MrBeast has shared details about the effects on his body after undergoing a 14-day fast.
Several years ago, the YouTuber embarked on a fast where he only consumed water, abstaining from food for two weeks. He has since opened up about the impact it had on him.
Before starting the fast, MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, mentioned his intention to go without food for 30 days.
While he didn’t complete the full 30 days, reaching the 14-day mark was still a significant achievement.
“I am not eating any food for the next 30 days,” he declared at the start of the video. “This is the hardest I’ve ever pushed my body in my entire life.”
To ensure his safety, MrBeast had a team of doctors monitoring his vitals regularly, aiming to prevent severe health issues.
His fast concluded when he attempted to eat a breakfast sandwich prepared by Gordon Ramsay, though he had to spit it out due to ‘refeeding syndrome’.
Refeeding syndrome is a condition that can arise when someone who has been malnourished begins eating again.
According to Cleveland Clinic: “If food is introduced too quickly, it can cause serious complications. This happens because of the ways our bodies change when they are deprived of nutrients.”
MrBeast later discussed the side effects he encountered during the fast, noting a weight loss of about 20 pounds.
“I did 14 days, only water, I lost 20 something pounds,” he told Theo Von. “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 pounds of fat.”
“Even after you start eating, the muscle didn’t just come back.”
He mentioned that continuing to work during the fast posed significant challenges.
“It was intense not eating, I was still filming and working throughout it, it was really f**king with me, standing up was brutal, and walking around, because you have no energy,” MrBeast added.
“I never got that super human clarity, I was just f**king tired all the time, I was too tired to have clarity.”
Online, many praised his perseverance, acknowledging the difficulty of a 14-day fast.
He later added: “Obviously as I stated in the video multiple times don’t try this at home without medical supervision like I had.”
“Also for more context, I have Crohn’s disease (basically my gut has tons of inflammation) and I wanted to give it a break from food to see if that would help reduce inflammation because Crohn’s sucks. I learned a lot about how I can use fasting to reduce my inflammation and I’m glad I did this challenge.”