To fast for 3 days on only honey water? Friend has lost half stone in 3 days.

[MrsJamieFraser]

Hi Mn

My friend has just finished a 3 day honey water fast and she has lost 7 lbs. Her tummy is flatter and she has lost the constant cravings for carbs

I need to lose an embarrassing amount of weight (40 lbs) and I already have a healthy sustainable weight loss plan set up (5:2 diet + 30 mins daily brisk walk + swimming 2x weekly)

The 'detox' is a cup of hot water with a small spoon of the purest honey you can find, drank 3-9 times a day for 3 days.

WIBU to do this just for a quick drop in the no. on the scale and to motivate me??

I have an event in 3 weeks and every pound counts.

Don't bother. Your friend has lost water weight. She isn't craving carbs because she has been living off a diet of pure carbs - sugar (even if it is from a natural source). Having only sugar in her blood stream means she is highly unlikely to have managed to burn any fat. The loss will be water weight, possibly along side some of her muscle tissue as she has starved her body of protein.

I say this as someone qualified to write fat loss targeted meal plans. Honestly.. If it doesn't swim, grow or run don't eat it. You will lose the 40lb without gimmicks.

Having recently tried regular fasting and finding it works and has health benefits I would say go for it if you can do it. Going for periods without food is perfectly normal for the human body and would have been typical in prehistoric times. Our ancestors would not have had regular access to food but would have feasted and fasted. Since trying the 5:2 diet and occasional juice fasts my health has really improved - and it works for weight loss - not saying that it's easy though!!

Dusty, the 5:2 diet is completely different to drinking just honey water for three days in a row!

TBH if I had starved myself and had nothing but sugar water for THREE. WHOLE. BLOODY. DAYS. I'd be gutted if all I'd lost was half a stone.

It's probably just the lack of actual food weight inside her.

And it'll got straight on again when she starts eating normally - just like it does when you have had a stomach upset.

Been there got the t-shirt... several times in fact (anyone rememember the syrup and lemon / ginger fad a few years back, blerrrrrrgh) the weight comes back on when you start eating again, I think you'd be far better off to and have the same results after two or three weeks doing the 5:2 and have established better habits that are more likely to continue on to your goal... if it sounds to good to be true it usually is!

Eirik, do you know of any evidence to support starvation mode? I can't help thinking it's a myth

If you don't eat for 3 days then of course you lose weight but much of it is, as everyone else has said, just water. And yes it will come back on immediately you eat anything.

Btw I'm 5ft 7 and I weigh about - erm let's work this out - well roughly 9 stone so what is that? how many lbs in a stone again?

People often tell me I'm too thin when I get down to 8 and a half. I'd guess that's still an 8-10 because I don't normally get into an 8 at that weight. I think it's the width of my hip bones and shoulders etc - you can't shrink that.

Even when I was 6 stone at the height of my anorexia in my 20s, I wasn't ever really a size 6.

Be realistic and don't base your own self image/ideal on someone else's body shape because it won't work.

You need to be happy as yourself, not try to be someone else.

126. I think.

Size 6 is a completely unrealistic goal at 5'7"

I'm 5'4" and I was briefly a size 6 in my early 20s when I was doing a weight-limited sport and had got down under 110lb. I once found a photo of me from that time, wearing a short skirt and t-shirt and I look stupidly thin.

Surely a 10 would be about right for your height?

Stealth, I don't off the top of my head. I did some (Internet) research into it a while ago and as you can imagine there is plenty to argue for both positions. I used to frequent a weight loss forum and there were always people who thought they could lose weight more quickly by going under 1000 cals a day, they often posted saying weight loss had slowed/stopped. Anecdotally it seems to be a real phenomenon but very misunderstood.

Size 6 is unlikely to be possible at 120lbs.
IMO, some people are 'built' to be a size 6, and some not. I was 9 stone as a teenager (126lb) at 5`11". I was a size 10, and was skinny as a rake. I couldn't get my skeleton into a size 6.

I get occasional IBS/acid stomach, and I dread to think the result that a fast would have on me! Just not eating regularly caused me problems.

6 now is much bigger than it used to be. I have a size 6 top I wear from White Stuff. I'm 5ft7 and 153 pounds. I'm generally a size 8 in trousers and tops.

Wasn't there a discussion about the OP being American so she means a size ten in our terms.
Eirik, thanks. I do feel that people cite it as a definite when actually there is nothing to back it up at all.

Er

Stupid phone. I got confused with kilos. Of course I'm not 153 pounds. 123 I meant.

I did rhink yoy seemed small for 11st!

:o

As MNers often say, it's where you carry it.

But that would mean she's a size 18 now which at that weight and height seems unlikely. I'm a bit heavier and a bit shorter and I'm a 16.

Hester, I posted Next's size 6 upthread - 31.5" - 25.5" - 34.5". Just a bit smaller than a 10 used to be in the 80s, when I could squeeze into a 10, at just over 7 stone at 5'5" (I have shrunk since then). 6 wasn't even readily available then - most shops started at 8 or 10. And even if it's bigger than it would have been, it's still pretty tiny.

Dont. Do. It!! Seriously, stick with the plan u have, but again dont get silly with the higher calorie days. Too many people use it as an excuse to eat shit food as long as it fits their macros.
Your friend only lost weight from not eating anything and it will go straight back on and then some. Healthy eating and exercise will shift your NOT embarrassing 40lb and keep it off. Good for you for doing something about it, best of luck! :)

Couldn't personally do that diet but as a beekeeper I would definitely recommend a spoon of honey a day.

110lbs is under 8 stone which is stupidly light for 5 foot 7. I am that tall have never weighed less than 8 stones and when I did I was 24 and stressed as hell in my first job and had stopped the calorie consumption from alcohol as a student. I now weigh10 stone and would like to shift half stone of flabby stomach, but The rest of me looks a lot better and much less scrawny than I used too. Depends how old you are but to achieve that weight loss you will probably have to starve yourself at the end and ultimately that will lead to more weight gain as soon as you stop dieting.

Hi all!

Just an update:

I didn't really listen to all the ''Nooo -starvation mode'' posters, because I know this is only a very short-term thing, so I went ahead and fasted the full 3 days on only 6 cups of honey water a day. I fasted on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, on Monday I ate 1400 calories and today I also had 1400 calories

Before the fast I weighed 160 lbs and after the fast (Monday morning) I weighed 153 lbs!! 7 lbs!! I have been eating sensibly (1400 calories + jogging) on both Monday and today and this morning I was another lb lighter. So I now weigh 152.5 lbs!!

Healthy eating from now on, I only wanted a kick-start and it worked.

It's counterproductive to starve yourself in order to lose weight; it slows the metabolism, and the body stores as much fat as it can when you do eat something. Eating little and often (so instead of 3 meals a day, half them and make them into 6 small meals), watching the calories, and keeping active is the safe and sensible way of losing weight.

It will slow down your metabolism, so as soon as you start eating your body will hold all the fat and nutrients and cling to them, resulting in the weight going back on, with the possibility of putting even more weight on.
I would exercise more and look into ways to boost your metabolism instead.