On Friday I completed a 6-day soft dry fast and I wanted to share my results. I'm also welcoming any ideas on how I can improve my results in my next fasts.
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**Background**
First off, I'd like to say that I have experience with water fasting (longest water fast was 25 days, with electrolytes). I started experimenting with dry fasting about 3 months ago. I would have started sooner, but I was scared by what I was reading at the other fasting subforums.
It took me a while to go over the first 24 hours without water, then 48 hours, and so on. Especially since my habit every morning was to drink 500 ml of water upon waking up, on both fasting and non-fasting days. I'm proud that DF has given me the power to quit that because it was throwing my electrolytes out of balance constantly.
The 6 days I completed is the longest I have dry fasted so far. Through DF I went from 132+ kg to 119 kg which is my current weight. For the record, I'm 165 cm, 32-years-old. So, I still have a long way to go.
Besides losing weight, I have a few issues I would like to hopefully cure or at least manage through DF. One of them is a droopy eyelid after an infection. The doctor told me that there is scar tissue in the eyelid which makes it droopy (so it's not a muscle or neurological issue), and I would like to see if dry fasting will help with that because it also affects my confidence.
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**What didn't work**
The problem with all my previous fasts was that I was not consistent after the refeeding process would end, and I would gain all the way back and then some more.
For this DF, I paid a lot of attention to not overdo it with calories, and to keep it low carb/keto. Also, contrary to the previous times, I did not allow myself to have a long "resting" period before starting the next fast.
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**Results & Refeed**
* I started this DF at 123.8 kg and after 6 days my weight was 116.8 kg (-7kg).
* No exercise besides some walking.
* On day 5 I started feeling weak and my heart was racing. On day 6 the heart racing became unbearable and I decided to stop.
* My refeeding started on Friday and ended on Saturday night. I ate low carb/keto foods (all vegan) and I drank approximately 3 liters of water each day (1 L with electrolytes, 2 plain water).
* My weight directly after the last refeeding meal (last night) was 120 kg (+3.2 kg from end of DF).
* I started my fasting timer when I finished the refeed, so now I'm \~13h into the next DF.
* My weight 12 hours later was 119 kg. Based on my previous experience with DF, I'm expecting to be around 118 kg at the 24-hour mark.
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**Observations**
* I haven't exercised properly in many years and I'm working from home, which makes me a bit self-conscious about exercing again until I have lost enough weight. But, some mild exercise could help me lose more fat each day. I found some low impact, slow-paced workouts and I will try to do at least 1 daily to see if that will make a difference.
* On the first day of the refeed I couldn't even finish a 500g salad, so I think that I didn't get as many nutrients as I would have liked. Next time I plan to start eating earlier during the day for the first day. I believe that smaller portions spread throughout the day will make it easier.
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That's all I have so far! I'm going to try to do more than 6 days for this DF round. In any case, I'll be posting an update for the results.
If you have any suggestions on what could be improved, please feel free to share!
Answer
Good report.
Walking is great in so many ways so I would suggest more of it during your fasts.
Good luck on your next ones. It can be an up and down process so it helps to keep that in mind so you’re not discouraged. I’ve been fasting for a couple years now and by no means have it perfected. Refeeding and my diet inbetween fasts have normally been an issue for me. Do more updates if you will (and for anyone else reading), it helps to motivate me to do the same.
Answer
it appears losing weight is one of your motivations, depending on what you can in your lifestyle there are options for working out with optimal results: look into bfr training to get more squeeze out of your lifting sets, unilateral exercises to target muscles imbalances and to build muscle faster in conjunction with the bfr, pullups/dips/deadlifts/advanced pushups search yt, plyometrics and uphill cardio / sand terrain cardio.
equally important is your diet, too much protein can cause aminoacidemia, also if you’re loaded in carbs you’re never burning fat so understand your nutrition.
most importantly is resting and the repair and recovery utilizing ice and heat therapy, massage guns, foam rollers, lacrosse and tennis balls, full body stretching, hyperbaric oxygen chambers if you need results asap.
play around with hemp or cannabis gummies for faster recovery and try to get a professional massage once a while to cover your blind spots to avoid serious long term injuries especially at the neck and shoulder and ankle /knee areas .
good luck!