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Comment by pachico | Hacker News Reader

I hope you don't mind me asking but why did you fast for 12 days?

I started experimenting with fasting a about 2-3 years ago. My initial goal was weight loss (lost 100lbs from 272->172). My limit was typically 7 days but I wanted to see what the impact of a longer fast would do in the area of autophagy. I experienced some positive results but would discourage others from doing it, 3-5 days is more than enough. I would also discourage doing alternate day fasting or 24 hour fasting since it will screw up your metabolism (I ate 2 meals (2500kcal) every other day for 3 months) and found it very stressful on my general well being and metabolism.

These days I maintain 172 lbs with time delayed eating (18/6) and a clean diet.

How frequently did you fast? And did you eat “normal” amounts on non-fasting days?

Main goal for these kinds of fasts is weight loss, reducing insulin resistance and particularly extended fasts to achieve autophagy where your cells do internal house keeping to clean out broken cellular components and repair themselves.

Did you notice any benefits of autophagy?

I’ve always been curious if a long fast would clear up random stuff like knee pain (or even gum disease)

My 5 -7 day water fasts helped with some minor skin issues and I have no joint pain anymore, but that might be from losing some serious weight. For every 1 pound of body weight you lose, I have heard it removes 4 lbs of pressure on the knee and lower back. My 12 plus day water fast cleared up any remaining skin blemishes and a little Vitiligo between my fingers disappeared. I'm thinking after a year of monthly 5-7 day water fasts (18/6 Time delayed eating the rest of the time), the 12 day water fast was incredibly impactful, it felt like my body was pushed to use anything it could at that point to fuel itself.

My only regret is that I wasn't able to have someone doing a study or researching fasting monitor and harvest the wealth of information that was available.

I am super interested to hear more about the vitiligo clearing up! Can you elaborate?

I seems like the skin pigment returned to almost normal. It is just a shade lighter than the surrounding skin but otherwise unnoticeable. I of course can see the ever so slight difference since I know where to look and it was basically bleach white before, especially as the surrounding area got sun tanned. I have heard one of the causes of Vitiligo might be the liver and if this is the case then maybe fasting restored my liver health which promoted the healing? Just my guess....

And doesn't it come at a price health-wise?

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