Tried a 72 hours Fast..Harder than I thought. Anyone try it?

[robm3]

I've been on the 5/2 diet for a month or so now, been great as I've lost around 4kg with no side effects.

Then I got to reading about how a 72 hour Fast allows your body to regenerate certain cells as well as cleanse certain other organs. All seemed perfectly sensible to me and I have no medical conditions sooo...

Wednesday night I finished my meal and started the Fast (still drinking fluids though, only water and green tea).

Thursday was a little hungry but as I'd been doing the 5/2 this was no bother at all.

Friday morning and afternoon I started to feel slightly more hungry but still no real issue.

Friday afternoon the changes started to occur, started to feel a little irritable and tired.

Friday night started to feel lightheaded, not hungry but just lay on the couch most of the evening, went to bed at 10pm.

1am Saturday I woke up in a bad way, feeling extremely dizzy, my skin felt greasy and smelly, had no energy and couldn't focus. Starting to think this was a dumb idea so broke the Fast and had some fruit (that I'd put aside for this very reason). Also had a bath. Then fell asleep on the sofa as couldn't be arsed to get back to bed. Lastly was feeling very grumpy

By Saturday afternoon I was feeling fine, in fact I felt pretty good.

Then I read people do 5, 7 and more days. Well fair play to them because I couldn't get to 3 days!

My wife reckons I was starting to detox and the symptons were all the rubbish coming out but in truth I have no idea. I suspect it was the Ketosis stage kicking in.

Anyone else tried to do longer Fasts?
Any tips?

[Brother D]

I managed 5 days on just drinks. It was however in a hot country which I think helps. Only drawback was like you I felt dizzy but wasn't particularly hungry (never really am) so decided to have a meal with mates as any longer without food I thought would be detrimental. Unfortunately a large place of chicken and chips wasn't the best idea and I threw up at the restaurant... so if you do go a long time not eating makes sure you have small portion so to start with on re commencing...

[StangGT]

Is this genuinely good for you? Not trolling, just interested ...

[grumbledoak]

StangGT said:

Is this genuinely good for you? Not trolling, just interested ...

If you are permanently stuffing your face with crisps and sweets then stopping is better than eating more of them, but generally 'Detox' is fashionable bks. Your liver and kidneys are doing it 24x7 and they get a vacation when you die and not before.

As to whether fasting is actually good for you? I suspect that "a bit of discomfort being good for you" is one of those rubbish inverted logic theories, like Puritanism. But it cannot be that bad for you either - you do it between meals and overnight anyway. And at the other extreme you have the same basic body as bears that hibernate. Indeed the peasantry used to hibernate when there simply wasn't enough food to move about much!

[Hoofy]

Wot e sed! Anyone over the age of 15 and not female should know that detoxes and cleanses are stupid concepts as the body is set up to do that. Like when you eat raw chicken, your body goes into automatic detox mode.

[robm3]

Science says otherwise:

https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-c...

[Rayy]

'nuff respect. I am currently on 5:2 diet and find the hunger pangs enough to cope with.

[Rayy]

'nuff respect. I am currently on 5:2 diet and find the hunger pangs enough to cope with.

[Hoofy]

robm3 said:

Science says otherwise:

https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-c...

'Course, you know how you can stop ruining your immune system? Sleep more and eat less st.

[vanordinaire]

I've been on a 'sort of' 5/2 since Christmas,eating only fresh fruit and veg on Tuesdays and Thursdays. last week I stretched the 'fast' days to Wednesday as well. Absolutely no trouble at all, the fruit seems to help by filling my stomach. I'm planning on doing the same for a few weeks more. I've gone from 20.5 stone at Christmas to 18.5 today. I plan to reach and stop at around 16 stone by summer.

[smiffy180]

I did it once (fasted 72hrs)........ but I was on a drip awaiting a operation

[Pothole]

Hoofy said:

robm3 said:

Science says otherwise:

https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-c...

'Course, you know how you can stop ruining your immune system? Sleep more and eat less st.

Science actually said:

cycles of prolonged fasting...periods of no food for two to four days at a time over the course of six months

The piece also makes it sound as though this Longo character is just finding data to fit his agenda and back up earlier "findings"

"Prolonged fasting forces the body to use stores of glucose, fat and ketones, but it also breaks down a significant portion of white blood cells. Longo likens the effect to lightening a plane of excess cargo.

During each cycle of fasting, this depletion of white blood cells induces changes that trigger stem cell-based regeneration of new immune system cells. In particular, prolonged fasting reduced the enzyme PKA, an effect previously discovered by the Longo team to extend longevity in simple organisms and which has been linked in other research to the regulation of stem cell self-renewal and pluripotency — that is, the potential for one cell to develop into many different cell types. Prolonged fasting also lowered levels of IGF-1, a growth-factor hormone that Longo and others have linked to aging, tumor progression and cancer risk."

[Brother D]

StangGT said:

Is this genuinely good for you? Not trolling, just interested ...

I need to add the 5 days thing that was a one-time personal 'test'. I do the 5:2 fairly regularly, anything longer than 2 days without food is too disruptive to personal and work life (I'm a mardy bd at the best of times)

[Hoofy]

What science won't tell you is that the last 3 hours will be spent in a police cell because you've just killed someone who didn't move out of your way quickly enough.

[amare32]

Is this handbags.com?

Fasting are for women..

Seriously, provided that you are exercising the right amount, eat a healthy balanced diet and rest well then there's no need to deprive yourself of food for 72 hours.

[Vocal Minority]

It does sound like a slightly pointless exercise to me I am afraid!

[ruggedscotty]

On a lighter life style diet just now and its hard -

Limited food - basically food packs to trigger ketosis and this burns fat and helps you lose weight - can lose quite a bit of weight but it is difficult for the first three days.... body needs to adjust and it is a bit of a shock - but once over the transition its okay. Only side effect is horrendous breath with the keytones.

be careful with the fasting as it will affect your blood sugars

[LordGrover]

I doubt short spells of fasting are harmful. Most creatures have to endure hardship and deprivation as a matter of course, it's even likely that it may be beneficial. If a few days without food made us too weak to chase down prey or forage for fruit and nuts we probably wouldn't be here. More likely it sharpens senses and reactions to get over the hump.

[probedb]

LordGrover said:

it's even likely that it may be beneficial.

Any evidence of this? As in scientific proof that it's beneficial.

[LordGrover]

probedb said:

Any evidence of this? As in scientific proof that it's beneficial.

Not that I know of or care about.
It just seems sensible that before we got all civilized and stuff there would've been the odd day or week when food was scarce. If we went into meltdown and weak as kittens we'd be unable to find/source fuel/nutrition so it's more likely to me we'd actually get better vision and reflexes to find/catch the scarce food.
I expect we can find 'studies' proving either viewpoint and several in between.