Years ago when I had a really bad bout of the flu. my appetitte vanished- and with it my weight- i lost 35 pounds (and gained it all back in the years since)

What if I eat every other day? I won't do a starvation diet, but what about fasting? Feast on fridays and skip the weekends? Eat on monday but skip tuesday? I'm too fat for vigorous exercise, at this point I'm desperate..

Hey, TitanicWreck.

I wouldn't recommend fasting.

First, one of the challenges when dieting is to try to keep your metabolism up--it tends to slow down in response to consuming less calories. Makes perfectly good evolutionary sense, but not so useful in a contemporary environment when instead of being scarce, food is not only plentiful, it's calorie-dense. The best ways to keep the metabolism going are by only cutting calories a bit below what you need--that is, not having the drastic cut in calories you would get from fasting--and by exercising. (I'll come back to your comment about not being able to exercise in a second.)

Second, when we let ourselves get too hungry, our body tells us "I need food now!" So, fasting every other day would leave you hungry, and tend to trigger cravings. For myself, willpower only goes so far. If I'm hungry and getting cravings, I can only resist for so many days before I give in and binge.

Third, in addition to calories, you want to meet your nutritional needs. I think it would be very, very hard to do that if you are fasting, say, 3 days out of the week.

It's boring advice, we've all heard it, but still the best advice is eating a healthy diet with less calories than you would need to retain your weight.

In terms of exercising at your weight, the real measure is what your body does to cope with the exercise, not what it looks like externally. For an athlete, even a jog might barely get their heart rate up. However, for someone who hasn't exercised recently, going for a stroll at the mall might increase heart rate, and therefore have cardio benefits. The main goals for a starting exercise plan should be, I would think--low impact (you don't want to do anything that would cause injury, and thereby cause you to stop exercising); and doing just enough to get your heart rate up a bit, whatever that activity is at your current fitness level. Obviously, checking with a doctor first is always recommended. And there are people on this board with a lot more knowledge of exercise than I have--so you'll probably get more specific advice. But I do know the goal is not to do something that looks like exercise, but to do something that makes your body respond like an exercising body. If that's a stroll, walking in a pool, whatever, that's a great place to start.

Best luck with this.

You do not mention your weight or BMI - so it is hard to comment on your statement of being too fat for vigorous exercise.

I can say that if you are big - a simple walk around the block at your own pace can be tremendously beneficial for weight loss. That was how I started out. I had been under the impression that you had to walk briskly for it to be of any use - but this is advice geared to the much slimmer person than I was... When I was big I didnt do anything briskly so believed that I couldnt do anything that would help.

I have also seen television programs where extremely big people are encouraged to do all sorts of weight training in order to build their muscles up. The bigger our muscles are - the more calories we burn - even when we are sitting doing nothing. I cannot comment from personal experience - as I did not attempt to do any exercise other than walking for the first few months of my project. My project has been a learning experience - and I now know a lot more than I did on day 1...

There are lots of people on this forum who have started as pretty big people - and they have generally been able to do some form of appropriate exercise.

I was inspired to walk by seeing the before and after pictures of Charlie Walduck who went from 44 stone (i.e. 616 pounds) to 14 stone (i.e. 196 pounds) through healthy nutrition and exercise (initially walking) on one of our daytime television programs here in the UK. Here is the link...

Dr Chris Steele's PROVEN Fat Farewell Diet Plan - Introduction

You are far better off eating healthily than fasting. Not only does fasting send confusing signals to your metabolism - but it does nothing to teach you healthy eating habits for the long term. You need to learn how to eat healthily so that you not only lose weight and are properly nourished - but you maintain your new weight when you finally get there. A major problem with VLCDs is that not only do people erode their muscles (not all weight loss is actually fat loss - and we do not really want to lose muscle mass) but they often regain their lost weight at the end of a punishing diet.

Adopt a new healthy eating and exercise lifestyle and the weight will come off for good.

Here is my biggest problem with fasting for weight loss - it doesn't teach you healthy eating habits.

The reason you've gained weight is because you're not eating healthy foods in healthy amounts, right? So if you fast one day, what's to prevent you from overeating the next? What's to keep you from eating even MORE bad food the next day - justifying it to yourself with "well, I didn't eat anything yesterday"?

Most people who try to fast themselves thin don't succeed. Even if they lose some weight initially, they can't keep up the fasting lifestyle permanently. When they stop fasting, they gain weight right back.

You're better off learning to eat healthily and in reasonable quantities. As Omega said, learning about nutrition will be of much more help in the long run. Once you learn how to eat healthily, then if you want to experiment with Intermittent Fasting, you'll be in a much better place to do so - with full knowledge of how it will benefit you.

I'll tell you this - I KNOW my nutrition inside and out. I tried IF for about a month earlier this year and while, yes, it worked to help me shed pounds, I found it totally unsustainable with my lifestyle. Not eating for full days simply doesn't work for me and having to cram all my necessary calories and protein into a 4 hour window on my "on" days was making me sick to my stomach.

IF works for some people, but only when they know what they're getting into to begin with.

my weight is 280-ish

There are lots of people of your size - or who started at your size who have got great results from exercise on this forum.

I think that claiming that you are too big for exercise is therefore a good excuse to get out of doing it - or lack of knowledge. It does not need to be vigorous to help.

You can most certainly do exercise - but you should take your size into consideration at first. You could most certainly walk. I started off walking when I was heavier than you - and I am only 5ft3 tall so I would be a fair bit fatter... If you do this - do it at your own pace at first - you will naturally speed up as you get fitter.

I am positive that any gym could give you a ton of weight training options too. If you dont want to join a gym - there will be a load of exercises that you could do with little wrist weights, ankle weights, resistance bands and other external forces. There are things that we can do with no specialist equipment at all - where you push against walls and chairs. You can use baked bean cans as hand weights or fill a small water bottle with sand. The main thing is to get moving and do something active. There is no reason why you can not start today.

There is no reason on earth why you do not start small - and build things up as you become fitter. That is what the rest of us have done.

I've done it and still do it. It's not for the faint of heart. Prepare to be miserable, weak and constipated. It's very monastic though, that's why I still do it occasionally.

Actually I do exercise- quite a bit- I'm at the gym every other day and use the treadmill for 45 minutes, and I walk everywhere- I don't drive or take public transportation, I hoof it by foot- But it seems my body has adapted to the exercise I do, as my weight seems stuck at 280....I'm far from being a couch potato..The exercise I do would have gotten me quite lean in my 20s, but it's almost as if my body doesn't want to give up my fat- I'm reluctant to jog like I did in my 20s- I'm 100 pounds heavier.....But I can walk...I just wish the weight would come off...The only sure way i know of that I can lose weight is to stop eating

Are you keeping a diary of what you eat?
The biggest problem is probably your diet..

I second this - it sounds as though you want to use fasting to control your calories instead of figuring out where you're overeating to control your calories.

As someone who did Atkins for 5 years, I can tell you that 'faking' calorie control can get really really old. Sooner or later you'll want to stop fasting and then what? You'll be back to this same place, and people will tell you to keep track of everything you eat on something like fitday and then you can figure out a 'sensible' eating plan.

So why not start now? You can try something like Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fatloss Handbook if you really want to get a quick jump-start on the weight loss, but getting in the habit of counting calories and having a feel for what you're really eating is a valuable life skill (There's also some stuff if you search for 'intermittant fasting' - but again, you're ultimately going to need to figure out how to return to something sustainable)

If you're exercising and not losing weight, then you're eating too much. It's really as simple as that.

You're looking for a quick fix that doesn't exist.

Maybe you could post what you eat on an average day and we can help you see where you can cut back and be healthier w/out having to resort to starvation diets, desperation dieting, and fasting.

I started at 255 and I could exercise. I don't buy that you can't exercise because of your weight. Starvation as a sole means to lose weight I don't think is a wise choice.

However, I do believe fasting can be very helpful mentally. Going through my fasts made me realize how much food and money I was wasting. I think it really puts things in perspective. I do NOT do them every other day. I do them once a week at the most with no ill effects.

I believe that fasting is cool as long as you hydrate yourself with lots of water. If you're particular with your water...choose an alkaline water. Fasting doesn't only detoxify your body but also aids in helping your body recuperate from all the work it has done for you. I learned from a lot of health experts like Christopher Guerriero that fasting makes your body compensate to the loss nutrients for the day by utilizing the stored nutrients and aiding your metabolism. Some people fast for more than a week to just detoxify their bodies but it needs a lot of discipline and determination. I'm positive that Chris can specifically answer your questions. Good luck!

I would not recommend you fasting.
It is better to eat 4 times a day but only light food that can provide necessary nutrients.
If you fast for one day & take lots of food on other day then there is no meaning & that's human nature. SO take light food in limited quantity.

It also sounds like the experience with the flu and weight loss has given you the "mental/emotional picture" that has reinforced your association of fasting with weight loss. I'm not a psychologist but a lot of my personal success with weight maintenance has had to do with visualization (same with success in anything-If you picture yourself doing it you can...)

Fasting doesn't support the idea that true health (proper weight, fitness, heart health, etc..) is the adaptation of a lifestyle not a periodic burst up or down. Fasting is a good way to cleanse and might be a starting point or part of your starting point but not a solution. Lastly, on fasting -- without the proper supervision it could be dangerous- so don't do it without supervision of some kind

I also agree that if you are exercising and not losing weight then your diet needs some attention. Throw out some details on what/when you are eating and I bet a bunch of people can offer up great advice

Good Luck
Mark