Hey folks! I post a lot about fasting - I do think that fasting is a heavily undervalued tool in our health toolbox. But I wanted to address one common question I get - why do extended fasting (why suffer) if you can get the same benefits from exercise or diet?

Actually, not really - extended fasting has its own effects and benefits that are completely unique to fasting. Here is my list

• Deep ketosis up to 5-8 mmol/L - vs 0.1 on a normal diet and 0.5-2 on keto. Ketones act as signaling molecules affecting appetite, clarity, and energy
• Autophagy activation - 5x in animal studies after 48 hours and stronger and more continuous mTOR suppression than calorie restriction or exercise
• Gastrointestinal rest - digestive workload near zero vs 3-5 activations a day
• Metabolic switching - liver glycogen depleted after about 24 hours, forcing a full shift to fat and ketones
• Insulin suppression - drops 50-70%, and blood glucose stabilizes at 60-70 mg/dL
• Appetite recalibration - hunger peaks at 24-48 hours and then fades, helping separate real hunger from just habits

But to be fully objective, exercise dominates fasting for muscle gain and strength, VO2 max, bone density, and functional aging. The mortality data behind regular exercise is hard to beat. And diet covers what fasting never will - micronutrients, gut microbiome support, and long-term consistency So, fasting, diet, and exercise are not competing - they complement each other.

And again I do believe it's one of the most undervalued tools in our health toolbox 😊

Rolling Ws
Only eating on Wednesdays at 12 and 6-8pm
And weekends Saturdays and Sundays 12 and 6-8pm
The rest of the day water fast rolling!
Who’s with me!
Will make a group chat
Serious and accountable people only

Anyone else tried Coke Zero during intermittent fasting? Did it delay/reduce your results?

I don’t plan on doing daily, but once in a while if I feel hungry or something.

I started IF it’s been almost a month now. I’m still getting used to it, but I want to continue IF without breaking fast due to hunger.

I have 8 lbs to go until I reach my goal weight.

The thing, i am struggling is. thinking about bigger picture...( end goal) please any advice would be amazing. I also work 6 days week. Should you avoid events until you dont achieve it? in a month is it possible to do 40 lb? please any feedback advice.. please would mean a lot.

First 24hrs water fasting im planning on going for a week to begin with and continuing depending on how i feel.I did do i couple 3 days water fast but never for a week. If anybody wants to do it with me, that would be great. It would be great to have a partner or someone to have check ins with!! My goal is to be more healthy overall. Wish me luck!!

We'll create a discord group chat, share tips and progress, as well as encourage each other for the duration of the two weeks. Anyone is welcome to join! Shoot me a DM if you're interested in joining and I'll add you to the group.

Day 1 of water fast 99.8kgs at the beginning of the fast.

Head feels a little heavy when does this get better . Give me 101 or some tips

Has anyone experimented with water fasting in the context of polycystic kidney disease? I understand that dehydration triggers vasopressin release, which elevates cAMP signaling and accelerates cyst growth. On the other hand, fasting suppresses mTOR, and glucose restriction appears to slow, and sometimes reverse cyst proliferation. I'm trying to determine whether the metabolic benefits outweigh the cost of vasopressin-driven cAMP activation, and I'd be interested in any firsthand experience. Thanks!

okay hear me out. i am currently on day 13 of my water fast. I have lost around 8 kgs. But but but, I need to lose 7 kgs more till the end of this month , that is 31st October. But obviously, the weight loss has slowed down a bit. i have been consistently walking 10,000 steps since the beginning of my fast. What do I do to achieve my goal? Like this is non negotiable. I need to, i desperately need to lose that much of weight. this is real urgent. Please give me advice.

Does any woman on here have experience with water fasting and how it affects PCOS? I want to fast and give my body a reset, because my PCOS feels like it’s out of control, but I am VERY leery of taking a bunch of medication. I’ve developed so many health issues because of this problem and I think water fasting would be beneficial, but I’d like to hear from other women, before I dive into a prolonged fasting period.

FYI: I’ve done fasting before, but never longer than 5 days.

I may or may not keep this as an accountability post. Feel free to check in on me, or chime in about your own fasting experience, as it might help me in motivation.

Hello everyone, I'm on day 2 of a 14 days water fast and I'm kind of anxious about the refeeding process and how to handle it.
Do you have any favorite foods and refeeding time table to recommend?

Hey guys. Do you have bad breath? What do you do about it? Chewing gum breaks your fast, right?

I just wanted to share my experience!! I have super bad vision(legally blind) with a astigmatism. I did two 10 day water fasts and did off and on 5 days during the summer. I noticed by vision had gotten blurry so I knew it was time to go for a new exam and I went in and my astigmatism is 100% gone and my vision went from -5.50 to -4.50. I still have bad vision but ive never had that improvement so its very encouraging to fast more. I just wanted to share my progress outside of weight loss.

I can't seem to make it past 7 days and im trying ti do a month. I have 45lbs to lose and yes my life depends on me getting back to my lowest weight cause I'm that vain. Im trying to lose 15 in the 30 days but I keep cracking on day 6 or 7 for the last three weeks now. Im walking 20k steps a day minimum too to make sure I burn enough to lose that much but why cabt I make it and people who have made a month long fast work what got you over the hump?

I’ve done this before, and I know it helps an autoimmune condition, but it’s still intimidating..

What do you do when your thoughts or emotions spin out? It’s not the hunger that I struggle with- it’s staying with it emotionally.

Hi!
I’m planning a water fast for 72 hrs followed by an eating window of 2-4 hrs.
I am doing it for few things
1. Have a disciplined life
2. Get healthy
3. Weight loss - I’m a 25f and 152cm. My weight is 77kg
My initial goal is to do it for 10 days (I’m gonna have a meet up for which I definitely wanna look a bit lean but my long term goal is 57kg)
And during the 2 hr window my focus is high protein diet below 1000kcal
Can anyone please guide me and tell me abt what to expect? If what im doing is right? And the results i can expect? (It motivates me)
Thank you🥰

Hey folks! As you might know, I've been researching fasting benefits for quite some time and recently updated my page based on the latest 2025-2026 research and added a scoring system. All 37 benefits are now scored 0-100 (100 = strongest evidence) on 7 evidence criteria - human RCTs, mechanism, effect size, directness of measurement, observational studies, consistency, and safety - and sorted into three tiers, 7 clearly supported, 17 emerging, and 13 with limited evidence.

The metabolic core holds up best - ketones for fuel (100), blood sugar and insulin (96), type 2 diabetes (94), body fat (92), blood pressure (90). The further you move from metabolism, the thinner the proof.

Some things moved

• Autophagy went up - the first human autophagic-flux RCT (2025) finally measured it in people. Still emerging, but out of the deep speculative zone.
• Sleep went down - a 2025 meta-analysis of 16 RCTs found no sleep benefit.
• Inflammation dropped from clearly supported to emerging - meta-analyses are inconsistent.
• Testosterone was removed - RCTs show fasting lowers it in lean, active men.

Color dots - green for IF (12-24 hours), yellow - short-term fasting (24-72 hours) and red - extended fasting (72+ hours).

I hope it gives a good view on the power of fasting. As always, thoughts, ideas, feedback welcome!

Feeling proud of the accomplishment. 😁 Longest water fast before this was 96 hours.

Other than the dizziness on standing and some general fatigue, I got through without much difficulty.

47/F

Start weight: 215lbs

End weight: 190lbs

Visceral fat dropped from 13 to 11.

Left the obese category behind and now I'm officially overweight!

So looking forward to some bone broth tomorrow!

Edit: Added content for clarity and consistency.