Post: #41

Hello!

Today marks exactly 3 weeks since I broke my fast. I am doing a final update here and will continue to post on my general life goals in the other forum.

The past 6 weeks have been a rollar coaster! I have had days were I was so high and very low points. Fasting definately makes you think clearly and re-evaluate your whole life. I have made some major decisions in this short period of time- and although I am no where close to the life I wish to create for myself, I have made taken big leaps and I believe it my "journey" will be mcuh easier from this point on.

Benefits I have experienced
1. Bowel regularity- ever since I was little, I have had bowl irregularities. I wasn't constipated by medical definitions, but now that I think about it- going once every 2 days doesn't seem normal! Now I have two- three bowel movements a day. It feels nice to know that your food is getting digested and excreted quickly rather than sitting in your colon for days!

2. Bloating- Although I experienced alot of bloating when I broke my fast, I have none of that at all right now. Before my fast I would get bloated if I ate alot of broccoli (which is my all time favourite veggie! ) and legumes, but now I have no problems eating these!

3. I no longer overeat- once I get full, I stop. Fasting reset my eating habits. The maximum I have eaten since my fast was 1400 calories, but most days were ~1200 cals. I feel satisfied with that amount and have no cravings for anything else. I am still eating vegan and will continue to do so as long as I feel well just eating plant foods.

4. My relationship with food- rather than seeing bad foods and wishing I could eat them, I think about the harm it will do to my body, and how it is not worth it. Also, before I had a HUGE problem with throwing food out. If something was about to go rotten, I would eat it (even if I was already full) so it wouldnt go to waste. Now that I am treating my body better, I have no problem with chucking things out

5. Weight loss- I think I lost 15lbs during these 6 weeks (I would say half was water weight though). For any of you who are wondering why I didn’t lose 20+ lbs, I think the reason is because I have not been active at all. During the fast I remained at home all day mostly resting, while Celes for example did go out and was walking about, ext (she’s also taller) I still have ALOT of toning to do and some more weight to lose. My prediction is if I continue to eat this way and once I start my exercise routine in may which includes moderate exercise (ie fast walking, stairs) , I should be losing ~2 lbs minimum a month, so in 7 months I should be back to my old self!

6. Sleep- I sleep an average of only 5- 6 hours a day now effortlessly. I cannot sleep longer than that, even if I tried.

Things That Were not healed during the fast:

1. My skin- My skin actually got worse once I broke my fast. I even had breakouts on my chest which I didn’t even have during my teen years! I don’t have the answer to this. It could be a number of factors. Once being that I got new skincare products (all organic!) right during the fast, which might be causing my skin issue. Another reason might be bananas which I actually have cut out the past 3 days and see a slight improvement. Another could be stress because I am doing alot of thinking and life analyzing. If you wish to fast, don’t let this stop you- let me assure you that my skin issue is not common, most people have beautiful skin once they come out of their fast !

Tips for anybody wanting to fast

1. Tell somebody or join a forum- I was only able to complete this fast because I put myself at a position where I was being held accountable for my actions. Just don’t go telling everybody you see or you will be dragged off to counselling and being diagnosed as anorexic!
2. Make note that the POST FAST diet is wayyy more important than the actual fast itself. I had issues during the first 2 weeks after I broke my fast. I believe that was because I broke it way to fast- I was feeling really good after the first day and thought, I htink my body is ready for lentil soup now! When it clearly wasn’t just yet. My recommendation is to follow a strict diet of only fruit and veg for every day you have fasted.
3. Realize that the fast is not going to change your whole life! I have to admit, I went in thinking that once I finished these three weeks everything was going to be great, my whole life would be in place. Well that’s not the case. Fasting can definitely move you in the right direction but you have to continue to make positive choices following the fast to see an improvement in your life.
4. Keep a diary/journal while you are fasting! It is fun to go back and read what you went through and to serve as a motivational reminder whenever you are down or feeling like you can’t accomplish your goals.
5. Definitely do it during a period where you have a vacation/very light amount of work. I really couldn’t bring myself to do anything while fasting, except work on my life handbook, listen to music, watch movies (which became tiresome half way through the fast) and rest. During the lat few days I spent all my time just laying down in my bed, doing absolutely nothing.

Would I fast again? Yes- I absolutely would! In fact I am doing another one (10 days) in a few months which I will blog about too Like I said before, I am doing another fast because I want to see if this second fast will improve my skin.

Thanks to everyone who was reading my experience!

Post: #42

Hi Guys,
I am going to document my last water fast here. I figured since its a continuous journey I should just blog it all on one thread.
WELL it certainly has been a journey since the last water fast! I have made countless of mistakes, but of course along with failures you get a new learning experience. This time I am much more realistic about my fasting goals, and I know for a fact that I would never fast after this. (see the thread called “why i would not fast again”).
When I broke the last fast I had this unrealistic mentality that my life was FORVER changed! I basically thought, WOHOOO: I am never going to experience problems again, my old life and old me is gone forever! Sounds stupid I know, but i truly thought that.
After a few days I quickly realized that that wasn’t the case. I still had the same mentality/outlook on life. I still hated myself and didn’t value myself. I continued on eating healthy and doing exercise here and there, but when I started planning my second water fast I suddenly just thought “to hell with it” and went and ate the worst foods imaginable! This “binge” lasted for 1.5 weeks. Not a long time I know, but it of course is not healthy in the least bit and made me gain alot of weight and made me question fasting. I realized that in my last fast I didn’t address alot of things that are preventing me from having a good life, and I wanted to do one final fast to address this. I know I can address these issues while eating properly, exercising, ext but I find it easier to address them while fasting. Not to say I am going to come out a different person by the end of the fast, that’s impossible! The only way I will ever change my life is through experience and implementing what I have discovered about myself during this fast. By gradual consistent action after my fast, I should be able to rebuild my whole life entirely. I will no longer tolerate this yo-yo effect with my life as a whole. This fast is not going to do that- it is only going to give me a foundation.
My fast is going to end july 20th @ 10 AM. That’s 21 days. I have no activates planned at all and I really do intend to do some deep reflections. Like I said though, there is so much you can reflect on... the real change happens when you go outside and implement what you have learned.
So it begins again, for the final time

Post: #43

Hi i actually joined this forum as i was looking for peoples experiences during and after a fast as i myself have just completed a 22 day water fast for the first time. I can certainly relate to some of what u are saying lol, oh no feeling quite like it and am now on my 4th day since breaking the fast and am feeling great. I agree i believe for me personally 10-days would have been plenty, i also had skin issues since a young age and i noticed the improvements, although i would have been lead to believe from all the info i would have seen a much bigger improvment. I think next time i would also check the ph of water as i noticed when i filtered the water it became slightly acidic, so i changed to spring water half way through which was slighty alkaline. I broke my fast with orange juice and later ate half an orange, day two just ate a full orange, banana and small green salad, then on day 3 i felt really weak in a bit of a unhealthy way, so i thought i would listen to my body and ate some home made carrot, squash, onion and salmon soup, it was blended into a liquid and i ate 1 mouthfull every so often, half a boiled egg, yep i know they say u shouldnt have proteins or cooked foods, but i guess were all different. Seemed to do the trick, thought i might have some digestive issues as a result but had faith in what my body needed and the amount, next day i had a salad and then some chicken, and later more of the soup, another salad after that and in the evening a banana and very small tub of plain natural low fat yogurt, i thought i havnt had a bowel movemnet for 4 days so wondring if i was ok, well later i did, excuse the details lol......was fine the first time, 10 minutes later i went again, was fine and healthy, 10 mins later damn, went again, i admit it was a bit of a uncomfortable feeling to say the least but after the last i felt better, i feel like the digestion is top notch even after such a short period of time. In my experience from this i would conclude the main benefits for me were actually after the fast, i believe the food is now cleaning a rested body and ive never felt better, although i believe i maybe deficient in some vit and minerals so started taking a multi today too and feel good, one thing if i sneeze or coff my stomach muscles my abbs pop out like i have done a million and 1 sit ups and i have to stretch it off, kinda like cramp, so getting the potassium in in the form of 1 banana per day.

My advise to any one considering a fast is u may not need to do it for 21 days as its a little too long imo for me anyway and it was a case of breaking my body down and now a case of building it back up with the right diet, like u say its like the fast is a foundation to a new start, i believe after the fast is where the major changes take place.
I would also suggest that (some) people take it easy with the fruit when breaking a fast, fruits real good for you but it contains sugar and that cud feed the nasty bacteria in your stomach creating issues, i feel for me that was an important part, not going crazy with the fruits and listening to my instincts, every person is different. I think a lot of fasters follow the instructions to the book and have great results from what ive read others havnt, again these people should think for themselves. I did, i imagined it was back in the day in olden times and i hadnt eaten for 21 days so just used common sense in what to eat, best thing ive done so far.

I was very emotional after the fast for a few days as a lot of issues from my childhood came back, weird, anyway upon reflection perhaps my child hood issues had manifested themselves into my skin issues, the skin and digestive complains happened at the same time as the issues i had as a kid, strange, now ive dealt with these everything is at harmony. I never thought the fast wud do that, thought it was more a detox, kinda refresh my brain, for me the fast didnt heal me in the way it does others, i wouldnt say it improved my body vitality either, if anything it broke it down, but what it has done is bring emotions to the surface i thought were ok, now ive dealt with these am healthy then ever. I wanted to share my fast with people as i think we all need different types of healing so if an individual dosnt get wat they were hoping for, perhaps its because were looking at the improvement in symptoms, rather then understanding whats happening on on a deeper level, only when we can come to terms and understand that can the healing take place.

Best of luck