# Question on fasting
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 2, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842 "2013-01-02T17:17:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/1 "2013-01-02T17:17:00Z")
I’m trying to lose weight. I’m doing it via WeightWatchers and chugging along slowly. However, some friends of mine are advocating a fast.
Basically, it’s 9 days long. First three days, reduce food intake. Middle three days, zero food intake. Last three days, start eating baby food and working up to soup, etc. until I’m back to normal eating on day 10. And of course, fluids throughout, vitamin supplements, etc.
I’ve always been leery of stuff like this, especially when I hear all about how it will cleanse the toxins out of my body, etc. What do you guys think of this?
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### Author:  [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/2 "2013-01-02T17:18:48Z")
Zero food intake, as in nothing but zero-calories liquids?
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### Author:  [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/3 "2013-01-02T18:06:18Z")
Pretty much. Gatorade if needed, water otherwise.
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### Author:  [@Mornac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mornac)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/4 "2013-01-02T18:26:16Z")
During Lent I always fast on weekdays. I have 2 cups of coffee in the morning and I drink as needed during the day (usually water, but I take anything offered). In the evening I eat whatever happens to be for dinner. I eat until I’m full and I don’t eat again after I walk away from the table until dinner the following night. On Sundays I eat whatever I want whenever I want. By the end of Lent (46 or 47 days) I’ve usually lost 12 to 15 lbs. When I resume my normal eating habits after Easter, I put a few of ‘em back on immediately but mange to keep my weight down through the summer and pretty much up to Thanksgiving when I let myself go for the rest of the year. Just this past week I’ve reached my watermark from last Ash Wednesday and I just checked the calendar this morning to see how fast the next one is approaching (Feb. 13th – pretty early this year). I’ve never suffered any ill effects from this and I always feel appreciably better as the weight falls off.
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### Author:  [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/5 "2013-01-02T18:35:51Z")
Three days without food sounds crazy to me. I wonder if any of these friends
of yours have really ever gone three days without eating, and I think it is a
safe bet your Doctor would pitch a fit if you mentioned the idea to him.
On the other hand, I believe have read that the unuually healthy and long-lived
Okinawans often fast on alternate days, eating all they want on the non-fast day.
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### Author:  [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/6 "2013-01-02T18:43:44Z")
> [@colonial](#):
>
> Three days without food sounds crazy to me. I wonder if any of these friends
> of yours have really ever gone three days without eating, and I think it is a
> safe bet your Doctor would pitch a fit if you mentioned the idea to him.
>
> On the other hand, I believe have read that the unuually healthy and long-lived
> Okinawans often fast on alternate days, eating all they want on the non-fast day.
I’ve fasted for 3 days at least 6 or 8 times. I’ve done 1 4-day fast as well. Did me no great harm. In fact, it tends to clear the mind and make you very mellow.
As long as you don’t have blood sugar issues, it’s generally not a bad thing. It’s not a good idea to try to lose weight this way, though. You’re better off changing your eating habits permanently, instead of yo-yoing up and down by fasting and then eating junk.
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### Author:  [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/7 "2013-01-02T18:44:47Z")
Any talk of ‘cleansing’ pings my bullshit-ometer. Sounds like WW is working for you - and weight loss is more likely to be permanent when you lose it slowly. Stay the course.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/8 "2013-01-02T18:57:58Z")
> [@Clothahump](#):
>
> I’m doing it via WeightWatchers and chugging along slowly. However, some friends of mine are advocating a fast.
I take it you are paying money to WeightWatchers to help you lose weight. So are you going to listen to a professional weight losing organization or your friends?
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/9 "2013-01-02T19:09:58Z")
Fasting may slow your metabolism and result in less weight loss than the weightwatcher’s diet. Trust me when I say that this can be depressing. You may also regain additional weight when you go back to more normal dieting, as your metabolism will stay low for awhile. This can be VERY depressing. On a diet, I wouldn’t recommend skipping meals, let alone fasting.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/10 "2013-01-02T20:46:40Z")
> [@Duckster](#):
>
> I take it you are paying money to WeightWatchers to help you lose weight. So are you going to listen to a professional weight losing organization or your friends?
If WW is working for you, don’t do anything to screw it up. The best way to lose weight is lifestyle changes and steady progress. Unless you really plan on incorporating these fasts into your regular diet don’t add it now.
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### Author:  [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/11 "2013-01-02T20:55:23Z")
I would also recommend sticking with what has been working so far. Most people who are trying to lose weight experience slowdowns, plateaus, or even slight weight gain from week to week, especially as they near their goal weight, but it’s not good to panic and switch gears completely. I found that the best thing that I did when I experienced a slowdown or plateau (I lost over 70 lbs. over the course of a year and a quarter) was to keep track of what I was eating, identifying one or two potential “problem” foods (relatively empty calories, like _gasp_ beer) and take a break from those foods for a while to see if it helps, rather than a totally drastic change.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/12 "2013-01-02T20:56:30Z")
Fasting as a diet or “cure” is pseudoscientific bullshit derived from the pleasure-is-bad, deprivation-and-pain-is-good school of religion and ethics. Other than short medical fasts for testing and surgery reasons, fasting is somewhere between useless and bad for your body.
Yeah, you’ll lose some weight. But not in a good way and not for very long.
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### Author:  [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/13 "2013-01-02T21:15:44Z")
> [@al27052](#):
>
> I’ve fasted for 3 days at least 6 or 8 times. I’ve done 1 4-day fast as well. Did me no great harm. In fact, it tends to clear the mind and make you very mellow.
>
> As long as you don’t have blood sugar issues, it’s generally not a bad thing. It’s not a good idea to try to lose weight this way, though. You’re better off changing your eating habits permanently, instead of yo-yoing up and down by fasting and then eating junk.
Fine, just don’t try to tell me you got an MD to sign off on these fasts of yours.
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### Author:  [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/14 "2013-01-02T22:41:26Z")
I’m studying nutrition science right now and from what I’ve learned, this is a bad idea for weight loss. While it will work in the sense that you will lose some weight, a lot of it will be lean body mass rather than fat. When you lose lean body mass, your base metabolism slows. The more your metabolism slows, the less you can eat and not gain weight. Weight Watchers is a fantastic program. Weight loss that you want to maintain for the long term should be done in a slow and stable manner.
Also, the toxin thing is complete BS.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/15 "2013-01-02T22:50:59Z")
IANAD but I’ve heard the point of these cyclic diets is your metabolism doesn’t have a chance to get used to a diminished diet. When you eat a certain amount of food, your body is used to that level. When you start dieting, you eat less food and you notice weight loss. But the weight loss slows as your body gets used to the new amount of food you’re eating. You’re still eating less than you were but you’re no longer seeing the weight loss.
A cyclic diet where you fast some days, eat a reduced amount some days, and eat a normal amount some days means your body never gets used to any particular level of food. So your metabolism keeps working at a high level and you get more weight loss from the days when you eat less.
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### Author:  [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/16 "2013-01-03T00:24:36Z")
> [@colonial](#):
>
> Fine, just don’t try to tell me you got an MD to sign off on these fasts of yours.
There are dozens of MDs that recommend, support, and even supervise fasts. I can refer you to several, if you’d like.
The main benefits for me were getting rid of annoying little health problems (at least for the duration of the fast) and the extreme clarity of mind. Most people think much more clearly while fasting. It’s not a good idea to do it during cold weather, though, at least not for more than a day or two, usually. The hotter the weather, the better.
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### Author:  [@MsBatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsBatt)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/17 "2013-01-03T02:24:10Z")
How much weight have you already lost with WW? How much more do you want to lose?
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/18 "2013-01-03T02:49:59Z")
Ok, let me start off by saying I am as skeptical and outright ridiculing of all these bullshit “cleansing” diets and other “woo”-health related scams as anyone.
_However_, my parents swear by this exact diet. My mom convinced my dad (who is the skeptical one of the two) to do it and he did lose weight. It’s been about two months now and for the most part he has kept it off.
I’m just reporting the facts. I’m abstaining from commenting anything further. I will say my parents eat a rather healthy diet overall.
ETA: Actually, upon reading closer, it’s not exactly the same diet. They fasted but consumed a certain vegetable juice as sustenance.
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### Author:  [@SerafinaPekala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SerafinaPekala)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/19 "2013-01-03T03:02:22Z")
pdf of “Eat Stop Eat” which explains the process:
[http://spartantraining-blogg.se/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Eat-Stop-Eat.pdf](http://spartantraining-blogg.se/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Eat-Stop-Eat.pdf)
“For healthy people wanting a simple and effective way to lose weight, the
combination of short-term fasting and exercise is an easy way to create a caloric
deficit and has no negative impact on our metabolism or our muscle. Fasting
for 24 hours, once or twice a week may be the easiest way to decrease your
calorie intake by 20-30%, without having to sacrifice and restrict what you eat.
It’s like getting the benefits of an entire week of strict dieting, while only
sacrificing for one or two days.”
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-fasting/645842/20 "2013-01-03T03:20:29Z")
> [@colonial](#):
>
> Fine, just don’t try to tell me you got an MD to sign off on these fasts of yours.
I’m not sure why you think it would be that problematic.
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