Christian Fasting: I only drank water for three days

I fasted, having nothing but water, for three days and documented my experience. Here’s what I learned.

Transcript

Day 1 – Morning

Alright, it is day one of my fast. I just woke up a little while ago, got the kids off to school, ate breakfast, and all that good stuff. It’s a little crazy. Not really sure how it’s going to all go. I’m a little worried I’m going to get really, really hangry. That’s something I’m going to have to keep an eye on, and not blow up at people because I’m hungry. I’m a pretty big guy. I really like to eat food. But fasting is an important thing in the Christian faith, and it’s something that I have not done very well. Something I think the church doesn’t really understand fully. So I’m to be fasting here for the next few days, and we’ll see how long I can go, and we’ll see how it works.

I’m just drinking water for this fast. Which means, I’m cutting out coffee. Ugh. I’m a little worried about that. I love a good cup of coffee in the morning. I usually have about a cup a day. And I think that’s gonna be hard. I’m expecting I’ll get some headaches. I’m expecting I’ll probably have some caffeine withdrawal, some sugar withdrawal—whatever else. But, yeah, we’ll give it a try. In Christian fasting, fasting is always connected to prayer for something. It’s not just something you do to lose weight. I’m not doing this to lose weight, although I could afford to lose a pound or 10 or 20. But the reason I’m fasting is because I have a family member who is in very, very rough shape right now in critical care right now in the hospital who is this is fine for their life. So I’m praying, fasting, and begging God for a miracle. Begging God to do something awesome and save this person’s life.

So here goes. I’m fasting. It’s day one. I’m trying to keep my normal routine. I’m gonna try to not make a big deal about it. Usually, I go for a run in the morning, but since I’m going to be fasting, I’m not sure that running is the best idea. I’m afraid I’m going to get dizzy or pass out or something. So rather than scaring everyone in the neighborhood or potentially hurting myself, I’m just going to go for a walk and then I’ll get my day started from there.

It’s eight in the morning right now. My last meal was at 6 PM last night. So I’ve officially been fasting, as we all do every night while we’re sleeping, for about 14 hours now. And we’re going to see how long I can go.

I’m going to document this and see, hoping to encourage you guys to try it out as well.

Day 1 – Noon

It is noon on day one, which means I’ve been fasting about 18 hours or so. I’m starting to get kinda hungry. My body is saying, “Hey, it’s lunchtime. Why aren’t you eating right now.” So I’m going to go and have my lunch right here (water). I’m just starting to get a bit of a dull headache that I thought would be coming on. My body is starting to say, “Hey, go grab some food.” It’s starting to hurt a little bit. I’m starting to feel a little bit tired, but so far so good. Not too bad. We’ll see tonight. I think it’s going get worse.

Day 2 – Morning

It’s day two, about 7 AM, which means I’ve been fasting now for about 37 hours. And last night I actually slept pretty good. I thought it was going to be a lot more difficult. I thought I’d have a lot more hunger pain at night, but I just drank a bunch of water before bed, and I didn’t wake up with any hunger pain. I did have to pee a couple of times. But I had a good night sleep, and this morning I’ve got a little bit of a dull headache, but it’s not any worse than it was yesterday and I’m actually feeling okay.

One of the things that’s been really cool so far is just that reminder every time I start thinking about food, since I’m trying to focus more on God than I am eating—to feast on God and not on food—it’s been cool every time I think about food to remind myself to pray instead. So I’ve been spending a lot more time in prayer or just sending up little silent prayers to God, just quick ones every time I think about foods, asking for his help, asking for is his help in this situation I’ve been talking about. And it’s just been a really cool thing just to have this constant reminder to pray, and I feel like I’ve been kind of in a lot more of a constant flow of conversation with God.

Day two is on the way, and I’m ready to do it. Let’s do this thing.

Day 2 – Night

It is just past 8 o’clock, the night of day two, which means that I’ve been fasting for over 50 hours now. And I’m starting to feel it. Today was a bit rough. It was a lot harder than the day one was.

The hardest part of the day, I had to go to the grocery store to get some food for my family, and the grocery store was tortured. It was so bad. If you are fasting, avoid the grocery store if at all possible. It was tough.

The hardest thing was walking in there, and the grocery store has a Starbucks in it. And I’m smelling the fresh-brewed coffee people are ordering, and then I turn the corner, and I smell all these fresh pastries and doughnuts that they had out. Ohhh, I want one so bad!

The headache is a little less dull than it used to be, but I still have kind of a dull headache. It still feels a little rough. My energy level is a little low.

One of the things that was really tough for me today was my focus was just nonexistent. I had no ability to focus. I was sitting in my office trying to get a bunch of work done today, trying to do some projects I had, and my ability to stare at the screen, and focus, and think, and process stuff correctly was just gone.

Another thing I found myself doing today is just walking towards my refrigerator and just opening it, and just staring for a little bit. And then I shut the door again, just basically torturing myself looking at food. But other than that I’m actually feeling alright. My energy level is not quite right where it is. My focus isn’t quite there. I’m a little bit fuzzy and foggy, but I’m feeling pretty good. Still, again, it’s been really cool just every time I’m getting hungry I’m trying to remind myself, Okay, just focus on God instead and pray. Talk to him about it.” to rely on God for sustaining me and taking care of me and not just food. And it’s been a really, pretty incredible experience in that regard.

I had a great Bible study this morning. And the Bible verse is actually corresponding to eating food. I was like, “Aww, you gotta be kidding me!” But I actually got some pretty great take away from it, and I’m really feeling just more spiritually attuned right now.

Goodnight.

Day 3 – Morning

It’s the morning of day three. It’s about 7 AM right now, which means I have been fasting for over 61 hours. Oh man, that’s a long time. Did not think I was going to be able to make it that long. And I’m feeling a lot better this morning. I heard a lot of people say on day three you start to feel better, and truly my headaches I’ve been having the last two days are gone. I have a little bit more energy this morning. I can feel it already, and so far it feels pretty good. Now, I am still hungry, but it’s not as bad as it was yesterday morning. So I’m hoping that it stays that way today, but we’ll see.

One of the coolest things about fasting has been just really exercising my self-control in my discipline, and really stretching my muscles to see, okay, how much can I be self-controlled? How much can I resist the temptation to give in, even with something as simple as eating?

And I was reading my Bible my quiet time this morning, that verse in first Corinthians chapter 10, that no temptation has overtaken us except what’s common. No temptation has come at us except what’s common to man, but God always provides a way out (1 Cor 10:13). And a lot of times we have so many temptations in life to sin, so many temptations to give in to greed, or pride, or to lust, or whatever else it is, and we feel like we are powerless. But God says, “Look, no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man, and you have the power through me to get out of this. I will give you a way out. And you can endure these temptations.” And I feel like, through fasting, I’m kinda working that muscle of self-control and enduring temptation. And it’s giving me a lot more confidence in my own abilities, through Christ, to overcome these temptations, to overcome these struggles, and to really be more self-controlled, and more disciplined in my life.

So it’s been a really cool experience, and I feel like my time with God has been more fruitful, my prayer has been better. I’ve been praying throughout the day every time I’m feeling like I want to have food, I pause, I stop, and remind myself to to feed off of God, not just off of food. And it’s been a really, really cool experience.

So today’s going to be my last day. I’m excited about that. I’m looking forward to dinner, but I want to go the full three days. I’m just kinda shocked that I was actually able to do it, and it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it was going to be. And today I’m actually feeling pretty good so far, so we’ll see how that goes.

Day 3 – Night

Well, it is almost 6 PM on day three, which means I am counting down the seconds until I am done with this fast. It’s been nearly three days, proximally 72 hours, and I’m actually feeling pretty good.

Day three has been a bit more of a breeze actually, surprisingly enough. Yesterday I had a lot of really bad headaches. Today I’m feeling really good. I had a lot more energy today. I was able to get a lot more work done. My focus was back, I could really hone in on things, and I really felt pretty good. Actually, thinking about it, I really feel like I could probably go another day or two if I had to. But I promised I was going to break it off on three days, so I’m going to break it tonight. I’m going to go have dinner with my family here in a few minutes. They’re really excited for me to join them again. I’ve been sitting with them while they’re eating, but I haven’t been eating with them.

So I’m really looking forward to it. I cannot wait. Oh man, I’ve been thinking about food all day. Actually, the hardest part today has literally been just counting down the last few hours here, waiting for dinnertime. As long as I’m not thinking about food, I can handle it okay, but when I start thinking about that food that I’m about to put into my mouth, oh man, it feels like time has slowed down to a standstill here, waiting for these last few minutes to tick by.

But I did it—three days of fasting. And I’ll tell you; I’m really glad I did it. It’s been a really cool experience. The spiritual aspect has been awesome. I have really felt like I’ve connected more with God. My prayer time has been really good and productive. My time in the Word has just been really fruitful. And I really just feel like, man, it’s just been a really awesome experience.

I also feel like I’ve kind of proven to myself that I have more willpower and strength, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to really resist temptation more.

And I know some of you are wondering, “Okay, what are the physical effects of fasting?” Now, the reason I’m fasting is for spiritual reasons I want to make sure that’s clear. That’s the reason you fast in the Bible. It’s not just for weight loss, but there are physical benefits as well.

I just did my final weigh-in, and I’ve lost a grand total of 11 pounds in three days. That’s pretty crazy.

Alright, that’s it. I’m gonna go eat. Later.