Do Not Attempt Water Fasting For 3 Days If You Are Unwell
This is pretty much self-explanatory. Your health should always be your number 1 priority, no matter what your goal is. No weight loss is worth the risk of harming your body. Fasting for 3 days is not easy and should not be underestimated. Therefore, under no circumstance should you risk your health for a water fast. Wait until your health has been cleared by a doctor to attempt this.
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How Does Water Fasting Help In Weight Loss
For the first two days during your water fasting phase, all you lose is the water weight. The fats start to burn from the 3rd day of water fasting phase. When you stop eating, your digestive system stops working. Your body slows down, except the brain and the heart. The stored fat is now broken down to provide energy for all involuntary and voluntary functions of the body. Water helps to get rid of the toxins and any waste present in the colon. This further helps you to lose a good chunk of weight. All this coupled with the right amount of daily exercise will help you to lose a considerable amount of flab.
May Improve Insulin And Leptin Sensitivity
Leptin is your bodys satiety hormone. This hormone reduces your appetite and makes you feel full. On the other hand, insulin helps regulate blood sugar levels and excess glucose for energy to be used by the body. A 3 day fast may lead to your body becoming more sensitive to these two hormones. Increased sensitivity means that both leptin and insulin work better in their respective functions in the body.
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My Water Fasting Results
One of the very super sensational feelings Ive experienced after 7 days of drinking water only was that I felt reinvigorated. It was like I came back from holidays LOL
I was more energetic than before, I felt healthier and I was more motivated to exercise. So, after a few days, I started jogging for 1 hour every morning.
I didnt crave for chocolates, pastries, or any of these stuff and was more focused on preparing healthy salads for lunch.
Weight Loss
Since there was no calorie entering my body, my ketone bodies were getting higher and because of this, my bodys source of energy was not glucose anymore.
Instead, my body looked out for energy directly from my fat storage. Because my body was now in a ketosis state, I was able to burn fat much faster than a typical low carb diet. Thats why I lost 22 pounds in just one week.
Natural Detoxification
During a fasting period, our liver is triggered to pull all toxins out of your body. And I could feel the improvement in my body and health although I have any health issues.
Rejuvenation
When your body is clean of toxins, your organism is like new.
As my body got cleansed during this week of fasting, I could really feel a boost in my energy level. I was more motivated to exercise and I started jogging for 1 hour every day.
Its not something I can explain but I was way more productive, more focused, and more concentrated in my work.
So, heres my water fasting results that I hope will motivate you.
Can Water Fasting Get Quick Results
I had been experimenting with losing more weight, but my previous strategy wasnt producing quick results, so time to try something new.
By researching water fasting, I saw others getting incredible weight loss results. And then found out about the many benefits of fasting.
Considering the health benefits and possible rapid weight loss results, I was ready to give water fasting a try.
I also figured my digestive system deserved a break, as it had been working nonstop for decades, it had earned itself a well-deserved week-long vacation.
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May Help Lower Blood Pressure
Clinically supervised water fasts lasting up to 2 weeks have been linked to lower blood pressure . This has been further associated with the fact that you are drinking more water and not consuming salt. However, please note that fasting for 3 days is not likely to help lower blood pressure. This is only possible on longer medically supervised fasts.
Pay Attention To What You Eat After A Water Fast
As a general rule, avoid processed foods and refined carbs in your first meal to avoid feeling lethargic and hungry shortly after. Increase your lean protein intake to improve satiety and muscle mass. Maximize the health benefits of water only fasting and lose weight by eating natural foods eliminating added sugars. Consuming added sugars is strongly linked to insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction. In addition to weight gain, added sugar intake leads to high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, inflammation and fatty liver disease.
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Now An Even Longer Three
I started with one week then two, three weeks seems the next logical step. Starting at 80kg, I undertook a three week fast.
My first weeks results were the same as previous, losing 1kg per day. Then the remaining two weeks around 1/2kg per day.
After the three weeks, I was down to 68kg. My weight hadnt been this low since I was 18 years old.
But in the final week of the fast, I had felt drained and wondered if I had overdone it. I wanted to organize some blood tests to look for answers, so time to visit the doctor.
What Are The Challenges And Benefits Of A 3
Before you gain greater experience, most of the challenges of the three-day water fast are physical, as your body learns how to enter the state of ketosis. Ketosis is the process of burning fat directly from adipose tissue, which is achieved through the production of so-called ketone bodies in order to metabolise the fat. Unless you happen to be following an extremely low-carb diet, this is entirely different from how your body normally extracts the energy needed to power each cell. As a result, the vast majority of people never experience ketosis in everyday life, and rely instead on metabolising carbohydrates until the day they die. This is a real shame. We have two eyes, and we use them both. We have two arms and two legs, and we use each of them. We also have two metabolisms: our everyday carbohydrate-based metabolism, as well as ketosis. They each serve their own function and offer their own benefits.
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What Happens Metabolically When You Fast
Our bodys preferred source of energy is the monosaccharide, glucose. Glucose is stored in the body in chains known as glycogen. During a fast, our body taps into our glycogen stores to get the energy it needs. Once the stored glycogen is used up , the body starts breaking down protein and fat. After about 48 hours, the body goes into a protein-sparing mode and relies predominantly on fat for fuel, turning it into glucose and molecules known as ketones to be used as energy. This adaptation is known as ketosis, the bodys starvation mode.
Without incoming nutrients, many physiological processes related to growth slow down. Fasting results in decreases in the hormone, insulin-like growth factor 1 . High levels of IGF-1 have been associated with chronic disease in adults. Fasting also results in decreased levels of insulin and leptin and increases in the fat-burning hormone adiponectin. Meanwhile, antioxidant and stress-resistant enzymes are activated in response to decreases in these hormones, which is believed to be one mechanism by which fasting results in disease prevention.
Additionally, some individuals report increased mental acuity during fasting. However, one study of a three-week ketogenic diet showed no differences in cognition and mood in healthy adult participants.
Day Water Fast Results
How do I feel after completing a 3 day water fast?
I need to be honest with you. I was a little scared of the increased heart rate and headaches.
If youre going to do the 3 day water fast, please go through a preparation period, reducing your reliance on anything youre addicted to.
Ive learned that I have a coffee addiction. Usually, I have two double-espressos per day. Its a lot of coffee and my body went into a state of shock going cold turkey.
Not having any food while also depriving the body of coffee only made the situation worse.
I didnt experience hunger pains at all. I certainly felt hungry at times but it was very manageable.
It was only after my first coffee that I realized depriving myself of coffee was making the experience so difficult.
On the first day of breaking the fast, I passed movement in my bowels for the first time in 3 days. It was an incredible experience. It felt like I was purging so much from the body.
I needed to have that coffee to signal to the body that it was time to purge.
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What Was The Hardest Part Of The Fast
Contrary to what you might think, hunger wasn’t the hardest part. After 12, 16, 18 or so hours, your body begins to realise the state you’re in and it starts to help you.
Throughout the whole 3 days, I never really felt hungry.
In my past fasts, I’ve found once I’m into nutritional ketosis or fasting ketosis, where the body starts to use fats for fuel rather than carbohydrates and are blood ketone levels are 0.5 to 3.0 millimoles per litre things become smooth sailing.
For me, the hardest part wasn’t a lack of food more so a lack of the activities you’d do around food.
My favourite activity in life is to eat food with people I love. I look forward to eating dinner with my family every day. So missing out on that for any given period of time is always a challenge.
Fasting gives you a refreshed respect for family mealtime.
When To Avoid Water Fasting
Though water fasts can be great for your health, they also are not for everyone. Going without any type of food or sugar is not easy on your body, which is why this isnt a universally-advised choice. If any of the following are true, you should not attempt this fast:
- Youre pregnant or nursing. Its understandable to want to lose that baby weight, but this could cause your child to become malnourished too. Studies also shows that fasting may increase the likelihood of the baby being disabled as an adult
- You are under 18 or over 65. Water fasts are not advised if you are not a healthy adult.
- You have hypoglycemia, diabetes, or any other blood sugar issue. These health issues require you to have food on a regular schedule. Skipping a meal can be potentially fatal.
- You have gout. Trying this fast while you have gout can exacerbate your condition.
- Youre taking medication that needs to be taken with food. You should never risk taking medicine without following instructions. You never know how your body will react!
Generally speaking, the best way to make sure you are fasting safely is to sit down with your doctor and explain what you want to do.
If they approve it, you should be okay. If not, its best to try a different type of fasting, such as intermittent fasting, to get the results you want.
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Water Fasting: Benefits And How To Do It The Right Way
Luisa Torres, PhDLuisa is a science communications manager at LifeOmic. She is a neuroscientist and science writer covering topics related to aging, metabolism, and brain health.
Luisa Torres, PhDLuisa is a science communications manager at LifeOmic. She is a neuroscientist and science writer covering topics related to aging, metabolism, and brain health.
What is it | Health benefits | Safety | Working out while water fasting | Tips
Who Should Avoid Doing A Water Fast And Why
There are no proven benefits of water fasts, so most registered dietitians, including Kennedy, advise against doing them.
Certain individuals should avoid them because they can pose serious health harms. Those people include those with kidney disease, those on multiple medications, or women who are pregnant or nursing, Bhatia says. She also cautions people with diabetes, heart disease, and liver disease from doing this on their own. This approach also isnt for anybody who has a history of eating disorders, Kennedy says.
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How Do You Define Fasting
Fasting for 3 days weight loss is the abstention from eating. Metabolic changes in the fasting state begin after absorption of the last meal . Many people may fast as part of a medical procedure . Theres also intermittent fasting, which incorporates regular fasting hours into your dietary regimen. Fasting is also used for religious rituals and is typically used on specific days.
However, dont get it wrong, fasting is not starvation. When you fast for three days, you reject food voluntarily, aiming to improve your health. Starvation is typically brought by war, famine, and natural disasters. Thats a whole different story.
Time To Get Back Into Shape
After returning to Dubai, it was time to get back into shape. I started exercising and eating better.
I wanted to speed up my weight loss by fasting, as it was reducing slowly. But I didnt want the fast to impact my gym routine. Then it got interrupted anyway, as my gym closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. It was time to change my exercise routine.
I dug up an old exercise plan called Insanity its name seemed to match my doctors thoughts about me which didnt require any equipment. It was a nine-week plan, four easier weeks, followed by a rest week, then four harder weeks.
I saw an opportunity to do a week-long fast during the rest week, so I started the program.
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How To Break A 3 Day Fast
Many of those who have the hardest times fasting are those coming off eating a high carb diet. If your body is used to getting dumped with quick-burning sugars and carbs all day long then its going to be a shock to the system when you cut it off completely. This is why its a good idea to start lowering your carb intake and slowly increase your daily fasting times when preparing for a 3 day fast.
So when it comes time to break your fast its a good idea to not eat a high carb meal. You want to keep your body in at least a semi-state of ketosis that youve earned over 3 days of fasting.
Its best to have a lighter meal thats lower in carbs. I definitely wouldnt recommend going on a full cheat day after completing your fast. Ill usually eat some protein and veggies to break my fast. A little grilled steak and salad are my usual go-to.
Is it safe to do a 3 day fast?
Yes, its perfectly safe for most people to do a 3 day fast or even 7 days. I like to tell people if they were stranded on a desert island for a long weekend with only water theyd be healthier than before they got there. Youll get off the island after a 3 day fast or 4 days with lower blood pressure, stronger immune system and feeling much better.
The Last Word
Now a 3-day water fast can give you some fantastic results but if you want to keep them long term then you have to keep this ball rolling. Most people lose many of the cravings and overindulging of food they have before they started the 3 day fast.
What Is Water Fasting
There may be no easier diet to define than water fasting, for this approach involves exactly what it says. Water fasting is complete absence of all substances, except pure water, in an environment of complete rest, says Alan Goldhamer, doctor of chiropractic and founder of the TrueNorth Health Center in Santa Rosa, California, who runs medically supervised water fasts that last anywhere from 5 to 40 days . The idea behind being at complete rest , Dr. Goldhamer says, is your body wont need as many calories.
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The First Negative Experience
Unlike on Day 1, I definitely didnt make any personal bests in my Day 2 workout. I felt like I did the day I tried working out after taking the bus from Lima to Huaraz in Peru .
My body felt strong, but it didnt have the endurance it normally did. After one or two lifts my strength evaporated, and at times I was lightheaded to the point of dizziness.
I was glad to have gotten some exercise, but it was certainly the first negative effect I felt on my 3 day fast.
How Much Fat Can You Lose On A 48
The second day is usually the one that really turns on the fat burn. Since the first day is the one where you drop the biggest amount of water and glycogen, day two weight loss starts to become mostly fat. I measured my urine levels throughout the fasting period, and on day 2 I had approximately one pound of urine. Considering my weight fell by 3.8 pounds, it seems that total fat loss was anywhere between 2-3 lbs.
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What To Expect Over These 3 Days
The process of water fasting over prolonged periods varies greatly from person to person. Some find it super easy and others seem to suffer endlessly.
But everybody can agree there are going be times when the hunger pangs set in. Just remember these feelings are just that. A FEELING. Theyll go away sooner or later and youre not going to starve to death. Its your bodys natural response to taking away food when its used to eating. This survival mechanism is the result of tens of thousands of years of evolution. But in the case of this 3 day fast its going to be to your disadvantage.
Whenever these hunger pangs set it Ill just drink more water or some of the other fasting drinks. Try to keep yourself busy get some work done, take a nap or go for a walk. One day you might feel great but then the next could be hard. Keep focusing on that feeling of success youll get once youve accomplished this fast.
If youre used to eating a lot of carbs then it can shock your body if you cut off this energy source so quickly. Its best to taper down your carb intake leading up to your fast. Some have a hard time if theyve never fasted before and can have nausea and/or an increased heart rate. But youll do a lot better if you prepare your body by ramping up your daily water fasting hours and tapering down your carb intake.
3 Day Water Fast Results
