I’ve been water fasting for weight loss for days (I’m very overweight). It makes me feel really well, both mentally and physically, and I look forward to the health benefits. I’ve also been watching a lot of Dr. Fung to keep myself motivated.
I’m considering water fasting 5 days/week indefinitely. Nothing but water Monday-Friday (except the occasional tea or snake juice as needed), and then tons of nutrient-dense whole foods on the weekends. Every week, if I don’t have any issues with it.
Is this safe, or is it too extreme?
Depends on how much you weigh. I do not think that’s a healthy long term diet. I think, if you have say, 40-50lbs you’re looking to lose, then that’s a good temporary program to maintain, till you lose the weight. If you have more weight than that to lose, I don’t think it’s a good plan to do for any longer than a few months.
I tried this, and it worked well for awhile. My only problem was lacking follow through, really probably hormones and then I talked myself into changing it up. Then I tried 3 days a week. I liked that too, then hormones again, I’m going to try and get back into it next week. Just don’t be too hard on yourself if you need a break once un a while. And you know electrolytes :) good luck let me know how it goes!
There’s a gent who actually did that on here & would post amazing results. Of course we educate ourselves first but it’s something I also been wanting to do. Keep us posted if you go through with it 💪
I tried 3 days water fast and 4 days omad every week for 3 months. I was borderline obese when started now reached normal weight. I find it pretty difficult to fast once I reached normal weight( may be psychological)Unsure of 5 days fast indefinitely though
I fasted between 48-72 hours a week (sometimes adding in an extra day) for around 8 months and went from 350lbs to 220. I hover around 210 and 220, but I rarely fast anymore. My point is only that you don’t have to be this extreme for weight loss, but do what feels good for your body. I am 6’3 39 year old male and I don’t know what your age or gender is, which could make a huge difference.
I think it’s possible if you maintain electrolytes and have a strong willpower. My issue with doing 5 days and then eating is usually during the 5 days I start getting some wild bowel movements. I would consider supplementing fiber when you do eat as it might help. This might also be a “your mileage may vary” type of thing, what I go through while fasting may not be what you will experience
I once did two three day fasts a week from about august to November. I would basically do two days no eating one day omad then two more days no eating one day omad and one refeed day.
I felt great and got pretty good results but I hit a wall in November and had to stop, also my results slowed wayyyyy down and I basically held on to this weird squishy droopy gut thing.
I also think I crashed my adrenal function to a good degree and it took some off time from my routine and from fasting and other states of stress.
Weight this was probably from about 190ish to 170ish so honestly not that effective for the time frame.
I don’t regret it as it taught me a lot about my body and how it feels during chronic stress but the benefits of fasting and exercise and other things come from the fact that it is acute stress.
I’d say you can but tread lightly and don’t do it more than 4-6 weeks, pay attention to your body, and possibly alternate between 5 and 3 to let your basal metabolic rate recover a bit.
Good luck
You say you are very overweight - are you morbidly obese? If so, I would say this kind of fasting might be ok in the short term, because you’re moving your body out of the danger zone. However, the word “indefinitely” makes me nervous. Once you’re moving closer to a healthy weight, I’m not sure that it’s healthy or sustainable to only eat 2 days a week on an indefinite basis.
Perhaps you could do this 5 day fasting for a couple of months, and then tone it down gradually. Maybe do one week on, one week off, or gradually increase the number of none fasting days per week.
How much weight do you have to lose? 800lbs? 80lbs? If a person’s insulin is high, longer fasts will lower it more, increasing fat loss. But once you get to a healthy weight and you don’t have a lot of extra fat to lose why keep doing 5 day fasts? Get regular lab work and check up with your doctor on a regular basis. You body adapts to what you do, so you need some randomness and changes for your metabolism.
Me personally I’d say that’s too extreme as there’s simply no need to do that in 2022.. Use fasting and IF to get your weight down to what you want it to be, then from there figure out what your body needs calorie wise.
From there just eat to maintain that weight you want to be and from there fast the day before or after nights out or family gatherings (basically times you know you’re going to pig out, I use to do this and I could enjoy and eat whatever I wanted guilt free).
No matter what you do your body will adapt to the ‘new normal’
I change my fasting and refeeds every 4 to 6 weeks
In my opinion. 5 day fasts week after week is not sustainable. Fasting burnout is a real thing.
What most people miss with fasting is you need refeed periods. The refeed is just as important as the fast if you want sustainable weightloss and health without muscle loss.