Re: Fasting to Completion Question
Mouseclick,
as an addition to Fontys comments..........
#1. Fasting to completion can be accomplished within a matter of days of the commencement of the fast, even well before food-reserves have been exhausted, if that is all the body requires to complete its work of internal house-cleaning and healing; whereas someone who is toxemic and requires healing will take much longer to do so. The length of the fast cannot therefore be determined a priori. Some fasters have even been known to reach the skeleton condition before hunger has returned.
#2.Yes. The quality of the food reserves will determine the length of the fast, so an individual with poor quality food reserves will be unable to fast as long as someone with good quality reserves. Paradoxically, an obese individual (who seems to be well nourished) may be unable to safely fast for as long as someone who is thin for this very reason.
#3. Possibly; but as the body detoxes and self-heals from initial fasts, then the work of the body, of cleansing & healing (and the return of hunger) will be reached at an earlier stage of the fast, even with more food reserves on hand & at a greater weight (Shelton).
#4. I am not sure as to the number of fat cells being of a fixed number, but if digestion and assimilation are efficient then fat will be stored to a greater and greater extent: one has only to look at extremely obese people who have to be airlifted into hospital, and/or removed from their homes by the local fire-brigade, to know this. However, when these people lose weight by fasting, then their fat cells will be so diminished in size, that the end result will be to appear as if they had not been obese whatsoever, and give a physical appearance of "normality".
I would also think that fat-cells are created as and when needed and lost to the body by a process known as apoptosis (or cell-death) when they are not. This would seem to be the logical approach by the body, although I cannot be certain of it and is worthy of further investigation.
Regards
Chrisb1.