The Pros and Cons of Fasting to Lose Weight:

Many people consider fasting as a fast way to lose weight. It makes sense, right? What could work quicker than eating nothing?

Fasting to lose weight has one significant advantage against other methods: you consume virtually no calories when you're fasting. Considering that regimen, it's pretty hard to gain weight while you're fasting... the only way to go is down.

Fasting is not, however, the be-all, end-all method of losing weight, nor is it the fastest. When you eat less or eat nothing at all, your body actually responds by slowing your metabolism and burning as few calories as possible (just in case a famine is around the corner). So while it's true that it's far easier to lose weight than gain it during a fast, you are fighting your body's natural inclination if you're fasting to lose weight-it's going to try to hang onto as many pounds as possible. Often times the only weight you'll lose will be water weight, which is unhealthy and you'll gain it back after the fast anyway.

An alternative approach which complements the body's mechanisms for regulating the metabolism is called calorie shifting. When practicing a calorie shifting diet, you may eat slightly fewer calories, or the same amount of calories as usual. However, the size and composition of your meals will be structured in a manner that causes the body to increase your metabolism. The result is that by just going about your regular day, you burn more calories than normal. Throw a little light exercise in the mix and you can find yourself losing nearly a pound of fat every day.

The most prominent calorie shifting diet on the market is FatLoss4Idiots Customer responses to this diet have been extremely positive; it's possible to lose 9 pounds in only 11 days, and unlike fasting, it won't all be water weight.