People do it by learning to sit with the discomfort. Fasting is difficult. There’s no hack to make it easy. It does feel easier the more you do it as you get used to how it feels and you accept these feelings as simply part of the process.
The first couple of days are the most difficult. Maybe start with a couple of 24hr and work your way up. This way you’ll experience how it feels without the pressure to continue. Day 3 is always the worst day for me so I plan my fast so that Day 3 is on a Friday when it’s quiet at work and so can easily WFH. Figure out your routine and plan around your bad days.
I tried twice and couldn’t make it.
Those efforts lead me to switch to ADF alternate day fasting 40:8. (Something that had been WAAY too hard previously.)
After doing that for a month, I was able to do a 4.5 day fast - when the month before I couldn’t even do 3 days.
So, the more you fast, the easier it gets. So, keep trying, and one day you’ll get there!!
Two to three days is the hump that’s hardest to get over. After that it really does become easier.
Remember, hunger comes in waves and will subside. The biggest waves are in that window, when exactly varies by person and by what you were eating prior to the fast.
Once your body gets used to going into ketosis you can transition easier. Most people who think they are on a keto diet aren’t really because they are eating to much protein. Very few people can get into deep ketosis without fasting.
So each fast trains your body in the same way weightlifting does. Your body is designed to go long periods without food.
My first fast was 10 days. I only intended 3 days but kept going because while day 3 was the absolute worst (heart palpitations, headache etc due to electrolyte imbalance), day 4 I woke up fine due to supplementing my electrolytes. So I kept going until I felt too weak to shovel snow off my porch. It’s just the first 3 days where I get hangry. I won’t go more than 7 days though. My body does not feel optimal past that. It’s really a conversation a healthy mind has with the body during the fasting process. “Do I feel bad because I’m hungry or miss socially eating or do I genuinely feel BAD in my body and know this isn’t right for my health right now?” Those daily conversations are how I keep going during a fast.
I honestly just keep trying and failing and trying and failing and eventually I win. Lost 35 lbs so far! Basically keep trying, the body learns to fast over time. Some days it’s more amenable to fasting than others. So if you keep trying you’ll eventually stick it out.
You really have to build up to it. Do a 1 day fast every couple weeks or maybe even weekly. Then shoot for a 2 day fast. Then a 3 day.
I’m doing my first 7 day fast, but I did several 3 day fasts in the past few months. And the days prior matter the most. Reducing your calorie intake and eating only whole foods helps a ton with adjusting to the fast.
Being hungry is definitely normal for those first couple of days. After that, it comes and goes in waves, and it becomes a mental battle. When you feel hungry, drink water and have a pinch of salt. Distract yourself. Before you know it, the feeling passes.
The hunger pangs you feel are caused by a hormone known as Ghrelin. The amount of Ghrelin your body produces is predicated by what you’re eating. Carbohydrates = more Ghrelin. Ketosis = less Ghrelin.
Always start a fast after you’re in ketosis…!
The most difficult fast is when you eating carbohydrates before you start your fast… and will remain difficult for 3 days. After day 3 your Ghrelin production will greatly decrease so the final 4 days of a week fast gets easier.
I intermittent fast… 18/6, year round. Then once per quarter I do a 2 week water/salt only fast. The first 3 days are more challenging than the final 11 days.
Less Ghrelin = less hunger.
I essentially had to do it for my health, that helped. I got hospitalized with a serious infection in 2019 and it destroyed my body. After that, I tried to go back to my old life but it got to where I felt horrible all the time. I gritted my teeth and figured fasting couldn’t be any worse than what I was already dealing with. Started with three weeks straight of 72 hour fasts M-W (actually ended with a 96 the last one), each being easier than the one before. And have just gone from there.
That being said, just stick with it, and definitely try to measure and track (photos, description of how you’re doing, weight, pain, mood, etc.). Looking back at my angry Microsoft Word document I wrote the morning of my first fast, on all my pain and exhaustion from when I started really helps me. You’ll continue learn your body over time and start to understand what is truly a sign you need to quit and what is just a lack of hydration, electrolytes, personal weakness, etc. It sucks to break a fast thinking you have to and realizing you just quit early, but it’ll happen…just get up, dust yourself off and take that insight into the next.
Guaranteed your family, friends and coworkers are trying their best to detrail you, so every fast is an achievement IMO. Worst case, if you just stick with shorter fasts, know you’re still light-years ahead of 99% of people just with doing those!
It takes a while to build up. Each time you do it it gets easier. I haven’t gone further than 100h, but I couldn’t do 36h at first. I’ve found regular 36h fasts make the longer ones wayy easier. Basically what I’m trying to say is it’s a waiting game