I’m new to this group, but have done five day (water only) fasts in the past without any science research behind my efforts.
It was during a particularly stressful season of my life. I felt incredibly reset & rejuvenated afterwards, so tried again each year thereafter. It’s been awhile since my last fast. Before jumping in again, just wanna ask …
Are there greater benefits to be had beyond five days, seven days, eight days or more?
‘What’s your body fat percentage?’ is a key datapoint basically (I am not a doctor or researcher disclaimer). Back in the day my afternoon blood glucose was 260 down to 190 after 5 days water+black coffee fast. Was 110 after 8. None of those are good numbers. Don’t be fat and type 2 diabetic and 5 days is probably grand. If you’re 10% body fat male longer fasts probably aren’t as beneficial.
Yes. Your body clears out it’s quick energy supply after about a day, and starts burning fat (ketosis). After about three days, you enter autophagy, which is cellular repair. I fast for about 5 days specifically for autophagy, because I have illnesses in my family that I am trying to avoid, and staying in the autophagy state is one tool among many that I use to lower my risk of developing those illnesses.
It depends on what you’re looking for. The benefits are all “unlocked” at about 72 hours, but those benefits are still intensifying. For example, you’ll continue to get more insulin sensetive, burn fat, have an increased rate of chaperone mediated autophagy, etc. So it depends what you’re optimizing for and how much progress you have to make. You can only get so insulin sensetive.