How to Survive the water only 72-Hour Fast

In this episode of the Do Hard Things Podcast, Jay Tiegs and Brian Larson break down the challenge of the 72-hour fast: a test of discipline, grit, and mental clarity that goes far beyond food.

They share their personal experiences with extended fasting, the science behind it, and the lessons it teaches about resilience, focus, and breaking comfort zones. You’ll hear practical tips on how to prepare, manage hunger, stay safe, and reintroduce food after the fast, plus the deeper mindset shifts that come when you push yourself past your limits.

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to go three days without eating, and what you might gain from the process, this episode will give you the insight and tools to try it yourself.

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Transcript

Introduction to the 72-Hour Fast

Speaker 1 0:44

All right, welcome back everybody to the Do Hard Things podcast. I'm Siegfried J Teagues here with my co-host, brian Larson, and today we're diving into an ultimate challenge that tests your discipline, grit and mental clarity the 72-hour water-only fast. Before we jump in, if you're enjoying these conversations, make sure you smash that subscribe button and share the show with someone who needs to hear it. This episode of the Do Hard Things podcast is brought to you by the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. We just launched that this month, at the time of this recording, and it's a community designed to help you build grit, discipline and resilience so you can perform at your best in your health, wealth and relationships. The four pillars of the Do Hard Things lifestyle is mindset, movement, meaningful challenge and community. The four pillars of the Do Our Things Lifestyle is mindset, movement, meaningful challenge and community. And inside the academy you'll get access to weekly high-performance coaching calls, breathwork sessions, monthly challenges, training plans and a powerful community of people committed to living stronger, sharper and more intentional lives. So go to DoOurThingsNationcom if you'd like to learn more, and be sure to grab a copy of the Amazon bestseller Life on Off, on offense a tactical guide to dominate life and end mediocrity. We are well on our way to becoming a new york times bestseller. You'll help us with that by purchasing and leaving us reviews.

Speaker 1 1:55

We appreciate that and that's it. That's the. Uh, it's the intro and the, I guess, the business side of things. So, welcome, brian. How you doing, brother? Good man, how are you? I? Great man. I'm 71 hours into the 72-hour fast. I was going to say I'm ready to break a fast. How's that Timely conversation? And when we're done with this recording, I will officially be across the finish line.

Speaker 1 2:18

Good way to distract you for the last hour. Yes, I know Lacey is upstairs and this is her longest fast and she is chomping at the bit to boil an egg and eat it so funny. So how's your experience been?

Speaker 2 2:32

so far Good. You know, it's funny because I've done several and this one has been more spiritual based for me, and so we can talk about that as we go along and just some really interesting insights and feeling of like my energy a little and how my energy can shift, and even just almost what I would I would call my consciousness leaving my body, which was really in a walk. It was just fascinating, so it's been really good from that perspective. So, yeah, how about you man? What's what's been going on with yours?

Speaker 1 3:08

perspective. So, yeah, how about you man? What, uh, what's been going on with yours? This is I believe this is my fifth 72 hour, fast and hands down. It's been the easiest one and I think the more that you do it, the easier it gets. But every one of them have been their own unique experience and I I, to be honest, I feel like I could actually continue on, and I know that some people go on to five, seven. I got a friend who's done up to 21 days. I've heard of people going up to 40, trying to achieve what Jesus did in the Bible.

Speaker 2 3:31

Yeah, I know a couple people that did that too.

Speaker 1 3:33

And of all of the hard things that I do in my life, this is one of the more difficult challenges for me. It's definitely been some great spiritual connection. We use this to launch the Do Hard Things things academy, so we have over 30 people doing the 72 hour fast and it's just awesome to have a tribe and community of like-minded people navigate, navigating this hard thing, many of them for the first time and the first time. Lacy is gone. You know this long, so this one's been really really cool for me personally, but challenging, but not as challenging as previous ones.

Speaker 2 4:05

So yeah, I find it so fascinating how every point of hunger I would hit, I would remind myself of, okay, take that time and fill that with connection to God in some form or fashion, yeah, and it just makes me then go, oh man, I eat a lot. I mean I eat over 3,000 calories a day, and that's several, several like four, five, I eat a lot. I mean, I eat over 3000 calories a day, and that's several, several like four, five, six times a day. And I go, oh man, I'm so reliant on that source of energy. But I can get that source from source itself. And that was it's the first time I've ever been that intentional about doing it and I feel like I did have some really good points of connection. And so you know, there's the physical side of things too, but that was the spiritual side of this one really hit hard.

Speaker 1 4:57

Yeah, I had a pretty good spiritual connection last night. We did, you know, every night of the fast this is a guided group experience in the Do Our Things Academy. We do a nightly call for each night of the fast. This is a guided group experience in the do our things Academy. We do a nightly call for each night of the fast. And then coach Josh did a breath work session right after last night's call and we just did, uh, we did dynamic Wim Hof style and on that third breath hold, like I had some very powerful visuals, I had to saw a lot of green, which is, you know, the, the heart space chakra, right Of gratitude, and then I had a visual as a, which is the heart space chakra of gratitude, and then I had a powerful visualization and I felt like I saw the face of Jesus.

Speaker 1 5:33

It was really really cool and to just be kind of connecting with my intention and I've used this one to really connect spiritually and every night of this one we also had a moment where those that wanted to stick around for a spiritual moment we did it, we did some prayer and it was really really cool. Uh, we had a couple different there. Most people were christian, but we had someone who was muslim and it was really cool to share that spiritual connection across across platforms I don't know what- it goes back to my concept of ultimately, every religion has its own version of god, but there's something that ties them all together.

Speaker 2 6:17

Yeah, so you can worship together and not be so divided, and do a spiritual discipline that's focused on what your version of that god looks like, and that's okay yeah, I mean some people that God looks like, and that's okay.

Speaker 1 6:29

Yeah, I mean some people like PlayStation, some people like Xbox, some people like I mean you just pick your own, you choose your own adventure, how you want to play the video game. I don't know, I'm not going to split hairs over it, but yeah, I don't want to get into a deep dive on that, but that's kind of we know where we stand on that. You, you know you run with what you got.

Speaker 2 6:44

And if the chains work for you. Go for it, man. That's awesome that that worked out like that, though.

Benefits of Water-Only Fasting

Speaker 1 6:49

So why do the 72-hour fast? Because I hear a lot of people like, oh, you're crazy, you're going to hurt yourself. So why do people do this? Well, ultimately there's a few reasons. One, there's a lot of science behind it. It's a great way to detox yourself. So from a physiology physiology and a biological perspective, it's like the ultimate reset. It's like resetting your I know your cell phone and just a complete defrag.

Speaker 1 7:19

You know, you do, you do the hard reboot. Yeah, you know the nature's way of a hard reboot, and there's something that happens during those 72 hours. We'll kind of go play by, play on what that looks like, but that's really one, one great way or one primary reason people do it it's for the discipline, it's for the clarity and the spiritual connection. Yeah, yeah, and some of the benefits are, you know, reset your metabolism. It has. It'll reduce inflammation, increase growth hormone, activate stem cells, activate autophagy, which is where we're constantly in the state of building new cells, and old cells are dying. Well, when you don't have any external food, your body transitions from glycogen to fat to, ultimately, the cells that aren't being you know that aren't needed and kind of cleans up all the old. You don't want all those old dead cells inside of you, and so it just kind of does a rapid fire cleanup. It improves your insulin sensitivity, sharpens mental clarity when you start producing ketones and then, once you have a hormone, yep, yep, and then sharpens your mindset and discipline.

Speaker 2 8:27

Yeah, yeah, and then sharpens your mindset and discipline. Yeah, yeah, and I to me, I think it's. You know that, the physical side. So with intention, as opposed to oh let me shove this down real fast because I got to get on to the next thing, because you can't take on as much in that next go around. So for me that that part makes a difference too, of just the physical side, of stepping away from it and going oh okay, I realized how much I rely on it and I eat when I get bored too.

Speaker 1 9:11

Yeah, that's what I've noted. I mean, we were talking the other night about the relationship with food, which is kind of a strange concept. Concept you would have a relationship with food, but that's, it's so abundant in our society.

Speaker 2 9:23

And it's.

Speaker 1 9:23

It's like as soon as you find some level for most people, as soon as you find some level of discomfort, you get a little hungry. It's like I got to drop everything I'm doing and go eat something.

Speaker 2 9:32

Yeah.

Speaker 1 9:33

And you know you can go weeks without eating. Yeah, and, and and I think it's a great opportunity to I don't know have have greater awareness of your eating habits and define what that relationship you have with with food actually is. And are you I mean some people, I know some people that strictly eat to cravings, like as soon as they get hungry, they what do I feel like eating and that's what they go for. Some people eat for fuel. Some people have greater discipline. They do intermittent fasting, and so I think it's a great exercise to see what that is for you.

Speaker 2 10:07

Yeah, I agree, I think it's definitely it's a practice and a discipline. I think it'd be interesting to do this one and have everybody come off and eat cleaner foods, and then do another one and have everybody come off and eat whatever the craving is and see how your body feels different. Because if you, right after this, you hop on to fried foods and what, you're going to feel awful because your body's like wait, I don't have any nutrients in here and this is what you're giving me.

Speaker 1 10:38

I think it'd be a really interesting like little study to do yeah, well, that's why we we jump to start the 28 dayday challenge, the Do Hard Things 28, with this fast, because it's a 31-day challenge total. But as soon as you're done with this, we hop into a routine. There's eight things that you do hydration, nutrition, sleeping, gratitude, a daily check-in, meditation, slash, breath, work. So there's all of these things that you get scored one, two or three points, and one of the things that you have to do is choose a diet, and so you know, we encourage people, now that you've had this nice reset, choose a diet so you can create sustainable habits with it going forward, and then you really I mean it's a great way to jumpstart into something some cleaner eating, to get that boost of energy.

Speaker 2 11:30

I would push back a little bit on the word diet, and here's why, when people say diet diets are short term Diets, are I'm going to do this till I reach this goal. I would have our listeners challenge themselves and say I'm going to form some new eating habits and just build it around habit and moving forward. You're going to choose to eat this way or cut this out or do this little change that becomes a part of your everyday, not just, oh, I'm trying to hit a goal, weight and then okay, I'm there and I can go back to whatever Cause. You go back to whatever. You're going to wind up where you were.

Speaker 2 12:10

Yeah does that make sense. There's something about that word diet.

Speaker 1 12:14

It's always rubbed me wrong because of the short-term, like mindset of diet yeah, it's how we flippantly use it and just all of the I don't know. There are so many different modalities shortcut type you'll be people yo-yo with their nutrition because they do these diets that are so restricting and it's just not sustainable. So the key is to find something sustainable. It's one of those things you have to experiment with, but people really struggle with that.

Speaker 2 12:45

Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to make a change like that and to find what is sustainable, but you still have to enjoy life. I love desserts and I will always make room for them, but I know from a bigger calorie perspective that means I've got to eat a little less of something somewhere where I'm going to be over my calorie load and it's gonna.

Speaker 1 13:09

you know, day after day that stuff adds up yeah, well, when, when food is so abundant in our society, I mean you could, literally by the end of this podcast, I could have, you know, almost anything. Door dash. I could have all the garden door dash to me to break my fast if I wanted to. Yeah, you, you leave the house and you drive past. You know all these different restaurants. This food is so abundant. And then, on top of that, you know it's so addicting. They're spraying it with chemicals and they've got all these engineers that are, you know, trying to. It's very competitive, so they do all the great marketing and they, they, they make it addicting. So it's very difficult in the culture that we live in.

Speaker 2 13:47

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 13:53

Yeah, but you know, when you take away the food, you know, you just realize how much your life revolves around it. From just, I just noticed, you know how I just meander into the kitchen and open up the cabinets for no reason, like well, why the hell am I here right now, you know. Or social outings, you know, like you know, we, we, it's a very social thing in our culture. So what I love about this and some of that, you know, we have daily journal prompts when we for every day, during the fast for the group. But you know, some of the things that we ask is like who am I without the comfort of food? What? What else have I been leaning on, you know? And and what is my relationship I use it with air quotes with food, and you know how can I use this to get connected to God?

Speaker 1 14:33

you know, and that discipline of that. So, yeah, yeah, but well, let's dive into you know what, what happens, a play by play of what happens during the 72 hour fast and and some of the the biological benefits of of what's happening hour by hour. So when we start the fast, I like to start the fast in the evening, because when you know, when you finish up your your dinner meal, by the time you go to sleep and you wake up the next day, it's like you're already, like you know, 12, 14 hours in. So I like to to get a little jump start. This is a great way to start. Personally, lacy and I were talking. I think next time we might try to maybe do it at noon, because oh yeah yeah, so I might shoot for noon next time.

Biological Processes During Fasting

Speaker 1 15:18

But. But bottom line is this zero to 12 hours in we call this the warm-up phase. You know, when you stop eating, your body is going to first burn through what's most readily available, which is your glucose, and it's stored in your liver as glycogen. And in these first hours, you know, your insulin will start to drop. And this is because your insulin is a storage hormone.

Speaker 1 15:41

And once the glycogen you know is burned up, after around the 12th hour in, something really cool happens your growth hormones begin to spike, and your growth hormone is sometimes called the youth hormone or repair hormone. It helps you burn fat, it's starting to heal your joints, you're starting to build new proteins and it can even enhance your skin by keeping your skin looking younger. And a lot of people pay a lot of big money for growth hormone. You can produce it yourself with simply just not eating, and so you can make it for free when you fast and then. So that's really ultimately what happens. The bottom line is first 12 hours your glycogen stores. Do you have anything that you want to add?

Speaker 2 16:22

or anything, no, no. And that is the first 12 hours where you start to mentally go okay, I haven't eaten here. Like it doesn't show up until you get a little bit deep into it and you're like wait, I'm hungry.

Speaker 1 16:38

Yeah, mental aspect of ity kicks in. What is autophagy? Well, it literally means self-eating, and that might sound a little strange, but it's one of the most beneficial processes that your body has, as your cells become its own recycling center. So what happens is your body's going through to find the damaged and sticky proteins, it breaks them down and it reuses the good parts to build new, healthier proteins and gets rid of the waste of the old ones. So basically it's self-cleaning. And just think of it like a spring cleaning for your body to sell your, your cellular level and they just basically get cleared out. Plaques in the brain which connect to cognitive decline starts to get cleaned up. We don't want that junk in there either, and it's one of the reason that fasting is linked to better brain health and longevity, because it's just optimizes that cleaning process.

Speaker 2 17:34

Yeah, and I think there's some clarity. That comes to as you're fasting, like I think, thought processes improve. I think for me my personal experiences I can think more clearly some places where I might have. Now it works backwards too. It's like in the first 24, 48 hours I feel like I'm sharper, but as I get into that 70, you know 60, 72 hour mark, my brain's like jello yes, it kind of ebbs and flows a little bit yeah right right now yeah, yeah, there's times my brain feels like mush and I can't think, and then other times I'm like I'm super clear, super focused, super creative.

Speaker 1 18:13

Yeah, it's like what we always say. It's like it's like surfing. You got to ride the waves of the yeah, yeah, but yeah, 24 hours in, your glycogen tank in the liver is completely depleted and then that forces the body to fully switch over to fat as the primary fuel and then, when you start burning fat, your body produces the ketones, and the ketones are like you have heard it, I mean, it's ketosis is what happens. Ketones are like premium fuel for your body, so like pulling up the gas tank and get that premium grade fuel for your, for your, for your car. Uh, ketones burn cleaner, the more efficient, and they help suppress the appetite. So the hunger pangs will start to go away and that's when people will start to report that. You know that's riding the waves. You'll have waves of hunger pangs. Well, when, when you're not having the hunger, your, your body's really creating a lot of ketones and after 24 hours in also your inflammation will start dropping significantly.

Speaker 1 19:09

Your gut gets a break from constant digestion. Your gut is a, your whole gut system. Your digestive system is constantly in a state of movement when you're grazing throughout the day. So when you do a prolonged fast, you're actually giving it the opportunity to really, really rest and giving it an opportunity to start doing some healing. And people that who have digestive issues like I, have stomach issues, ibs, bloating, and if you, if you have like some overgrowth of intestinal bacteria, it often finds relief here as your guts really start to self-heal itself, and so it's really powerful to give your guts just kind of a refit and let it rest and literally just take a knee for once.

Speaker 2 19:59

And to hop onto the ketones and to hop onto the ketones. So that's one of the reasons that people who have had success on like an Adkins diet. They have the body. You're not giving it carbs and so it has to burn the food first and then it starts producing ketones because you're not, there's no insulin, there's no insulin response response, and so the body's looking for some fuel source. It's also why I love it's type one, type two diabetics and they have to be very careful about their intake because they can flip over into ketosis which long term, can have negative complications, but short term it's not so bad, like it's the energy supply yeah, yeah, another thing, not endorsing the Atkins diet, by the way just another, I mean some people if you find it useful and it works.

Speaker 2 20:51

I don't endorse any particular one, but yes, if it works for you, go with it.

Speaker 1 20:55

I've tried long-term to do ketosis and as an endurance athlete, I personally have struggled with it. I need the carbs. Some people can can operate, so it's one of those things you have to test and F around it a FAFO, right F around it and find out. So another thing you know your brain loves ketones, but also your heart, your cardiovascular system gets becomes more efficient, and so that's just another thing that a lot of people don't realize is that your heart uses ketones as well. And another thing that happens is in your brain there's a protein called BDNF. It's brain derived nootropic factor and it's like fertilizer for your brain cells and it helps you grow new ones more and it strengthens the ones you currently have and strengthens the connections between them. And that's why you feel a bit sharper and more focused during a fast. So interesting stuff, so many things are happening throughout and kind of complicated, but try not to overload the listener with things. But there's a lot of amazing things that are happening during the fast and I know we've got some pretty cool videos. I've had to watch them numerous times to grab grasp, a firm understanding of what's happening, because there's a lot of uh science and a lot of terms being thrown around here, but the bottom line is it's really, really good for the body.

Speaker 1 22:14

Yeah, so 48 hours in, 48 hours in, the stem cells begin to wake up, and this is where stem cell activity increases dramatically. And stem cells are essentially blank cells that become whatever the body needs. It can become muscle, skin, it can, you know, add to the amount of blood that you have. It can move to gut lining and they're your body's ultimate repair system. And this is when fasting becomes deeply restorative, as your immune system begins to strengthen. Your old, weak immune cells are cleared out and then brand new ones are generated. And there have been some studies that suggest that certain cancer risks decrease because fasting helps shrink the unhealthy cells, while they also protect the healthy ones. So for those that you know are predisposed to cancer or maybe you're undergoing cancer treatment, there have been some studies that have shown that, you know, prolonged fasting has been very beneficial in that. So at this point, bottom line is 48 hours in, you're not just burning fat for energy, you're also repairing tissue regenerating systems and setting your body up for some longer-term resilience, because you're basically improving yourself internally.

Mental and Spiritual Experiences

Speaker 2 23:29

And I think you get at this stage there's like an immune system reboot. That starts to happen too, like around the 36 to 48-hour mark, the immune system kind of reboots, system kind of reboots. I don't know the details behind that, but I think it's more of a. It's anti-inflammatory, but the immune system starts to pump itself up a little bit based on the lack of calories.

Speaker 1 23:52

Yes, yep, absolutely. So really good, if your body's the temple and we need to protect the temple. We want more little ninjas, right? We want powerful little ninjas in the way of white blood cells, mitochondria, red blood cells, all the things we want more of ninjas in the way of white blood cells, mitochondria, red blood cells, all the things we want more of those things. There's an opportunity to to increase your army of ninjas to protect the temple.

Speaker 1 24:11

So, all right, 72 hours, full system reset. Once you hit the 72 hour mark, it's like hitting the reset button on your body stem cell activity surges even higher, the immune system goes through deep renewal and then repair is happening everywhere Joint skin, organs, brain, ketones are at their peak, your energy is clean and steady, inflammation is at its lowest points and because your body has been running so efficiently, it needs fewer calories and nutrients to operate. And so this is where, you know, people start to notice, like they start to really notice the energy that they have, and they, the hunger pains, ultimately for most people, for many people, go away and that's why they can go in a longer, like you know, multiple day, four day, five days, seven days.

Speaker 2 24:55

It's so strange how the first 24 hours feel they feel. For me they're the worst, getting that beyond day one and then by day three, if I consciously think about it, I'm stinking hungry, but at the same time, if I sit back and go, do I really need to eat? No, I'm good. I could probably go a little longer if I wanted to.

Speaker 1 25:14

Yeah, yeah, this time around I definitely feel like I could actually go further. I'm going to go ahead and stop, though, but I think next time around I'd like to maybe try to go a little bit further. So we'll have another podcast episode, maybe. Maybe I can get Brian to join me too. We can go a little further and just kind of F around and find out and have an extended podcast.

Speaker 1 25:38

We'll definitely be hosting them in the academy, probably on a regular, semi-regular basis. So if you're interested in this, feel free to join us in the academy, probably on a regular, semi-regular basis. So if you're interested in this, feel free to join us in the academy. But I don't, I, you know I, I I'm reluctant to coach anyone further than I have gone myself. So we're gonna.

Speaker 1 25:52

So anything beyond that, you know, I have only heard from other people's experiences, I don't know from my own experience. Today we're just talking about the 72 hours. So. But 72 hours is allegedly the the peak of performance for this, and we'll report back on another episode when we, when we go back past the deep end even further. So let's talk about, for those that are interested in the 72 hour fast, how to prepare. So I think it's prudent not to just jump right in. I mean not, I think I think you want to you as well, easing into it. I would say the best way to go about that is maybe doing some intermittent fasting 12, 18, 24 before jumping all into the 72 hour fast. What are your thoughts on that, brian?

Speaker 2 26:49

in that brian? Yeah, I mean I, I think for me I kind of I reduce the day before, I kind of eat a little lighter, I will reduce calories a little bit and I will eat cleaner and drink a ton of water yeah, you're talking about like right before you.

Speaker 1 26:59

Actually I was, I was. I guess I was prefacing like before you commit to a 72 hour should you just dive right in like a couch to 5K, to marathon or couch to Ironman.

Speaker 2 27:11

I think you can. I think the benefits of the reset that happened. You can do it. A 24 hour is probably a better like just see how that 24 hours feels and then get back into eating and then a couple of months later come back in. But I I know of plenty of people who've never fasted before like, oh, I'll try three days and they'll do it and it works the same. I think it requires a higher level of like, commitment and mental discipline, because it's just hard if you've never done it yeah, absolutely yeah, it's the mental preparation is definitely key.

Speaker 1 27:52

Yeah, well, so actually preparing for the 72 hour fast, you're mentioning hydration what other? Tips and tricks do you have I?

Speaker 2 27:59

electrolyte I love like element. I think we've got that somewhere in the community just talking about that product because it's got electrolytes. You add it in water, just get up, I mean I will drink. I try to drink a gallon of water the day before. Dial back some of the fried foods Not that I eat a lot anyway, but I wouldn't put any on board and just eat cleaner, so that it's almost like starts to flush the system a little bit before you ever even get rid of food completely and I think it just kind of sets you up to ease into it a little bit. Outside of that, I don't think I do much for myself. What do you do?

Speaker 1 28:37

Well, I try to avoid processed foods, the heavy carbs, the sugar, alcohol, because ultimately it reduces the cravings, it just makes the transition. When your body transitions from fuel source, it just makes it a little bit easier. The keto flu, they call it the symptoms of that is reduced. I plan my schedule out because I've messed around with the schedule. I've done it over the weekend. I do not want to do it over the weekend, I want to stay busy. Weekend's a time for social. Uh, you're not doing as much so you're thinking about it more. So, planning out the schedule, and and and and and really kind of dialing that in and yeah, just the hydration bit. Same with electrolytes.

Speaker 1 29:19

Now, one thing that I've learned about electrolytes and you can take bone broth and electrolytes. But if your intention for the fast is weight loss, then use electrolytes, use the bone broth, but it will affect autophagy. A lot of electrolytes have a little bit of sweetener in them and your body will be tricked into spiking insulin which stops the autophagy for four to six hours. So if you're looking strictly to, you know you're going to just regenerate and cleaning up the body through autophagy. If that's your ultimate goal, then I would recommend using electrolytes that do not have any sweetener, so you can get the lmnt that have no flavor. It's the all the flavored ones have some level of extract in them.

Speaker 1 30:11

Or I like to drink gerolsteiner water, which is heavy, heavy, heavy mineral. I've got it like right here, the gerolsteiner. There are other like sparkling waters out there, but this is heavy mineral. It's got like five to six times the amount of minerals compared to like pellegrino and some of these other ones. So this is really really good if you want, if you, if you don't want to mess up the, the autophagy. But so those are the things that that that I do nice okay yeah, and I always, I always drag people into it with me.

Speaker 2 30:44

That is a good. I mean, it goes back to community. There's something about misery loves company, if that's the way you want to look at it. Or it's the discipline of knowing, hey, I'm going to do this hard thing with somebody else. I think it definitely. To do it on your own is a totally different experience.

Speaker 1 31:01

I tried to go it alone and I failed. I've done it a couple of times, absolutely failed. And so I always say, if you're going to do hard things, it's better to suffer with friends, and that's funny and that, and that you know leading a fast being in a community where everyone's like pushing each other, you know it definitely makes it a lot easier. You know when it gets tough, you got people that you can kind of vent to. And another thing that's really, really important, this is critical, this is key. This is what we do in the community.

Speaker 1 31:30

Before the kickoff, or part of the kickoff, is we write down our powerful why for why we're doing this fast. And case in point, there was one of our challengers in the community on the second night started boiling eggs. It was late at night. He's like I'm going to break this thing. I'm miserable. He started boiling the eggs and while he's waiting for the eggs to get done, he pulls out his journal and he opens it up and he starts reading why he wanted to do this. And it was more than just health. It was I want to be just more disciplined. I want to be stronger than I was yesterday. I'm on this journey of becoming the best version of myself, and that motivated him to turn off the water and get back at it, and he, he finished today, which is super, super rad. So remembering why you started and having community is so critically important.

Speaker 2 32:20

Yeah and uh. It's interesting because, again, this one, my I, my intention was just to deepen spiritual connection and I so yesterday I was tired and no, my energy was lower and I thought I just need to get out here. And so we went and walked on the trail and this is what I was alluding to earlier. And as we're driving there, I'm like, why am I doing this again? And I went, oh, yeah, okay, it's a deep and spiritual connection. What better place to do that than nature?

Speaker 2 32:56

And as we're walking along this trail, I'm leading, it's just me and Lainey and I'm in front, and I have this moment where I just feel everything around me, like I just sensed presence and it tree is like trees, animals, everything.

Speaker 2 33:13

And I dropped down, I got out of my head and dropped into my heart and then I had this experience where I felt like my conscious mind or my, my awareness, kind of slipped out and I found myself like three or four steps ahead of myself. It was, and so it's like my awareness expanded. It was such a fascinating experience and I'm like, okay, that was the spiritual moment I was looking for of how do you, how do I get outside of myself sometimes and just experience presence and things around me, as opposed to what's just in this shell. It was fascinating. I mean, I had a moment where I had to stop because I'm like whoa, I can't really even. It was almost like it felt like an out-of body sort of thing where I'm like I don't know how to control myself when I'm not in myself. I it sounds really weird, but it was so fascinating.

Speaker 1 34:13

Well, I've had a friend who's done some really prolonged fast. It sounds very similar to his experience where it feels like plant medicine based experience or mystical experience where you can feel very euphoric and I don't know. It's fascinating that you did that so early. But that's common for people that go even further.

Speaker 2 34:35

Yeah, yeah I noticed my breath work good.

Speaker 1 34:39

I was more sensitive to it in my breath work because I can have experience with breath work and last night's breath session was very powerful, like more powerful than normal.

Speaker 2 34:48

Yeah, well, and I I tend to about once a month I'll do a 24 hour. I use it as like a metabolism reset, and so it's. I'm pretty, my body's pretty efficient at getting the calories out and just burning through what's there, and so I think by the time I hit 48, I think my body's already switching into different modes, and so I think I was just already in that spot, cause you know, it was like six o'clock last night, so you know, 50 something hours into it, and yeah, I was just it was an amazing experience. And yeah, it was just it was an amazing experience.

Speaker 1 35:22

No, it's so awesome, it's so cool, yeah, so yeah, I think ultimately, there's just so many fascinating things that were. It's really a great opportunity to get connected in your body, mind and spirit, like it's just so many things are happening and I think the more that you lean in spiritually, the more mystical experiences you'll have.

Speaker 2 35:43

Yeah, it's, it's the expectation I I tend to go, okay, I, I'm looking for experience that's outside of my conscious experience. Yeah, and if, if you open yourself to that, stuff happens. If you're looking for the unexpected, you get the unexpected.

Preparing for a Fast

Speaker 1 36:02

Yeah, absolutely, yeah, absolutely. Well, what do you want to shift gears into? Now, like I think we we've hit a lot of things. I think maybe some safety considerations, maybe who this is for, maybe who, yeah for sure.

Speaker 2 36:16

Definitely, diabetics have to be careful. Fasting, yeah, pregnancy, trying to think what else those are the ones I'd have to actually do a search. I don't know who else, who in your mind pops up.

Speaker 1 36:28

They say that younger kids shouldn't do it because they're still growing. So it's probably not good for younger kids. Pregnant women that are breastfeeding, and then people that are just underweight, malnourished, with very low body fat, because they may lack the reserves to sustain a prolonged fast. They could have issues. And then anyone with, like certain medical conditions, like heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, especially if you have meds that require food. Yeah, yes, yes, absolutely. And so those are. You know, those are it.

Speaker 1 36:58

I think, for the most, if you're a healthy adult, I think most people can do the fast without any challenges or issues. And, once again, it's just recommend. You know, if you're on the fence about it, just try it. Try intermittent fasting, like work your way up to it, do a 24 hour fast and then, if you're ready to jump in deep in the pool, go for it. But if you're doing the right things, if you're, if you're, if you're preparing properly and you're doing the right things throughout the fast, I think you'll be okay, cause I think the benefits outweigh any challenges. And so frequently asked questions that we get. So what are some of the symptoms that I should expect?

Speaker 2 37:39

Hunger Discomfort, definitely discomfort.

Speaker 1 37:44

People experience headaches and fatigue, maybe a little bit of hangriness, a little irritability, maybe some brain fog, and then after that, I mean, like I said, it's like surfing.

Speaker 2 37:55

So yeah, then some calm, some clarity, yeah then you might get an energy boost. Islands are all over the place I found a little peace, like I, I, I might, I've kind of been all over the place energetically lately and as especially today I like found some more peace and I think it was just that last wave, maybe that kind of let it set into yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 38:22

You just expect a roller coaster rides when I just just it's your body detoxing itself. If you're not getting enough electrolytes, you know you can have some challenging experience, some keto flu, but that's it. It's going to. You're going to have some periods of discomfort and then you're going to have periods of calm, clarity and energy. It's just kind of, you know, hour by hour. So it's interesting.

Speaker 2 38:40

Then what about movement? Like you know, we didn't talk about that. To move, yeah, common one is can I exercise during?

Speaker 1 38:45

the fast so for me personally, the first time I fasted I did a crossfit, a buddy assisted crossfit exercise up at your gym with a partner I didn't want my partner down. I went into it with the intention I'm just going to do light and I didn't want to let my buddy down. And we went, ham and I crushed the workout. Later that night I wanted to gnaw my arm off. I was so miserable.

Speaker 2 39:12

The high intensity high intensity training stokes your metabolism faster anyway. So that was. That was probably not the wisest of moves.

Speaker 1 39:23

We have, you know, the do hard, hard things. We have frameworks for do hard things, but the bottom line is I've done a lot of stupid shit the hard way and I've learned the lessons the hard way, so I share all of my lessons about doing the dumb shit so you don't have to. So I do hard things so you don't have to there you go so but yeah, I were you can do, I.

Speaker 1 39:46

Your line is this your body is in a reset mode and recovery and resetting is training. Yeah and just, you're not going to lose fitness in 72 hours, in fact, if you just rest, your body's repairing itself you could. What I've been doing is 10 000 steps a day, so just a few light walks around the neighborhood yep, some stretching and that's been completely fine. No heavy training is what I would recommend.

Speaker 2 40:08

Yeah, I think it's the mindset of even when you're training hard, you have to rest to repair.

Speaker 2 40:17

If you went in and did heavy exercise seven days a week, your body never gets a chance to repair, and so taking time off and dialing it back and maybe doing nothing at all is not a bad thing. When you're fasting, because you don't have the metabolic capacity to support it like you would, because you're depleting your energy stores and it requires energy to work out, and so for me, I like to move, and so just even the walking was helpful. That's why we went out and hiked the trail and then this morning I did a little, I put a little weight on, just because I hadn't really moved my body for several days and I felt it Like I feel it now. I'm like, okay, that was, but for me I needed it, I knew what my body needed, I had rested and recovered. But I think it's that time, that downtime, that's really good for us too, especially a group like this that tend to want to do hard things in life. We probably push our bodies hard in different ways and it's nice to have that time to recover.

Speaker 1 41:16

Yeah, that's. That's a big thing that we try to teach is you have to rest and recover is a part of your training that you need to have as much intention with as the exercise itself. You're breaking your body down during the exercise, so a lot of competitive athletes just want to just grind, grind, grind. You can't fully repair your work. Smarter, not harder, yeah, and this is an opportunity to reset. So another frequently asked question how often should I do a 72 hour fast?

Speaker 2 41:46

How often should I do a 72-hour fast? So one to four times a year. I was thinking as you were talking about, oh, doing this a little longer next time. I was thinking, well, maybe we should do it like December. It seems like quarterly. To do it quarterly would be a good strategy, but some people can't really do that. But I would recommend everybody to do one a year at least.

Speaker 1 42:08

I've been doing them. I mean this is my fifth one and if I look back at my calendar it's been about once a quarter and maybe I should just make it a quarterly thing. I mean, now that we've got the Academy up and running, we'll definitely have them more often. I think I like the idea of a 24 hour fast once a month on the off months. You know're in a 24 hour or 72 hour?

Speaker 2 42:27

yeah, I think it's good. Yeah, maybe we should slot one in beginning of january, burn off some of the holiday calories yeah, definitely, we'll definitely.

Speaker 1 42:35

We did a fast and focus last year. We had a lot of attendance on that one, yeah, so yeah, good way to reset before the new year yeah, so any I don't know. We've we've covered almost everything I can think of on the 72 hour fast, like getting really geeked out on the science. Is there anything else you'd like to add to it?

Speaker 2 42:51

No, I mean, I think we can kind of talk about maybe some of the lessons and takeaways from them, but I feel like we've covered most of the stuff.

Speaker 1 42:58

Yeah Well, from the uh the group calls that, we hosted over the last couple of days, what I found really cool. We've had a lot of couples do this together and I am always impressed with the couples that want to grow together and experience difficult things together and what they learn about each other, because relationship is difficult. Yes, yeah, it's a challenge, that, right, right.

Speaker 2 43:21

It's a little stressful, it's a hard thing.

Speaker 1 43:23

Yeah, yeah, but being there to support one another and to encourage one another and, you know, getting just more spiritually a mindset perspective, I think it's a great opportunity to get in touch with your own emotions. And you know what? What? What is the? The fast is a teacher and what is it teaching you about yourself? It's a powerful tool to do that. And, on top of just all of the, the resetting that's happening.

Speaker 2 44:10

Yeah, yeah, that's. I like that framing. Everything teaches us something, but if we're not aware of it, we don't learn anything. Yeah, so be aware of what what you're learning in the time.

Speaker 1 44:24

Yes, well, and it's one of the pillar of the do our things community of meaningful challenge. You know, we challenge ourselves in these, in controlled environments, because when you are life in itself, there's going to be spillover from life and it goes back to the. I'd rather be the warrior in the garden rather than the gardener in the war.

Speaker 1 44:44

It just prepares you, it makes you more resilient. Doing a 72-hour fast like it's just another thing that you can when you're feeling uncomfortable or discomfort. It's just yet another thing that you know what I've done hard things before I can do them again.

Speaker 2 45:02

Yeah, and as you're talking it, just the word hormesis pops up again. Right, it's that positive stress. We do it when we work out. It's induced by breath work, it's induced by fasting. It's a positive stress on the body in all three of those areas. That positive stress teaches us how, when we're outside of that environment, how we can regulate our own nervous system better. Yes, absolutely. You know I'm saying that, thinking oh yeah, we've got breath work tomorrow morning and as soon as we hop off, I'm going to do a little bit before I go put some calories in my body, just to have one more reset before I'm done.

Speaker 1 45:43

Well, another lesson and takeaway. You know the breath work has been fairly new into my life on a consistent basis. But there was a moment yesterday where Lacey and I were both kind of hitting the wall and we're just like let's just take a time out and do some breath work. So we laid on the couch and we got into a breathing rhythm and then it was a relaxation one and it went right into. I immediately felt the oxygen you know, kind of curb the hunger, and a lot of people reported that, like the doing the breath work, like curb the hunger, kind of forces you to get in your mind and it, you know the, you know getting rid of the carbon dioxide, increasing oxygen and then going into a nice meditation. Like Lacey fell asleep, which was pretty cool and it kind of took some of the pain away. So it's just yet another tool to use during the fast.

Speaker 2 46:29

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 46:30

So good stuff. Yeah, if you haven't tried the 72 hour fast, highly recommend it. If you're looking for guided support, you got a community of people here that can help you with that and any other final thoughts before we call it a day.

Speaker 2 46:43

No, I'd encourage people if they haven't done it to try it too. It's just an experience that can teach you about yourself, teach you about how you relate to food, teach you spiritual lessons, teach you life lessons. It's a journey, absolutely.

Speaker 1 46:57

So well, brian, this has been a great conversation. And 72-hour fast isn't just about starving yourself. It's about discipline, mental clarity, connection to God, proving yourself that you can push past your limitations and discomfort. And if you're listening to this, you want to join us on the next 72 hour fast and go to do our things nationcom. Join the mailing list. Click on events. Go to the. Join us in the do our things Academy. You can. You can join their free free for seven days.

Speaker 1 47:24

It's our premium place where we're offering nutrition guidance, health and mindset training and breathwork sessions. We've got a variety of different events going on in there. So so check us out in the wellness academy and join the facebook community if you haven't done so and yeah, for those listening, if this episode inspires you, do us a favor like, subscribe, share it with someone, that who could use the uh, the information. And if you're ready to take your health and performance to the next level, then check out the do our things wellness academy and join us in the nation. So until next time, keep showing up, keep pushing, do hard things. We'll see you next episode. Let's go, let's do it.