Thanks for the information. Sorry, I wasn't clear in my reply: I know what the concepts of BMI and body fat percentage are, I just hadn't calculated them for myself. :) In any case, thanks for doing the calculations for me. If you want any more information about my experience with fasting, feel free to ask!
For more context: I am a man, 1m85 tall (6'1") with a medium build. At the start of my third fast I was 58 years old and weighed 109.2kg (241 lbs). After 75 days I had lost 30.1kg (66 lbs) and weighed 79.1kg (174 lbs). At that weight I look healthy and slim, but not 'skinny'. I have no idea what the BMI or fat percentages are. The vast majority of weight lost was clearly fat. I assume some muscle was lost too, but I don't care about that since if you are 30kg overweight your number one priority should be losing all that blubber.
Re refeeding: I did not do refeeds during the fast. As I said in my original post, this was a zero-calorie fast. I consumed zero calories during the entire 75-day period. After the fast ended, I started eating very cautiously: bouillon, broth, salads, very small portions of meat and vegetables.
As you can imagine, after not eating for 75 days your stomach 'shrinks' and it does not take much food to feel full. At this stage, the main concern is not to let yourself slide back into the habit of overeating.
I have done three extended fasts in the last five years. I'll give a quick overview below. If anyone is interested in more details, please let me know and I'll create a full-on effort post.
Note: All of these fasts were 'proper' fasts, i.e. zero calories were consumed during the fast. I drank water (with electrolytes added), black coffee, tea and zero-calorie soft drinks throughout. Nothing else. The main purpose of fasting in each case was weight loss.
Fast 1: 26 days, of which the last 7 days were not only zero calorie, but also zero liquids! Yes, I know that sounds unbelievable, but it's true. I lost 18kg during the fast.
Fast 2: 40 days. Lost about 20kg during this fast.
Fast 3: 75 days. This was by far the most successful fast. Not only did I lose 30kg, but I kept it off for the better part of a year.
In my experience, fasting absolutely works. I had plenty of energy for ordinary activities, such as work, hobbies, etc. The physical part is not hard and I very rarely 'felt hungry'. The hard part was psychological.
To sum up, if you are significantly overweight then zero-calorie fasting is surprisingly easy, but your mind will fuck with you. The most important stage is the post-fast period, when you need to muster your forces to keep from sliding back into your old habits that made you fat in the first place. My third fast (which ran from May to July 2023) resulted in me hitting my target weight and keeping it off until the end of the year. Unfortunately, since the start of 2024 I have started gaining weight again (about 12 kg so far) and will probably be doing another fast again soon. If so, I will document it here.
Yes, it is much easier of you don't have to cook meals for the family. I live on my own, but have shared custody of my young daughter, so I did have to cook for her when she was with me, but it was doable. Having to cook daily for a family would be much harder.
The two key pieces of advice I would give are 1) keep yourself very busy, ideally doing real things in real life, and 2) stay off the Internet, since it is easy to start going on recipe sites, watching food videos, etc.
By the way, the first time I did a fast, my goal was not to do 10 days or 20 days, it was to do 2 days. Then after 2 days, I realised that it wasn't that difficult, so I decided to add an extra day, and then I added anther day and so on.
More options
Context Copy link