I’ve had great success losing weight on a juice fast (80% veggies, 20% fruit) following the Joe Cross reboot program. But now I’ve hit a plateau. I was averaging about 1 lb lost per day but now the scale hasn’t budged in 5-6 days despite ramping up my activity level. I’m wondering if a short water fast, maybe 24-48 hours, could break me out of the plateau and get me back on track.
Could a short fast break my weight-loss plateau?
1 Like
Yes. The problem is with calorie restriction your metabolism slows down and you have to eat less and work more to burn fat.
Even switching to 16:8 or 5:2 would help your body switch fuel states and metabolise better. You also wouldn’t have to worry about refeeding.
There’s alot of research for upto 72hours being very beneficial, especially for health and weightloss
By 16:8 do you mean 16 hours of fasting per day? And 5:2 meaning five days consuming calories, two just water fasting?
1 Like
Yes, so 16:8 people usually ‘skip’ the morning meal and break-fast around 11-12noon.
If your YouTube savvy it’s worth checking out Dr Jason Fung as he can give all the science based reasons that it’s really this simple.
5:2 is just a progression step from 16:8 and alot of people use it as monthly maintenance for health and weight.
Just to add. 5:2 can be 5 days consuming calories and 2 days restricting to <400 or <600 depending on what your consuming it about keeping carbs low (don’t worry about net carbs). This method is called the fast mimicking diet.
On the juice fast I’m only consuming about 600 calories per day. So it’s confusing how I can hit a 6-day plateau given that I’m walking 5 kms per day as well. I’m wondering if a short water fast will shock my system into losing weight again.
2 Likes
Personally I’d complete the juice fast, there are lots of reasons our body retain water/salt and weight remains the same for a day or two.
I was water fasting last year and my weight barely changed for a whole week. (3rd week of a months fast)
I’d complete the fast and then try tacking a water fast onto the end as your body will be primed for the experience, if your still unhappy with where your at and fancy giving it a try. Just don’t go mad if it’s your first time as without having done reading ect into IM or water fasting can seem a little scary.
I would highly suggest immersing yourself in YouTube videos and Google scholar if you do fast as it’ll re-enforce what your doing and why.
Yes water fast would breakthrough your plateau. Give it a try.