About 2 years ago I tried to dry fast a few times, and only barely made it to 24 hours once, and stopped around 18 hours the other times. I just got too thirsty and headachy. I would however water fast for a few days around that time without a ton of effort.
This time around, I didn’t even intend to do an actual fast. Oddly enough, I was giving a urine sample for a test that requires concentrated urine, so I was advised not to drink fluids for 12 hours before providing the sample, and recommended no food either. Piece of cake (that’s a bad phrase to use I guess, but you know what I mean).
Anyway, after that 12 hours was up, I felt no thirst and thought maybe this would be a good opportunity to push it further and try dry fasting again. I guess it was, because it’s been 26 hours and I still have no desire at all to drink fluid.
And yes, I’m of course not eating either. I haven’t had food for almost 48 hours actually. I’m hungry, but not thirsty.
This isn’t a big deal or anything, I just find it a little bit perplexing and was curious to see if anyone here had any thoughts on it.
The hunger you feel is actually thirst! People often mistake thirst for hunger and end up eating, when the body is actually craving hydration. If you dry fast long enough, you’ll notice the difference :)
I came across the same phenomenon myself. The first time I dry fasted, I was extremely thirsty even a few hours in. Now, after dry fasting multiple times for 36 hours each, I hardly get thirsty at all.
My hypothesis? I think it is because of metabolic water. I think the first time I fasted, my body was simply drying out. Now, I think my body has since adapted to squeeze water out of my metabolized fat cells + oxygen to create enough water as it needs (or as much as it needs in 36 hours).
The downside is, is that I still get terribly hungry so I don’t end up pushing my thirst limits.