Fasting is becoming increasingly popular in the United States as a detoxification process. It may indeed serve that purpose, but some people try to fast for other reasons-such as rapid weight loss. The effectiveness of fasting as a dieting technique is questionable, at best. The reason has to do with the impact of fasting on metabolism.

Our bodies have evolved to behave in ways that benefited our survival ten thousand years ago, not necessarily in ways that seem sensible to modern expectations. One of the key disconnects is the way the metabolism works. When we don't eat much, the body assumes that this condition is being forced upon us by external factors, like a famine or food shortage of some sort. (In other words, the hunting party didn't come back with any buffalo steaks to fry up.) In case this food shortage continues, the body quickly ramps down your metabolism, burning calories more slowly and attempting to retain as much body fat as possible, just in case you need those energy stores.

Nothing triggers this process as aggressively as fasting. Switching to a near-zero calorie diet sends the metabolism into panic mode. When you fast, your body's going to try very hard to conserve the fat stores you already have. While it's true that you can't really gain weight on a fast, don't expect to lose much, either.

A more sensible approach to dieting is to employ calorie shifting. By varying the types of food and quantity of food that you eat at each meal, you can stimulate the metabolism into burning more fat faster. The only drawback to calorie shifting diets is that they're hard to set up. The FatLoss4Idiots Web site, however, can walk you through the process, taking your favorite foods and turning them into a calorie shifting menu. Incredible weight loss is possible if you follow a calorie shifting plan-as much as 9 pounds in 11 days.

About the Author:

The author, Aaron Patterson, went from couch potato to kickboxer in less than a year! His favorite passion is helping people get off their butts and start leading healthier, more active lives through his Website, Eliminate the Weight.