A Quick Guide to My Experiences with Water-only Fasting

The Best Treatment for the 'Ails of Our Age'

After struggling with obesity since I was a child, I first tried water-only fasting for the first time when I was living in South Korea. For nearly two decades I had tried every imaginable diet (Jenny Craig, Atkins, Cabbage Soup, Mayo Clinic), I had a personal trainer a couple different times, and I even spent 2 summers at 'fitness camps' when I was in middle school. But a fundamental problem remained, my childhood home life was dysfunctional, everyone used food as a coping mechanism, and no one was really serious about changing their lifestyle. When my sister and I moved out of the house as teenagers, that was the first time that I could really take control of my health. During those first 5-10 years, I had already lost about 150lbs, but I still weighed about 280lbs.

After moving to Korea, I continued to exercise and cook my meals, which helped me shed a few more ‘kilos’, but I felt hopelessly stuck around 280lbs. That was around the year 2016, and I was lucky enough to stumble upon a French documentary simply titled ‘The Science of Fasting’. It was wonderfully thorough and science-based. It followed the history of fasting as a proper therapy for psychological and physical conditions from the post-war Soviet Union, to modern day Europe and the US. It was wonderful, and I was totally inspired to give it a try…

The first few times I attempted fasting, I realized that it is also a really wonderful form of spiritual practice.

As a pretty serious Zen Buddhist, I appreciated the discipline that fasting requires, and I was really fascinated by that way that is really ‘shows you how your own mind works’ in relation to food and cravings. For my first year of fasting I wasn’t able to do any extended fasts beyond 5 days. Most of my fasts were in the form of a ‘One Meal A Day’ (OMAD) lifestyle, or 24-48hr fasts.

I realized in those early days that it really takes 3 full days for your body to settle into an extended fast. The first 24hrs is all mental since you still have food in your system. Day two becomes harder as your body truly empties and you first experience a mix of mental and physical symptoms. For me, it was never anything too bad; maybe a mild headache or some dizziness. However, when you add that to the psychological difficulty, that can be enough to make a lot of people give up. And I haven’t even mentioned the affect of social pressures… I learned not long after that it is important to have a bit of salt or electrolyte powder after the second full day of fasting. This helps you avoid the symptoms of hyponatremia that can often make people uncomfortable or sick during longer fasts. But with a bit of salt, that issue is gone and it all feels much easier.

After that first year of ‘testing the fasting waters’, I tried my first fast that was longer than 10 days. I was really intimidated by the idea of it at first, but I was also excited to see what the possible results of it could be.

I realized that in my case, after 5 days of fasting, nothing really gets worse mentally or physically. To the contrary, I actually start to feel more even-tempered, less ‘hangry’, and I generally felt awesome actually. With an average daily weight loss of .5kg per day, I was also able to make great progress.

My longest fast to date was a 22-day fast that I did as a ‘birthday gift to myself’ a few years ago. I only allowed myself water, unsweetend tea or coffee, and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt per day. It was both challenging and amazing, and I was able to lose 15kgs in those 22 days. It was amazing. And even more shocking, eating a simple healthy diet allowed me to maintain that weight loss… I continued to use fasting as way to ‘stair-step’ my weight down to about 95kgs, or 210lbs, which is still the lightest I have ever been.

Moving to Taiwan brought 5 years of turmoil and lots of challenges, which caused my unhealthy eating habits to return, and the weight just creeped back on as well… As depressing as it is to see how much ground I have lost, at least I am not entering a phase of my life when I can really get back to fasting in a big way. Thankfully I still have my past knowledge and experience to rely on.

If you’re interested in fasting, I couldn’t recommend it enough! It truly is the most fitting treatment for the ‘ails of our age’. Check out some of the great YouTube videos by Dr. Jason Fung, or Dr. Alan Goldhammer. They are both very rational experts who have knowledge based in clinical experience that you can trust…