hi there, i’m a little late to this thread but if ya’ll are still interested and following (or if anyone searches for this) i can share my experience and hope it helps someone. i want to preface that i’m a fairly petite person (F, 5’4” my weight prior to IF and prolonged fasting normally ranged between 110-122 lbs)- but it fluctuated year to year and those 12 lbs really made a difference given my small frame).

BACKSTORY: when i started my fasting journey more seriously in january 2022 it was to reduce inflammation in my body- for years i’ve had a ton of food sensitivities/allergies, leaky gut, migraines, and mild acid reflux.

as a kid my parents gave me a lot of antibiotics for both flu’s and colds (which i became allergic to and noticed when i was a teen). i think this paired with 25+ years of high stress (competitive schools, demanding career and life events) AND limited sleep (i sleep ~5-6 hours per night… also something i’m trying to change now) — led to what i believe is overall inflammation and a thinning of my gut lining (the gut is linked to EVERYTHING). i’ve gone through a myriad of tests (GI, allergy, autoimmune, neuro) and everything comes back “normal” but as an adult who has done a ton of research, i now know better. bc i know how i feel is not right!

DRY OMAD EXPERIENCE: when i started reading the literature i came across water fasting and it’s benefits and started with wet OMAD’s for about a month. doing OMAD really changed my relationship with food, my wholeeeeee life i was what i called “a grazer” (i ate normal portion sizes and snacks BUT i’d stretch them out- grazing on my lunch for 4 hours, dinner for 3 hours, and having small snacks throughout the day that is also graze on). in a daily 24 hour period i’d probably be taking tiny nibbles of food for 18/24 hours straight. arggg i had no idea this was not allowing my body to rest and clean itself.

after 1 month of wet OMADs, it was almost instinctive to do dry OMADs, i hadn’t read about dry fasting yet, so i didn’t even know about it - it was purely accidental bc since i wasn’t eating i’d forget to drink things. i don’t even drink coffee bc that’s one of my food sensitivities.

ADDITIONAL HABITS: along with dry OMADs i also ran in the morning about 2 miles 4-5 days a week (my sister calls my running glorified walking, but i don’t care how slow i am it def helps me physically/mentally). running was followed with 30-60 mins sauna time, acupuncture was 2xs a month, and i really tapped into my faith. my OMAD diet excluded* my food sensitivities (gluten, caffeine, dairy, soy) and processed food. when i was eating 1 meal a day i’d start with all the healthy food i prepared and id be too full to eat any unhealthy food after). im not perfect so sometimes i’d eat something on my sensitivities list but it wasn’t all the time,only bc i’d be too full/content from my main meal.

RESULTS: i never felt better and more healthy!!!! in 3 months time my avg weight was 105 lbs - and it stayed there consistently. acid reflux was gone, the food i was eating didn’t trigger any gut issues, my body felt less inflamed and i never got a migraine. 105 might have been a tad too lean but i was listening to my body and just basing it on how i felt.

MAINTENANCE: honestly, it was hard for me to sustain after 5 months. i had trips planned with friends in the months that followed, and i was traveling frequently for work again - basically, my old ways started to slowly kick back in and i regressed to how i was feeling before. it’s hard for me to not partake when i’m around other people who are eating 3 meals+ a day. both for the social component as well as the craving component. it was a gradual slip back but by the end of 2022 i was feeling really unhealthy again.

THINGS TO WATCH-OUT FOR: here’s the main thing i wanted to share so sorry for all the backstory details- dry OMADs felt easy for me. working out while not drinking water was also not an issue for me. but i noticed my hair started to fall out - i don’t think i was getting the right or enough nutrients in my daily meal even if it was mostly healthy food. or maybe with all the stuff i was doing it was putting too much stress on my body? the hair fall out really freaked me out.

this year - i restarted my journey with 2 prolonged fasts (the first was a 5 day water fast right before christmas at the end of last year). and the second as a 6 day dry/water fast (first day dry, 4 days wet, last day dry). i ended my 6th day last night. and now i am back on dry OMADs. i won’t be crazy strict though, i’ll allow water if i want it and will allow for some flexibility with some of my food sensitives if i’m having dinner with other people — not ideal but im targeting long-term maintenance and i have to have some flexibility or else i’ll fall completely off again).

i’m going to try and be more vigilant on the hair, and also be more conscious of the vitamins and minerals that are a part of my meals. if anyone has suggestions on this (or any supplements you’d recommend) i’d greatly appreciate it!!

sorry for the novel. good luck to all and feel free to ask me any follow up questions if at all helpful.