| | Water Fasting

Do you need electrolytes in 4 day fast?

[removed]

Stop Fasting Alone.

Get a private coach and accountability partner for daily check-in's and to help you reach your fasting goals. Any kind of fasting protocol is supported.

Request more information and pricing.

Answer

There’s two main complications from lack of electrolytes:

  1. Sup optimal performance while fast. Feeling cold, sluggish, sleeping too much (or having insomnia), headaches, cramps, etc. The symptoms are felt differently by different people.

  2. Refeeding syndrome: potentially fatal, is caused by an electrolyte imbalance either due to long fasts without electrolytes or several shorter fasts without replenishing electrolytes well during refeeds. Depends on the person’s diet, their activity levels, what they eat during refeeds, how their body maintains electrolytes. There are no symptoms: you refeed, that generates a electrolyte flush due to electolyte depletion and you may die. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2440847/#:~:text=Refeeding%20syndrome%20can%20be%20defined,may%20cause%20serious%20clinical%20complications.

So it is impossible to know whether you need them or not. But if you took electrolytes without needing (in a reasonable dose) your body will just eliminate them. If you needed them and didn’t take, you might feel miserable and potentially die.

Answer

Everyone is different and every fast is different.

Maybe you won’t need electrolytes the first 3+ day fast, or the second or the third. Maybe you will really really need them on day 2 and not make it to day 3 of a 5 day fast. Why take the chance? Start your electrolytes on day 1 and that’ll never be the reason you feel bad or don’t make it.

Electrolytes won’t hurt you and aren’t unpleasant so why see how long you can go without having symptoms? It isnt a competiton.

Related Fasting Blogs