Wife and I are 80 hours into our first four day fast. So far, so good. We ate pretty heavy on the protein, light on the carbs. We did this for two days leading into our fast. This has gone much smoother than I had imagined it would. We already drink 100 ozs. of water a day, but upping that has helped. We also split between electrolyte and plain water. That has helped a lot. The hunger pains have really only affected me in the last couple of hours. Sheer willpower and the knowledge that I have made it this far, not quitting now.
Best of luck and keep at it.
Take electrolytes and sea salt. Drink water. Realise hunger comes in waves. Then completely goes away. The first few fasts are very hard compared to later ones that don’t really have much hunger at all.
Saffron extract is a good stuff and it’s natural, it’s great for reducing appetite, also a day before fast try to be lower carb and drink a glass of water with two 2tbsp of apple cider vinegar after your meals, this reduces insulin response and your body won’t have as much cravings during the fast. Also make sure to supplement with calorie free electrolytes during the fast, if you do not, you’ll feel shaky, hungry and tired. I use Hi Lyte and potassium and magnesium gjycinate + a multi from new chapter.
You will be tired so go to bed early.
As you keep experimenting with different solutions, like replacing electrolytes, and switching to a more keto related diet prior to the fast, or adding activities, you will also be gaining experience with skipping eating, and at some point it will probably be that prior exposure that makes a difference. I’ve not fasted many times compared to many here but just doing a couple of trials became easier after initial exposure.
That has reminded me of when I first went days without eating, cutting weight when I was a wrestler. The hunger was maddening, and at some point I was intentionally shedding a lot of water weight too, running wearing a rubber suit and all the rest. You adapt to what you’ve had exposure to, and even that didn’t seem as bad after awhile, being hungry and dehydrated while continuing to exercise. I think my athletic performance did suffer; going back I would do some things differently.
There are a couple of ways to tackle fasting.
Start with skipping one meal. When you can easily skip one meal , then go to skipping two meals. Etc.
Hint: train your body to skip obe meal any time of day. Skip dinner one day. The next day skip breakfast and assuming you are eating at noon, you have fasted for 24 hours. You have to train your body to go longer periods without food. It’s a process.
Good luck and keep us posted on how you ate doing.
Time restricted feeding, often called intermittent fasting, is a great way to prime yourself for an extended fast. Start with a longer eating window like 8 hours and fast for 16 hours. I don’t know what your goals are, but just by doing this you can lose weight and get other benefits of fasting. After you get used to that window try reducing it to 18:6, 20:4,then OMAD (one meal a day). Shoot for your meals to be low carb/keto. This should set you up for extended fasts. Take it easy and slowly.I’ve been doing that for a couple years and extended fasts just sort of happen. I’ve done just one longer fast so far (6 days) and I think that I just started one at 3pm today after a 2 hour eating window. I don’t have a set duration in mind, just have to keep it at 7 days max as I can’t lose too much weight now (150lbs at 6ft is my current weight). Fasting helps reduce inflammation and I also do it for autophagy.Good luck! Slow and easy!