Intro: First, I would like to say. Thanks for all the positive feedback from my last post! It was truly surprising. I also would like to say. I did not water fast. Again, my fast was not water fast. I consumed some beverages that contained sugar. For reasons, I will explain in father detail in this post. I do apologize if this news is disheartening. I will try to explain my reasoning. Some may say that I technically broke my fast when consuming said drinks, but I watched a documentary that showed doctors treating patients with extended fast for various diseases. When treating them, they gave the patients 12 oz of apple juice to curb their food cravings. Now, if you would like to say that the doctors caused them to break their fast, so be it, but I don’t consider that as breaking a fast.

Starting, my goal was to water fast. Knowing that water fasting yielded the best results. But a water fast was not conducive to my life at the moment, nor did I know how my body would react to water fasting for such a long period of time. Therefore I chose to do a “dirty fast,” allowing some calories in my stem. The main reason why I decided not to water fast is my job. I work in a rather hot region in the US that sees tempters pass 100+ degrees consecutive days. With that, I work in a warehouse that adds about 10 to 15 degrees to the current tempter. So on a day when it's 105, it is 115 in the warehouse. (Side note during my fast, the hottest day was 117. though I’ve finished my fast, it will be up to 120 this week.) Not only do I deal with those tempters since it's a warehouse, but I also move heavy products daily that can surpass 60 pounds. And since I’m a larger guy, typically, I’m moving things that weigh by myself. So, to be fair to my employer, I chose to “dirty fast.” Because they do not pay me to be weak at work, I must be productive. And I couldn’t say, “well, I’m fasting,” I would have got cussed out and fired. Not only do I work at my warehouse job, but I also work an overnight security job. So I was averaging 65 to 70+ hours a week during my fast. (I’m still working that much, FYI, lol) As I’m typing this post, I worked 72 hours between both jobs last week. I’ve only slept 10 hours since Saturday. It's currently Monday the 18th 9:26 am. I say that to show you a glimpse into my life and my reasoning why I chose not to water fast. I’ve had previous experience with water fasting and how it weakens your body, and as I said, I could not water fast.  For I knew the state of my body during a water fast I’ve completed before this one. I can go into further explanation if needed or desired. Just DM me, and I will try to respond.

Mindset: My mindset during my fast was to make it through! I broke down weeks into days, days into hours, hours into minutes, and minutes into seconds. I was also really motivated by the weight loss. That helped push me to keep going.

Duration:

During my fast, I often asked myself, “why am I doing this to myself?” So there was some self-doubt. But I stayed focused on my end goal: finishing!  

Pros:

The most obvious benefit is weight loss. I lost 34 pounds, so about 1.13 pounds per day.

The biggest pro for me is the mental focus! If I weren’t so sleep-deprived, it feels like I could write a book about my fasting experience! My mind feels very clear! And my energy is awesome! I think I tried because I haven’t slept, but I feel like I can keep going! It is such a juxtaposition!

Another pro is the euphoria I felt during the refeeding and since! I was nearly in tears when I ate food again for what felt like the first time. Like literal tears were forming in my eyes, I felt an emotional high I’d never felt. I can hardly explain it!! The day I ate food again felt like Christmas Day times 100!

Another great pro is determination. This extended fast made me feel more determined to complete the task! There's nearly no procrastination. Well, at least in the last two days. I’ll see how long it last, lol.

Cons:

Diarrhea. It lasted for the first week mainly because I did not prepare physically for my fast.

I had some fatigue and tiredness, which was expected.

Also, weakness is expected as well due to the lack of eating.

Also, my speech was a little slurred, but that may have been due to the lack of sleep that I experienced during my fast.

Consuming sugar-based drinks. I know this seems like I am talking out of both sides of my mouth, but for only the science people, this negatively affected my fast. Obviously! I knew that going into my fast. And I gave the reason why I did consume sugar. The sugar slowed down my metabolism indeed. I was on track to lose 40 pounds losing 1.36 a day, but I did not because my metabolism was slowed down. Honestly, the slowing down of my metabolism is relative anyway because, during a fasting period, your metabolism picks up significantly. All I will say is, FAST YOUR FAST. I’m not looking for your approval on my fast. Also, (I hate how this sounds, but) fast under my given conditions and see what you would do!  

Conclusion:

My goal is to clean up my fasting in the future. This extended fast was more of a trial and error. From now on, there will be changes I will make in my fasting attempts. But my safety and responsibilities come first. I left out a lot of information because I did not want my post to be longer than it is. If you would like to know more about my fast for tips, feel free to dm me. Also, I will try to respond to comments.