Having a VERY Hard Time Fasting

[sjpersonal]

Hi,

I have been trying to fast since the begining of last week. I keep falling off and eating, I think it is the chewing that I miss.

I really want to transition to raw or high raw, I am thinking of adding one salad a day early in the day then all juice and water for the rest of the day. I really need to "release" 60 lbs. In addition to the weight issue, I know that eating raw is the best thing for me.

I have been reading the posts on this tread and really respect the opinions presented since most of you have been either fasting or/and raw for a while.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks

[Revvell]

We are the only critter in the universe that forces itself not to eat when it's not sick and forces itself to eat when it is. How about just eating raw and let your body tell you when IT feels to fast? It will you know. When those detox symptom hits, you'll not be hungry.. time to stop eating.

Revvell (http://LetsTalkRaw.com)

[pixelkatt]

I completely agree.. if I had tried to fast back in September when I first went raw, I think I would have sabotaged myself right off the get go.. I went 100% raw right away though (did a 30 day challenge.. hadn't found this site yet though so you are a step ahead of where I was, lol) and then changed to high raw since then and am now doing another 30 day challenge. I was about 175 when I started, which for me was the highest I have been in a long long time.. I was so frustrated with myself and I honestly didn't know if raw was right for me at first.. I just knew I was desparate and also knew there had to be a better way then struggling like I did..

Today I weighed myself at 151 (yes I still weigh every morning), which is the lowest I've been in a long time. I want to lose more but I want to be healthy more than anything.. so I say if you are hungry, eat raw.. trust me you will have times when you aren't hungry and won't eat.. but it's important (I think) at first to give your body what it wants (and I don't mean a cheeseburger, lol).. it will thank you for it I promise! :D

Good luck!! You are in the right place!!!

[sjpersonal]

We are the only critter in the universe that forces itself not to eat when it's not sick and forces itself to eat when it is. How about just eating raw and let your body tell you when IT feels to fast? It will you know. When those detox symptom hits, you'll not be hungry.. time to stop eating.

Revvell (http://LetsTalkRaw.com)

Thanks, I really want to change my life so i will do as I said and add one salad a day to my eating habits. I do want to do an extended fast, but now is not the time for me.

[sjpersonal]

I completely agree.. if I had tried to fast back in September when I first went raw, I think I would have sabotaged myself right off the get go.. I went 100% raw right away though (did a 30 day challenge.. hadn't found this site yet though so you are a step ahead of where I was, lol) and then changed to high raw since then and am now doing another 30 day challenge. I was about 175 when I started, which for me was the highest I have been in a long long time.. I was so frustrated with myself and I honestly didn't know if raw was right for me at first.. I just knew I was desparate and also knew there had to be a better way then struggling like I did..

Today I weighed myself at 151 (yes I still weigh every morning), which is the lowest I've been in a long time. I want to lose more but I want to be healthy more than anything.. so I say if you are hungry, eat raw.. trust me you will have times when you aren't hungry and won't eat.. but it's important (I think) at first to give your body what it wants (and I don't mean a cheeseburger, lol).. it will thank you for it I promise! :D

Good luck!! You are in the right place!!!

I am currently at 178 lbs. I am only 5 ft. tall, get the pix:eek:

Starting tomorrow I will have a large salad a day then juice and water the rest of the day. My salad dressing may or not be raw but that will be the only non raw item that I consume. After my body adjust to these changes I will try to committ to a fast.

Thanks for your words of encouragement and good luck to you.

[Aleesha Sattva]

I have some suggestions IF YOU WANT TO FAST: how about instead of a salad you try juicing with your teeth? i do this whenever i have the desire to eat.

cut up an orange... chew the juice out and spit out the rest. you'll end up with a little pulp in your belly but not much at all.

increase your juices. drink as many as you can. no limits here. juice juice and more juice and lots of water in between. you'll be totally amazed at how full you become! if after three days you haven't lost your hunger, try a day of just water, trust me... your hunger will be gone completely after a day of water.

other than that... you will release just eating 100% raw... so if i were you i would either:

a) pig out on raw

or

b) pig out on juices

but I would NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER limit the amount i ate or drank of either. ever!!! that my friend... is a recipe for disaster! you will be hungry, you will binge. period. so do either a or b... but no limiting yourself!

[pixelkatt]

Wow Aleesha, great info! I really want to try juice fasting myself (maybe just for a week to start out).. I have been thinking more and more about it.. if I only have a centrifugal juicer do you think I still can? Especially since mine doesn't juice greens like spinach very well.. I'm afraid I won't get enough of the enzymes and nutrients.. or should I wait until I can afford a better one someday to try this?

[EternityRider]

I don't disagree with any of the posts here. I think they are all helpful, offering solutions from different angles. We are complex beings, and so solutions do not all equally apply to all people, at all times. And there could be as many variations as there are people.

But I do have to ask.. are you NEW to fasting??

If you aren't experienced in this area, it is easy to feel discouraged. Even veteran fasters can struggle.. particularly at the outset.

I myself have had many false starts. Even if I caved in the evening, my body STILL got a nice break that day. (And there is also such a thing as fasting a meal or two.) So much for condemnation or kicking ourselves because even very short fasts, or "failed fasts" are profitable. ;)

What I am saying is, as you practice, you get better and better. The first day is typically the hardest. Especially in the evening. And there are some proven tricks to help you thru the tough moments so that those moments are no longer tough.

The second day can be tough too, but not as much. Day 3 is even easier, tho stomach contractions (mistakenly called "hunger pangs") may still occur. For me, usually by day 4 I'm outta the woods and on my way. (Unless you love forests like I do.. but that's another kind of woods. :D)

And I love that feeling of waking up the next morning and thinking, "wow, I made it."

I promise you, it gets easier and easier.Talk to Raising Alex and MissLinda who are serious veteran fasters (like weeks & months at a time). Talk to Aleesha who has mastered the art. Talk to Morn who has done several 30-day MC fasts. (Check out her profile - what a testimony!) All their stories are inspiring!!!

Read books about it. Check out FreedomYou, FCI & other places that specialize on it. You will find inspiration!

Try different approaches as suggested by the posters in this thread, if that is what you need.

But DON'T BE DISCOURAGED!!

Be patient with yourself.
It may take time.

But you will find your footing.. your way.

You can do it!! :p

[jgunn]

I dont think 1 large salad a day followed by water is going to give you very much nutrition wise

doing this you are neither fasting nor feeding yourself fuel to get through the day

I think you need to re-evaluate what you are doing , as this sounds like you will be simply restricting your calories

starving yourself will result in you holding on fast to your weight as your metabolism will slow down .. instead of speeding up which is what you want to do to lose weight

to speed up your metabolism , eat many small nutritious things all day long .. like every 2 hours .. keep that fire burning

and start exercising

and keep hydrated

focus on adding lots of raw foods and eliminating all the bad stuff and you will find the weight start to drop

it wont be overnight .. but you didnt get this way overnight so you need to start thinking reasonably

green smoothies help ALOT !!

ive lost 50 lbs and have 50 lbs to go so i know how you feel ..its been a couple years of slow steady weigh loss with many plateaus along the way :)

when your weight gets stuck at a number ..re-evaluate where you are again and change what you are doing :)

lotsa luck to you :)

great site here lots of good advice and support :)

[EternityRider]

starving yourself will result in you holding on fast to your weight as your metabolism will slow down .. instead of speeding up which is what you want to do to lose weight

Were you referring to water fasting? Most fasting proponents around here are referring to juice fasting, or something similar. And for this, "starving" would be a very serious misnomer.

Metabolism or bmr always slows down when caloric intake is reduced, whether eating low-calorie, or fasting low calorie.

The juices can be quite high-calorie, or high-carb.. particularly fruit juices.

You certainly mean well..
yet, even with water fasting, there are mountains of evidence, case histories, testimonies, books written by health giants like Ehret, Bragg, Sheldon and so many others, even free-thinking doctors, which powerfully attest to the efficacy of water fasting, with considerable weight loss as a side benefit. They would not refer to it as starvation.

That said, there is the tendency for many to simply binge-purge-binge-purge, which results in far less benefit than for those who incorporate diet reform with their fasting. That is a good reality check for incorrect fasting.

However, you do make some very excellent points about weight loss when it comes to eating, such as incorporating exercise, more but smaller meals, plenteous hydrating, raw foods..

And I salute your tremendous success! My hat is off to you!
Who can argue with success?!!!!! :)

[jgunn]

sorry i wasnt clear on that point and i certainly agree with what you say :)

what i was referring to as starving ... is eating the salad as the only meal followed by water the rest of the time :) i think this is very restrictive calorie wise

im a huge fan of water fasting :) i don't consider water fasting as starving

and juice fasting or feasting as some say

and thank you ! its been a slow road .. a bumpy road .. a happy one with ups AND downs :)

without sites like this and support from the friends ive made here and other sites id still be where i was 5 years ago im quite certain of that ! lol !

[EternityRider]

Jgunn - You rock!

Blessings.. :)

[choleblack]

Have you considered "feasting" rather than fasting? Seriously a gallon of juice & a gallon of water is a heck of a lot!

Chole

[jgunn]

thanks EternityRider :)

I feel really blessed to be a part of this huge collective process :)

and thankful for people like Alissa and her Contemporaries for having places like this where we can all learn from each other :)

wow can you imagine trying to network like this before the internet lol

[Draginvry]

Ironically, it's the people who have the hardest time fasting who need it the most.

But did you ever consider that you don't need to lose sixty pounds IMMEDIATELY. I mean, fasting is great for quick change. But quick change isn't always preferable. If you detox too fast, it can be a very painfull experience.

If you have a lot of weight to lose, you are better off going juice feast or fruitarian for a while. A pure water fast can cause debilitating detox symptoms. If you have a serious health condition, an extended water fast should only be done if you can sleep the whole time (because you will need it).

Juice feast is the best option. It's the easiest method to use, and the second best (after water fasting).

[oai]

i had a hard time fasting, too. now i pretty much have fasting for 14 days down pat and am currently doing a seriously extended one, 40+ days. it hasn't always been like that.

before now, there were MANY times where i would stop fasting later in the day or by day 3. SEVERAL times. i just kept at it. then one day, i fasted, then the second day, i fasted and went on until 14 days. it was finally the time where i was ready to fast, & i did so successfully. it's quite easy for me now.

in the mean time, i ate raw, and i believe doing so helped a great deal to prep my body's readiness for fasting. :)

and this is coming from a person who isn't chronically ill (that she knows of anyway :rolleyes:), never drank, never smoked, no addictions except for some foods, and rarely took meds. although when i was kid, i took whatever was handed to me. :p

[sjpersonal]

Thank you all so much for all of your information. One thing just to be clear under no circumstances would I ever attempt to do an extended water fast. I know it works for others but it is just not something that I could ever wrap my head around. The closest that I could ever come to doing a water fast is alternating days of all juice and then a day of all water never 100% water long term. I have been drinking about a Gallon or more of pure water a day for years but I would never try to live on water alone.

What I was planning to do is have one raw salad a day and then all fresh juice and water along with nightly enemas I have tried the SWF and hated it. Then later later as my body becomes used to not having all of the poisons and toxins that are in a lot of processed foods etc. I would absolutely love to be able to do an extended fast.

I am doing this for other reasons than just the weight, although from what I have read about the raw lifestyle weight is often the reason that people allow themselves to become open to exploring the raw lifestyle. I just turned 46 this month, I had a hysterectomy last October, I have always suffered from colds and flu whenever the weather change. Until June of 3004 my weight was not an issue as I was able to maintain around 122 lbs. But I ended up having emergency open heart surgery due to a surgeon's mistake. They had me on so many drugs and it really messed up my system and I gained almost 50 lbs in 2 months. I have not been able to release that weight. I truly believe that a lot of our health issues are due to all of the chemicals that we ingest with our foods.

I really want to get healthy and stay healthy for the rest of my life. These are my reasons for being here.

[sjpersonal]

i had a hard time fasting, too. now i pretty much have fasting for 14 days down pat and am currently doing a seriously extended one, 40+ days. it hasn't always been like that.

before now, there were MANY times where i would stop fasting later in the day or by day 3. SEVERAL times. i just kept at it. then one day, i fasted, then the second day, i fasted and went on until 14 days. it was finally the time where i was ready to fast, & i did so successfully. it's quite easy for me now.

in the mean time, i ate raw, and i believe doing so helped a great deal to prep my body's readiness for fasting. :)

and this is coming from a person who isn't chronically ill (that she knows of anyway :rolleyes:), never drank, never smoked, no addictions except for some foods, and rarely took meds. although when i was kid, i took whatever was handed to me. :p

Yes, this is the problem that I am having why I have decided to go a littler slower but still eat raw until I feel that I am ready to do a complete and extended fast.

[Aleesha Sattva]

Wow Aleesha, great info! I really want to try juice fasting myself (maybe just for a week to start out).. I have been thinking more and more about it.. if I only have a centrifugal juicer do you think I still can? Especially since mine doesn't juice greens like spinach very well.. I'm afraid I won't get enough of the enzymes and nutrients.. or should I wait until I can afford a better one someday to try this?

of course you can. add some spirulina and chlorella to your daily intake and VOILA you have your greens :)

[pixelkatt]

Thanks Aleesha! :) Maybe after my 30 day raw challenge I will give it a go.. I am curious to see if I can actually commit to it.. AND yes, I know I can commit to anything if I put my mind to it, lol.. I just know it will be a challenge for me. I really love juicing so far, but I REALLY REALLY love eating, lol.. :D

[RawKnitster]

Go raw first. Chances are you will lose 20-30 lbs in the first 3 months.

I'm ready to do a juice/smoothie/soup fast, but want to start slow. Last night I told this to an expert on the subject, (Cherie Colbam, "The Juice Lady"). She gave me what I consider a brilliant suggestion: Begin with a 24 hour juice fast, start it at 6:00pm and end it the following evening at 6:00pm.

btw: Salad dressings are easy. Search the forum for recipes and try your own. You won't want to go back to bottled dressing, ever!

[sjpersonal]

Go raw first. Chances are you will lose 20-30 lbs in the first 3 months.

I'm ready to do a juice/smoothie/soup fast, but want to start slow. Last night I told this to an expert on the subject, (Cherie Colbam, "The Juice Lady"). She gave me what I consider a brilliant suggestion: Begin with a 24 hour juice fast, start it at 6:00pm and end it the following evening at 6:00pm.

btw: Salad dressings are easy. Search the forum for recipes and try your own. You won't want to go back to bottled dressing, ever!

That is a great idea doing a 24 hour fast. I have been thinking about this all day and since I went to Whole Foods yesterday and purchased salad greens, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes I am going to add salads into my eating plan. I would like to do a salad every other day, even I can do a 24 hour fast as it is usually the next day that gets me, then a salad. I guess the most important thing is to eat raw.

Thanks again,.

[oai]

what kind of enema are you using? maybe you can look into doing a water enema. :)

[sjpersonal]

what kind of enema are you using? maybe you can look into doing a water enema. :)

Yes, that's what I have done in the past, just plain water.

[oai]

well then. i think you're well prepared. :)