interesting, you did a 7 day dry fast, full 7 days, tell us more please, how did you feel?
@Osmium and tell us more about your sodium retention post dry fast this is very interesting
Yes Ill tell you both about it.
The longest dry fast I managed to complete was 159 hours. So not a true 7 day but, whatever. At this point I had already done some water fasting - 7 days water fasted being my longest (this one was a true 170-something hour fast).
But yeah I was no stranger to fasting. Fasting made me lose weight. From about 289 pounds down to the lowest point of ~210.
I very much at this time loved the mental aspect of how I felt fasted, or in deep ketosis in general. I then had done some reading on Russian studies involving the 'dry fast'. So I started incorporating those here and there. I then had done many 2-3-4 day dry fasts, and after a bit I only enjoyed dry fasting. I felt hotter and much more empathic on them. And so I just tried to see what would happen with the longest dry fast I could do. Very dry look - but not the same grainy hard dry look you get from DHT-derivative compounds. It was a glossy/moist yet dry look to the skin and face. And it was also the leanest I personally had gotten to, but still not truly lean - I still had love handles. I could also tell I had lost some muscle overall due to the fasting in general I was doing, and my motor-recruitment strength had also gone down.
It's funny because it went from "I'm deliberately trying to do this thing specifically" to "why am I even doing any of what I'm doing in my life". The dopamine deprivation and subsequent re-sensitization was surreal to say the least. Everything was so colorful (literally), my thoughts were so deep intricate and considerate of many things. I became very empathetic towards people and animals. I started to care less about basically anything, and began walking in nature alot. Walking was the only form of activity I could do after about the 4th day, because I would get so weak. I also changed how I would handle interactions with people, because normally there is an aspect of physical security - "I could physically defend myself in an altercation if I had to". Not like this I couldnt.
So the humbling physical aspects of it also generated these profound mental realizations about who and what I am as a person. Like I felt very primal in some aspects. And it makes sense because the body literally thinks it is going into catastrophic starvation and death - which it is to an extent (but the idea with it is that this hormetic stress has beneficial aspects as well). By day the 7th day, I started to not care about literally anything. I could no longer care about anyone elses problems or doing any work (so the euphoric bliss had died off). The fat loss also stopped as well. I didnt see from about the 4-7th day that I had changed much in the face or body. My skin looked phenomenal and I had no pain in any joints or muscles (in terms of like aching or sensitivity), but I felt very acidic and "burnt" - fundamentally different from the proton burn caused by generation of lactate during glycolysis from high physical exertion mind you. Also some back muscle pain I had for years disappeared over this time.
The problem with this kind of abuse of fasting however is that constant sympathetic-tone in the body upregulates all the stress-related pathways we think of. RAAS being a huge one to maintain some form of osmolarity and volemia. Amino acid liberation from muscle tissue. Also who knows about cardiac hypertrophy due to the heart having to chronically pump harder this "thicker" blood.
That 7 day dry fast was about the last time I could do an extended sort of fast. I noticed quickly after that anytime I would try to fast, water/dry, I would no longer lose that initial water weight, but instead would remain puffy-looking in the face. This to me was a sign that RAAS was most likely chronically upregulated. We also dont know any of the damage caused by the highly acidic environment that nuclear ketosis like that caused. Maybe none, and this is just some upregulated expression. Idk.
This is significant because usually low insulin states cause massive natriuresis. Never mind that when I eventually started eating again, salt even on a zero carb diet caused massive fluid retention, even if low in quantity.
Theres also the downregulation of D1/D2 deiodinase and upregulation of D3, probably wasting much T4 to rT3 to save the body from catabolic failure. Low T3 also lowers CO2 production, further increasing intolerance to sodium. Also downregulation of testosterone production, which further reduces the conversion of T4 to T3 in the liver. I remember finding women still very sexually attractive, but having literally zero drive to pursue them in any way (go on a date, etc). So that for me was a strange experience. And I still have some lingering effects of that.
Many personal beliefs and decisions probably influenced by my ego also dissolved. I was in fact far more open minded to things after fasting in general, but especially this one. Full destruction of the mind Lol. I guess in some way a slow ego-death.
Anyway. I tried to explain a bunch without rambling all that much, I dont know how good of a job I did. Its a very weird thing in that I genuinely wish to an extend every human on Earth could experience this sensation at least once in their life - but I dont know how much I would actually recommended attempting it, especially to that extent, or frequency (when I would do many 3-4 water/dry fasts).
Theres many other experimentative things I've done. Im not dogmatic in any way towards trying different diets (within my own mind's range - I could not do a raw carnivore diet thats for sure, or a vegan diet. I actually would throw up from the taste of raw vegetables, or texture of raw meat. I have very sensitive taste for some reason).
Hopefully thats not too burdening of a read for you guys
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