Question about how people fast

#1

I just watched a video of a woman saying she completed a 7 day fast. I was under the impression she went without food for the entire 7 days but she was doing intermittent fasting for the 7 days. I think this is actually a practical way to live, just one meal a day, especially if we don’t feel any hunger.

am I wrong to think people go days without food or are they eating once every 24 hours? I just finished my second fast 2 days in a row, this time after 24 hours, I don’t think I could do it much longer. But if this is just a habit and eat only 1 meal a day, do I still call it fasting? Is it healthy to eat this way long term? I would not deprive myself if I felt hunger, then I would just go back to the normal 1 meal a day the next day.

(Allie) #2

Longest I’ve done is 50 hours but plenty of people go for days or even weeks. The most important thing is to listen to your body and if you need food, eat. Never force it.

(*Rusty* Instagram: @Rustyk61) #3

So far this month I’ve done a 72 hour fast then a week later (last week) I did a 96 our fast and this coming week I’ll do another 72 hour fast. Coffee and water only. I will suggest that before you step off into ANY extended fast, do your research and properly plan.

#4

thank you, i was just testing the waters with my 20 hour and 24 hour fast. But eating only 1 time a day isn’t really a fast is it?

(Allie) #5

It’s a type of intermittent fasting, often referred to as OMAD.

(Brian) #6

bojana, the word “fasting” can have more than one meaning. As you already found out, the word is used in different contexts by different people, none necessarily wrong, but sometimes quite different.

A “fast” could be refraining from a particular food for a time, often for religious reasons. A fast could be eating only one meal a day, often referred to as intermittent fasting. A fast could be eating one particular food only, an “egg fast” being an example. A fast can be eating no solid food at all but consuming tea, coffee, or broth of some kind. A fast can be eating no food at all but only drinking water. I have even heard of short fasts where a person consumes nothing, not even water. And there are a few more variations.

Lenghts of fasts can last from hours to days, occasionally weeks or even months. Of course, there are limits to how long a person can go without food or water and that varies quite a lot from person to person.

Hope that hasn’t muddied the waters too much. It’s a big subject.

#7

thank you, I appreciate your response. I am familiar with the religious fast, my grandmother did that every Friday as long as I had known her, she abstained from animal fat and meat which I thought was interesting because it’s the same type of fast for keto basically.

#8

That’s why I don’t like how all the fasting terms are thrown out, When I fast for a week, which I do a lot, I FAST FOR A WEEK! I don’t like when people just say they fast, when all their doing is skipping breakfast, it’s misleading, same with OMAD, just say you do OMAD, or ADF, why cause confusion? Yes, it’s all ways of fasting but being vague isn’t helping anybody. Maybe I’m picky but that has always bothered me about fasting. To me that would be like if Us, Atkins, “normal” LCHF etc all just said we’re “low carb” sure, we are… but that’s leaving out a lot of possibly important distinctions.

#9

those are excellent points lford, it is misleading and confusing. Personally if I only eat 1 meal a day I don’t feel right calling it a fast even if my body goes into autophagy, It sounds like a natural process the body goes through and fasting makes it sound forced.

#10

If I eat a meal, I don’t consider myself to have fasted that day.

Many people who are on the carbohydrate roller coaster see going a day without eating to be extreme, so I can see why some call skipping a meal or two fasting.

(Allie) #11

Same for me, if I’ve eaten then I haven’t fasted.

(Brian) #12

Then, there is the term, “breakfast”. Break - fast.

Isn’t this fun?!!

#13

lol great! I used to be a big fan of breakfast for dinner!