My first 65-hour fasting experience
Expectations vs. reality
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I’ve been wanting to try fasting for a while, just to see if I can do it and what it feels like. However, with all the training I’ve been doing — I haven’t found the time for it. I’ve kind of been doing intermittent fasting for the past couple of years, eating roughly between 11 AM and 8 PM (depending on the training).
I’ve been reading about other people’s experiences and about the health benefits, that’s why I wanted to try it myself. The benefits you hear about the most are probably:
- Boost cognitive performance
- Protect from obesity and associated chronic diseases
- Reduce inflammation
- Improve overall fitness
- Support weight loss
- Decrease the risk of metabolic diseases
So most of them are things that you won’t notice right away, you just have to trust that what you’ve read or heard is true and that fasting is good for you. Of the things listed above, I was most excited about “boosting cognitive performance”.
However, the biggest reason I do intermittent fasting and why I wanted to do this is because I want to prove to myself that I don’t have to eat. Sounds extreme, right?
Let me explain.
I’m the kind of guy that can’t have any “good food” or snacks at home. Not even things like protein bars or a bag of bread. In the evening I get the cravings and start eating, just because I want to eat. And once I’ve started, I say to myself “I’ve already started, might as well finish it all”. I’ve even had to eliminate certain cooking ingredients because I ended up baking cookies in the middle of the night because I had cravings. I’m the kind of guy that gets obsessed with my thoughts, so when I think about “eating those cookies I have in the cupboard” — I don’t stop thinking about it until I’ve eaten them. So I was hoping that through this experience, I would show myself that if I can be without food altogether — I will probably survive without those cookies in the evening as well.
When I started, I wasn’t sure for how long I wanted to do it. I knew that at least for 36 hours, and if I felt horrible after that then I would stop. I…
