First water fast, what did I do wrong?

Thanks in advance to anyone who reads this and/or has any advice. I decided on a whim to try my first ever prolonged (water) fast recently. I’ve been eating essentially one meal a day for a long time now, so going 24 hrs between meals is no big deal. I’ve gone 3 days without eating solids before, but my liquid intake at the time had substantial caloric value though so this was my first true fast. I originally planned to go 7 days of just water/black coffee/tea, salt, and a multivitamin. I’m not overweight, but could definitely lose 10 pounds or so. First 2-3 days I did have hunger cravings, but nothing intense. I had read that the first few days are the worst and after that the cravings subside and you feel more focused with higher energy, so I pushed through. Day 4 and I felt like shit. Low energy, feeling flushed, nausea, difficulty going to sleep, but I decided that maybe tomorrow I’d start to feel the benefits and didn’t want to give up after all this. That wasn’t the case. Same feeling as the day before, but just worse, so I decided to break. I ended my water fast after 120 hours, which is definitely the longest I’ve ever gone with no calories. But I’m just confused as to why I only felt worse and worse when so many other people report some positives after a few days? I was staying hydrated, maybe not drinking as much water as I should have, but never felt close to dehydrated. I took salt/vitamins and I wasn’t even physically active during the fast. It wasnt even the hunger that made me stop, but just feeling sick/weak. I want to hit the 7 day mark on my next attempt and keep pushing it longer in the future. I’m just not sure why it went like this for me. I never experienced any of the positive aspects of water fasting, except for a few moments of determination to keep challenging myself. Any ideas what went wrong?

Answer

ive done juice up to 30 and water to 10 , some where up near 50 fast from 3 to 30 days . 60 year old male 25th year vegan thats been on a whole food diet all 25 . and about every fast ive done has been a struggle with the majority of days feeling weaker than usual . but even on the 10 day water i maintained my regular strenuous outdoor manual labor job while biking - running - lifting . so i felt iffy but was still able to do just as much as always even though it was more difficult to get rolling . though on many fast at about 3 days to 5 i felt great because my gi tract was empty which gave me more energy to to use once i got rolling , made me faster running and biking . plus at work . but didnt neccesarily make me feel stronger / able to lift heavier . and that said even after 50 fast i still felt like an extreme amature at it that has so much more mental strength to work on as a whole bunch of fasting is about the mind . and ive been awayy from fasting bout 4 years , my fasting era between 2007 - 2014 , and just now getting geared up to get back on ‘the old fasting highway ‘ . enjoying the holidays then getting back at it in january . heres my fave fasting authority the late herbert shelton - http://www.loveandtruth.net/shelton-fasting.html

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While the multivitamin has already been mentioned, I’d also like to point out that it could have been an electrolyte imbalance as you only mentioned taking salt. Sodium needs Potassium to function properly, so next time I’d highly suggest adding NuSalt or a similar salt substitute containing Potassium Chloride. Pink Salt + NuSalt is the bread and butter electrolyte mix.

Technically you shouldn’t need the electrolytes until 3+ days, maybe 5, but I’ll drink a cup of electrolyte water containing 1/2 TSP Pink Salt, 1/4 TSP NuSalt, 1 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar (Optional) in a nice big cup whenever I feel light headed, headachey, foggy, etc. and it works wonders at any point.

Also good for hangovers!

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I did my first fast (in many years) just before xmas. Went 3.5 days (85.5 hours) no problem, went very smoothly, and it was quite pleasant.

Wanted to try a 5-day just after xmas. It was a struggle from day 1, and I broke it early at 88 hrs.

I was hoping Try #2 would be easier, because people seem to report that’s how it happens. I have no idea why Try #2 was so much harder than Try #1, but I decided to be okay with the fact that I am a rookie at this. It was actually kind of a tough decision to break early, because I wanted to last until Jan 1, and because I tend to want to be an overachiever. But I was glad I did. In the long run, this is a habit I want to cultivate, and I suspect associating misery with fasting experiences won’t be conducive to enthusiasm in trying again. In another month or two. Good luck to you.

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I have trouble sleeping when fasting, I think that’s normal. I don’t sleep more than about 6 hours a day when fasting. Sometimes I only sleep 4 hours or less, but I don’t get tired. Weakness is also normal when fasting.

I suggest cutting out all of the caffeine next time and see if you feel better.