Fasting to jumpstart weightloss journey?

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Veganvibesss
Veganvibesss Posts: 123 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What are your thoughts on people who fast to jumpstart weightloss wether it be a juice fast, water fast etc...
Do you think it's healthy?
Do you think they will keep the weight off?
Have you tried it personally or know anyone who has? What was your/their experience?
I have taken interest in the idea but I'm not to sure how safe it would be ..

Replies

  • JaydedMiss
    JaydedMiss Posts: 4,286 Member
    edited August 2017
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    Dont even bother. Seriously. If you insist maybe add a big green smoothie to your day to get in your vegetables and maybe keeep your hunger under control mixed with other nutrient dense solid meals. Fasting as your stating is silly and unhelpful and leads to exactly 0 long term weight loss you gain anything lost back second you start eating again. Short term youll lose water weight, Which will mostly if not all be right back. Long term you become nutrient deficient and thats not fun trust me. Will make you miserable and definatly not healthy or sustainable for anything long term. So unnecessary. And it doesnt help you learn healthy eating habits at all.

    And ignore the person above me either theyve done it before since they claim its the "easiest way to lose weight" meaning they lost weight regained and are back again, Or since its just day 2 are just honeymooning the idea, Meaning any reccomendation is uninformed at best.

    Editing to point to something said by @AJ_G - I aswell started my diet on a fast. Wasnt intentional or really meant to help anything. I used to get shakey if i didnt eat every few hours i would physically shake and i decided one day to try and push past the shakes. They subsided and i kind of just ...waited to try and feel hunger. Hadnt even decided to lose weight at this point. Real hunger didnt come i just ate anyway 3 days later and decided hey its not bad to push past the shakes (Which i used to think was hunger), And carried on to lose weight. But no besides some mental clarity on my body and learning hunger isnt scary or the end of the world fasting did nothing for my loss. The same thing could have been achieved with just swapping right to a healthy diet or good portions. The fast didnt help my loss any directly
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    edited August 2017
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    Veganvibesss wrote: »
    Do you think it's healthy?

    It's not necessarily unhealthy, as long as you don't keep it up too long, 3 days seems to be the sweet spot, you're basically going to be completely safe as long as you're drinking plenty of water. If you water fast for a week or more, you should really be under doctor supervision.

    Do you think they will keep the weight off?

    No

    Have you tried it personally or know anyone who has? What was your/their experience?

    Yea, I did a 3 day water fast just for fun one time to see if I could do it. It was an interesting experience, but as I said, I didn't do it for weight loss, it was more a test of will power. If you want to successfully lose weight and keep that weight off in the long run, just start with a moderate calorie deficit and get there day by day. Shortcuts tend to backfire and keep you from losing weight or actually causing you to gain weight even.
  • SoulRadiation
    SoulRadiation Posts: 1,060 Member
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    If you have a lot of weight to lose then tbh there's no good jump-starting afaik. Just do something that you're mentally into and gets you excited.

    If you go say...low carb and drop like 10 pounds of water it'll crush you in a month when you finally have some carbs and you gain 5 lbs of water and you'll spend weeks coming to terms with it.

    I mention that as I tried my 'jump start' with low carb and it sucked. Some people love it though and they just want to live like that but if that's not really how you want to live...I suggest don't do it.

    I tried excess walking which I don't regret...there's no real loss when you slow down walking you just have more free time.
  • Rebecca0224
    Rebecca0224 Posts: 810 Member
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    tjucan wrote: »
    JaydedMiss wrote: »
    And ignore the person above me either theyve done it before since they claim its the "easiest way to lose weight" meaning they lost weight regained and are back again, Or since its just day 2 are just honeymooning the idea, Meaning any reccomendation is uninformed at best.
    lmao, right. I love when people just assume things.
    I started fasting 4 years ago. My first two fasts were 7 days long, third one was 28 days long, followed by a 7 days refeed and another 28 days long fast. I lost a lot of weight and NEVER regained any of it back (except for water weight so ~5lbs). I've been maintaining for the past 3.5 years eating keto and fasting for a week every month.
    But yes, you're right - "i'm back again" now, but only because my fitness goals are different and I want to really lower my body fat.

    What were you consuming for the 28 day fast?
  • Rebecca0224
    Rebecca0224 Posts: 810 Member
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    tjucan wrote: »
    Rebecca0224 wrote: »
    What were you consuming for the 28 day fast?
    Water with electrolytes (sodium, potassium and magnesium) and tea. If I remember correctly, I also had 2 multivitamin pills during that time. And that's it.

    What about calories and macros? Fat, carbs, protein?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    I think the idea of a jump start indicates a person with a very short term view who is unlikely to be successful long term.

    "Fasting" is a vast range from giving up chocolate for Lent to starving yourself for an extended period of time - there is no blanket healthy or unhealthy for that sort of range.

    I followed an intermittent fasting protocol (5:2) for my weight loss which resulted in a slow and steady weight loss and led to an easy transition to maintenance. That's very different to crash dieting with a very low calorie/low nutrient fast.
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