Fasting?

I'd love to know the answer to this one as well. I've been thinking about it too and I'm curious to know if it helps with weight loss.

you'll want to even more & end up eating even more therefore putting on weight

Well I only fast from a Biblical point of view, and I fast other things than just food so I'm no help.. BUT...

My Pastor fasts for the first 21 days of each year... nothing but water... could you imagine?? lol

I have done a fast before and it does make me lose weight. Don't do this if you don't have willpower to turn food down because your body will be calling out for it and it gets much harder to turn it down and you may end up blowing the whole day. Also, don't expect to lose much the second day when you do eat again because your body went into mini starvation mode and will probably hold on to the food.

I've heard tons of good stuff about fasts but make sure you're careful that you don't get light headed or too weak. Good luck!

I'm curious about this too, shall we form a group of some kind (or just become MFP friends :-)) and test it out?

I have done a fast before and it does make me lose weight. Don't do this if you don't have willpower to turn food down because your body will be calling out for it and it gets much harder to turn it down and you may end up blowing the whole day. Also, don't expect to lose much the second day when you do eat again because your body went into mini starvation mode and will probably hold on to the food.

I've heard tons of good stuff about fasts but make sure you're careful that you don't get light headed or too weak. Good luck!

when you do intermittent fasting, you metabolism actually raises during the fasted state, so the mini starvation mode thing is not true.

I am of the belief that fasting is okay very occasionally, but "cleansing" is very harmful to your body. If you eat right, and drink plenty of water, your body cleans itself. It was designed by God or nature (whichever you choose to believe in) to be cool like that! Heat and serve foods, or add water, heat and serve foods, are processed foods that your body doesn't need. I stay away from those. I stay away from fake butter, fake sugar, processed anything as much as possible.

Before starting any fasting or cleansing, I suggest you speak with your doctor. I've known a lot of people to be seriously harmed by these 'cleanses.' It is better to speak with your doctor to get their advice before starting something like that. They may say go for it under their supervision, or they may say stay away from it. Only your doctor that is familiar with your medical history can give proper advice in this manner.

Well, I'm not really talking about a "cleanse". I'm really just talking about a fast where, for 24 hours, I do not consume any food, and only drink water and possibly tea. I would not exercise that day, or even work.

But your body still requires roughly 1400 calories a day just to function, even if you sit on the couch all day long.

So, I've been reading up on fasting, and lots of people are of the opinion that intermittent fasting is healthy, safe, and will definitely help you lose weight. I've been thinking about fasting for 24 hours once a week, on my day off from exercise and work. Does anyone here do anything similar? If so, do you feel like you benefit from it?

check out this thread lots of people do intermittent fasting
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/226488-intermittent-fasting-support-group

I also fast every day i am doing leangains 16/8 i eat from 9.30am-5.30pm i eat all my calories breakfast lunch and dinner in this 8 hour eating window then i fast for 16 hours. Also with fasting i no longer have the craving to binge it at night as i am fasting and my body has just got used to eat.

I'm not against fasting. I know people do it for personal and spiritual/religious reasons, but I'm personally against fasting for weight loss. I haven't tried it, so I can't say in my experience, but I don't see how not eating once a week would really make that much of a difference in your weight loss goals. If you really want to try it, I think you should weigh yourself the day you do the fast, weigh the next day to see if you lost any weight (which would most likely be just water weight), and then weigh a day later, because I would think that as soon as you start eating again you would put the water weight back on. Again, I've never tried it and I'm not an expert by any means, but this is just what I think.

I'm not against fasting. I know people do it for personal and spiritual/religious reasons, but I'm personally against fasting for weight loss. I haven't tried it, so I can't say in my experience, but I don't see how not eating once a week would really make that much of a difference in your weight loss goals. If you really want to try it, I think you should weigh yourself the day you do the fast, weigh the next day to see if you lost any weight (which would most likely be just water weight), and then weigh a day later, because I would think that as soon as you start eating again you would put the water weight back on. Again, I've never tried it and I'm not an expert by any means, but this is just what I think.

I think you may want to research it more, because my experience is that is not how it happens. The Eat Stop Eat approach is to eat normally on your non-fasting days and have your fast day or days establish your caloric deficit. When your body goes into fasted mode (about 16-18 hours after stopping eating) it starts burning a lot of fat. In fact fasting increased your metabolism slightly for the first 36 hours at least and I think I remember the study they did found up to 72 hours with an increase. It increases growth hormone production, insulin sensitivity, glucogon, and more. Remember our bodies can only be in one of two states, fed or fasted. It in only in recent times (maybe the last 200 years) where a constant fed state has become the norm. Further, the more we are in a fed state, the more obese we seem to be. In the past we has to work for or hunt our food. That meant periods of lots of food (remember no refrigeration) follow by periods of no food at all. Our bodies are made to handle that, not to handle constant eating which is what we do today.

I recently started intermittent fasting - I use the leangains approach of a 16 hour fasting with an 8 hour feeding window. I eat between 1PM and 9PM. I started this after reading Martin Berkham's research on leangains.com.

For me this is a lifestyle change that feels like I can do it for the rest of my life. I think I'm wired as an overeater so essentially shutting off the intake valve mentally for 16 hours a day makes it so much easier to not eat too many calories (I am still counting).

Since beginning this lifestyle I have done more research (I've gotten a little obsessed) and am convinced there are so many benefits of fasting beyond weightloss (improved cognitive function, increased insulin sensitivity, etc) I'm now also incorporating one 24 hour fast monthly.

I only started 2 weeks ago and I'm down 4 lbs. The kicker for me is how easy it is. I'm not planning my day around food - I get to enjoy preparing dinner because I have so much more flexibility now that I can eat more that 300-500 in that meal. No more forced grazing for me.

i couldnt do it. I feel soooo ill when my blood sugar gets low.

After commenting; then reading the responses, I may try to prepare myself for a fasting program. I have to do a little research and find an approach that appeals to me. But it sounds interesting. Does it really get any easier for your body to stop craving? Just wondering.

it really does stop. you get hungry at certain times, because that is when you regularly eat. my body adjusted pretty quickly to the point of where i feel like i could easily go longer than the 16 hours of fasting.