My 3 Day Water Fast Lessons in Learning Your Body

Why would I want to do this?

I had been curious about fasting for a while. Not so much from a weightloss perspective (because I feel like these quick fix options are mainly temporary) but from an overall health perspective. I’ve struggled with hypertension since I was in my mid-twenties, a lovely gift of heredity. I read about water fasting in a few several seemingly legit blogs online so I decided to give it a shot. The health benefits of water fasting seem to include: rebuilding your immune system, lowering blood pressure (good news for me), enabling the body to retain lean muscle (triggers HGH), increasing metabolism, lowering blood sugar levels, and boosting brain power. Now, I will admit, there’s a lot of conflicting information on the internet (God love it) about how to go about a 3 day water fast and the rollercoaster of feelings you will have undergoing such a dramatic change in diet. So here’s my account to add to the plethora of conflicting accounts!

Preparation

Some articles I read suggested that you should begin preparing for a fast by basically eating clean for up to two weeks in advance while others simply suggested not taking in meat the day before you start. I chose the latter since I had planned to do the fast on a Tuesday through Thursday and I was just reading these suggestions the weekend before that Tuesday. So the day before starting my fast I ate veggies and carbs. I also got in a heavy workout (a glute/hamstring workout to send me off) because I knew my energy would likely be depleted without eating over an extended period of time. Plus, my body is used to eating a good amount of carbs before going to the gym. I finished eating at around 9 pm Monday night (yes, I know it’s bad to eat that late) - so 9 pm was my beginning marker for fasting.

The Arduous Journey

Day 1

Most of the articles I read, which were first-hand accounts, about fasting cited that Day 1 was the easiest day to get through sans food. It was the opposite for me. I didn’t know at the time but Day 1 would be the worst. As I sit here, 12 hours post-fast, I still cringe at thinking about how I almost lost my mind. My stomach growled non-stop, I was irritable and my brain didn’t seem to be functioning. If Day 1 was any indication of what was to come, I was in trouble. Still, I powered through.

Day 2

I woke up Day 2, not feeling horrible, which surprised me. I read that Day 2 was the worst for most people. I was relieved to find out that I could drink unsweetened tea (which happens to be a needed daily staple for me). Some articles I read said you could have anything to drink that was under 50 calories which I guess might include coffee with certain types of creamers and possibly artificial sweeteners which have no calories. My thought process was to stay away from calories all together, I mean, you’ve already gone this far right? Let the body do its thing. Throughout the day I felt more energized and suddenly felt the need to cook. I planned an Asian themed dinner and added baking cookies to my to-do list. Baking cookies also came in handy as an activity for my daughter and I and coincidentally she was learning about measurement conversions in school this day (Bonus!). I cooked my glutes off! (not literally). I was eating vicariously through the smells emitted from the pots and woks. I felt good. One more day to go.

Day 3

Ugh. I woke up feeling nauseous and a little loopy. I had a busy day so I knew I had to be functional. I bought tickets to a movie that started at 7 pm that night because I knew once the movie was over I could break fast. I read that a lot of people experience lucidity on the third day but this was not the case for me. Alas, I’m headed home from the movies with my daughter in tow, dreaming about bone broth. Yes, bone broth. This 40 calories I was going to gingerly sip was a precursor to the spinach salad and salmon I had awaiting me.

Breaking Fast

I was told I may experience a feeling of euphoria at some point along my fasting journey but I can say the only true joy I felt was putting my bone broth in the microwave and knowing within two minutes I could “eat”. I consumed the broth with caution and paid close attention to how my body was reacting at the warm liquid trickled through my digestive system. Let me note that bone broth leaves a lot to be desired in the way of broths but nevertheless this was probably the safest way to venture back into the world of caloric intake. I felt ok. Time for the real, meat and potatoes (kidding, no carbs yet). I started with spinach with a little lime vinaigrette and my body seemed to receive it well. Now on to the cedar plank salmon. I hate about 6 ounces of salmon and while I didn’t find it as satisfying as I thought I would, I was nevertheless happy to eat. I knew by morning to expect a bowel movement, which I was looking forward to experiencing (TMI?). Much like the bone broth, the BM left a lot to be desired. Although considering the small amount of food I consumed, it might be on par. Let me back up though, breaking fast might have been the most confusing part of this experiment. There was a myriad of advice on what to eat after the 72 hours. Some blogs said to eat veggies and fruit while others warned against fruit and particularly fibrous vegetables. Some said meat, like fish or chicken was ok in a small amount while others warned against animal products all together. I decided to go the “keto path” as exhibiting by the spinach salad, salmon and ever so disappointing bone broth. It seemed to work out for me alright. I did however wake up with a massive headache this morning! I have yet to eat and it’s 11 am now. I feel my stomach griping at me but I’m less moved by the requests of my stomach than I was before. I will probably eat an egg soon. I must go to the gym today since I haven’t been for three day and I don’t feel any soreness from my last workout (that’s how you REALLY know you need to get back to the weights). I’m slightly nervous about going to the gym without consuming carbs prior to going but I don’t want to disrupt all the good stuff I have going on right now with a bunch of sugar.

Only time will tell if I will realize all the benefits of this fast. I think some of the perceived benefits come from the person wanting to make a conscious effort to make healthy changes in their life since they will-powered their way through such a tough process. Either way, I think it was worthwhile experience. My awareness of how my mind dictates so many of my eating habits is enough of a benefit for me to recommend this fast to others.

UPDATE:

Nearly three months later and I have not really noticed any physical benefits from the water fast. I definitely didn’t drop any weight even initially which wasn’t my goal anyway. It didn’t have any effect on my blood pressure. I can say I haven’t been ill, aside from seasonal allergies (which seem to be every season in the Houston area).