Hard Dry Fast

greg07 (52)in #life • 6 years ago

I have tried different types of fasting before but never a full dry fast, also undertaking a 24 hour fast every year on December 25th, drinking only small amounts of water (December 25th is not actually Christ's birth date, and I usually don't indulge on this day. ;p ).

A brief account of my fast:

My dry fast journey started 1 week before completing the 4 days/96 hours as I had done a 30 hour trial the week before, not being able to commit to 96 hours because of commitments I had already made. The 30 hours ended up being a lot more difficult than the 4 days (after weighing up breaking both fasts), but I believe it helped prepare my body for the longer stretch (I got pretty weak early on with the 30 hour fast).

Anyone that knows me will know that I don't have much weight on my frame to begin with, and are probably wondering why I would fast, thinking that I am mad, lol... fasting is for health! and more importantly: spiritual growth!

I really wasn't sure how well I could cope with the 4 days, being 6ft 2in and having little fat on me at all, my weight to height ratio is pretty poor to say the least, but God loves a trier, and I did have faith.

The 4 days fasting for the most part went better than I expected, with just difficulty sleeping at night due to an extreme dry mouth. Daytime hours went better for me until around the 74 hour mark, when I started to become very weak on a short walk.
I was feeling pretty weak for the last 24 hours of the fast so I did try to conserve energy and take it easy. It got pretty rough when I began to break the fast after 96 hours, starting off with some water and a small piece of watermelon, then shortly after I ended up getting some dizzy spells almost blacking out, having to sit down to try and combat the dizziness.

At the time of breaking the fast I weighed in at 6.3kg/1stone less than when I started, which was a bit scary to see, although it has come up a bit since. I did have health issues to begin with (gut problems) and I don't think the 4 days were enough to properly heal my system, but I honestly feel that my body just couldn't go the extra days due to my weight issues (the hour leading up to breaking the fast and for a few hours after was really rough).

All in all the 4 days/96 hours did go better than the 30 hours I had done the previous week. The 30 hours probably helped prepare my body for the 4 days, but I also think the timing when I started the 4 day fast may have helped as I had started the 30 hour fast just a few hours before bedtime and I was already feeling it hard a few hours after waking up the next day. On the 4 day fast I began at midday after a small breakfast and a sandwich just before beginning, I think this may have helped as I was able to get through most of the first day and night before the sleeping difficulties really hit, and by this stage I wasn't really feeling hunger pains (I also tried over-hydrating a bit before the second fast).

It is now 3 days since completing the fast and I am feeling pretty good both physically and spiritually/mentally, it was quite the journey! :)