What's that longest time you went without eating? Why?

4 days

No food in the house. Everyone who had a job bought food for themselves. I, being 16 at the time, didnt have that luxury.

Jesus christ, where the fuck are your parents/guardians. You were still a minor ffs.
I feel sorry that you had to deal with that.
- Parents mismanaged the funds. But hey, we got to make the rent payment on a PS4 and Flat-screen TVs!
  Jokes aside, it was a dysfunctional house. It came down to survival mode that week.
- Knew a guy back in the day who, as a kid, used to cry himself to sleep at night with hunger. He was the most cheerfully violent human I've ever met. Kinda like a skinny Amos Burton, without the sociopathy, well, maybe a little. Seriously nice guy! Man said he never lost a fight, and I believe him. Only picked fights with larger men. BTW, his last name was Fight. Can't even make that up.

Two and a half days. Also how I came to really understand how abusive my mother is. I needed surgery for a knee injury. I wasn't allowed to eat since the evening before. I went in, had surgery and my parents took me home to "take care of me". I was so hungry after the surgery because it was like 2 pm and I hadn't eaten since maybe 4 pm the day before, so I asked if we can stop for food. I was told no, we have food at home. "Home" was an hour by car away.

So we come home, I somehow manage to get into bed and ask for food. My mother exploded, yelled at me to not be a lazy good-for-nothing that slouches around on the bed and that the only way I was getting any food was by getting up and sitting at the dining table like a normal person. I really don't know why I thought they'd treat me better this time. I guess I thought they'd know it's a legit surgery (unlike non-legit things like flu and fever that has never been an excuse to stay in bed). Anyway, I had my bottle of water with me but no food. Probably not enough water either. On the evening of my second day there my leg was feeling good enough for me to hobble into the kitchen and grab some snacks.

On the bright side, I learned that the stuff I've been telling myself like "Yeah they're assholes but will be there for me when I need them" was a lie.

I've done 7 days on a fast, water only. My partner and I were testing if their seizures would stop without food and they did.

Well no shit. That's fascinating. So now where are you at with the problem?
- Yeah, it worked really well actually. It seems that their seizures are related to sugar metabolism in the brain and switching to a fasted state enabled the production and use of ketones instead of glucose. That leas to a reduction from seizures as much as twice an hour to one or less per day most of the time. Now we (solidarity and other benefits) eat a really simple diet of mostly simple cuts of meat cooked to medium-rare as well as chicken wings and butter. The butter maybe an issue though, so we are testing removing that too after the next long fast to see if we get better results.
  So down from ~30 seizures per day to maybe 1 seems like a fairly good fix and we just treat it like an allergy. No carbs, no fibre, no sugar alcohols, no artificial sweeteners, and soon maybe no butter either. Better thab seizures, good for overall health so far, and fairly sustainable. I may miss cheesecake but not as much as I don't miss my partner having seizures all day.

I went roughly 2 weeks without food after I got out of the hospital from a severe head injury. I tried to eat, but I temporarily lost my sense of taste and my brain hallucinated this absolutely terrible taste in its place. Even my saliva and the inside of my mouth had this taste. In the hospital I mostly got my nutrients via IV.

Willingly: 2 weeks, fasting. I was really sick and desperately trying to find something, anything, to make me feel better.

Unwillingly: 4 days. No money for food.

I once wanted to see how long I can go, at 32 hours I felt like I was about to die so I stopped. Literally one bite made all of the terrible feeling go away and to this day it both annoys me and freaks me out that it was all psychological.

Like seriously brain? Couldn't handle not eating so badly that you decided to make me feel like shit? But also damn, if that's how I felt about not eating, addictions sound much scarier now.

annoys me and freaks me out that it was all psychological.
It's not really psychological. There's a lot of physiological processes involved. One you have to go from a sugar burning metabolism to a fat burning metabolism. That can be troublesome for people, during that transition electrolytes can get out of balance.
If you want to try fasting again, I recommend starting a ketogenic diet first, get comfortable with keto, get past the adaptation phase after 2 or 3 weeks. Increase your electrolyte consumption the entire time. Salt, potassium, magnesium. Then, try a fast and see if you feel different, make sure you continue your electrolytes supplementation.
Once you're in ketosis, starting a fast usually isn't much trouble for people, they don't really notice it.
- Yeah no... I was not kidding, literally the second I swallowed the first bite I felt perfectly fine. That can't be anything related to metabolism.

2 days. I had hemorrhoid surgery and pooping was so painful that I fasted for two days just so I could rest for 1 day.

A week, massively depressed, no food or water, by day 3 I decided to conciously continue the fast in hope of death. by day 6 I was feeling normal, by day 7 was completely ok, had energy, no headaches no hungry or thirsty.

got so upset that I'm apparently immortal I gave up on that scheme.

Over 24hrs several times. It's easy when you skip supper the previous day and stay in bed all day.

24 hours regularly. I eat a huge buffet at the lunch place once every few weeks. I skip dinner and don't even bother with breakfast on regular day.

Don't think I've been much longer than that

I go 16 all the time, but 24 is just too much. Gotta get something in the tank even if it's a single granola bar.

37 days. One day I took a look in the mirror and I didn't like what I saw. So I changed it. Honestly it's not at all difficult after the fourth or fifth day, it just gets really hard to sleep. I was in my early twenties and I still had the willpower for that (and probably the metabolism) but I don't anymore.

Edit to be clear: I don't recommend this. It was a harsh decision born out of a lot of depression and other issues. I drank a lot of water and took multivitamins. It worked but I was probably just lucky I didn't end up in the hospital.

Four weeks. I have Crohn's disease and had perforated my bowel roughly 15 years ago. I wasn't allowed anything by mouth and was on a saline drip for 3 weeks. After my surgery I was on TPN for another week before I was allowed to eat anything. I went from 185lbs to 130lbs and it took about 6 months to get back up to 160lbs.

Not breaking any records, but probably ~20 hours. A mix of fasting (the Muslim kind, so from dawn till dusk) and not waking up to eat before dusk can get you that long when it's the summer and days are long.

7 days. It was the only way I found to be listened at this time. It worked.

3 days. At the end of university I had no money because I stupidly spent it all on booze. I was too proud (and stupid) to ask my parents for anything so it wasn't until I got on the plane to go to my girlfriend's that I got food. An airplane meal never tasted so good!

I was too proud (and stupid) to ask my parents for anything
Lol, I would've just asked. Yes, I am that shameless, you gotta do whatever to survive
- Yeah, as I said... Stupid. But there's backstory with the folks I'm not getting into lol

4 days. I felt hungry a few times during the first day, but I was in the middle of something (probably a game lol) and told myself I would eat later. I stopped feeling hungry from the 2nd day onward, so I wanted to see how long I could go. After the 4th day, I decided to eat something before I ran into any issues.

Probably about 2 days because I just forgot. Didn't feel hungry or lethargic etc.

3 days. Just to see how long I could. That was way the hell back in 7th grade, tho.

These days, I get hypoglycemic if i don't eat at least once a day.

I think 3-days. Just to see if I could and how it would feel. Felt fine. Could probably have done at least another day, maybe 2. Was sort of starting to feel hungry around the end of day 3.

A little over 24 hours. Nothing fancy, I had started a keto diet and at one point I realized that my previous meal had been lunch the day before, hadn't had dinner nor breakfast since and it was lunch time again.

About a week, just to see how it would feel after doing keto for a long time.

It was alright, after day 3 I didn't think much about it, but I decided to start eating again to avoid having to do a complicated refeeding later

By choice? 36 hours weekly for a year. It did improve my health without dropping my weight but unfortunately was also a guaranteed migraine each time.

By need? Couple of days when we were poor. But way more usually there was at least something to eat each day.

36 hours every week for a year? That's intense
Were you eating a normal omnivore carbohydrate-based diet at the time? Did salt or electrolytes help with the headache?
- Yes normal omnivore diet, not much junk food but yes rice and sourdough bread as carbs, lots of beans, meat at least a couple times a week, vegetables and fruit. Coffee. Alcohol about once a week.
  I tried caffeine, electrolytes, my body just wasn't having it. Would wake up with a migraine if I skipped both lunch & supper. I can do 24 hours easier, very late lunch, skip supper, next day start with supper, but the 36 hours or more did something that shorter fasts don't (besides the headaches) my LDL cholesterol dropped sharply.
  This was an experiment for me because most of the reports I read on fasting benefits related to weight loss, there wasn't a lot on normal weight people fasting and maintaining weight, so I did that to see if it really did anything, and it did.

About 3 days. Because I was extremely ill. I didn't exactly starve myself you can go ages without food you just feel bad.

2 days. I was involved in a stupid cult for a while and thought that starving myself would make god love me or some dumb shit like that

This makes me miss Flyingsquid.

Me, a couple of days at most when I had Norwalk.

Not sure. Probably 36-hours prior to a colonoscopy and surgery. LOL, I was ready to eat ramen noodles sauced with Elmer's Glue. On the way home from the hospital I hit the all-you-can-eat BBQ joint.

Most days I go 14-16 hours, but I'm unemployed ATM and not moving much. I have to get out and hike or work to get an appetite, often do that just so I can eat.

When I was working the spring/early-summer rush at Lowe's outdoor center, what they call the "100 days of hell", I was freaked out by my hunger. Wasn't that hungry working labor in my 20s. I'd eat until I couldn't fit anymore down the pipe, still felt hungry. Really woke me to how fat people must feel. Took over a month after I quit till my hunger dialed down.

Anyway, having said all that, I'm doing whatever it takes to get on medical weed, tomorrow. Never needed my head reset so badly. Anyone know how I can grow shrooms?

12 days. Only had water and some black coffee. Wanted to do 14. Just wanted to know what it was like. Couldn't make it. It was really not fun, suffering the entire time. Very interesting though. Great as an experience, it did change my relationship with food. Everybody should try it. 14 days is a great goal and there are no adverse effects (if you're otherwise healthy).

maybe like 14 hours if i forgot to eat during the night and happened to eat breakfast too late the next day

👀 I do 14-hours almost everyday. It's 7PM, just ate. Might eat a one cookie later, nothing else till 1 or 2PM.

I know this isn't breaking any records, but on the weekends I go nearly the whole day before I really think about eating.

This is every day for me, sometimes I completely forget.

36 hours. Fasting to loose weight.

I would have dinner on Saturday night and not eat again until Monday breakfast. Drinking lots of water those days..

24 hours, multiple times. It's a classic scouts challenge

Pretty sure I've never spent a full day without eating. I would guess maybe something like 16 hours max. I don't remember which specific instance was the longest, but it might have been something like arriving at a hotel late after a long trip and being too tired to get out again and get something to eat.

Like 40 hours I guess, ate lunch on a Thursday and then breakfast on the Saturday. Needed to make a weigh in on the Saturday morning that for some reason I can't remember I was unprepared for--I think it was early in the season. That practice on Friday wasn't much fun though.

Going to bed hungry isn't nearly as distracting as trying to sleep when you're thirsty though.

100 hours, for a fast. I just wanted to see what it was like and how my body responded.

Someone mentioned a colonoscopy and so I have had several days were I am just drinking regular mountain dew, broth, and sherbet but that is still eating and getting calories. I don't think I have ever went very long involuntarily not eating. I used to do a fast where I would only non calorie liquids so water, diet soda, tea with no sugar, etc on tuesdays and thursdays. So figure from something like monday 8pm to wednesday 8am. So something like 36 hours but 16 of those were sleeping so not as bad as it sounds. This was in my forties I think and I likely may have been able to do it in my thirties but I can say I could not go that long when I was younger as my metabism was fast and I would get a headache or such.

Willingly, around 20 hours. I’m practicing intermittent fasting but was too busy to eat one time. Unwillingly, I went around a week with just an IV drip and water, after an appendectomy.

At least five days when I was in a feverish hell of mono, just drank a lot of water.

Other than that, I have gone without eating for like 24 hours or so a lot when I was younger either by just being distracted and not being hungry or when I was broke in my early 20s and had to couch surf for a couple of months. Got by eating once a day.

Now my meals are so structured that it would take effort to get back to eating only when hungry but I should start that so I can get back to a healthy weight.

Five days. I had a bout of gastritis - damage to the stomach lining. I didn't feel hungry at all during that time. My body knew time was what it needed in order to heal.

Nearly a week when I had swine flu

For at least 2 weeks, maybe longer. Had complications with an appendectomy and wasn't allowed any solid food. But I was on a IV drip most of the time.

I think 48 hours was the most. Did it as a Kickstart to a diet.

8 day water fast as a catalyst for change. Worked perfectly despite the risky lack of preparation.