6 Days Without Food - My Fasting Journey

So some of you might be wondering why I decided to not eat for six days.

First off  and most importantly - I am not doing this to loose weight. I want to be totally honest here with you guys. The reason I started this fasting cure is because ever since I got back from México I have had problems with my stomach. Every time I would eat something I looked like a pregnant lady. I went to a bunch of doctors, checked my blood and had an ultrasound. Nothing really seemed to be wrong - luckily. But still I knew something wasn't right as I kept gaining weight even though I tracked my calories and worked out 4 times a week. So to completely cleanse my body and give my digestion a break I started this fasting journey. By the way please don't just try this by yourself without consulting your doctor first. 

 

 

As I am writing this it is the morning of day number 7 (Sunday) and I have not eaten since Monday night. I want to take you with me now on a recap of my fasting journey. So lets start with day #1.

 

Day #1: This definitely was the hardest one of all. Already at lunch time my stomach was growling for food. I packed a huge thermos of tea and drank  tons of water. By the time the afternoon came around I felt really cold, almost shivering  and was just sooo hungry. I have to admit I actually didn't fully make it through day one and had a little bit to eat at night because I just couldn't take it anymore.

Day #2: This day was much easier. I bought a detox tea and got some cleanse packs for "lunch" from Ringana. I would drink one of those packs for lunch and as the consistency of it was a bit thicker it kinda gave me the feeling of eating soup. :) So that helped me through day 2 and I was also able to do a short workout in the morning.

Day #3: This day was pretty easy as well. Rushes of hunger would come every once in a while. This day however I was very distracted by a lot of stuff I had to do so it was much easier to not think of food. I even did a 40 minute cardio session at night. Today I also took bitter salt - the worst taste on this planet - which really helped to cleanse my body. 

Day #4: By now I kinda had my routine. Detox tea for breakfast, Ringana cleanse pack for lunch and I got these soups in tea bags which I would have for dinner, while drinking about 300ml of Matcha tea and 250ml of coconut water besides tons of water a day. If I really wanted to treat myself I would put a little bit of honey in my tea or drink a shot of oat milk :) Oh yeah and that day I also had to drink 500ml of bitter salt - not very pleasing. 

Day #5: This was definitely the hardest day of all. I had to do a little hike in the afternoon and I just felt my muscles tense up really fast. I had no energy and felt just super weak the rest of the day. I actually wanted to work out - but did not have enough energy to do that. 

Day#6: Weirdly I was still hungry every once in a while on day #6. It would always come in rushes of every 4-5 hours, then I would just drink a lot of tea and I was fine. I had a very weird incident in the morning though. I took some magnesium, a vitamin C pill, and some other superfood supplements in the form of a pill. Bad idea - after about an hour I had to throw up. Definitely too much for my body. 

Day #7: As I am sitting here now writing this I still haven't eaten anything. I will wait until lunch to break my fast. I am super excited. Do you know what my first meal will be? Vegetable brooth with oats. Exciting right? :D So in the first days, but also weeks after a fasting cure you need to be suuuuuper careful with your food intake, since your body is in starvation mode and will store everything you give it. That's why I will gradually increase my calories over the next week. 

 

So what are my insights of this fasting journey now? 

 

I think its crazy how strong a human being can be. I mean I have not eaten for almost a week and still function perfectly well. Its crazy to think that I am living from myself right now, not giving my body any nutrients, but just taking out substance. It kind of gives me relief because I know now that I can count on myself and my discipline. You know whats funny? During the entire 6 days I not once had the temptation to eat food. People were cooking and eating right beside me and I really didn't care. This level of determination and discipline was very surprising for me - definitely something I learnt and hope to take with me through the next weeks.  Someone told me fasting is not hard, but the days after are. So I am hoping to stay as disciplined in the next weeks as I have throughout the fasting cure. 

What I also noticed was that if you don't give your body nutrients your general mood changes. I was very easily irritated and annoyed by people. Call it cranky or hangry - but I don't think I was a very pleasant person to be around the last week. Also I was super cold all week, my body temperature was definitely lower than normal, which makes sense since my body didn't have to burn anything. 

 

My resumé

 

And finally I am sure you all want to know if it helped. As of now I can say it certainly did. Not once was my stomach bloated and I lost 4,5kg within 6 days. The weight obviously will increase again once I start eating again. 

 

It has definitely been a challenge and as of now it seems like it worked - but it really depends on the next couple weeks. I am planning on not eating any dairy and fructose for another week, since that was my main issue and then slowly starting to integrate one after another back into my diet. 

 

I know that I totally cleansed my body, which is an incredible feeling. Also, I learnt a lot about discipline, willpower, managing hunger and determination.