Re: Is water fasting effective for weight loss?
Hi Mouseclick,
Mine is only one very small and very partial example, but my graph looks like that. 7
pounds of "real" loss in a 10 day
Water Fast (not the 20.5 on the scale), then 6.25
pounds of real loss over the next 20 days.
The biggest issue for me is that i needed the
Water Fast kick start or never would have steped into a healthy, disciplined way of eating (enabling me to quit
Sugar and coffee as two examples, heightening my love of raw fruits and vegetables as another).
Not to mention, i believe it gave me new life and optimized my system in many other ways through the deep cleanse i received. If there was no weight loss advantage whatsoever, or even the benefit of providing a catylyst for being disciplined, i would fast anyway merely for the cleanse.
2-3 months from now if i begin to lose my discipline (and maybe i won't), i would need another fast to get me back on track. Thus for me personally, i believe that disciplined healthy eating (and exercise) is a great staple in losing weight (and in being optimally healthy), and to help make that happen, i need (or may need) frequent fasts to keep me on track.
If i continued what i am doing for 2 more months, then did another 10 day
Water Fast (or 21 or whatever), i believe my graph would be very much in synch with the one you posted above, the upward spikes being the inevitable return of water after a fast. Certainly for me, this time and in many other past examples, i lose real weight more swiftly in a fast than in a return to healthful eating.
But in support of your position, i also believe that if a person was able to be disciplined and didn't need to fast to achieve or to reestablish that discipline, he would have a great and reliable weight loss plan in place. In my opinion, at least for me, fasting in combination with this type of program would bring weight loss only slightly faster... and indeed a person could have astonishing results without ever fasting, as long as the discipline was in place.