[Blue_Bird]

I'm planning on doing it soon to lose weight, while working out during it. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with it.

[Travelinglady]

I haven't tried it. I hope it's not just drinking water for 30 days. That would be very risky to health. How does it work, Blue_Bird?

[Blue_Bird]

Hi Travelinglady It's just drinking 7-10 glasses of water each day. I doubt I can make it half the time though Lol

[SnakeCharmer]

A 30 day water fast while also working out would be very risky, unless you had daily medical supervision to monitor electrolytes and blood sugar levels.

My H and I have experimented with fasting for a maximum of 72 hours in order to reset our immune systems. This is with the permission of our doctors. Research shows that a fast of up to three days several times a year can restart healthy stem cell production, especially for people with cancer and immune problems. That's why we're doing it.

Sorry to say, but fasting to lose weight is a very bad idea. Most research shows that people who go on very low calorie diets tend to become obsessed with food, depressed, self-injuring, isolated, disinterested in sex and generally miserable. Those symptoms can last quite a while.

Starvation -- fasting is a form of starvation -- for extended periods can slow the metabolism down. When eating recommences, the body tends to store calories as fat because it is preparing for the next food shortage. This is something that is well documented in parts of the world that have suffered famine. It's probably hardwired into our genetic make-up because our long-ago ancestors lived in a world where food shortages and famine were common. Starvation cues the body to fatten up again quickly as soon as food becomes available.

Fasting for 30 days in order to lose weight could very well trigger an eating disorder and future weight gain.

At the end of WWII, the military sponsored the Minnesota Starvation Experiment to determine the effects of semi-starvation on the human body and psyche. The volunteers did not fast. They ate the food that was available in war-torn Europe where people were subsisting on much less food than they were used to eating. Below is a summary of the results of the starvation study. Please research this subject carefully before you subject your body and your mind to this kind of extreme stress.

Minnesota Starvation Study Summary

Among the conclusions from the study was the confirmation that prolonged semi-starvation produces significant increases in depression, hysteria and hypochondriasis as measured using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.

Indeed, most of the subjects experienced periods of severe emotional distress and depression.[1]:161 There were extreme reactions to the psychological effects during the experiment including self-mutilation (one subject amputated three fingers of his hand with an axe, though the subject was unsure if he had done so intentionally or accidentally).[5]

Participants exhibited a preoccupation with food, both during the starvation period and the rehabilitation phase. Sexual interest was drastically reduced, and the volunteers showed signs of social withdrawal and isolation.[1]:123–124

The participants reported a decline in concentration, comprehension and judgment capabilities, although the standardized tests administered showed no actual signs of diminished capacity.

There were marked declines in physiological processes indicative of decreases in each subject’s basal metabolic rate (the energy required by the body in a state of rest), reflected in reduced body temperature, respiration and heart rate.

Some of the subjects exhibited edema in their extremities, presumably due to decreased levels of plasma proteins given that the body's ability to construct key proteins like albumin is based on available energy sources.

This sounds like a terrible idea. I would imagine even if you managed it without doing yourself damage, you'd regain any weight you lost fairly quickly once you resumed normal eating.

[Perna]

I assume you got the idea off the proana site or youtube. I would consider the consequences and whether you want to pay them; your parents/loved ones will probably be down on you like a load of bricks and an end result could be hospitalization, health problems for the rest of your life, and loss of freedom?

[krisakira]

It is highly advised to NOT exercise during a fast. They recommend light yoga instead.

[TheatreKid]

Any weight you lose by water fasting is just going to come back when you end the fast. And you can't fast forever and still expect to live. There are healthy ways to lose weight that actually work, but it's through moderation and the progress is slow.

It's been shown that dieting and fasting can mess with your "set point", your natural weight, and make it higher - your body fights to maintain your set point and you don't want to mess with it, because then your body will naturally return to higher and higher weights. That's why yo-yo dieting never works.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Have you ever heard of the Daniel fast? Its actually for religious reasons but its really healthy and will not hurt your body.

Drink only water. Eat vegetables....no meat..bread etc Nothing except natural vegetables. No dressings or sauces. You can cook the veggies but no adding sauces like I said. No dairy products. Its restrictive but it wont hurt you. oh and you can eat nuts.

[-jimi-]

Just water for a month and exercise. I don't really have words for this. Water fast by itself is dangerous...

[krisakira]

Bird, did you think we would approve of this?

[TheatreKid]

Originally Posted by HALLIEBETH87

Have you ever heard of the Daniel fast? Its actually for religious reasons but its really healthy and will not hurt your body.

Drink only water. Eat vegetables....no meat..bread etc Nothing except natural vegetables. No dressings or sauces. You can cook the veggies but no adding sauces like I said. No dairy products. Its restrictive but it wont hurt you. oh and you can eat nuts.

Cutting out whole food groups that human beings were built to eat WILL hurt you eventually. It is not healthy. Just because vegetables are healthy doesn't mean eating ONLY vegetables is healthy.

[-jimi-]

I'm not sure "fasting" on fruit and veg and drink enough water will hurt you because it is limited to 3 weeks. But I think it fully depends on if you do a lot of physical activity, then you need to make sure you have veg with proteins.

[TheatreKid]

I didn't know it was time limited - and people don't always do it for the time it's recommended. I'm just extra sensitive to this kind of thing, because people start out like this and end up with eating disorders. Starvation (and yes, that's what you're doing) affects your brain and makes you more susceptible to an eating disordered mindset. It's a cycle - starve, binge because your body makes you since we weren't meant to starve ourselves, feel guilty, repeat until you're so stuck in an eating disorder you can't get out. I can't imagine why anyone would want to put themselves through that hell. If I could have avoided it, I would have done anything.

[-jimi-]

It's true indeed. Especially if you fast for the wrong reasons. I mean it might lead up to bad things even for the right reasons but I guess a little bit safer.

When I was young I did a one week fast with some liquid calories. It had nothing to do with weight loss, it was more a spiritual thing. I could go back to normal eating after.

[Blue_Bird]

I wrote this thread after being up for 3 days thinking I could do anything, I'm not going to do it, this sounds really ridiculous now.

[silver_queen]

Glad you've changed your mind.

I began a water fast a few years ago. Got as far as 14 or 15 days if I remember correctly. I have to say, unless I was an exception, you wouldn't be doing any gym work, because towards the end of the fast I was so physically tired all the time I could hardly stay out of bed. I think you get a certain mindset when fasting whereby losing weight is the most important thing. But fasting like that, and especially attempting exercise at the same time, is going to damage your organs, including your heart.

[martharom724]

It is not a good idea. Drink more water in a day is looks good for health but also eat healthy food and vegetables. Do exercise twice a day. You can include jump rope in your exercise. It will give you the positive results.

[The_little_didgee]

Originally Posted by HALLIEBETH87

Drink only water. Eat vegetables....no meat..bread etc Nothing except natural vegetables. No dressings or sauces. You can cook the veggies but no adding sauces like I said. No dairy products. Its restrictive but it wont hurt you. oh and you can eat nuts.

This diet sounds brutal. It would definitely require a lot of discipline.

The incessant hunger, stomach cramps, hershey squirts and gas is enough to deter me from ever trying this diet.