Fasting

I think fasting deserves a total page on it's own, because fasting is something all its own. There are a couple different kinds of fasts out there: water fasts, juice fasts, liquid fasts, blah blah blah. I've only ever done a zero calorie fast. Basically, I didn't eat any foods, but I had diet drinks like diet coke, diet snapple and other stuff like that. In my opinion, it's the only type of fast I could do because I go through horrible caffeine withdrawal.

When every you do a fast, the most important thing to do is to drink lots and lot and lots of water. I carry around a water bottle with me that contains three cups of water and when I'm fasting, I try to have at least four bottles of it plus whatever diet drinks I consume.

Fasting, for me, is when I feel at my weakest and at my strongest. My body feels weak from lack of food, but I feel strong in my ability to resist food. When I eat a low calorie diet, I tend to have snacks of a bit here and a bit there. By the end of the day I've added at least 200 calories. When I'm fasting, I know that even 1 calorie ruins it all. When fasting, I think it's important to have all the information you can get, so I'll post my experiences with fasting.

12 Hours on a Fast: I count my fasting time from the last time I eat. I tend to eat dinner at 6 or 7, so 12 hours on a fast would be when I wake up the next morning for school. 12 hours is something we tend to do every day when we sleep. If you tend to be hungry in the mornings, you'll be hungry. Try to ignore it and soon it will go away.

18 Hours on a Fast: By now it would be about noon and you would have skipped breakfast and lunch. On a normal day, I can skip both of these without feeling hungry, but just because I know I'm on a fast, I feel hungrier. Just keep drinking water and you'll be fine.

24 Hours on a Fast: It's officially been a day and now I've gone without every meal. This is the hardest for me because I'm sitting only a couple yards from the kitchen. Distance yourself from food, take a nap, a shower, try to keep your mind off of it. This isn't the hard part yet.

36 Hours on a Fast: Now I've woken up the second day. I don't tend to be hungry, but I feel very weak. You're body has gone without food for a long time, but don't worry. Keep drinking water. I tend to drink a diet coke in the morning to kick start my energy. I also make a tea with zero calorie sweetener and drink that  in the dark in a comfortable place for thirty minutes to wake up and get my bearings.

46 Hours on a Fast: I was feeling really weak and mentally fragile at this point. The times I make it this long, I usually get into a fight with a teacher or my siblings and I feel really weak. Take a deep breath. You really want to distance yourself from food, gets lots of caffeine and take a nap.

60 Hours on a Fast: This is where it got bad for me. It was about 6 in the morning when I woke up with horrible, horrible stomach pains. I went in and out of sleep on night and if I moved or touched my stomach I thought I was going to barf. I simply sat up in my bed and I almost passed out. The walk out of my room, up the stairs and into the kitchen was accompanied by having to sit down a lot. I thought I was going to barf the whole time and the only thing that comforted me was knowing there was nothing to throw up. I eventually forced myself to eat some cereal, went back to bed and woke up at 10 without any stomach pains at all. How people make it past this point, I don't know, but if you have, tell me and I'd love to know!