Yes, I know that you have always heard that fasting for weight loss is not safe – that it attacks lean body mass (I.E. your muscle) while not touching your fat. The fact is that there are many scientific studies that prove it doesn’t. The fact is that your muscle mass is not in jeopardy at all.
If it is true, then why is there so much out on the ‘net that fasting is harmful to your body? There are several reasons which we will cover here briefly.
One thing must be mentioned first and that is that often we will read or hear something in the news and take it as truth without thinking much more about it. After all the experts said so, right? Well, this author is here to tell you that you should never take anything on face value particularly if something is entrenched in the world of money making like the diet and fitness industry. So, just how do you separate fact from fiction? It’s time to put on your thinking cap and maybe learn to look at things through a new set of eyes.
Think about what would happen to the diet and fitness business as a whole if more and more people found out that fasting is safe and effective. No more weight loss pills; no more diet foods; would we need any more diet plans?
The fact is that since there is no money is fasting for weight loss, no one will promote it (except for fanatics, like me!)
But then there are the folks who say they have science to prove fasting is harmful; that your body sort of has a “starvation mode” it goes into after a certain period of time of doing without food. Supposedly, your metabolism slows down and adjusts to the reduced intake causing you to retain and gain fat. To a certain extent this is true but, and this is the big “but” you really only lose about 100 calories of metabolism is 24 hours. That is the equivalent of a creamed coffee. That doesn’t sound like the huge fat gain that the experts scared everyone with.
But just what does happen in a fast? Without going into the whole scientific jargon, when you fast for 24 to 72 hours, and you maintain a fitness plan that includes weights and interval training, your body not only doesn’t gain fat, it preserves muscle mass. The fact is that growth hormone, the same stuff celebrities pay big bucks for, is secreted during a short fast. This growth hormone acts to preserve your muscle mass and when coupled with moderate fitness plan, you will lose fat.
For those of you who think going without food for 24 hours is unthinkable consider this: every night you fast for at least 12 hours. That’s why they call the first meal of the day “breakfast”. The thing with this is that you choose to stretch that fast for another 12 hours or more (up to 72 hours). Some folks will eat their dinner and then fast all the way through the next dinner. Others (like me) from breakfast till breakfast. Simple, huh?
So, you can see that fasting for weight loss can be the simplest, most hassle-free way to shed pounds. No more monitoring calories or fat grams or rigid menus. Eat like you want to all the other days (well, no bingeing, OK?) Don’t need to stress over food anymore. Simply don’t eat for 1 day once or twice a week.
Want to find out more about fasting for weight loss, then visit Marie Stimson’s site on intermittent fasting for weight loss here.
