on the day to day I regularly do 12h during the day without food (almost every work day)
I’ve done a few 2 and 3 day fasts for various reasons
I’ve done 3 or so day stints when sick with rotavirus and when I fucked up my shoulder and waiting for surgery
All in all going with out food for 3 days is not too hard
I fasted about 48 hours to experience a semi ascetic acid trip. Was a good time; had some incredible break throughs. Dived into a pool, and it felt like I was diving into a kaleidoscope of colors. Can’t recommend anyone experience it that way, nor would I say I’d do it that way again, but taking your mind and body through moderated extremes can be pretty profound; assuming you have people around you to make sure you’re not doing anything particularly stupid to hurt yourself or others.
I’ve gone three weeks and change without a single calorie of food. Not by choice - medical thing. Lost about 30 lbs give or take. Was hard to start eating again once I did. Lost additional weight beyond the 30. Went from fat to skinny. Took years to eat properly again. Now I’m fat again :)
Was interesting for many reasons.
- it’s possible if you’re injured to not be hungry and starve to death without feeling any hunger whatsoever
- while I lost fat, I lost more muscle. Crazy how the body canibalizes itself.
- still need water, that you can’t go without. But you can go a long time without food. I could have easily gone weeks longer I think without food.
- Hug your family and always tell them you love them. I lived through my ordeal and gained perspective, but many young people die without saying and doing the things they should.
How long do you think you could go without water as well as food?
No idea. I didn’t drink for three weeks either but I had an IV feed of saline. I think you die of thirst in a few short days.
I’ve fasted for a couple days when depressed and it was fine.
What I can never compare anything to is suffering food insecurity. When I was a kid the union my father was a part of went on strike. My mom didn’t work. I was in kindergarten, and I was starving all the time. Some days it was just flintstone vitamins and juicy juice. Sometimes just a pack of snack crackers. I remember being so excited to get those. Once I was so hungry I climbed the cabinets and was gnawing on dried out brown sugar because it was the only thing I could find. That earned another flintstone. I received a few granola bars from my teachers.
For a long time I used to go into any new house and explore the kitchen and make sure there was food. Also, I end up feeding all my hungry kids now. Costco saves me there.
Sorry you dealt with that level of food insecurity
You’re a good person for making sure those hungry kids kids eat now that you’re grown
✌️
Had ulcerative colitis. Went about a month on Gatorade and clear vegetable broth. Another month or two on TPN after surgery with very little to no veggie broth.
Went from 175 to 115. 0/10 would not recommend.
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Yeah, this was the fourth recurrence of it and by the time I went into the hospital I had lost nearly half of my blood or something. I think I needed four pints iirc. I don’t remember exactly, I was near dead. Kinda sucked. After surgery and a year of healing I was able to regain the weight it and get back in shape. Haven’t had another issue with it since. Plus I don’t have a lower intestine, so no colon cancer! Silver lining and all.
Wow that’s amazing. I think I might have UC. Did it help your symptoms?
What’s TPN?
I hope you don’t. In my case nothing helped so I had my lower intestine removed. The made a facsimile with a section of small intestine and re-plumbed me. It was during that recovery period that I went on TPN to effectively reduce the usage of my digestive system.
TPN is Total Parenteral Nutrition. Basically it’s a large bag of glucose, lipids, vitamins and minerals that is fed through a PICC line (in you upper arm) directly above your heart for thorough dilution and distribution through your bloodstream. An external peristaltic pump doses it into you throughout the day. It’s a trip, albeit cumbersome. Oh, and it does spikeTF out of your blood sugars so you have to take insulin during the process, which sucks.
Did it help?
I have UC too and was put in the hospital for 5 days on a broth diet. It was weird seeing how skinny my legs became.
Ha, oh man. When I finally got unplugged from everything, about two weeks later, I sorta sprinted up a small flight of stairs and felt every muscle in my legs tearing. It was a very strange and uncomfortable feeling. It probably hurt a lot but they had me on some gnarly painkillers. I did feel it the next day though when I got home. That was about 13 years ago. I hope they have better treatments for it now than surgery. It seemed like a better option than Remicade at the time. Oh well, what’s done is done. Basically back to normal after all this time.
Went two days without food. It was pretty horrible and I slept more to cope.
How come you went without for two days?
I was on vacation in a foreign country and my wallet and phone were pickpocketed.
Oh no :/
I had terrible stomach cramps one night. I was so sore that I didn’t eat after that for 4 days. It’s actually way easier than I would have thought, no real consequences.
Do you know what triggered the cramps?
Never really been without water, but I’ve avoided eating for ~3 days due to illness a couple times. It’s kinda easy when there’s a reason for it (nausea, mostly) - when you know the alternative is worse, short-term hunger is only mildly annoying.
Five days without food. I had a bout of gastritus (damage to the stomach lining) and never once felt hungry during that time. I was going about my normal routine and felt completely normal otherwise. Kinda surprised by that.
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There was a period where I would fast every thursday into friday, 24 hours, but I allowed myself water. No real issues. Less impactful than a single beer or smoking some pot.
That being said I have huge respect for those keeping Ramadan.
84 hours without food (that’s 3 full days plus the extra night after). Didn’t feel too bad since after 24 hours my body gave up asking for food so I felt kind of lethargic but not hungry. I did it as a kind of personal challenge, probably ill-advised, but it wasn’t too bad for me. I still drank plenty of water throughout that time. I wasn’t even that hungry when I broke the fast, I just had a light salad, then I felt really hungry in the hours afterwards…
Two days without solid food because my stomach is stupid. I was hydrated the entire time though and drinking ginger ale occasionally.
Did a week as a challenge/experience. I read up a bit beforehand and just made sure I got enough water and electrolytes. Was getting hungry during the first day and more during the second, but then it just kinda stopped. I felt tired and weak a bit but apart from that everything fine.
Without food, I think 2.5 days (somewhere around 2.5 days). Wasn’t bad, although I sometimes get dizzy when standing and it exacerbated to the point I was worried I might actually pass out (but I didn’t; just felt like a had a very low-grade fever for a couple minutes after?)
How come you did it?
colonoscopy. I mistimed things I think and got home really late on the last day I was supposed to be able to eat and by that time it was too late. And I might not have eaten before work…
