Help! Religious Fasting and Weightloss

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  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    edited February 2018
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    Practically, if you're going to eat 1400 calories in one sitting and that's making you feel stuffed, consider what you're eating in that one meal - you might want to Increase the fat content - 1g of fat has 9 calories, 1g of carbs or protein has 4 calories.

    Regarding the spirituality of fasting - I'm an Orthodox Christian. During Lent (and other fasting periods & days), we (ideally) eat and drink no products from animals with backbones, and to eat smaller amounts of food than we normally would. Between the Holy Thursday evening meal and through Pascha (Easter) services, the ideal is to eat nothing (few people I know can manage this). A few married people also refrain from sex during these periods. After the Paschal services (starting about 2-3 in the morning on Sunday), we break our fasts with a meal/party that includes the foods we were fasting from in Lent. At least those who can follow this practice - except for children, the old, and the sick.

    The point of fasting isn't just to remind us to pray or to "punish" the bodies, it's to help us learn to control our desires for the things of the world (including but not limited to sex - learning discipline in one thing can help u practice discipline in other areas of our lives). It's also a way to understand what it's like for those who are less fortunate and go hungry not by choice but out of necessity (this as I understand it is the motivation behind fasting for moslems).

    From Constantine Cavarnos: "Fasting takes into account both the quantity and the quality of food. The idea is to eat a smaller amount of food during a fasting day; to abstain from fats and oils, as these tend to fatten the body and thereby to arouse lust and make one physically and spiritually lazy; to abstain from meat, fish, and products of animal origin, as these tend to excite carnal desire; and also to abstain from mere delicacies, as the consumption of these is a form of self-indulgence." In other words, it's about learning spiritual discipline - and we're not supposed to make a big deal about it, or complain (see Matthew 6:17).

    You might try reframing what fasting means to you to help get through the fasting periods. It has spiritual benefits beyond a kind of body alarm to remind you to pray. If doing the meal fast as you describe is too difficult, maybe you should switch to one of the other recommended fasts, like maybe the Daniel fast. If your meal fasting is becoming a spiritual stumbling block, you might want to question whether that's what you're really supposed to be doing - were you really led to it (and by whom), or might you have chosen a form of fasting that you're not prepared for physically and/or spiritually?
  • aik633
    aik633 Posts: 17 Member
    edited February 2018
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    CattOfTheGarage wrote: »
    aik633 wrote: »
    CattOfTheGarage wrote: »
    If you are fasting two meals, then the aim has to be to eat your whole allowance in the remaining meal. You should not be eating significantly under your goal, even if you are fasting for part of the day - you're already eating at a deficit, so eating less than that would be unhealthy. So it sounds like the issue is more to do with what you eat, and how you eat it, than the amount. The amount was correct.

    There will be wisdom on this from people who have lots of experience with fasting, but I would have thought it's a matter of eating slowly and being mindful of what your body is telling you.

    To be honest, 1400 calories at one meal seems achievable, it's not a grossly huge amount. If you ended up feeling bad, perhaps you were eating too quickly? Or perhaps your body just needs time to adjust to a different eating pattern.

    Under your calorie goal for one day will not hurt you. Eating way under it for a month, sure, that could hurt you . It's better to be under than over imo. If you're trying to lose weight, it's because you have plenty of storage on board.

    Sure, if this fasting is only a one-off then that's different, I'm not sure, I got the impression from the OP that this was a regular practice.

    "Better to be under than over" - I don't really agree. I work to keep my average as close as possible to goal.
    CattOfTheGarage wrote: »
    aik633 wrote: »
    CattOfTheGarage wrote: »
    If you are fasting two meals, then the aim has to be to eat your whole allowance in the remaining meal. You should not be eating significantly under your goal, even if you are fasting for part of the day - you're already eating at a deficit, so eating less than that would be unhealthy. So it sounds like the issue is more to do with what you eat, and how you eat it, than the amount. The amount was correct.

    There will be wisdom on this from people who have lots of experience with fasting, but I would have thought it's a matter of eating slowly and being mindful of what your body is telling you.

    To be honest, 1400 calories at one meal seems achievable, it's not a grossly huge amount. If you ended up feeling bad, perhaps you were eating too quickly? Or perhaps your body just needs time to adjust to a different eating pattern.

    Under your calorie goal for one day will not hurt you. Eating way under it for a month, sure, that could hurt you . It's better to be under than over imo. If you're trying to lose weight, it's because you have plenty of storage on board.

    Sure, if this fasting is only a one-off then that's different, I'm not sure, I got the impression from the OP that this was a regular practice.

    "Better to be under than over" - I don't really agree. I work to keep my average as close as possible to goal.

    Not trying to argue, catt. Just saying that if you take the long view, being under occasionally is better than being over. If I don't eat at all today, I'll be fine. In fact, I'll be better for it. If I don't eat ever again, I'd die.
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
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    trimi1104 wrote: »
    clairekugler wrote: »
    It went great! Until dinner I consumed my entire day's worth of calories.

    This is exactly what happens when people fast all day and it's the road to disordered eating. Restrict-binge, restrict-binge...and so on.
    I'm suggesting this just because you are spiritual, it may not apply to your religious belief so toss it if it's not the case. I know there is a 10 step point list faith-based to control binges, look it up.

    I've fasted all day for probably 50% of the time for over the last two years and I've lost a lot of weight and am way more healthy than I was. I eat all my calories in a 4-hr window. I don't think I'm binging. I know others with diagnosed BED that have controlled it by eating one meal a day. May be bad for some but has definitely helped some also.
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
    edited February 2018
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    clairekugler wrote: »
    Sorry. To clear it up, I did the meal fasting but I skipped breakfast and lunch. At dinner time, I ate 1400 calories. I ate so much I felt sick. How do you practice religious fasting without causing yourself to eat yourself sick at the end of the day?
    And how do you practice religious fasting (because it's constantly being pointed out how it's important during the school so I can't just skip it) without causing a disorder/bad attitude towards it. Does this help you help me??
    Thanks SO much for your guys' input! It's been helpful

    If your only fasting occasionally, then don't eat that much at the end of the fast. No need making you feel sick. A day here or there of low calories isn't going to hurt you and surely wont hurt in your weight loss efforts. Every day eating very low is not a good idea.

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