Fasting to Lose Weight
It seems pretty intuitive that one of the ways of losing weight is by reducing calorie intake – better yet, remove calorie intake all together. This is what drives some people into fasting to lose weight.
There are many types of fasting. One could go for a single meal per day. Other people go to something as drastic as refraining from eating or drinking anything while they fast. Whichever way you chose, fasting usually brings drastic and unstable weight loss. Here are a few things to consider before trying fasting to lose weight:
1. You might struggle performing your daily routines. As you are limiting calorie intake, you would have less energy to use during the day. This would mean that you might not be as sharp when performing mental or physical activities. Fasting could also restrain you from performing strenuous activities such as going to the gym or partying all night.
2. You will be losing essential nutrients. Every day, your body requires a certain amount of nutrition like protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Once you start fasting, the amount of nutrients your body could have would no doubt be much lower than what you would usually have. This, in a nutshell, could lead to you literally robbing your body from the much needed nutrition you need in order to survive. Because of this, it is usually advised that a person first consult a doctor before fasting with the intention of losing belly fat.
3. You should know your body’s limitation. You should understand that nobody is the same. In terms of fasting, one person could undergo weeks of fasting to lose belly fat while others could only handle a few days of fasting. Having said this, you should not attempt to copy exactly what another person is doing or what a certain fasting program is saying. The only one who truly understands your body is yourself. If you think that you couldn’t handle it anymore, you should stop immediately else risk having serious complications.
4. You should understand how the body is programmed. As you fast, the body thinks that you are in a dangerous situation. The body reacts by saving up the fats it has by wisely consuming it. This slows down fat reduction and is pretty counter intuitive to the purpose of fasting to lose weight in the first place. Remember that what your body wants is different from what you want.
5. Fasting is not for everyone. Ailments and diseases are one of the factors that stop a person from fasting in the first place. If you have been down these days, do not try to fast in the first place. Your body needs to recover and limiting calorie intake is not an answer to that. There are many alternatives aside from fasting, to lose weight. Try to reconsider all the options you have first before diving into something that you could not commit to later.
