Do fasting days help to lose weight and how does it work?

Fasting days - an effective way to lose weight

Fasting days will not help you lose 10-15 kg a month before summer. They are more suitable for those who need to keep themselves in shape without making any special efforts or return "in line" after winter. Fasting days for weight loss do not bring as impressive results as we would like, but if you do them regularly and then do not jump on food, the effect will surely please you.

What are fasting days for?

It will seem what can happen after a day of fasting, but this is only at first glance. The benefits of fasting days have long been proven, tested and verified. And consists of the following:

  • After a short hunger strike, a feeling of relief appears due to bowel cleansing;
  • Stress brings the body into tone;
  • It helps to overcome the well-known "plateau effect" of pain for many people. In other words, it is stagnation during the diet. The weight falls to a certain point, and then stops, not wanting to move. A hunger strike can serve as a mild stress for the body and a kind of catalyst for fat burning processes.
  • And of course, one cannot fail to mention the "test of strength" and the development of will.

Types and features of food discharge

The discharge days are conditionally divided into two types:

  • "hungry"
  • "saturated".

These two options are distinguished by the caloric content of the daily menu and the number of ingredients allowed for use.

The essence and principles of "hungry" days.

The simplest and most rigorous option is a day on the water. The discharge in which proteins, fats and easily digestible carbohydrates are excluded is also called "cleaning". In other cases, in addition to juice, a product is also included in the diet. The maximum daily calorie content is 500 calories. Considering that you can eat low-fat kefir, cucumbers, apples, cabbage or citrus fruits, in general, low-calorie foods, it will be easy not to cross the allowed bar. For example, the calorie content of 100 grams of a regular cucumber is 15. 5 calories. With these restrictions, you can eat 3. 2 kg of fresh green cucumbers per day.

Important!Regardless of the type of food consumed, you should drink 2 or more liters of water. Plain non-carbonated water will be supplemented with green tea or a decoction of herbs.

"Full" download: types and rules

A better option. They allow 2-3 products that can be combined: meat, vegetables, eggs, legumes, fruits, dairy products. The calorie situation varies a little, you cannot exceed the limit of 800 calories. According to the type of products used, the "full" fasting days for weight loss are proteins and carbohydrates.

  • Protein unloading is the best option if more restrictive diets cause weakness, dizziness or are not suitable for health reasons. You can eat: lean meat; shellfish, crustaceans and fish; vegetable proteins. If desired, the menu can be diversified with low-calorie vegetables. Chinese cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, greens are successfully combined with proteins. According to the method of preparation, it is better to give preference to cooking or steaming. During the day, there is no strong feeling of hunger.
  • Carb unloading - sounds tempting, but it has nothing to do with sweets. In this case, it is about foods rich in slow carbohydrates. It is usually buckwheat, rice, dried fruits.

When compiling the menu of a "full" fasting day, it is important to consider the compatibility of products.

Product group name Meat, fish, poultry Legumes Vegetable oil CROPS Sour semi sweet Sweet and dried fruits Vegetables Dairy products egg
Fruit
Meat, fish, poultry / - - - - - - + - -
Legumes - / + 0 - - - + - -
Vegetable oil - + / + + 0 0 + - -
CROPS 0 - + / - - - + - -
Sour - - + - / + 0 + 0 -
Fruit semi sweet - - 0 - + / + + + -
Sweet and dried fruits - - 0 - 0 + / + + -
Vegetables + + + + + + + / + +
Dairy products - - - - 0 + + + / -
egg - - - - - - - + - /

Benefits and contraindications

Fasting days will help in the uneven fight against excess weight. They will help remove heaviness after busy holidays, contributing to the gentle cleansing of the intestines from toxins. It is indicated for certain diseases. So, for example, in case of kidney diseases, it is recommended to spend "watermelon" days, heart and blood vessels - "potatoes", and for joint problems - "cucumber". Only without initiative, after consultation with the doctor. Without fail, the download should be carried out by those who constantly follow various fitness diets, are fond of protein foods, artificial proteins and other "heavy foods".

It is impossible to discharge patients with diabetes mellitus, pregnant and lactating women. People exhausted from a long illness and suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (only "complete" discharges are indicated after consultation with a gastroenterologist). It is undesirable to organize discharge during menstruation.

Advice!You should not get carried away with "hungry" unloading, they are carried out no more than once a week, while "full" ones can be done 2-3 times.

5 download rules

In order for fasting days to bring the expected result, five simple rules must be followed.

Rule 1: respect the conditions

Most fasting days are built on the principle of a mono diet, that is, you can eat one product, but you should do this as often as possible. Of course, in small portions. In addition, the selected product should be liked, this will help alleviate the already stressful situation for the body. The total energy value of the products should not exceed 800 calories.

Rule 2: choosing the optimal product

Usually, unloading is carried out on low-calorie foods, with a minimal content of fats and carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, kefir). For a carbohydrate diet, you can stop at a type of cereal with a low glycemic index (buckwheat, rice, oatmeal). Lean meat and lean fish are allowed in the protein dump. The most effective are "liquid" fasting days, when the teeth rest, but you can only drink.

Rule 3: the right day

Many do not pay attention to this moment, but the choice of a day is no less important. Nutritionists advise not to take statutory holidays, but to choose Monday. This option is not suitable if the job involves manual labor. Downloading is best done on the same day every week.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner of a fasting day

Rule 4: rest

On the day of discharge, not only the digestive tract, but the whole organism as a whole should rest. It is important to exclude any physical activity, especially exercise. Alcohol is excluded on the day. And for those who have poor alcohol tolerance, in 2 or even 3 days. On the list of recommended activities: a visit to the bath or sauna. Sauna procedures calm the body, help cope with stress, improve lung ventilation and promote the elimination of toxins. Also shown are leisurely walks in the park.

Too much time to sleep. Ideally: at least 9 hours. Don't miss the opportunity to relax instead of lunch. Prolonged sleep will strengthen the body and at the same time help to transfer the feeling of hunger more easily.

Rule 5: no contrasts

It is very important that you enter the fasting day smoothly, survive it calmly and also exit it smoothly.

Smooth check-in and check-out: why is it important?

Any diet, even one day, is a strong stress for the body. At one point, without explaining why, they suddenly stopped feeding. When will it end, or will it end at all? Just as suddenly, he finally gets a portion of high-calorie food, and assimilates it to the max. That is why after long diets, the lost weight is quickly returned.

How to start a fasting day

Proper preparation of the body will help to get the maximum effect from the discharge. On the eve of lunch, they refuse heavy food. Dinner is replaced with a light salad, fruit, kefir. Before going to bed, it is recommended to do a cleansing enema. You can drink herbal tea, which has a laxative effect, but without fanaticism.

How to complete the download without problems

Of course, you should not start the next morning with chips. It is better to drink 200 ml of water on an empty stomach and eat some boiled vegetables or a spoonful of rice and then refrain from eating for 2-3 hours. Cereals, vegetables and fruits will help the body to switch to stable work. It is better to give up meat, legumes, eggs or fish. Due to the production of cortisol (stress hormone), appetite increases and food is absorbed to the maximum.

The most efficient way to download

The effectiveness of a particular diet is a relative concept. Each organism is individual, reacts differently to stress, perceives and assimilates products. Therefore, the best option for yourself can only be chosen empirically. Judging by the reviews of "users", as well as listening to the opinion of nutritionists, the most noticeable results can be obtained by adhering to the diets described below. You can stop at one type of download or switch between different ones. So, we present to your attention the most effective fasting days for weight loss.

Day of discharge into the water

The most difficult and effective ones are called "liquid" discharge, only if they are performed correctly. Many begin to "unload" the day after the holiday or immediately after the holidays, but nutritionists recommend at least one day before the "X" day to exclude lactic acid, meat, dishes with flour and switching to light food. Of course, everything is greasy, fried, salty and smoked too. It is better to prepare the water in advance. It can be non-carbonated mineral or ordinary purified, but not boiled.

Really effective fasting days for weight loss are as "strict" as possible. Eliminate food completely. It is necessary to drink every hour, in order to get at least 3 liters a day. Due to the fact that the stomach is constantly filled with liquid, there should not be a very bright feeling of hunger. The strictest version of the discharge says that on this day you can not drink tea, coffee or juices, but only water.

Advice!It is very difficult, but you have to keep a positive attitude and stay until the end. Of course, listening to the well-being. If weakness, dizziness or other bad symptoms appear, the experiment should be stopped.

You have to be very careful when you get out of the water. In the morning after fasting, they drink a glass of water and eat some boiled or boiled vegetables. The next day you can eat only cereals, vegetables and fruits.

The girl observes strict discharge in the water

The day of discharge in cucumbers

The vegetable, which is 95% water, is adored by nutritionists, and the cucumber fasting day for weight loss is so well-known that it does not need advertising. Cucumbers are a product with a negative calorie content (the body spends more on digesting them than it takes in), and it is much easier to get enough of them (albeit for a short time) than water.

Those who have not yet encountered the cucumber diet face to face should know that this vegetable is a strong diuretic.

So during the day it is better to be near the toilet. An active social life will have to be postponed, weakness may appear after dinner, especially in the legs. Some have increased stools. One-day cucumber discharge is indicated for uric acid diathesis, obesity, hypertension, gout, arthrosis and atherosclerosis.

For the "green" discharge, you will need 1. 5-2 kg of fresh cucumbers. This amount is divided into 5-6 doses. Unlimited drinking. For a change, you can prepare a salad of cucumbers with herbs, which is allowed to be filled with a spoonful of vegetable oil. Salt, of course, is not allowed. Cucumbers remove excess water and this will interfere with this process, but you can add lemon juice to the salad. At lunch time, the diet is allowed to be supplemented with a boiled egg. It is a pity that it will not save you from hunger.

Cucumbers - a low-calorie vegetable for unloading

Kefir unloading day

Kefir can compete with cucumbers in popularity. A lot has been written about the useful properties of the product, the most important thing is that it is available all year round, helps normalize pressure, is effective in preventing atherosclerosis and, of course, normalizes the digestive tract.

The most effective will be mono-diet with fat-free kefir. The discharge method is extremely simple: every 2-3 hours you need to drink 1-2 glasses of kefir. By the middle of the day, the product is getting saturated with the order. For taste, you can crumble dill or parsley in it, and for a change, do not drink, but eat with a spoon. If you want to eat between meals (you definitely do), you can drink a glass of water. And if the feeling of hunger is very strong, a tablespoon of wheat bran, a vegetable or fruit without sugar will help to kill it.

There are many options for downloading kefir. Kefir is often combined with vegetables, lean meat or honey. "Full" days of discharge for weight loss with kefir are perfect for weak-willed people and those dictated by certain health conditions.

One of the most popular is download on kefir

Apple unloading day

An apple is a low-calorie fruit that digests slowly. It contains 85% water, and the remaining 15% is a valuable storehouse of vitamins and minerals, it is not for nothing that it is called "rejuvenating". Apples are affordable and healthy, they increase immunity, contain antioxidants, regulate intestinal microflora and promote fat burning. The one-day apple diet is also called a fasting day for belly weight loss. But every coin has two sides. Apples can cause bloating, and a strict apple diet is absolutely contraindicated in diseases of the digestive tract (gastritis, ulcers, hyperacidity, biliary dyskinesia). In these cases, the use of ripe apples is allowed.

Let's start by describing the simplest version of apple unloading, which will require several kilograms of apples.

The procedure is as follows: 2 kg of green, unsweetened apples are divided into 5-6 doses or eaten one at a time approximately every hour.

You can eat fresh or ripe fruits, as well as combine them. It is better to use sour apples, but they can increase appetite.

If it is difficult to keep only apples, you can try malolactic discharge. It is allowed to eat 1. 5 kg of apples and 500 g of fat-free cottage cheese per day or drink 1. 5 liters of kefir.

Great shape thanks to a day of fasting with apples

Buckwheat discharge day

Perhaps, you should not say again that buckwheat is incredibly healthy, it contains trace elements, vitamins and amino acids. In this case, it is more important that the cereals are rich in dietary fibers, which improve digestion, help restore normal functioning and clean the intestines. Like many other cereals, buckwheat belongs to foods with a low glycemic index and therefore suppresses the feeling of hunger for a long time.

It is better to prepare for unloading buckwheat the day before. A cup of cereal (about 250 g) is poured into a small pot, poured with boiling water (0. 5 liters), covered with a lid and left overnight. Of course without salt, but you can add greens as spices. In the morning, the porridge is divided into 4-5 portions. By the way, it is better to use green buckwheat, not roasted brown. According to experts, all nutrients are stored in it. If the feeling of hunger has worsened, it is allowed to eat a snack with a green apple, but it is better to drink water.

Healthy buckwheat, ideal for a fasting day

The day of unloading in rice

One of the most effective is the rice fasting day. It is good because there are practically no contraindications. The main problem is the possibility of constipation. Therefore, it is better not to download rice for those who suffer from hemorrhoids or irregular stool. After meals it is advisable to drink teas with a laxative effect and the next morning start with kefir and fresh vegetables. In the intestines, the grains work as a sorbent, absorbing water and toxins, which are then removed from the body.

To prepare the right rice porridge, take 350-400 grams of low-calorie brown rice and 0. 5 liters of water. Beforehand, the grains should be soaked in water for several hours. The grains are boiled until half cooked. The whole porridge (up to 1 kg) is distributed in portions. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids, you can drink water, green tea, herbal decoction.

The day of unloading on rice has no contraindications

Comparative review of popular fasting days

The table shows an example menu for each of the fasting days described above ("full" option).

Download day type cucumber Apple Kefir Buckwheat RICE
8-00 BREAKFAST 2 cucumbers + 50 gr. boiled meat 2-3 apples + a glass of kefir 1-2 glasses of kefir 100 g of steamed buckwheat + cucumber or tomato 200 g of rice + a cup of green tea
11-00 The snack 2 cucumbers + green tea or juice 2-3 apples + 100 g each porridge 200 g of any vegetable 100 g of steamed buckwheat 200 g of rice + 50 g of fish or meat
14-00 dinner 2 cucumbers + boiled egg or 100 g of rice porridge 2 baked apples + fresh cucumber salad with a spoon. oils 1-2 glasses of kefir + 50 g of lean meat 100 g buckwheat + 50 g meat 200 g of rice + 1 fresh carrot
17-00 The snack Smoothie with cucumber and apple with lemon juice 2-3 apples + 1 banana 1 glass of kefir + banana 100 g buckwheat + apple or ½ grapefruit 200 g of rice + glass of juice
20-00 dinner 2 cucumbers + a glass of kefir 2-3 apples + 100 g of cottage cheese 1-2 glasses of kefir 100 g of steamed buckwheat 200 g of rice + 1 glass of kefir

Coffee on fasting days

Coffee lovers are probably interested in the question: is it possible to drink coffee these days, or even organize "coffee downloads" at all. According to nutritionists, 1-2 glasses of drink will only benefit. In this case, the cup of coffee should not be equal to the bowl of soup. The recommended volume is 90-120 ml. Of course, the coffee should be natural without sugar or cream, but you can add a sweetener or skim milk.

Coffee lovers did not want to be limited in some way and came up with their own version of the diet. The fasting day menu for weight loss is extremely simple - 5-6 cups of coffee at regular intervals. You can also eat fresh fruits and vegetables. The amount of other liquids should be limited. Many reviews write that after such a day they lost up to 3 kg. The only regret is that this "weight loss" is misleading. Coffee is a diuretic. During the day, instead of the prescribed 2 liters, about one liter is drunk, and much more is excreted from the body. Only the weight of water lost is essentially what the scale shows. But the big problem is that an already stressful situation for the body is aggravated by a heavy load on the heart and kidneys.

You can complete the fasting day with a cup of natural coffee.

The conclusion that follows from this is simple: it is undesirable and even dangerous to organize coffee fasting days, but it will be useful to supplement the discharge with 1-2 cups of natural coffee. The main thing is to drink a lot of fluids.

Useful tips

Tips compiled from numerous reviews, but equally suitable for any type of download.

  • Hunger strike days will be much easier if you spend them on your favorite foods (but not on cookies and cakes).
  • During fasting days, it is recommended to supplement the diet with decoctions of medicinal plants. For weight loss you can use ready-made herbal teas. As a rule, they have a complex effect, they have a laxative, fat-burning, cleansing, appetite-reducing, diuretic and choleretic effect.
  • There is no need to try to do everything at once and combine diet with physical activity in one day. But breathing exercises will only be the way.
  • If it is difficult to maintain five meals a day, the daily portion can be divided into more meals.
  • Avoid sugar, salt and spices altogether.

Fasting days for weight loss bring different results. In reviews, they often write that they lose up to 2 kg of weight per day. Those who are attracted by this figure should understand that it is not 2 kg of body fat that they lose! Excess fluid with toxins and "food waste", half-digested food that accumulates on the intestinal walls, is removed. It is impossible to lose weight by even 1 kg per day. With the strictest discharge of water, you can get rid of a maximum of 100-200 grams of fat.