is this good

[Ceeee]

I'm thinking about not eating for one week would I losses weight not eating for one week

[Barb135]

"If you weed through all the controversy, you'll find that most medical experts agree on one thing: fasting is not a healthy weight loss tool.

"The appeal is that [fasting] is quick, but it is quick fluid loss, not substantial weight loss," says Madelyn Fernstrom, PhD, CNS, founder and director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Weight Loss Management Center.

"If it's easy off, it will come back quickly" -- as soon as you start eating normally again, she says.

Even some proponents of fasting for other medical purposes do not support fasting for weight loss. Some say it can actually make weight problems worse.

"Fasting is not a weight loss tool. Fasting slows your metabolic rate down so your diet from before the fast is even more fattening after you fast," says Joel Fuhrman MD, author of Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Plan for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss and Fasting and Eating for Health.

Fasting for weight loss carries other health risks as well.

While fasting for a day or two is rarely a problem if you are healthy, "it can be quite dangerous if you are not already eating a healthy diet, or if you've got liver or kidney problems, any kind of compromised immune system functioning, or are on medication -- even Tylenol," says Fuhrman, a family physician in Flemington, N.J.."

Source:  webmd

The article continues on to say that fasting can  help with certain diseases such as maintaining better blood sugar control, etc, but the time frames are all much less than a week - ranging from only a few hours to a couple of days.

It's also very specific in saying that certain people should "not" fast. Those are:
    Pregnant women.
    People with wasting diseases or malnutrition.
    Those with a history of cardiac arrhythmias.
    People with hepatic or renal insufficiency.
It also says that anyone who fasts for extended periods should do so only under close medical supervision.

[Nighthawk61]

After reading more on Fasting I've learned some new information, that suggests that water fasting for a week is a great way to use fat reserves, while preserving muscle tissue.  So yes, water fasting for a week, is optimal for weight loss. and is proven as follows. Hope this helps.
___________________

1. "Only when there is a total abstinence from all calories do we observe waste products being heavily excreted from the breath, the tongue, the urine , and the skin. Plus, the fast does not merely detoxify, it also breaks down superfluous tissue-fat, abnormal cells, atheromatous plague, and tumors- and releases diseased tissues and other cellular products into the circulation for elimination."

2. "The brain cannot be fueled from fatty acids; it requires glucose to fuel it's operation. A special adaptation occurs in the fasting state whereby the brain can fuel itself with ketones instead of glucose. By the third day of a total fast, the liver starts generating a large amount of ketones from the body's fat storage."

3. "The production of ketones, called ketosis, develops within 48 hours in females and 72 hours in males, and muscle wasting at this time decreses to very low levels. this is known as protein sparing."

Source: Fasting and Eating For Health.

[Nighthawk61]

Where is it not recommended Barb?

[Barb135]

While intermittent fasting is "becoming of age", it's, typically not recommended to fast more than 16-24 hrs at one time... A whole week's fast at one time would be too much for the body to sustain.

[Nighthawk61]

I ve never heard specifically that fasting for 7 days is optimal. However, the good news is that many highly accredited Doctor's fully endorse the ancient practice of fasting.  There's scientific research proving that Intermittent fasting IS A GOOD THING !!!  First things first,

Dr. Andrew Weil Become's belief is that Intermittent Fasting is A Healthy Choice,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-weil-md/fasting-health_b_1557043.html
Fasting periods accelerate the clearing-out of waste left by dead and damaged cells, a process known as autophagy. A failure of autophagy to keep up with accumulated cellular debris is believed by many scientists to be one of the major causes of the chronic diseases associated with aging.

Occasional fasting also seems to boost activity and growth of certain types of cells, especially NEURONS. This may seem odd, but consider it from an evolutionary perspective -- when food is scarce, natural selection would favor those whose memories ("Where have we found food before?") and cognition ("How can we get it again?") became sharper.

Many people who follow IF regimes report both physical and mental benefits, including improved energy and concentration, better sleep, and an overall feeling of well-being.

It's an incredible bit of research. So, good luck with your journey. I fasted when i was younger, currently i'm on the Nutritarian Diet, and am seeing the results that I want. Since you've brought it up, I might consider an Intermittent fast again. It's been a few years and my organs deserve a break.

Here's an interesting report from Dr. Joel Fuhrman, whose Nutritarian Diet i'm following in The End Of Diabetes. I'm glad you brought up the subject as i might use fasting myself, moving forward. http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-dr-fuhrman-on-fasting.html
Here’s a little bit from Fasting and Eating for Health:
Therapeutic fasting accelerates the healing process and allows the body to recover from serious disease in a dramatically short period of time. In my practice I have seen fasting eliminate lupus and arthritis, remove chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema, health the digestive tract in patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, and quickly eliminate cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure and angina. In these cases the recoveries were permanent: fasting enabled longtime disease suffers unchain themselves from their multiple toxic dugs and even eliminate the need for surgery, which was recommended to some of them as their only solution.

I'm currently starting my journey to lose 80 lbs. I'm exercising now on a treadmill, as well as dieting/fasting, I'm really hyped about all the information there is out there, that will help me in my own personal weight loss journey.

Cheers. I'm eating my tomato/tangerine lunch. Bon Appetite  
Liz

[bungaheidelberg]

More starve you are, more unneeded nutrients your body will consume then.

[Barb135]

Starvation diet will tend to put your body into preservation mode in which it realizes there isn't enough food coming in and metabolism will slow down.  If you do lose weight, it will only be water weight, not fat and whatever you lose, will be regained as soon as you start eating... Definitely not healthy and would be considered an eating disorder for which you need medical attention.

[phtmom]

I spent a week in the hospital without eating and didn't lose one pound. It may or may not work but it's definitely not healthy. As eat sleep hike suggests above, more frequent smaller portions. Also try lots of fiber rich foods and lots of water. Good luck!

[eatsleephike]

You will lose weight but you will gain it all back once you begin eating again and perhaps gain more. Try snacking throughout the day and eating small proportions v.s three large meals per day or skipping meals.