Advantages and Disadvantages of Fasting

  1. Simplicity – Fasting just makes my life simpler. Unlike diets where I had to worry about food choices and find crunchy 100% cheese chips for snacks I don’t really have to stress out about food because I only am eating in a small window so it limits the planning I need to do.Stones
  2. It gets easier – Unlike all the diets I’ve tried over the years that start out not too bad and then made me sick and miserable, fasting is the opposite. The first 2.5 day fast I did was by far the hardest even more than my 20 day fast.After six months the biggest enemy isn’t hunger, it’s boredom. Food is exciting and fun. Around 6:00 PM if I’m working I find myself thinking I should be doing something different and then I remember that’s dinner. I actually find it harder to fast if I’m not going to the gym, because it gives me something else to do.At about the 6 month mark, effects on general appetite kicked in as well. I find myself getting stuffed really easy. An appetizer portion of food that never would have made a dent before might make me painfully full.
  3. It’s easier to start – Unlike a diet where it’s like you are making a huge commitment, fasting to me is so much easier to start because you know you are going to be stopping in a reasonable time period. I know lots of individuals who put off starting a diet because of impending social events, but even a day long fast will seem to accomplish something.
  4. Results – Nothing succeeds like success! When I started fasting I wasn’t stoked or determined to make some big life change or else. I had failed with every diet before and didn’t expect anything to work, though if I could wish for anything it would have been an effective weight loss solution.Fasting saw immediate results both in weight and health. I also didn’t notice any really serious plateaus that seem to plague every other diet. If there was a plateau when I reviewed how much fasting I’d done it was clearly correlated to not having fasting as much during the time period.
  5. I enjoy eating more – Eating is great and fun. Fasting takes out the conflict because now I know I have a tool to combat the splurges. A feast and famine cycle just feels natural.I can enjoy some gourmet desserts or whatever else takes my fancy without feeling guilty.
  6. Energy- I have lots of energy. I find it hard to fast if I can’t make it to a gym since I’m bursting to spend some excess energy.
  7. Time- Fasting creates more time. From grocery shopping to going to the bathroom, fasting just demands less time.

Disadvantages

Fasting isn’t perfect.

  1. You don’t eat anything – Eating is fun and entertaining. Hunger is not fun. Later on when you get into fasting hunger becomes less of an issue, but then boredom becomes the enemy.

    Basset Hound isolated on white background

    This hound dog is probably fasting. 

  2. Early fasts can suck – The first 2.5 day fast involved some serious hunger and weird feelings. If you aren’t prepared for this then you might give up.
  3. More Medical Uncertainty – Fasting is not well studied. The risks are not well defined at this point and especially for longer fasts it’s hard to get nailed down guidelines. This means that Doctors don’t really support you in it. This is especially true if you take diabetic or high blood pressure medicines since you really need medical support since dosing may change.
  4. Lack of support generally – People reflexively assume you are crazy or try to spout established wisdom at you. In addition most people don’t listen to the part where you say you failed at all previous diets and they made you sick and miserable.
  5. Some social awkwardness. – I’m fairly aggressive and straightforward so I just tell people I’m fasting. However, it can be awkward to be fasting and go to dinner with friends and social occasions.

A woman in retro garb drinking a cup of tea.