2x in my life I've done 2 week fasts where basically just drank alot of water. Lost 14lbs. each time.
Do not think I have the will-power to do it these days.
Weird part is after the 2nd day your hunger levels off... ya do not get hungrier as the days go by sort of idea. I guess the body just switches itself over to start eating the fat around the body.
Actually the body starts feeding off the muscles, as well. Not a good thing!
So does that mean you're 28 lbs. lighter or did you gain the weight back? The problem with fasting is that you are making your body more proficient at converting all extra calories into fat. The problem is this.... your body doesn't know you are starving it on purpose. Although human beings have evolved greatly since being on earth we still react like a wild animal that doesn't know when its next meal will be. A wild animal will gorge because it might not eat again for days. Those extra calories are converted to fat to live off until it eats again. This is how it works:
When we don't eat our metabolism slows down considerably whether or not you are doing it on purpose or not. The body starts calorie conserving. Now here's the kicker. Now that you've slowed your metabolism down the minute you eat extra calories that will not get burned off the body quickly converts them into fat for future use in case your body is in starvation mode again. Even fasting for as many as 12-15 hours is enough to slow your metabolism down!
Why do you think they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day? The reason is it's because you "break the fast". This doesn't mean you have to have a big meal. Just put something nutritious into your stomach and that will keep the metabolism revved up. A person is much better off eating 5-6 meals a day so you never feel overly hungry. Every meal should have 20-30 gr. of protein, a complex (starchy) carb, and a simple fibrous carb (fruit/ vegetables).
Rick is right on the money of when and what to eat. I myself still have to eat some complex carbs at dinner ( 6-7:00) because I still have a reasonably fast metabolism but I try to avoid any carbs after that because chances are I'm not going to have an opportunity to do much more calory burning. If I was to go out a play hockey or some other activity for a couple of hours that would be different. If not, any additional carb calories get converted to fat.
A good rule of thumb is to avoid eating anything white (white flour, sugar, potatoes, white rice, even milk because just about all adults are sensitive to lactose to a cetain degree). No other animal on the planet consumes milk once its been weened. There are other ways to get your RDA of calcium, vitamin A and D. All of these afore mentioned foods are high on the glycemic index scale as Rick mentioned. Get a glycemic index booklet. It will tell you which to avoid and when they are OK to eat. The main problem with these foods is you feel like you have a quick energy burst because of the additional sugar in your blood but then you come crashing back down to earth feeling tired and listless.
The best way to loe weight is definitely a combination of exercising and following a good eating plan. If you eat 500 less calories a day and do 500 more calories of activity per day you can lose two pounds of fat per week. Anymore of a weight loss than that will never become permanent. When people say they are losing several more pounds than that per week most of it is water weight. I wouldn't worry so much about what your weight number is. In fact, throw your scale out! People get obsessed by stepping on it two and three times a day and if they don't like what they see it stresses them out. When people are stressed out they are inclined to eat more. Worry about your % of body fat. You'll know if it's decreasing by the way your clothes fit. You know you are losing weight if they are getting looser. Weighing yourself once a week is plenty.
The thing is it's possible to lose 5-10% of your body fat and your weight may not change that much if you're exercising regularly and putting on lean muscle. Muscle weighs 7 times as much as fat so you might only lose a small amount of weight over a 6 month to one year period. If you haven't been a proponent of an exercise program in the past it's possible to put on 8-10 lbs of muscle while losing 20 lbs.of fat so it appears that you've only lost ten pounds but your body composition are drastically changed. Another great advantage of putting on lean muscle tissue is that it increases your metabolism. By taking the weight off at 1-2 pounds per week you are far more likely to keep it off because you've done it by changing your life style which is likely to become a permanent change.
One last tip. You are
far better off to have one cheat meal a week that you look forward to as a reward rather than cheating a little bit every day. They don't call them "treats" if you have them every day!