I did my seventh 36-hour fast this Friday, as in no calories between Thursday dinner and Saturday breakfast, though with plenty of water, tea, and coffee. I did so including ~80 minutes of strenuous mountain walking on Friday afternoon and another 50 minute walk in the cold on Friday night.
In summary, the health benefits of fasting are decreased insulin levels, decreased insulin resistance, increased autophagy (the decay of lower-quality cells), increased brain-derived neurotophic factor, increased human growth hormone, and increased rest metabolism. Long-term fasts (7+ days) have been noted to heal diverse conditions ranging from poor vision to congested heart disease to various cancers to arthritis to depression, but it's unclear if the curative effects can be obtained from a series of short-term fasts.
I will post a summary of my physiological changes in early August, I think ~10 weeks should be enough time to note significant changes reliably. Note that aside from ~36-hour fasts, I'm also following on most days the 8-hour eating window popularized by the legendary Martin Berkhan, as in my first meal doesn't come until 1200pm or even 230pm some days. That was hard at first but became easy within a couple days; but not on mornings where I break a fast or workout.
For now I'll say a few things:
- I think my stomach has shrunk, as in general I'm less hungry. I leave the office when I'm done, not wen I'm starving, which is a change from where I was a year ago, I just don't feel extreme hunger anymore. That is a hormonal change, not a psychological change (e.g. "willpower"), so it's more fundamental;
- My weight, and my waist size, are both dropping;
- I no longer feel hungry during the fast, and this marks two weeks in a row where I don't feel massive headaches during fast day. When I wake up on Saturday morning, I'm not hungry;
- It's nice to be able to enjoy massive feasts. Intermittent fasting is the only credible diet plan that allows for feasts. If you're eating fewer meals, then a ~1,500-2,000 calorie meal is permissible and even encouraged. This morning for breakfast I had half a cantaloupe, two slices of toast with butter, two eggs, piece of avocado, grilled tomato, grilled haloumi, baked beans, a flat white, and a small amaretti (~1,300 calories). You can *never* be satisfied and eat like that if you're following the now quaint advice to eat six small meals a day with lots of snacks.
The most significant difficulty is that it can be hard to schedule. I only do so on days where there is both no gym training and no social activity, since both of these imply food. This coming week, for example, there is no room for a 36-hour fast, so I'm considering two meals today, one meal tomorrow (sunday), two meals monday, and 1 or 2 meals on Friday. I might do a ~60-hour fast on June 24th + June 25th.
