There are many fad diets out there, but few actually help you for more than a few weeks. However, could just drinking water eight times a day do the trick and help you shed more than just a few quick pounds?
If you’ve had your eye on a water fast, consider these five things before you dive in:
But… it may not all be just fat. It can also cause muscle loss, which means your muscles will use less energy. This is because muscle requires more energy than fat, so your body will choose to keep the fat instead.
When fasting it’s important to remember that when you eat a regular diet of carbs, your body breaks down sugars and starches into glucose. Glucose is the primary source of energy for the body. However, when you fast or go into ketosis glucose becomes limited, and your body must turn to fat stores for the energy it requires, thus burning fat that will assist you in losing weight.
If fasting is done too often it can make you feel light-headed, fatigued, and tired. It can also make you moody if your body is not used to fasting.
When you eat like any other day, your body breaks down glucose to get the energy it needs to function properly. However, when you’re fasting, your body needs to produce sugar for energy, so it begins a process called gluconeogenesis.
During gluconeogenesis, your liver converts non-carbohydrate materials like lactate, amino acids, and fats into glucose. As your body goes into survival mode, your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, becomes more efficient and uses less energy. This power saving process includes lowering your heart rate and blood pressure, thus feeling drained. But don’t worry, drink more water and the energy will soon return.
READ: 4 Ways Intermittent Fasting Can Improve Your Health
During a water fast, you are restricted from all solid and liquid foods. You must drink just pure water. Not lemon water, not energy water, just pure spring or filtered water. It’s recommended to drink six to eight glasses of water per day, which means a water fast will definitely require you to drink more water than you typically would any other day.
Frequent bowel movements and bad breath are two things that may feel embarrassing, but when fasting, both come with the territory.
During stage one and two of the fast, your body will still be expelling toxins and damaged cells every time you go to the bathroom. Getting a colon cleanse or using an intestinal cleansing product can help more thoroughly cleanse and detoxify your body during this time.
READ: My Intermittent Fasting Journey as a Plus-Size Woman
So, what good does it do for the body?
It has been researched and noted to significantly help lower high blood pressure, promote autophagy which is a process where old parts of your cells are broken down and recycled, improve insulin and leptin sensitivity, lower the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
Remember, when you fast your body will automatically go into starvation mode. If you fast too often your resting metabolic rate will decrease. This is because the body registers this low caloric intake as starvation and tries to preserve as much energy as possible to survive. But, if done right, it can have an insurmountable amount of benefits and get rid of that extra fat that you’ve been wanting to lose while detoxifying the body.
Tia Muhammad, BS, is an award-winning freelance content & media creative, copywriter, blogger, digital designer, and marketing consultant. She owns the boutique content and digital media company, jackieGLDN|studio.
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