Have you ever tried fasting for a day? Well, there are actually different opinions with regards to fasting and some of the common reasons why people apply this type of habit includes health benefits, weight loss and others do it for religious beliefs and many others. Also, there are many types of fasting that one can practice – water fasting, juice fasting, fruit fasting and abstaining from certain group of foods.
Fasting have different methods but all of them serves similar benefits or purpose. This article will guide you on different details about fasting programs, its definitions, methods, benefits and will focus more on the most commonly applied fasting method together with its relationship to weight loss – Water Fasting.
An introduction to Fasting
So what is fasting? People can easily define this habit as depriving yourself of eating a particular set of foods for a specific period of time. Controlling your food consumption for a week with just drinking water or not eating or drinking for a few hours within a day are all considered as fasting. Fasting are more evident in religious activities and practices as a sign of their faith. But fasting are also practiced to achieve total health and wellness. However, abstaining from solid foods in a prolonged periods of time can also be dangerous if applied in the wrong way.
Water plays an important role in any types of fasting method. Only water can be taken for voluntary fasting of any methods especially if your goal is to attain good health and weight loss. In some religious beliefs, even water is also restricted for certain hours but will not go over a day. Other methods only allows fresh juice drinks and prohibits solid foods. These methods can be done for a day or for a certain period of time.
So the motivation for fasting can be spiritual reasons, health and fitness, or could be both. Either way, fasting do offer health benefits such as detoxification, which is the main reason why medical professionals recommend a patient to fast. Fasting are also required as an initial requirement for some medical procedures such as blood chemistry, surgeries and many others.
If you are looking forward into a unique fast regimen, you first have to remember that it is not the best way nor a “quick” way to achieve effective weight loss. Like any other weight loss programs, it will take a lot of hard work, dedication and discipline to ensure you reach your physical goals. And water fasting is no different. Lets take a look about this type of fasting program and how it can benefit your health and your weight loss endeavors.
Water fasting weight loss benefits
Water fasting is one of the effective way to lose weight naturally because you prohibits yourself to eat foods. But you have to be cautious on the way you apply this technique as too much fasting can also cause health complications. While it cleanses your body of toxins and possible diseases, you also enjoy natural shedding of weight. Water fasting is known for years as a powerful source of healing, rejuvenation and spiritual peace.
This technique also offer outstanding skin benefits as it is known to have anti-aging effects. Thru water fasting, you will also increase your energy levels, mental stability and emotional confidence that the fasting end-result provides. But with these incredible benefits, this type of weight loss program will guarantee some hunger sensations and detox symptoms.
However, you should not rush yourself to fast and it is ideal to do partial fasting first before you go into a full-blown fasting program. For example, frequent fatty meals won’t jive well if you suddenly fast without any initial preparation. A wrong water fast can disrupt your body rhythm which can give health disorders instead of benefits.
Also, it won’t give you a long and lasting weight loss. So, if you are not sure that water fasting is the one that you really need in your weight loss problems, then I suggest that you do other alternatives instead of trying it hard to work. If this is the case, you are not really enjoying your weight loss journey but instead you are making it a punishment program for you.
Water fasting weight loss numbers
According to some reports, the average weight loss of water fast is about 10 pounds per week, 6 pounds for the succeeding week and 3 pounds on the third week. As you can see, the weight loss numbers declines each succeeding weeks which makes it at an average end result of 1 pound per day for a three week water fasting program.
Now that is not the best ideal way to lose weight right? Although it can effectively help you lose some pounds, it will take you more time and fasting efforts to lose more weight. You probably hurting your body more than losing weight so I suggest that you do other weight loss alternatives such as natural metabolism charger Phen375 or get a personalized dieting program through Amanda Hamilton’s Diet Secrets.
Water fasting tips
Okay if you are still thinking of starting a water fast program, then you need to do the following tips to ensure that you do it right and help prevents sacrificing your health.
Before you start to water fast, you need to reduce your sugar, fats and caffeine intake. Make sure that you are slowly reducing your food consumption at least a week before you fast. Tell your family that you are going to undergo water fasting to support your weight loss program or for other health reasons. This is to make your family aware on your health status which is an important precaution when doing any fast activities. Choose the best water for fasting as much as possible. It is advisable to use alkaline water as it offers much more benefits that you regular distilled water. Make sure that you also eat a lot of steamed vegetables, lean poultry and fish. Once you drink more water, reduce your sugar, fats and caffeine intake, you will experience rapid bowel movements which is the sign of the cleansing and detoxification process. Every time you sense hunger, drink at least two glasses of water. Also, make sure that you are basically at home for the duration of your water fast program to have sufficient supply of water. If you start to feel hunger pains, then it means that your body is now working to take out the toxins. Drink any types of tea that can help ease the pain. I suggest you drink Tava Tea, a natural Chinese herb tea specially designed for weight loss.
You can do a one day water fast or a much more prolonged fasting program. But remember that during fasting, your metabolism will slow dramatically and will be a great opportunity for your body to store more fats. So make sure that you avoid fatty foods before, during and after your fasting program.
Also, if you discontinue to fast unexpectedly from your program, you will need sufficient time before you can actually do any weight loss activities such as exercise. You need to gradually crawl back to your right body rhythm before you do any intense exercise.
To be able to maintain weight loss after your water fasting program ends, you need to eat more fruits, vegetables, wheat products and absolutely no fatty processed and junk foods. Eat more salads and continue drinking more water and teas from time to time. Plus, avoid eating oil foods like fried meats and burgers.
Wait for your normal body rhythms to go back to normal before you do intense exercises such as weight training, sports and many others. Once your body recovers from your fasting regimen, start to add lean and white meats in your diet. Remember, if you follow these tips, you will very well achieve the weight loss benefits of water fasting.
Conclusion
Since I am really not a fan of fasting programs, I would not recommend this type of weight loss strategy for you. Yes it can effectively shed some pounds for you but it offers more health risks than benefits. Also if you are suffering from obesity, you probably will have more health risks doing water fasting because of the amounts of fats you have to lose.
If you are uncomfortable with the difficulties or don’t want to risk water fasting, there are several supplements available where you can use these to burn fat. Similar to water fast or any fasting, they target the metabolism and internal fat-burning hormones to trigger them with boosted activity. They work well with little changes towards a healthy lifestyle rather than following hard routines.
Weight loss is all about how much work you could give to your weight loss problems. Another thing is consistency which is very hard to apply if you are fasting. Can you imaging yourself fasting from time to time? Of course not! So better put yourself into other programs rather than wasting your time waster fasting.
