Let me tell you my journey. January 1st 2026 I locked in for the first time I have never ever set out to do a New Year’s resolution and actually stuck to it. Yet this year i did. I started off just on a calorie deficit heavily focused on low carb. I lost a decent amount and took about a month off in March while I went on holiday and visited family. I then got back home and went straight back to dieting and just walking on incline on the treadmill.

I lost 10kg doing this by mid April then all of a sudden I hit a wall. My weight just would not budge and I did research and learnt about a plateau. I had a goal to reach a certain weight by my birthday beginning of May and I was devastated. This is when I learnt about fasting for weight loss. I already knew about fasting for religious reasons but had never actually tried it. So right there and then late April I started fasting. First was 24hrs then 36hrs then 48hrs then 65hrs and eventually up to 72hrs. I did this on a rolling schedule from April till now with another one month off in July where I ate whatever I wanted during that time. I did gain 3kg in that month but lost it very quickly once I got back home and on my fasting schedule.

When I first started in April I only did a 6 hour eating window but this led to me being very unwell as I couldn’t get in a healthy amount of calories and I also ate low carb and fats which was causing me issues with my period. So after I got back from my month long trip in July I switched this up to a 12 hour eating window and during that window I literally ate whatever I wanted literally. I mean whatever. So now as of today I just hit my goal weight with a total loss of 26kgs in 8 months (two months I did not diet or fast) 10kg loss was from calorie deficit the rest with rolling fasts.

I now plan to maintain this weight by doing omad and obviously now I need to work on building muscle. So happy to say this and I didn’t tell anyone except my husband who supported me through this journey so I just want to be proud of myself here.

Any tips for maintaining after fasting for so long would be much appreciated. Thanks for interacting.

I started out just doing a 24 hour but with no hunger and feeling good decided to see how long I can push it I’ve only ever gotten to 96 hours

(To clarify, I suppose you could call this last stint a liquid fast? I did drink water every day, one cup of black coffee, and I did have a sugar free Redbull on Friday.)

After fasting on and off, I found it increasingly easier to fight off the temptations to break it. I decided to see how long I could last! Almost a calendar week! My constant bloating went away, I felt better and surprisingly more energetic.

how do you get yourself out of the fomo mindset when fasting? birthdays, family dinners, etc.

I would love to know what pushes you through. I’m starting a 12 day water fast tonight & I need motivation.

Now on Amazon Prime, called “Fasting: The New Investigation”. Very science forward and very positive.

If so how did you do it? What regimen? What electrolytes?

Doing alternate day fasting since July. Saturdays are my cheat day, Sunday low calorie, Monday fast, etc) It takes me the whole of the next week to lose that water retention weight again, making that I am not actually losing weight as I am always just trying to lose the water weight. I drink 1.5 to 2 liters (at least) water a day and I walk daily about 5km. I have decided to stop walking for a couple of days to rest my muscles after doing a massive October walk challenge, having me walking more than 7 km per day. Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

Female / 157cm tall / SW: 115.5kgs CW: 109.2kgs GW: 55kgs

I’m not sure what I want to say here, but I realised I probably need some sort of community support since I’ve been doing this on my own and while I’m alright, I just wish I could get some well wishes.

I’m aware I won’t get to my goal weight during this fast, but we all need to start somewhere.

I’ve done a 21 day in the past (2018) and have followed a keto diet before, but over the last several years I had a really tough time, an abusive relationship, leaving that relationship, mental health issues and health issues that had me in a revolving door to the hospital until I recently had a hysterectomy in June. I ballooned during this whole period and really was at an all time low. There’s something really awful about being trapped in a body that can’t move because it’s so sick.

Since my operation, I’ve been able to bust out of anaemia, have been able to start physical activity, and my mental health is doing so much better than it has been.

But my weight is still an issue in itself and my spiritual health and nervous system feel absolutely shot.

So I’m doing this fast for those things, weight, spiritual and general wellbeing.

Anyway, this has been long enough. I’d love any words of encouragement or advice, especially from anyone that’s done extended fasts before.

Thank you!

Hello! Long-ish post ahead. I'm a rambler. Sorry!

TLDR: How do I tell my psychiatrist that I wanna start doing extended water fasts without making him think that I'm developing an eating disorder?

30F | 165cm | SW/CW 84kg | GW 60kg

First off, I wanted to mention that I've been lurking for a bit and learning so much from everyone in this community. This place is really neat and I'm thankful it's here while I prepare for my journey of bettering my health!

Onto my main concern. I will be seeing my psychiatrist tomorrow and don't know how to tell him that I want to start fasting to help with weight loss and managing blood sugar levels.

For context, I am currently taking psychiatric medication. So before I do any sort of fasting, I want to be responsible and try to work with my psychiatrist to see if my prescription would cause complications and if any changes need to be made. Cursory research tells me that it mostly seems fine for IF and OMAD, but I eventually want to do extended fasts and indications on my meds state that it might cause nausea if taken on an empty stomach.

My worry is that, because of my history of self-harm (though I haven't done anything in 10 years), my psychiatrist might immediately flag me for disordered eating and not listen to what I have to say. At worst, he might send me to the ER.

I assure you I intend to do this as safely as possible, gradually working up from IF to OMAD to longer fasts while staying on top of my electrolytes and micronutrients, but I'm not sure if he'll believe me or just think I'm out of my mind. I also unfortunately live in a third-world country where doctors can be a little heavy-handed and really old school, so I have a gut feeling that my psychiatrist might not listen to me.

So I wanted to ask for advice on how to approach this with my psychiatrist. Should I just not bring it up? Should I prepare a bunch of legitimate research to show him? I might be overthinking this 😕 but I'd really appreciate any help.

hi everyone, It’s my second time that I’m posting here. I’ve been doing 24/48h fasting for almost a week now. I felt ready to start a 14 day fasting I asked for remote work during these days so I can focus on my WF

I have reached 48 hours successfully and my husband (who is not fasting but supports me to achieve my goal) was cooking some pasta and the smell was absolutely tempting and I’m not going to lie I choose between not eating pasta with him and eating a can of tuna (almost 94kcal) ofc I got my tuna.. now I feed disappointed and disgusted that I gave up.

BTW I aim to loose weight as fast as possible that’s actually why I’m doing all this and nothing else.

Also I get my salt, electrolytes and magnesium every day I sleep 8hrs! I also have ADHD so I used to binge eating..

I continued my counter as if nothing happened but still feeling soooo bad. Do you think it will impact my weight loss during these 14day “fast”?

Edit : I’m a 28F (165cm 83.6kg) yep I lost 1.9kg probably just water but idc since I lost weight lol

Hi there,

Can people share their experience water fasting post-menopause for multiple days?

For the last 3 months I have been practicing 36 hours long fasting every week. The last meal is my Sunday dinner then I break the fast on Tuesday with breakfast. I usually go with an egg and avocado or potentially broth if I am not lazy enough to cook one on Sunday. The benefits I noticed is that my immunity is somehow better, autumn in Central Europe is all about the flus all around you. Many people in my inner circle were sick and I spent time with them in the office, this year I did not get sick and flu season seem to avoid me. Do you think this can be related to the fasting or is it rather a placebo effect?

I keep restarting my fast at day 2 because of nausea and I am so sick of it.

I just want to do an extended fast and I keep reading if you’re nauseous you need to break the fast.

If thats the case I will never be able to fast :(

Can someone please help me out on this.

Also there’s this weird taste in my mouth that keeps making my nausea worse. Please suggest what to do

I might be overthinking this, but has anyone noticed muscle loss during fasting? I completed 4 day fasts weekly a few years ago and dropped a lot of weight, including muscle, though my aim was to become lean and rebuild. Now I have gained a fair amount of muscle and fat, mainly around my belly, chest, and love handles. For me, love handles didnt leave when I was around 72 kilograms at 6’2”. I am now 95kgs with about 25% body fat. My goal is to get leaner, and I am simply concerned about the impact on muscle; I cannot find a clear answer. I just need some thoughts on this.

I had a long birthday weekend of eating heavy and wanted to cleanse. Today I’m fasting and I’ve ran eleven miles (which is normal for me as a dedicated runner). Based on my Apple fitness data, I can expect to end the day with at least a 3500 calorie deficit between my active calories burned and BMR.

It’s common knowledge that a pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories, but my question is can the human body really lose a pound of pure fat in a day or are there metabolic/thermodynamic processes that prevent that with such an immediate shift in energy balance?

I started a 12 day water fast today. I’m taking magnesium, potassium and Himalayan salt. I started at 170 pounds October 25. I posted this so I can stay motivated. I’ll provide updates each day.

Day two is complete. I felt fine most of the time until I was walking back to my car and kinda had jelly legs. Other than that I was good. I took a long nap to avoid eating.

This post is mostly for accountability, I've started many an unfinished fasting timer these past few days 😅 I started fasting for weight loss as I am pretty overweight, I did great for a couple weeks, dropped about 7lbs and even finished my first 36hr fast! Unnnfortunately I got my period a few days ago and I've completely fallen off since. Its like a switch flipped in my brain and fasting felt impossible. I've been caving into the smallest craving. I also ran out of my Vyvanse around the same time so I'm sure thats another reason why. (Fingers crossed I get my refill today)

Trying to get back on the wagon today bc I weighed myself and I'm up 5lbs from what I weighed last time I fully fasted. Ik this is mostly water weight from my period and eating more, but its still pretty discouraging to see after a mess up. The only credit I can give myself is even though I've been eating more, I gutted my kitchen and filled it with mostly whole foods and veggies so at least what I have been eating hasn't been bad for me.

To try and get myself back into it, and to hopefully help with that gross full/heavy feeling I've had, I'm attempting a 24hr dirty fast. No food as usual but I am allowing myself some cream in my coffee or sugar free soda. (I usually just stick to black coffee and sparkling water) fingers crossed this helps with food cravings. Tips or any words of encouragement are welcome, thanks for reading if you made it this far. Its a tough journey.

I’m hoping to do a 30 day fast to reset my body and jumpstart myself into weight loss. Can anyone give me your experience with doing this please? Is there an average expected loss? Just want to hear stories for some motivation as well. Maybe even some before and after photos.

I’m thinking of doing it maybe for like 4 times, I’m not big but I still got some weights to lose.

Hi, I'm 34M 217lbs and I've been water fasting for about 4 days now. Decided to take my blood pressure and it was ≈150/90. I've never had high blood pressure before but I have really bad anxiety and get horrible panic attacks. Naturally, this has started a wave of panic attacks that something is wrong with my body. Does anyone have any input with what is happening to my body?

23FTM 5’3 (just recently started testosterone again, as of three weeks ago after being off for over a year) started at 180lbs in December 2025 now down to 146 through 23h fasts/OMAD, physical job as a bartender (lots of carrying heavy shit up and down staircases), weightlifting, dance, and walking most days. Average 10k steps on days I don’t work, 17-23k on days I do. Dedicated to closing my Apple Watch rings everyday. Obviously, I am very active. I OMAD most days with lots of water and tea. This seemed to do very well for me from December to May but have been stuck consistently at 146. Lowest I’ve been since then was 142.9 and highest since then has been 148. My behavior and activity level has not changed (has actually been higher since the summer started) but the scale won’t budge at all >.<

I do know that my cortisol has been very high the past few months. I’ve been very stressed at work, and I’ve been thinking about breaking up with my partner since May so I suspect a lot of my cortisol is reserved in that. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to break up with him right now because of logistics and I simply cannot afford it. I know I know, but nothing I can do about it right now but I will before the end of the year. My safety isn’t in jeopardy. Also, my partner is aware that I’m unhappy in the relationship as we’ve talked about going on a break/breaking up but trying to currently work through it.

Since I don’t foresee leaving this situation any time in the near future, is there anything I can do to help the process along? I thought about stopping the gym for a little bit and just liquid fasting but I would like to lose as little muscle mass as possible but I also need to see some results otherwise I will lose it! Unfortunately I do need to do some kind of exercise everyday otherwise I feel vastly unproductive. Anything helps, please!!!