Is fasting really the quickest way to lose weight?

Another mistake people make during sudden bouts of fasting is that such erratic and extreme habits slow down body metabolism, or the pace at which the energy expenditure happens. It may go down by as much as 20 per cent. Your body then optimises its functioning and prioritises only basic functions such as blood pumping and breathing. Because these activities are necessary for survival, your body simply becomes more efficient and burns fewer calories to perform them than it would when adequately fed. You would feel more tired than healthy.

Also, people do not choose the correct foods during fasting. Just because one ends up skipping a meal or two does not mean one can afford to eat high calorie foods during the rest of the time as it again disturbs the overall calorie deficit.

One fasting practice — provided it is followed for a long term — that can actually work for people wanting to lose weight and maintain it would be following the “early time restricted feeding.” This discipline involves consuming a majority of the calories during the first six to ten hours a day, which in turn leads to stable blood sugar levels and an improvement in metabolism. And although there are many studies done on intermittent fasting, most have followed subjects for a few months. None have followed subjects who have done this more than a year to establish long-term benefits.

When trying to lose weight, one must consider an approach which is more sustainable and can be adopted as a lifestyle modification rather than doing things which are extremely radical and that do more harm than good to the body in the long run.