junk food. It's a bad habit that I need to break, looking over at my passenger seat where I normally keep my snacks for the road and grabbing something. So far, I haven't grabbed anything, but I keep looking over as if there's something I need over there. I think once I stop looking over, it'll have gotten easier.

Another upside to this is that I'm saving a ton of money on food, since I'm literally just not eating... And I don't go into the truck stops and get food, except to get food for evening meals if I run out (which I'll probably have to do tomorrow, since I probably won't be home until Saturday...).
 

Clete

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So far, I've gone two days with only a single meal around 8pm both days. Will probably do it again tomorrow, and then when I get home, I'll eat normally, and then restart on Monday.

The hardest thing so far is finding something for my brain to focus on instead of using my hands to snack on junk food. It's a bad habit that I need to break, looking over at my passenger seat where I normally keep my snacks for the road and grabbing something. So far, I haven't grabbed anything, but I keep looking over as if there's something I need over there. I think once I stop looking over, it'll have gotten easier.

Another upside to this is that I'm saving a ton of money on food, since I'm literally just not eating... And I don't go into the truck stops and get food, except to get food for evening meals if I run out (which I'll probably have to do tomorrow, since I probably won't be home until Saturday...).
I bet you've lost five pounds already!

It takes about 18 hours or so to enter ketosis (i.e. that means zero calories taken in for 18 hours) so when you eat only one meal a day, you enter ketosis for short time every day. Ketosis is basically when your body has switched from burning carbs to burning fat for fuel. Now, if your one meal is nearly all fat and protein and no, or almost no cards, then it doesn't take as long for your body to go back into ketosis after your meal and you burn more body fat for fuel.

As for snacking, try changing your snacks to something that isn't carbs. Beef jerky or any of the dozens of Keto snacks that they sell at Walmart. If you snack on something that has almost all of it calories from fat, it will have less of an insulin reaction and help keep you in ketosis but you have to be careful not to over do those kinds of snacks because your body isn't going to burn body fat if you're constantly feeding it fat filled snacks.

Now, if you skip one of your daily meals and go an entire 48 hours between meals once every so often then, not only are you going to be burning body fat but the stress will tell your body to start getting rid of things it doesn't need, like warn out cells, viruses and other junk in your body. This is called autophagy and its where you really get some super awesome health benefits from fasting. Also, once you're fully into ketosis, you won't feel hungry. From what I've been taught, a three day (72 hour) fast is just about the ideal length of time to maximize ketosis and autophagy in the average person but most of what I've seen also says that long fasts (three days or more) shouldn't be done more than once a month and it seems like doing one of those once or twice a year is a pretty common thing for people to do. The point being that you get better benefits from fasting if you're not doing it constantly.

So, once you start getting used to it and it doesn't feel so hard, eat your Friday meal and then try going one whole weekend without eating. That is, don't eat again until meal time on Monday evening. In fact, I think I'm going to try to do that myself this weekend. I've never fasted for that long and I have to work this weekend so I'm not sure I'll make it but I'll give it a shot. From what I hear, it's fairly easy to go that third day without food because your body will be fully into ketosis and will have figured out that your stomach being empty isn't the end of the world that it was telling you it was during days one and two and it stops producing the hormone that tells your brain that you need to eat something.

Lastly, I think the basic idea here is that God never designed our bodies with three full meals a day plus snacks in mind. That's a luxury that western culture and a free market society, (not to mention advertising campaigns from big food companies), has allowed us to grow up with but when you have to hunt and or grow your own food, it makes sense that you're going to be working much harder, eating less often and consuming far more fat and protein and far fewer carbs. It's the way Noah would have eaten with less wine.

Clete
 
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Clete

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Especially steamed rice (like the Japanese make) or Taco Bell riice that you can get on the side...
I love the dark rice at Chipotle! It has lemon and cilantro and it doesn't stick together and its just the best rice I've ever eaten.

I can't stand eating inside the Chipotle restaurant though. They're always playing weird hippy music in there. I can't take it. I go eat it while sitting in my truck.
 

Clete

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@JudgeRightly

Okay, so I failed to make 72 hours on my fast this weekend. I gave in after 48, which is still pretty good considering I lost another couple of pounds. I'm now down to 217 which is a total of 23 pounds lost since sometime in January when I started at 240 lbs.

I can tell you that hunger came in waves throughout the 48 hours of my fast. I spent most of the second day working and so I didn't feel hungry because I was busy but as soon as I wasn't busy, it suddenly seemed like every commercial on the radio and TV was about food and all I wanted to do was find the closest hamburger. I can't say that it was at all pleasant. I think I'll stick with trying to only eat once a day on most days and then the occasional 24-36 hour fast.

Clete
 

Idolater

"Matthew 16:18-19" Dispensationalist (Catholic) χρ
My longest fast is six days, which I've done twice, in a row. Meaning I went 13 days only eating one of those days. Six days fast, eat, and then another six day fast before eating again. 12 days of fasting and one day of eating.

But I have plenty of fat to burn. You're not going to be able to do this if you just have like six percent body fat. You'll hurt yourself. But if you've got 20, 25 or more percent body fat, you should be able to do this too, eventually, working your way up to it. As I say it's mostly mental. Once you come to see your superfluous fat as stored meals, then you'll rationally conclude that therefore, I just don't have to eat rn. Like, for a while. Like there's zero reason for me to eat with this many meals stored up.

Unless you're lifting. https://theologyonline.com/threads/lifting-thread.58394/
Lifting and fasting, I've found, do NOT go together. You have to pick one or the other, which is fine, just so long as you're eating enough when you're lifting, so that you get stronger and or build muscle (which is why you're lifting in the first place, which makes sense). I couldn't make a weekly program of fasting and lifting, I just progressively lost strength this way, which is the opposite of what I want as an outcome for lifting.

So instead I go through different periods, periods of getting stronger (which lasts for more than a week straight), and periods of reducing fat. When I'm reducing fat I'm not lifting (at least not heavily, but usually just not at all). And when I'm lifting, hopefully I'm eating enough to be getting fat. That's what I've found correlates with getting stronger quicker, is eating enough to gain weight, while lifting weights.

Fasting preserves your muscles, which is why I'm trying this strategy to change my body composition, which means basically what percent body fat, and what percent lean mass.

Ask me anything lol
 
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