I tried Fasting, 15 hours!

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RomanRyan1088

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I went for 15 hours, i didn’t meet my goal :(. I wanted to go 1 whole day. The reason i didn’t finish is because i started getting dizzy, like I was ganna faint. I feel bad because i didn’t make it, but I at least acheived something. I still got a BIG headache though. I hope God isn’t angry with me. What do ya’ll think? Is that a good reason not to finish?
 
Ah! What a wonderful thing to be young and zealous! Of course it’s ok to break a voluntary fast if you’re growing faint!

In Trappist monasteries (in the old days, when they were REALLY strict about Lent), they did not allow anyone below the age of 21 to observe the full Lenten fast. And, yes! They did have men under 21 in those days.

Don’t answer this: why were you fasting? Just to try it out? – not that that’s a bad thing, but as you know, it’s not really a “reason.” I am sure that your holy intention has been received by your loving Lord.

Don’t let people make fun of you because of your youthful zeal. The only thing more beautiful than the zeal of young men is the zeal of old men. God be with you.
 
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mercygate:
Ah! What a wonderful thing to be young and zealous! Of course it’s ok to break a voluntary fast if you’re growing faint!

In Trappist monasteries (in the old days, when they were REALLY strict about Lent), they did not allow anyone below the age of 21 to observe the full Lenten fast. And, yes! They did have men under 21 in those days.

Don’t answer this: why were you fasting? Just to try it out? – not that that’s a bad thing, but as you know, it’s not really a “reason.” I am sure that your holy intention has been received by your loving Lord.

Don’t let people make fun of you because of your youthful zeal. The only thing more beautiful than the zeal of young men is the zeal of old men. God be with you.
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I felt God touch my life, and i wanted to thank him in a new way. I’m joyed to hear that i broke it for a good reason, actually i was doing the math, i stopped eating at 10 last night, and lasted until 4 today. so that is 18 hours. But now i gotta go eat.😃
 
Just be sure that you drink a lot of water. Have a water bottle with you and drink often. It’s usually dehydration that cause the headaches and dizziness. If you are a coffee drinker the head ache can also be caffeine withdrawal.

As I understand it a Catholic fast is two very small meals (snacks) or one single meal + all the water you can drink.

Muslims fast by totally abstain from food, drink, smoking and intimate relations from dawn to sunset. Now is the month of Ramadhan and why not try to have a “Catholic” fast from dawn to dusk as a way to train yourself to fasting. You can have your small meal + your usually cup of coffee at dusk and drink water through the day. At dusk or maybe in the afternoon have your second snack.

You can for instance offer your fast for the conversion of Muslims. I know of a group of former Muslims who now are baptised Christians that do that. They pray and fast through the whole month of Ramadhan for the conversion of Muslims.
 
Dear friend

For a first fast that was quite an achievement, as your body is not used to that sort of treatment!! Well done!!

Sunniva is right, you will get dizzy and headachy because of the lack of fluids. You can drink as much water as you like and this also satisfies the filling of your stomach, although you will take more trips to the bathroom :rotfl: .

Did you feel more alert and better able to think and contemplate our Lord during this period of fasting? Did you feel stronger in your spirit and religious convictions? Without revealing the details of your intentions, did you have an intention behind your fast or as another poster asked, did you just attempt it to see if you could achieve it?

I have been fasting for years, my diet is bland and I eat very little but remain chubby!! I don’t know how this happens other than it’s God and my slow metabolism!!

I find though when I depart from my small diet and exercise a fast that my senses are heightened, that I am more disposed to God and to prayer and contemplation. That during a fast (fast of food and sometimes food and sleep), I usually face some trial or happening which if I let it would cause me to give up on the fast. That my spirit is deepened in the Lord, that I am usually humbled in some way, but that I am ALWAYS strengthened. That I find in the weakness of my fast, (tiredness, hunger etc) that if I ask the Lord to help me in it, I am sustained.

The discipline of fasting doesn’t end when we break the fast, this discipline we exercise in a fast should carry through into the whole of our life in respect of discipline to God, in obedience to Him, that in this also if we ask the Lord to help us, we are also sustained.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
p.s. by the way Ryan you are definitely thinking about food as your typing error shows ‘Fatsing’ …sorry I thought this was funny, I’m not mocking you, but it is funny…love Teresa xx
 
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RomanRyan1088:
I went for 15 hours, i didn’t meet my goal :(. I wanted to go 1 whole day. The reason i didn’t finish is because i started getting dizzy, like I was ganna faint. I feel bad because i didn’t make it, but I at least acheived something. I still got a BIG headache though. I hope God isn’t angry with me. What do ya’ll think? Is that a good reason not to finish?
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There is a good reason that church fasts are almost always preceeded by chruch feasts. The night before you fast have a big meal and offer with your feasting your thanks for how richly God has blessed you. When you start your fast, you will still get uncomfortable, but your blood sugar shouldn’t hit such a low so soon.
 
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Teresa9:
p.s. by the way Ryan you are definitely thinking about food as your typing error shows ‘Fatsing’ …sorry I thought this was funny, I’m not mocking you, but it is funny…love Teresa xx
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Lol, I didn’t even notice that!! :rotfl:
 
Like the person up above said it… Try fasting from dawn till dusk.

This is good because it’s a pretty solid amount of time, but not so much that it is masochistic, plus, there is a fairly definate ending time, so that you don’t try to make it some kinda contest.

I sometimes get that little voice in my head that says “Today you will fast”… it’s weird, the idea just pops into my head, and once I “hear” it, I feel bad going back on it, so I fast from whenever I hear the call until sunset.

I think a harder fast is simply skipping dinner, no food after lunch.
Because when you eat dinner, you go to bed with a nice full belly, and all seems right with the world. Not eating before bed sorta puts a sad off-key note to the end of the day, and will more readily put you in mind of all those who go to bed hungry.
 
Ryan,

As a Byzantine Catholic, we fast 4 times a year (I haven’t been too successful but will push on).

You can have ONE SMALL meal of you are on a fast. The rest ot the time can be one piece of bread and water, or just water.
In the Byzantine Catholic Church, we are encouraged every day to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.

God knows what is in your heart and is not angry with you. He sees you as a novice in the fasting department. The more you indulge in this activity, He will let you know how you are doing.

I posted in the Politics section for everyone to Fast on Nov. 2 for our country while we vote. Why not try again on that day.
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=19098&highlight=November

Go with God, my friend!
Edwin
 
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rjmporter:
There is a good reason that church fasts are almost always preceeded by chruch feasts. The night before you fast have a big meal and offer with your feasting your thanks for how richly God has blessed you. When you start your fast, you will still get uncomfortable, but your blood sugar shouldn’t hit such a low so soon.
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rjmporter? Um. Fasts precede feasts.
 
I am delighted that no one so far on this thread has scoffed at Ryan or at the entire idea of fasting! This is a subject – in fact the subject of extraordinary mortifications in general – that often brings out a riot of dissent about how God doesn’t care about all this “phoney” mortification and doesn’t life send us mortifications enough, and taking care of my sick mother and my babies and not complaining about my (name the disease) is more mortifying than your fasting and almsgiving and hairshirt wearing! So there!

Let’s hope nobody chimes in on that note as we rejoice in our young brother’s desire to offer thanksgiving to Our Lord.

I would note, though, that in giving thanks to God, it is more usual to offer something more festive than a fast: do an act of mercy, give alms (hard for a high school kid) – maybe volunteer to wash the dishes when it’s your sister’s turn . . . mow the lawn or clean all the yard tools, or stay late at school with a team mate working on a skill with him . . .

Ryan, if you feel that God is calling you to fast, why not explore other possibilities than an absolute fast such as just doing the “old” abstinence from meat and the two-meal agenda described by Sunniva on Fridays. Many take only bread and water one day a week or one day a month. The Confraternity of Penitents (www.penitents.org) will soon begin the annual “Fast of St. Martin” – the 1.5-meal “Catholic” fast from November 12 until Christmas. The intention is the thing! It must always be done in love.

By the way – to those who advocate drinking water, that IS permitted in a Catholic fast, but our Jewish brethren manage without even* that* on Yom Kippur and Tisha b’Av.
 
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