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I had a session with Dr. Hirai on Tuesday and this time I had it after 41 hours of fasting.
I was doing my annual prolonged fasting and I was going to do 48-hour fasting.
Prolonged fasting means anywhere after 24-hour fasting, and usually, it means between 24 hours to 72 hours.
In my case, I do 24-hour fasting once a week, 36 hours once every quarter, and 48 hours or longer once a year.
The last time I did 48-hour fasting was last November, so it was about time to do another long one.
Usually, I have a session with him fasted anyway, either during my 17-hour fasting or 24-hour fasting, but this time, I felt even lighter.
I continued fasting all the way to dinner and completed a 48-hour fast, and I was ready to end the fast. I was so hungry by then.
Yet, I pushed myself harder. If I wait till the next morning, I will have done a 60-hour fast and it will be my new record, I thought.
So, I did although it was a lot harder than I expected. That night was hard until I go to bed.
Once I slept and woke up the next morning, I felt better. I could finish it there since I had already broken the record, yet, I thought I could try waiting till lunch. I wanted to extend my record as long as possible.
Around lunchtime, I decided to go to a hot spring to have saunas. Saunas can enhance autophagy and ease hunger. It is a great way to kill time during the fast, I have done it many times. As a matter of fact, I had saunas the last time I did a 48-hour fast, too.
When I came home after the sauna, it was 68 hours after I began fasting.
Wow! 68 hours. That is the longest fast I have ever done.
I could have waited till dinner to make it 72 hours but I wanted to save it for next year.
Plus, I wanted to break my fast slowly, eating a little by little in 2 hours or so, and eating around 3 pm was good timing. The next time I challenge a 72-hour fast, I will make sure to do it as lunch to lunch fast.
Anyway, I think most of the benefits of the 72-hour fast have occurred during this 68-hour fast, considering the fact that I went zone 2 jogging that morning and had 3 sets of saunas and cold baths in the afternoon.
It was hard but I managed to do it.