Should a teenager water fast/starve for a few days?

sashabee25

Currently I’m 18 and trying to lose some fat. I only drink water, have done OMAD for a month and a half and 20:4 fasting for another month. I eat extremely healthy and cut out meals to create a calorie deficit. I exercise every day (HIIT, strength training) but for some reason my body refuses to lose weight. Should I water fast (not eat anything) for around 3 days to see it that will work?

harper16

No one of any age should water fast, or starve them self.

How much weight are you trying to lose? What is your weight and height? How many calories a day are you eating?

sashabee25

I’m trying to lose 10 pounds of fat, and I am 125lbs and 5’5.

sashabee25

I am also eating an average of 1500 calories per day

Lillymoo01

The short answer to whether you should fast - NO!. Long answer - HELP TO THE NO!

You are already a healthy weight for your height and losing 10 pounds will place you at the lower end of the BMI range. I'd suggest a focus on increased strength and fitness rather than weight loss. Look up recomposition where you are maintaining weight while slowly building muscle and losing fat. You'll be much happier with the end result if you do this.

ladyreva78

Lillymoo01 wrote: »

The short answer to whether you should fast - NO!. Long answer - HELP TO THE NO!

You are already a healthy weight for your height and losing 10 pounds will place you at the lower end of the BMI range. I'd suggest a focus on increased strength and fitness rather than weight loss. Look up recomposition where you are maintaining weight while slowly building muscle and losing fat. You'll be much happier with the end result if you do this.

To add to this, a helpful link:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

cupcakesandproteinshakes

Nope.

snowflake954

No--look into recomp. Water fasting is.....not smart (that's the kindest thing I can think of to say).

janejellyroll

Of course not.

Shortgirlrunning

Rather than aiming for the very bottom of your healthy BMI range by trying ridiculous (and unhealthy/dangerous) fasts - you should look into recomp. Building muscle can drastically change the way your body looks.

CaffeinatedConfectionist

Another vote for recomp. When I was younger I made poor choices and tried all the "quick fix" claptrap. None of it worked - not the pills, not the patches, not the very low calorie/"eat like a model" diets.

It wasn't until I started resistance training that I really developed an appreciation for my body - not only how it looks, but what it's capable of.

nmgu

I loves me some fasting, but for you the answer is no. I’m actually somewhat concerned about your eating/fasting patterns. What I would recommend is upping your protein intake, and try to change your body composition.

vggb

You weigh less than me and I'm only 5'3" and I'm not fat. I would be "perfect" if I weighed 125, maybe even skinny? You need to re-evaluate your self-image and stop thinking you are fat because you are not.

You're only 18 and your brain is in it's final stages of development, don't damage that by starvation, feed your brain. serious.

briscogun

Not trying to make light of your question but this has bad written all over it. Please just find a way to have a healthy relationship with food and your body. Food is fuel, your body needs fuel. You are young and still developing. Please don't do anything that will damage your future.

vholley60197

I don't think you'll have much energy to exercise if you starve yourself. Plus even if your weight goes down for a couple days it's not going to stay down. I use to starve myself in middle school and the beginning of high school and it just made me sick and irritable also very weak. I almost ended up in the hospital. We weren't created to just drink water.... please be careful and maybe see a doctor to come up with a plan to lose weight and don't focus on how long it takes to lose it.

kgirlhart

No one should water fast/starve.

Redordeadhead

No , never.

tuckerrj

OMAD and/or 20:4 fasting will only produce weight loss if you eat less calories than you burn each day. So having a caloric goal (at a resonable deficit, say 500 calories less than you burn a day), ACCURATELY weighing and measuring your food and only eating back half (or less) of the ridiculous amount of calories MFP gives you for exercise activity will start the scale moving down. Recomp (as I've executed it) entails eating at maintenance calories with a sufficient supply of protein (minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight) and performing resistance training 3 - 4 times a week for 30 minutes to an hour. These are the rudimentary basics. I'm no expert. I'm just telling you what has worked for me and a great many of my friends and acquaintances here on MFP.

JBanx256

If your dog or cat or some creature you LOVE was VERY SLIGHTLY overweight (if at all), would your gut instinct be to deprive them of all food? If a stranger told you they were doing it to their pet, would you think that person even deserves to have a pet in the first place?

sgt1372

Last I heard, except for drinking and some other things depending on the jurisdiction, an 18 yr old is considered an ADULT.

While I wouldn't do it myself but generally people can survive (as in, not die or induce critical medical issues) without food for 7-21 days and for 3-7 without water.

So, a day or 2 w/o food and water shouldn't be a nsjor medical or physical problem. Beyond that, I'd recommend caution and, before it's attempted, I suggest talking w/a doctor to determine if there are indivdual reasons why the OP, or anyone else thinking about doing such a fast, shouldn't do it or slter the time frame contrmplated.

Otherwise, the OP should be free to make his/her own choice as an adult

klovesd84

One day you will look back at pictures of yourself now and see how young, slim and healthy you looked. I know at 18 it can be hard to see that and there is so much pressure to look a certain way. If you are looking at other young women online and thinking they are the ideal, please just stop doing that. I might be making an assumption here, but love yourself that way you are and don’t compare yourself to others. You are perfect being you.

lgfrie

Water has... zero calories. So how do you see denying yourself water contributing to weight loss???

Lillymoo01

lgfrie wrote: »

Water has... zero calories. So how do you see denying yourself water contributing to weight loss???

Except that she was planning to only have water for the 3 days. This is what a water fast is.

paperpudding

Otherwise, the OP should be free to make his/her own choice as an adult

of course.

and if the OP puts a question to the forum, other posters should be free to make their own choices about their answers, as adults.

NovusDies

sashabee25 wrote: »

Currently I’m 18 and trying to lose some fat. I only drink water, have done OMAD for a month and a half and 20:4 fasting for another month. I eat extremely healthy and cut out meals to create a calorie deficit. I exercise every day (HIIT, strength training) but for some reason my body refuses to lose weight. Should I water fast (not eat anything) for around 3 days to see it that will work?

I am going to assume you have lost your weight very quickly and you are currently unhappy with what you see in the mirror. The very likely cause you are unhappy is because you have lost weight so fast your body was forced to use muscle for energy as well as fat. This has left an unflattering ratio of fat and muscle which is often called "skinny fat".

Your body can only use a certain amount of fat per day for energy before it turns to muscle. As you get leaner and create large deficits you will continue to use a higher ratio of muscle to fat. This means a 3 day fast will MAKE YOUR PROBLEM WORSE. It won't be a dramatic change but it will add to what I believe you have already done.

This is why people in this thread have been pointing you at recomposition. If you really are at the bottom of your healthy BMI range though I would suggest a bulk cycle.

If after reading this thread you still feel compelled to go through the fast you should seek medical help because you are likely experiencing disordered thoughts.