We all gotta eat, but we all do it different ways. Some people love food and indulge in it as much as they can. They eschew serving sizes and calorie counts and turn every meal into a buffet. The more health conscious tend to regulate what they eat and cherry pick what they think are better foods and proportions; regardless, everyone gets hungry. It is our hunger that pushes us towards that low hanging apple. It is hunger that pulls back a bow string with a nocked arrow. But, what if you could say no to that hunger? It is a simple idea that is more exhausting than it sounds. I am talking about the act of fasting: purposely going without food. It is an ancient practice that many people still do today for personal or religious reasons. I can tell you from my own experience that it is an endurance test you won't forget.
I decided to begin with intermediate fasting as a way to lose weight. I have previous experience with ketogenic dieting, so I was aware that I can go long periods without food and still be comfortable. I wanted to get into a ketogenic state and begin to get an idea of what fasting felt like before I fully committed to it. A ketogenic state is when you deprive your body of carbohydrates in order to produce ketone bodies in the liver. These ketone bodies will begin to break down body fat into glycogen in order to fuel your body and keep you alive; after all, the reason we store body fat is so we won't starve to death right away. If I was in ketosis before my fast, then I would be in better shape to lose weight and deal with the hunger. With this in mind, I began to prepare my meals accordingly.
In the two days leading up to my fast, I only ate four times. Each meal was the same thing, roasted chicken, and a yam. I would wait until about 10 a.m. to eat breakfast, and I wouldn't eat again until around 6 p.m. for dinner. Knowing that I wouldn't eat for hours, I tried to eat as much as I could to hold me over until my next meal. This became harder to do as my fasting went on. By the second night, my final meal, I was only able to eat a single chicken leg and half a yam before I was totally stuffed. I felt sick like I had over eaten, but the portion size was less than half of what I used to eat. Despite the discomfort, I was happy about this. It hurt to eat food, so I wouldn't be as inclined to cheat and eat something while I fasted. The next three days would be nothing but water.
There are hunger pains when you fast. Your stomach will gargle for food. That isn't the hard part. The hard part is pushing past the idea that you have to eat or you'll starve to death. I was 222 lbs when I started the intermittent fasting. I was not going to starve to death. I did spend a lot of my time thinking about food though. I was keeping track of the hours since I had last eaten, and I was counting down towards the three-day mark. I wanted to eat, but I wanted to see that I could not eat if I put my mind to it; fortunately, my mind was occupied with weird thoughts and feelings.
Monks and Holy Men will fast in order to have visions or clarity. I now understand why. By the second day of no food, I felt far away. I would sit and stare at the wall with a floating feeling in my mind. It was like my brain had detached from my spine and was just bobbing around in my head. I felt like I was lighter than I should be. Hours would pass in a surreal glow that felt like a minor hallucination at times. The first night of my fast, sleep was difficult. I was tired, but when I put my head down and shut my eyes, my mind raced. I was in a half-lucid state and dreaming without really being asleep. I have no recollection of the first night's dreams. I just recall them changing suddenly and frequently. My mind was flipping through channels on a t.v. with a million stations. I think I only slept about four hours in total. This only occurred the first night. I got a full nights sleep the next evening. I had a dream about eating roasted chicken with Arnold Schwarzenegger in a space station. My mind was clearly fracturing.
On day three, I broke my fast. I had achieved my goal and experienced something I never thought I would actually do. I made a small meal out of chicken stock and some vegetables. I didn't want to jump into eating anything too big right away. My head felt like it was screwed back on straight the next day. Over the course of only five days, I went from 222 pounds to 213 pounds, then back up to 216 pounds after finally eating again. Still, having a net weight loss of 6 pounds in only five days isn't bad. Some people fast for ten or thirty days and lose substantially more. One man, Angus Barbieri, went over a year without eating! He was also about 460 lbs. I honestly might try to attempt an extended fast someday, but for now, I'd rather eat healthy and workout.
