The fasting journal · matched to fast day 20
Day 20. Under 200 Pounds for the First Time in Years
Twenty days without food and this morning the scale finally showed a number John has been chasing for 20 years.
199.7
The scale said 199.7 this morning. Started at 228.6, so that is 28.9 pounds gone in 20 days, 12.6 percent of my starting weight. And I lost another 1.3 pounds since yesterday.
How do I feel? I feel awesome. And I am going to tell you why.
Twenty years of chasing this number
In the last 20 years, it has been a struggle for me to get under 200 pounds. I have probably only done it a handful of times. Think about that. Two decades, every diet, every attempt and the door under 200 opened maybe a handful of times.
So to get under 200 pounds makes me feel real good. And this time I am doing it faster and I am doing it better, methodically following the process through. It does take a little bit of practice to get good at it. I have done a 40 day fast and an 83 day fast before this one and the practice shows. I am just knocking it out of the ballpark, I think.
There is a quieter number moving underneath the headline too. My home scale put my BMI at 34.6 on day 1. This morning it read 30.3. The obesity line sits at 30, which means in a few days that category flips for the first time in this fast. The scale estimates it, the lab work around day 33 will confirm what is really happening.
The goal I had not said out loud
I am going to share something else with you. My ultimate goal here is to get back to around 160 pounds.
That is the first time I have put that number on camera. From 199.7 it is another 39.7 pounds away and I know the fast alone does not have to carry all of it. But if I am able to achieve that, I am going to be the happy camper.
The rest of the board
Business as usual behind the milestone. The ketone strip came back at the top of the chart again, the same deep reading it has held since day 8. Body fat percent is down from 42.3 to 34.4 since day 1. Muscle percent is up from 34.5 to 36.5 on the home scale. Water, Celtic salt and electrolytes, the routine that fixed my sleep, stays exactly as it is.
Day 20 done
Twenty days down, seventy to go and the scale starts with a 1 for the first time in years. Have an awesome day and I will see you next time. Cheers.
Quick answers
How much weight can you lose in 20 days of water fasting?
John's number after 20 days is 28.9 pounds, from 228.6 down to 199.7, which is 12.6 percent of his starting body weight. That is one person's supervised result, not a promise. His daily drops have ranged from 0.2 pounds to 4.4 pounds and the early days were the fastest because the body sheds water weight first. The steady pattern since week two has been roughly a pound a day and every single morning reading is logged on the bloodwork page.
Why does getting under 200 pounds matter so much to John?
Because he has been chasing it for 20 years. On camera he said it plainly, it has been a struggle to get under 200 pounds and he has probably only done it a handful of times in two decades. Every previous attempt took months of dieting. This time it took 20 days of a supervised water fast and in his words he is doing it faster and doing it better, methodically following the process through. The number on the scale is the same but the feeling of finally getting there is what carried the whole video.
What is John's goal weight?
160 pounds. Day 20 is the first time he said it out loud on camera. He called it his ultimate goal, to get back to around 160 and said if he achieves that he will be the happy camper. From 199.7 that is another 39.7 pounds to go and nobody expects the fast alone to carry him all the way there. The 90 day fast is season one. Keeping the weight moving after the refeed is its own chapter and the daily log on this site will keep running either way.
Is John still in the obese BMI range?
Barely and that line is about to move. His home scale put his BMI at 34.6 on day 1 and reads 30.3 on day 20. The standard obesity threshold sits at a BMI of 30, so he is a fraction away from crossing into the overweight category for the first time in the fast. A home scale BMI is an estimate, not a clinical measurement, which is why the fast also runs on real lab work drawn at the start and again about every 30 days. The next draw lands around day 33 and goes straight onto the bloodwork page.