Water Fasting: A 5 day journey

To start with what is water fasting?

Water fasting is relatively simple, you only drink water. No food, alcohol or other kinds of drinks. A water fast typically would last 3+ days but people have done it for 10, 20 or even more days. The amount of time you go depends on how you feel doing the fast and what your aims are.

People fasting purely for health reasons usually do 3-7 days and the longer lasting fasts seem to have more emphasis on weight loss, but the number of days depends on how you feel. The more fat you have the more fuel your body has to burn so the longer you can go and if your body tells you to stop you probably should.

With this diet I am going to be drinking warm water with pink Himalayan salt in the morning, regular water throughout the day and then apple cider vinegar with water in the evening. I'm not laying out a specific amount of water I have to drink I'm just going to go off how I feel. After doing a lot of research there is the daily recommended amount of water anyone should drink (about 8 glasses) but when it comes to water fasting height and weight have a lot to do with it, so it comes down to, don't force yourself to down water but always have water with you.

Experience pre-fast:

I haven't tried many specific diets or fasts in the past mostly because the effort it takes, people are all about immediate convenience and gratification rather than long term convenience and gratification, more so in people’s younger years and I'm currently 20 and the convenience of fast food and snacks win me over at least once a week.

However, in the past I have tried some ways of eating due to long term stomach issues, which I have found out are due to a wide variety of problems including; allergies, stress, unhealthy food, medicine and a diagnosed issue I honestly can't remember the name of. It sounds bad I don't remember the name because it was something to do with gut bacteria and fungus that is a result of the above listed points.

Previously I have tried a vegetarian diet for around 6 months when I was maybe 14 that didn't change anything, I probably just wanted to do it because of the cruel way of mass farming animals, but that's another thing all together.

I cut out gluten and processed sugar over a year ago, not entirely because I didn't watch absolutely everything I ate and at some points when I wasn't eating at home I'm sure I would have eaten some things with sugar and gluten. I stuck to this diet strictly for about 5 months and since that point I have been eating a lot less gluten and slightly less sugar than before. During the first 4 months I felt a change but to me it wasn't worth sticking to such a strict diet for the change I felt.

In the past 6-7 months I have been experimenting with how much I eat in a day. Firstly, I tried starting the day with a large breakfast a medium lunch and a small dinner which I really didn't enjoy, It would make me feel hugely bloated in the mornings and then hungry in the late evenings and my stomach felt like a mess, needless to say I didn't stick to that for very long.

After that I tried having more but smaller meals, about 5 a day of varying foods and this lasted a month or there about, I felt less bloated and it helped my stomach again a little bit but nothing huge.

After trying a few other methods advised by doctors or just from research I found the best way for me to eat, outside of the actual food content, was to not eat for the first few hours of being awake as that has never sat well with me and have 2 meals a day. In the time of doing this I have tested a lot of different meals to eat for the 2 meals a day finding that the best thing to eat for my first meal is something that will give me energy for the day but nothing too heavy. As for the evening meal I have found that having a wide variety works best.

After sticking to my 2 meals and a snack a felt a lot healthier, higher energy levels but my stomach still hasn't been perfect. What I eat of course makes a difference but even during times eating this way with a healthy diet my stomach/gut still hasn't been as healthy as I would like.

Aim and motivation:

This brings us to what I am trying now, only drinking water and eating no food. I am going to aim for a 5 day fast and potentially go further depending on how I feel toward the end.

The reason I am doing this is because after occasionally looking into the world of diet and health I recently heard that water fasting works as almost a reset button for your gut, it gives time for your body to work in fixing issues mainly inflammation which even if it isn't noticeably impacting me now it could in the future. I want to give my stomach/gut to time to try and balance out bacteria levels to a healthy stand. I also feel a few joints in my body seem a little off at times so I just want to see how this could help my body and through that my mind as bad gut bacteria and the general health of the stomach plays a big role in a lot of the brains processes, likely why many people say they feel a lot of clarity when trying this fast.

Currently as I am writing this it is a Friday and I plan to start fasting on Monday, I don't have anything to measure myself with in my house, but I believe I am 5ft10" and my current weight is 11stone 11pounds after a not so healthy few weeks and on average I do 30minutes of moderate exercise a day.

Doing a fast like this you will lose weight due to not eating and your body using its fat reserves however it is not looked at as a weight loss diet as its aim is to reduce inflammation and improve health and loosing fat comes as a result of that, also how you exit this fast is important because if you go back to a regular/unhealthy diet the effects will quickly go and the weight will rapidly return, the fast is almost the entry to be built upon. Hence calling it a reset button because if you reset something then do the exact same thing as before the reset, the reset is essentially pointless. So, what you do after the fast is equally if, not more important than the fast itself.

The Fast

Day 1 nothing really to say, I'm sure most people would have had a day without eating or not eating until the evening and it feels just like that, energy levels usual, mood usual and sugar cravings more so than actual hunger. Nothing really to say for day 1.

Day 2 I woke up earlier than usual at 7:30 with more energy than usual. Warmed some water with pink Himalayan salt and drank over 30mins. After this the hunger can be felt consistently coming in waves, mood good. Any bloating feeling on the stomach has gone and it feels more relaxed than usual. In the evening my hands were shaky especially when holding things, I'm not sure of the cause and I usually have quite steady hands but overall feeling fine, nothing much to say.

Day 3 I woke up at around 8:30 feeling hungry soon after I woke. Throughout the day a consistent feeling of hunger which is nagging but relatively easy to deal with, more than the feeling of hunger is wanting to eat food for the taste and the crave of something that lights up the taste buds. Feeling tired throughout the day and I would describe the way I feel best as if I hadn't slept for 2 days. My mood more on a neutral level today, on the happy side but brought down due to the slightly lethargic feeling. In the evening my leg muscles had quite a strong aching to them in the thigh but nothing too painful, my minds more focused on the craving food.

Day 4 I woke up just before 9:00, so later than I should, again feeling relatively similar to day 2. I went for a 30min walk around and felt pretty good, more tired than I usually would from a small amount of exercise but generally feeling good. Overall, I'm finding this easier than expect I can sit with my friends that are all eating and it’s not making me really crave food or any hungrier. I'm really not enjoying the morning salt water and evening vinegar water, making myself drink those is the hardest part of the fast by far.

Day 5 I woke up just before 8:00 with a few aches from sleeping at a bad angle other than that I feel pretty good, I'm not worried about how today will be and look forward to eating tomorrow. I feel I could definitely do more than 5 days with this fast as it hasn't been very hard yet, however my goal was 5 days and I don't feel there would be any benefit to doing more days other than weight loss which I am not worried about. I would say that I'm happy I tried this fast because it has taught me a lot about my body and I intend to eat a healthier diet starting Monday as I have craved healthy food more than sugary food over these 5 days. This evening I feel a stronger desire to eat before which is not due to being hungrier but because I know I'm close to eating again, it's also quite boring to not eat because of the satisfaction that comes with flavour and filling hunger.

Day 6 Overall the fast was a good experience and it wasn't too difficult. I'm stating the day with a small amount of natural yogurt. From lunch time forward I ate a beef bone broth I made with some vegetables which was pretty unpleasant.

Day 7 Again starting the day with natural yogurt. From lunch onward, I ate vegetable soup which was very welcome as it's something I would usually eat.

I would definitely recommend that people try this fast because personally I have learnt a lot from it and I think other people would also. For those interested in trying it is advised to talk to your doctor first as it is not recommended to people who are on regular medication and to people with various health issues also the older you are the more dangerous fasting becomes. I also wouldn't recommend people trying this to just try it you should do it for health reasons, personally I chose to do this fast because the various medications and different types of healing methods I have tried were relatively unsuccessful and I am willing to try most things that could help along with wanting to challenge myself. I will be continuing with an update for days 6 and 7 as they are still part of the fast, the way you come out of a fast is important to hold the impact it has had.

It’s now the Tuesday after so I have had a day of regular eating again and my stomach feels considerably better than before the fast. I dropped to 11stone on the dot so it’s quite a lot to lose in a week, but I would assume at least a few pounds will come back soon just from eating. I definitely feel more motivated to eat more healthy food. Other than that, I don't have a huge amount to say, my stomach is feeling good, but I think it needs at least another few weeks to really see if it has made a real difference and I quite enjoyed doing the fast and would recommend others to look into it.

If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments. I haven't been actively posting on Steemit lately, but I still browse so I will try to reply to anything quickly. I might not be posting anything else for a while I just wanted to share how water fasting was for me!