24 hour fast

DizzyLinds

This is something my PT suggested as I'm in need of fat burning. Anyone done it?

Agator82

I've done it for spiritual reasons (so no food or water). All-in-all I cannot say I have ever seen any stellar results from a weight perspective. The first movement after the fast is always a bit fun and exciting. I am sure that if you PT is suggesting it that there are other support mechanisms to stop your body from going crazy. I'd say try it just for the experience.

emmymae22

For weight loss, I would say hell no. Your metabolism is much like a furnace..to get it to burn hotter, you need to give it fuel. It slows down to a halt when you don't give it anything to burn.

meggonkgonk

I'm still unclear as to how fasts are supposed to help with fat burning? They are great for dropping water weight, but let's say you eat nothing for a whole day. Unless you are really overweight, that doesn't even not even burn enough for one whole pound. So you spend a day feeling spent and hungry and miserable for what? 2/3 of a lb at best?

lindseym1983

My pt and nutritionist said fasting was the worst you could do for your body. You put your body in starvation mode and your body will start eating itself but your muscle is first. When you start eating even 24 hrs later your body will hold on to the fat for awhile in case it goes w/o food again. I know everyone is different and different perspectives on all this but I personally think that even 24 hrs of no food is hard on your body and I think you will feel blah all day and tired b/c of no nutrients. You want fat burn what about a HIT program, interval sprints on cardio equipment or an exercise video that your body is not use to. Just my opinion but good luck and maybe do a little research before you do it.

chivalryder

I'm still unclear as to how fasts are supposed to help with fat burning? They are great for dropping water weight, but let's say you eat nothing for a whole day. Unless you are really overweight, that doesn't even not even burn enough for one whole pound. So you spend a day feeling spent and hungry and miserable for what? 2/3 of a lb at best?

^THIS!

daffodilsoup

For weight loss, I would say hell no. Your metabolism is much like a furnace..to get it to burn hotter, you need to give it fuel. It slows down to a halt when you don't give it anything to burn.

Actually, it doesn't.

mommyweighless

I have been reading up on intermittent fasting and research shows it does aid with weight loss. However you should drink more water than you usually would. I'm not sure how successful it is for weight loss but it is also supposed to be good for long teem health reasons. I don't do it for 24 hours bit fast for 16 and allow my self 8 hour eat window. Lot of people just eat whatever they want in that window but I stay within my calories (usually 1300) and east well balanced healthy foods. Hope that helps. Check out lean.com his website is really informational and expand how it works.

Leangains.com...sorry for the typos i'm on my phone

Sidesteal

This is something my PT suggested as I'm in need of fat burning. Anyone done it?

No, but Eat, Stop, Eat is a popular method of Intermittent Fasting and I believe (not 100% sure) that this protocol involves cyclical fasting where there are 24 hour periods without food.

I would clarify with your trainer as to why exactly you should do this though. See if your trainer knows that you are tracking your intake closely and that you're able to keep a calorie deficit.

For weight loss, I would say hell no. Your metabolism is much like a furnace..to get it to burn hotter, you need to give it fuel. It slows down to a halt when you don't give it anything to burn.

This is a neat analogy but unfortunately it's not correct, and such is the problem with some of the more popular fitness analogies.

There's a limited body of research that actually suggests a short term increase in metabolism from fasting. 60 to 72 hour mark is where metabolic slowdown started to occur, but since there's not a whole lot of research published (at least, that I'm aware of) I would be a bit speculative of it at this point.

Now all this being said (this reply and my reply above) I really doubt if there's anything inherently dangerous about this. From that standpoint it's probably not going to hurt to try it, but I don't think this is necessary when a regular calorie deficit with macro sufficiency will get you quite a long way.


For research on fasting, check out www.leangains.com.

ArroganceInStep

This is something my PT suggested as I'm in need of fat burning. Anyone done it?

No, but Eat, Stop, Eat is a popular method of Intermittent Fasting and I believe (not 100% sure) that this protocol involves cyclical fasting where there are 24 hour periods without food.

I would clarify with your trainer as to why exactly you should do this though. See if your trainer knows that you are tracking your intake closely and that you're able to keep a calorie deficit.

For weight loss, I would say hell no. Your metabolism is much like a furnace..to get it to burn hotter, you need to give it fuel. It slows down to a halt when you don't give it anything to burn.

This is a neat analogy but unfortunately it's not correct, and such is the problem with some of the more popular fitness analogies.

There's a limited body of research that actually suggests a short term increase in metabolism from fasting. 60 to 72 hour mark is where metabolic slowdown started to occur, but since there's not a whole lot of research published (at least, that I'm aware of) I would be a bit speculative of it at this point.

Now all this being said (this reply and my reply above) I really doubt if there's anything inherently dangerous about this. From that standpoint it's probably not going to hurt to try it, but I don't think this is necessary when a regular calorie deficit with macro sufficiency will get you quite a long way.


For research on fasting, check out www.leangains.com.

Even from the research posted at leangains, it was a small increase at best and really only useful for the already very lean trying to get that last bit off. Not saying you were advocating one way or another Sidesteal, and I know you've said similarly in the past, but to reiterate if you've still got a long way to go with weight loss and such, pick something that you can stick with consistently. A single 24-hour fast isn't going to do much at all for you. If you want to go with an ESE type of framework though and can stick with it, more power to you.

Sidesteal

Even from the research posted at leangains, it was a small increase at best and really only useful for the already very lean trying to get that last bit off. Not saying you were advocating one way or another Sidesteal, and I know you've said similarly in the past, but to reiterate if you've still got a long way to go with weight loss and such, pick something that you can stick with consistently. A single 24-hour fast isn't going to do much at all for you. If you want to go with an ESE type of framework though and can stick with it, more power to you.

I agree with all of this ^.

rileysowner

I would research Eat Stop Eat or better read the ebook by Brad Pilon of the same name. It is an Intermittent Fasting protocol of one or two 24 hour fasts a week, and eating normally the other days. It can work well for many people. I have and still do use it. Also, check out the Intermittent Fasting group here since as most people see fasting and immediately think it is super unhealthy. The thing is our bodies are designed to go without food for short periods of time, and they actually benefit from doing so. It takes hours for food to digest so this eating every few hours just keeps our bodies in a fed state. With the abundance that we have in most developed countries today, we are fed and over fed most of our life.

jukyu

I don't know about 24-hour fasts. However, using your sleep hours to your advantage and piggybacking on some fasting hours (i.e. dinner at 7, sleep at 10, wake at 6-7, then eat next at 11, fasting total=18 hours) is likely much more tolerable. Also, I'm a frequenter of the leangains blog and recommend it as a quick guide for the science of fasting.

DizzyLinds

Ivevnot much to lose so I'm not sure really if it will benefit me?

Sidesteal

Ivevnot much to lose so I'm not sure really if it will benefit me?

Once again I'd consult your trainer to find out specifically why he is recommending this. He obviously believes it's beneficial but you should see that you two are on the same page about this. If he tries to tell you that it's necessary and you can't lose w/o doing it then I'd jump ship and get a new trainer.

At this point given the current amount of research, I'm convinced that the biggest benefit to Intermittent Fasting is dietary adherence for those that it fits well with. I'm not saying that it's a hoax or that it doesn't have physiological benefit, I'm just saying that I'm not yet convinced, and for the record, I use IF myself so obviously I'm a fan of the approach.

For me, it's amazing, because I love eating huge meals at night. If I tried to do 5-6 meals per day and I ate breakfast my ability to stay within my kcal/macro targets would SUCK. But it's not a good fit for everyone.

I believe your best bet is to see which method gives you the most enjoyment and dietary adherence while allowing you to train with intensity. If that means 4 meals, or 2 meals, or an ESE approach, then do it.

DizzyLinds

Thanks. He was saying as well I have trouble making sure I rest so a 24 hour fast will make me rest! Think he's saying it will help rev things up if I do itbtwice a week then start IF.

MurphysLawTD

This is something my PT suggested as I'm in need of fat burning. Anyone done it?

My boyfriend fasts 1 day a week and carb loads the following day. He's been visibly leaner and it really seems to be working. I don't do it (I don't have the willpower!) but it appears to work

Sidesteal

You might want to get more info from him before you do this (unless you already have that info).

You don't want to keep your previous DAILY deficit and add in 1 or 2 fasting days or you'll be creating too large of a weekly deficit (assuming your daily deficit was reasonable to begin with). Odds are you'll end up having one or more days of higher calorie intake to compensate for the fast day.

DizzyLinds

I'm trying to shoot for TDEE-15% and am often struggling with that to make sure I meet my BMR.

nikkiprickett

I would def say no as well, the whole point of being fit and healthy is to speed up your metabolism by eating more times a day, not just quitting all together, I'd do some research on it before I just listen to someone, while he's a trainer, he doesn't know everything lol

nikkiprickett

For weight loss, I would say hell no. Your metabolism is much like a furnace..to get it to burn hotter, you need to give it fuel. It slows down to a halt when you don't give it anything to burn.

Actually, it doesn't.

while you make a great argument, actually, it does.