The Messenger of Allah ﷺ practiced continuous fasting during Ramadan, so the people did the same. They said, "You forbade us from continuous fasting, yet you practice it yourself."He replied, "I am not like any of you. I am fed and given drink."
حدثنا يحيى عن عبيد الله حدثني نافع
واصل رسول الله ﷺ في رمضان فواصل الناس فقالوا نهيتنا عن الوصال وأنت تواصل قال إني لست كأحد منكم إني أطعم وأسقى
Its isnad is sahih. Malik related it in Muwatta 1:280 from Nafi with similar wording. Abu Dawud related it 2:279 through Malik's route. Munziri said, Bukhari and Muslim also related it.Wisal, with the wa pronounced with a kasrah, means not breaking one's fast for two days or several days, joining the night's fast to the day's.Khattabi said in Maalim 2:107-108, Wisal was among the things permitted specifically to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, while it is forbidden for his ummah. It seems the reason for this is the fear that the one fasting continuously would become weak and lose his strength, becoming unable to perform the obligatory fast and other acts of worship, or growing weary of them once the hardship overtakes him, which would become a cause for abandoning the virtuous deed altogether.As for his saying, "I am not like you, I am given food and drink," it can carry two meanings. One is that I am given assistance in fasting and given strength for it, so that this functions in place of food and drink for you. The other possibility is that he was actually brought food and drink which he ate and drank, this being something special to him, an honor in which none of his companions shared.I hold that the first interpretation is the definite one, or at least the stronger one. See what was mentioned earlier in the Musnad of Ali, 1194.