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Comment by smoyer | Hacker News Reader

I fasted entirely for lent one year (40 days) and after the first week, the hardest part was indeed that I was missing the social aspect of eating meals with friends and family. I took vitamins, and drank more water than I normally would but was quite happy.

I should also mention that I stopped running so hard during this period and took a multivitamin each day. I've fasted for shorter durations and it's amazing how even 2-3 days without food seems to sharpen the mind. You'll feel less sluggish and simply feel more alert.

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Does the feeling of hunger go away by itself or you repress it somehow?

When I did a 3-day fast, the feeling of hunger went away after the first day. But the first day I did have to repress it. That was a bit hard. And then the second day, there were all these student clubs (university at the time) who were giving away free food. Not junk, but high quality food. And recruiting sessions. Free food again, the high quality stuff. So I realized there are 2 things to resist in a fast. One, dealing with hunger, but two, dealing with temptation to taste something succulent.

It goes away. I went without food for 2 weeks (saline IV only), felt no hunger, but did watch a ridiculous number of cooking shows.

I usually try to fast at least once a week, the longest I've fasted for is 5 days.

The first few days I get hunger pangs around my usual meal times, but they go away soon enough.

Around the fourth day I get the 'real hunger' feeling where it's your whole body aches for food, but the hunger pangs go away. But that had lessened by the end of my fast.

Even if you're not religious I think it's still worth giving fasting a shot, just because it teaches you about hunger. Most people in developed countries will never understand it.

Didn't you get headache? When I don't eat for 20 hours or so I get a severe headache, feel terribly weak and fall asleep. Only when I wake up I feel strong enough to bother with getting something to eat.

I find that there are two distinct sensations that I have to call hunger. They seem to get confused.

The first is what I think people in modern society call hunger, because it's the only kind they've experienced. It's a craving for food, or even just a sensation of not being full. We call "not full" "hungry" when they aren't really necessarily the same.

The second kind comes after you've fasted for quite a while. It's difficult to describe if you haven't felt it, but it's sort of like... tightness maybe as if your body is buzzing or something.

The first one is appetite. The real hunger comes around after a few weeks of fasting - and unlike appetite, it doesn't go away when you do something interesting.

Really? I thought the feeling I get, when I didn't eat for >10h was hunger. It's an ugly feeling, which comes with borborygmus.

Appetite is a feeling I would describe more psychological. I'm smelling something delicious and suddenly want to eat it.

> Appetite is a feeling I would describe more psychological. I'm smelling something delicious and suddenly want to eat it.

It is psycho-physiological addiction. (smell is not psychology, it is physiological). It is like cigarette addiction. But it isn't a physiological need.

10h? That's not hunger, that's regular appetite.

Not having eaten for 2-3 days would be hunger.

Actually he described it quite well. Appetite is psychological, whereas hunger is a physical sensation of pain.

I'm replying to your post because I get hungry even quicker. I had lunch (rump steak, potatoes) at 1pm and now at 4:30, I'm hungry again. My BMI Is 21, with rather low body fat.

Still, that's appetite, not hunger.

Even with a BMI of 21, you can probably fast for 20-40 days with no irreversible damage, and that feeling you call "hunger" will not be there after the 2nd day.

You do not know what hunger is until you've felt it. I thought I knew what hunger was, until I fasted for 25 days. Then, I actually discovered what hunger is.

Feeling of hunger is very individual. For some people, it's no big deal. For other people, it is very annoying. I know that if I haven't eaten for a day, I start notice limping people more, and I can't stop watching small children, because I want to kill and eat them.

Is it a crinkly feeling in your gut? That could be your GI tract closing down since it has nothing to do.

Whenever I used to say I was hungry my Dutch grandfather would say, "No, you'd like to eat something. Hunger is something we had during the war".

("Je hebt trek, honger hadden we tijdens de oorlog")

When you say you fasted entirely... do you mean you consumed no food at all, or did you eat after sunset as is the norm?

I only drank clear liquids without calories.

How much fat and muscle did you lose?

The hardest part was social?! Really?! I've done a couple five day fasts and the hardest part is that after day three you have an effective IQ of 65. Your body shuts your brain down and you can't think clearly.

I wonder if this has an under-explored psycho-therapeutic value, actually. When you can't mentally ruminate at all anxieties definitely dissipate. I'd recommend fasting as a way to clear one's head for sure. You can't get any work done, though. You really need a week off alone.

Day one was mostly hard due to habit (I cut out sugar and carbohydrates four days prior, so no withdrawal to deal with) and after day 8 or 9 I started to feel a bit weaker. But in between I felt more energetic and was certainly no less sharp mentally (I mean, I was still doing quite well in my coursework and research).

What really stuck out for me was just how much time I was spending each day either planning meals or eating them. Easily four hours a day, including cooking, cleaning, eating, and planning meals with friends.

The social part was not so big a deal for me, but only because there were four of us in our fraternity trying it all together. Plus, well, living in a fraternity and being in college. I didn't need the excuse of a meal to hang out with people.

I imagine that ones metabolism factors in as well. I was sick once, couldn't eat anything for 14 days due to large wounds in my mouth. I felt fine if you factored out the pain.

Lost 8-10kg (I'm an athletic, not large person) and I could barely exit a car when I visited the doctors office. I remember being very tired, but not feverish, so I don't think that factored in.

Regained the weight extremely fast when I started eating again. I remember how that surprised me!

I wasn't claiming it was the same for everyone ... and as I mentioned, I actually felt sharper.

> I actually felt sharper

I do IF (Intermittent Fasting, 24 to 36 hours with water only once a week), and have found that too, but I have also found that as soon as I start eating again, I get quickly tired and warm (like I started a fire inside my body).

I don't eat carbs when I start eating again for the same reason. Try eating per the Atkin's diet for a few days and gradually add carbs back in. As an aside, I've used the Atkin's diet to lower my cholesterol and the "keto-strips" indicate a light ketosis after 3 days or so.

For me it's the opposite. The cognitive effects of fasting are amazing and the number one reason I do it. Did you drink enough water?

I used to work with a guy who would fast on Wednesdays for religious reasons. After a while, we realized that we shouldn't ask him any technical questions on those days, as he simply couldn't answer, or didn't provide good answers.

A few years later I went on a diet (lost almost 30 pounds, sadly since regained). I experienced the same effects - I was irritable, and didn't produce my best work. This was probably a contributing factor to my being selected for a layoff.

You have to have reasonable stores of vitamins & minerals (iodine, b12, niacin, iron) before starting if you want your cognitive ability to remain in top shape.

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