Water Fasting Day 6: Insomnia

For anyone who ever had insomnia, you know that moment, right as the sun is rising and you haven’t slept?  Yea it sucks.  Contemplating stuff like am I really healing or am I making myself sick? Hard to tell right now, but I’m 6 days in so i’m gonna keep trucking through to see the final results.

The Day

  • I stayed at home all day because I wasn’t feeling well.
  • I only managed to down about 2.0 L of water because I feel a lil nauseous when I try to drink a lot more.
  • For some reason I didn’t / couldn’t nap like every other day i’ve been fasting
  • At night, I had trouble going to sleep and I woke up several times even before midnight.

Am I Healing?

Honestly, I don’t know.  Although I have read about all the benefits and heard directly from a close friend who has done it, I don’t feel any better really.  In fact I feel worse! I’m going to chalk this portion of the fast to detoxification symptoms. Don’t worry everyone, I’m not going to give up before the 14 day mark, but maybe i’ll be the first person to write about how fasting did nothing for me. lol.

There are a lot of sites promoting water fasting, but honestly I have trouble trusting stuff on the internet.  I feel forums are more trust worthy as they are real people responding without trying to make money.  If i come across a site that’s pitching me something or has ads, i’m a bit skeptical, but I do understand people who do dedicate their time to research and writing, should be able to profit or at least recoup their expenese.  If they didn’t then no one might expend the energy to research and explain everything.

That said, I do much rather like to see published studies like this one about Short-term fasting induces Autophagy. I read it, but it’s complicated with lots of technical medical terms.  In short it does support the idea of fasting leads to autophagy not only in the organs, but in the brain as well.

Autophagy allows the orderly degradation and recycling of cellular components.  This is basically the awesome process that i’ve been hoping for in this fast.  Autophagy degrades damaged organelles, cell membranes and proteins, and the failure of autophagy is thought to be one of the main reasons for the accumulation of cell damage and aging.  So basically more autophagy, more healing going on and renewing of cells.

Things I’ve Been Contemplating

So I just booked a trip to Cebu Island with my girlfriend, which is an island in central Philippines on Aug 25th. I started my fast on Aug 1st and I want a week of refeeding before my trip.  That means, I will break my fast the latest the 18th.

Ketogenic Diet

But to continue releasing the toxins stored in my fat cells, i’m seriously going on the ketogenic diet after I break my fast.  This type of diet is about 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% carbs.  With this diet I can stay in the ketosis state which is the fat burning state that will continue to burn off the toxins stored in my fat cells so long as I have a calorie deficiency.  Might not have as much autophagy response as fasting, but I hope to continue the detoxification process and possibly do another shorter fast later to promote healing.  Also Cebu is the spot for the best Lechon (Philippino roasted pork). So on my keto diet, i’ll be eating a lot of that ?

You Neither Gain or Lose Fat Cells (As an adult)

Ever head the saying that “Once you put on weight and create fat cells, they only shrink and never go away. That’s why you can gain the weight back so easily.”  Well I have and it might be true to some extent, but as recent as 2008, there has been a study that says, once your an adult, you just keep the same number of fat cells the rest of your life.  They may die off, but your body will just recreate them.


Anyway, this actually gives me great hope!  Up until I was about 33 years old I was able to maintain a 150-160 lb weight and only recently did I break through and soar past that mark.  So i’m comforted knowing that I basically didn’t add any more fat cells to my body and I just have to drop the weight and be back to normal with the same amount of fat cells.  It feels like a win for me!  When you’re at home all day long not eating, pretty much anything is exciting!


Day Time Weight (lbs) Temp Systolic Diastolic Pulse
0 1:08 PM 170 36.6 C 103 67 61
1 8:48 AM 170 36.0 C 108 71 51
2 7:40 AM 167 36.2 C 107 69 56
3 7:27 AM 165 36.2 C 106 70 68
4 7:53 AM 163.5 36.1 C 106 70 60
5 7:50 AM 161.5 36.0 C 106 70 59
6 9:52 AM 160 36.3 C 115 72 55

Next: Water Fasting Day 7: Easy or Hard?

Prev: Water Fasting Day 5: Feeling Sick

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