I first tried fasting to help relieve joint pains when trying to come off steroids prescribed for RA (which as it turned out was long covid). It really worked, and there were side benefits that made me want to do it regularly every other month or so. I have no problem with feelings of hunger, and usually after 3 days I experience an increase in energy, clarity of thought, loss of the bloating which I sometimes get, and a more purposeful attitude to my daily activities.
This time however, 3 days in, I’m feeling quite disoriented, lethargic, and very tired - quite spaced out in fact. I’ve decided to cut short my fast, but I’d be interested in hearing other people’s take on this. I’ve often read accounts of how hard some people find fasting, and also comments about persevering, but for me, up till now it’s been a breeze. My purpose in fasting is to feel good, but this time, I feel worse so I’ve stopped. Am I being a wimp or just sensible?
IMO, if you’re feeling disoriented, you should stop. Just because you’ve managed X days in the past, doesn’t mean you can manage X days now. Sometimes your body needs to be reminded how to fast (so you need to ease back in and work your way back up) and sometimes that particular fast is just not happening (so you need to break and try again another day).
My take on it is whenever you are feeling bad or discomfortable, either phisically or mentally.
Fasting should be hard, but not painful, in an ample sense of the word.
It is better to break a fast while you are feeling well, have a good, healthy refeed, rather than lose control and either binge, get into a tough spot mentally, or risk injuring yourself mentally physically.
This is what is nice about fasting repeatedly and consistently: you start to understand what is normal and what isn’t.
Feeling faint, dizzy spells, blurred vision, begin monthly period for women, feeling your gut “cave inward”, hunger that is very consistent ( other hunger comes in waves which is ok but constant growling and rumbling of hunger means it’s time to break the fast )
I make sure to drink plenty of water and electrolytes before I make that call. Some people need more electrolytes than others. If I have taken my electrolytes and have had plenty of water, I tend to quit if I’m feeling extremely tired, nauseous, heart beating too fast after little movement…etc. bad hunger pains? Not really. I also look out for being really dizzy. I get dizzy from getting up to fast and it goes away quickly. If that feeling lasts for longer periods then I quit. I do try to drink bone broth first and see if that helps then persist on. I did that last week. I started feeling icky 96 hours in so I broke with bone broth. I drank about 3 cups throughout the whole day then the next day I restarted and lasted for another 3 days.