I recently completed a 6 day fast. Sure, I had planned to go for a week but I gave up in the last hours. Anyway, this fast was quite an adventure and I’d like to share what I learned from it.

Quick disclaimer here, I love eating. In fact, I was addicted to food for quite some time. But funny enough, I also love fasting. We tend to over-consume most things. Fasting allows me to take a break from food.

I still sometimes overeat when I get emotionally triggered or I need a hit of dopamine. Even if I have made a lot of progress on this side, eating is like my kryptonite.

Fasting has been a cure for me. It has helped me reinvent my relationship with food and heal my eating disorders.

I’ve been practicing intermittent fasting (IF) for years and it’s one of my favorite tools to boost my well-being. I can’t stress out how taking breaks from eating has helped me. I recover better, have more energy, and I’m able to focus on other things than food.

I won’t go into detail about all the benefits of fasting, but these are the ones I had my eyes on:

• Increased secretion of growth hormones

• Boosted brain functions and mental capacities

• Decreased inflammation and detoxification

• Reduced insulin resistance

• Decreased hunger and new perspective on food

• Greater awareness and euphoria

However, intermittent fasting and extended fasting are quite different. I had already done several 2 to 3-day fasts in the past, but this was my first 7-day fast. I was very excited to see how my body would cope but I did not prepare in advance for this.

To be honest, it was tough. Out of the 6 days, 2 days really sucked. There were things I could have done better, but overall, extended fasting is not something to take on lightly. It puts your body and your mind under a considerable amount of stress.

Now, without further ado, here is a daily account of my fast.

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Day 1

The first day went by like a breeze. In the first 24 to 48 hours, our body is using our glycogen stores. I felt full of energy and even went for an intense run in the forest. I experienced very little hunger throughout the day.

Day 2

Things started to get tougher. I felt a lot of hunger due to the depletion of my glycogen reserves, especially in the evening. Drank a few cups of coffee and a lot of water (4L) to calm it down. On the other side, I was getting more creative and aware of every moment. Funny enough, I could stay around my family when they ate without going crazy.

Day 3

Still some hunger pains but better mental clarity. I discovered that holding my hands on my belly and massaging it helped a lot. My body slowly entered ketosis (burning fat for fuel). I also started drinking sea salt and reduced my water consumption to conserve my electrolytes. Felt exhausted in the evening.

Day 4

My mind and energy were very sharp when I woke up. I did not feel the need to eat anymore. The past three days had been quite intense so I wanted to take it easy. I went to the beach with my family but felt like I was going to faint most of the time. Every movement was a challenge of willpower. Discouraged by my physical weakness, I was not sure I would make it to seven days. I also started to take magnesium pills to increase my electrolytes.

Day 5

Woke up feeling superhuman energy and awareness. This was what I was looking for with this fast. My body felt amazing and my hunger was nonexistent. My energy levels stayed high all day and I was able to get a ton of things done. It was an outstanding experience! Well worth the pain of the previous days. I had so much energy in the evening that I had trouble falling asleep.

Day 6

This was the weirdest day of the fast. I felt tired and hungry in the morning and started to miss the taste of food. This was a very intense week — mentally, spiritually, and physically. I needed to rest. Around 11:30 my energy was so low that I went to bed and slept for three hours. I felt like I was healing something very deeply rooted. I guess my body needed a heap load of energy to recover.

In the afternoon, I had a breakthrough moment as I went out for a walk. I realized that movement completely changed my energy. I felt it was crucial to help my body detoxify and for oxygen to circulate in my body. The cold shower in the evening was also a blessing.

Day 7

I broke my fast 4 hours into day 7. We had family over and I did not want to watch them eat. I don’t regret this, I just listened to my feelings and joined the party. I ate only raw vegetables and felt good after. In the end, I only lost around 2 kg.

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What I Learned

• Ease into your fast. I did not prepare a lot for this because I decided to do it on a whim. But if I were to do it again, I would do several 24-hour fasts the prior weeks and start reducing my carb intake.

• Keep your electrolytes high. In the first two days, I was drinking about 4L of water and I had to go to the toilet very often. My advice is to reduce water intake to when you are thirsty and to take electrolytes every day (sodium, magnesium & potassium).

• Movement is key. I exercised a bit in the first few days but stopped when the fast got tougher. In retrospect, I think movement can be very helpful for your energy levels. Next time, I will try exercising and moving more.

• Sleep as much as needed. I slept a lot during this fast and had my all-time record of deep sleep (2.15 hours). There is a lot of healing going on during an extended fast and getting enough rest is essential.

• We don’t need to eat all the time. This fast reshaped my relationship with food. Sure, I might fall back into my bad habits later on — but I realized that we don’t need to eat as much food as we think. From now on, I will only eat breakfast and lunch and try to do a 24–36h fast every week.

• Plan some things to do. Eating and cooking take a good part of our time. During the fast, I spent many hours working on my craft and creating art. Have an idea of what you will do with all your extra free time and energy.

• Enjoy your heightened awareness. The fasting state is synonymous with unbelievable levels of calm and awareness. It’s a great time to meditate and connect to nature. I also used this clarity to journal and reflect.

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This fast was one of my most intense and interesting experiments. It was quite challenging but I learned a lot from it. On a spiritual level, I experienced intense levels of awareness that I usually only felt in meditation retreats.

Extended fasting is tough and I would recommend starting out with intermittent fasting. But for those who want to experiment, take it easy and prepare yourself well.

It’s fascinating to discover how our body reacts when it is deprived of one of its biggest energy sources. There are so many benefits to fasting, especially for people with chronic illnesses or auto-immune diseases.

Would I do it again? Sure, but not anytime soon. Next year, I will use what I learned here and try to aim for 10 days. I hope some of you got curious and try it out for yourself!

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Additional resources:

• Dr, Jason Fung: a talk on “therapeutic fasting” and his complete guide to fasting.

• What I Learned videos: Intermittent Fasting and Hunger, Longevity and Eating One Meal a Day, and Fasting vs. Eating Less.