| | Water Fasting

Hi everyone! New to this. Quick questions below.

Okay so this is day 3 of me going 20hrs dry and 4hr eating window. (6PM-2PM dry) I been eating mostly protein and Veggies maybe coffee. Because I still want to continue to workout and lift. Today I decided I want to take this more serious and have this as a lifestyle change. Questions I have: When you break your fast. How much water do you have to drink? Is it necessary? Should I still drink a protein shake since I still want to lift weights? Also for the people that say they fasted for 72 hours etc. are you actually saying NO FOOD or WATER FOR 72hrs STRAIGHT?!! The reasons I want to do it intermittently is so I won’t lose muscle. I mean I need to lose about 20lbs. How do you guys maintain muscle mass? Do you get lose skin after a while? Any tips and advice is greatly appreciated also. Thank you.

Answer

  1. Drink as much as your body asks for. Depending on how long you’ve fasted will affect this. Some people drink their water through food like fruits, others consume some form of drink

  2. Personally I wouldn’t. You won’t die without a protein shake, especially with such a short fast

  3. Yes. 72 hours isn’t that long without food honestly

  4. If you’re doing intermittent you have no reason to worry about loss of muscle mass. 13 days would be different

  5. Dry fasting is a killer of loose skin 👍🏻

Answer

You won’t lose muscle going on long fasts, you lose “protein” but not muscle. You go into autophagy which is your body breaking down and using old bad functioning cells and tissues for food - one benefit is no loose skin, because your body will make use of the extra skin tissue. Your muscles May look smaller, only because they’ve run low on glycogen, they’ll pump back up when you start eating carbs regularly. I’ve been water fasting for a long time but am new to dry fasting, but most the principles are the same, dry fasting is just accelerated.