Does anyone have any cold hard facts on fasting and it's relation to weightloss success? I'm not talking like days on end fasting, or even total no food and no water fasting, I'm talking about nothing but broth for a day basically.

Do you guys know what I'm referring to? I've heard people talk about it, and I don't know-- it sounds like a good idea to purge your system once in awhile. ??

I don't think fasting is a good way to lose weight. Your body will go into starvation mode so that you gain pounds faster when you start eating again. Also, you will burn your muscles in the process (more muscles = more metabolic active tissue = more weight loss). Of course, you can fast if you have another reason for it, meditation or religion or something like that. But I don't think it's a good method for losing weight.

I guess I'm talking like once a month or something. Does it boost your metabolism? Does it help you flush out the toxins in your body, helping you to be healthier and better adhere to your diet plan? Those kind of things?

your body wont go into starvation mode after one day.

There actually was an article published about some religious group that fasted one day out of a month and that it was good for them. If I find it, I'll post it.

it wont let me post the link till i have 25 posts, so I broke it up.

www . webmd . com/heart-disease/news/20071106/fasting-may-cut-heart-risks

wont do anything at all unless you're sick and trying to pee yourself well or you're upping your liquid intake because you're constipated and trying to get things moving. LoL.

The "benefits" you're talking about are achieved after a long period of fasting where your body goes into Ketosis, but like Elwing said -- the cost is that while your body is being "purged" your muscles are the first to go. Not fat. That's why a lot of girls on super restrictive diets have cellulite despite being so skinny.

HOWEVER -- You can also put your body into Ketosis by eating a super high proteins/low carb diet like Atkins. That's how that diet works. I think Walgreens even sells the litmus sticks you use to test your pee to see if your body is in Ketosis.

Back when I was till doing ballet to maintain my absurdly skinny 105lb performance weight I used to eat nothing but 400 cals a day for two weeks, and then do a total fast (nothing but water and a vitamin) for 30 days. Just enough to keep me going, but now my metabolism is shot -- I can't process proteins or fats normally, my bones are brittle, my pulse and BP are abnormally low, and my body won't absorb the vitamins and minerals it needs from what I eat. I have virtually no potassium or sodium in my body so my weight fluctuates like crazy and i'm at high risk for heart problems. Your body is able to fast, like all animals, but you should only do it in emergencies.

You're doing good, so just stick to it.

There's a difference between fasting for mental/emotional purposes and fasting for physical ones.

I have no problem with a mental/emotional fast. For some people, fasting allows them to exert control over food and their bodies and to achieve some strength from that. Some people fast as part of a religious process and that's cool, too.

I have done "fast" days when I feel like I'm getting out of control - have dialed back my eating to just raw fruit and veggies or just juice and broth for a day. It's a sort of an emotional/mental wiping of the chalkboard so that I get back on plan with a "clean slate". But it has no real physical benefit - it just helps me mentally.

Fasting in and of itself is not going to help your weight loss. Anything you lose from a day of fasting is going to be mostly water weight and will be gained right back as soon as you start eating normally again. It's not going to rev your metabolism, nor will it put you in starvation mode, as long as you don't fast for more than a day or two. Think about how it works when you get sick - you feel awful, you live off of chicken soup and water for 3 days and you lose weight. But a week later, it's all back. That's because you didn't lose FAT .. you just lost water weight.

Fasting is most certainly is NOT going to "cleanse" your body or "detox" your body. Your body cleanses and detoxes itself quite naturally w/out the need for fasting, pills, teas, broths, or anything of that nature.

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As usual...I totally agree with Photochick. I fast on occasion for emotional/mental purposes. If I have a week of having to be out eating a lot, client lunches and benefit dinners etc. I will fast for a day just to exert control over myself. I like the feeling that I can get high on restaurant food for a while and then STOP solely with my own willpower. So when I fast I do it to remind myself I have control over food.

I've never heard this phrase, but I have to say, it's pretty awesome.

I have done this as well and while there is no physical health benefit, it does help "pull in the reins" for me.

There is a book called "Fasting and Eating for Health" by Joel Furhman, who also wrote "Eat To Live", which a few of our Chicks here follow. If you want to learn more about that I would check out the book (Fasting For Health).

And no, you can't go into "starvation mode" by fasting a day a week. Many perfectly healthy people the world over practice this (mostly for religious/spiritual reasons). My father has been practicing for meditation for years.

I purchased and had great success with a program called Eat Stop Eat that discusses intermittent fasting. Here are some of the cold hard facts that the author discusses in the book:

"In dozens of published peer reviewed scientific studies, short-term intermittent fasting has been found to have the following health benefits:

• Decreased body fat & body weight
• Maintenance of skeletal muscle mass
• Decreased blood glucose levels
• Decreased insulin levels & increased insulin sensitivity
• Increased lipolysis & fat oxidation
• Increased Uncoupling Protein 3 mRNA
• Increased norepinephrine & epinephrine levels
• Increased Glucagon levels
• Increased growth hormone levels."

VERY interesting read. Completely changed how I look at diets and the food industry. If you're interested, google "Eat Stop Eat" - it's an ebook.

I started my weight loss with fasting for a whole month in september, but im Muslim and we were suppose to .. No eating until about 6 oclock and then i would have a VERY healthy dinner and lots and lots of water .. by the end of that month i had lost 14 pounds , i continued doing it once a week but haven't this month .

Photochick- that's exactly what I was wondering, I didn't mean to help you lose weight but to have control to lose weight, I just didn't know how to word it properly. haha,

Thanks for the info ladies.

Sounds like a good book. Is there anywhere that sells it cheaper than $77? That's the price I found...Seems pretty expensive for a book!