My longest fast a few years ago was about 21 days (IIRC).

I'm now on day two, and hoping to break my previous record.

My only intake is water, green tea, vitamins, and electrolytes.

So what's your longest fast? How did it go?

Any tips for avoiding or mitigating refeeding issues?

18 minutes

No, wait, I had chewing gum around minute 6.

12 minutes

Of course, it took about 3 minutes for the gum to lose its flavor.

9 minutes

Back in my early 20’s I once slept for 12 hours. That was probably my record.

What benefits are there to not eating for 20 days?

The only time I've fasted was before a blood workup, 6-8 hr. max.

Jim

I have no simple answer. I've done a week like it was nothing. Other times one day is too much. My body seems to react different each time. The one thing that stops me most often, stops me before I get started on day one, is joint pain. My knees and elbows just scream. I eat and it goes away. Don't know what the correlation is, but it's there.

When I fast I set a goal and stick to it. I don't want to get tempted to "see how long I can go". That would be a very bad thing for me, my personality.

Water/seltzer and a little salt now and then if I start tot get headaches, that's it.

I did a 30 day fast in my late 20s. The first four days were a bit hard feeling hungry on and off, then after that everything was normal and I didn't think of food.

Keeping up on vitamins and electrolytes makes sense. When ending the fast, I started with broths, added some vegetables, then went back to usual. No issues.

15 hours max and only because I was sick and didn't feel like eating.

24 hours, anything more than that is just starvation and I am not in to those types of things.

A weekend when I was supposed to get paid on Friday. That isn't a joke, it really happened that I was out of groceries (and smokes) Friday and was counting on that check. Oh what fun sitting on the couch and trying to be entertained by three channels and water.

I was nineteen at the time IIRC, and haven't taken a meal for granted since.

quote:

So what's your longest fast? How did it go?

I was heavily involved in graduate nutrition & digestive physiology classes. I prepped for a year with short 2-3-4 days, then worked to up the length by adding a variety of the old school naturopathic models of various intakes.

I finally made it to 33 days with only fluids, electrolytes, a colon cleaning routine.

Leaned a lot. Lost 27 pounds. Spent the last day of fast cutting & splitting 2 cords of firewood, loading-unloading & stacking it.

I was 30 at the time. It was a most invigorating experience.

quote:

My longest fast a few years ago was about 21 days (IIRC).

I'm now on day two, and hoping to break my previous record.

Seriously, why? Especially disturbing is this setting, then breaking, a "record" business.

Other than some medical procedures (like before a surgery) or tests, or some kind of religious ritual, or a form of protest like, for example, Mahatma Gandhi (and I don't think even he went that long), there is no reason to fast more than ~24 hours that I know of.

Signewt,
You've got mail.

If I'm already on a ketogenic diet, I don't find starting a fast terribly difficult.

96 Hours is my longest, I want to try for 100 hours at some point.

40 days on a juice fast. Not sure on just water. I have thought about doing one again. I was amazed at how great I felt during it.

Easy. Survival training at Elgin AFB. 2-3 days. Followed by colonoscopy prep 2 days ago. That sucked. Hungry and that shit made me want to throw up.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Easy. Survival training at Elgin AFB. 2-3 days. Followed by colonoscopy prep 2 days ago. That sucked. Hungry and that shit made me want to throw up.

I've had several colonoscopies, my doctor at the time had a fantastic method. None of the salt water stuff.

2 laxatives
32 ounce Gatorade with a full bottle of miralax mixed in. (tastes just like Gatorade, but had a little viscocity)
2 laxatives

Took about 6 hours to complete and then you went to bed. 18-24 hours without food at most.

If I ever have to do it again ill do this method, regardless of what the doctor says, a clean tract is a clean tract.

Friday, July 2nd this year, I couldn't eat dinner, not feeling well. Couldn't eat on Saturday, either. Vomiting and intestinal pain that afternoon, ER about 6pm, emergency appendectomy just after midnight (there was a waiting line for surgery), no food for about the next four or five days until my system could clean out the bile. Survived on IV antibiotics and Ringer's, not even allowed to swallow water

I'm not exactly sure, but it was five or six days fasting. It's now over 3-1/2 months and I'm still one notch shy of my pre-surgery belt hole.

96 hours for me. I'm hoping to get to 5 days.

10 days, but I was in the ICU on a ventilator and IV antibiotics, so that probably doesn't count...