The fasting journal · matched to fast day 10
Day 10. Twenty Pounds In Ten Days, And The Night The Hunger Came Back
Ten days without food. Twenty pounds gone. And the biggest fight of the week started because I forgot to do the one thing my fast is named after.
Twenty pounds in ten days
The scale said 208.7 this morning. We started at 228.6, so that is 19.9 pounds in ten days, about 8.7 percent of me. Double digits on the day counter, twenty pounds on the scale. That is the milestone version of the story.
The quieter numbers might be better. Body fat percent has gone from 42.3 to 36.9 since day one. Muscle percent went the other way, from 34.5 up to 35.8. Ten days without food and the muscle share of me is higher, not lower. Every reading lives on the bloodwork page.
People in my DMs keep asking if I have ever done a fast this long before. I have. I did an 83 day prolonged water fast one time and a 40 day fast before that. So none of this is new territory and it is playing out the way I expected. From here forward the loss should settle to about half a pound to a pound a day. The strip stayed dark again this morning too, holding at 16, deep in the dark band of the chart.
The night the hunger came back
Here is what I actually want you to hear, because it is the part that will happen to you.
Yesterday was Sunday and I was doing a whole bunch of stuff. And I forgot to drink water. It happens. On a normal day you would never notice. On day 9 of a water fast, your body notices.
During the evening the hunger set in. I mean the hunger really set in. This was not a passing thought about food. This was the real thing, the first time in days it had a voice.
I had to sit down, calm myself down and ride the wave. That is the whole technique. No snack, no trick, no willpower speech. Sit down, get calm, drink the water I owed my body and wait. Once the wave passed, I was not hungry anymore. And things are looking good again.
That is really the basic idea of a long fast. You have to hold steady on those days when things just do not line up like they should. The wave always looks permanent while you are in it. It never is.
Day 10 done
Ten X marks on the calendar. Eighty days to go.
Have a good day and cheers. 💧
Quick answers
What are typical 10 day water fast results?
John's day 10 numbers are one real data point. He went from 228.6 to 208.7 pounds, a loss of 19.9 pounds or about 8.7 percent of his starting weight. Body fat percent dropped from 42.3 to 36.9 while muscle percent actually rose from 34.5 to 35.8. The first days were heavy water and glycogen losses and by day 10 the pace settled toward half a pound to a pound a day. His fast is doctor supervised with monthly bloodwork, which is what makes numbers like these worth trusting.
Why would hunger come back on day 9 or 10 of a water fast?
The hunger switch that turns off around day 4 is not locked. John forgot to drink water for most of Sunday while running around and by evening the hunger really set in. Thirst and hunger share wiring and on a water fast there is no food buffer, so a dehydrated evening can feel like starving. His fix was water and patience. He sat down, calmed himself and rode the wave. Once it passed the hunger was gone again.
How much weight do you lose per day after the first week of fasting?
John's forecast from experience is half a pound to a pound a day from day 10 forward. His own sheet backs that up. After the early 2 to 4 pound days, his last three mornings dropped 1.1, 2 and 0.7 pounds. The glycogen and water are mostly gone, so what leaves now is mostly fat and fat leaves slower and steadier.
Has anyone fasted longer than 10 days?
John himself has. He tells the DMs asking about it that he once completed an 83 day prolonged water fast, along with a 40 day fast, which is why day 10 feels familiar to him rather than scary. The medically famous outlier is Angus Barbieri, who fasted 382 days under hospital supervision in the 1960s. None of that makes a long fast a solo project. John's 90 days run under doctor supervision with monthly bloodwork.