Fit Or Fat: Nutrition and Exercise

Why Can't I Lose Weight While Fasting?

Posting Date: 03/23/2001

Q: Recently I lost 32 pounds on a strict diet of 1100 calories a day. To lose 10 more pounds I decided to try a different method: I eat every other day. On the fasting days, I take no calories in as either solids or liquids (though I drink plenty of water and calorie-free fluids). On the eating days I avoid excessively fatty foods and sugars, but eat well and consume a moderate amount of alcohol.

In two months I HAVE NOT LOST A SINGLE POUND (or gained one either). Leaving aside the desirability of my methods, why do you think I have not lost weight?

A: If you've read any of our books ("Smart Exercise" or "The Fit or Fat Target Diet") you would know that we are TOTALLY against fasting. When you fast, you double the workload of your kidneys. When you fast, you train your body to preferentially store fat. When you fast, you lose valuable fat burning enzymes.

Now, to be fair, when a person loses a lot of weight and just has "10 pounds to go," he often hits a snag no matter how well-balanced (or unbalanced) his diet. The body just seems to get very resistant to giving up those last few pounds.

But considering all the bad things that happen when you fast, I would sure think twice before continuing with it. Are you exercising at all? Remember, dieting gets rid of the symptom (too much fat) but it doesn't CURE the problem. You need to cure the problem by training your body to burn off fat. Any you can only do that with exercise.

For more on this subject, please refer to my books "The Fit or Fat Target Diet" and "Smart Exercise."

To find out how many calories and fat grams you should be eating everyday, check out this calculator:
Recommended Daily Calories and Grams of Fat

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