Can You Lose Weight by Not Eating?

There are many ways to lose weight, but no single concept works for all. Some people follow the “more meals, fewer calories” technique.

Research showed that skipping meals forces your body to burn fat and convert it to the energy that would result in weight loss.

Likewise, losing weight is also possible if you won’t eat for a day due to calorie deficit. This technique is known as intermittent fasting.

What is Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is the latest trend that many people follow to lose weight. It is an eating lifestyle in which the dieter follows scheduled meals. It does not change the foods that you usually eat, but only the schedule of your meals.

The challenge of intermittent fasting is that you’re only allowed to eat eight hours and the remaining 16 hours would be fasting.

16 hours without any food really sound challenging. It would require you to make a planned schedule for your meal. You can enjoy eating four hours before going to bed and four hours in the morning after waking up.

Following intermittent fasting will help you lose weight. If you won’t feed your stomach, most likely your body will use the stored fat within for energy. If you will keep your body moving, fat gets burned thus losing weight.

Likewise, skipping meals put your body may suffer calorie deficiency. Keep in mind that burning more calories than what you consumed may lead to weight loss.

Before starting this technique, you should understand that intermittent fasting will make a drastic change in your eating habit. You can start by missing breakfast and observing how your body will react to it.

If your body can handle that, you can skip breakfast and lunch. But, it does not necessarily mean skipping those meals every day. You can eat the usual meals five days per week and fast the remaining days of the week.

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting won’t only help in your weight loss efforts but is also beneficial in other health conditions. It improves glucose uptake and insulin sensitivity and decreases blood pressure and fat mass. It also reduces oxidative damage to DNA, protein and lipids.

Risks of Intermittent Fasting

Starving yourself for a whole day also poses bad effects on your body. Aside from getting extremely hungry, you may also feel irritable and uncomfortable. The truth is people who fast for days ended up overeating for the remaining days.

The biggest problem in following this weight loss technique is that you’ll experience uncontrollable hunger. Likewise, too much calorie deficit can lead you to binge and keep off track of your weight loss goals.

How Fast Can You Lose Weight Without Eating?

If you’ll follow intermittent fasting to lose weight, make sure to have an exercise plan and weight loss diet.
One of the possibilities to lose fat quickly is when you fast for about 14 to 20 hours daily. This can also be possible if you exercise diligently while fasting.

Your body will be forced to burn more fat while you’re fasting especially when the blood glucose levels are lower as you continue to work out without eating.

As long as you are determined to lose weight quickly, you can easily adhere to the strict schedule of fasting.

How Many Pounds You Lose?

The amount of pounds that you can lose without eating greatly depends on your schedule of intermittent fasting. Obviously, if you only eat three or four days a week you’ll lose more pounds.

Some people who have been following this technique testified that fasting strictly helps you to lose about 5 to 10 pounds within a week.

But, you should understand that fasting is different from starving. Make sure to consult first your healthcare provider before starting this technique to ensure your safety.

Final Word

The concept of losing weight without eating is definitely a tough task. Apparently, there are researchers and fitness gurus that recommend intermittent fasting.

The good thing is that in spite of the fact that a dieter may consume more calories than he or she gets, there’s still a chance to build muscle mass.

If you want to succeed in this weight loss technique, you must be disciplined enough and determined to implement fasting and at the same time control your hunger.

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Mounota

is a registered dietitian with over 10 years of experience in the field of nutrition. She has a Master’s degree in Nutritional Science from Dhaka University and has worked with various clients to help them achieve their health goals through personalized diet plans. Mounota is passionate about educating people on the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle and has written extensively on the subject for various publications.