G’day Matt, thanks so much for writing! Really informative article, thanks for sharing the results of your self-experiment. I’ll be starting a five day water fast on the 19th and finishing up on Christmas eve. I’ve done extended fasts before (between 2–3 days) but because of my athletic pursuits and training regime I haven’t been able to go any longer. I’m finishing up a big block of strength training in which I was eating a surplus of calories for quite some time so I feel as if now is the optimal time to try an extended fast. I’m excited and also interested to see how I perform exercise wise on the 4th day. I’ve heard some anecdotal evidence from people who say their performance remained the same or even increased. Slightly counter-intuitive but I’ll remain open to the idea. And the Christmas-eve dinner that I’m going to break the fast with…man…it’s going to be glorious. Any additional advice you can give to a first timer?