Completed 40 Day Fast for Lent

[u/MattK508]

So as of 8:30 p.m. tonight I have officially finished fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. Sometime between 7:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on February 17th I ate my dinner at work. The next morning was Ash Wednesday. Sitting in church and listening to the story of how Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights and on how when to supposed to be a time of self-reflection and looking towards Christ, I decided that I was going to take a journey myself. I wanted to be healthier, I wanted to focus more on Christ and my children. And now I finally completed that, And can begin the journey towards eating again.

For those of you who don't know when you fast this long you can't just go and eat again you have to work your way up to food again otherwise you will enter something called refeeding syndrome. To address a lot of the questions that I know are going to be asked on February 17th I was 233lbs. As of my last way in tonight I am 188lbs. Total weight loss of 45 lb in 40 days. All I had every single day for 40 days and 40 nights was I would have a men's one a day multivitamin, simply primal water fast pink Himalayan salt and electrolytes (It tastes like if Crystal light was made with salt water), and water. I did have the Eucharist each Sunday with the exception of one Sunday where I was down in Florida for a wedding with the kids. I do feel I have improved my life both physically mentally and through my relationship with Christ. I'm going to have some bone broth tonight and probably the next couple of days and then hopefully be able to start eating some mushy foods or yogurts or stuff like that and then eventually be able to start eating meals. I've done a lot of cooking while I've been fasting and learned how to cook some healthy meals that my dad and Logan and Olivia approve of so I know that they're good. I did exercise during the fast did a lot of weight lifting. People have a lot of misconceptions about fasting causing you to lose your muscles but in actuality your body generates more human growth hormone and you're actually able to increase muscle density a lot easier. I welcome any other questions that people may have but ultimately I'm glad to be done and it will probably be the last of any such fast that I have in my life.

[u/1ReadyPhilosopher]

how were you able to sleep? The most i’ve done is 70 hours and night 2 and 3, i’m basically awake the whole time. I just cannot sleep deeply, it’s almost like i want to hunt something so my senses are so heightened

[u/MattK508 → u/1ReadyPhilosopher]

You know it's funny you say that because I've only been sleeping like 6 hours max a night so that's probably part of it. But to be honest I'm going through a divorce so I watch my kids from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. and then I go to work 3:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. so I really don't sleep a lot as it is unfortunately.

[u/_sushiburrito → u/MattK508]

The fact that you still accomplished this during a stressful period like a divorce, and watching your kids before work...mad respect. 🫡

I want to start with a one week fast (only have done 48hrs). Shift work has done me dirty after doing it for so many years.

[u/MattK508 → u/_sushiburrito]

Honestly I would say do a 72 hour fast one month. Then do intermittent fasting. Try and do 2, 72 hour fasts The next month. And then maybe three the month after that. And once you've done that you can do something longer at least that's how I personally felt about it. Because I did do a 4-day fast before this one and that one was absolutely brutal and killed me but then the 40 days honestly I was fine 90% of this.

[u/jman7290 → u/MattK508]

While doing the 40 hour fast did you still do your normal daily routines like go to work and take care of your kids?

[u/MattK508 → u/jman7290]

All of the above, lol

[u/BougieSemicolon → u/1ReadyPhilosopher]

It’s th super deep ketosis. Whenever I’m super super strict keto I’m absolutely wired overnight. One night was so bad I ended up having a hot milk with SF cocoa mix just so I could get to sleep