My Experience Fasting

I have to admit: I was a reluctant faster. I was basically a four-meal-a-day eater my whole life. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime snack. The idea of changing that pattern had never crossed my mind. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach when I started seeing patients getting healthier with periods of fasting … Oh no! I am going to have to try this!?!

It took me weeks to get my courage up

After reading and thinking over a few weeks I summoned up the courage to try an initial fast. I decided to embark on the 16:8 regimen because I found a fair number of people online who said they could do it without problems. Since I didn’t want to miss out on dinner with my family I opted for a lunch/dinner regimen. I set out to do this for a month to see what it was like.

I found the first week to be a little bit unpleasant. I was hungry in the morning, but it wasn’t too bad. Better than I expected really. I would have some extra coffee and carry on. The second week was similar. I was missing some nighttime snacking. The third week was so interesting for me. It started to feel normal. I felt better it seemed. I didn’t realize I felt bad before hand but I definitely felt better. GI wise. Energy. It was nice. By the fourth week it felt normal.

After completing a month of 16:8 and being pleasantly surprised at how I felt and how I had adapted I decided to go one meal a day. I learned that Muslim practitioners of Ramadan go for a whole month eating one meal per day every year. If a billion people can do that, I figured I should be able to do it.

My experience eating one meal a day was very similar to the adjustment to a two-meal regimen. For the first week and a half I was missing lunch a fair amount. But I would stay busy and carry on. By the third week it felt normal and the fourth week was the same.

A skill you can learn

At this point I was becoming very encouraged that this is something people can learn to do. I decided to try several other patterns that are in the medical literature. One of which is simply having one fasted day per week and then eating three meals the rest of the week.

I practiced this regimen for 5 consecutive weeks. Full disclosure: I was not successful the first time I tried to skip breakfast, lunch and dinner. Miss breakfast and lunch, that was no big deal. I had done that for a month straight. But miss dinner… Hmm. That was not nice. My wife was cooking. My kids were making fun of me. I was hungry. Now it’s getting real intense.

By bedtime I was pacing around and crabby. It was hard to get to sleep. I woke up at 3 in the morning just absolutely famished like I have not experienced before. I ate 3 dinners worth of food at 3 in the morning and I remember sitting there at 4 AM thinking about how intense that was and how thankful I was for all that food. So that was my first experience with a complete day fast and that was after two months of the other regimens. It’s a big step.

The next week I tried again. I had a similar experience. Not pleasant in the evening especially but this time I slept through the night and got up and had a big breakfast.

The third week with a full fasted day was not quite so bad. Unpleasant still but not so intense. Staying hydrated. Coffee is a friend. Got up in the morning and had a normal breakfast.

Week four of a full fasted day was better. It really wasn’t too bad. Week five is what surprised me the most. I didn’t find it hard. It was pleasant actually. I felt good, especially the day after. I was so surprised. The only way I can describe it is a sense of well-being.

At this point I took a little fasting break. I had put on about 25 pounds during my residency training. That was not really a healthy time in my life, binge eating ice-cream at 3 in the morning stressing out about the code I just ran and the disaster situation on its way.

I resolved to get back into great shape after starting my medical practice. I cut out all deserts and alcohol. I was eating only the healthiest foods. Salads every day. And I was exercising, oh man. Half-marathon training. I was running 60+ miles per week. What confused me is I was able to burn off about half of the residency gain but never more. Shouldn’t it be easier than this? After 7 years of that I was realizing, I am young and basically 100% compliant with an aggressive diet and exercise regimen. If work like this couldn’t burn off extra body-fat what possibly could?

Now here I was. After seven years of unsuccessful aggressive exercise and dietary compliance I had been able to finally rid this residency weight gain in the course of a few months without exercise by trying out some fasting regimens. Wow. That’s cool.

As time went on I tried a few other more aggressive regimens. Alternate daily fasting for about two weeks. Then I found an interesting medical study from the 1960s in which they treated patients for obesity with a medically supervised week-long fast. They had 107 patients in the hospital for a week of water only. The thing that blew my mind is that only two people left early. I would have guessed half the patients out on day 2 and the rest by day 3. However, almost all patients reported the same pattern. Day one they felt moderately hungry, day two very hungry, day three less hunger and hunger resolved day 4, 5, 6 and 7.

“No way is that true!” I thought to myself. I just could not believe that, and I thought no way could I ever do that. But given the success I had with the previous trials I thought, well might as well give it a whirl. Stop at any point. Now I was intimidated by this again. I was still worried something bad might happen. Especially as a doctor I was thinking “What if something bad does happen and I end up in the ER. I would be so embarrassed. Look at this idiot and what he did.” Etc.

My experience with a week long fast

So, here is how it went. I had already completed a one day fast for 5 weeks in a row so the first day was no big deal. But getting into the second day… Now that was the new challenge and man was that intense. That second fasted day was the hungriest I have ever been in my entire life and it was tough. Trying not to think about eating all the time. It’s so easy to break the fast at any point. Just head to the cafeteria.

I drank plenty of coffee and water. I had every advantage as I was working on a 14 day stretch at the hospital at that point and my family was out of town. So, it was work and sleep basically. I almost drove to a restaurant on my way home from work that 2nd night. I remember going to bed that second night and thinking “If I wake up tomorrow feeling like this, I am eating two breakfasts and calling it quits and be happy I doubled the length of time I fasted.”

I got up the third day and was walking straight to the kitchen. Halfway there I am like, “Wait a second, I don’t think I am so hungry.” I take a shower. Evaluate. Hmm. I am still hungry but it’s way better than yesterday. I decide I will go to work. If things are not going well, I will have a double lunch and call it quits then. I get to lunch. It’s the same. I am hungry but it is manageable. I have energy. I make it through the workday. I get home. I am ok. That wasn’t so bad today. I go to bed.

I wake up on the 4^th day. I am confused. I am not hungry. Wait a second. Which day is this? Thank goodness I was taking notes. Is this the second day? No that was the other day that was so bad, and then yesterday. Can it be the 4^th day? Yes, It’s the fourth day and to my great surprise… I am not hungry!  Not only was I not hungry I felt fantastic. I could hardly believe it. I felt like I should be hungry. I am basically trying to convince myself that I really am hungry aren’t I. No, I’m not! I got up early before work and rode sprint intervals on my bike trainer.  Then I worked a full day and was not hungry. I had the same experience the following 2 days also. My experience was just like the patients in the paper.

I felt stronger

So that was my experience with a week-long fast. It was an intense experience but very positive. It was empowering. I always used to stress about getting my next meal. What if something comes up and I can’t make it? Now I have realized if I don’t get my next meal I will be just fine. In fact, if I don’t get my next 17 meals I will also be fine. That is an encouraging thing. A nice skill to have for traveling I have found as well.

After completing this whole fasting experience with many patterns it is interesting to reflect on how it has changed many things in my life. I went through a process from disliking it initially, to adjusting and managing, to finding it quite pleasant. I now quite like fasting and don’t really experience hunger the same way anymore. In retrospect I was hungry a lot of the time previously. This experience helped solidify for me many things that can be deduced from the medical literature. Namely that hunger is based on patterns, that the body can adjust to this practice and that health and well-being can improve.

For me personally I do not want to lose any more weight, but now I really like fasting. Here is a trick: How to fast without losing weight.

Currently I will have one complete fasted day from time to time just because it feels good and for any potential longevity benefit. I also may opt to eat one meal on work days as it is just so much easier and saves time in my day.  But that is about it these days. Most of the time it is three meals a day. Fasting is a tool. If I needed to lose weight I would definitely do more of it.