One of the hidden benefits of doing a prolon fast is that for 5 days, you don’t have to grocery shop, plan meals, cook, pick up food, or put any effort into thinking about what you will eat.

Discovering ProLon

I first discovered ProLon during the early days of the pandemic. I had a lot friends who fasted for various reasons — health, weight loss, religious, etc. I liked the idea of fasting for all of the aforementioned reasons, but knew that a water fast for even just a day was not possible for me. For years, I resorted to doing juice fasts for anywhere from 1 to 5 days which much pain but little to no results. I’m not sure how I first learned about ProLon, but once I did, it was suddenly everywhere. Gwyneth Paltrow even did a cycle on Netflix’s The Goop Lab with very positive results, including a decrease in biological age. I read Valter Longo’s Book The Longevity Diet and was sold (you can download this for free from their website). I will admit that my initial reasons for fasting were vanity driven, but learning about the healthy and longevity benefits, it felt like a no brainer. I’ve spent my life doing many fad crash diets that I knew inside were unhealthy or could lead to damaging long term benefits. ProLon is the opposite — it actually has health and longevity benefits.

Completing a cycle

What surprised me the most about ProLon was how amazing it made me feel by day 4 of the diet. The first cycle is the hardest because you don’t know what to expect, but I have found each subsequent cycle to be easier and easier. I actually look foward to my cycles now, doing a full 5 day fast about once a quarter (this is the maximum recommended by ProLon based on my height and weight). Day 1 is a breeze now since it’s a decent amount of calories with Days 2 and 3 being the hardest days then on Day 4 I wake up feeling amazing and by Day 5 I feel like I could go on forever (but you are not supposed to go longer than 5 days).

Balancing a cycle with a social life

For me, the most challenging part is finding five days when I don’t have any social obligations. But what I have learned over this many cycles is that it doesn’t have to be a 100% sacrifice. I still go to events, and even dinners, and just order a water or decaffeinated tea. I talk so much about ProLon that my friends all know about it and just say “oh you’re on cycle now?”. I don’t find it hard to be around food or alcohol while on a cycle since I know it’s only 5 days.

ProLon Benefits:

~5% weight loss each cycle while maintaining lean muscle mass. This doesn’t all stay off, but it is always a good re-set after a period of traveling and/or overeating and gets my back on track with healthy habits. After a cycle, I always experience reduced appetite and cravings.
Mental clarity! On day 4 I wake up feeling refreshed, clear, and like I can take on the world.
Clinically proven health and longevity benefits: reverse biological age and slow down aging (you can read more on their website and in Longo’s book). Fasting has benefits with cancers and other diseases and ProLon makes the fasting process so much easier.
Yes, you can just do a water fast but I personally find that to be impossible yet find ProLon to be easy. ProLon is also safer as it provides the macro and micro nutrients your body needs and prevent the loss of lean muscle mass.
You can also “hack” it and try to put together your own fasting program, but I like knowing that ProLon has done all of the research and if I stick to what’s in the box I will get all of the benefits I am seeking (vs trying to do it myself and potentially doing it wrong, causing a detrimental impact to my health)
I love not having to think about what I am eating for 5 days. This frees up more time and mental space than you’d expect.
Wonderful community support. They offer the opportunity for a coaching session prior to your cycle. There is also an active facebook community with real users as well as ProLon reps to answer questions. You can also email them directly and will get a fast response. I have even done “guided cycles” where you meet daily with a coach and others doing the cycle at the same time.

Drawbacks:

Honestly just the cost, but when I think about how much I am saving by not eating out and buying groceries, it’s really not that bad. Plus I am only doing it once a quarter. Also remember that millions of dollars of research went into creating this product for us, and that they are continuing to do research and create new products.

Tips:

Starting day 2, you get an L-Drink to sip throughout the day. I like to steep the hibiscus tea in the water bottle overnight then add the L-Drink in the morning and sip it throughout the day

You can add a lot more water to the soup than is recommended on the packet. I probably double the amount of water to double the amount of soup that I get.

Use a small spoon! It really helps make the soup last longer.
If you need to work from an office, the afternoon soups can be made in the microwave or using very hot water (like the water you would use to make tea).
Food can be eaten in any order, but you must stick to what is inside each individual box each day. I find sticking to their recommend schedule usually works best, except perhaps snacking on the choco crisp mid-afternoon vs after the soup at night
I usually hate olives, but I quite like the ProLon olives! Give them a try even if you hate olives.
I once did a cycle while on my menstrual cycle and for me it was my hardest cycle by miles. I got headaches the first 3 days and considered quitting, but I pushed through. On the flip, I have a friend that said it was easier for her on her cycle since she was already sitting at home and not feeling like going out. So it’s a bit different for everyone. Prolon itself says “it may be optimal to take ProLon mid-cycle, during the luteal phase".”

The One Day Reset

ProLon also introduced a “one day reset” box which I now do about once a week between cycles because I find intermittent fasting in a daily window to be difficult given my need to eat in the morning before I work out. Instead, I take one day a week off working out as a rest day and also fast on that day. But note that ProLon has other products like fasting bars and fasting shakes if you want to increase your daily fasting window to do a daily intermittent fast.

How to Buy

I talk about Prolon and its benefits so much that my friends started asking me for a referral discount. That prompted me to sign up for their affiliate program, so I am sharing my discount with you here!

Get 15% off all purchases - Happy Fasting!

Note: I earn an affiliate fee if you purchase using my link .

My experience doing 12 cycles (so far) of Prolon’s Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD)

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