Since you lose weight by cutting calories out of your diet, fasting actually represents the fastest way to drop those excess pounds. You can fast in several different ways: you can follow a pure fast, a liquid fast or a medically supervised fast. Each approach has benefits and pitfalls. If you decide to fast to lose weight, talk to your physician first about your planned approach, to make certain your body can handle it.
Total Fast
You might think that following a total fast -- one in which you eat nothing at all for days on end -- would represent the fastest route to significant weight loss. However, if you deprive your body of all nourishment for more than a day or two, your metabolism will start to slow down, making it much more difficult for you to lose weight. In addition, you'll start to burn your own muscle tissue, which creates toxins that stress your liver. Total fasting can cause anemia and heart problems, so it doesn't represent the best choice for your weight-loss efforts.
Juice Fast
You may choose to follow a liquid fast to lose weight, but one type of liquid fast -- a juice fast -- presents many of the same dangers as a pure fast. When you drink only juice and consume no other food, your body will react in much the same way that it reacts to a total fast: it moves into "starvation" mode and begins to burn its own muscle tissue. That's because juice fasts provide so few calories -- between 200 and 400 each day, depending on how much juice you drink.
Liquid Protein Fast
If you need to lose plenty of weight, you might consider trying a liquid protein fast. These types of liquid fasts, also called liquid diets, provide you with about 600 to 800 calories per day, along with plenty of protein and essential vitamins and minerals, according to Elizabeth Hemphill of Vanderbilt University. It's possible to lose between 15 and 20 lbs. over the course of about three months on a commercial liquid-diet fasting program. These fasts also pose some dangers, however. Participants risk gallstones, diarrhea, dizziness and menstrual abnormalities. Involve your physician in your weight-loss plans so he can monitor your progress and any side effects.
Medically Supervised Fast
If you're significantly obese, and you need to lose weight fast to improve your health, your physician might recommend that you enroll in a medically supervised fasting program. These diet programs, which provide you with about 600 to 750 calories each day through prescription high-protein liquid shakes, can lead to significant weight loss over several months, according to the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center, which has developed such a program. In addition, medically supervised liquid fasting programs can help you keep the weight off permanently by teaching you healthy eating and exercise habits.
References
- Vanderbilt University; Fasting: Body Cleansing or Body Starving?; Kelly Grimes
- Vanderbilt University; Liquid Diets; Elizabeth Hemphill
- UT Southwestern Medical Center; UT Southwestern Develops Medically Supervised Liquid Diet Program; Feb. 5, 2009
- Columbia University; Can Fasting Help Purge the Body of Toxins?; Nov. 11, 2008
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