My Wife and youngest child were getting ready to leave for a long weekend at the beach, I was about to be left to my own devices for 72+ hours.
Aware of what Proverbs has to say about idleness — I quickly composed and posted the following question to my Facebook friends:
You have 72 hours, what’s the best thing you can do to make yourself healthier during these 72 hours?
They answered: Being with family, being with friends, spending money, fasting, sleeping, walking, meditating, working out, vacationing, shopping, juicing, eating, drinking, un-drama-ing, volunteering, swimming, breathing, dying, praying, climbing, grading, and listening to music.
Isn’t this a wonderful — and at the same time, bizarre list of answers? I wouldn’t expect anything less from my Facebook friends.
Although the list is quite eclectic, by far the most frequently shared answer was fasting.
And so began my 72-hour fasting journey.
I stopped eating on July 29th, 2022, at 3:06 pm — with my “last” meal being a hamburger, French fries, and an ice cream cone.
With fasting being one of the only things Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, and Gandhi have in common — I was excited about and looking forward to what 72 hours of fasting would be bringing me.
15 hours and 54 minutes into my 72-hour fasting journey I had lost .3 pounds, I was feeling good, and saying to myself, “this is easy.”
Full disclosure, before beginning my 72-hour fast, I was not a newbie to fasting. I did intermittent fasting throughout 2020. And I had even experimented with prolonged fasting (36 to 48 hours), but never as long as 72 hours.
27 hours and 54 minutes into my 72-hour fasting journey I had lost 2.1 pounds, and I was fighting off a lot of hunger pangs. The hunger pangs were tied to being conditioned to eat at certain times during the day. Other than fasting, I tried to keep to my normal daily routine. For example, a typical Saturday has me doing chores around the house and schoolwork — so I did household chores and started prepping my Fall classes. Additionally, I did 180 pushups and went on a short, 4,694-step walk.
Most of the 2.1 pounds I lost by this time was likely composed of water from me using glycogen — the stored form of glucose from carbohydrates, as my source of energy. Glycogen is water heavy — every gram of glycogen has three to four grams of water bonded to it.
Metabolically and temporally speaking, my weight-loss was transitioning from mostly water weight-loss to fat and water weight-loss. Glycogen can be stored for only four to 18 hours after eating. Thus, my glycogen was officially being depleted. Without glycogen, my body was transitioning (or had already transitioned) to a ketogenic metabolic state for energy which allows for gluconeogenesis.
40 hours and 40 minutes into my 72-hour fasting journey I had lost 4.8 pounds, and I was experiencing a lot less hunger pangs than the 12 hours before. During this time, I watched a ballgame on TV, did some more pushups (30), and went for another walk (10,837 steps). And, as it happened during the first night of fasting, I slept well the second night of fasting. I slept about seven hours and stayed asleep throughout the night.
The 4.8 pounds I lost by this time was likely a combination of water weight-loss and fat weight-loss because my glycogen stores were completely depleted some 22 to 36 hours ago; now my body was in a ketogenic metabolic state for energy which allows for gluconeogenesis — the breaking down of fat to create glucose.
Science isn’t completely clear on telling us when exactly autophagy begins in humans who are fasting, but autophagy appears to begin sometime after 24 hours of fasting. Thus, by 40+ hours into my fast I was likely experiencing autophagy. Autophagy is the process of cells getting rid of any components that are damaged or functioning poorly. Autophagy reduces inflammation, kills cancer cells, and clears-out misfolded proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The body’s natural mechanisms for inducing autophagy decline with age. However, fasting-induced autophagy does away with some of the negative effects of aging when it comes to health. Indeed, this may be the key as to why fasting is associated with living a longer life.
51 hours and 54 minutes into my 72-hour fasting journey I had lost 8.7 pounds, and I was experiencing hunger pangs again, but not as bad as the hunger pangs during the first 24 hours of the fast. Science will tell us why my hunger pangs were not as strong 51+ hours into my fast as they were 24+ hours into my fast. The levels of the hormone driving my hunger — ghrelin, decrease, the longer I am on my fast. In other words, at least from a hormonal perspective, the longer I didn’t eat, the less hungry I would be.
Up until this time in my fast, if I had learned anything about staying on a prolonged fast, it was keeping busy. From hour 41 to hour 51 of my fast I kept myself busy by working on my car, doing laundry, watering my mother in-law’s and my own plants, doing some plumbing, doing some schoolwork, going on a walk (14,891 steps), and doing some pushups (150).
The 8.7 pounds I lost by this time was a combination of water and fat. The water weight-loss was due to (a) having no carbohydrate storage left — carbohydrates are water-heavy, and (b) exercising in 100+ degree weather — can you say SWEAT and welcome to San Antonio, Texas?! The fat weight-loss was due to my energy coming from my ketogenic metabolic state.
In addition to experiencing autophagy by this time, I was also likely experiencing a significant increase in insulin sensitivity which decreases body fat, reduces inflammation, and is further activating autophagy.
63 hours and 59 minutes into my 72-hour fasting journey I had lost 7.8 pounds, and the “wheels came off” during my third and last night of fasting. I slept for only three and a half hours — and this little sleep was filled with tossing and turning. I woke up at 2:30 am to a stomachache and headache. The stomachache was different from any of the hunger pangs I had experienced during the fast. It was relatively taken care of by drinking water. The headache was likely a “keto headache” which is a typical “symptom” of being in ketosis and hypoglycemic — no more glycogen. I took some ibuprofen for the headache and it pretty much subsided.
“Good” sleep — sleep that is continuous and deep, is magical when it comes to negating hunger pangs. Science tells us why. The levels of one of the primary satiety hormones — leptin, increase, with good sleep. And the levels of the primary hormone driving hunger pangs — ghrelin, decrease, with good sleep. Additionally, ghrelin levels decrease with longer fasts. So, the better one sleeps and the longer one does not eat, the less hungry that person will be.
The 7.8 pounds I lost by this time is a combination of water and fat. Interestingly, I gained back some water weight between hours 51 and 63 of the fast. Knowing my basal metabolic rate is 1,772, the ratio of water weight-loss to fat weight-loss was about 5 to 1.
In addition to experiencing autophagy and insulin sensitivity by this time, my insulin-like growth factor — a hormone involved in growth and development, was likely decreasing. This triggers stem cell production, creates new white blood cells, and reduces oxidative stress — in other words, I was building a younger and stronger immune system.
72 hours and 2 minutes into my 72-hour fasting journey I had lost 9 pounds, and the last day of fasting was tough. I had a stomachache — not hunger pangs, a dull headache, and little energy. Despite these difficulties, I made my 72 hours of fasting! To be precise, I fasted for 72 hours and two minutes.
My 72-hour and 2-minute fast ended with a few spoonfuls of peanut butter, a couple slices of bread, and some American cheese. Truthfully, I wasn’t hungry when I broke my fast. Science tells us not to gorge ourselves when breaking a prolonged fast. The digestive system with its stomach acids and enzymes are slowed by prolonged fasts. Thus, eating what you “think” you need to eat (A LOT!) after a prolonged fast as opposed to what your body can eat (just a bit) after a prolonged fast will cause bloating, nausea, and diarrhea.
Final numbers: I completed a 72-hour and 2-minute fast in which I lost 9 pounds. During my fast I went about my days as I would normally be doing otherwise with work, chores, and hobbies, and I slept 17 and a half hours, walked 45,507 steps (19 miles), and did 360 pushups.
If you are interested in doing a prolonged fast, I will end by sharing 10 things that kept me on my 72-hour fast. In no particular order, these 10 things are:
* Be busy and pre-plan your busyness. Have lots of things to do during your whole fasting time. As soon as you are not busy you will be thinking about food and eating.
* Watching commercial TV is a no-no. Commercials about food and eating are insidious and everywhere.
* Plan your fast to begin at the end of your grocery shopping cycle, so you do not have snack foods in your home. You will be tempted during your fast, so make sure there is nothing in your home that will allow you to follow through on your temptations.
* Have nothing on your social calendar during your fasting time. Most social events — implicitly or otherwise, have food and eating components.
* Accept that you will be hungry when you are fasting, but also accept — and know, hunger pangs go away (often relatively quickly) without eating.
* Understand hunger pangs are driven by physiological and psychological factors. The psychological factors are often stronger than the physiological factors (i.e., hunger and satiety hormones). The psychological factors are due to you being conditioned to eat — not because you are physiologically hungry, but because it is “breakfast time” or “lunch time” or “dinner time” or “snack time” or 2 pm or 11 pm or because you are simply in the kitchen or someone else in your home is eating or the Chicago Bears are playing on TV…
* Tell people you are fasting, but only people who are supportive and curious; do not tell people who are unsupportive and critical that you are fasting. You know who these people are.
* Have water ready to go. And know exactly how much water you will be drinking daily.
* Your mouth will miss the “behavior of eating.” Help your mouth overcome this missing behavior by chewing on ice cubes or having a toothpick or dental flosser in your mouth at various times throughout your period of fasting.
* There are lots of physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits of fasting. Know and focus on these benefits. This will motivate you and remind you why you are fasting. To learn about some of these benefits, watch Dr. Jason Fung’s video shortly before and during your fast.
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Dr. Don Lucas, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology and head of the Psychology Department at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio Texas. He loves psychology, teaching, and research.
If you like this story, then you may like Don’s videos on his YouTube channel, 5MIweekly or his other stories on his Medium site.
Fasting, Diet, Health, Longevity
