Subject: Fasting, health, and low-calorie feast. Hopefully, this post will be useful to others seeking to lose weight and improve quality of life.

Illustration: The photo shows my first meal after a 3-day water fast [and the only meal for that day]. It took me most of the day to eat it. Note the protein. It's important for reasons explained below.

Surprisingly, the feast in the photo adds up to only 1,700 calories. That's low enough for me to lose weight on, but I'll try to get it down to the 1,200 to 1,650 calories range as frequently as possible. Regardless, as the photo shows, if you'd like to diet, you don't need to starve.

In 2013, I was referred to as "gaunt". Just a year later, I was seriously overweight. I've been up and down since then. I'm approaching age 70 and overweight at that age means deceased. It's time to stabilize to a reasonable weight.

I completed a 3-day [77 hour] water fast today. The fast ran from about 9:00am PT on Sunday [May 24, 2026] to 2:00pm PT on Wednesday [May 27, 2026]. Note: I'd had no food since Saturday, but I did have a bottle of orange Gatorade about an hour before I started the 77 hours.

A water fast is, ideally, a minimum of 72 hours during which you consume only water. It can go to 4 to 5 days, but even just 3 days is risky. This type of fast can have major benefits, but it can also lead to damage or, in some cases, death. It's safer to limit it to 3 to 4 days.

Positive effects can include temporary #autophagy, #ketosis, and improved immune response and #insulin sensitivity. Autophagy is a cellular repair step. Ketosis means, essentially, "burn fat". In short, a water fast can be a thumbs up for weight loss and health in general.

However, negative effects can include a condition called refeeding syndrome, which is potentially fatal; keto flu, which can include headaches, nausea, dizziness, and vomiting; loss of muscle tissue in addition to fat; and strain on the cardiovascular system that can cause damage.

Muscle tissue loss can be reduced, to some extent, by temporarily increasing protein intake immediately after a water fast.

An additional catch is that, after a fast of any type, one can't eat too much in the way of processed foods such as fast food or lost weight will come right back.

In my case, my fast was 100% water during the 77 hours except for a bottle of diet cola. A review shows that, even though diet cola has zero calories, it can interfere with the benefits of fasting. So, I'll try to skip the drink next time.

I took non-gummy multivitamin tablets one day as well. The non-gummy type has zero calories, but I'll probably skip vitamins as well during future fasts as this is advised.

Oddly, I wasn't conscious of hunger at any stage. Towards the end, I did imagine a turkey wing. I think that there were other side effects during the fast, but I'm not certain.

I plan to repeat the fast periodically. I'll do 3 days on the fast and a number of days eating; then repeat the cycle. During eating days, I'll try to minimize processed foods, especially fast food. I figure, perhaps one restaurant meal for every 1 or 2 cycles. We'll see how it goes. In the end, perhaps I'll have a workable long-term Coder Diet.

My first post-fast meal this time, and the only meal for the day [Wednesday, May 27, 2026] is shown in the attached photo.

The meal is a large turkey wing, 275g sliced ham, 1.5 lbs of grape tomatoes, 9 baby potatoes, 4 large carrots, 3 green onions, 5 sweet mini-peppers, 4 small plums, 2 nectarines, and 1 medium honeycrisp apple. The beverage is water with a small amount of rice vinegar added.

I ended up not eating the apple at the time. Estimated calories for the rest: 1,700 calories. Estimated cost for the rest: $24.00. Note: About 70% of the cost came from the meat and the 1.5 lbs of grape tomatoes.

One take-away is that baby potatoes, sweet mini-peppers, carrots, apples, small plums, and especially green onions are all major bargains from both a cost and a calories perspective. Green onions are practically free in both contexts.

#diet #fasting #health