Throughout our lives, we have been told that the best way to lose weight is to starve ourselves. While that might have been true for some time, these days it’s more about finding the right kind of fast. Leaving out things like liquid calories and cheat meals has allowed people to drop a good 35% of extra weight in less than a year.
One of the most popular fasts is a variation on the detox diet and it involves simply not eating solid food for a period of time, typically no more than 7 days.
Fasting for weight loss is a great way to kick start your metabolism and exercise regimen, but what does it do for you in terms of fat loss? The answer is that it increases your lean body mass instead. That’s because your body needs energy to repair and build lean body mass as well as burn off fat.
It also helps in insulin resistance and the prevention of diabetes, regulating hormones and reducing water retention. All in all, involving yourself in a fasting program can be a great way to kick start your weight loss goals.
When you are not eating solid food, your body does not have to spend all of that time breaking down and absorbing the food you consume. That means those nutrients are more readily available for your body to use. In addition, this allows your body to burn fat for fuel.
By eating every other day, you rev up your metabolism and give your body time to repair itself. You should have little to no hunger or cravings for solid food during any of these fasting periods. Most people find it easier to begin with one of the longer fasts, like 10 days or more, then decrease the length as you get used to them.
