How to Lose 40 Pounds (Or More) in 30 Days with Water Fasting (How To Lose Weight Fast, Keep it Off & Renew The Mind, Body & Spirit Through Fasting, Smart Eating & Practical Spirituality) 1st Edition

In this compilation, I throw in the kitchen's sink and outline most of what I've learned about fasting over the past 15 years. I say 'most' because we're always learning, and I certainly can't say that I 'have arrived' or know it all. However, I do know enough to tell you that, if you are struggling with your weight or health, fasting could be the Ace in the Hole you were looking for. If you are ill, I cannot 'guarantee' that you will be healed. What I CAN tell you is that EVERY person that I have coached through a period of fasting has ALWAYS come away better off than they were when they began.

In terms of weight loss, there isn't anything on earth that can burn the pounds as quickly as fasting. I know of people who have lost 50+ pounds in merely ten days. Yes, a lot of that weight is initially water. Nonetheless, those are pretty exciting numbers, wouldn't you say? The bottom line is this: Fasting (or any other weight loss program) cannot help you if you aren't willing to make permanent eating-habit changes. If you want to lose the weight and keep it off, you MUST release the old (completely) and embrace a new (clean and healthy) eating structure. I really cannot emphasize this enough. You can fast for 100 days and lose every last ounce of flab from your body, but if you haven't thoroughly planned out what you will eat AFTER the fast, then it is a mathematical certainty that you WILL regain ALL of the weight. Some people get mad at me for being so blunt; they call me insensitive. But am I? In my humble opinion, I'm here to give you THE FACTS, not pie in the ske bye and bye, right? So please: I applaud you for your interest in losing weight and improving your health. However, remember that the process doesn't end when the fast is over.

Actually, it is there that you will either create new eating and lifestyle habits that will sustain your progress, or you will succumb to the old and go back to square one. Now that isn't to say that you have to be perfect, or that if you make a mistake and regain some of the weight, that you wasted your time. No. If, in your heart of hearts, you are walking forward with the full realization that your old way of eating (and behaving towards food) needs to change, then you WILL make progress. For these reasons, I want you to pay close attention to the last chapter where it talks about the Permanent Weight Loss Diet. THAT, is the eating structure that kept me from regaining all of the weight. Why? Well, it is low-fat and bans sugar and junk food. But, most of all, it works because it gave me an eating structure. In the past, I would eat whatever, whenever and, as you can guess, many (most) times my choices were not good. By blindly following a structured eating plan, I no longer have to 'think' about what I'm going to eat. I just follow what is on the menu, and that's that.

While at first it was tough and I resented it, today I can firmly say that, without the structured plan, I would not have made it. I'm not saying that you have to agree with everything that I outline on the diet, or that you have to follow this plan for the rest of your days. Certainly, in the measure that you get good at eating with structure, you can enhance the plan to include foods that you personally enjoy. In the beginning, however, when we are fresh off a fast, we need something solid to hang on to. The Permanent Weight Loss Diet does exactly that. Use it as a tool in your journey towards optimum health. If there is something about the diet that you disagree with or cannot stomach, then veer your way around it.

But don't throw away the baby along with the bath water. One gentleman, for instance, wrote me a few weeks ago, angry because I talk about eating 'six' meals daily rather than three. He indicated that, by doing so, I was advocating a status quo that made me lose credibility. I respect everybody's opinion. And, by all means, there is a specific reason why I talk about eating six meals daily rather than three. When we come off a long-term fast, the digestive system is in a state of dormancy, hibernation.

Since the body viewed the period of fasting as a crisis (like being shipwrecked and having nothing to eat), it will have a tendency to 'hoard' fat 'just in case' another crisis hits. Eating small, regular meals gives the body time to 'relax' and realize that there's no danger; it keeps the inner furnace (metabolism) burning at an even level hour after hour. In short,  the six-meal structure is invaluable in helping the body stabilize after a long fast, and it starts to give the body a different (and better) feeding routine (one based on smaller, more frequent meals rather than larger, infrequent ones).

In short, the success of your fasting efforts will depend on what you do once the fast is over. Keep that clearly in  mind going forward and you will have the right perspective; you won't be deceived into thinking that you can fast and then go back to eating 'whatever.' Visualize yourself releasing a box into a bottomless abyss. The box, ugly, dirty and old, has the words "old eating habits" scribbled on it. Once you release it, a new, shiny box emerges; written on it in bright, large letters is "new eating habits," along with the words, shining in yellow like the sun, health, life... freedom!  And so you have seized the solution: Following a structured eating plan for at least one year after the fast is over will maximize the benefits you received and transform your mind and body in amazing, unfathomable ways. If I did it, then so can you! :-)

Robert Dave Johnston is Editor & Webmaster of FitnessThroughFasting.com and various other sites in the health-improvement niche. Having escaped more than 20 years of crippling obesity, binge eating and self-destruction (with the help of holistic fasting and detoxification, spiritual awareness as well as traditional medicine), he now helps others get (and stay) motivated to lose weight, get healthy and improve the quality of their lives. His no-nonsense message of dynamic change, overcoming limitations and assuming self-responsibility has given the author a growing audience.