Fasting ...

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pictureperfect101
pictureperfect101 Posts: 75
in Health and Weight Loss
If you eat like at 4:00 am and then not eat(fast) until 7:30-8:30 pm, is that putting yourself in starvation mode , but you'll eat about 1200 calories still .

I'm gonna start fasting and I need ideas on how i should do it cuz i want to lose weight not gain it?


Please help me out with your ideas :) Thanks
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Replies

  • lutzsher
    lutzsher Posts: 1,153 Member
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    Unless you have to fast for a certain medical test it is not a good idea . . . ever. There is no "jump start" or quick fix.
  • mathjulz
    mathjulz Posts: 5,514 Member
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    We all fast about 10 hours a day (night) and it doesn't hurt us. But if you're sleeping, getting up at 4, then not eating any more for 17 hours, eating a bunch of calories, then sleeping again, it might not be a great idea.

    Fasting once in a while isn't a problem. But for long periods of time ... that I don't know. What is the reason for your fast?
    I do remember hearing that sumo wrestlers would get so big by eating all their calories at one meal and nothing the rest of the day. But I don't know of anything that backs it up.
  • Angela4Health
    Angela4Health Posts: 1,319 Member
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    Why do you want to fast?
  • ieatyarn
    ieatyarn Posts: 5
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    Fasting slows down your metabolism tremendously. Eating at night, before you sleep isn't going to do you any good either. If you're trying to lose weight, this isn't a good way to do it.
  • gmcintosh22
    gmcintosh22 Posts: 2
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    Check out www.leangains.com for an interesting take.
  • TAWoody
    TAWoody Posts: 261 Member
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    That's not a good idea at all. Where on earth did you get that from? You're going to be tired and hungry all day and you'll burn LESS calories then if you eat normal because your metabolism will be all messed up. You'll also gain a little weight if you eat all that food before you go to bed.
  • bella8282
    bella8282 Posts: 188 Member
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    thats not fasting! you wont go into starvation mode doing that..... and why do you even want too?
    unless you want to dance with anorexic... I wouldn't recoment it.

    (Speaking from 14years of living with Anorexia!)
  • JigglyPig
    JigglyPig Posts: 231 Member
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    Unless you have to fast for a certain medical test it is not a good idea . . . ever.

    Well...what about fasting for religious reasons?
  • mousumi30
    mousumi30 Posts: 52
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    dont do this, i once did this and only lost like 1lb or something during 8 days,and now that i am eating every 3 hours i am loosing a lot more, last week i lost 3.5 lbs. plus i was absent minded all day, and after not eating for long hours and hen eating lot of food also gave me stomach pain
  • riley711
    riley711 Posts: 298 Member
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    Unless you have to fast for a certain medical test it is not a good idea . . . ever.

    Well...what about fasting for religious reasons?

    Fasting for religious reasons is okay since that is done for a specific purpose, and for a specific, defined time period. And there are various types of religious fasts, some of which do include eating (for instance the Daniel fast)
  • Crowhorse
    Crowhorse Posts: 394 Member
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    There are some really misinformed people that are mistaking fasting and starvation.

    For your body to start slowing down and enter starvation, you would have to not eat anything for 72 hours, or 3 full days. Then it starts to think, "Wait a minute, this might be the real deal here."

    Fasting in the diet sense, is to encourage fat burning, and it can indeed. I agree to check out the www.leangains.com site. It's about intermittent fasting, which occurs withing a certain time frame each day. From what I understand, most people utilize their sleep period as part of their fast. They eat ALL their daily calories within the Noon to 8pm time frame, then fast from 8pm until noon the next day. So it's not really drastic.

    The science behind it is that your body will start encouraging fat release and burning within that time period (to put it in a nutshell...the guy on leangains will explain all the particulars and chemical processes that occur). There's a certain number of hours that is optimal.

    Your body always gets the full amount of calories it needs.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,126 Member
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    The sheer amount of misinformation about fasting here amazes me. Do what one of the people above suggested, look at leangains.com. BTW, intermittent fasting does not slow down your metabolism. In fact studies have shown that intermittent fasts of even up to 36 hours actually increase your metabolism, they increase fat burned, growth hormone levels, increase insulin sensitivity, and increase glucagon levels. Search for intermittent fasting on this site and you will find a lot of people who do it. I would not do your specific approach, but if you eat all your calories, that will not hurt you. Another good resource is Eat Stop Eat, but since that costs money unless you are serious about learning all you can about intermittent fasting you would do just a good with leangains.com
    Here is a great collection of myths about fasting http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html
  • MarybethAltizer
    MarybethAltizer Posts: 226 Member
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    Unless you have to fast for a certain medical test it is not a good idea . . . ever.

    Well...what about fasting for religious reasons?

    Fasting for religious reasons is okay since that is done for a specific purpose, and for a specific, defined time period. And there are various types of religious fasts, some of which do include eating (for instance the Daniel fast)

    What she said. ;) I have fasted for 11 days at the most, and that was for a very certain spiritual reason, with no defined time period in mind, only going on prayer. I only had v8 and water during this time. No ill side effects. However, I would not want to fast just to fast, for example to just lose weight.
  • RangerSteve
    RangerSteve Posts: 437
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    Fasting slows down your metabolism tremendously. Eating at night, before you sleep isn't going to do you any good either. If you're trying to lose weight, this isn't a good way to do it.

    This is completely false information.
  • RangerSteve
    RangerSteve Posts: 437
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    If you eat like at 4:00 am and then not eat(fast) until 7:30-8:30 pm, is that putting yourself in starvation mode , but you'll eat about 1200 calories still .

    I'm gonna start fasting and I need ideas on how i should do it cuz i want to lose weight not gain it?


    Please help me out with your ideas :) Thanks

    Think outside the time frame box. There isn't some hourly rate in which your body says "well, it's 11 hours and 59 minutes, I better get ready for starvation mode in 1 minute!"

    There is nothing wrong going longer periods of time without food. Your body has hormones (specifically glucagon in this case) that will deal with the blood sugar issues that arise from not eating and, contrary to popular belief, your metabolism will not shut down.

    On that note, I have no idea why you're trying to fast. If it's not for some religious reason (Muslim?) then I would suggest you don't do it.
  • bookwormie
    bookwormie Posts: 32 Member
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    Muslims do this for a whole month, from dawn to sunset, except liquids are also forbidden. My ex was a Muslim, and I attempted it every year for several years. I was never actually able to do it for the entire month for various reasons and I got colds within the first week every time. I always gained weight. It did give me an immense amount of respect for Muslims' dedication to their beliefs.

    I really don't think this is such a wonderful idea just for health reasons. How will you function at work/ school/ whatever? You'll be exhausted and your concentration will be all over the place. Eventually half your thoughts will just focus on what you're planning to have for dinner.
  • NJRizvi
    NJRizvi Posts: 8 Member
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    So let's say you do plan to fast for religious purposes for a whole month from sunrise to sunset (I am Muslim, so this applies to me)... what would be the best way to go about doing it? I've been losing steadily up until now and I'm really afraid that fasting will either stop this trend or even cause weight gain as it has in the past.

    Any suggestions on how to keep losing weight if I am to eat my 1200 cals only before sunrise or after sunset?
  • RangerSteve
    RangerSteve Posts: 437
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    So let's say you do plan to fast for religious purposes for a whole month from sunrise to sunset (I am Muslim, so this applies to me)... what would be the best way to go about doing it? I've been losing steadily up until now and I'm really afraid that fasting will either stop this trend or even cause weight gain as it has in the past.

    Any suggestions on how to keep losing weight if I am to eat my 1200 cals only before sunrise or after sunset?

    Eat before the sun comes up and again when it goes down. The fasting during the day isn't going to destroy your diet. Your body will adjust to the lack of food for 12 or so hours. What will suck will be the lack of water during the day. I don't see any way around it though if you're going to be fasting. Maybe load up the best you can in the morning.
  • SheilaSisco
    SheilaSisco Posts: 722 Member
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    If you're thinking about it solely as a means to lose weight, it is a really BAD idea. The BETTER idea is to eat your 1200 NET calories in several small meals THROUGHOUT the day... it gets your metabolism going and helps burn off more calories which is what burns the fat away and drops the weight.

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