Re: Should a 19-year-old girl fast?
Hi Annafire,
re: "I'm 19 y/o and I weigh about 110
lbs. I have been wanting to fast, not for weight loss, because I think my weight is fine, but for the general cleansing effect, but will I lose too much weight? .... I've been reading massive weight losses for other people here and I don't think that would be very healthy for me."
At 110
pounds i would expect you to lose about .3 "real"
pounds per day, mostly fat, plus what you lose in exercise. The massive losses you read about are misleading, largely water loss and therefore temporary. If you fasted say 10 days (and didn't exercise, just for this example), you would lose about 3 real
pounds and perhaps another 10 pounds in water, most of which you can fully expect to return within 2-3 weeks after you break the fast.
re: "I was originally planning to exercise a lot during the fast, so that the toxins would be used up faster and the fast would take less time ....... My goal is to get rid of all my toxins so I can "start over," so I want to excercise a lot during the water fast."
Though this seems intuitively sound (and to me as well), from what i have read, exercise while beneficial in some ways would not actually help you to eliminate toxins faster. I would however like to see confirmation from chrisb1 or others on this point.
I exercise in my fasts becase i want to lose more weight and keep my metabolism moving faster. Also because i believe it makes my fast considerably more comfortable. If you wish to lose less weight, i believe exercise, is something that you could minimize while not compromising your toxic elimination.
re: "a. Is a
Water Fast healthy for somebody of my age and weight?"
I believe yes and yes. If you were 16, i would say, "i'm not sure". But it is a good question and I want to ask here, what age is too young to fast?... and would it vary depending upon the length of fast?
re: "b. Is there a possible measure of time I can expect before I'm "clean" again?"
You are young, it sounds like you are very fit and healthy, certainly not overweight... i would say you are quite a bit less toxic than most of the people who decide to fast. To become 100% clean on the deepest cellular levels, i don't really know... hopefully somebody else will. But i believe you would become 10 x cleaner of toxins in a mere 3 days and I bet if you emerged from a 3 day fast you would feel phenomenally good... and any additional days you fasted would just cleanse, repair and heal your body that much more deeply.
re: "c. Will I lose too much weight (that I might drop to an "unhealthy" weight) on a water fast?"
In my opinion, no way. Be patient with the return of your large amount of temporary water loss and you will be fine.