I am on day 9 and in a little under 24 hours from now I will be on day 10 and therefore halfway through my liquid fast.
As previously mentioned, I know liquid fasts can be controversial on here, but I am doing this purely for weight loss. I do not care about autophagy or ketosis or whatever. I read the rules and saw that liquid fasts are indeed allowed to be posted here.
Every day except for Saturdays I drink one 190 calorie Starbucks coffee, plenty of water, and the occasional diet soda. On Saturdays I drink coffee with a little bit of soy milk, approximately 100 calories worth throughout the day.
Ever since I started, I’ve been feeling awesome. I only had trouble sleeping once, in the first few days, but even though I only got 4 hours of sleep I woke up feeling energized. I am even able to sleep now without taking melatonin, which I used to have to take nightly to even feel a bit sleepy.
My stomach and chin are considerably less bloated. I took some progress pictures and was able to actually see a jawline coming in for the first time in forever. My clothes are fitting looser and I actually need to use the drawstring on my sweatpants now, lol.
Weight wise: I have “lost” 17.9 lbs since the beginning of my fast. I am aware of water weight and I know I will be regaining some when I eat again, but this number is just awesome to me. I lost 5 lbs after the first day, which trickled down to 2 lbs a day, and as of this mornings weigh in I am losing a pound a day, which is the rate of loss I believe will continue for the rest of the fast.
After this fast, I am going to take a 2 week break from fasting and eat small and in moderation. After that, I am going to jump back into fast, my goal is to fast 5-6 days, eat one meal, then continue that cycle.
You do you my dude. Ive been fasting for years. sometimes when the hunger is too hard to bear I eat a bone broth or a 65kcals instant coffee.
In the end if you only care for losing weight then the only thing that matters is CICO.
I’m in the “do what works for you” camp. Reading you post helps me decide that, after white-knuckling it through many, many, many water only fasts, allow myself some herbal tea with pure monk fruit (not a blend).
My longest water only fast was 17 days, and I’ve regularly done 3-day water only fasts. But unlike most, I have never gotten to the point of thinking about anything other than “when can I break my fast?”.
But I’m not ready to give up on fasting and figure the little bit of monk fruit a few times a day is better than not fasting at all. Meanwhile, I’ll do my research on monk fruit’s impact on autophagy, BDNF, etc. To paraphrase: what does it benefit a woman to fast for days and lose the skin-tightening benefits of autophagy? LOL