Hi! Hour 58 into my 72 hour fast and was OMAD for about 3 weeks prior. I’m seeing a lot of comments saying their stool tends to get watery. Anybody else get the opposite? I know I’ve need to go for the past 3 days or so but my bowels are not cooperating. Also with as much sincerity as I can muster, I am drinking plenty and plenty and plenty of water. Like 2 gallons a day. Cannot emphasize that enough. Anyone relate? Should I take a stool softener?
It’s normal for fasting to cause constipation.
The main reason you see so many people having watery/diarrhea like stools on a water fast is because they’re taking too many electrolytes… especially Magnesium and to a lesser degree, Sodium.
Both will cause Osmotic Diarrhea in excessive amounts… especially Magnesium.
omg i’m on 57hrs of my 72 hr fast too rn haha! whenever i get constipated during a fast, i find that everything and more eventually comes out right after i break it even after i eat like just 1 egg, which is how i know my stool has been building up lol
i stop pooping after 36 hours and it all goes back to normal 24hr after i feed no longer how long i fast, i have a mostly bean, flax,chilli pepper and rice feed for the first few days.
but yes many days i feel like i have to poop, but never do while fasting.
that sounds like a lot of water. which can drain your electrolytes. i usually only drink 2 liters at most.
When you say “need to go”, are you saying you’re in physical discomfort from not having a bowel movement, or you’re just concerned that you haven’t had one in three days?
If it’s the former, that’s a problem and I wish you luck, but my experience with long fasts is that your bowels simply stop moving as your body focuses on scavenging every last part off of whatever’s currently in there. Which is why taking a stool softener like Metamucil, as I did the first time this happened to me, probably won’t help: the problem isn’t your body trying to push out the stool and struggling because it’s too hard, it’s that your body doesn’t want to eject the stool because it has no other source of scrap to pull nutrients out of.
Others are suggesting that loose/watery stools are a result of electrolyte supplements, but that’s also untrue, because they happen regardless of whether you take supplements: they’re the result of the fact that by the time you eat again, your body’s digested what was once a large, solid piece of stool a week previously into a handful of tiny pellets, and it now ejects it because it’s ready to make room for the new food you just ate.