Thanks for the A2A(Ask to Answer).
I did a 7-day fast as part of a way to better cope with the recovery process of an umbilical hernia surgery where mesh was installed in my abdominal muscles region.
Here’s the thing with fasting… it’s easy after day 2.
Once you hit day 3 of a fast, you can go as long as you like. There is no more hunger after day 2. Your body adjusts to not having food available and relies solely upon your liver to provide for the body’s continued sustenance and existence :)
It’s a fascinating feeling… to have your digestive system go completely to rest. For me, it helped tremendously with recovery as I had nothing to worry about regarding internal stress or pain.
I was able to recover fully without touching the pain medications - I only had to rely on Ibuprofen and Tylenol for the pain and/or to help sleep the first 4–5 nights.
The first 2 days of fasting are the most difficult because your body is still expecting to be fed and has not fully “converted” over to the liver for all sustenance.
This means hunger pains and possible issues with dizziness or “foggy” head if you don’t know your electrolyte balance well enough yet.
It takes some trial and error for most people to figure out how to perform a sustained (more than 36 hours long) water-only fast with the proper amount and timing of sodium supplementation.
I always consume a pinch of pink Himalayan salt here and there throughout the day when I’m doing 2+ day long fasts (I’ve done a few 3 day fasts and 2 fasts of 5 days in length, in addition to the 1 fast of 7 days for my surgery).
Once you get the sodium supplementation figured out, you can fast for many, many days (assuming you have a high enough body fat percentage - don’t go fasting if you are a male at 4% body fat or a female below 10%!!!)
I also choose to use a “1-a-day” multi-vitamin once in the morning and again at night to supplement other vitamins and minerals that drinking only water all day long will slowly pull from the body. Magnesium is especially important after day 5 of a water-only fast, and the 1-a-day I take has 35% of the daily allowance, so I take it twice per day.
If I ever did a 10+ day fast, I would likely take that vitamin 3 times per day or find another Magnesium-specific supplement to add, just to be super-safe.
But back to the point, and to answer the original question… the most difficult fast you will perform is one lasting about 18–48 hours. It is likely during that time you will face your toughest challenges with regard to hunger pains, heart beat variations, electrolyte balance (which is the primary cause of heartbeat fluctuations most of the time), and various other feelings you’ve never felt before.
If you can master the fasting process beyond day 2… then days 3–7 are “easy” - relative to day 2.
About the only challenge is just the societal/cultural “pressure” to eat something. You don’t notice the frequency (about 1 in 3) of things like food commercials on TV until you go without food for several days and start feeling that quiet urge to eat something… even though you feel absolutely *NO* hunger pain at all!
It’s hard to describe… as are many of the physical and mental/emotional feelings you have as you go through the fasting process.
It’s pretty amazing… it really gives you extra perspective on the world around you, the food culture, and society as a whole.
Enjoy, if you attempt :)
