Why Fasting To Lose Weight Is A Bad Idea

Fasting is usually regarded as a spiritual practice, but sometimes, it is also associated with weight loss. While fasting for a day could help the body eliminate toxins, and use the fat in the body tissues as fuel, fasting for more than three days generates health problems. Plus, fasting to lose weight is a bad idea because the hunger you will experience will make you eat more afterwards, just to compensate for what was lost during the fasting. Let’s see the most common questions related to fasting and why fasting to lose weight is a bad idea.

What is fasting

Fasting can have different meanings, as some see it as refraining from food altogether, and from water as well, while others see it as refraining only from solid foods, or meat, or other products. The broader meaning is that of refraining from food over a certain period of time, meaning that you can still hydrated with plenty of water, in order to reduce the bad effects of fasting on the body. Physicians recommend you avoid fasting for more than three days, as your body will only have to suffer as a result.

Fasting and weight loss

Imagine a day without any food. Your body will still have to burn fuel in order to function, and the main target will be the fat stored in its tissues. It sounds like a great idea for weight loss, as we seldom hear that in order to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than the daily intake. How about if the intake is equal to zero calories? You cannot go lower than that, so maybe you think right now: “What a brilliant idea!” But is it? It is true that your body will lose some weight on the spot, but there are no guaranteed long term effects, and you will soon learn why fasting to lose weight is a bad idea.

Why fasting cannot serve as a weight loss plan

Fasting for more than a few days will cause a series of bad effects on the body, and it cannot serve as a weight loss plan either. Here are the main points why fasting to lose weight is a bad idea.

1. First, when you refrain from eating food, this will be a signal for the body that there is a famine coming, and the metabolism will slow down in order to preserve energy.

2. Second, while in the beginning the body will turn to the stored fat to use as fuel, next will come your muscles, and the general look will begin to deprecate, along with your health.

3. Third, fasting even for a few days can cause weight gain, instead of weight loss, because when you will return to your regular eating habits, the body will start to store fuel, in order to face better another starving session.

Other bad effects of fasting on the body include loss of calcium – which is essential for people under 20, and for those over 40 – , increase of potential for illness, bad breath, build up of toxins, and a general sensation of lethargy and lack of energy to carry even daily duties.