100 lb. Club - I'm curious to know about something...

I'm not really planning to fast for weight loss. But I am curious to know something.

Say you lose, oh, I don't know, a 100 lbs through fasting. Water fasting or juice fasting. People say once you lose weight that way you'll gain most or all of it back and maybe even then some.

Now this is what I'm curious about. Do people mean that a person who has lost weight through fasting will gain weight back ONLY if he/she resumes the way he/she ate before losing weight OR he/she would gain back the weight eating no matter what? Would you maintain the weight loss if you remained under a reasonable amount of calories and ate healthy? Or would you still gain it all back again, despite eating healthy?

I'm just curious, guys.

How would you learn how to eat healthy by fasting?

In my opinion, people regain weight because they don't make permanent, sustainable changes in their lifestyle. Personally, I used to do radical short term diets (low fat, extreme low cal, diet pills) and I always lost weight. But eventually, I stopped dieting and started eating "normally" again, I always gained all the weight back.

Three years ago, I made a permanent change to how I eat forever. I lost 70+ lbs and have kept it off for over 2 years. During my weight loss, I deliberately practiced healthy habits I intended to keep for life. I joined support groups like this one, I found recipes, I learned how to modify recipes, I read about healthy foods, nutrition, how/why we eat, what we should eat. I got in habit of cooking, packing lunches, using the internet to look up restaurant nutritional info before I got there, measuring portion sizes, keeping a food journal, estimating calories, finding healthy choices when possible instead of relying on quick fast food. Most importantly, I learned to forgive myself when I ate offplan and get right back on.

If someone fasts for 100 lbs and then one day you stop the fast - then what? Does that person know how to shop for healthy foods? Cook? Deal with birthday cake temptation at work? Order in a restaurant? You can't ignore food or give it up forever, it is part of our life, society, culture. A person must learn to deal with food. It's easier NOT to eat, but that can't work for the rest of your life.

Yes, but learning to eat right wasn't my question. My question was will eating healthier after a fast still make one who has fasted to lose weight to gain weight? It's just a scientific question. Let's say we exclude all the factors like learning to eat healthier (which, I agree with you, is the most important thing) and pretend human beings weren't these complicated creatures with cravings and desires to eat.

Weird question, I know. I've been just reading around and happened to chance upon a forum where a bunch of people were fasting and this question struck me: what would happen when they stop fasting but then ate good, ehalthy food only? Would it still cause them to gain weight?

An overweight friend of mine went to visit family in a country where food was scarce and she lost most of the weight and then some.

To this day, six years later, she is still ultra thin.

I think as long as you introduced calories slowly, you wouldn't regain all the weight unless you resume your previous eating patterns. I know a few people who've lost weight with what many would consider an unhealthy diet, and they've kept it off for years. Some people just need the motivation that comes with fast weight loss.

That said, I absolutely agree with all that Glory said, and there's no way you can argue with her success. However, at the same time, I can't overlook the fact that I've regained weight I've lost even when I've lost it the healthy way. Examples:

1) During my 20's, I was on a self-created plan where I ate three moderate meals a day and ate only fruit as snacks. I exercised only about 20 minutes a day. I got incredibly thin (really too thin). I maintained for two years. Nevertheless, I eventually regained all the weight I lost and more.

2) Fast forward to a few years ago (mind you, there were other dieting attempts in between, but I'm focusing on the ones I've stuck with longterm). I calorie counted (1500 per day) for more than two years. I also used the food pyramid, so I was getting a good mix of nutrients. I started eating organic and focusing on whole foods. I lost 50+ lbs. and was exercising 5-6 days a week. That didn't prevent me from regaining much of that weight (30 lbs.) once I started a new job and become stressed.

I've picked up many good habits from these diets (eating whole foods, for instance). However, I regained the weight because I can't seem to control my snacking (hey, even vegan cookies have lots of calories), my sweet tooth, or the compulsion to "treat myself" with food when I'm feeling down.

Don't get me wrong: I DO think it is very important to change your lifestyle and get used to eating healthily. However, for someone like me who has used traditional healthy diets (and still eats very healthy foods), it seems as if those traditional plans don't ensure permanent weight loss any more than fad diets do (hence the dismal statistics concerning longterm weight loss across the board, not just with fad diets). I think the key is hitting rock bottom and finally getting to a stage where being fit and thin is more important than the temporary gratification that comes from haphazard eating.

Anyway, just in terms of the physical aspects of what your'e discussing, I would say that as long as your diet remains healthy after the weight loss, you won't regain the weight. (I'm not advocating fasting as a method of weight loss, just for the record).

Just speaking for me, it's not just eating healthy/whole foods (although that is very important and my foundation). It is whole foods + calorie counting that worked for me. It helps me keep a handle on the snacking/desire to treat myself. I still measure a lot of portion sizes (particularly pasta, couscous, nuts, seeds, rice) and count calories every day, even if it's just an estimate in my head.

I am always get the smallest size, I pick out the smallest sweet potatoes, I bug the guy at the grocery store to cut me 4 oz of salmon (and he says will that be ENOUGH? I'm like it's just for ME!). The examples are literally endless, I made thousands of changes that are now habit. No matter how stressed I get, I have my healthy habits to support me - I actually like it when I'm stressed. No matter how wild my life is, I am in control of eating well, at least.

I weigh myself every week. If my weight is up, I lower calories until my weight returns to goal.

It is whole foods/calorie counting/deliberate honest accountability (which is how I changed my life) that has led to my continued weight loss success.

As far as the hypothetical situation presented, I don't know enough about the long term effects of fasting (it would have to be long term to lose 100 lbs?) to answer. If we're just making believe, I would personally wish to win a HUGE lottery sum and pay a personal trainer to kick my *** every day and a personal chef to cook me delicious, healthy foods 3 times a day.

You might be interested in this book: The Great Starvation Experiment (http://www.amazon.com/Great-Starvation-Experiment-Starved-Millions/dp/0743270304/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1661852-6857657?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184902573&sr=8-1). I thought it was a fascinating read. The men who were on a long term restricted calorie diet had a lot of issues with food, obsessing with it, etc. One guy cut off his fingers to get out of the experiment. There could be mental/physical repercussions from long term fasting that might not make it as easy as to 1) fast 2) stop fasting 3) maintain weight loss.

If you could eat that way indefinately I would think you wouldn't regain all of it, but your metabolism would be shot for awhile. Formerly obese people tend to have a lower metabolism in general and even more so without exercise as you lose muscle mass as well as fat mass, so once you start adding in regular food even in small ammount you can start gaining easily... not to mention that your nutrition levels would be questionable.

Can't imagine it would be a fun way to live long term.

Who are these people who have no human considerations wrt eating habits after fasting? How is that even, in real life, possible?

If it's allowed, I'd post a link to the forum. But I didn't understand the first sentence.

If you fasted long enough to lose 100 pounds, I'm pretty sure you'd be dead. On the upside, you wouldn't gain anything back. :)

Robin41 I was thinking the same thing. Yes, I understand it's a hypothetical question - but nevertheless ..... There's really no data on this stuff since it's an impossible feat, so there's really no way to answer with any certainty.

The thing about not gaining back the weight after losing it is that you must remain doing the same things that brought you to losing the weight in the first place.

I (and MANY people here) have lost weight in a very healthy manner, by eating healthy foods, counting calories and exercising - If all of a sudden I were to STOP doing that - I have no doubt I'd gain this weight back - and quickly. This is something I need to do forever and ever - IF I want to remain at a healthy weight. And I do - so I will. ;)

Well there are two considerations -

1) When you fast or very low calorie diet, your body tries to conserve its fat reserves. It will let go of fat but it is also willing to let go of more muscle. At a certain point, that will also include organ muscle. If you fast to lose 100 lbs, it is quite possible that you would end up with weaker muscles, not only on your arms and legs but on your lungs and heart.

2) As others have pointed out, weight loss isn't the difficult part, maintenance is the difficult part in losing weight. If you don't learn how to eat right to maintain your weight loss, then you will gain it back. If you continue to fast/eat very low calorie, then how are you sustaining your body at that point? I can't imagine that would be very good for you.