Advice truly needed

newstart1988 · May 2015

I'm starting a water fast today where I eat no food at all and only drink water with a one a day vitamin to jump start weight loss and then start eating healthy 1200 calories after the fast ends. I plan on fasting for as long as I can, i'd like to fast for a month or more. Has anyone ever fasted successfully and if so how much weight did you lose and how long did you fast? thanks :-)

Dnarules · May 2015

This is a very bad idea. You don't need to jump start weight loss. Just plug your stats into MFP, which will give you a calorie goal. Eat to that goal, and add in some of your exercise calories. Log consistently, and use a food scale. You do not need to fast!

yesimpson · May 2015

Trying to fast for a month is a recipe for disaster.

Just enter your stats into MFP, eat to the calorie goal it gives you for how much weight you wish to lose. You can exercise regularly if you want to as well and eat 50-75% of those calories back. I think you are making things harder for yourself than you need to.

Dnarules · May 2015

Dnarules wrote: »

This is a very bad idea. You don't need to jump start weight loss. Just plug your stats into MFP, which will give you a calorie goal. Eat to that goal, and add in some of your exercise calories. Log consistently, and use a food scale. You do not need to fast!

Also, make sure to read some of the stickies posted in the forums. Lots of great info!

serenity1097 · May 2015

You want to starve yourself for a month? Doesn't sound safe to me, why not just eat at a deficit & lose the weight safely?

yopeeps025 · May 2015

Your asking how long someone can stay lazy and just eat nothing to lose weight?

Is this a joke thread?

Choose a moderate calorie deficit. Eat that and lose weight. Stop with all these gimmicks. They do not work.

RoxieDawn · May 2015

sigh... face in my hands..

emilyesq · May 2015

Oh my god.

livingleanlivingclean · May 2015

OP, what part of that plan sounds logical, healthy or sustainable?

galaxyeyed · May 2015

By "one-a-day", they don't mean "we have all the nutrients you could ever need in one day right in this little pill". You will be seriously lacking in nutrients and fuel for your body. Do not fast for a month.

snowflakesav · May 2015

I have tried fasting. I did not experience any of the benefits of fasting...I was irritable, hungry, didn't have any energy to burn calories, and I lost muscle instead of fat. I fasted for 4 days. Water and vegatable broth once a day. i guess everyone has to learn this for themselves so go for it.

kristydi · May 2015

Sounds entirely miserable and completely unnecessary, also likely dangerous to your health. I have lost 40 pounds eating at a reasonable calorie deficit and never once starving myself.

zoeysasha37 · May 2015

This is absolutely insane. Op don't be shocked if this thread gets deleted because it really is asinine. Starving yourself for a month is a very bad idea. And people that do these extreme diets usually gain back every pound that they have lost, once they return to eating. So you'll make yourself miserable and risk your well being for nothing.
Why not just eat at a deficit? If you eat at a deficit you'll lose weight. Fasting for a month isn't the correct way to do this. Your risking a lot.

yopeeps025 · May 2015

snowflakesav wrote: »

I have tried fasting. I did not experience any of the benefits of fasting...I was irritable, hungry, didn't have any energy to burn calories, and I lost muscle instead of fat. I fasted for 4 days. Water and vegatable broth once a day. i guess everyone has to learn this for themselves so go for it.

Worst advice ever. SMH

IAmTheGlue · May 2015

newstart1988 wrote: »

I'm starting a water fast today where I eat no food at all and only drink water with a one a day vitamin to jump start weight loss and then start eating healthy 1200 calories after the fast ends. I plan on fasting for as long as I can, i'd like to fast for a month or more. Has anyone ever fasted successfully and if so how much weight did you lose and how long did you fast? thanks :-)

Seriously, do not do this. I did this exact "diet" in high school. It is actually just anorexia. I did permanent damage to my heart doing it. My hair fell out and neither my hair nor my fingernails seemed to grow for about 2 years after I stopped.

spicy618 · May 2015

Not a good idea young lady. If you start this with your mind set on getting the weight off asap. You will frustrate yourself often and end up giving up or gaining back what you lost as soon as you reach your goal, if you do it by starving yourself.
Also, not many people are going to be too nice about you going on a water fast.
Best of luck!

king042 · May 2015

If you're going to fast, try intermittent fasting, eat at a caloric deficit, and exercise. Water fasting for a month straight....not good.

yesimpson · May 2015

I think

a) a month fast is totally unrealistic (as well as unnecessary and miserable) - you are just setting yourself up for failure because eventually you will get hungry enough that you will eat.

b) even if you are "successful", you are going to cause yourself physical (and possibly mental) issues beyond being a bit heavier than you would like.

jenncornelsen · May 2015

wow. so far this is the most unhealthy and extreme thing i have seen on here... and i have seen alot of crazy ideas. this kind of thinking leads to serious eating disorders. please don't

JenAndSome · May 2015

I think you should talk to your doctor first and see what they have to say about wanting to do this.

NoIdea101NoIdea · May 2015

Sounds like the most stupidest idea I have ever heard. As someone who has had their experiences with anorexia, you know what will happen if you fast for as long as possible?

You will become either incredibly angry or incredibly miserable for what feels like no good reason, pass out from exhaustion if you even have the energy to move, or you will end up binging because you are so hungry and can't fight it anymore and probably eat two or three days worth of calories in a couple of hours. And that usually occurs after a fast of two-three days. Any longer than that, prepare for heart palpitations, hair loss and brittle nails along with some heart-breaking mental anguish.

That may sound very over the top, but if you are going to start 'fasting for as long as possible' then be prepared for what that can lead to. Only an idiot would consider it.

HollandOats · May 2015

yopeeps025 wrote: »

snowflakesav wrote: »

I have tried fasting. I did not experience any of the benefits of fasting...I was irritable, hungry, didn't have any energy to burn calories, and I lost muscle instead of fat. I fasted for 4 days. Water and vegatable broth once a day. i guess everyone has to learn this for themselves so go for it.

Worst advice ever. SMH

I wouldn't say worst... most realistic maybe.

_incogNEATo_ · May 2015

HollandOats wrote: »

yopeeps025 wrote: »

snowflakesav wrote: »

I have tried fasting. I did not experience any of the benefits of fasting...I was irritable, hungry, didn't have any energy to burn calories, and I lost muscle instead of fat. I fasted for 4 days. Water and vegatable broth once a day. i guess everyone has to learn this for themselves so go for it.

Worst advice ever. SMH

I wouldn't say worst... most realistic maybe.

No. Nobody should encourage trying this. Period.

HollandOats · May 2015

_incogNEATo_ wrote: »

HollandOats wrote: »

yopeeps025 wrote: »

snowflakesav wrote: »

I have tried fasting. I did not experience any of the benefits of fasting...I was irritable, hungry, didn't have any energy to burn calories, and I lost muscle instead of fat. I fasted for 4 days. Water and vegatable broth once a day. i guess everyone has to learn this for themselves so go for it.

Worst advice ever. SMH

I wouldn't say worst... most realistic maybe.

No. Nobody should encourage trying this. Period.

I am right there with you! I just think people are gonna do what they want to do... Maybe because of how stubborn I am myself... I only have this one perspective though. Hopefully, OP is more open to the logic and reasoning of others

yopeeps025 · May 2015

HollandOats wrote: »

yopeeps025 wrote: »

snowflakesav wrote: »

I have tried fasting. I did not experience any of the benefits of fasting...I was irritable, hungry, didn't have any energy to burn calories, and I lost muscle instead of fat. I fasted for 4 days. Water and vegatable broth once a day. i guess everyone has to learn this for themselves so go for it.

Worst advice ever. SMH

I wouldn't say worst... most realistic maybe.

So OP should try this crap and permanently hurt herself so she can learn for herself?

hmontigney · May 2015

Horrible, horrible idea. Eat at a defecit and exercise your butt off. You don't need to "jump start" your weight loss. If you really try this, you will do more damage than good to your body and any weight you lose will come right back.

Slow and steady wins the race.

lemonsnowdrop · May 2015

yopeeps025 wrote: »

HollandOats wrote: »

yopeeps025 wrote: »

snowflakesav wrote: »

I have tried fasting. I did not experience any of the benefits of fasting...I was irritable, hungry, didn't have any energy to burn calories, and I lost muscle instead of fat. I fasted for 4 days. Water and vegatable broth once a day. i guess everyone has to learn this for themselves so go for it.

Worst advice ever. SMH

I wouldn't say worst... most realistic maybe.

So OP should try this crap and permanently hurt herself so she can learn for herself?

Honestly, you can't make decisions for other people. The choice to do it or not is ultimately theirs.

HollandOats · May 2015

yopeeps025 wrote: »

HollandOats wrote: »

yopeeps025 wrote: »

snowflakesav wrote: »

I have tried fasting. I did not experience any of the benefits of fasting...I was irritable, hungry, didn't have any energy to burn calories, and I lost muscle instead of fat. I fasted for 4 days. Water and vegatable broth once a day. i guess everyone has to learn this for themselves so go for it.

Worst advice ever. SMH

I wouldn't say worst... most realistic maybe.

So OP should try this crap and permanently hurt herself so she can learn for herself?

What's the alternative? Place the burden of stopping her on the shoulders of the strangers from the internet?
I don't think the OP should do it, Clearly no one does... But OP's original statement is in the active sense.. as in "This is what I'm doing"... she never asks if she "should"... she's just a goin' for it... clearly her mind is made up.

Lessons learned the hard way are a fact of life.

mccindy72 · May 2015

Don't do fasts, or cleanses, or anything else. They're harmful, and don't work. Here's a great post by SideSteel, a long time MFP user who really knows his stuff. Please take the time to read it, and all the links contained.

Hey MFPers.

With the rapid increase of new users there are many posts coming up asking for detox recommendations. I figured this would be a good time to provide some links explaining why you generally don't need to detox or cleanse.

Your body is readily equipped to handle toxins and in the event it cannot, you're in far greater need of medical attention than you are of any particular beverage or liquid diet.

For purposes of weight loss, you're essentially choosing to replace food with liquid calories (depending on the cleanse, but most fall under this category) resulting in what usually amounts to a VLCD. This isn't typically a good idea for a variety of reasons (mood, hunger signaling, skeletal muscle maintenance, performance) and moreover it represents yet another short-cut attempt rather than establishing proper habits.

The intent of my post isn't to insult anyone who comes here with the misinformed belief that they should detox/cleanse. The purpose is to provide information to hopefully save someone the wasted time, money, and potential ill health effects, not to mention the likely weight regain.

Please read the following links:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/821828-detoxes-and-cleanses
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/927327-cleanse-why-you-are-lucky-they-don-t-work
http://www.burnthefatinnercircle.com/members/colon-cleansing-scam.cfm
http://www.biolayne.com/nutrition/detox-diet-scams-and-product-scams-get-called-out-by-real-scientists/
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/fashionable-toxins/
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/toxins-the-new-evil-humours/
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/the-detox-scam/
http://sciencebasedpharmacy.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/the-detox-delusion/

eseeton · May 2015

By having only water and a vitamin for a month your body will go seriously haywire. Your metabolism will slow down to compensate and you will basically go into a starvation mode because you aren't nourishing it properly. This happens with any really low calorie diet, it is why they fail more often than not. When you do start adding food back in, you will gain all your weight back because your metabolism will need lots of recovery time to get used to having sustenance again and functioning at its normal rate.

The only thing you need to do to lose weight is cut back from the calories you are currently eating. You will see a difference if you stick with it. No need to torture yourself.

Sorchya · May 2015

People have already given a lot of good reasons to NOT fast, including harm to yourself. But also your metabolism will slow down as a way your body protects itself and that makes it harder to lose in the long run. Your body will literally eat itself for fuel and will consume a lot of your muscle. You will be more prone to illnesses not having the full powered immune system to ward them off....which is boosted by good healthy food. You have an excellent chance of *kitten* up your kidneys and your heart permanently, as has been pointed out. You run the risk of it affecting your brain as well. You will throw off your body's chemical balance (not adequate electrolytes).

Don't do it.

Advice truly needed

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