Fasting. The ins, outs, how to, and why discussion.

This is a discussion I am making on fasting. Anything you want to say about it, but mainly I am trying to learn about the different kinds and how to effectively do them. Anyone, whether you know about fasting or not, can join, this is a learning experience. If you don't like the idea of fasting then you can still join and voice your reasons why people shouldn't. If you do, all I ask is you keep it civil, no need to be rude. It doesn't have to be religious, or I'd put this in the religion section.

My reason for starting this is because I am going to start fasting tomorrow for the next 3 weeks and I would like to know more about it. My main reasons are because of my personal beliefs that I may get deeper into if anyones curious, but also, as an added bonus, my wedding is in 3 weeks so it may help me to shape up. Luckily, my wedding dress has a corset backing so I can always tie it tighter.

Whats a good one to do? How to do it? Whens a good beginners stopping point and how long to start again? This won't be the only time I do it, I plan to do it lots more if the end results are how I expect them to be.

What do you mean by 'fasting'? Are you not going to eat at all for 3 weeks? If so, that's ridiculous. You could literally die if you don't eat for that long, depending on your body weight.

There are different kinds of fasts. The fasts where you don't eat anything at all usually only last a few days, but mine will be three weeks so I was going to do a fast where I limit myself to only certain things. I was thinking about only drinking liquids maybe. Here is the definition of fasting:

"Fasting is primarily an act of willing abstention from food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day (24 hours), or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive, limiting particular foods or substances. The fast may also be intermittent in nature."

i don't recommend fasting for the purpose of losing weigh as you'll most likely regain the weight perhaps even more as your metabolism will be slow. i did water fasting for about 5 days to cleanse and heal my body. the first few days were very difficult as your body feels very week. you loss a lot of weight within the first 2 or 3 days, your body feels colder, you feel dizzy at times. by day 4 or 5 my body felt totally cleansed. just remember coming out of a fast is very important. you don't want to say "ok, i'm done with my fast, time to order chinese food," that will kill your stomach. your body has to slowly get use to eating again. for example if your coming off a 3 week water fast you might want to start with eating one piece of fruit for the next few days then by week 2 eating one meal, then 2 meals by week 3, etc. start with natural foods like fruits and vegetables as it will be better for your stomach when coming off a fast.

I'm a faster.

Not sure what your goals are, but quick answer is, it's personal preference and insignificant.

Longer answer is that it's wise not to buy into this fear of fasting slowed metabolism nonsense. It's been argued that 1 or 2 satisfying large daily meals are the way we were meant to eat. (Provided you are not exceeding the amount of calories you burn in a day)

There are a lot of misconceptions about fasting. I personally do it to better control my caloric intake and for no religious reasons. The rational behind this is this:

with 1 (or 2) huge meals a day, carefully weighed out portions, when you do finally sit down to eat, you get to eat an enormous meal. And guess what, that meal could be 2500 calories and (depending on the amount of calories you burn in a given day) you won't gain weight.

My anecdote is this: I ate regularly & "healthily" until July 2012. At that time I was 220 LBS and a high body fat. In August 2012 until now, I have been eating one meal at around 2500 calories daily and have gone down to 172 LBS and am significantly leaner. My experience is only with fasting for 16 or so hours.

See how you feel with a fast & go with it. If you feel ill, your body and mind are telling you they don't like it. I would not however go without water...

I agree with most of what Bro said. I don't "fast" on purpose, but I eat two big meals per day with nothing else; except that in my case I eat about 3,500 - 4,000 calories because my metabolism is super high; I have never been able to gain a pound over 135, and never cared to either. I also do a lot of martial arts, and still struggle to replace the calories that I burn (and get all the vitamins and minerals), but if I eat more than twice per day I feel almost sick; always digesting food. I like the feeling of keeping the tank empty for the best portion of the day, and since I stay up for about 20 hours per day and sleep for 10, it is a long period.

It is important to remember that we all have different needs.