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

Fasting days are an effective way to lose weight

Fasting days will not help you lose 10-15 kg per month before summer. They are more suitable for those who need to keep in shape without making a special effort, or after the winter "in line" again. Weight loss days do not give such impressive results as we would like, but if you do them regularly and then do not attack food, you will really like the effect.

What are fasting days for?

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

  • After a short hunger strike, there is a feeling of relief due to bowel cleansing;
  • Stress rejuvenates the body;
  • This helps to overcome the well-known "plateau effect". In other words, it is stagnation during a diet. The weight drops to a certain point, and then stops, not wanting to fluctuate. A hunger strike can be a mild stress on 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 unloading

Unloading days are conditionally divided into two types:

  • "hungry"
  • "full".

These two options are distinguished by the amount of calories in the daily menu and the number of ingredients allowed.

The essence and principles of "Hungry" days

The simplest and most rigorous option is a day on the water. Unloading, when proteins, fats and easily digestible carbohydrates are excluded, is also called "cleansing". In other cases, in addition to liquid, one product is included in the diet. The maximum daily calorie intake is 500 calories. Given that you can eat low-fat kefir, cucumbers, apples, cabbage or citrus fruits, generally low-calorie foods, it will be easy to stay within the permissible limit. For example, the calorie content of 100 grams of an ordinary cucumber is 15. 5 calories. Within these restrictions, you can eat 3. 2 kg of fresh green cucumbers per day.

Important!Regardless of the type of food you eat, you need to drink 2 or more liters of water. Plain still water will be supplemented with green tea or herbal decoction.

"Full" discharge: types and rules

A better option. They allow 2-3 products that can be combined: meat, vegetables, eggs, legumes, fruits, dairy products. The calorie status changes a bit, you can't exceed the 800 calorie limit. Depending on the type of products used, "full" fasting days for weight loss include proteins and carbohydrates.

  • Protein unloading is the best option if stricter diets cause weakness, dizziness or are not suitable for health reasons. You can eat: lean meat; crustaceans, crustaceans and fish; vegetable proteins. If desired, the menu can be diversified with low-calorie vegetables. Beijing cabbage, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, greens are successfully combined with proteins. According to the method of preparation, it is better to give preference to boiling or steaming. There is no strong feeling of hunger during the day.
  • Carb unloading – sounds tempting, but has nothing to do with sweets. In this case, we are talking about foods rich in slow carbohydrates. Mostly it is buckwheat, rice, dried fruits.

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

Product group name Meat, fish, poultry Legumes Vegetable oil cereal Sour half sweet Sweet and dried fruits Vegetables Dairy Products Eggs
Fruit
Meat, fish, poultry / - - - - - - + - -
Legumes - / + 0 - - - + - -
Vegetable oil - + / + + 0 0 + - -
cereal 0 - + / - - - + - -
Sour - - + - / + 0 + 0 -
Fruit half sweet - - 0 - + / + + + -
Sweet and dried fruits - - 0 - 0 + / + + -
Vegetables + + + + + + + / + +
Dairy Products - - - - 0 + + + / -
Eggs - - - - - - - + - /

Advantages and contraindications

Fasting days will help in the uneven fight against overweight. They will help to get rid of the heaviness after a stressful holiday, will contribute to the gentle cleansing of the intestines from toxins. Intended for certain diseases. So, for example, with kidney diseases, it is recommended to spend "watermelon" days, for the heart and blood vessels - "potatoes", and for joint problems - "cucumber". various fitness diets, likes protein foods, artificial proteins and other "heavy foods".

It is impossible to unload patients with diabetes, pregnant and lactating women. People who are tired from long illness and have diseases of the digestive tract (only "full" secretions are shown after consultation with a gastroenterologist). It is undesirable to organize discharge during menstruation.

Tip!You should not be disappointed by "hungry" unloading, they are performed no more than once a week, and "full" ones can be done 2-3 times.

5 unloading rules

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

Rule 1: Comply with the terms

Most fasting days are based on the principle of a monodiet, that is, you can eat one product, but you need to do it as often as possible. Naturally, in small portions. In addition, the chosen product should be to your liking, this will help ease the already stressful situation of the body. The total energy value of the products must not exceed 800 cal.

Rule 2: Choosing the optimal product

As a rule, low-calorie foods with a minimum amount of fat and carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, kefir) are unloaded. When following a carbohydrate diet, you can stop at one type of cereal with a low glycemic index (buckwheat, rice, oatmeal). Lean meat and lean fish are allowed in protein unloading. The most effective are "liquid" fasting days, when the teeth are resting, but you can only drink.

Rule 3: The right day

Many do not emphasize this moment, but choosing the day is no less important. Nutritionists advise not to take legal days off, but to choose Monday. This option is not suitable if the work involves physical work. It is best to organize the unloading every week on the same day.

Fasting day breakfast, lunch and dinner

Rule 4: Rest

On the day of discharge, not only the digestive tract should rest, but also the whole organism as a whole. It is important to refrain from any physical activity, especially training. Alcohol per day is not included. And for those who do not tolerate alcohol well, within 2 or even 3 days. On the list of recommended activities: a visit to a bathhouse or sauna. Sauna procedures calm the body, help to cope with stress, improve lung ventilation, promote the elimination of toxins. Also shown are leisurely walks in the park.

Plenty of time to sleep. Ideally: at least 9 hours. Do not miss the opportunity to rest instead of lunch. A long sleep will strengthen the body, and at the same time it will help to transfer the feeling of hunger more easily.

Rule 5: No contrasts

It is very important to smoothly enter the fasting day, calmly survive it and also smoothly leave it.

Smooth Entry and Exit: Why is it important?

Any diet, even one day, is a strong stress on the body. At one point, without explaining the reason, they suddenly stopped feeding him. When will it end, or will it end at all? Just as suddenly, he finally gets a portion of caloric food, and he absorbs it to the maximum. That is why the weight lost after long diets returns quickly.

How to start a fasting day

Proper body preparation will help you get the maximum unloading effect. On the eve of lunch, they refuse heavy food. Dinner is replaced by a light salad, fruit, kefir. It is recommended to make a cleansing enema before going to bed. You can drink laxative herbal tea, but without fanaticism.

How to complete the unloading smoothly

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

The most efficient method of unloading

The effectiveness of a certain diet is a relative concept. Each organism is individual, reacts differently to stress, perceives and absorbs products. Therefore, the best option can only be chosen empirically. Judging by the reviews of "users", as well as listening to the opinions of nutritionists, the most noticeable results can be achieved by following the diets described below. You can stop at one type of unloading or alternately perform different ones. So, we present to your attention the most effective fasting days for weight loss.

Discharge day on the water

The most difficult and effective is the so-called "liquid" unloading, as long as they are performed correctly. Many people start "unloading" the day after the holiday or immediately after the holidays, but nutritionists recommend at least a day before "X" to exclude lactic acid, meat, flour dishes andswitch to light food. Naturally, everything is fatty, fried, salted and smoked. It is better to prepare water in advance. It can be non-carbonated mineral or simple purified, but not boiled.

Really effective fasting days for weight loss are as "strict" as possible. Completely eliminate food. It is necessary to drink every hour to get at least 3 liters per day. Due to the fact that the stomach is constantly filled with liquid, there should not be a very pronounced feeling of hunger. The strictest version of unloading says, that on this day you cannot drink tea, coffee or juice, only water.

Tip!It's very difficult, but you have to keep a positive attitude and stick to it. Of course, listen to the well-being. If weakness, dizziness or other unpleasant symptoms appear, the experiment should be stopped.

Be very careful when getting out of the water. In the morning after fasting, they drink a glass of water and eat steamed or stewed vegetables. For the rest of the day, you can only eat cereals, vegetables and fruits.

The girl follows a strict discharge on the water

Unloading day on cucumbers

The vegetable, which consists of 95% water, is adored by nutritionists, and the cucumber fasting day for weight loss is so popular that it does not need advertising. Cucumbers are a product with negative calories (the body spends more on digestion than it receives), it is much easier to get enough of them (albeit for a short time) than water.

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

So it is better to be close to the toilet during the day. Active social life will have to be postponed, weakness may appear after dinner, especially in the legs. Some have increased stool volume. One-day unloading of cucumbers is intended for uric acid diathesis, obesity, hypertension, gout, arthrosis and atherosclerosis.

For "green" unloading, you will need 1. 5-2 kg of fresh cucumbers. This amount is divided into 5-6 doses. Drink without restrictions. For a change, you can prepare a cucumber salad with herbs, which is allowed to be poured with a spoonful of vegetable oil. Salt, of course, is not allowed. Cucumbers removeexcess water, and this will interfere with this process, but you can add lemon juice to the salad. During lunch, it is allowed to supplement the diet with a boiled egg. It's a pity that it will not save you from hunger.

Cucumbers are a low-calorie vegetable for unloading

Kefir discharge day

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

A mono-diet without fat kefir will be most effective. The discharge mode is extremely simple: every 2-3 hours you need to drink 1-2 glasses of kefir. In the middle of the day, the product got fed up with the order. Dill or parsley can be rubbed into it for taste, and instead of drinking it, you can eat it with a spoon. If you want to eat between meals (you definitely want to), you can drink a glass of water. And if the feeling of hunger is very strong, a spoonful of wheat bran, an unsweetened vegetable or fruit will help to quench it.

There are many options for unloading kefir. Kefir is often combined with vegetables, lean meat or honey. "All-day" discharges for weight loss on kefir are perfect for weak-willed people and those dictated by certain health conditions.

One of the most popular is landing on kefir

Apple unloading day

An apple is a slow-digesting, low-calorie fruit. It contains 85% water, and the remaining 15% is a valuable storehouse of vitamins and minerals, called "rejuvenating" for a reason. Apples are affordable and healthy, they increase immunity, contain antioxidants, regulate intestinal microflora and promote fat burning. One-day apple diet yesalso called a fasting day to lose weight in the stomach. But every medal has two sides. Apples can swell, and in case of diseases of the digestive tract (gastritis, ulcer, increased acidity, dyskinesia of the bile ducts), a strict apple diet is completely contraindicated. In such cases, it is allowed to use bakedapples.

Let's start with the simplest version of unloading apples, which will require a couple of kilograms of apples.

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

You can eat the fruits fresh or fried, and you can also combine them. It is better to use sour apples, but they can increase appetite.

If it's hard to stick with apples alone, you can try malolactic unloading. It is allowed to eat 1. 5 kg of apples and 500 g of low-fat cottage cheese or drink 1. 5 liters of kefir per day.

Great shape due to a fast day on apples

Discharge day on buckwheat

It probably doesn't need to be said again that buckwheat is incredibly healthy, it contains trace elements, vitamins and amino acids. In this case, it is more important that the cereal contains a lot of dietary fiber, which improves digestion, helps to restore normal activity and clean the intestines. Like many other cereal crops, buckwheat belongs to foods with a low glycemic index, so it suppresses the feeling of hunger for a long time.

It is better to prepare buckwheat unloading the day before. A cup of cereal (about 250 g) is poured into a small pot, poured with boiling water (0. 5 l), covered with a lid and left overnight. Naturally without salt, but herbs can be added as spices. In the morning, porridge is divided into 4-5 portions. By the way, it is better to use raw buckwheat instead of roasted brown. According to experts, it preserves all nutrients. If the feeling of hunger has worsened, you can have a snack with a green apple, but it is better to drink water.

Healthy buckwheat, ideal for a fasting day

Landing day on rice

One of the most effective is the rice fasting day. It is good because it has practically no contraindications. The main problem is the possibility of constipation. Therefore, it is better not to unload on rice for those who suffer from hemorrhoids or irregular stools. It is advisable to drink laxative teas after meals, and start the next morning with kefir and fresh vegetables. In the intestine, grains act as a sorbent, they absorb water and toxins, which are then removed from the body.

To prepare a suitable rice porridge, take 350-400 grams of low-calorie brown rice and 0. 5 l of water. Before that, the grains must be soaked in water for several hours. The grains are boiled until half cooked. All porridge (up to 1 kg) is distributed in portions. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids, you can water, green tea, herbal decoctions.

Rice unloading day has no contraindications

Comparative overview of popular fasting days

The table shows a sample menu for each fasting day described above (the "full" option).

Type of discharge day cucumber Apple Kefir Buckwheat Rice
8-00 Breakfast 2 cucumbers + 50 gr. cooked meat 2-3 apples + a glass of kefir 1-2 cups of kefir 100 g of steamed buckwheat + cucumber or tomato 200 g of rice + a cup of green tea
11: 00 a. m Snack 2 cucumbers + green tea or juice 2-3 apples + 100 g of any porridge 200 g of any vegetables 100 g of steamed buckwheat 200 g of rice + 50 g of fish or meat
2-00 p. m Dinner 2 cucumbers + boiled egg or 100 gr of rice porridge 2 baked apples + fresh cucumber salad with a spoonful of rasta. oil 1-2 cups of kefir + 50 g of lean meat 100 g of buckwheat + 50 g of meat 200 g of rice + 1 fresh carrot
5: 00 p. m Snack Cucumber and apple cocktail with lemon juice 2-3 apples + 1 banana 1 glass of kefir + banana 100 g of buckwheat + apples or ½ grapefruit 200 g of rice + a glass of juice
20-00 Dinner 2 cucumbers + a glass of kefir 2-3 apples + 100 g of cottage cheese 1-2 cups 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 maybe to organize "coffee unloading" in general. According to nutritionists, 1-2 cups of the drink will only be beneficial. In this case, a cup of coffee should not be equal to a bowl of soup. The recommended volume is 90-120 ml Naturally, the coffee must be natural, without sugar or cream, but you can add sweetener or skim milk.

Coffee lovers did not want to limit themselves in any way and came up with their own diet option. The fasting day menu for weight loss is extremely simple - drink 5-6 cups of coffee at regular intervals. You can also eat fresh fruits and vegetables. The amount of other liquid should be limited. Many reviews say that after one such day they lost up to 3 kg. It's a pity that this "weight loss" is deceptive. Coffee is a diuretic. Instead of the prescribed 2 liters, you drink about a liter per day, and much more is removed from the body. thus the stressful situation of the body is further aggravated by the heavy load on the heart and kidneys.

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

A simple conclusion follows from this: it is undesirable and even dangerous to hold coffee fasting days, but it will be useful to supplement the discharge with 1-2 cups of natural coffee. The most important thing is to drink plenty of fluids.

Useful tips

Tips compiled from many reviews, but equally suitable for any type of discharge.

  • Your hunger strike days will be much easier if you dedicate them to your favorite foods (but not cookies and sweets).
  • On fasting days, it is recommended to supplement the diet with herbal decoctions. You can use prepared herbal teas to lose weight. As a rule, they have a complex effect, they have laxative, fat-burning, cleansing, appetite-reducing, diuretic and choleretic effects.
  • You don't need to try to do everything at once and combine nutrition with physical activity in one day. But breathing exercises will be just right.
  • If it is difficult to maintain five meals a day, the daily portion can be divided into more meals.
  • Avoid sugar, salt and spices completely.

Dump days for weight loss have different results. In the reviews, they often write that they lose up to 2 kg of weight per day. Those who are attracted to this figure should understand that it is not 2 kg of body fat that is lost! Excess fluids with toxins and "food garbage", half-digested food that accumulates on the walls of the intestines, leave. It is impossible to lose weight even 1 kg per day. With the strictest water release, you can get rid of no more than 100-200 grams of fat.