60 pounds in 40 days of water fasting? HElp!

[Secretsbuild]

Hi guys, i'm new to this; so here goes. My name is emma, and i have a question for you. I need to know if i can lose 60 pounds in 40 days of water fasting.
But before you reply, let me say something. my best friend, who i havent seen in two years is leaving to be a Marine soon. this may be the last time i see him, but it will be the last time i see him before he leaves. either way, if i gain it all back, at least then ill have the time to work it off the healthy way again. but theres now way im going to let him leave without seeing me, and no way hes seeing me like this. all i get on other sites is people harrassing me, and if i get harrassment here, then im just going to go ahead and do it because this is my last chance.
i'm 16, 186 pounds. and also, i plan on taking a multivitamin daily, along with my adhd medicine, and doing yoga everyday; and as for my plan of coming off the fast, im going to start vegan then work up to vegetarian and so on and so forth. Please help - can i do it, and do you have any suggestions?

[momo3bur]

I don't know personally, but here is something I saw on YouTube the other day. Just look through the videos and this woman has done 3 consecutive 40 day water fasts. She went from like 240 lb or something like that down to skin and bones.

It shows you each day of her fast, so you can probably find day 40 of the 1st fast.

aaroncohen's Channel - YouTube

nevermind, here's the video of her 40th day.

Sounds scary to me, though.

[kat]

Originally Posted by Secretsbuild

Hi guys, i'm new to this; so here goes. My name is emma, and i have a question for you. I need to know if i can lose 60 pounds in 40 days of water fasting.
But before you reply, let me say something. my best friend, who i havent seen in two years is leaving to be a Marine soon. this may be the last time i see him, but it will be the last time i see him before he leaves. either way, if i gain it all back, at least then ill have the time to work it off the healthy way again. but theres now way im going to let him leave without seeing me, and no way hes seeing me like this. all i get on other sites is people harrassing me, and if i get harrassment here, then im just going to go ahead and do it because this is my last chance.
i'm 16, 186 pounds. and also, i plan on taking a multivitamin daily, along with my adhd medicine, and doing yoga everyday; and as for my plan of coming off the fast, im going to start vegan then work up to vegetarian and so on and so forth. Please help - can i do it, and do you have any suggestions?

Don't do it.

You're 16, so you're still growing. Seriously disrupting your nutrition for 40 days at that age isn't a good idea. You're also on ADHD medicine, which some sources say isn't a good idea to combine with a water fast.

And - you're extremely unlikely to lose 60 pounds in a 40 day water fast, given your current weight. By the end of the fast, you'll probably only be losing half a pound a day, if that.

If your friend is worth having as a friend, he's not going to be horribly upset that you're heavier than you want to be. And, well, it's not like you weigh 600 pounds, or even 300.

I'd recommend trying something safer: a juice fast, a low-carb diet, or Intermittent fasting You'll still lose a lot of weight, but it'll be more gentle on your body.

(I'm vegan, and I think it's healthier than a low-carb diet long-term, but the evidence is pretty strongly in favour of low-carb diets being faster for short-term weight loss, and 40 days of one won't kill you).

Good luck, and take care of yourself.

[momo3bur]

Originally Posted by kat

Don't do it.

You're 16, so you're still growing. Seriously disrupting your nutrition for 40 days at that age isn't a good idea. You're also on ADHD medicine, which some sources say isn't a good idea to combine with a water fast.

And - you're extremely unlikely to lose 60 pounds in a 40 day water fast, given your current weight. By the end of the fast, you'll probably only be losing half a pound a day, if that.

If your friend is worth having as a friend, he's not going to be horribly upset that you're heavier than you want to be. And, well, it's not like you weigh 600 pounds, or even 300.

I'd recommend trying something safer: a juice fast, a low-carb diet, or Intermittent fasting You'll still lose a lot of weight, but it'll be more gentle on your body.

(I'm vegan, and I think it's healthier than a low-carb diet long-term, but the evidence is pretty strongly in favour of low-carb diets being faster for short-term weight loss, and 40 days of one won't kill you).

Good luck, and take care of yourself.

TO OP, I know you didn't come here for a bashing, so we're not giving you that at all.

I do completely agree with Kat, though. Please be careful with this decision. Take a look at those videos, ok. You'll see what substantial weightloss THAT fast will make you look like. It's not an attractive kind of thin. I have a feeling your friend would enjoy you much better the way you are than with loose skin hanging off your face and arms, etc. Thicker is much more attractive than ... hangy. LOL.

[CoolBee]

If you ate nothing for 6 weeks, at your starting weight you would lose maybe 30-35lb. But you would become extremely ill. It's dangerous, don't do it.

If you eat 1200-1500 calories a day, and walk for say 3 miles a day, you will probably lose around 20-25lb in the same time, and will probably get healthier.

If you set yourself up to lose that much weight and failed - as you will - you will just become even more miserable. Ask me how I know? 43 years of unsuccessful dieting and self-loathing. Took me til this year - aged over 50 - to find the secret.

Just go for the doable 20lb and you would feel better and he will be greeted by and take away memories of a happy confident young woman.

[GregD]

hi Secretsbuild

I know some things about this so i can tell you this:

1 pound of fat is 3300 calories, so 60 pounds of fat is 198,000 calories.

You are 16, female, and although I don't know your height your body - while in a healthy eating active form - would burn about 1600 calories per day. However, once you start fasting your body will go into starvation mode and stop burning as much and although nobody can tell you the exact number I will take 1,000 burning per day just for calculation sake.

So in order to burn through 198,000 calories at the above described rate you would need 198 days, by which time you would be long dead before that happens.

Ok, next.

The weight loss on fasting is the greatest at the most beginning few days, then it slows down rediculously because, as i explained, the body starts protecting itself by "shutting down".

Next,
It is important to understand that as you are 16 you are still in the growing stage, which means if you starve yourself now you could have irreversible health consequences.

Final point on a more personal note. If you were my best friend, I would just really want to see you or hug you or be with you or laugh with you. I have both friends who are overweight and who are very fit and when we hang out, we hang out because we are friends and not because someone is whatever weight.

But I am happy that you started seriously understanding that you are not in a good place. Your body is precious and a lot of people gain weight and harm themselves. So what I suggest to you is, without delays go spend as much time as you can with your friend, laugh together, walk together, go see movies, do fun things before your friend leaves. Then I suggest you make a decision to live a healthy life and be the person you would love to be. Drop all the junk food and chocolates, don't pollute your body.

I know you can do this because many people have done it. You only need to believe in yourself and make that decision. I really hope you make the correct decision.
Don't go on this fast.
(Send me a private message if you want.)

[MightySunTzu]

Originally Posted by Secretsbuild

Hi guys,... My name is emma, ... I need to know if i can lose 60 pounds in 40 days of water fasting.
... i'm 16, 186 pounds. and also, i plan on taking a multivitamin daily, along with my adhd medicine, and doing yoga everyday; Please help - can i do it, and do you have any suggestions?

Hi emma and all others,

I'm not saying whether you should or shouldn't fast but if you decide to i would recommend that you partake in water only so that your body can more perfectly appropriate the many internal resources at your disposal. Taking a multivitamin may seem like a good idea, but it isn't. Not only is it completely unnecessary, since your internal reserves will provide you with every vitamin and mineral you will need throughout your journey, but it will interfere with the optimal process. I will touch on your other questions in later comments.

Originally Posted by kat

... You're 16, so you're still growing. Seriously disrupting your nutrition for 40 days at that age isn't a good idea.

I was curious and concerned about this at one point too and became convinced through my research that fasting even in young children not only is not harmful but can be done with phenomenal benefit including the reversal of serious conditions.

Originally Posted by kat

... You're also on ADHD medicine, which some sources say isn't a good idea to combine with a water fast.

You are probably right about this, if it was me and i was going to fast i would ditch this particular medicine at least while fasting and probably permanently thereafter.

Originally Posted by kat

And - you're extremely unlikely to lose 60 pounds in a 40 day water fast, given your current weight. By the end of the fast, you'll probably only be losing half a pound a day, if that.

Agreed. Including all of the temporary losses it would probably end up being about 40 pounds and it would be difficult to stop at least 10 or 15 of it from returning, primarily the temporary water loss and the intestinal content... so the net loss in fat, the permanent portion of water and other permanent losses would likely be about 25 or 30 pounds. And this of course assumes a full 40 day fast which is no small undertaking. Also, as i touch upon later in the post, a substantial amount of exercise can add perhaps another 10 pounds of real loss to this.

Originally Posted by kat

If your friend is worth having as a friend, he's not going to be horribly upset that you're heavier than you want to be....

So true, yes.

Originally Posted by kat

I'd recommend trying something safer: a juice fast, a low-carb diet, or Intermittent fasting You'll still lose a lot of weight, but it'll be more gentle on your body.

Yes if weight loss is the primary goal, these are good alternatives.

Originally Posted by momo3bur

... Please be careful with this decision. Take a look at those videos, ok. You'll see what substantial weightloss THAT fast will make you look like. It's not an attractive kind of thin. I have a feeling your friend would enjoy you much better the way you are than with loose skin hanging off your face and arms, etc. Thicker is much more attractive than ... hangy. LOL.

The end of a fast before a few weeks of refeeding is not a good test because a lot of our normal components are missing including all of the muscle glycogen and the water that accompanies it. Also there has been no opportunity to recover from the detoxing and begin to feel (and look) your best.

I am not a proponent (or aficionado) of 3 consecutive 40 day fasts as conducted by Olivia and to be honest in my opinion it was very risky... but in judging honestly by looks alone if you compare her pre-120 days of fasting, post 120 days and post re-feed after the 120 days, by far her best look is the third. All of that crazy gauntly boniness that we see immediately upon the end of the fast is filled in very nicely after this little bit of time had passed.

To me by far the video that matters most is the one that shows how she looks and feels a couple months after the fasting was completed. Also even if emma did decide to fast it would fall far short of 120 days so any results would be far less dramatic.

Originally Posted by CoolBee

If you ate nothing for 6 weeks, at your starting weight you would lose maybe 30-35lb. But you would become extremely ill. It's dangerous, don't do it.

Most people who fast for 30 or 40 days do not become ill, but rather if they were ill before they started, they most commonly become well. They will likely be weak (or possibly even ill part of the time) during the fast (during the detox process), but will likely feel better than ever afterwards.

Originally Posted by CoolBee

If you eat 1200-1500 calories a day, and walk for say 3 miles a day, you will probably lose around 20-25lb in the same time, and will probably get healthier.

This would be a good choice, yes, and probably a lot more realistic for the vast majority of people rather than a 40 day fast. Maybe 1800-2000 calories is better for somebody starting at 186, but i'm sure there are varying expert opinions.

Keep in mind too that it's entirely possible to do a lot of walking during a fast as well, so it's not a matter of having to limit oneself to one or the other. A lot of Russian fasting experts recommend 3 hours per day of walking to their patients in a long fast and have enjoyed tremendous success with this... and where fat loss is the primary goal, all the more reason to include a lot of exercise in the program.

In my first long fast of 30 days i did 2 hours per day of brisk walking in the first 21 days (less in the final 9 days only because i became busy). It was often tough to get started, but 5 minutes in it becomes a lot easier. If i was fasting primarily for weight loss, i would definitely include a lot of moderate (but not intense) exercise.

Originally Posted by CoolBee

If you set yourself up to lose that much weight and failed - as you will - you will just become even more miserable. Ask me how I know? 43 years of unsuccessful dieting and self-loathing. Took me til this year - aged over 50 - to find the secret.

Congrats to you .

Originally Posted by CoolBee

... and you would feel better and he will be greeted by and take away memories of a happy confident young woman.

Very good point and that's a nice image. If emma was my daughter that's what i would want for her too.

Originally Posted by GregD

You are 16, female, and although I don't know your height your body - while in a healthy eating active form - would burn about 1600 calories per day.

At the 186 pounds emma mentioned, i would speculate that it would probably be closer to 2800 or so.

Originally Posted by GregD

However, once you start fasting your body will go into starvation mode and stop burning as much and although nobody can tell you the exact number I will take 1,000 burning per day just for calculation sake.

I prefer the term "conservation" mode . The fasting body is not starving or exhibiting any of the horrific symptoms of starvation, it is just slowing down to conserve the nutrients within. I think your ratio is about right though. Aside from any and all exercise, emma would probably be burning about 2800 in the first 3 days, 2500 by day 7, 2100 by day 21 and 1850 by day 40. By the end of a long fast her metabolism would be about 2/3 of normal and would gradually work its way back to normal within about 6 weeks of breaking the fast. Part of this continually slowing metabolism throughout the duration of the fast is actually due to the weight that is lost in the process.

Originally Posted by GregD

So in order to burn through 198,000 calories at the above described rate you would need 198 days, by which time you would be long dead before that happens.

You would need a lot of days to burn 60 pounds of actual fat (or more accurately the fat and permanent water loss that accompanies it adding to 60 pounds), this is very true... I would estimate it at about 120ish given emma's starting weight if no exercise was performed, but more like 80 days or so with a lot of brisk exercise. In other words, a single long fast alone will not accomplish this goal and there needs to be a good post fast plan to continue achieving the desired results.

Originally Posted by GregD

The weight loss on fasting is the greatest at the most beginning few days, then it slows down rediculously because, as i explained, the body starts protecting itself by "shutting down".

The slowing metabolism is a factor, yes, but the most significant reason weight loss is so much greater in the earlier days is the substantial temporary losses in water and intestinal content, most of which disappear early. Even with a 2/3 metabolism towards the end of a long fast, the daily fat loss is still fairly substantial, probably about 1/2 pound per day without any exercise for an individual starting at 186. 3 hours of brisk walking (if one were so inclined) pushes this to .8 or .9 pounds... and this would be at the very end of the fast.

Originally Posted by GregD

... Final point on a more personal note. If you were my best friend, I would just really want to see you or hug you or be with you or laugh with you. I have both friends who are overweight and who are very fit and when we hang out, we hang out because we are friends and not because someone is whatever weight.

Great sentiment, yes.

[Peek]

Originally Posted by Secretsbuild

Hi guys, i'm new to this; so here goes. My name is emma, and i have a question for you. I need to know if i can lose 60 pounds in 40 days of water fasting.
But before you reply, let me say something. my best friend, who i havent seen in two years is leaving to be a Marine soon. this may be the last time i see him, but it will be the last time i see him before he leaves. either way, if i gain it all back, at least then ill have the time to work it off the healthy way again. but theres now way im going to let him leave without seeing me, and no way hes seeing me like this. all i get on other sites is people harrassing me, and if i get harrassment here, then im just going to go ahead and do it because this is my last chance.
i'm 16, 186 pounds. and also, i plan on taking a multivitamin daily, along with my adhd medicine, and doing yoga everyday; and as for my plan of coming off the fast, im going to start vegan then work up to vegetarian and so on and so forth. Please help - can i do it, and do you have any suggestions?

Hello: your best friend is leaving and you are worried about a few pounds....?!?
Please recheck your priorities in friendships. To make your self remarkable, obviously that is what you want, make a hell of a party with other friends. Or make a great unforgettable dinner for 2 if that is the real aim.
Do you really think he cares about your weight?

Pick up your guts and balls an go make him crazy, not yourself.

there is love in this message,
Peek

[CoolBee]

Originally Posted by MightySunTzu

Quote:
Originally Posted by CoolBee
Keep in mind too that it's entirely possible to do a lot of walking during a fast as well, so it's not a matter of having to limit oneself to one or the other. A lot of Russian fasting experts recommend 3 hours per day of walking to their patients in a long fast and have enjoyed tremendous success with this... and where fat loss is the primary goal, all the more reason to include a lot of exercise in the program.

For the record, I never made this comment which has been attributed to me!

I would never recommend that much exercise on a fast!

My comment was to walk 3 miles a day if taking in 1200-1500 calories per day! Not sure how this happened as I can't find the quote used in any of the posts in this thread! I think Mighty misplaced his quote marks maybe?

[ButterflyWoman]

Mod note: I edited MightySunTzu's post slightly to take out the reference CoolBee mentions above. Looks like a cut and paste error or some other honest mistake, of course. All sorted now.

[CoolBee]

Thanks BW I assumed it was an honest mistake

[MightySunTzu]

Originally Posted by CoolBee

For the record, I never made this comment which has been attributed to me!

I would never recommend that much exercise on a fast!

My comment was to walk 3 miles a day if taking in 1200-1500 calories per day! Not sure how this happened as I can't find the quote used in any of the posts in this thread! I think Mighty misplaced his quote marks maybe?

Ah, my apologies CoolBee. I went back in and corrected it, even after Butterfly woman corrected it partially. It was a long post and it was getting late. The words were my own that Russian fasting experts recommend 3 hours of exercise to their fasting patients and with outstanding results... and through their vast experience with this (and a bit of my own), i also believe it is a perfectly acceptable way to fast, especially where burning extra fat is the primary priority.

[CoolBee]

Thanks, Mighty - much appreciated

[MightySunTzu]

As a follow up post to Olivia Cohen's experience, I was in youtube today and had some time to quickly revisit the progression of the videos of her 3 consecutive 40 day fasts. With each fast there was an intermission of a few days, i believe 7 or fewer.

Olivia's fasts were spiritually motivated and thus health was not her primary concern, nor was what most people would perceive as normal logic in the way things were done. She felt she was following her calling and that the normal rules did not apply including listening to the recommendations of experienced fasters which include much longer periods of nutritious refeeding in between fasts, no vitamins and minerals during the fast (which she was taking and which interfere with the optimal process) and partaking only in the most digestively simple foods in the breaking of her fasts... among other fundamental practices.

In spite of it all even though most experts would disagree with the way Olivia's fasts were conducted, she seems to have emerged quite healthy and indeed much healthier than before the fasts were begun. Thus it seems evident that even performed sub-optimally fasting can be enormously beneficial.

As i mentioned in a previous post Olivia looked outlandishly, outrageously thin at the end of the 3rd fast (as you will be able to see for yourselves in the 4th video below), but was quite normalized by the time she updated 6 months later... and from my own experiences i believe she was probably looking and feeling about the same as in this 6 month update within 3 short weeks of breaking the fast, the point at which the normal temporary losses in muscle glycogen and the water that accompanies it, other temporary water, intestinal content and other temporary losses all will have returned.

So if anybody was interested in seeing some of the key first and last day videos, but didn't want to do all of the searching for themselves, i took it upon myself to save the good people that step by posting them here.

1. 1st day of first 40 day fast: First Day of 40 Day Fast - (Water Only Fasting - 1st of 3 Forty Day Fasts) - YouTube. Scale weight 199.

2. final day of 1st 40 (41?) day fast: 40 Day Fast - Day 41 is ending (1st of three 40+ day water only fasts) - YouTube. This video was posted to show what kind of visual impact the first 40 days had on Olivia, which is more in line with what most highly ambitious people would pursue instead of 3 consecutive fasts of this length... and keeping in mind that she would look considerably healthier 3 weeks of re-feeding later. This would also be the fast where the most substantial losses in fat and overall weight (including the enduring portion of the water losses as a result of bodily downsizing) would have taken place.

3. day 1 of 3rd and final 40 day fast: Third 40 Day Water Fast - Day 1 has just started - YouTube

4. 39th day of 3rd and final 40 day fast (i did not see a 40th day video): Day 40 of 3rd consecutive 40 Day Fast begins - LAST DAY OF ALL THE FASTS - 123 total fasting days - YouTube.

5. 6 months after 3rd and final 40 day fast: 6 months later - Update (Six months since last update, Seven months since the 3rd 40 day fast ended) - YouTube. Here we see Olivia looking greatly normalized and maintaining a healthy weight in the low to mid 120s.

Since this thread beckons the question of what kind of weight loss can be expected, Olivia in 123 days of fasting seems to have lost a relatively enduring 75 pounds going from about 200 to about 125. Averaged out this is about .61 pounds per day of real (non-temporary) loss and i don't believe she was exercising throughout her fasts. It doesn't seem that she shows her weight at the end of the final fast, but i would speculate that she was about 110 pounds at that point and gained back about 10 or 15 pounds of temporary losses, probably within the first 3 weeks.

I'm not saying that what Olivia did and the way in which it was done was not risky, but it seems to have worked out very nicely for her.

[MightySunTzu]

One more video example of a young lady who fasted for 21 days. Her videos are intelligent and worth watching. She did this very wisely having educated herself beforehand and emerged from the experience with healthy desires and habits.

day 1 of 21 day fast: Water Fast - Day 1 - YouTube

35 day update after completing the 21 day fast: Post-Fast Day 35 (after 21-day water fast) - YouTube