I want to share my fasting experience with full honesty, because I know a lot of people here fast for different reasons: aesthetics, weight loss, health, discipline, mental clarity, you name it. I’ve been through all of those phases. But what fasting eventually revealed for me went much deeper than anything I expected.

I’ll keep this grounded — no esoteric claims — just what actually happened in my life.

How It Started

I began fasting during a period of my life marked by severe PTSD, anxiety, depression, and years of carrying the weight of environments that forced me to harden my naturally sensitive, empathetic nature. I had overcome substance dependence with the help of psychedelics, but the real shift happened when I discovered ascetic practices — especially fasting.

At first, my fasts were short: 24 hours, 2 days, 3 days. But I started doing them intuitively — guided by what felt right for my body rather than by any app, schedule, or rule.

Last December, I did a two-week fast. It taught me a lot, but I sensed something unfinished in myself. Like I had touched a door but not walked through it.

The Long Fast: 33 Days

In March, something in me told me to fast again. I didn’t plan it. I didn’t announce it. I just stopped eating and let my body and mind follow a rhythm that felt natural.

I was working as a bartender at the time — late nights, unpredictable energy, people coming in to escape their lives. I was fasting quietly while spending hours surrounded by alcohol, noise, overstimulation, and emotional turbulence. Nobody noticed until around day 15.

By day 20, something shifted.

Without consumption — without constantly feeding, numbing, distracting — something primal and deeply authenticcame forward in me. My relationships changed. The people I connected with were more empathetic, more creative, more open. I felt aligned with something I had lost touch with for years.

I intended to fast 40 days. My obsessive discipline pushed me hard, sometimes too hard. I stopped at 33 days. Breaking the fast felt like breaking some personal ideal — but it also broke something inside me that needed to break. And that allowed a different kind of clarity to come through.

What Happened After

Coming out of the fast was its own journey.

The integration was intense. I started feeling a kind of meaning and coherence in things I used to overlook. Not in a mystical sense — just a sharper awareness of how my choices, my body, my energy, and my environment interact.

Since then:

• I eat intuitively, some days quite lightly, some days fasting again.

• I spend long periods outside in the cold to acclimate and strengthen my body.

• My posture, emotions, sleep, digestion, and mental health have changed dramatically.

• I’ve manifested better relationships and a life that feels more aligned with who I actually am.

Fasting didn’t just improve my health; it helped restore parts of me I had forgotten.

What I Learned (Beyond the Physical)

Everyone comes to fasting for different reasons, and every reason is valid.

But I do believe there is something deeper beneath all of it — something many people unintentionally tap into when they fast:

When you stop consuming, you stop running away from yourself.

There’s a quietness underneath the cravings, underneath the hunger, underneath the discomfort. A place where your emotions, memories, fears, and strength all become clearer. A place where your life starts to make more sense.

I’m not saying everyone should do a long fast, or that fasting replaces therapy, medicine, or support. But if you approach fasting with intention and a willingness to feel instead of numb, it can give you more than physical health.

It can give you yourself.

Posted this in reply to a comment in another thread but given I've been on this subreddit for 6 or 7 years and never heard this before, I feel that most of us may never have heard about it and really should know about it, so I'm reposting the info in its own thread for more visability.

Well my friends. Have I got news for you!!!

Get a load of this info!! or this

Only learned this the other day from a random YT video in my feed. First time ever hearing about it and although the Youtuber had Doc within his channel name I feared he was just a quack or Chiropractor WooWoo AltMed merchant 'Doctor'. So I googled 'Refridgerating and reheating Starches lowers their Glycemic Index', and whadaya know? Its True!!!!

So my reheated Italian Sausage Rigatoni Pasta and Spag bolls, my Double fried Fries (Chips for non Americans) that I refridgerate between Fries, my amazing Chicken and Egg Fried Rice (I cook the Rice and refridgerate before making the fried Rice...cause you have to!!) Well turns out what I was doing (refridgerating) for taste or necessity or convenience or meal pre-prep etc was actually one of the healthiest things I could do to these carby/starchy foods!! The convertion of the starch in our most beloved carbs to 'resistant starch' not only lowers its GLycemic Index and prevents its digestion in the upper intestine and thus massive glucose spikes but the Resistant starch which is effectively now the most delicious and appetising fiber you ever had is digested in the lower intestine acting as a pre-biotic and feeding your good gut bacteria promoting a healthy gut-biome. Your delicious carbs become more fiber than you could ever stomach in its more usual forms but without the 'GAS' problems caused by the traditional fibers! This sounds like a classic example of Having your cake and eating it too!!

Guess what. Freezing and thawing Bread does the same thing!!! So the Sub Rolls, Hotdog rolls and Burger Buns I freeze till I need them have their glycemic index lowered too!!

REJOICE MY CARB/STARCH-LOVING FRIENDS!!

For those of us Fasters who could never give up our beloved Carbs/Starchy Foods, we can continue to enjoy our beloved Carbs almost guilt free!!

(Just as an example, today is one of my refeed days. I eat maintenance calorie OMAD refeeds on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and Fast the 47.5+47.5+71.5hrs in between the OMAD refeeds on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I have leftover Italian Sausage pasta Sauce from the Tuesday Refeed. I planned on eating it tonight with family and was going to cook fresh Rigatoni for it tonight, Instead, I am now going to cook the Rigatoni this morning and Refridgerate it till tonight and thus only reheat it tonight rather than cook it tonight, thus converting the regular starch into resistant starch/Fiber, lowering its GLycemic index, all the while it still tastes the same and has the same texture as when I had the same Rigatoni Pasta fresh on Tuesday!!)

I was scared about refeeding syndrome from all the fear mongering on here but my family ordered a pizza and I was to hungry, originally going for a week but stopped it at 5 days and just ate like 5 pizza slices. I felt fine and only had to go shit like 3 hours later. Still feel fine today and normal. Am I just a rare case? People say its bone broth or you get horribly sick....

I love and appreciate the community here in r/fasting. It is honestly one of the most supportive and least toxic places on Reddit. That said, some of the lingo is starting to get to me—specifically the term "refeed."

Is it just me, or does "refeed" sound like something you do to livestock? I much prefer the classic: Breaking a Fast.

If we look at the actual roots of the language, it just makes more sense:

• Break (Old English: brecan): To end or interrupt.

• Fast (Old English: fæstan): A period of abstaining from food.

Even the word "breakfast" literally means the meal that breaks your fast, regardless of whether you eat it at 7:00 AM or noon. It’s a beautiful, functional term that we see in other languages, too. In Spanish, desayuno (breakfast) comes from ayuno (fast), with the prefix des- meaning to undo or "un-fast."

"Refeeding" sounds so clinical and mechanical. "Breaking a fast" sounds like an intentional, human conclusion to a journey.

Does anyone else feel this way, or am I once again just being the linguistic weirdo?

I’m 60 hours in to an 85 hour fast for my autoimmune issues, but I’m really lean and wonder if there are other fasters working with very little body fat? I’m a woman also. I do get pretty weak during the fast but I’m bloody determined. I just don’t workout at all, which is kind of a bummer. i hope I’m not damaging my metabolism, I just really need relief from my LC inflammation

This post will probably get taken down or I might be banned, but I am genuinely worried for some of you. I keep seeing more and more posts that seem like EDs or EDs in the making. I know everyone is in charge of their own lives but please know that going for long periods of time without food (over 72 hours) might make you lose weight quickly but it won’t keep the weight off. Even if you’re in the obesity category you still deserve food. You can still have an ED even if you’re not dangerously underweight and I worry for a lot of you. More importantly, your health is worth more than any number on a scale can provide you. I just hope you all are okay, and if you’re having a hard time stopping and allowing your body nourishment you can always call 866-932-1264. I’ll accept my downvotes and rude comments now.

I tried using ai and it basically told me that i might lose 90 to 100 pounds but only 20 to 30 of it would be actual fat and when refeeding id gain most of it back. How accurate is that? And btw this is all being monitored by a doctor and supplemented, as well as me taking wegovy.

Why do people say water fasting, isn't it the same as saying day daying or night nighting or car caring etc isn't fasting just not eating food but continue to drink water. Then as we make up new fasts that aren't really fast we can use the modifier, like I don't know juice fast, pickle fast, still eating but calling it a fast fast 😁

I recently got blood drawn at my doctors for minor and unlreated reasons.

2 days later i visited her again to discuss my blood test results. For some reason even a second doctor was present with us in the room (never seen that before).

Instead of discussing my other markers or the issue i had at hand, they were solely confused and interested at my blood sugar results.

Doctor 1: "So we noticed something very unusual. Your blood sugar was measured at 43mg/dl at your last blood test 2 days ago"

Me: "Okay?"

Doctor 1: "In the last 20 years of this job, i had exactly one patient with a blood sugar this low, and this patient was in a coma. We usually get worried if it drops below even below 70"

The other Doctor: "We are baffled that you are just sitting here and talking to us without any issues. Do you feel okay the last couple of days?"

Me: "Oh yeah i feel completely fine. In fact i went for a gym session just yesterday"

Doctors: *Look at me confused*

We then prcoeeded to talk about other things.

I didnt mention i was 10 days deep into a water fast.

In that moment, i was proud of fasting and how resilient and healthy it makes our bodies.

Keep fasting bros, its the best thing in the world.

My girlfriend does fasting sometimes. Seems to me its just starving yourself. I don't quite understand how depriving your body of nutrients is a healthy thing. I am asking this with legitimate curiosity with the goal of understanding.

I can get behind elimination diets, exercise and cutting calories and eating a specific diet. But simply depriving your body of all food, especially for long periods of time (weeks or more) seems just...Wrong

Over the years, especially after returning from my life of living in the fast lane; substances, cars, girls and high end things…. I found the cold. Or it found me.

It taught me many things: To respect the stillness To feel its healing powers That love and healing doesn’t always come in warm hugs That, the warmth can be found with a change of mind set, a change in belief. And most importantly that it comes from within.

I was always slightly esoteric and there-fore a black sheep. Born and raised in North London in the 90’s with parents that had immigrated from Turkey as Kurdish Alevi’s I come from a long linage of Anatolian mystics called “Dede’s” translating to “grandfather” which is basically an elders from the ancient mystical Anatolian tradition.

I struggled to fit into society and when I couldn’t, I maladapted to fear, power and control. It was my way of "fitting in" to the artificial manhood society had built. Year later toward my late 20’s, I had become the person I feared. I couldn’t look myself in the mirror, this kid that grew up a loving deep, creative empathetic and frolic to life had become a monster, a tyrant and although ethics flooded deep in my veins which made me a black sheep among within that life as well, I felt I was never going to fit in, so suicide became my only option.

There was larger powers at play, although not wanting to live was for once an option that made sense. I was unsuccessful in executing this and miraculously, kept here.

Wim hof was the first breathing exercise I was introduced to. I've always had my own ritual, meditating, singing to God, dancing.

Growing up I suffered from severe migraines that would put me into an altered mind state, and at times I would suffer from amnesia. This taught me to meditate from the ages eight and onwards.

Leaned into my practises I was always some form of extremist. I swam professionally till round the age 16 and there was actually a moment where I was meditating underwater and I don't remember coming back up till I had to be resuscitated.

The first few years of embracing myself in the cold, I was having peculiar instances of very short burst of feverish symptoms. I would go into altered mindsets and at times of doing my breathing exercises I will also lose consciousness and go into the same altered mindsets.

This altered states led me into a deep intuitive journey, and this is how I started my fast. Not sharing with anyone form the beginning as I didn't want any attention, my fast was planned to be 40 days starting around the Lent period on May and ending around 18th of April - Good Friday which was my birthday.

Something broke in me, I am naturally obsessive and fixated on my discipline, and on my 33rd day I was being told t stop fasting, my insides where speaking to me, my dreams, my energy was so high that I wasn't able to sleep. So I did something I very rarely have done and that Is breaking my 40 day promise and kept broke my fast at 33 days.

It has been years now, and I have quite some experience with these shifts in reality. I’ve reached a place thats alienated me so much from society, where the woman I loved was also intimidated by me by how much I loved, by how passionate I was.

Gazing at the sun for hours and performing my breathing exercises, I have had neurogenic releases forms of ecstatic joy, and visions that have led me to a place and the life of pure bliss even and or especially of times of suffering.

My relationship with all seasons and my self have never been so organic and I can say that the Sun how opened my eyes in ways I could never imagine till now.

Is it safe to have sex while fasting? I am wondering how this would affect ones hormone levels... Since it said fasting promotes HGH production...testosterone and what not

Edit: Sex is a cardiovascular exercise and the rise and drop in males testosterone, and increase in prolactin after sex, can influence hormonal levels, all of this can influence, hunger, emotion, and overall productivitg of yur fast. That is what i am getting at.

No need to downvote me, you just look petty

Title

I gained 5 pounds in overnight one a 60 hour fast now will this be a good start to push this weight back

My question is how did it work with the holidays and other people trying to feed you this and that

How did you continue the fast for God

Sorry to scaremongering.

Source: https://staycuriousmetabolism.substack.com/p/new-study-aspartame-causes-heart

Below is copy pasted from a insta post.

A new research (published in Cell Metabolism) that shows the sweetener aspartame, found in Diet Coke, can potentially cause cardiovascular disease. Animal studies (mice & monkeys) have found that low doses of aspartame equivalent to 3 Diet Cokes per day can increase insulin and accelerate the buildup of plaque in heart blood vessels. This is due to aspartame increasing insulin and insulin resistance, which leads to higher expression of a receptor for inflammatory immune cells that helps them enter the artery wall. These are concerning findings that may make you rethink your Diet Coke consumption.

Note 1: They did include a normal sugar control. Impressively, the effects of aspartame looked worse, on balance.

Note 2: The immediate reaction of many will be do disregard these data because "animal models." To this I say, disregard at your own risk A. Some forms of data cannot be collected in humans (eg 15 year RCT comparing an isolated 3 Diet Coke intervention vs control for progression of heart disease. Therefore, we need to combine human epidemiological studies & physiological explanations drawn from animal model studies. Furthermore, the inclusion of a monkey model - where feasible - provides suggestion that these data generalize to other primates (humans). Note 3: In the end, you can place your bets where you please. For me, aspartame simply isn't worth it. Nothing against stevia, monk fruit or allulose though, if they work for you.

I'm so so sorry if this is inappropriate, I have made sure to tag nsfw.

I'm doing 24-48h water fasts right now. I really don't want to break my fast by swallowing after giving a blowjob, will cum trigger an insulin reponse and break my fast?

No thanks...?

I get that this can happen on this diet, but how about we not lmao? Can we have a limit on these types of posts or something? Am I the only one that keeps coming across these and gaining nothing by knowing gross ass details about this shit? Yes yes we all love puns, but enough is enough.

It’s fine to spread awareness of this, but you know what, this frankly never happened to me, and maybe y’all should listen to your own body next time lmao. I totally get how it could happen so no offense but- I don’t really care to hear about the time you shit yourself lol. It can certainly happen though, just be aware, alright now let’s MOVE ON!

Edit: I really hope I get some discussion instead of just downvotes. I’m seriously the only one here..? Come on lol…

A few months old but was interested in

So… I’ve done fasting on and off. Pretty much a 20h fasting. I had a urinalysis done just because it was like 2 years since I got one so I decided to get it done ( no issues or anything just control) anyway.

Appearance, color, protein, glucose , blood , nitrites , bilirubin all good and normal and negative.

But Ketones 40 mg/dL

And It’s funny because the doctor told me “ are you starving - are you hungry? “ and I was like well a bit why? And he mentioned I had ketones in my urine. And I was like what the hell is even that? And he kinda explained a bit. He wasn’t my PCP so he just told me try to eat and see your PCP in a week or so.

Then I got home and started to google and well… seems like a common thing among fasting and keto diets. I’m still surprised.

I have had some urinalysis before and all came back normal. My CPC and CMP was normal too. No sugar or diabetic issues or high blood pressure.

At this point I just feel a bit confused - is fasting or ketones a bad thing for my body? Should I stop? Do ketones really matter or it’s a good thing?
I just don’t want my to mess up my body :(

I feel fine otherwise tho.

Thanks