MrBeast shares insane impact two week water fast had on him

Online diets and fasts are all the rage right now, but it's important to remember that it's always worth listening to a medical professional over a social media influencer.

One of the biggest 'health hacks' which is attracting attention on the internet is 'water fasting', which sees you ingest no food or calorific beverages for a short period, nourishing the body with nothing but good old H₂O.

Although it's only recommended to try it for a couple of days at most, YouTuber MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, opted to undergo a two-week water fast for one of his eye-catching videos where he puts his own body to the test.

While he will have no doubt had the best medical advice available to him, he's now explained why the experiment was something of a disaster, and was actually 'pretty depressing'.

Water fasting leads to unexpected results

Speaking on a podcast with Theo Von, he said: “I did 14 days, only water, I lost 20-something pounds. After day five or six, you're pretty drained, you have no energy.

“I did a DEXA scan before I did my extended fast, where they measure the fat and muscle, I lost like six pounds of muscle, it was pretty depressing. So I lost 13 lbs (5.9kg) of fat.”

The content creator had a pretty rough time with it (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Prime Video)

However, he said it was ‘intense not eating, I was still filming and working throughout it, it was really messing with me’.

MrBeast also shared: “Standing up was brutal, and walking around, because you have no energy. I never got that super human clarity, I was just f***ing tired all the time, I was too tired to have clarity.”

While some social media users might wax lyrical about the benefits of fasting in general, it seems as if any health improvements might actually be short-lived, while approaching things in the wrong way or without medical advice could even lead to serious complications.

Experts seem to agree that while you might lose a bit of weight at the beginning of a fast, there is little evidence to suggest that it is a long-term change, while some of the weight lost will also be from muscle mass, as MrBeast realised.

Experts question value of water fasting

Krista Varady, professor of kinesiology and nutrition at the University of Illinois Chicago, said: “My overall conclusion is that I guess you could try it, but it just seems like a lot of work, and all those metabolic benefits disappear.”

The intermittent fasting expert also conducted a study which made it clear that the vast majority of people will put any lost weight back on, while the initial metabolic benefits from fasting, which include improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, also soon disappeared once fasting ended.

If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article and would like to speak with someone in confidence, call the BEAT Eating Disorders helpline on 0808 801 0677. Helplines are open 3pm-8pm Monday to Friday. Alternatively, you can try the one-to-one webchat.