Juice fasts can produce quick weight loss, in large part because you're depriving your body of almost all your normal calories by fasting, according to Vanderbilt University. However, you should embark on juice fasts cautiously and limit their duration, since it's not healthy to fast for more than a few days at a time.
Fasting Basics
To lose weight through a juice fast, you'll generally consume nothing but juice for several days at a time, according to Vanderbilt University. Proponents of juice fasts recommend juicing your own fruits and vegetables to take advantage of their fresh nutrients, vitamins and minerals. If you're following a specific juice fast weight-loss program, some allow you to consume as much juice as you want throughout the day, while others restrict you to three or four glasses per day.
Results
Juice fasts represent low-calorie diets. Typically, a 12-ounce glass of orange juice contains about 168 calories. Other forms of juice vary, depending on the ingredients, but few juices made of fruits and vegetables provide you with much more than 200 calories per 12-ounce glass. Therefore, if you have three 12-ounce servings of juice per day, you typically won't consume more than about 600 calories. If you normally require about 2,200 calories a day to stay at an even weight, you'll lose a pound every two days on the juice fast. But you may gain it back as soon as you resume eating.
Side Effects
Although short-duration juice fasts for weight loss appear safe for the majority of patients, juice fasts can lead to some unpleasant side effects, according to Vanderbilt University. You may feel dizzy and light-headed, and you may experience a drop in blood pressure. Patients with certain health conditions, including diabetes and immune-system disorders, should not embark on a juice fast, and you should talk to your doctor before starting a juice fast to make sure there aren't underlying health conditions.
Considerations
Short-term juice fasting doesn't lead to overeating the next day, but it also doesn't lead to permanent weight loss, according to Cornell University. That's because your body's metabolism tends to slow down when you fast, negating the effects of the calorie restriction and causing you to regain the weight you lost during the fast. Overall, juice fasting probably won't hurt you if you do it for a few days or less, but the best strategy for weight loss involves making permanent changes in what you eat and how often you exercise.
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