51 HOUR WATER FAST

My target was to water fast for 72 hours but I only managed to complete 51 hours, here’s what it was like.

I love food — I just took a health break from it.

For those who pay any attention to holistic health, they will know that fasting is on top or near the top of the list of ways said to improve your mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.

Now before you go and practice any of the methods I used and try fasting yourself you should most importantly a) talk to your doctor, B) read about different options of fasting. There are many types of fasting, some short, some very long, some with no food, some with only certain types of food, some with only liquids and many types of spiritual or religious fasts.

A very popular trend particularly amongst the fitness community is Intermittent Fasting (IM). I do this most days by choosing my morning workout over breakfast, having my first meal at 10am which is on average (if including sleep) 12 hours fasting and a 12 hour window to eat        12/12) schedule.

Autophagy phase

What is Autophagy?

In Lehman’s terms: Autophagy is the body's way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells, according to Priya Khorana, PhD, in nutrition education from Columbia University. “Auto” means self and “phagy” means eat. So the literal meaning of autophagy is “self-eating

For an in-depth overview read the studies below:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6107789/

One general benefit many people see from intermittent fasting is weight loss, I certainly experienced this. I think it was simply due to being in an extreme calorie deficit and to increase the deficit I did a 5k road-run 1hr before completing the first 24hr fast. I’m not sure exactly how much weight I lost because this wasn’t my goal it was more about detoxification of the body on an intracellular level.

I am not a Doctor, neither am I trained in human or cellular biology but I’ve read enough to understand autophagy is a way your body cleans out damaged cells in order to generate newer cells which are no longer functioning well. The benefit of this in theory is: cleaning and removal of fungus, mould, yeast and microbes as well as the additional anti-aging benefits. Anti Aging cells no longer function like they did when we were young and that shows at a macro level in our bodies.

For an in-depth overview read the studies below: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2990190/

51 hours of fasting

First off, prior to this fast I had practiced 24hr fasts once a week for the last 2 years, secondly, I had been doing a sunrise to sunset fasts 10 days prior but, this was my biggest challenge to date! I wanted to exceed my previous best and set a new personal best which I did. My next challenge will be to complete 72 hours now I am a little bit more conditioned.

If you are going to try fasting for a longer period I repeat, first, check with your Doctor to make sure it’s safe for you. Also there are two options:

1, Fast when you have limited work or tasks to complete as some of you will struggle because you are already in a calorie deficit so base it around your life at quieter times. Weekends work better for some!

2, Plan your fasts around more activity. If your anything like me being busy and having to socialise takes your mind away from food, unless you are attending a friend’s dinner party or barbecue lol - when you are hungry that isn’t ideal!

I would also recommend some form of meditation or prayer depending on your belief system or, you could just op for some self-reflection. I personally found myself a lot more in-tune with my thoughts, feelings & emotions which I could analyse with a lot more clarity.

I started my 48 hours on Sunday night at 9 pm. Due to COVID-19, I didn’t have to go into work but to make things harder I have been working from the kitchen so the smell of my partner cooking for my daughter was hard to deal with but it's all in the mind! Luckily I had enough work to keep me busy. The day flew by and besides the odd craving here and there I breezed through the day. Monday evening at 7pm, I went for a 5k run which I did in 30 mins, not bad for a ‘Men’s Physique bodybuilder’ who hadn’t eaten for 22 hours lol! At this point everything was going according to plan, I had gotten through a 24hr fast, completed my 5k run but by sunset (24hr mark) my mind was saying its time to eat dinner, relax and go to bed. For the first time I was not breaking fast at sunset and the same routine was set for Tuesday.

I slept like a baby with no interruption, I actually got a deeper sleep according to my fit bit report and I woke up feeling pretty fresh. I woke up at around 7.30am to cook my daughter breakfast and that consists of my favorites too, organic gluten-free oats, fresh blue/blackberries, cinnamon, and one slice of grapefruit.

You can download my nutrition and training programme below:

https://www.simplyrabess.com/shop/training-plans/lean-gains-nutrition-and-training-plan

My breakfast was not as exciting but I enjoyed a peppermint tea. I stuck to zero calories for the whole day including, drinking 1ltr of water for every 20kgs of bodyweight and by lunch I was starting to feel an increased level of hunger but an even stronger increase of focus - I think this is related to the (BDNF)

What is BDNF? (Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor)

Fasting, as well as exercise, stimulates the production of a protein in nerve cells called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. This protein plays critical roles in learning, memory, and the generation of new nerve cells in the hippocampus. BDNF also makes neurons more resistant to stress. This is the point when the brain starts to repair and make new brain cells. I was approaching around 16 hours of fasting and at this point I was experiencing a spike in growth hormone (GH) which is made by the master pituitary gland and metabolised in the liver. (GH) is typically secreted during sleep which is why the importance of sleep for fat loss, youthfulness and general vitality is key. Fasting is a great way to hack into the body and stimulate (GH) production naturally, some studies have shown increases of 300% 3 days into a fast.

For an in-depth overview read the studies below:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC329619/

Break down fat!

At around 24+ hours this when you are likely to start breaking down FAT and possibly entering ketosis. Ketones are a superior fuel, Ketones decrease oxidative stress, increase antioxidants and scavenge free radicals. Ketone diets are also very popular at the minute! They are basically high fat, lower carb diets which cause your body to use ketones for energy instead of glucose. There are many proposed benefits (and some risks) Ketones are a superior fuel and the heart loves ketones more than glucose.

My Get Ripped Supreme Ebook is keto based:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-Ripped-Supreme-Darrell-Rabess-ebook/dp/B076ZVS4DY

For an in-depth overview read the studies below: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5012517/

By early evening, I went from being hungry but not distracted, to being quite focused on my hunger. Even meditating was difficult. By the evening I had no motivation to complete my run so I resorted to lying on the sofa and watching ‘The Science Of Fasting’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1b08X-GvRs. Even standing up made me feel momentarily faint, I also started to experience mild headaches. I tried to do some functional movement, but my body didn’t want to. Eventually I went to bed.

Sleeping while fasting.

I had previously only gone only 24 hours without food. I can remember once doing 36 hrs max! This was the first time in my life I have gone more than 36 hours without eating. One side effect of fasting can be insomnia. I couldn’t sleep and I was tossing and turning all night, I slept lightly for around 2-3 hours max! I was hungry, exhausted and irritable, not a winning formula for a good nights sleep!

I got up around 12 am, went downstairs and straight into the kitchen. I was questioning myself and trying to justify why I was going to eat, I felt like I was losing this battle! After going over the fact that I had already exceeded my personal best I went to the fridge and ate a large bowl of grapes, the taste was amazing! Grapes have never tasted so good. I instantly felt more energetic, I went back upstairs and it was weird but I now felt like I had the energy to go to sleep.

At that point I had been fasting for over 51 hours. While I don’t think anyone has proved this, a lot of research and articles I’ve read suggest from 24 to 48 hours is when your body really kicks into peak autophagy. I’ve also read 48+ hours is when the peak happens, and it can be dependent on what you did and ate leading up to the fast.

In case you’re wondering what the first meal I ate after my fast was, it was my usual egg white omelette, mixed peppers, kale, asparagus, onions and fresh cucumber on the side, this tasted amazing, I could taste every ingredient precisely it was like my taste buds were reborn. It’s recommended you start with a snack-size portion when breaking your fast which I did with grapes at 12am, you would then eat more a couple hours later. I ate a full meal in the morning, and I didn’t feel any different to how I would on a normal day.

Conclusion

Fasting for 48 hours is hard but manageable if you have previous experience with fasting. For me being less active made it harder but some people might prefer to be at home. Day one was easy, but I thought it would get progressively harder which was proven on Tuesday evening as things got really hard! The most difficult part was from 48 hours, before I went to bed on the second night.

Some of the positives I noticed were massive improvements in my skin, I was glowing! I also experienced a level of focus I haven’t before and I felt a calm feeling of peace within.

How do I feel after a full days eating? Still hungry maybe a bit more so than usual. I also felt an increase in my libido

I hope you guys found this useful, I suggest trying this for yourself to see how it works for you.

Peace, Love & Blessings

Darrell