3 ms·

I 've spent 3.5/4 years eating nothing except on the weekends (my undergrad). So I would go for 2-5 days at a time without food. Not because of fasting fads or

I 've spent 3.5/4 years eating nothing except on the weekends (my undergrad). So I would go for 2-5 days at a time without food. Not because of fasting fads or anything, I didn't even know what fasting was. I was just from a very poor family and if I wanted to go for vacations with my friends or party in the weekend or buy a computer I had to save every penny I could. (that's how I bought my first laptop etc). I would eat properly during holidays and the summer only at my parent's home. I was very skinny, but somehow still had fat. Sometimes I bought pants from the women's section or I would take pants to my mom to sew the waist tighter, because I was so thin I couldn't find clothes that fit me (I have some pictures of me wearing my 108lb girlfriend's pants stashed somewhere). I exercised a bit but seeing me without a shirt you could tell I had manboobs and a tiny-lil bit of a potbelly and no abs at all, not even the skinny ones. At some point I developed fainting on sight of blood. I would brush my teeth, and if I scratched my gum and blood came out -- I had to run to the bed asap before passing out. To this day I don't know if I was just afraid of blood (blood doesn't affect me anymore), or I had gotten so weak I was actually nearing total collapse. Blood tests were surprisingly fine I just had low iron. Looking at that period back, I 'm trying to see if the advertised benefits applied to me. I didn't get sick much, but I don't get sick in general. Aging... well what can you say to an 18-22 year old about aging. My libido was low which makes sense I guess. Energy, regular levels. I don't know, I was just a very thin dude, fasting or not, no major epiphanies or amazement. I suppose it's amazing that one can survive fine, no suffering, going for so long without food, but it wasn't better than eating. I am very surprised at how people swear by it. Maybe life is much worse when you eat 3 meals per day? I don't know, nowadays (early 30s) I eat 2 meals and exercise a lot and I 'm pretty content. I think for me, exercise did the trick that elevated both my mood and my energy levels. Would I do the crazy 5-day 4 year fast again? If I was young and "hungry" sure, but it's definitely miserable. Food can be a great social thing to do with friends, and a cool experience especially when trying new dishes and restaurants. The huge food diversity in SF spoiled me. Edit: back then I was very ashamed of my fasting and try to hide it from friends etc. A few weeks ago I was shocked when a coworker told me he was doing a 7 day water-only fast. We 've come a long way!

oh_sigh 8y ago
It sounds like you were just starving yourself. I'm going to guess that you weren't eating 2-5 days worth of food whenever you chose to eat? I'm sorry but going that long without eating just doesn't make any sense. Did you/your family only have the ability to buy/acquire one meal at a time or what?
- throwaway66666 8y ago
  No, I was living alone while going to school. I would starve myself so I could save more money. What is the difference between X day fasts and what I did? I am not trying to claim that fasting doesn't work, just noting my personal experience. For me it certainly worked in the sense that I saw the fakeness of "if you don't eat for X days you get super hungry or weak/sick/you die", I was perfectly ok.. but not amazing.
  - oh_sigh 8y ago
    The difference is that fasters aren't intentionally calorie restricting, they are just time restricting their eating. It sounds like you may have been starving yourself(getting fewer calories than you needed), and also time restricting yourself.
- coldtea 8y ago
  >I'm sorry but going that long without eating just doesn't make any sense. That would be great news to the lower 1-2 billions in the developing world.
  - oh_sigh 8y ago
    I was saying it doesn't make sense to be eating once every 2-5 days, but eating 2-5 days worth of calories during those meals. Obviously if you are food insecure you don't have a choice - but if you have access to the food, only touching it every couple days doesn't make sense. Even if you have to survive on little money, I don't understand why you would go that long without food and not at least have some ultra cheap foods like rice and beans in your fridge.

oh_sigh 8y ago

It sounds like you were just starving yourself. I'm going to guess that you weren't eating 2-5 days worth of food whenever you chose to eat? I'm sorry but going that long without eating just doesn't make any sense. Did you/your family only have the ability to buy/acquire one meal at a time or what?

throwaway66666 8y ago
No, I was living alone while going to school. I would starve myself so I could save more money. What is the difference between X day fasts and what I did? I am not trying to claim that fasting doesn't work, just noting my personal experience. For me it certainly worked in the sense that I saw the fakeness of "if you don't eat for X days you get super hungry or weak/sick/you die", I was perfectly ok.. but not amazing.
- oh_sigh 8y ago
  The difference is that fasters aren't intentionally calorie restricting, they are just time restricting their eating. It sounds like you may have been starving yourself(getting fewer calories than you needed), and also time restricting yourself.
coldtea 8y ago
>I'm sorry but going that long without eating just doesn't make any sense. That would be great news to the lower 1-2 billions in the developing world.
- oh_sigh 8y ago
  I was saying it doesn't make sense to be eating once every 2-5 days, but eating 2-5 days worth of calories during those meals. Obviously if you are food insecure you don't have a choice - but if you have access to the food, only touching it every couple days doesn't make sense. Even if you have to survive on little money, I don't understand why you would go that long without food and not at least have some ultra cheap foods like rice and beans in your fridge.