Fasting for 72 hours

You’re probably wondering – why? Well, there were two reasons I decided to try this: I had just started re-reading Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, where reading Siddhartha quote “I can think, I can fast, I can wait”, that reminded me of a post I read. The writer described his experiences fasting for 48 hours once, and 72 hours at a different time. So I instinctively, but strongly, decided to try it out myself. I originally aimed for 48 hours, but after feeling pretty good at the 34 hour mark (read about it below), I started considering 72 hours more seriously.

I started my fast at 2pm on Friday, 11/17, and ended it at 2:30pm on Monday, 11/20.

Here’s what I had during this 3 day period:

• 2 cups of black coffee

• 2 cups of salt water (0.25 tsp of salt/cup)

• Water, lots of it

Personally, I found this experience to be surprisingly easier than I expected it to be. It got easier with each passing day. Besides the relatively frequent thoughts of food and the ephemeral rumbling tummy, I felt pretty good most of the time. although There was one period where I was feeling at 80% of my usual during the night of day 2. I couldn’t tell if its because I did not eat or because I did not sleep enough (more on this below).

In addition to the fast, another lever that likely made it harder on my body was the less-than-usual ~5hrs/day of sleep I got during these three days, for quite different reasons (on Day 1, I was awake till 5:30am to watch the Starship launch, Day 2: I was awake till 6:30am watching India vs Australia’s cricket World Cup final – which India lost 🥲, and on Day 3, I was working late).

But there were two particular instances which were quite difficult to overcome and required a fair bit of willpower. At the 34 hour mark, when my friends decided to go get food at 11pm, so I went along and watched them have tacos at a place that smelt like ambrosia (or so I assumed).

Another instance was at the 48 hour mark, where because I hit my original goal, I initially considered breaking the fast, so I began cooking one of my all time favorite meals for me and my friends (tomato dal + potato fry + rice, a combo I loved having growing up). But soon after I started cooking, I decided I’ll just fast for another day. So here I was, cooking dishes that I loved for the next 1.5h, and at the end of it, I sighed, covered the dishes I just cooked, and left – because I had 22 more hours to go.

When it was time to break the fast, I wasn’t particular on the best way to do it as I learned from a couple of resources (and from asking GPT-4) that it does not really matter how you do it. So I broke my fast by juicing a mix of fruits, and waited for an hour after having it to see if I felt good, which I did, so then finally had the meal I cooked and was longing for – I absolutely loved it; 12/10.

Reflecting on this, it was a fun experience where I learned once again how our body’s capable of a lot more than we expect it to be. Realizing that this was also a game primarily of willpower rather than being physically straining and putting it to test was a rewarding experience. But the last 6 hours were the hardest as I started thinking about how I’d break my fast and how I’d finally get to eat food – but I tried and kept myself busy with work the best I could.

Here’s some things I’d try when I do this next:

• Getting an ideal amount of sleep each day (lower BMR)

• Do this during the week instead of the weekend so I’m more occupied.

• Fasting for 96 hours

If you’ve got any suggestions on what I could do differently, or if you’re interested in trying this out yourself, let me know – I’d love to join!