Hi, i just found this forum and am so pleased since im desperate for some advise.

Ive been a vegan for about 15 years now....Im an unnaturally low body weight but i have chosen to maintain this for many years. However, i am very i do not want to lose weight and although have been doing a 36hour water fast every now and again for health benefits, im concerned that if i do it too regularly it will have an impact on my weight and i will ultimately have to eat more to sustain my already low weight. At first i thought of doing it once a month, but concerned that since im on a lower number of calories a day anyway jsut to maintain my lower body weight, i might lose weight. Then i thought perhaps every other month or once every 3 months? What do you think? . Would this still mean id lose weight after every 'fast' and so have to increase my original calorie intake just to restore what id lost in those 36hrs? (i dont want to consider juice fasting - just water fasting)

(You see, I thought that the body uses an incredible amount of calorific energy for digesting the food we eat and so during a water fast it would not require these calories and therefore you wouldnt lose weight.

Also, i had expected that because the body goes into starvation mode when its not fed, i would NOT lose weight since my metabolism would freeze. I dont want to lose weight...and end up having to increase my food intake just so that i can detox my body - that would just defeat the whole object!)

Does it work out that If i miss a day without my usual calorie intake, then i will lose body weight if i do not eat more on the next day?

I mean - you regular fasters out there, do you lose weight continuously? How do you maintain weight on a regular water fast? ..or does the body manage to maintain its weight despite the food restriction for that one day? I just dont want to end up having to increase my food intake after the 36 hours just to maintain my weight.
And i dont want my metabolism to slow right down so that when i next eat, anything and everything gets stored as fat, rather than used as energy.....

Thanks for listening guys - hope someone can help,

It sounds to me as though you have 'issues' regarding food. I'm very sorry if this is wrong but it is the impression I am picking up.

Are you sure you need to water fast so frequently. Have you examined your reasons for this and also for maintaining 'an unnaturally low body weight'?

I am sure somebody here will give you helpful information about fasting.

Best wishes
'

For the average person, the only weight they might lose is water weight and maybe a little fat. In that amount of time, there are enough nutrient stores that the digestion doesn't even shut down.

But in your case, where you don't have these stores, and very little body fat, you may lose muscle mass. If you don't do any activity, stay in bed and have a quiet mind, you may not lose any muscle.

A better strategy for detox might be to find out what elements of your lifestyle are causing you to accumulate toxins, and alter those habits.

your going to be at a calorie deficiet so you will lose some weight once a month sort of thing for someone who is "healthy" wouldnt lose much if anything.

But are you sure your eating enough calories, it sounds like your eating low calories to maintain this low bodyfat percentage?

Veganicity, my routine includes a 36-hour water fast once a week; and that seems about perfect for me.

Like you, my weight is low (by choice). But I probably eat more than you eat on the other days. I gain one or two pounds during the week, and then lose that much during the fast.

I find that overall, I reap important and significant benefits from a weekly fast, even though I eat a fair amount of food on the other days.

There may be ways to improve your diet that will help you to detox at the same time as you are eating more food. For me, eating a good variety of all raw foods allows me to eat more food, plus feel good and maintain my weight.

Something else you could try instead of a weekly water fast might be a once-a-week juice/fruit/smoothie fast to help you detox with less chance of losing weight.

Everyone is somewhat different. It's helpful to prioritize. For a while, I fasted twice a week. There were benefits, but so much fasting led to too much hunger and too little exercise. Steady raw food diet and lots of exercise have been much more important to my health than fasting. If fasting starts to interfere with either of those, then I know I'm fasting too much!

Thanks so much to everyone of you who have contributed - but especially to Prana and suncloud.

Im so relieved to have brought my concerns and questions to you guys and am so grateful for your support and advise,

Thanks again x

Grass is the best thing for fending off the trauma of starvation when engaged in a cleansing fast or diet. For someone with serious weight issues and having difficulty on a water fast I recommend a fruit fest where you eat lightly of whole juicy sweet fruit (true fruit, no seeds, nuts, or coconuts) and drink wheatgrass juice. Eat more on some days and less on other days. This will keep starvation at bay but still allow cleansing and healing. The grass juice has tremendous amounts of needed nutrition, especially protein, critical in keeping the body and brain cells happy.

Good tasting wild grasses can be as good as wheatgrass. As the snow melts in the mountains, perennial grasses sprout up vigorously, with tasty shoots, excellent for a fruit fest. Chew the grass, drink the juice, and spit out the pulp.

Wheatgrass juice can be taken as an implant (retain for an hour or more) and your body will absorb much of the needed nutrition. I think a water fast with wheatgrass juice implants would be very effective although I haven't tried it for more than a few days.