Weight loss is about burning more calories than you take in. The difficult part about dieting is complying with the long term caloric deficit. By fasting 24 hours twice a week, you put your body into the optimal fat burning state from hours 18-24. But the pain of not eating, or dealing with a caloric deficit, is short term.

Your metabolism slowing down is a myth. Your body burns calories at a slightly higher rate when you are digesting food because it’s digesting, but it’s a very modest amount and it’s essentially insignificant, yet it has been extrapolated to suggest that you need to be eating small meals all day (which is pretty much just a ploy to sell meal bars and protein shakes).

The body also releases more testosterone and growth hormone during fast states to prevent muscle loss. The other great benefit of fasting is that it increases insulin sensitivity and thus makes your body better at processing carbs.

It’s crazy that you think that the body goes into starvation mode after 24 hours considering that we can go for three weeks without food. Starvation doesn’t set in until at least 72 hours of fasting. As a species we were designed to eat once every couple of days, and hunt on empty stomachs. The way that we eat today, we’re always in what would be considered a “fed” state as compared with a “fast” state.

Being vegan is really quite bad for your body and particularly for weight loss. Dream has a great post about this on his blog here: http://www.thedreamlounge.net/2009/09/29/flip-the-script-stay-healthy-seriously/. There are also some interesting things on Tim Ferriss’ blog here: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/06/06/saturated-fat/
and here: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/10/05/gout/
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@ T – Yes, I’m very content, and very excited to soon have a bicycle! I live near a big university so I can get a used one for under $200, easily. And there is a nice shopping/dining area three miles from my house, so I am imagining weekends where I bike down, walk around, have a drink someplace, and bike home. Lovely! For more serious calorie-burning, there are lots of nearby parks with trails.

@ dadshouse – You’re telling me!

@ Lisaq – The money thing, especially, is a priority right now – Jake wants to start looking for a new job in another state in January, and I’d like to be completely rid of my consumer debt before we move. I just took on another side project that will pay $100, but it has the scariest nondisclosure agreement I’ve ever seen so I’ll leave it at that
Honey´s last blog …Life. Just Life.

Cycling helps me to burn calories like a mad-woman so I say definitely yes! on the bike purchase idea.

I can feel your contentment from here. Enjoy it!
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Honey and Jake land sounds awesome, especially the part about the Olympics in Rio in 2016! Other activities sound super fun, too.

Although the only other time I was trying to lose weight I dropped 17 pounds through exercise alone, I agree that it’s shocking how few calories exercise really consumes. Crazy! But I also think that if I can get motivated enough to get some strength training in, I’ll get toned enough to not care what my actual weight is. I bought Jillian’s 30 Day Shred and am excited to try it!
Honey´s last blog …Life. Just Life.

If you want to lose weight, all you have to do is eat less calories than you expend. Exercising will cause you to expend more calories, but it’s essentially a drop in the bucket because even an extremely intense workout is only going to burn a few hundred extra calories.

The best way to eat less calories is to fast. I recommend the Eat Stop Eat diet, which basically involves fasting for 24 hours twice a week, i.e. eating dinner at 6 pm or so and then not eating again until 6 pm the next day. It’s hard to do at first, as your body gets over the glucose withdrawal, but after a couple of times you get used to it and actually come to enjoy the time you get back in your day.
Hammer´s last blog …NFL Betting – Week 4