How long can you not eat for?

[Andsoitbegins3]

Hi

this is going to sound a bit daft but I thought I’d ask here since it’s anonymous. How long can you go without eating without being unwell/fainting/not being well?

the reason I ask is NOT because I have an eating disorder etc, it’s just I get really badly upset stomachs (IBS) and the only way I can stop the cramps, discomfort and pain is to fast and only drink water. Sometimes doing it for a day is long enough to let my stomach settle but other times it has to be for a few days, the longest I’ve had was 3 of 4. If I eat ANYTHING in this time I’ll get the most horrendous cramps so I completely lose my appetite and don’t even want to eat. Fasting seems to let my stomach reset itself and go back to normal. I don’t have any issues with my weight and I’m not trying to lose weight, but I’m worried about not eating for several days in case it makes me unwell etc, as I thought if you didn’t eat for a few days you would feel sick/faint but actually that hasn’t happened so presumably it’s fine? It’s the only way I’ve been able to stop the cramps and when I’m nervous I completely lose my appetite altogether, so presumably it’s fine as long as I’m still drinking which I am, and as long as I’m not unwell, which I’m not? Usually I feel slightly hungry for a day after starting the fast and then it subsides by day 2 and I can start trying to introduce food again. I just don’t want to make myself unwell/ faint/ be more sick by fasting when I’m doing it in the first place to stop myself feeling unwell, but presumably it’s ok if I haven’t been unwell so far and it’s only occasionally that it’s up to 3/4 days? If it ever lasted more than 4 days I would obviously go to the doctor because I know that’s too long to fast

TIA x

Me too. In the past I haven't been able to eat when the shakes came on. This resulted in me throwing up and passing out. It was hideous. According to gp it's due to my low bp

I get migraines dizzy and am prone to migraines if I don’t eat every 4 hours or so. A bit of something protein rich and I feel better quickly.

You will eventually have many issues.

When I have episodes like this, I take gaviscon BEFORE I eat. This was suggested to me by an emergency doctor who was called by paramedics.
My GP later confirmed the same.

Hope it eases up soon OP.

I've fasted for a day a few times for the same reasons as you op. Sometimes it feels like you just need to give your stomach time to calm down after a flare up doesn't it. However, I once had to fast for 3 days for a hospital test and when I ate after that it triggered horrendous stomach pains so I'd be careful about fasting for too long. Could you try just eating small portions of plain boiled white rice rather than fasting completely? Do make sure you're drinking a lot too. My 3 day fast also resulted in an awful headache, apparently due to the high levels of ketones.

You need to see a GP and a dietician. Skipping/fasting can actually make digestive issues worse in the long run.

Electrolyte imbalance would be my biggest worry, that will affect your heart.

Fasting is completely normal and fine to do in healthy individuals. I fast regularly for 48 hours without feeling faint or weak, but generally don't go longer because I exercise heavily, need the fuel and don't need to lose weight.

My concern would be with your IBS resulting in you not getting enough nutrients? I'm afraid I don't know enough about IBS to understand what the results of a flare up are, but I would speak to a gastroenterologist to ensure that if you're fasting because of a flare up, that you're able to get nutrients in other ways (supplements etc).

Good luck

About four hours! I start to feel wobbly very quickly.

Unless I am I'll. I had a bug and didn't eat for four days and didn't experience the feeling I normally would within hours. I think the periods our bodies are telling us they don't want food are different.

I'm comfortable doing 72 hours at a time. I still have 0 calorie electrolytes and green tea along side water in that time. I'm very active but I give running a miss and stick to walking in that time. I would only do this once a month and stick to 24 hour fasts weekly.

I am currently pregnant and planning on breastfeeding but I will get back to fasting once I'm finished.

Mmm like osteoporosis

Agree, it depends how active you are. If I’m sitting around I can go on for a long while. If I’m on one of my more active days, which can be 20,000 plus and pretty physical, I would feel faint and weak within a few hours.

Crohns here and before choosing bag would often go a couple of days but usually would have liquid feed in the form of milkshakes etc - have you tried that approach to give stomach a rest ?

What issues, on the assumption that the poster re-feeds appropriately?

I often do 4 day fasts and exercise 2 hours a day on them. I eat a mainly keto diet though, so my body goes straight to my (generous) fat stores and I don’t feel hungry.

So I started intermittent fasting after I was diagnosed with PCOS. I was pre diabetic and my doctor suggested it. I did a bit of research and found that studies has shown 16-18 hours of fasting had helped some people regulate blood sugar and helped with hormone imbalances. I wasn't convinced but gave it a go and it seemed to work. I will say that short eating windows meant less time for snacking and maybe cleaning up my diet would have also helped but I found this easier.

From there a just played around with extending my fasts. If I want to eat I just stop, it's never been a forced thing. I just like the way it makes me feel. It could be completely unrelated but after 8 years of infertility I fell pregnant earlier this year.

Well yes overnight is longer, but I’m not doing anything, just sleeping, so gaining energy. I usually go from around 7pm-7.30am overnight. But daytime it’s 3 meals a day, and maybe a snack, so every 4 ish hours.

We can actively change when our bodies tell us to eat. There's a hormone called ghrelin, which makes us want to eat. It is released at times of day when the body is habituated to eat. It takes less than a week to reprogram your ghrelin release.

This is why, when you habitually get up at 8am and are ravenous for breakfast at 9am, you can get up at 7am, but still seem to want your breakfast at 9am. And why, when you were at school, you were ravenous at about 3.30pm, which co-incided with your usual time for having a teatime snack.

Eating three times a day came from slavery; they had to stop the workers from eating whenever they wanted, because it disrupted the amount of work they could get out of them. It was regulated. The slaves worked all day, every day, and thus needed feeding before, during, and after work: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

We all eat the same way now, despite the fact that we mostly sit down for the vast majority of the time. There's no need for such regularity. It's not based on our biological functions in the slightest.

I do 16:8 and have been doing that off and on for a few years now. Sometimes I go 20 hours. Any longer than that and I start to feel quite weak. I always feel great when I do 16:8 though and any irritabililty in my bowels go away. I am just not built to be eating regularly as I am prone to inflammation and the fasting decreases inflammation.

I have gone about 48 hours from stress/nerves on occasion. I have gone five days with D&V recently and been fine once I'd recovered even though I didn't have any appetite! If I'm trying to lose weight is usually do til 5/6 pm but I do have lots of coffee and sometimes add milk so technically doesn't count as a fast. Also IBS sufferer and find it does re-set the bowels nicely!

I cycle about 30 KM a day and am on my feet all day so I’m usually ravenous 😂 I love eating j have no idea how long I could physically go without food without feeling unwell as I never try! Maybe 18 hours or so based on the time between my last meal and first meal of the day? But I never don’t eat for long enough to get even close to feeling unwell as I’m so active and need as much energy as possible or I’ll be an emotional monster.

People feeling wobbly after a few hours must have something pretty serious wrong with them no? What have your doctors said?

I sometimes don't eat for 24+ hours but normally a day after I've gone completely overboard on eating. Don't think I've ever been longer than that unless it happened some time when I was ill

A few hours for me too

@OneTC

People feeling wobbly after a few hours must have something pretty serious wrong with them no? What have your doctors said

Many people start to feel wobbly/lightheaded if they're late having a meal, it's really common. Doctors will tell them to eat regularly.