Anyone ever done a water fast?
 

I'm reading up about it now and have been for a couple of days. I mentioned it to my GP yesterday too and she has no problems with it, reckons it does good as long as its short term.

So heres the deal.

Apparently it detoxes your body and has been known to 'cure' health conditions. As I am getting next to no help with my ribs and painkillers have completely stopped working and docs are still no closer to discovering what the problem actually is, this is kinda a last resort.

At the same time..I have weight to lose. And apparently this is a quick way to lose it. I have slipped into terrible eating habits and have now put back on everything I lost after having James 10 months ago. I think losing around 2 stone would be good.

I'm thinking of doing 14 days. Apparently when you break the fast too, your body craves healthy food, so this would be a way to sort my diet out at the same time (been eating so much crap and craving chocolate so bad...)

I'm just wondering if anyone has had any success, or knows anyone that has...either from the weight loss perspective or the health benefits side of it. The health part is much more important to me than the weight loss, and there does seem to be a lot about it on the internet, but I don't trust google too much tbh. I don't want to get my hopes up too much for nothing :laugh:

I have a hard time believing a GP would sign off on this

I have not done it, but I have done the Master Cleanse on several occasions

Yeah I used to to them when I was losing weight I lost a good ammount, just never heard of 14 days. My trainer said 5 days.

Could be because I am a teenager though.

Honestly, I was quite surprised too. Mind this is a woman who has given me cream thats not even approved in this country (its made with chillis...thats all I know) to try and sort my ribs out as she is completely baffled by the whole deal.

She didn't support it as such, but said it won't do any harm and that I'm to do whatever I feel is necessary to try and eliminate my pain. And that short term its not dangerous at all :shrug: I took that as a go ahead

Apparently people do up to 40! I couldn't do 40, and I would be surprised if doing it for that long didn't trigger eating disorders and such in some people.

Is it correct that you feel absolutely awful (flu like I have been told) for about 3 days, then perfectly fine..and even full of energy after that? Its going to be getting through the first few days thats the hardest by far I reckon. Obviously I expect to feel staring for a few days, but that will go away too I reckon.

what is actually is it? do you literally just drinking water and eat nothing for 2 weeks? :umm2:

I'd be scared of fainting/collapsing :worry:

Yup pretty much. Then you have to do like a week of eating raw veg and stuff because eating anything else after that long will make you really ill

Literally... yes

The Master Cleanse is the same but with lemon cayenne and maple syrup to drink... like Piper did in OITNB

I wouldn't recommend a water fast as the body will think you're starving and the weight you lose will only be water, so when you start eating again the weight will go on quicker, if i could give some advice it would be to look into the nutri bullet, i can't sing it's praises high enough, i've lost a stone in about 8 weeks, i have a nutri bullet in the morning, a chicken salad or poached egg and roasted vegetables for dinner, and i have sweet potato wedges with a turkey steak or fish for teatime, for snacks i have a nakd bar, i eat nothing after 6pm, and i walk my dog for up to 2 hours a day.

Sounds dangerous tbh

I'm not as concerned about the weight thing as about the health benefits that fasting apparently brings though?

I never felt ill but it was probably because I only did 5 day fasts and then ate healitly on weekends,

The closest thing I ever came to was Lipotrim, that is shakes and I lost 7lbs in a week and my mum lost 1stone 4lbs in a week. It's amazing but it made me feel ill, my mum stayed on it for ages and lost over 4 stone in 6 weeks. You have to go to a doctor or dietician to do it.

I've never done something like this but I know people who have. The basic rule is to make sure you only do it 2 days a week maximum (and spread your days out), and try to stick to around 1500 calories tops on days where you aren't doing it.

By logic you should be 3000 calories deficit from your fast days and around 300-500 per other day (so around 1500)

A pound of weight is 3500 calories so you'd lose at least a pound and a quarter a week sticking to this, possibly more depending on your metabolism.

You dont want to end up going on a crash diet where you give up and eat worse afterwards, gaining weight instead of losing it.

I've had a host of health problems, which i now consider to be dairy and gluten intolerances, my problems were lethargy, fatigue, sinus congestion, memory problems, muscle weakness, painful periods, nausea, brain fog, concentration problems, depression, bloating, heartburn, insomnia and many more, since doing this diet my body gets all the nutrients it needs, and i found my issues have mostly cleared up, i have more energy, my brain actually started to communicate with my stomach and ask if it was hungry to which it replied no! And to put the cherry on the cake i was told twice last week that i look radiant!

Like i say i can't sing it's praises high enough, i have fell off the wagon (it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago) and my issues started to return, so for me it's a long term issue, look into stomach health as that's where your immunity is, if your stomach is weak your health will suffer.

No this is the 5:2 diet. I'm not doing this for weightloss primarily, though its a welcome side effect :p

Apparently my stomach and everything is fine. I had a camera down my throat a few months back to check on all of that

My diet is apparently healthy (though I disagree D: ) based on my blood tests...which show the correct levels of vitamins and such. Except for me being severely aneamic, but that was brought on by pregnancy and never went away. No matter what I do, my iron levels are ridiculously low. I was on 3 iron tablets a day with loads of brocolli and red meat and stuff and it made NO difference D:

Honestly, I will probably do the healthy eating thing afterwards anyway. I do need to sort out my diet. But medical help...isn't helping me and I need alternative routes to try, the pain is unbearable literally 18-20 hours every day :(

http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2013/0...ay-water-fast/

There are so many pages like this everywhere.

I usually tend not to believe them as they usually try to sell you some amazing pill or something at the same time, but nothing is being sold here

That's interesting because i was severely anaemic, i couldn't take the pills as they irritated my stomach.

What pain do you get, if that's not too personal a question.

The thing is with water fasting is you'll probably suffer with massive migraines as your body releases toxins, the most gentle way to do it is a juice fast if you must, but even then you'll probably get a migraine as your body will cry out for the foods that are addictive, this goes for caffeine, gluten, dairy, soya, corn, wheat, and sugar, this is a road i've travelled and battled with for years, i believe a lot of health issues can be resolved by diets, i too had a camera down, they found a hiatus hernia and mild inflammation, i do believe i've had systemic inflammation for years, but i decided on coming up for my 40th bday that i had to sort it.

I know what you're say Vicky, there's loads of stuff on the net, you have to find what's right for you, i did try a water fast but by the evening i had a migraine so severe i vomited and had to go to bed, and the cravings....wow, i could think about nothing but food, i lasted 2 days:laugh:

And then i gorged on crap because i was so hungry, and then i felt guilty, a failure and a loser (talk about beating yourself up!)

Have a read of the nutri bullet diet, i must admit i have taken my calorie intake down to 1200 - 1500 a day, and i needed to lose a bit of weight, but i did it for my health not my weight and i'm so glad i did because i'm learning so much about my body, what works for one person won't work for another, my problem was that i didn't listen to my body and now i've started to.

The pain isn't caused by the anemia, I dont really get any symptoms from that besides feeling faint sometimes. I stopped taking my iron tablets as they didn't appear to be helping (gave them 3 months and my levels never improved) and I couldn't poo! Made me so constipated and had a really bad stomach the entire time I was on them

The pain is a completely different matter. I get it every day, without fail, it lasts hours though it does vary slightly. Nothing I do eases it, no stretches or anything. Its on the right side of my rib cage, where if you hang your arms down by your sides...right under there. It feels like it actually is in my ribs, but I have had 2 xrays now and no problems are showing on my ribs (or my spine). Every blood test I have shows massive inflammation, so the docs know there is something amiss somewhere. I have had a endoscopy, I have had around 15 blood tests in 8 months. 2 x rays, 5 trips to A&E for shots of morphine when it became completely unbearable. They were going to check my gallbladder and liver, but they screwed up the appointments and blamed me for not showing up and now I have to wait to be re-referred for that again, which took 4 months last time. Codeine initially helped the pain a lot...but I ended up having to take doses of 300mg at a time (GP didnt recommend that much, I just kept popping them until the pain went) to have any relief, so I told the docs I wasn't taking it anymore. Turns out I develop a tolerance to painkillers really quickly, so anything I try works for a week at the most before doses have to get too high.

So yeah, my son seems to have broken me :laugh:

that sounds awfully close to gallbladder pain... I know that well

I did it for 2 days then I quit. I felt so weak.

Docs never even mentioned gallbladder. My counselor mentioned that and then the docs were like 'oh yeah, we will test for that too':facepalm: I believe Kizzy mentioned it on here at around the sametime too...last time I was going on about my ribs

But if its going to be another 4 months before thats sorted...I can't wait that long.

If its gallbladder thats causing it..will they just take it out? Its one of the things you don't actually need isn't it? Like an appendix?

If it turns out to be something simple to fix I'm going to be so pissed that I have been messed around so much

I think Wendy Williams is doing something similar but with wholesome foods included like walnuts and kale. Basically no meat/fatty meals

Awwww!

I was wondering if it was right side rib pain, that's what i complained to my doctor of, i had an ultrasound to check all my body organs (upper and lower ultrasound) and it showed nothing, my doctor got sick of seeing me, and said that all my tests were fine and there was nothing she could do, so i started to look into the immune system diet and anti inflammatory diet, as well as my posture, it turns out i have weak stomach and back muscles and they all support each other, so i have to strengthen them. I figured the way i sit on the sofa was causing me problems, and i was also taking a lot of vitamin pills, i've now stopped these and only eat and drinks foods that are nutrient dense and that my body can use to repair and fuel itself.

Awww my hubby wants to use the computer now, i really wish i could talk to you longer, i'll check in tomorrow morning:wavey:

my entire family has a history with gallbladder disorder. My sister went for a year or more with constant pain where they checked her gallbladder via xray over and over and they kept telling her that it wasn't it. She eventually had a major attack on an airplane ride and had to be taken off the plane into an ambulance. They removed her gallbladder that day and found it was majorly infected and probably had been all along.

Where I am they remove it without question. There is a procedure for using lasers to break up the stones... but they won't do it here because the chances of having to redo it are high and that costs more in the long run over removal

I myself have had gallbladder attacks throughout my life, and now I just do a gallbladder cleanse every year or two to keep things working and functioning normally... but many GP's would advise against this as well

Honestly, I am starting to doubt that doctors know anything besides giving out pills. If a pill can't help you, they don't seem to give a crap :bored:

I have been referred to the pain clinic to try and get something sorted short term, however there was ANOTHER mess up with that appointment too but that one shouldn't take too long to rearrange. I just feel I should be doing something myself to try and fix myself tbh. I can barely sleep as usually it comes on at night time. During my rare pain free hours I could sleep like a baby, but I feel horrible doing it as usually its just when my daughter has finished nursery, or some other time when I should be giving the kids attention :(

Edit, just read your above post.
The fact that the pain is mainly on a night makes me think it really could be your gallbladder.
Try and eat a fat free diet if you can, no burgers or sausages etc, and have NLT a little evening meal. Good luck with it all, nothing worse than pain you cannot control.

VICKY, next time you get the pain, if it is extreme, try and make yourself sick.
I know that sounds a bit OTT but if you are having trouble with your gallbladder and have a blockage, it normally eases it.
Well it did for me, my gallbladder was ruptured and I had a gallstone blocking the bile duct, the pain was unbearable at times.
Mind you, you would probably have gone a good shade of yellow/ green by now if that is the case. But it could be your gallbladder without a blockage.
Might be worth a try.

I cannot make myself sick.

I have a awful awful phobia of vomit to the point where I would rather endure terrible pain than be sick. I used to get migraines quite regularly that I KNOW would leave literally as soon as I vomitted yet I would still fight it for hours and hours :(

Does gallbladder pain always show in ribs? I would have thought it was more the stomach area but googling a bit now again and it seems it often manifests in ribs :S

My mom used to say, take your left arm and put it behind/across your back with the thumb out... If where your fist and thumb lye is where the pain is... It is gallbladder

i also agree from many things that I have read, night time or middle of the night pain is significant in gallbladder attacks

My pain was on the right hand see, mainly the liver to be honest as it gave me hepatitis as my bile duct was blocked With a gallstone and my body was killing me.
My worst episode I was peeing what looked like coca cola, next morning my eyeballs and skin turned green.
Unfortunately the doctors failed to diagnose the acute pain I was suffering for over a year and the beggar ruptured.
Really push to have a scan for gallstones. nobody should suffer that pain.

I love kale haha

Its pretty much there yeah, a bit further round though, like literally in a straight line down the side of my ribs, from around my armpit to the bottom of my rib cage.

Jesus, that sounds horrific.

I'm considering now (as you lot have scared me :laugh: ) next time the pains seriously bad just going to A&E again and mentioning the gallbladder thing, as A&E seems to be the only place that actually takes me seriously. It was them who did the xrays and stuff. My docs are useless. You can't get an appointment for months and months, and even when you get one it takes months again to be referred to the right place

My doctors would have a fit if I suggested this but then it's not something I would do, I couldn't handle the dizziness.

If you do go ahead with it make sure you have someone else around for any times you feel the dizziness or faintness.

Best of luck and all, but I can't see you lasting more than 5 max. It's wayyy too hard on the body and unless you're just laid in bed all day it'll be excrucuating

Just in case you are interested... this is the cleanse I use periodically...
I was told a couple of years back the pain I was having wasn't my gallbladder because nothing ever showed up in x-ray or ultrasound... but when I did the cleanse... I passed stones larger than marbles... and my health immediately went back to normal :shrug:

I am not someone who usually likes to push stuff like this in chat forums... but I have worked in the nutritional health sales field for most of my life, and I have met many people who have done this with success, but doctors will tell you it is risky. I would say it isn't as risky as a 14 day water cleanse... but that is just my perspective.

http://www.curezone.org/cleanse/liver/huldas_recipe.asp

lol basically ramadan?

...which is soon I'm perched fort the weight loss.