Starving Hippie ☮️

“my brain is sick,” acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, February 2018

Disclaimer: Fasting for an extended period is dangerous and is not meant for everyone, especially if you already have problems with binging. This is mostly what I learned throughout my fasting periods and tips for people for who may want to try.

You’re initially going to gain some weight back after the break. This is water weight so you shouldn’t freak it’s going to come off with regular diet and exercise.

Keeping that in mind if you go back to your old bad eating habits immediately after breaking a fast. Then you might as well not fast in the first place, you’re going to gain all that weight back and probably some more and just end up in a worse situation that you started.

I would only recommend extending fasting for people that are going to change their eating habits and diet afterward. (For example, after my fast my diet is now going to primarily consist of fish, nuts, raw fruits, and vegetables, with healthy low cal snacks. I plan on avoiding gluten and carbs as much as possible)

The first 3 days of my fast was easy, primarily because I choose to start my fast on the weekend and also because I had fasted in the past before.

Days 4-5 I went through ketosis, and developed this sickly sweet taste in my mouth.

6-7 I was still going through ketosis, and the taste was making me feel sick.

7-10: Fasting was still going strong but I realized that I was starting to feel week, a huge problem since I tend to walk stairs and hills a lot through the day.

Day 11: I finally decided that it would be in my best interest to break my fast. I was a little disappointed because I wanted to go to 21 days but I knew that eventually, I would pass out.

During my fast, I had drunk at least 1-2 gallons of water a day.

After my fast, I noticed that my stomach has shrunk. I had gotten a salad with tuna, croutons, cheese and dressing. However, I could only eat about 10% of it before I was full.

Overall, I have a decreased appetite. I use to be able to consume large meals but now 1 meal a day is enough to satisfy me.

The results: Sw: 208 Ib, CW: 193.2 Ib, totally lost in 10 days: 14.8 Ibs

After seeing the results of my fast I decided that next time I’m going to do an 8-10 day fast once I reach my next goal weight.

Currently, in the next couple of days, my main focus is going to be on exercise by doing Zumba and Yoga to boost my metabolism. While also eating mostly vegetable and fruits to help keep the weight off.

If you’re new to fasting I would recommend you don’t try doing for an extended period at the start. Try fasting for 2-3 days for one week, and slowly increase the numbers or you might end up binging.

If you’re prone to binging, I really don’t recommend this for you. It took me a lot of discipline in order to keep this up, and it took, even more, discipline to break it properly.

Drink lots of water while fasting, it will help with the hunger and you won’t feel like passing out.

The most important thing is to stay safe, I choose to break my fast after 10 days because of my overall health. Don’t break yourself in this process.