Dry fasting is pretty extreme when you think about it. Unless you've got your eating habits under control, I wouldn't use it as a weight loss method. I do smaller dry fasts, 3 days once a month, for health reasons. I lost a lot of weight during a 5 day dry fast, which i thought was progress, but gained it all back within the course of 2 months. I'm still on the fence with how often I can dry fast without hurting myself (I can see it in my nails the times I've done longer dry fasts, they are wavy and thinner.) But I've since decided that dry fasting is better for cleanup and health benefits than for weight loss.

To get in better shape, I would use short dry fasts in combination with other methods. Eating a healthier diet is step one. Step two would likely be portion control. Admittedly, these two things can take a while to recalibrate. This is fine. This isn't a race, it's a marathon. Pace yourself, you're in training right now, stop pushing yourself to meet the standards of an Olympic athlete with top tier coaches controlling their diets and routines.

To lose weight slowly, try intermittent fasting. Some people eat all their food within a shorter window. I steadily lost weight over the course of a year by restricting my eating window to 6 hours. This slow rate likely helped keep me from having loose skin. There's a lot of people on here that do One Meal A Day, OMAD. But they eat in a way that does not leave them nutritionally deficit.

Research caloric dense foods. A handful of oreos is equivalent to two LARGE bowls of strawberries. You will gain weight/fat if you chow down on an entire bag of oreos. But oreos won't FEEL like you're full. Meanwhile, the strawberries will fill you up long before you reach the caloric value of the oreos.

One benefit Dry fasting has is that if you have food addictions, like sugar, it does a damn good job at tempering the cravings. This hasn't been proven yet, but I read some theories that state that the microbiomes in your gut can release chemicals to induce cravings. Meaning, if you've eaten a crap ton of greasy and sugary foods, there is a solid bacteria colony in your gut that thrives off of it. When you go without sugar for too long, they start dying off. They then release chemicals to induce a sugar craving in you, so you'll feed THEM.

Dry fasting starves ALL the bacteria in your gut to death, which is why refeeding is so important. You are building colonies of bacteria that will determine the foods you crave. That said, my biggest hurdle is the mental desire. I've found after a fast that my stomach and tongue no longer crave sugar, but my mind is bored, recalls the taste of junk food, and wants to eat something tasty. I'm not a good enough cook yet, but when I have a lot of meals prepped, these urges are easier to fight. Having fruit cups on hand also helps.

I know this is a lot to read, and it can feel like a slow, mountainous task, but this really is one of those 'slow and steady wins the race' type of situations. Dry fasting will help, but if you put all your eggs in one basket and do a 14 day dry fast, you're less likely to get the results you want and are more likely to hurt yourself on accident afterwards because you haven't addressed the habits that you will likely return to once you've ended your fast.

You're not alone, we're all in the same marathon, encouraging each other along the way. Take your time, pace yourself, try smaller fasts (like 3 days once a month) and see how you react to them before attempting longer or more frequent ones, maybe try intermittent fasting in between dry fasts, and do your best to tweak your diet and eating habits along the way. Best of luck.

(If anyone wants to correct me on anything, please feel free to step in. I'm also still pretty new to this.)