The previous qoute kinda put my antenna up too but then I have been an under as well as overeater. I once decided in early March that I wouldn't eat again until April. For me, definitely not healthy.
I think fasting is a very individual thing. I used to have a physician from India where fasting is very prevalent. He often recommended that people fast for short periods of time but he also told some people that they should never fast for even a day (like me). Just like any other diet I don't think that one size fits all.
All I know about exteded water fasts is that when Cesar Chavez (a civil rights leader) fasted in protest for an extended period of time ( I am thinking just under 4 months) he had internal organ damage which later contributed to his death.
Sherry, I would really listen to the concerns of your family and definitely get medical supervion if you plan to fast much longer. While stalled weight loss is discouraging, you are not what you weigh, that number doesn't define you. You define you. Wishing you the best along your life's journey.
Denise
What a beautifully written statement. We offer up our advice, experiences, and personal knowledge left and right, but you summed it up perfectly. This is, along with weightloss, a personal journey. Thank you for that
I'm not sure how scientific the site was, but if what it says is true, it could be very beneficial health wise.
Yes, fasting is a very personal decision, but personally, if I were reading something that claimed to be scientific (and as you discussed the sites, they seemed to be at least passing themselves off as scientific), but I wasn't sure about it, I'd be really hesitant. Because if what it says is not true, it could kill you.
Well I'm sorry so many of you seem to think it is a bad thing. Like I said, I'm not advocating it. On the other hand, I've done as much as an 8 day fast in my life, and this was at a time when I had much less weight to lose. I did ok then, and I suspect I will do ok now with so much extra stored fuel.
There are benefits to it that are amazing. It is supposed to cleanse the body and give the digestive system and the rest of the body a rest. It is supposed to clean out all the tubes, clear cholesterol etc. It is also supposed to give the body time to heal some of its problems. I've had arthritis symptoms for some time now, and it seems to be helping those. I have a shoulder in particular that always hurts and aches and feels like I need to crack it. Right now (and I was noticing all through the night) that is doesn't hurt at all any more. I have a knee too that I twisted some time back and that has hurt and felt swollen ever since. That feels better too.
So perhaps there is something to the claims on the website.
But the best part of it all is that I feel almost euphoric. That is one thing the website said, that it is good for depression and that they have even used the method with schizophrenics and that it helps them. I've known people who spent their lives chronically depressed, and I'm sure they never considered anything as natural as this for it. Medication (more poisons to put in the body) seem to be the choice they make.
I've had some really serious stressors in my life this week (my husband lost his job) and normally I would be crying and frantic, but I'm not. Instead I just feel extremely happy. So I'm going to continue it for awhile.
I guess when I think about it, it just makes sense. You have too much fat on you, what do you do to remove it? Well what puts it there in the first place? Food. Animals and people naturally fast when they are sick. So why wouldn't removing food be the solution to too much stored fuel? Granted it isn't for everyone and is an individual decision and everyone must take their own best counsel for how they choose to lose the weight. Personally I feel strong and healthy and capable of handling this. Not that that would be true of everyone. It isn't.
I would say I don't have anything against short fasts, it is the long term ones that can be dangerous. I think this topic in general brought up fasts and I don't think anyone meant to criticize Sherry. I know people who do fasts for religious reasons but they aren't what we would consider a fast. They would tell me they were fasting but then I'd ask for details and it'd be something like they can only eat 1 meal a day on certain days or they can't eat specific types of foods. I was reading something called Pi Gu Qigong which sounds very similar to what Sherry is doing.
It was interesting in that they recommended fasting and then if you felt hungry to do Tai Chi and if you still felt hungry to then eat something light. Interesting approach but I'd still worry about muscle loss, which is why I am concerned about extremely low calorie diets. Not eating enough will burn fat, but then your body tries to also use muscle as fuel because it wants to save its fat and muscle burns fat. If it is done long enough (months), then your body will start using muscle from your organs as fuel which is where you can get organ damage.
I've personally never done a real fast on purpose. As I said in college, I did have a period of time where I just wasn't hungry and didn't eat. I'm not sure if that was the cause of it or something else was but I also developed stomach issues in college. I have a very sensitive stomach which can cause me a lot of pain some days. I also ended up gaining more weight than I lost after I resumed eating. So even though I was eating the same amount/types of food and had the same activity level, I gained more weight. That is an indicator that I lost muscle during that period of time. Anyway, just my personal experience and it did last longer than it should've.
Well Jen, I don't agree that it is an "unnatural" state. Bears and certain other animals store up a lot of fat for the winter and then fast for very long times living off of their fat stores. Why wouldn't humans who also store fat for "famine" times also have that same mechanism built in? Just because our modern world doesn't put us in the west into famine states, doesn't mean that the cycle of feast and famine hasn't been a part of human history for ages.
We in the west seem to have the mentality that "More" is always better. Eastern philosophy is more along the lines that "Less" is sometimes better. We have become a nation of greedy people who believe that we must have this or that, and that without it we have somehow "failed". In reality we can all learn to live and be happy with less.
To keep you all updated I've lost 14 pounds since Monday. I feel really good. I've lost 65 inches (total) since I first measured in January. 8.5 of those have come off my abdomen measurement (around the belly button).
I haven't been hungry or without energy. I've felt a bit tired at times and have needed to rest for awhile, but so far I've been able to carry on my daily duties without any stress. I'm taking it easy about things like housework (since I'm not cooking right now, my husband is) and since I'm working 6 hours a day away from the home. But I feel strong, healthy and capable. And I LOVE how my body is trimming down.
Sherry -- I am not trying to be critical. I'm always the one who's interested in what the "science" says -- while being keenly aware that science does not have all the answers. This thread has motivated me to read a little more about fasts and what we know about them -- scientifically and otherwise.
So, all that being said, I would be curious to know about your weight a few days after you end the fast. It seems that much of the weight lost during fasts is water weight, so you'd be likely to put a lot of it back on. Again, I am curious about your experience.
And, for anyone who's curious, my poking about the web has revealed some interesting information. First, very little research is done on fasts, and one source commented that this may be because there are no products involved... no company is motivated to be able to earn money from people fasting! Kind of sad about what that reveals about the motivation behind the research that IS done, isn't it?
Of the research that has been done, it seems mixed. What it seemed to boil down to is that there may or may not be physical benefits to fasts, but that there well may be psychological benefits, and perhaps spiritual benefits for those seeking them.
Finally, it was recommended by many that while fasts of 1-3 days may be safe for most people, fasts longer than 3 days should be supervised by a physician.
I agree that a lot of weight is "water weight". Not all however. The same is true when doing Atkins diet. They seem to work on essentially the same principle. Both put you into "ketosis" which is fat burning rather than glucose burning mode. When you severely restrict carb intake, you do tend to lose quite a bit of water weight right off the bat, and if you go back to eating carbs, you tend to retain more water.
Fat cells have both fuel in them and water. People losing fat, may lose the fat, but hang onto the water for awhile and then when the body sees that it that the fat isn't going to be retained, the water can then be released in a "whoosh" rather rapidly. So that maybe you are dieting for days and days and not losing anything and then suddenly you drop several pounds at once. That is the water being released.
Fasting seems to remove fat and water, obviously with no caloric intake and the body needing fuel anyway, there will be fat burning going on. With Atkins you use "ketostix" to determine if you are in fat burning mode. These are little test strips that you pee on and they tell you if you are burning fat. There are several levels of ketosis, and the darker they are, the more fat you are burning. While being on Atkins I noticed that the stix seemed to be darker if I was eating more fat in my diet than when I ate protein, so I was never sure if it was measuring my dietary fat or my body fat (being burned).
Now on this fast I have used the sticks and found that I am in DEEP ketosis burning lots of fat. The sticks are dark. I know this is not "dietary" fat since I am eating none. So it would be hard to convince me that the weight I am losing is mostly water. I'm burning fat. It is interesting too that although I went to this fast from Atkins, it took several days for the sticks to turn really dark. I must have had some glycogen in my blood that needed to be used up first before the switch to burning ketones.
Atkins says that studies have been done that prove that ketones are the brains "preferred" fuel source. Perhaps this is why the feeling of euphoria or well-being is so strong during a fast. I've had some serious stressors this week with my husband losing his job at the beginning of the week, and I am amazed at how well I am handling it. I expected to be depressed all week when I learned of it. Not happening.
Anyway I'm aware that I will probably gain back a lot of water when I go off this. I'm hoping that since I was doing Atkins prior to starting that most of that water was already lost prior to starting the fast. However I do expect to regain some weight. Fasting makes everything TASTE SO GOOD when you start to eat again. Perhaps this is because the body is cleaned of so many things and your taste buds are cleared. Or maybe it is a natural reaction to abstinence. I am worried about resuming eating for that reason. I want to lose enough so that when I do resume eating the gains won't overwhelm me or discourage me too much. I do expect to gain some weight back immediately. It tends to be the way it works. But this is true of Atkins too. If you lose and then start eating carbs again you gain about 5 pounds immediately. So like it or not, I am used to that.
No scientific studies on things that have no monetary value. That is sad isn't it? Certainly one thing can be said for a fast. It costs NOTHING to lose weight this way. Not even the cost of food! I think that is one of its primary advantages! But of course it interferes with the scientific studies part of things. I'm wondering if any studies have been done in eastern lands as opposed to here. They certainly seem to use this method more than in the west. I think I read about something that was done in Russia regarding fasting... can't remember will have to check that out.
Sherry -- I think you'd be right about more studies done on fasting outside the US. People who place more of a value on something are more likely to study it!
As with much research focusing on health issues, I think these kinds of studies are hard to do well -- meaning that it's hard to establish any sense of causality in situations that relate to the "real" world.
I could blather on about research issues for hours, but I don't want to bore anyone.
I started fasting once a while back, long while back. It started one day then it went up to two days, and slowly worked up to 5 days. One weekend when I wanted to eat a salad, I threw it up. No matter what solids I ate, my body rejected. I told myself I would eat when I was hungry. It was great so I thought, losing 50 lbs in less than 3 months. I also lived at the gym practically. I was so fit! yeah right. That first winter, I went to 3 dances in one weekend. The next day I was in the hospital with pnuemonia after collapsing at home. They held me in the hospital till I had regained 10 lbs. I was devestated. I remember seeing myself in the mirror and thinking I needed to lose a few more lbs yet my family could count my ribs from my back! I guess that contributed to my thyroid crashing. Now if I don't take my meds, I balloon quickly. This is something I have to deal with every day for the rest of my life. I think that this experience is what is keeping me in a slow weight loss. I fear I will return to my addictive way. I was single with no kids then and now I have 6 kids, a husband and even a granddaughter now. I need to take care of myself, first for me and then for them.
Please be careful and go under a doctor's supervision.
Well living at the gym while fasting doesn't sound wise. It is supposed to be a resting period, not excessive exercise. There is no way anyone can count my ribs, and I am not anorexic. I agree with you though that you can become addictive and compulsive to a degree that is dangerous and strange. Not happening. I like to eat too much. Solid food is not the way to ease back into eating either. Juices or milk or something easy on your stomach is much more gentle. I'm also an extremely healthy person. Rarely ever sick. So I'm not worried about my health at this point. If I do start to worry I will go off the fast. I believe seriously in balance and reasonableness. No way would I allow my attempts at weight loss to endanger my health. No fear of that at this point.
I ate a very small meal yesterday. Had some carrots (cooked), a half of a potato, a very small amount of meat (it just didn't feel right or taste good to me), some chips and some quacamole. That was what was really calling to me, the guacamole. I made if for some guests we had over and ignored it all the time they were there, but they didn't eat it all and I wound up eating the last bits of it. Oh and I had some grape juice, but it was too acidic, so I asked my son to water it down a bit.
I felt fine afterwards. The scale this morning was the same as it was yesterday morning. So I didn't gain, but didn't lose either.
