Fasting
Munchy0908
Posts: 6 Member
Hello,
I have started fasting and may look at doing a 24 hour fast. I dont want to lose my streak though. Does anyone know how I could do this and not lose my streak?
Thanks
I have started fasting and may look at doing a 24 hour fast. I dont want to lose my streak though. Does anyone know how I could do this and not lose my streak?
Thanks
7
Replies
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No one here will advocate a 24 hour fast.2
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You only need to log on to the site to keep your streak.
Why are you thinking of fasting for 24 hours it won't help your weight loss as you will just lose water weight and not fat. You might also be so hungry you overeat the next day. You could also suffer some dizzyness so please don't drive if you are doing this.5 -
The only reason to do a 24 hour fast is if it is required by your doctor or by your religious beliefs.4
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The only reason to do a 24 hour fast is if it is required by your doctor or by your religious beliefs.
I respectfully disagree - doing a 24 hour fast once in a while can help some people (as long as they make sure to be adequately hydrated) and at the very least doesn't hurt. I do agree, though, that there isn't anything magical about a fast, or anything about it that will somehow fix medical problems, put the body into some hyper-fat burning state or boost metabolism or anything like what some of the claims are; fasting isn't required for weight loss success and doesn't provide any special benefit, but it is a tool that some have used to help them stick to a calorie deficit successfully.manderson27 wrote: »You only need to log on to the site to keep your streak.
Why are you thinking of fasting for 24 hours it won't help your weight loss as you will just lose water weight and not fat. You might also be so hungry you overeat the next day. You could also suffer some dizzyness so please don't drive if you are doing this.
I know this is true for some people, but for others, like me, it can actually help. I actually am less hungry and eat less after doing an extended fast than before. I'll do a 16 - 24 hour fast once in a while whenever I notice that I'm starting to have trouble keeping my calorie count down and am feeling hungry all the time. I'll take one day and either fast the whole, or wait until evening to eat, and I find that when I do finally eat, it doesn't take much for me to feel full and its easier to maintain my calorie deficit the next few days. So for me, yes, a occasional fast does actually help me lose weight because it helps me get that mental control back (because I know that 95% of my hunger problems are mental and not actually physical; my brain drives me to eat). FOR ME, a single day fast helps calm down that mental drive to eat which in turn helps me stay at or under calorie budget, so its a tool I do utilize on occasion.
Of course this doesn't work for everyone, but a one day fast isn't going to hurt someone to try to see if it might help them. I know there is no super-secret fat burning benefits or anything like that, but if it can help an individual with the mental battle, it might be worth giving it a try.
I do agree with the dizziness thing, though - I don't always get dizzy, but sometimes I will - that's usually the signal to me that I should break fast and eat something, even just something small as that's usually a sign that my blood sugar has dropped too low.
If this is the first time you've tried a 24 hour fast, I'd suggest easing into it and paying attention to your body's signals and be willing to break it if needed. I'd also highly suggest consulting your doctor before giving it a shot - there are some medical conditions where fasting is not advisable.
8 -
There's nothing harmful about a 24 hour fast. It's one way of doing IF -- adding in a 24 hour fast or two in a week and otherwise eating normally. I think it's Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat method (although he apparently thinks the window forms of IF should be called intermittent eating). (I haven't tried the 24 hour fast, but I've done plenty of "don't eat at all for a day" -- which is more like a 32-36 hour fast, depending -- for religious reasons, and without preparing for them, and it's no big thing, although I do get hungry (not insanely so) and miss eating when I do them.)
Now, whether there are any benefits to a 24 hour fast will likely depend on the person, and just doing it once won't tell you anything but how difficult it is for you, but it's not risky or anything if one is healthy.
OP, if the concern is about losing your MFP streak, you won't. You don't have to log to get the streak, just check in. I don't log here and have a streak. Also, with a 24 hour fast you aren't going a whole day without eating. Eat dinner at 7:30 pm and finish at 8 pm, and then you eat dinner the following day at 8 pm -- that's a 24 hour fast.3 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »The only reason to do a 24 hour fast is if it is required by your doctor or by your religious beliefs.
I respectfully disagree - doing a 24 hour fast once in a while can help some people (as long as they make sure to be adequately hydrated) and at the very least doesn't hurt. I do agree, though, that there isn't anything magical about a fast, or anything about it that will somehow fix medical problems, put the body into some hyper-fat burning state or boost metabolism or anything like what some of the claims are; fasting isn't required for weight loss success and doesn't provide any special benefit, but it is a tool that some have used to help them stick to a calorie deficit successfully.manderson27 wrote: »You only need to log on to the site to keep your streak.
Why are you thinking of fasting for 24 hours it won't help your weight loss as you will just lose water weight and not fat. You might also be so hungry you overeat the next day. You could also suffer some dizzyness so please don't drive if you are doing this.
I know this is true for some people, but for others, like me, it can actually help. I actually am less hungry and eat less after doing an extended fast than before. I'll do a 16 - 24 hour fast once in a while whenever I notice that I'm starting to have trouble keeping my calorie count down and am feeling hungry all the time. I'll take one day and either fast the whole, or wait until evening to eat, and I find that when I do finally eat, it doesn't take much for me to feel full and its easier to maintain my calorie deficit the next few days. So for me, yes, a occasional fast does actually help me lose weight because it helps me get that mental control back (because I know that 95% of my hunger problems are mental and not actually physical; my brain drives me to eat). FOR ME, a single day fast helps calm down that mental drive to eat which in turn helps me stay at or under calorie budget, so its a tool I do utilize on occasion.
Of course this doesn't work for everyone, but a one day fast isn't going to hurt someone to try to see if it might help them. I know there is no super-secret fat burning benefits or anything like that, but if it can help an individual with the mental battle, it might be worth giving it a try.
I do agree with the dizziness thing, though - I don't always get dizzy, but sometimes I will - that's usually the signal to me that I should break fast and eat something, even just something small as that's usually a sign that my blood sugar has dropped too low.
If this is the first time you've tried a 24 hour fast, I'd suggest easing into it and paying attention to your body's signals and be willing to break it if needed. I'd also highly suggest consulting your doctor before giving it a shot - there are some medical conditions where fasting is not advisable.
The first thing I bolded was your line about how just trying a one day fast wouldn't hurt. The rest of the bolded parts are your words that contradict the first.
The other possible downsides of 24 or greater hour fasting:
You should not exercise during these fasts. In fact, you plan to keep fairly inactive which will also drop your NEAT for the day. The goal should be to be training yourself to move more not less.
It could be dangerous to drive.
You will likely drop to an artificial low on the scale and then be immediately disappointed when it returns to normal. Many people will misinterpret this as fat weight lost and then regained which will not be helpful until they learn otherwise.
It is believed that this level of deprivation could trigger a person with a predisposition to eating disorders.4 -
The first thing I bolded was your line about how just trying a one day fast wouldn't hurt. The rest of the bolded parts are your words that contradict the first.
The other possible downsides of 24 or greater hour fasting:
You should not exercise during these fasts. In fact, you plan to keep fairly inactive which will also drop your NEAT for the day. The goal should be to be training yourself to move more not less.
It could be dangerous to drive.
You will likely drop to an artificial low on the scale and then be immediately disappointed when it returns to normal. Many people will misinterpret this as fat weight lost and then regained which will not be helpful until they learn otherwise.
It is believed that this level of deprivation could trigger a person with a predisposition to eating disorders.
I disagree that I was contradicting myself. I did note that if I started feeling any negative effects I broke fast, however, that actually only happens rarely, and usually if I find myself getting busy when i didn't expect to be.
I was not expecting fat loss - I was using it to control hunger which was successful, and certainly wasn't promoting fasting as some magic fat-burning miracle; I actually repeated the opposite. Also, I don't fast on exercise days; when I do fast long term (and I'm not doing this weekly - its only occasionally) its on office days where I'm sedentary. And its a one day thing - I'm not doing this several days a week and am not recommending that.
I understand it's not necessarily a good idea for everyone which is also why I suggested the OP talk to their doctor before giving it a try; however, I disagree with the notion that all fasting is dangerous and a bad idea. I'm just suggesting that done sensibly and with a doctor's approval, it can be a helpful tool for SOME people. As I said, there are medical conditions where fasting is not advisable, which would cover the eating disorders, and of course if someone finds themselves sliding toward an eating disorder while using fasting as a tool they should discontinue it, but that doesn't mean that fasting is in itself a terrible or even dangerous idea. There are many people here who have use intermittent fasting with great success; I don't practice that in any regimented sort of way and was simply expressing that my occasional fasts have had some benefits for me. I certainly wasn't expecting miracles or such, but the reasons for why I was fasting aka hunger control were successful.
Of course if the OP does intent to do a full day fast, they should 1) speak to their doctor 2) do it on a day where they planned to keep exercise light 3) do it where they don't have to drive until they see how it is going to affect them 4) understand that its a tool not a miracle 5) if ill effects begin to manifest they should immediately discontinue the fast.
I disagree that an occasional fast or an occasional day of lighter activity is going to derail the OP or is something unhealthy.5 -
There's nothing harmful about a 24 hour fast. It's one way of doing IF -- adding in a 24 hour fast or two in a week and otherwise eating normally. I think it's Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat method (although he apparently thinks the window forms of IF should be called intermittent eating). (I haven't tried the 24 hour fast, but I've done plenty of "don't eat at all for a day" -- which is more like a 32-36 hour fast, depending -- for religious reasons, and without preparing for them, and it's no big thing, although I do get hungry (not insanely so) and miss eating when I do them.)
Now, whether there are any benefits to a 24 hour fast will likely depend on the person, and just doing it once won't tell you anything but how difficult it is for you, but it's not risky or anything if one is healthy.
OP, if the concern is about losing your MFP streak, you won't. You don't have to log to get the streak, just check in. I don't log here and have a streak. Also, with a 24 hour fast you aren't going a whole day without eating. Eat dinner at 7:30 pm and finish at 8 pm, and then you eat dinner the following day at 8 pm -- that's a 24 hour fast.
I'd also note that you probably don't plan to fast from drinking as well, do you? If so and if you really do want to log something, you could also log your water intake for the day.2 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »There's nothing harmful about a 24 hour fast. It's one way of doing IF -- adding in a 24 hour fast or two in a week and otherwise eating normally. I think it's Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat method (although he apparently thinks the window forms of IF should be called intermittent eating). (I haven't tried the 24 hour fast, but I've done plenty of "don't eat at all for a day" -- which is more like a 32-36 hour fast, depending -- for religious reasons, and without preparing for them, and it's no big thing, although I do get hungry (not insanely so) and miss eating when I do them.)
Now, whether there are any benefits to a 24 hour fast will likely depend on the person, and just doing it once won't tell you anything but how difficult it is for you, but it's not risky or anything if one is healthy.
OP, if the concern is about losing your MFP streak, you won't. You don't have to log to get the streak, just check in. I don't log here and have a streak. Also, with a 24 hour fast you aren't going a whole day without eating. Eat dinner at 7:30 pm and finish at 8 pm, and then you eat dinner the following day at 8 pm -- that's a 24 hour fast.
I'd also note that you probably don't plan to fast from drinking as well, do you? If so and if you really do want to log something, you could also log your water intake for the day.
So just logging water will keep my streak going then? Thanks for the info0 -
Munchy0908 wrote: »bmeadows380 wrote: »
I'd also note that you probably don't plan to fast from drinking as well, do you? If so and if you really do want to log something, you could also log your water intake for the day.
So just logging water will keep my streak going then? Thanks for the info
well, as someone said before - you don't actually have to log any foods or even close the day; all you have to do is sign into your account to keep your streak going, if its the daily summary streak you are going for. But if you feel like you really must log something even on a fast day, then you could at least log your water. Note that the food dairy won't close for days where you are under the minimum limit, but you don't have to actually close to get the streak count anyway, so it's not that big of a deal.2
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