Hi! Why do so many people say eating 800 calories a day for 4-6 weeks would cause health issues but some people water fast for a month at a time and it’s not frowned upon? Obviously in this scenario you would take extra supplements as needed just as you would a water fast.
People do frown on fasting. And i would say a month long fast is rare, i don’t think most people even know it’s a thing to live off water and some supplements for a whole month. People already ask how i was able to do a few days fast.
But i do think fasting is more doable than high caloric restriction. Body adjusts to low calories like and you’re just always gonna be hungry. Once you get into a proper fasted state hunger disappears and you feel more energetic(i think this disappears during very long fasts, but i don’t do those.)
Fasting isn’t as inherently healthy as many people insist, the community around IF/fasting has gotten significantly more cult-like in the last few years, glossing over or completely disregarding the negatives and exaggerating or making up positives. Like literally insisting anyone and everyone should be frequently doing multi-day fasts, even crap like suggesting that to people already underweight and/or with history of eating disorders.
There seems to be a dangerous fad going around about water fasting. It’s not safe to do either of the things you mention. Don’t get health advice from online influencers. Use science.
See this article: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/water-fasting
Fasting for over a week is dangerous and should be done with supervision. If you are physically active or if you operate heavy machinery, you should consult a professional before considering any form of fasting protocol because of the risk of injury.
That being said, fasting is just an extreme caloric deficit like any other. Eating only 500 calories a day is almost as extreme as fasting. There is a fasting mimetic diet which aims to imitate the benefits of fasting whilst eating enough to get some micronutrients in.
Both fasting and big calorie deficits tend to create a yoyo effect, meaning you gain the weight back after you go back to eating what you used to. Maybe you even gain more.
Extended fasts are really not that healthy at all and generally unsafe if you don’t know what you’re doing/not under medical supervision. You’re putting your body under a lot of stress for quick weight loss, which tends to be gained back quickly because the longer you go, the more you are inclined to binge on food because your body doesn’t know when it’ll be nourished again.
A safe calorie deficit with a balanced diet and exercise is what is healthiest for your mental and physical health. When you’re losing weight, it can’t be something you don’t stick with in the long-term or you will end up gaining the weight back through unhealthy habits. You must change how you eat and your lifestyle over time to ensure your results are sustainable.
Fasting benefits are greatly overstated, and the fasting community is very sensitive if you say anything they disagree with. That said, the real actual benefit from fasting are mental and spiritual.
You can get the same negative effects from prolonged fasting protocols, as you can from excessive calorie restriction over time. That doesn’t make fasting bad, necessarily. As long as it’s done responsibly it can be a really effective tool.
Water soluble vitamins (B’s & C) as well as all aminos are not stored, excess is peed out, you should be hitting your RDA’s for these every day. Additionally while minerals are stored in the body using them for the metabolism requires the body to leech them out of structure which weakens your body.
Hitting vitamin, mineral & amino targets on a very heavily calorie restricted diet is very very difficult. This is why engineered meals exist for people who need insanely high density nutrition due to health issues.
Personally I find getting to be ok with hunger to be easier than planned fasting. Our response to hunger, and that we feel the need to satiate it immediately, is very much a learned behaviour and as such something we can unlearn. I used to do 16/8 incidentally because of how when I liked to eat but since I started forcing myself to eat breakfast I tend to eat less overall and im sharper in the mornings. I plan healthy snacks in to my meal plan but only eat them maybe 20% of the time, if I get hungry between meals i’ll have a big glass of water or some bone broth most of the time.
The thing is, prolonged water fasts are NOT for the average person and SHOULD NOT be done without consulting your doctor no matter what. The most important thing is, don’t use IF to entertain disordered eating. The fact that you’re entertaining the idea of only eating 800cal a day for a month or two is slippery slope. If you’re looking to lose weight, remember that losing weight is meaningless if you lose your health along with it.
For those who say fasting is dangerous, please delete your post or cite your sources. Fasting is not dangerous, and has been done in every civilization/religion/culture since the beginning of recorded history. Fasting is also something first world civilizations (America, Europe, etc.) used to do regularly as part of daily life. There is tons and tons and tons of scientific data that explain the health benefits of fasting-including cell autophagy, prevention of seizures, and delaying of dementia-like old age symptoms. The jury is still out on whether it’s better for weight loss than calorie restriction overall, but that aside: fasting is a wonderful, beneficial practice that has amazing health benefits. But Please do your research and don’t listen to Randos on Reddit – including me.