I attempted my first fast with NEGATIVE results.. HELP!

If you want to keep full longer I would opt for something with protein instead of spaghetti with bread. That's a lot of carbs and no protein. I'm not surprised the scale didn't move.. carbs always make me retain extra water.. and what kind of sauce did you use for your spaghetti? All the commercial sauces are packed with sodium.

EEK! Fasts arent very good for you. Also, If you are looking to lose weight, go with less carbs. At least eat protein bars or drinks that will give you some of the vitamins and nutrition, and it is never good to limit your water intake. Your body needs fuel to run, especially with that workout!

First, fasting and cleansing just isn't necessary. If you're concerned about toxins in your body don't eat or drink things you consider to be toxic. And if you do consume those foods/drinks occasionally, just drink plenty of water and eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains and lean meats. Putting good things in your body and drinking water will clean you out.

Second, you should never fast. Starving yourself, even for a day, isn't good. It won't put you into starvation mode (that takes time) but it does throw things off a bit.

Third, if you want to stay full carbs are not going to help. You need protein and fiber to keep you full and satisfied. I can't look at your food diary so I don't know what you normally eat but my general suggestions are to avoid processed foods, eat only fresh "whole" foods, and to definitely track your sodium. Avoid refined sugar, drink plenty of water.

Sounds like your body is going into starvation mode and trying to retain as much water as possible.

And skip the white spaghetti and bread, they'll just give you an energy spike rather than a gradual release of energy. Instead opt for lots of steam veg, some grilled lean meat or a healthy chunky soup with a small portion of brown rice on the side. Avoid salt, sugar and alcohol and drink as much water as possible. I'm on 6 meals a day now and find it's helped loads, lost a third of my body weight doing that.

Also, stay off the alcohol...that is one of the worst things that you can have when trying to lose weight!!:happy:

Also, have you considered it could be an increase of muscle instead? Muscle is heavier than fat and if you're gaining muscle with the exercise, it could be just that. Otherwise, ignore the damn scales and just measure your waist instead.

There is actually a TON of research that Intermittant Fasting is Very good for you, and for weight loss as well....also, It takes 3 days of low cals before your body goes into starvation mode.
You were probably retaining water from not drinking enough water and exercising, I have done ESE (Eat Stop Eat) for a while, search the forum to read about it. You will probably notice the weight go down in a couple days. I weigh more when I fast too and notice the drop later on...There's no way it's actual fat that you've gained, you haven't eaten the calories for that.
Good luck! :bigsmile:

Didn't have time to read all responses, so I apologize if I'm repeating anything. Just a few personal opinions.

1) Studies have recently shown that it doesn't matter when in a day you consume calories, or how many meals you eat in a day. What matters is the TOTAL calories consumed- so whether you're choosing to eat one giant meal a day, three meals a day, or six 'mini meals', that's up to you. My advice, though, would be to make sure that you're eating good calories (not pasta made from refined flour, for example). Also, the problem with 'fasting' is that it makes it very difficult to go back to eating in a normal, healthy manner. If you've gone more than 24 hours without eating, you're starving. So when you DO eat, it's going to be hard to just take in the reasonable amount of calories your body needs without going overboard.

I think we all have days once in a while where we 'fast'. For me, it's when I'm sick. Sometimes, I'll admit, I have days when I get really busy with work or a project, and 'forget to eat'. It's not that big a deal if it doesn't happen often.... but it's not something I ever intentionally do.

2) Alcohol is the enemy. No, seriously. A glass of red wine here and there is actually good for you- but you'd be amazed at how many calories can be hiding in one mixed drink. LOTS. If you're serious about weight-loss, best to cut alcohol out entirely. If you can't do that, make smart and informed choices about WHAT you're drinking- and count and log the calories.

Also, something to keep in mind, is that alcohol acts as a diuretic. It dehydrates you (hangover symptoms = dehydration). And because water retention is such a funny thing, the less you drink the more you retain. And the more fluids you drink, the less you retain. So in the end, booze is definitely gonna hit you when it comes to the scales.

I'm sure that you're not going to gain 2-3 pounds of fat just from one night of drinking (so some of it's got to be water weight). But I wouldn't write off ALL the weight as being water, depending on how much you've had to drink (and what you're drinking).

3) I don't like fasting. And I REALLY do not like cleansing. I've said this many times before- but I'll repeat myself here. "Cleansing" (in whatever way, shape or form your cleanse may take) can help a person lose weight- but very little of that weight will be fat. First of all, cleanses usually involve drinking a lot of fluids, and limiting (or eliminating) salt. What happens when you drink lots of water is that it helps your body let go of water weight. It 'flushes' out much of the water you might be retaining, which can then show up on the scale. Combine a lot of fluid-drinking with a low sodium intake, and you're probably gonna see some water loss. That's all it is, though- water. I get the EXACT same results (while eating a healthy amount of calories) by drinking lots of water during the day and keeping track of my sodium.

The second 'part' of a cleanse will often involve 'purging the body of toxins'. That is, frankly, making you poop. Some people will try to tell you that you're holding years worth of built-up poisons in your colon and that the only way to 'rid yourself' of these toxins is to flush them away through your waste. You might be encouraged to have an enema or take a laxative to ‘get your bowels moving’. The end result is the same: you’re taking waste that was sitting in your digestive track and you’re expelling it from your body. So, yes… this is going to cause a drop in the number you see on the scale- but it’s not fat that you’re losing. It’s poop. Again, I get the EXACT same results by including foods in my diet that are high in fibre, and drinking lots of water. This regulates me to the point where I may ‘expel waste’ two or three times a day…. And keeps me from getting an uncomfortable, bloating ‘build up’ in my abdomen.
The third part of a cleanse usually involves fasting. Some ‘cleanses’ require that you don’t eat, period (while others are less severe). The results? A dip in the scale, caused because your stomach is empty. You’re not seeing the weight of the food would otherwise be in there. Will you lose fat? A little bit. After all, you’re running on a caloric deficit. But you won’t see a dramatic fat loss unless you do an extended cleanse- which just isn’t good for you.

Overall, the problem that I have with cleanses is that a)they don’t really do anything that can’t be safely matched through simple, healthy adjustments in your diet and b)they cause people to, often incorrectly, believe they perform a valuable function because ‘they’re seeing losses on the scale’. Except the scale isn’t telling the full story: That the weight lost is a combination of food, waste and water. Any excess calorie deficit created is usually negated almost as soon as the person doing the cleanse/fast eats again (because they’re so hungry they wind up binging). The weight comes back almost right away, as soon as your stomach and bowels become full again.

4) Often, I hear from other people that weight loss ‘will get easier’. Oh, it’s hard at first, but then… it gets easier. You adjust to eating better, you adjust to working out. Soon, it requires little or no thinking.

Personally, I disagree. It gets easier in some ways, yes- but it also gets harder. You’re already lost a LOT of weight- which is amazing- but the first 63 pounds that you lost is VERY different from the last 63 pounds. The closer you get to your goal, the harder you have to work (mentally and physically) to stay on track. There’s a lot less room for error as you get smaller and smaller. I’m 12 pounds from my goal, and I know that if I slip up even one iota, it can have a huge effect on that week’s weight loss.



In the end, I don’t have a lot of opinions about why your weight has increased (I’m gonna say partially water, partially other factors)…. But I wanted to give my take on the situation in general.

Best of luck!