Ask Lemmy

Three and a half weeks, 25 days.

More than forty years ago I was lost in the wilderness on a school camp. Broke both ankles and couldn’t walk. Drank water from a stream and waited.

Like... less than 24 hours

I ain't trying to be the next Gandhi

8 day fast. Water only. I was living and eating horribly at the time. I needed a drastic reset and it worked very well.

About 30 hours.

I had to go nil-by-mouth for 12 hours before an operation to repair a fairly serious injury and they kept pushing the surgery back and back and back. Higher priority cases were keeping the surgeon. It wasn't like I was low priority either, but my injury was stable and not immediately life threatening.

Did I mention I'd also lost blood? That made for a force multiplier.

In the end, they admitted defeat - the surgeon had worked too long anyway - let me eat something and rescheduled my surgery for the following day.

Let me tell you, that was the best chicken I ever ate.

Probably a few days, like 3 maybe. I forget sometimes.

"Why hands shaky?"
Oh...

Covid had be bedridden for about 3 days and feeling too sick to eat, and living on my own I had nobody to help me.

Did a 3 day fast once.

It was actually amazing. The last 8 hours were where it got rough, but from hours 12 to 66, I basically wasn't even hungry because my body entered ketosis. Did full keto for a month afterwards because I was already there. Dropped 15lbs and felt like a golden god for months afterwards. I've done some 36-48 hour fasts since then, but even 48 hours isn't the same thing.

When I was around 16 or so I decided not to sleep or eat for a week, which I did - so it would be that.

I was fine, overall, but did get some leg cramps when I cycled 12 miles on the last day. I had no great desire to eat at the end - that had faded over the week, really, but it came back pretty soon once I did actually get something down.

Of course, it is a very different thing if you decide not to eat, and have no particular stresses or anything going on to being deprived of food.

At Ramadan

Wake up, eat breakfast at 4 am Go to work, come back home Fall asleep, don't wake up at the correct time, Come home, fall asleep, wake up late once more, break my fast because I gave up

4:00 to 21:00, sleep from 16:00 to 5:00, forget to break the fast, 6:00 to 20:00, finally break the fast

17 hours + 12 hours = about 30 hours

Even more if you include sleep (45 hours)

A week for medical reasons, but I was being given intravenous water and nutrients the whole time. Those don't stop you from feeling like your stomach is empty, unfortunately. The first slice of toast afterwards was possibly the best thing I have ever eaten

Out of choice, maybe 32-ish hours? A full day plus sleep the night beforehand

About 6000 kilometres :p

About 3 days. I do it every now and then since it does help relief a medical issue.

Interestingly, I don't get hungry and don't feel much difference overall. I could go much longer, but I don't want to worry about refeeding syndrome.

10 hours, but I'm also a fatty.

Back in college, my buds & I did a road trip across America, so of course we stopped at the Grand Canyon. Breakfast was just a peanut butter & bread "sandwich", at which point we started hiking down the canyon. If you've ever been, they have numerous signs saying "Do not go past this point unless you are packing food". But hey, we're college kids, and we're not going to go THAT much farther... Long story short, that night the rangers had to chaperone us as we fucking crawled back out. One of us 'got' to ride in a helicopter to the medical building. For the other 3 of us who could still move, they manged to find a dusty MRE at the last way station. That was the absolute best chicken & pea soup in a tin foil bag I have ever eaten in my life.

About three days. I get headaches, and shakey, and at some point in the first twenty four hours the hunger pangs vanish. So if I focused through something without eatung I might only realize due to headache and the empty vibrating feel.

It happens less as I get older as I understand body signals better and eat before the point when the hunger pangs fade.

Roughly 3 days as well. The shakes were crazy since I was drinking coffee and abusing amphetamine like mad as well.

About 4 days. multiple times. I was really poor once. I used to take Tylenol and Tums to keep away the hunger pains, and I am surprised I still have a liver and kidneys.

32 seconds and you're my next meal

12 to 14 hours, or so. That's how I found out about hypoglycemia. Played paintball all day, started feeling sick and was throwing up and passing out walking home, someone called an ambulance and after they checked me out they said I just needed to eat. 🤣

I used to fast 36 hours a week, but I am sure the 4 day migraines are the longest (can't even drink water without puking). Unless it was that one time we all got the flu, 10 days, but we did drink stuff with calories to stay alive.

So:

From poverty or ED never more than a day. Plenty of skipped meals and undereating but no long stretches with nothing.

Voluntarily fasting, only a couple of days

From sickness 4 days or 10 days, depending on how you define not eating.

4 or 5 days, just forgot to eat tbh

About 30 days.

From a Sunday lunch through dinner Wednesday evening.

Not a purposeful fast, I just had a huge hours-long meal of endless samples of steak, lamb, and chicken at a Brazilian Steakhouse. Also several large salads, and a small dessert.

So anyway, I just wasn't hungry for days after that. I didn't have any constipation, no drop in energy, so I went about my business as usual, but without eating for a few days.

Something like 65 hours. I used to routinely do 3 day fasts when I was working out a lot. But routinely like every 3 to 6 months. They are very hard to sleep and be functioning on.

A few 24 hour periods for surgery. I've gone at least 48 hours without eating, it made me feel pretty rotten

40 days

Take potassium and calcium supplements or your bones are gonna hurt

19-ish hours. I practice intermittent fasting and sometimes I unintentionally go over my standard 16 hours because I’m busy doing something and I forget.

A couple of days, but I was really sick. When healthy*, I’ll sometimes do 24 hours, but that includes big meals bookending that time. I do also tend to have coffee with oat milk, protein drinks, and/or juice during that time, so it’s not without nourishment, just without solid foods.

*don't be like me, kids. It’s not good to eat too sporadically (I’d be much worse about it if my husband were not basically samwise gamgee). I’ve got adhd and forget to eat sometimes, and I’ve noticed it’s always more difficult to eat if I’ve eaten very little lately.

A bit over 24 hours probably. No eating or drinking, mostly because I forgot to eat supper the previous night then stayed in bed the next day

I'll do the occasional 72 hour fast. A 24 hour fast once a month. These days I change the 72 hour to a 48 hour then blood test every hour or two until I see a blood sugar rise. That's when the body starts to cannibalize muscle tissue so I stop.

I accidentally intermittent fast all the time, adhd brain along with weird lunch pattern at work. I think at this point, I should just say I do it to sound cool.

Something like 36 hours without food, and around 12 hours without water in prep for surgery. I was delirious the last several hours.

40ish hours without eating or sleeping, I was just busy and didn't get to it.

Maybe like 30 hours. I was feeling depressed and didn't want to eat at the time.

32 hours after making a dumb bet. It messed up my appetite for months afterwards. I got $20 though. Not worth it.

probably like 18 hours max

7 day water and electrolyte fast

Less than 48 hours, I'm sure, and I've been homeless.

Two and a half day for a fast. I don't count being ill, like a flu

A couple of days, I was doing Atkins diet at the time and completely lost my hunger, so I just forgot to eat for two days until someone asked me what I had had for lunch and I realized I hadn't eaten lunch, or dinner, or lunch the day before, or dinner the day before that. It was a weird feeling realizing I had gone almost 48 hours without food without even noticing.