The more I think about and practice dryfasting the more I feel like the mechanics are similar to fasting on water.
It seems that people who are new to fasting or even just eating keto, struggle with a variety of tough symptoms as they transition from burning glycogen to burning ketones (keto flu). But as their body becomes more accustomed to transitioning between glycogen and ketones for energy then the symptoms of keto flu diminish and often disappear altogether as the body grows used to the process. The skill of swapping between the two fuel sources is developed.
With dryfasting I feel like the body’s ability to create metabolic water when coming from a SAD diet and from consistent fluid consumption is probably very limited - but the more someone practices dry fasting the easier it is and the longer they can go. Your body needs to maintain homeostasis in terms of hydration and dryfasting for metabolic water is part of that process and so once you practice and develop that skill it becomes a lot easier for the body to maintain optimal hydration levels. It makes me think that’s why dryfasters don’t dehydrate to death and don’t get kidney stones the same way people who don’t dryfast do - because your body has now developed the skill to maintain internal homeostasis from it’s own fat stores through metabolic water.
If you’re constantly eating and sipping fluid throughout the day then your body doesn’t have to work to produce an alternative energy/hydration source. With general/water fasting your body gets more efficient at transitioning into ketosis and that switch to burning ketones from glycogen is no longer uncomfortable or taxing. And with dryfasting the more you do it the better your body is at creating it’s own water to the point where you might never dehydrate (apart from in extreme conditions - hot environments/extreme exertion or when you run out of fat).
So I think once you develop the dryfasting skill then your need for water decreases and you can live very healthily on potentially an OMAD or intermittent dryfasting lifestyle, which seems to me much more healthy than constantly sipping/drinking fluid all day (especially on the kidneys - you are resting them just like fasting rests the digestive system). Plus this way of living seems to help regulate weight also.
My final point is that I think if people wanted to dryfast for quicker weight loss than water fasting but were worried about lengthy dry fast then an OMAD dryfast each day with no food will (from my experience) yield about a 1.5-2lb weight loss each day whilst being more manageable and still allowing for some of the healing to take place.
Sorry for the long post and hope it’s not too rambling.
there is only one symptom that kept me from dry fasting longer than about 30 hours. That was intense UTI like symptoms. Just a constant burning sensation and need to pee even when I didnt need to. I asked and did research to no avail. As the years have gone on I think i have an idea of what is going on. We recently found out my wife has Herpes and I probably have it too(have not been tested but ya know…do the math.). I think the burning sensation is autophagy attacking the virus. Meaning if i just let it do it then it might eventually stop once its been eliminated. I never go long enough to find out.
I’m semi-experienced with intermittent fasting and have done some very short (less than 2 days) WFs, but can’t seem to get into get through even a single day of DF without succumbing to awful headaches. Would really like to work my way up to 3 days soft dry for healing chronic illness. What am I doing wrong?