Does Water Fasting Weight Loss Work?

I’m not sure I’d be successful at any type of fasting personally. BUT, in case you’re wondering if water fasting weight loss works you can gain some insight here. The first thing to know is that like most things, there are both pros and cons to losing weight by the method of water fasting.

First con that comes to mind: I’d feel starved!

Anyway,

Water fasting also goes by the name of detoxification and hence loosing weight by water fasting is a very effective method to detoxify your body. The process of water fasting involves drinking a lot of water while not eating any regular food for several consecutive days. While this is a “hard core” version of water fasting; it is not recommended for somebody who hasn’t fasted before. If you are fasting for the first time with water, you can make it a bit more doable by drinking a bit of juice at times as well.

Because of the fact that you are only drinking fluids during detoxification, the focus of your body will shift away from digesting food and moves towards the elimination of accumulated waste inside your body. So in a sense, detoxification is an excellent method to overhaul and fine tune your system.

In addition to general internal cleansing of body, water fasting can also aid in loosing body weight. The major source of energy in our body is glucose which is what we get from every single food item that we eat. Glucose is a form of sugar and it is converted into glycogen after the digestion of food. This glycogen is then stored in our body as fat. During water fasting, this fat starts burning since the body is not getting any additional fat from outside. Essentially, within the first few days of water fasting, our body will start burning the internal fat reserves which are responsible for additional weight. Although this method of weight loss by water fasting has been in practice for some time, recent studies have revealed that there are certain limitations to this method.

The initial detoxification and internal cleansing of the body are very important and must be done at least once every year so as to “tune up” your system. But if done for more than four days, the metabolic rate of your body begins to slow down. This is because your body will then start behaving in its natural tendency to store fat. In other words, your body will slip into “survival mode” and will burn less or no fat. Moreover, once you return back to your normal diet, your body will start gaining all the lost fat as a natural reaction to “replenish” all the fat starved cells in this “survival mode”. It is conceivable that you may actually gain weight once done with water fasting.

However, this does not mean that water fasting weight loss doesn’t work. The key is to not overdo things. Fast as long as you can without punishing your body. Remember, excess of anything is bad and water fasting weight loss is no exception to this. Our bodies are approximately 85 percent water and so it’s a very vital element for our survival. If done correctly, water fasting will take your energy to new levels and you will feel vitalized and refreshed throughout the day.

For more on fasting, see “A Woman’s Guide to Fasting”.