Horrifying simulation reveals impact of not eating for 36 hours on your body
You can have all the friends, family, and doctors in the world tell you look great, but ultimately, most of us are guilty of finding fault with our bodies.
The month of January doesn't help, and as those around us ditch the booze and try to shove their healthier mantras down our throats with New Year's resolutions, many of us find ourselves being sucked into the whole "new year, new me" mentality.
We're not saying that's a bad thing, and although we doubt many are taking up Gary McKee's resolution of running 365 marathons in a year, there's no better excuse to try out some new fitness regimes to kickstart your health in 2026.
There are plenty of fad diets out there, all coming with their own pros and cons. As we've seen from the results of going vegan, only eating meat and eggs, and even the extreme mono diet, some people are willing to try almost anything to shift a few extra pounds.
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We recently covered YouTuber Will Tennyson's previous attempt at the One Meal a Day diet, which effectively puts your body into fasting.
Numerous people stand by fasting as an effective way to lose weight, and with biohacker Bryan Johnson typically having his 'last' meal of the day at 11 am, it's a popular way to keep trim.
The recent boom in GLP-1 jabs like Ozempic and Wegovy proves the lengths that some people are willing to go to in an attempt to lose weight, but what about fasting?
Fasting can have a shocking effect on the body, and in a graphic simulation from YouTube channel The Limitless Emperor, we see exactly what's going on inside us.
While it's important to consult a medical professional before trying anything like this, the simulation opens our eyes as it details the fascinating changes our bodies go through during a 36-hour fast.
After just four hours, digestion shuts down and insulin drops fast. This is where your body 'flips the switch' and burns stored glucose for energy, but by hour eight, blood sugar starts to dip. With your body digging into its backup reserves of energy, hour 12 is where the real transformation is said to take place, thanks to fat burning.
When your insulin his rock bottom, your body officially enters ketosis and is revamped as a "fat-burning furnace."
Around the 16-hour mark is when autopghagy kicks in, which works as your body's own detox mode. Seen as a natural regeneration process, autophagy occurs at a cellular level and effectively strips the 'gunk' off your cells and triggers regeneration from within when your body is starved of nutrients.
24 hours of fasting sees cellular repair go into overdrive as you burn pure fat, and at 30 hours, growth hormones are said to skyrocket to protect your muscles and boost recovery. Finally, peak autophagy is achieved at 36 hours, although we imagine you're screaming our for a burger and a milkshake at this point.
Although the video refers to fasting as a full-body reset and many were singing its praises, others in the comments were full of warnings.
One person said: "Gotta drink water if you're doing these fasts. Also, when u break, if u go longer than a week or 2, slowly start eating again. Eating a lot too quick can literally kill you, be safe everyone!"
Another added: "People should be careful. Use like Celtic salt in the water. Get some electrolytes!
A third warned: "He forgot to mention the headaches and what happens when you take that first bite of food after 36hrs, those are the worst."
As we said earlier, you should consult your doctor before undergoing any sort of fasting.