How to do Something Hard- The 5-Day Fast

Having just finished a delicious meal of pizza and fried-chicken, Late-June Me agreed to partake in a 5-day fast starting the week after July 4th because why not? “Wow, that’s so brave of Late-June You,” you might be thinking. Nope. Late-June Me is just an asshole.

So today is day one. It’s 7:03 am and I have accomplished nothing other than begin to realize my horrific error. I normally intermittent fast until noon-ish every day so I’m not mentally overcome with grief at this point. In a move very reminiscent of Late-June Me, Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me thinks it’s a great idea to quickly type up and publish a blog post about what a bag of dicks Late-June Me is.

The general thought process is that Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me will quickly give way to Fuck-This-Shit Me and Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me is apparently just as big of an asshat as Late-June Me because Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me thinks the only way Fuck-This-Shit Me will complete this 5-day fast is if Fuck-This-Shit me is publically shamed by all thirteen of Mr. Burrito Bowl’s readers.

I feel like we’re caught up.

So my brother-in-law, who is the perpetrator of this nonsense, is doing a water fast. No coffee. His fast won’t officially start for a few days because he’s tapering down his caffeine intake. My fast starts today because Early-July Me had the foresight to realize that Fuck-This-Shit Me would not do well in a no coffee + prolonged fasting situation so it was decided, with a belly full of food, that Fuck-This-Shit Me doesn’t actually need any food but we should give him just a little bit of coffee.

So here we are, Monday morning, and Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me is typing away knowing full well that at some point today Fuck-This-Shit Me will be wanting to quit this whole 5-day fast and will be super pissed that Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me had the audacity of publishing a blog article knowing full well it would shame Fuck-This-Shit Me into continuing.

It’s now 7:15 am. Here’s how I’m feeling.

Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me is gleefully running his portion of the race and I can see Fuck-This-Shit Me just up ahead. I’m already feeling kind of hungry and I’m pretty sure I need to eat something which is really fascinating/irritating for me because I normally don’t eat until noon anyway.

I shouldn’t start to feel the effects of the fast until this afternoon as it’s not uncommon at all for I-Can-Eat-Whenever-Want-(sticks tongue out) Me to wait until 2 pm to eat. But, here I am, Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me, at 7:18 am thinking about passing the baton off to Fuck-This-Shit Me.

Why would you do a 5-Day Fast?

There are a lot of health reasons to do a multi-day fast every once in a while. It’s good to give your digestive system a break, it saves money on food, and there’s probably something about telomeres happening. It’s a very brave and noble pursuit.

Mostly I’m interested in the mental aspect. I would also like to lose the last bit of belly-fat but I’m not sure how likely that is.

As far as mental-toughness goes, doing a 5-day fast is mentally exhausting. Physically, the human body can definitely go for five days without eating. No problem.

Mentally/emotionally is where the meltdowns are almost certainly bound to happen. But, what do I care? I’m Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me and all that emotional breakdown stuff will be Fuck-This-Shit Me’s problem to deal with.

Which brings me to the point of the article…

…before we get there. Here’s a great Youtube video that answers a ton of questions about different types of fasting and their benefits. It’s well worth the listen if you’re at all interested.

How to do Something Hard

The key to doing hard things is a) just do them and b) don’t stop doing them.

Also, somewhere in there, you should plan out a path to victory. But mostly the key is to start doing something hard and then not stop.

There is a certain amount of physical preparedness you need to be able to run a marathon. After that, it’s all about mental toughness. In the last few years I’ve been interested in cultivating my mental toughness through stoicism.

I think doing hard things is important if you want to have a fulfilling life. Only lunatics enjoy going for a run but it’s good for normal people to run every now and then to prove to themselves that they can do it.

Standing in a cold shower is not physically all that hard. It’s physically uncomfortable but you don’t really do anything besides just stand there. All you have to do is NOT jump out of the shower or turn the water to warm. Mentally though, it’s very hard.

I think it’s important to build your stoicism muscles, especially if you’re someone who has a pretty easy life. My life is pretty easy. It would not be all that surprising if I turned into a squishy, weak-minded, weakling. So, it’s important to guard against that by doing hard things.

This is a hard thing. It’s a hard thing that I’m not sure I can do. There are many iterations of Future Me speaking up saying, “Yeah, this is hard and you’re probably not going to do it so let’s just delete this post and go have breakfast.” 

My plan for finishing this is to follow Dr. Leo Marvin’s advice and take baby steps.

I don’t have to do an entire 5-day fast. Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me just has to not eat food until early afternoon where Fuck-This-Shit-Monday-Edition Me will take over. He’ll have the toughest task of getting through the evening with zero momentum but his shift isn’t as long as Fuck-This-Shit-Tuesday-Edition Me and Fuck-This-Shit-Wednesday-Edition Me.

By the time Thursday rolls around I should have the whole momentum train rolling fast enough that I’m able to coast my way to victory. I don’t know how well coasting to victory will work but that’s a problem for Coast-to-Victory-Thursday Me.

I’m also not sure if my fast ends at any point on Friday or if I have to wait until Saturday morning. Those are details I expect Yay-We’re-Finished-Friday-Evening Me and Yay-We’re-Finished-Saturday-Morning Me to figure out. Since neither option will have any effect on me, Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me, I think breaking my fast on Saturday morning is probably best. Yay-We’re-Finished-Friday Me is going to be super upset.

I’m really curious to hear what each iteration of me is thinking and feeling so I’ll try to post a daily update. Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me thinks I may as well do daily updates since I’m just hanging out anyway. I’m sure Fuck-This-Shit-Tuesday Me won’t mind.

DAY TWO UPDATE

The first day of fasting went surprisingly well. I went on three different walks with my daughter as a way to distract myself. The eight miles I walked were probably not great from an energy conservation standpoint but I think they helped me in the mental department.

I felt hungry all day but never felt starving. My head hurts a little bit but it’s at the level of mild-inconvenience. Around noon the first day Fuck-This-Shit Me made his first appearance to ask for more coffee but he quickly got bored with the whole thing and Early-Morning-Start-of-Fast Me was replaced with This-Isn’t-So-Bad Me for the remainder of the day.

I think being mentally prepared for Fuck-This-Shit Me to be my main internal companion has helped me keep him at bay. When I feel negative thoughts about the whole thing they don’t take me by surprise. I’m ready to feel negative thoughts. So far I’ve been able to keep those thoughts tamped down.

Today will be the toughest day. At least until tomorrow. I’m still feeling some remnants of starting motivation so that’s nice. I feel like a rocketship at blastoff. Not in a good way, more in the I’m constantly checking to make sure things aren’t going horribly wrong type way.

Also, I haven’t reached any kind of enlightenment yet which is kind of bullshit but whatever. I guess I’ll just sit here not eating again today.

DAY THREE UPDATE

Day two was a grind to get through but overall wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I’ve never fasted for this long so we’re in uncharted territory. Also, I’m not even halfway done. I try not to think about that.

I had a little bit of a headache (not sure if it was from lack of calories or lack of caffeine) but I drank a little bit of saltwater and that seemed to make it go away pretty quick.

I’ve also started adding lemons to my water to make them more palatable.

My body feels like it’s buzzing a little bit. It’s not a bad sensation but I’m trying just to notice it without giving too much judgment as to whether it’s good or bad.

The afternoons between lunch and dinner are the hardest. That must be when the hunger hormones are at their peak. Mornings aren’t too bad as I’m used to ignoring the sensation of hunger in the morning.

I was right in that this is good stoicism training. It sucks but it doesn’t suck bad enough that I can’t physically do it. It’s similar to running at a pace that you can physically do but your body is constantly telling you to slow down just a little.

I feel pretty good mentally about the whole thing. I have had moments of feeling like I can’t do it but they pass.

Today is a wildcard. Either my body will start to pull out of the non-food adjustment and I’ll start to feel pretty good or this will be the worst day if my body isn’t quite to that point. If I get through today I think the next two days will be much easier.

DAY FOUR UPDATE

Yesterday was much easier overall and I feel I’m on the home stretch. I was pleasantly surprised by how I felt Wednesday. On Thursday I woke up feeling not as thrilled about the whole thing. I’m not in any greater physical pain but the mental drain of still having two days to go is a bit taxing.

I believe I’m through the hardest part but that’s a trap in itself. When I expect to feel awful I’m not bummed out by feeling tired and hungry. When I get in my head that it’s supposed to get easier I’m more susceptible to feeling down in those moments when my motivation is lacking.

My goal today is to reset and mentally expect today to be the hardest day. If today is easier than Wednesday I’ll be pleasantly surprised. It’s better to expect the worst and be happy it’s not that bad rather than expect it to be easy then be discouraged when it’s not.

This whole thing is a good litmus test to see where I am in my overall stoicism.

When my brother-in-law would talk about doing a 5-day fast it seemed impossible for me. I don’t think I was mentally strong enough to do this even a year or two ago. I think all the stupid stoicism things I do like intermittent fasting and standing in cold showers have paid off more than I realized.

Three days down, two to go.

DAY FIVE UPDATE

We’re finally here. After what seemed like weeks of waiting it’s the fifth day of the fast. I know I’m excited so I can’t imagine your hype level. My fast technically started Sunday night at around 9 pm so I’m tentatively planning on breaking my fast tonight just after nine.

Because I’m a little bit OCD there is an outside chance that I’ll want to wait until Saturday morning to break my fast to make sure I’m for sure over the 120-hour mark but for the last few days I’ve mentally been planning on breaking it tonight at nine.

I’ll probably eat some bone broth and dried fruit tonight then I have a whole backlog of food items I’ll eat on Saturday. It should be a good time.

As far as I’m actually feeling, day four was much different than any other day. I felt way better on day four than I did on day three and day three was worlds better than day two. I had so much energy that at one point I couldn’t help but having a dance-off with June for several minutes.

Side note: Baby dancing is one of my favorite things. Who teaches them how to dance? June doesn't watch TV but when she hears music she starts bending her knees up and down and swaying side to side. It's adorable.

Anyway, this next part I’m going to talk about how all day on the fourth day I had to run back to the toilet to relieve myself on a moment’s notice. I feel like it’s important to mention that as this is ostensibly supposed to be what it’s like to do a five-day fast.

Actually, maybe I won’t talk about that but it is true. The first few days my bowel movements were virtually non-existent. I made up for it yesterday.

Thanks to everyone who supported me on the way, except Landshark who kept tweeting me pictures of delicious food.

Let’s see how day five goes!

DAY AFTER WRAP-UP

It’s now Saturday and my fast is officially over. I broke it at 9 pm Friday night 120 hours after I began it. For those of you wondering, I ate a rice stir-fry with chicken kabobs along with some dried fruit and cashews. And just a bit of whiskey. It was amazing.

You’re supposed to give your stomach time to adjust which is why I didn’t dive into a pizza. Today I plan on stretching my stomach back out with a whole list of food culminating in Costco pepperoni pizza (what I craved most during the fast for whatever reason) while I watch the UFC fights.

Emotions

I’m a pretty non-emotional guy but I had a moment to myself where I looked in the mirror and felt a slight welling up of emotion/pride. I had done it. As someone who used to get weak and shaky if I didn’t eat every few hours to go five straight days on nothing but gallons of water and a cup of coffee was a pivotal moment.

I’m not the type of person to say I can do something (even to myself) until I’ve actually done it so finishing this fast is something I’ll hold onto forever. Last week I wasn’t the type of person who has the mental fortitude to finish a 5-day fast. Today I am.

Final Day Minus Coffee

As far as how the fifth day actually went it was a little harder than the fourth day. This is almost certainly due to the fact that I didn’t drink coffee all day on the fifth day. It’s been well over a decade since I went an entire day without coffee, maybe longer. I honestly can’t remember if I’ve gone a day without coffee since I was a teenager. My head hurt a little most of the day but it wasn’t terrible.

The day and week actually went by pretty fast. Each individual moment seemed to drag on slightly but every day I’d look up at the clock and be pleasantly surprised how late it was.

Weight Loss

I didn’t think weight loss was going to be much of a factor because I was in reasonably good shape going into the fast, hovering around 15% body fat.

I started the fast at 183 pounds and slowly dropped to 177 pounds by the end of the fifth day. If I were doing this fast solely for weight loss I would have been pretty disappointed at that point. But it’s hard to get a good gauge on weight because I’m drinking so much water to make up for not eating.

Here’s the crazy part: I weighed 177 pounds last night right before I ate my fast-breaking meal. Then I went to sleep and kept having to get up during the night to pee. When I woke up I decided to weigh myself again. I expected to be around 177 give or take a pound.

I was 171. How does that work? I have no idea. My guess is my body was holding onto water since no other nutrients were coming in. Once it had some solid food to work with it shed all the excess water.

So I actually lost 12 pounds over the course of those five days. I’m curious how much of that was fat vs. muscle vs. just food and literal/figurative shit that’s in our intestines. I imagine I’ll gain much of that weight back as some of it has to be just gunk that builds up in our intestines. You’re not supposed to lose muscle doing a fast like this because your body goes into ketosis where it burns fat for fuel so I’m cautiously optimistic that I did lose some fat.

I plan on spending the day gaining as much of the weight back as possible while I splurge on all the foods people sent me pictures of throughout the week. Thank you everyone for following along!

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Also, if you want to join in the fun for any portion of the voyage just go right ahead! Future You won’t mind a bit.