Some people will think the following is a lie, but those who’ve competed in the sport of wrestling will immediately recognize it as the truth.
When I was competing in the sport of wrestling, it wasn’t uncommon for me to drop 10+ pounds in the last 24 hours before weigh-ins.
In fact, in post-season tournament competition back in 1985, where you weigh-in every day of the event, I dropped 11 pounds within 90 minutes to make weight for the NCAA II finals. The ESPN reporters covering the event LIVE, even acknowledged this while my match was being aired.
Throughout my career, I dropped ten pounds by not eating or drinking anything for 24 or more hours, while training with a sauna suit on for an hour, which was covered by a heavy cotton hoodie and sweat pants.
As soon as I made weight, I drank two bottles of room temperature Gatorade, then went out to eat with my teammates, and put the weight back on.
In the post-weigh-in meal, I ate whatever I wanted, with no restrictions. Usually this meant eggs, toast, pancakes, fruit and several Payday peanut rolls (yes, candy bars).
The idea of dropping 10 pounds or more in a day is NOT something I do today; that was 40 years ago. The main difference is that back then, I fasted for one day, followed by regular eating intervals (three or more meals a day) until the next weigh-in.
Today, I fast for 24 hours every day, without the pressure of having to make a certain weight to compete. It’s a way of life for me instead of an edict.
Now, one of the most prevalent ideas about fasting is that you must eat in a certain way when you break a fast. It’s not uncommon for those teaching fasting to say that you must begin your meal with a vegetable salad, or some fruit.
Another method, though, is to do as I explained in my email last week, 90 Days of Daily Fasting:
“For the past three-plus months, I’ve abstained from food for 24 hours, followed by a feast where I eat whatever I want.”
When I wrote the words shown above, I envisioned that the words “whatever I want” were pretty doggone clear – but based on the number of people who wrote and asked me what I meant by “whatever,” I guess I should explain.
Here goes: “Whatever” means… WHAT FRIGGIN EVER.
Some days I break my fast with plain yogurt or raw milk or a raw milk smoothie containing wild huckleberries, honeyberries, Saskatoon berries, strawberries, lingonberries, cherries, and whatever other kind of berry I can pull out of my freezer.
After this, I may have a pesto pizza, a huckleberry bear claw, some basmati rice, some jerky, or some hot, spicy Himalayan food, preferably with lamb.
I finish eating in 90 minutes, then I immediately start another round of fasting for 24 hours. It’s straightforward and simple – and I’ve been doing this for 99-straight days.
I know people who break a fast with a ribeye, burgers and such, and they are also getting great results.
The key thing to keep in mind is that fasting is the master reset switch that strengthens and as many will say, heals the mind, the spirit and the body.
In the past I obsessed about every morsel of food, following everything from vegetarian, to fruitarian, to raw food, to vegan, to carnivore, to keto.
With fasting and feasting, no specific diet is necessary. It’s not what you eat as much as it is abstaining from food – followed by a feast.
It’s also not calorie counting, carb counting, monitoring fat grams, tracking micros and macros, and so on. You stop partaking in three big meals per day, or six small ones – or the 18 interconnected meals of with occasional breaks in your nonstop eating.
You get all your eating done in one 90-minute session, then you’re done eating for the day.
I know a guy who, almost as a lark, for 30-straight days, ate his one meal at McDonalds, just to prove that you can get away with the worst food – so long as you fast everyday. The guy even had a physician monitor his results from Day 1 through Day 30, and in the end all of his bloodwork had improved.
Am I advocating you eat at McDonalds? No. I wouldn’t eat there if I were starving – but… then again, I guess it depends upon the degree of starvation. If there were a famine and I hadn’t eaten for a month or so, I guess I might be tempted.
Anyway, there’s mucho nuance-so to this fasting and feasting show.
Much of what I am relaying here comes from extensive reading, research, as well as many years of experience. Then there are the details I learned from Kyle Newell – aka, the Panda Man.
The benefits of fasting and feasting are ginormous. I don’t know many people my age (63), who can move the way I do, and that includes plenty of former champions who have truly let themselves go.
I haven’t put up a YouTube video in over 100 days, but being this topic is hot, you can expect a new one fairly soon.
In the interim, to get even better results from fasting and feasting, avail yourself of my extraordinary fitness courses. I’ll provide the links below.
Matt Furey
