Fasting

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jennydelgado09
jennydelgado09 Posts: 119 Member
in Getting Started
Safe or not to fast for a day or two. Or a very low calorie for a 1-3 days.

I've noticed that when I get stuck at a certain weight range the only way to get under is when I get sick. I get sick and eat very little for a few days and then when I'm over it I'm down so many lbs. And I don't gain it back either. It just stays off. But then I'm stuck again.

So is there any harm in fasting for a few days on a low calorie diet. And then going back to normal? Nothing long term or even frequent. Just to kinda give that boost.
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  • wolfruhn
    wolfruhn Posts: 3,025 Member
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    I've done 9 days with water only, no food. Couple of weeks ago I did another 4 days the same. I was fine, but you may be different. Be careful and get medical advice if you need to
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    I've seen some people here post that they have benefited from fasting. But everyone I've known whose done it (including myself) has ended up binging afterward.

    I doubt it would cause any other harm.

    Its normal to stall for a week or two, thats just real life. It might not have been the fasting that helped, just that your body was back on schedule. If you are stuck for more than 2-3 weeks, try to tighten up your logging. Commit to using the food scale for all solids for a couple of weeks and double check that the entries you are using in the database are accurate.
  • WildBill_CQ
    WildBill_CQ Posts: 106 Member
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    Hey, @jennydelgado09 ... Just read in the June issue of Muscle & Fitness that Terry Crews (dude is like 49) does an "intermittent fast" that he learned from Randy Couture. He only eats in a window between 2 PM and 10 PM. I personally would be starving by 2 PM, but looks like he eats at 2:00, 5:00, and 8:00 PM (maybe something at 10:00 PM). Interesting to find out how many calories he is taking in.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
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    How often do you get sick that you notice this is a pattern?
  • jennydelgado09
    jennydelgado09 Posts: 119 Member
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    leggup wrote: »
    How often do you get sick that you notice this is a pattern?

    I have 2 school children. They pick up a lot of bugs from school lol.
  • belleflop
    belleflop Posts: 154 Member
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    I've done 9 days with water only, no food. Couple of weeks ago I did another 4 days the same. I was fine, but you may be different. Be careful and get medical advice if you need to

    Spot on! Fasting has amazing benefits, but there's always a need to understand what you are getting into before hand.
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
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    OP, didn't I read in another thread you're already eating quite low calorie?
    I'm not sure that fasting for a few days/eating even lower calories would be of much benefit to you.
    Find a sustainable deficit and play the long game instead of trying to look for a quick fix.


    (When I was cutting my weight would stall for 2-3 weeks every month, but then I would have a "whoosh" week and lose several pounds. Totally normal.)
  • jennydelgado09
    jennydelgado09 Posts: 119 Member
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    not_a_runner wrote: »
    OP, didn't I read in another thread you're already eating quite low calorie?
    I'm not sure that fasting for a few days/eating even lower calories would be of much benefit to you.
    Find a sustainable deficit and play the long game instead of trying to look for a quick fix.


    (When I was cutting my weight would stall for 2-3 weeks every month, but then I would have a "whoosh" week and lose several pounds. Totally normal.)

    Wanted to. But it has been pretty unrealistic lol. I've been ending up at maintenance level or even a bit higher.
  • Lean59man
    Lean59man Posts: 714 Member
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    I do the 16/8 intermittent fasting. 8pm to 12 noon. It's do-able but I still get a bit hungry in the mid-morning.

    I've done the 24 hr and 36 hour fasts and it's too much and I then binge.

    Fasting is really just a re-arrangement of your meals. I don't think you should fast for too long as it is just no fun and you can't keep it up. You dread it.

    If you are not losing weight double check your calories and make sure you are figuring things correctly.

    Try the 16/8 and see how it goes. My 2 cents.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Usually the fasting comes during a period of eating at maintenance.

    You likely aren't at potential maintenance, but rather suppressed TDEE.

    Body has already slowed down daily and not burning as much as you used to - fast will encourage more of the same when already in that state.

    From what it sounds like body is probably stressed out and holding water masking anything going on.

    You doing the more important numbers too compared to scale - measuring many spots?

    That being said - doing the 5:2 diet method correctly leads to an avg 22% deficit - the 2 low days being 25% of TDEE, the other 5 days eating at maintenance.
    That's close to fasting, with many more days of eating level body shouldn't get stressed by.

    The point is correctly - eating at maintenance on the 5 days so body is under no stress from diet. Life is another matter of course.
  • H_Ock12
    H_Ock12 Posts: 1,152 Member
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    When I was losing, I did a modified version of the 5:2 diet for a bit...my modification was 5 days of moderate calorie deficit and 2 days of 500 calories, fasting from noon to noon. I did not have binges. I did not work out on fast days.
  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
    edited October 2017
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    Fasting is a manipulation of average weekly calories to be in a deficit. It certainly isn't going to harm you to incorporate fasting once in a while, but it's also not a magic fat loss method. IF, 5:2, ADF, Warrior Fasts, PSMF, etc, all work in the same way. You undulate days or periods of eating with days or periods of not eating. It's all meant to reduce overall calories, though fasting does have some benefits to entrain cellular metabolism, circadian eating, nutrient partitioning, and hunger cues, etc... but as it's been said, sometimes fasting to an uncomfortable level can result in a binge afterwards.

    It's just one of the many tools in the science of dieting, where the original problem stems from chronic overfeeding.
  • MizMareedy
    MizMareedy Posts: 148 Member
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    Doesn't anyone get concerned when fasting that they are depriving the body of needed nutrients each day? I cannot imagine this. I'm not trolling, but genuinely curious as to how you feel and ability to focus on tasks/feel normal.
  • Mjcbtl64
    Mjcbtl64 Posts: 24 Member
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    I do two major fasts a year. A 21 day Daniel Fast and a 50 personal fast starting from July 5 through late August. Both of them are Spiritual renewal. It consists of eating vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, brown rice and drinking water. All dairy, meats, fish, sweets, sodas, fried food, fast food, pasta, bread and fatty food are eliminated from my diet during that time period. There are physical benefits from the fast such as increased awareness, clarity in my thinking, I'm more focus and I experience a heightened level of connectivity to God. Also, it gives my digestive system a break. I normally lose 17 lbs during the 21 days fast and 25-28 lbs. during the 50 days fast.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    edited October 2017
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    MizMareedy wrote: »
    Doesn't anyone get concerned when fasting that they are depriving the body of needed nutrients each day? I cannot imagine this. I'm not trolling, but genuinely curious as to how you feel and ability to focus on tasks/feel normal.

    But it's not really fasting as there is still 500 or more calories eaten on the 5:2 method, and normal or diet calories eaten on the IF window method.

    And when it's that little for the 5:2, for purposes of satiety, doesn't take many times to discover that 2 Little Debbie's ain't going to cut it, and better choices are made.

    For the IF method, it's not really that long without food, some was sleeping time anyway, so not much of a stretch.

    You'll need to read carefully that the term "fasting" is used when there actually is food being taken in.

    So normally it's fasting from certain times as when in a holiday period daytime fast, or certain calorie levels (which agreed doesn't mean fasting), or as above comment certain foods (which agreed probably doesn't mean fasting in normal usage of word).

    So not much of a nutrient starvation as you might think.

    Now, if body is under stress needing nutrients, like you did a great workout and body wants to do repair in next 24-48 hrs and that is when you are doing a fast of no food at all - body won't recover like it could otherwise.

  • Grimmerick
    Grimmerick Posts: 3,342 Member
    edited October 2017
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    MizMareedy wrote: »
    Doesn't anyone get concerned when fasting that they are depriving the body of needed nutrients each day? I cannot imagine this. I'm not trolling, but genuinely curious as to how you feel and ability to focus on tasks/feel normal.

    I personally LOVE it, it fits my eating pattern, was always a night eater with great control during the day, just not super hungry during the day. So when I found out I could save all of my calories for a smaller window of time with no repercussions I went for it and never looked back. I'm not strict about it if I am going out with friends, but that is usually in the evenings anyway so it just means I have the calories for it. I feel sharper mentally during the day now and my workouts are just as good. So for my lifestyle it is a win/win. Not for everybody though. I still get all of my calories and nutrients, just in a smaller window of time. I fast for 14-21 hours a day.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    The problem is you need to define terms. For some people, a fast is not eating anything at all for one or more days. Some people call eating a very restrictive diet for a certain period of time a fast, but they are still eating food. Some people say "fasting" when they mean Intermittent Fasting, which is either only eating during a small portion of the day, or eating low cal some days and maintenance cals on another. All of these have different affects on your health and are appropriate for different people and have different goals/results.

    OP was asking about severely restricting or eliminating calories for several days in order to break what she perceives as a plateau. Most of the replies have not been about that type of a fast.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    MizMareedy wrote: »
    Doesn't anyone get concerned when fasting that they are depriving the body of needed nutrients each day? I cannot imagine this. I'm not trolling, but genuinely curious as to how you feel and ability to focus on tasks/feel normal.

    If they are talking about Intermittent Fasting, you eat the same amount of food/calories, you just spread it out over the day or week differently. And most people who do IF don't even go a full 24 hours without food.

    A lot of the spammy weight loss fasts are for @ 3 days. While I don't think it's optimal or beneficial to do one, I don't think the restriction over that short a period will do any lasting harm as far as nutrition. The main dangers in my opinion are getting into a restrict/binge cycle or perhaps the dangers of drowsiness or hanger.

    I would be concerned about a 30 day or longer water or juice or very restricted diet (variety or total calories) nutritionally. Those are usually spiritually or religiously motivated though.
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
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    kimny72 wrote: »
    The problem is you need to define terms. For some people, a fast is not eating anything at all for one or more days. Some people call eating a very restrictive diet for a certain period of time a fast, but they are still eating food. Some people say "fasting" when they mean Intermittent Fasting, which is either only eating during a small portion of the day, or eating low cal some days and maintenance cals on another. All of these have different affects on your health and are appropriate for different people and have different goals/results.

    OP was asking about severely restricting or eliminating calories for several days in order to break what she perceives as a plateau. Most of the replies have not been about that type of a fast.

    Yes, this.

    It doesn't sound OP has had much success sticking to a low calorie goal as is. Perhaps IF would help manage hunger, but I don't see eating less (as suggested in the OP- "fasting for a few days on a low calorie diet") to be of any help in this situation. Very likely it could actually lead to binge eating after. Especially if trying to stick to 1200 has already resulted in eating at maintenance or above-
    jennydelgado09 wrote: »
    not_a_runner wrote: »
    OP, didn't I read in another thread you're already eating quite low calorie?
    I'm not sure that fasting for a few days/eating even lower calories would be of much benefit to you.
    Find a sustainable deficit and play the long game instead of trying to look for a quick fix.


    (When I was cutting my weight would stall for 2-3 weeks every month, but then I would have a "whoosh" week and lose several pounds. Totally normal.)

    Wanted to. But it has been pretty unrealistic lol. I've been ending up at maintenance level or even a bit higher.

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