How many weeks can one go without eating before it gets dangerous? (doctor, stomach)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
How many days can someone or does it vary from person to person, go without eating, before it gets dangerous to your health
I think i havent eaten for 7 days, im drinking liquids though.
if you dont eat for days or weeks to lose weight is it pointless since youll have to make up for all the time you didnt eat?
if i dont eat for example for 4 days, how can i make it up in a day or is it not possible, can we not eat alot in a day since our stomachs have to process the food or something
do potatoes fill you up, when i just eat potatoes for a day i feel like im not as full as eating a more complete meal so to speak. Arent they suppose to be filling?. I put them in the microwave not the oven
Last edited by Frozenfire88; 11-21-2016 at 09:59 PM..
Define dangerous. Plenty of people have gone 30 days with minimal or no long-term ill effects. Push that up to 45, though, I'd say that's definitely dangerous, very real possibility of fatally so. It's a fairly stupid way of losing weight but effective. As long as you have protein (muscle) to break down to synthesize some glucose, the brain can survive mostly on ketone bodies from breaking down fat. Theoretically in extreme pro-longed starvation you'd only need to break down about a pound of muscle a week to survive. So assuming a net calorie burn of 2,000/day, in cases of prolonged starvation you'd lose fat and muscle at about a 3:1 ratio. So in a week, expect around 3 pounds of fat loss and 1 pound of muscle loss (assuming 2,000 calorie expenditure). The biggest danger, assuming generally healthy before hand, would be death from electrolyte imbalances. I'd definitely add a tea spoon of salt a day. That said, there's no way I'd do more than a 10-day fast without doing electrolyte panels. I have a strong interest in not dying from a heart attack due to a lack of electrolytes. It's not a concern as I'll never do a 10-day water fast anyway.
Crash diets are generally stupid. The least stupid is probably PSMF, protein-sparing modified fast. Fast + ~1 gram of protein per lean body mass (depending on activity) + fish oil + multi vitamin + electrolytes. They're fairly effective at not depleting nutrients and preserving muscle mass and not dying from cardiac arrest due to electrolyte imbalance that are all problems with a water fast. Again, I think crash diets are stupid and unless I had a specific reason to do it I would not. Once again, I would not do anything over ten days without at least electrolyte panels and very preferably under a doctor's supervision.
Unless you are sick for which you should be seeing a doctor, not eating for any other reason (losing weight for instance) for so long means you should either eat or see a psychologist.....and a doctor.
Last edited by metalmancpa; 11-22-2016 at 09:12 AM..
How many days can someone or does it vary from person to person, go without eating, before it gets dangerous to your health
I think i havent eaten for 7 days, im drinking liquids though.
if you dont eat for days or weeks to lose weight is it pointless since youll have to make up for all the time you didnt eat?
if i dont eat for example for 4 days, how can i make it up in a day or is it not possible, can we not eat alot in a day since our stomachs have to process the food or something
do potatoes fill you up, when i just eat potatoes for a day i feel like im not as full as eating a more complete meal so to speak. Arent they suppose to be filling?. I put them in the microwave not the oven
You need to see a therapist ASAP. And then a nutritionist.
when you dont eat for a while you get to the point where your obvously hungry but another part of you doesnt want to eat. i think i have to force myself to eat and make up for the days i didnt eat,my body tells me to not eat but i think this wont go away by ignoring it
Your body goes into starvation mode and won't lose any weight. When you start eating again your body will hold on to every calorie because it doesn't know when it'll get fed again. Plus, messing with your metabolism like this makes any weight loss in future very difficult. I used to be anorexic and metabolic damage is real.
At the height of my anorexia, I went about 45 days straight with just water and the occasional cup of broth or milk. No solids. I didn't die - but I certainly wouldn't recommend.
If you are drinking calories and nutritional drinks, you can go a long time. Think about people who have their jaw wired shut because of an accident. They have to drink their meals. Think of people in comas or have other issues in the hospital, they are fed through a feeding tube which is liquid.
If you're not eating to just not eat, that's not smart.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
