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FASTING IS a great way to lose weight quickly.
But when you are fasting to lose weight, you’ll want to
do it sensibly and safely by using these seven principles:
1. Try juice fasting before you try water-only
fasting. Juice fasting is easier. Water-only fasting is more
uncomfortable. Begin gently and get used to it. If fasting to
lose weight is unfamiliar to you, if you’ve never done it
before, beginning gradually is especially important. Read more
about the differences here: Juice
fasting. Water
fasting.
2. Begin by fasting for only one day. You
probably have some fears about fasting to lose weight, and those
fears can make your fast more unpleasant than it needs to be.
So give yourself a chance to discover how safe and relatively
easy fasting can be by going only one day.
The easiest way to fast for one day is
to eat breakfast, and then don’t eat anything else until
breakfast the next day. The next easiest is to eat dinner like
normal, and then don’t eat the next day at all, going to
bed without eating, and then resume eating the following day
with breakfast.
Then try fasting for two days. Do that
a few times before trying three days.
3. Fast on days off. You will occasionally
feel sluggish and foggy-minded while fasting, so don’t put
extra pressure on yourself by fasting to lose weight while working
when you have to be energetic or mentally sharp. Make your fast
a retreat. A spa day. A day of relaxation. In the short run it
might seem to be a good idea to burn as much energy as possible
while you’re fasting, but in the long run, it will probably
discourage you from ever trying it again. Be sensible. Be safe.
4. Drink plenty of water. There’s
nothing magical about water. It won’t flush fat out of your
body. But one of the fundamentals of fasting to lose weight is
drinking plenty of water because your body normally retains water.
When you fast, your body releases that water, and you will get
thirsty. You should drink more water while fasting than you usually
do because most foods are partly or mostly water, so you routinely
take in more water than you think you do.
5. Eat healthy food before you start. While
fasting to lose weight, you will not get any nutrition (on a
water-only
fast) or very little nutrition (on
a juice fast), so if you are already deficient in some nutrient,
you will become even more deficient during the fast.
6. Eat healthy afterwards. Fasting is a
great way to help you improve your diet. Everything tastes great
after a fast, so when you’re fasting to lose weight, you
can start your new way of eating fairly easily and painlessly
after the fast. At that time, eating healthier won’t feel
like a deprivation. Even a piece of fruit feels like a luxurious
indulgence after a fast. Use this to your advantage.
A fast won’t do you a lot of good
if you keep eating unhealthily after the fast. Try to improve
your diet, if only a little, after every fast.
7. Get up slowly. You will have a tendency
to feel lightheaded when you stand up after sitting while fasting.
Your blood pressure is lower than normal because you’re
not retaining water. You can actually pass out, so be careful.
Get up slowly. If you feel you’re going to pass out, sit
back down. If you still feel like you’re going to
pass out, lie down on the ground and raise your feet up about
six inches. This will keep the blood from leaving your head.
When you get up, get up slowly.
Make or read comments on fasting
here. Share your experiences with
fasting, ask questions about it, and read about others' experiences.
Read a personal account of my longest fast
yet: Fasting, Metabolism,
and Happiness.
I've read a lot of books on fasting. I
thought most of them were not very good. But I found one I really
liked, and I recommend it if you're interested in trying a fast:
Principles of Fasting.
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