I am planning on doing a 24 hour fast on Thursday. I know this can be a touchy subject, but I've researched it extensively, and there are a lot of health benefits of fasting once in a while. Just wondering if anyone has experience with fasting, and any advice. I've "fasted" before, but not correctly, more like just not eating because of stress or being busy. I'm really confident because i have almost completely broken the habit of binging, it's been almost a full month now, and I know on a mental level fasts can help break this habit. So, any advice, thoughts, suggestions?
I have fasted a couple of times for 2 days at a time only. I drank only water , no other liquids or food. I did not feel any ill effects, did not feel faint or weak. I didn't lose much weight , a pound or two and that didn't last. I wouldn't do it for more than two days at a time.
Be sure to drink plenty. Soda water (non sweet!) seems to help fill my stomach up or a diet coke. Otherwise coffee and sometimes green tea. Good luck. I can usually make 18-20 hours but have a really hard time to make it to 24.
I am also an IF-er. I do not eat from 9 pm to 1pm most days (16 hour fast), but I have also done once a week 24 hour fasts in the past. It is difficult if you have not done it, but it is mostly mental. Coffee and diet soda are acceptable, and I have heard that broth is ok too. You may not see an immediate drop, but if you keep your calories low the rest of the week, you will lose weight. You basically knock out a good 2000 cals from your tally for the week. Good luck. Also, the best way is to stop eating after dinner, then not eat until dinner the next day. You go to bed full and sleep off 8 hours or so.
I think I unintentionally do IF lol i was looking into it for a long time, but just went with what I was doing since it started working lol
I never really eat until around 4pm when my bf gets home and that's it. Occasionally I'll have breakfast but not always. On days I work I usually don't eat until around 6-7pm...so I guess I do IF sometimes lol
but usually I am STARVING by the time I do eat, irregardless of soda or water or whatever I drink.
Oh I forgot to say, not entirely doing it for weight loss, if i were to do that I would attempt a 3 day fast or something, this is more a cleansing experiment, mentally and physically. Starting fresh without any old "gunk" hanging around. It's mostly going to be a mental thing I think. That now that I'm "clean" I can only put "clean" things in my body....
I have NO IDEA if I'm making sense lol
You definitely make sense. Detoxification is one major benefit of fasting. Think of your body like a car engine draining all used oils and refilling it with new oils.
I do 24 hour fasts quite often. Usually dinner to dinner, and on my days off. I find that I'm really not all that hungry on my days off (low activity, low energy requirement days), so why force myself to eat food that i don't want? Or sometimes I'm running errands and I'm really busy, and I don't have time to eat. When I'm alone all day, and there's not a lot of food temptations or good smells, it's a lot easier for me to fast, too.
For dinner, when I break my fast, I usually stick with protein and veggies, no carbs, and I don't limit how much I'm "allowed" to eat. I usually don't lose more than 3 pounds, and I usually don't gain any of that back the next day when I start eating again. I plan on fasting tomorrow since it's my day off, and I have a big food weekend ahead.
Anyhow, I just drink a lot of water, or sometimes green tea. I haven't tried soda water, but I think I'll get some in case I get really hungry. Hot beverages can help with that feeling of hunger, too. Good luck!
I've been doing something similar to the Fat Sick Nearly Dead fast, I just do whole fruit and green smoothies instead of juicing. I do it this way because doing a complete fast I feel I get the effects of low blood sugar and can get dizzy and light headed so I feel I need to have some type of food.
My husband does a 24 hour fast once per week. He started about 6 months ago and says it is great. I am going to try my first fast on Saturday. The health benefits are supposed to be great, and include reducing inflammation, which as I have MS, is of real interest to me. I have just read Eat Stop Eat which is very interesting. I liked the way the author reviewed all the research out there and put it in context. I'll let you know how I get on.
24 Hour Fasting...?
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