Water-fast Blogging - Day 5
I got to bed a little later than I’d hoped last night (1:30) and woke up much earlier than I’d hoped (8:30) which has left me feeling weaker than usual today.
I had energy to make it through the morning, but I started to tank pretty hard in the afternoon. I took a nap, but I don’t feel fully refreshed.
Drinking some more water now has begun to help.
Interestingly, while it’s normal for me to need to take a nap in the afternoon, I commonly forget to take naps entirely when I’m fasting, and don’t notice any difference.
Wouldn’t you expect the exact opposite? Probably speaks to how much digestion has been a problem for me over the years — I have less energy when I do eat than when I don’t. (This doesn’t carry over into the realm of physical exertion and exercise, of course. I’m talking primarily about mental energy, I guess.)
Another factor in how I’ve felt today is the huge storm front that has been descending on Albuquerque over the past few hours. Freakishly, I can typically sense this kind of weather, in my body, several hours before it happens, and it makes me feel decidedly unwell. That no doubt played a big part in my descending energy levels this afternoon.
In any case, this is the final day of my fast. I plan to begin my day tomorrow morning with a bit of steamed squash (solids help stimulate a bowel movement, per Fuhrman) and some fresh-pressed vegetable juice.
In recent weeks, I’ve discovered the great joys of making my own fresh vegetable juice. I’ve found it can be a dynamite source of energy and nutrients. I’m looking forward to that again very much.
Overall, notwithstanding today, this is one of the best fasts I’ve ever had. I felt clear-headed and had adequate energy levels through all of my first four days.
I’ve contemplated fasting for additional days, given how well this fast has been going. The usual guidance is to fast until you feel the signs of a fully cleansed body: sweet-tasting breath (which I’ve been noticing more of today), clear complexion (check), and a feeling of pleasant vitality (actually, I’ve had that almost from the beginning, although I suspect it could increase further).
It’s easy to deplete your body, however, if you do lengthy fasts (more than 5 days) regularly — and I’ve been fasting twice annually for several years now. So I don’t want to push my luck.
In addition, I have a wine tasting I need to help facilitate this Saturday for WineQ. While I don’t plan to swallow at the tasting, I suspect that even swishing around delicious high-end wines in my mouth would cause my body to start acting funny about this whole nothing-but-water thing.
Last night I spoke with Damian by phone (part of why I was up late), and he asked if I was still feeling hungry. My answer was a definite “no.”
The physical sensations of hunger largely disappeared after the first day of my fast. My body probably knows the drill pretty well at this point, and it’s probably always felt ambivalent towards digestion anyway.
What remains with me in lieu of actual hunger, however, is the occasional psychological effects of hunger. In particular, I still regularly have innocent little automatic thoughts like “Hm, I guess I should go get something to eat.”
These automatic thoughts have less to do with hunger and more to do with how we come to use food as a form of entertainment. How ironic is it that my subconscious mind sort of assumes I’ve been eating all this time?
Water fasting tends to reduce this psychological dependency on food, giving us the opportunity to develop a new, healthier relationship with the sustenance we choose to eat.
I never got around to writing up the “Tips for Water Fasting” post that I contemplated a few days ago, but perhaps I’ll have time to do it one day soon, after breaking my fast, while the topic is still fresh on my mind.
Given my bad experience with falling asleep so late last night, and my general difficulties pulling myself off the computer in the evening, I plan to boot down now, before 6:30, and plan my evening around an early bedtime. One of my goals this week was to straighten out my sleep schedule and, while I’ve made progress, there’s more to be made. Starting tonight!
So I’m off to play a bit with my Robo-Pong and hopefully have some time to relax with my wonderful wife this evening. I’ll plan to post another update tomorrow with information about my first day off the fast.
It looks like I’ve lost a good 10 pounds so far, and will lose another pound or two before I begin eating tomorrow. That should land me at around my target weight, 170 lbs, by the time I break my fast and resume regular workouts at the gym.
Most looking forward to: Sushi, fresh vegetable juice, and my first meal of steamed squash and green beans with some avocado, a dash of sea salt, a few drops of of lemon juice, and light spritzes of garlic juice. ...A heavenly way to break a fast.
Current weight: 168
is chewing sugar-free gum ok while fasting?
KANO,
No — you don’t want to do anything that will stimulate your digestive system.
Joshua
i’m on day 3 of a water fast. for the first time since i’ve started my stomach has been growling. does this indicate anything? or is it just me wanting to eat?
Hello! Today I started Day 1 of my 6th water fast. I hope to for 21 days, and I very excited. Is it ok to use standard Fleet Enemas for the fast? Thanks!
After reading your inspiring stories I have decided to do a 5-day water fast. Day one went remarkably well. No hunger really until night but I did an enema, took a shower and felt great afterwards. Today is the morning of day two and still feeling good. Thank you for your salt-water suggestions because I think that that has really helped. I have done many one-day fasts to prepare for this one and in the past I started to feel nauseated but not this time, not so far. I have lost 2.8 lbs so far and my energies are still high. I am actually looking forward to the week to come, which is quite unexpected. I will try and post once a day since this is my first fast and it is only 5 days. Thank you all for your posts and encouragement can’t wait to see what this brings me!
Day One Weight: 124.6
Weight: 121.8