My Longest Fast

I'm currently in the middle of the fourth fast of "Fasting February" the longest fast of my life. As I write this I'm over 203 hours fasted.  NOTE:  Fasts over 7 days should always be monitored by your physician. I got my electrolytes, potassium and magnesium levels back from the lab and all are in normal range.  So I should be fine continuing as long as my body is telling me its OK.

I'm particularly interested in doing this experiment now because as I continue to lose body fat, I may not have the fat reserves to handle fasts of this length easily for much longer. (A good problem to have!)  I have noted a few things different from the 4-5 days fasts which I do regularly:

  • When I wake in the morning I cannot get back to sleep.  I'm getting 5-6 hours of sleep instead of the 7-8 that I normally get.
  • When I wake up I feel dehydrated.  I take salt and water immediately, so the problem is remedied quickly. But that is something I don't normally experience.
  • My weight is slowly going down these last few days vs several pound jumps experienced early on.  I'm guessing that's because I've lost almost all of the water weight I'm going to and now I'm seeing mostly fat loss.
This is definitely an interesting experiment. I plan on continuing for a few more days, but  I will listen to my body and re-evaluate every evening.  If  at any point I'm not feeling right, I will break my fast.

I haven't broken into the 230's yet, but I have officially lost a little over 20 pounds during "Fasting February".  I expect a large amount of water weight to come back when I break this fast, so I'm sure not all of this is fat.


 Date  Fasting Day?  AM Pounds  AM Glucose  PM Ketones
1/31/2018   No 262  95  1.1 
2/1/2018   Yes 263  105  2.0 
2/2/2018   Yes 258  96  3.0 
2/3/2018   No 254  77  1.9 
2/4/2018   No 258  81  1.4 
2/5/2018   Yes 262  105  1.3 
2/6/2018   Yes 258  89  3.2 
2/7/2018   No 254  79  1.9 
2/8/2018   Yes 258  94  3.3 
2/9/2018   Yes 255  83  1.4 
2/10/2018   No 255  89  2.2 
2/11/2018   Yes 257  91  2.5 
2/12/2018   Yes 253  90  3.8 
2/13/2018   Yes 250  86  4.7 
2/14/2018   Yes 249  78  4.7 
2/15/2018   Yes 246  78  4.8 
2/16/2018   Yes 244  79  6.1 
2/17/2018   Yes 243  78  4.6 
2/18/2018   Yes 242  80  6.1 

My next blog post will include an update about "Fasting February".  You can also read my last blog post which discussed the 95 hour mark of my fast.
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