The fasting journal · matched to fast day 7
Day 7. One Week Without Food, The Appetite Switch, And The Sleep Question
One full week without food. Seven days, water only and the strangest part is not the number on the scale. It is that I stopped being hungry.
The scale said 212.5
Another 1.5 pounds down this morning. 212.5 on the scale, which makes it 16.1 pounds in one week from my 228.6 start. That is right around 7 percent of me, gone in seven days.
The curve keeps doing exactly what it is supposed to do. The wild early drops, 4.4 pounds on day 2, have settled into a steady 1.5 to 2 pounds a day. The water and glycogen flood is over. What leaves now is mostly the real thing. Body fat read 37.9 percent today, down from 42.3 on day 1. Every number lives on the bloodwork page.
The appetite switch
Here is the honest report from one week in. I feel good, I feel energetic and I have lost my appetite. Not suppressing it. Lost it. I am simply not hungry anymore.
Remember day 3, when my body was screaming for cookies and pizza and I had to out stubborn it? That battle is over. The body got the message, switched fuel and stopped asking. The hunger hormone runs in waves and once ketosis is fully in charge the waves flatten out.
The morning strip backs that up. It logged at 8 today, darker than yesterday’s 4. These urine strips swing with hydration, so I read the trend, not any single morning and the trend says the fat burning machine is running.
The one strange side effect. Smells. I am very sensitive to smells right now. I can walk past a kitchen and read the whole menu with my nose. The body may not be asking for food anymore but it clearly still knows how to find it.
No, I do not sleep all day
Some of my DMs are asking, do I sleep all day? No. I do not sleep all day.
I go to work. I watch TV. I do things around the house. I am doing my normal day stuff just like you guys do. That is maybe the most underrated part of this whole experiment. One week with zero food and life just continues, work and errands and all of it, running on body fat and water.
Day 7 done
Seven X marks on the calendar. One week down, 83 days to go.
Day 7 done. Have a good day and I will see you next time. 🩸
Quick answers
Do you stop feeling hungry during a water fast?
For many people, yes. Hunger tends to peak in the first two or three days while the body switches fuel then fades as ketosis takes over and the hunger hormone ghrelin settles into a flatter rhythm. John hit that switch by day 7. He describes it as losing his appetite, not fighting it. He is simply not hungry.
Why do smells get stronger when you are fasting?
A sharpened sense of smell is one of the most commonly reported fasting effects. The likely story is simple biology, a body looking for food turns up the sensors that find it and smell is the big one. For John on day 7 it is the flip side of the appetite switch, no hunger but every kitchen within a block announces itself.
Can you work and live a normal life during a long water fast?
John's day 7 answer is yes. He goes to work, watches TV and does things around the house, the same routine as before the fast. Steady energy is common once the body is running on fat. The sensible limits are real, though. Heavy physical exertion deserves caution and a fast this long should have medical supervision behind it, which is what his monthly labs are for.
How much weight do you lose in the first week of a water fast?
John lost 16.1 pounds in seven days, going from 228.6 to 212.5, about 7 percent of his starting weight. The big early drops were water and glycogen, 4.4 pounds on day 2 alone and the pace has now settled to about 1.5 to 2 pounds a day, which is closer to the real fat burn rate.