It wasn't so much about losing weight although that does happen, but at least for us, it was more about a cleanse and some stuff that he read about. I am 39 now, 5'10" and was 215 lbs when I started. I am pretty strong, with big shoulders, arms and back from lifting and playing football and wrestling (high school and some in college).

WHY I DECIDED TO TRY IT:
The thing that put me over the top to try it was this idea that our bodies have these processes for cleansing itself that never get started up if we are never fasting. Fasting is the bodies way to shed bad cells, or even just a lot of the toxins and crap that builds up in the cells. Basically your body which is using a lot of energy to breakdown process and store all the food you are constantly eating, fasting gives those systems a rest and your body can focus its efforts on cleansing and repairing itself. (That is the idea anyway, I am just some donk that tried it).

I also am chronically tired and have had sleep test (I do not have sleep apnea as multiple over night test confirmed). I also have had a lot of blood work, checking T levels, etc. Eventually it was determined that I at some point had lyme diseased (confirmed with a detailed western blot blood test) which means I had it for a while. The diagnosis isn't really good for this. When I say I am tired, I mean all the time, morning, noon, night, when I should be having energy to play with my kids, or eat dinner with family and friends, I find myself dragging and needing sleep. My parents who are old, and overweight could go to bed later than me, and still have more energy than I do. Basically I was desperate to try something. I am not saying my decision was wise, in fact it most certainly wasn't but I was at a point where I was grasping for anything that might offer some hope for me in this area.


HOW WE DID IT:
Since water fasting is basically ketosis on steroids, we for into strict keto a week before we did it and made sure with the ketones pee strips. I didn't want to wait 3-4 days before I got into Ketosis, I only wanted to try this once so wanted to hit the ground running or rather sitting miserably in my desk.. After two days, my Ketones on the pee strip went from moderate to as high as the strip would allow. I found that was very rewarding to see that something was actually happening. You need to drink a little salt at lest once a day, that helps from leg cramping at night too, I learned that lesson the hard way. Once I started taking salt, that never happened again. You can't work out, you don't have the energy, and it is dangerous. Day 4 and 5 were by far the toughest I would basically go to work, be hungry, come home, and wait for sleep.

After that, I started to feel much better, got into a routine. I felt much better every day, and night, had more energy, mental clarity, less grumpy etc. The weird thing is I had some nagging increased pain/aches from some old injuries (lower back, shoulder, etc). Afterwards I read about others experiencing the same sorts of things, and some people thought it was repairing these older injuries. I know this may sound crazy, but I really think that happened to me. My back injury which was only terrible when it first happened, but that I always need to work around when lifting is mostly gone. Same with the shoulder.



ONE YEAR LATER:
Biggest long term benefit for me has been my energy levels. I won't say a 180 from where I was (I still want more), but a stark difference from where I was and had been for years before doing this. I feel normal where as before if we were on vacation and staying up playing with friends or family, from about 8pm on, I would be counting down the time before I could go to sleep. I felt like a drag, because that is not me. That has not been back since I did this, and I fully believe it was because of this. The other issue with my back and shoulder has been noticeably better since. I life 5 days a week, and do so pain free for the most part now.

I lost about 25 total lbs, gained back 5-6 within a week, then held firm for a while before steadily climbing back to about 10 lbs below where I started which is where I am now. Although I was much better before COVID with my eating (not terrible now, but not great). So some of that gain is from COVID for sure.


HOW WE GOT BACK TO EATING REG FOOD:
We took this pretty slow by making some beef bone broth for the first meal, then we added some celery to the broth and carrots, and cooked it until it was really soft. Then we got some of the little yogurt drinks with the probiotics, and eased our way into a low carb style diet for a few days. We never got sick, threw up or the other end, etc.

WOULD I RECOMMEND IT:
No not really, it isn't for everyone, or maybe anyone. I am sure there are much smarter people than me that could explain how dumb it is. In fact I didn't even tell anyone in the office I did until after I was done because I was embarrassed. That being said, would I have done it again, yes I would. I swear it made my energy levels normal and much more in line with my wife and people my age. Could it be coincidence sure, I just don't believe that.