I’m planning on water fasting to lose around 20 pounds in 22 days in time for Christmas Eve. Would I be able to lose that much? Would it be safe to do cardio or weight lifting to speed up the progress? How long would I have to fast for to lose that much weight before Christmas Eve?
Really the only time you’re losing a significant amount of water weight will be when you start fasting. Your body dumps water, similar to what happens when you switch to a ketogenic diet. You’ll treat it the same: drink electrolytes. And if you refeed with a ketogenic meal, you won’t have to worry about putting on a bunch of water weight either.
I fast and weight train and cardio. Feels fine. I prefer fasted exercise but HIIT is definitely harder at the end of longer fasts.
20 pounds in 22 days is aggressive and doable: you are an aggressive person who can do challenging things! Try starting with rolling 48s: fast for 48 hours, eat one meal, fast 48 hours. You’ll at least prove to yourself you can do it and not die.
I personally find it much easier to fast 60+ hours, and prefer rolling 72s at least; and as long as I can stand/as long as no family plans with meals coincides on my scheduled feeding day.
You also need to take into consideration the refeeding period. I refeed 1 day for every 2 days of water fasting. I average 2 lbs loss per day. And 1 lbs during refeeding. But also gain 1/3 of the lost weight back after fasting (holidays). I suggest doing a 14 day fast (14-28 lbs) then refeeding for 7 days (7 lbs). Then you’ll be able to enjoy the holiday foods. But if you screw up the refeeding process you can cause your self some serious problems. Do your research. Buy immodium.