Amii
11-23-2010, 08:27 AM
The Student Room is a UK-based forum for school/college/university students that I go on every now and then. I just ran across a thread by a 19 year old guy who was documenting his "water fast".
This being TSR and not RFT or any other health boards, the responses to his post were predictable enough:
"LOL fag, go eat some steak!"
"In to see if OP dies."
"Have you died yet?"
"Don't be so stupid. Just eat less and exercise. Hardly rocket science."
The one that caught my attention the most, though, was:
"If you're doing this for religious reasons then fine, but if it's for weight loss then it's stupid, YOU'LL GAIN IT ALL BACK AND MORE!!"
How dya figure? was my first thought. A water fast is a water fast, and the reasons behind it don't change what it is. Sure, the reasoning could be unhealthy or silly but why are people so threatened by the idea of fasting for weight loss or health? Why is it "fine" to fast for religious reasons but not for weight loss? How come it's suddenly so dangerous when you're weight loss motivated?
(I know, I know.. people think you're more likely to develop an eating disorder, or screw up your metabolism or... maybe there's some other motive to discouraging a fast?)
Now, as the thread progressed, it became more and more clear that not only did the other posters not know what they were talking about - repeatedly telling him that he would gain all the weight back plus some, despite him never saying his fast was weight-loss motivated - but it also became alarmingly clear that the OP was completely uneducated on the subject of fasting, as well.
He was sipping Innocent Smoothies and diet 7-Up throughout the 3 days (he broke yesterday, at the end of day 3, on some crisps or something).
So that's scary in itself but I wanted to add that in for anyone wondering if he did manage to finish the fast.
I was going to message him telling him to ignore the naysayers and to advise him on how to continue properly and safely but as the thread progressed I realised that he was probably safer not fasting at all, just because of his obvious mental state.
But again I am wondering on what you guys think about the reactions to fasting for weight loss. Perhaps the most grating response I've heard to the proposition is the dramatic "I used to fast when I was in the depths of my eating disorder!"
Anyway. What do you think? Thoughts?
This being TSR and not RFT or any other health boards, the responses to his post were predictable enough:
"LOL fag, go eat some steak!"
"In to see if OP dies."
"Have you died yet?"
"Don't be so stupid. Just eat less and exercise. Hardly rocket science."
The one that caught my attention the most, though, was:
"If you're doing this for religious reasons then fine, but if it's for weight loss then it's stupid, YOU'LL GAIN IT ALL BACK AND MORE!!"
How dya figure? was my first thought. A water fast is a water fast, and the reasons behind it don't change what it is. Sure, the reasoning could be unhealthy or silly but why are people so threatened by the idea of fasting for weight loss or health? Why is it "fine" to fast for religious reasons but not for weight loss? How come it's suddenly so dangerous when you're weight loss motivated?
(I know, I know.. people think you're more likely to develop an eating disorder, or screw up your metabolism or... maybe there's some other motive to discouraging a fast?)
Now, as the thread progressed, it became more and more clear that not only did the other posters not know what they were talking about - repeatedly telling him that he would gain all the weight back plus some, despite him never saying his fast was weight-loss motivated - but it also became alarmingly clear that the OP was completely uneducated on the subject of fasting, as well.
He was sipping Innocent Smoothies and diet 7-Up throughout the 3 days (he broke yesterday, at the end of day 3, on some crisps or something).
So that's scary in itself but I wanted to add that in for anyone wondering if he did manage to finish the fast.
I was going to message him telling him to ignore the naysayers and to advise him on how to continue properly and safely but as the thread progressed I realised that he was probably safer not fasting at all, just because of his obvious mental state.
But again I am wondering on what you guys think about the reactions to fasting for weight loss. Perhaps the most grating response I've heard to the proposition is the dramatic "I used to fast when I was in the depths of my eating disorder!"
Anyway. What do you think? Thoughts?