Dec 14 2007
Water Fasting - Day 3
Weight lost on day three - 3 pounds
Total lost so far - 9 pounds
Nothing special happened yesterday. After the slight wooziness when I woke up, everything went back to normal. I even stopped getting those mental pictures of food, like I did on the second day.
I’m simply not hungry. I know that all the experts on fasting say that happens, but I don’t believe everything I read… I don’t suppose I should be such a skeptic, since fasting has been used for healing and spiritual reasons for thousands of years. But I still like to see for myself.
So, I drank about 3/4 of a gallon of water yesterday, walked downtown to pick up the frozen organic grape juice that I’ll be drinking the day after my 5-day fast is over, and worked on my websites and blogs. No symptoms to report, just another 3 pounds lost.
Weight loss was not my primary purpose in starting this five day fast, but 9 pounds in three days certainly beats the claims for many expensive diet products. In fact, fasting is the ultimate free diet - no food to buy, nothing to prepare, no points to keep track of or calories to count. And, if my experience is “normal,” you don’t even feel any hunger.
I’ve always felt cheated on diets - there is never enough food (unless you follow my recommendations in my easy diet book, and eat lots of veggies every day). And purchased diet programs that make you sign up for weekly meetings and special diet meals are really expensive and time consuming. So, if you just want to lose 10 pounds or so, and your doctor gives you the OK, you might want to just stop eating for a day or two.
Dr. Cott said in his book on fasting that most of the people who fast are not obese, but just somewhat overweight. And many others are not overweight at all, simply because they stop eating for a day or two anytime the scales show a slight increase in their weight.
He did not give a reason why obese patients don’t fast. They certainly fast if they get a gastric bypass operation, (you can learn about the pre- and post gastric bypass diet here). But some of the conditions that make fasting more dangerous, such as heart disease and diabetes, are common among the obese, so medical concerns might be a factor.
The members of NBC’s Biggest Loser Diet Club lose a lot of weight, using diet and exercise (a lot of exercise). The before and after photos on their web page are pretty astounding. I wonder, though, how long they’re able to keep up the program with the intensity needed - and if they fall back into old fattening habits after a certain amount of time. For the TV show, they only have to lose weight for the duration of the show, which they could probably do by fasting and walking for the three hours a day that is recommended by Dr. Cott - but then those skinny personal trainers wouldn’t have much to do.
But I digress - I’m just adding my little comments because yesterday was so uneventful. With no symptoms or problems to announce, this post would have been pretty short, otherwise. :o)
The real test, of course, will come after the fast is over, and I start making the rounds of Christmas celebrations. Will it be easier for me to resist the sugar-loaded treats? Should I be adding recommendations about fasting to my book on sugar cravings? We’ll know in about 10 days - so keep watching this space.
One Response to “Water Fasting - Day 3”
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I just remembered one “symptom” that I experienced yesterday as I took my dog for a nice long walk downtown - I felt compelled to take really deep breaths. This is, of course, a good thing, but I have no way to explain it. Does anyone out there know why that would happen during a fast?