Hi Pink Queen:

The body burns some fat whenever it suffers a caloric shortfall. Most diets that reduce calories every day (like weight watchers or DASH) have a person eating several times a day but people still lose fat weight even though their ‘fasting time’ is simply when they are sleeping. So it is not necessary to fast to burn fat. You just have to eat less than your TDEE and over time you will lose fat weight.

Research shows that when a person water fasts – eats nothing at all – it takes about three days for the body to get into ketosis. See my 6 Dec 15 post on page 7 of this thread https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/ for a more detailed discussion.

So I would not worry that fruit infused water is doing any damage to your diet. As long as you are eating less than your TDEE, you are burning fat!

Good Luck!

Hi Pink:

“Ketosis” is a medically defined term. It means that a majority of your body’s energy is coming from fat. As I point out, it can be dietary fat or body fat. Virtually any carbs, certainly 50 to 100 g., will jolt the body out of ketosis, or prevent it from getting into ketosis.

As long as you eat less than your TDEE every day, you will not store fat over time – you will lose fat weight. The key is not the fasting for a few hours, it is the caloric restriction. That, many seem to forget, is where the ‘Fast Diet’ came from – a program on calorie restriction.

…and the fructose will be stored straight into your liver. If you want to flavour water, try some slices of cucumber, mint leaves, lemon slice and a splash of chilled Earl Grey tea. Very summery.

Hi Apricot:

You seem to misunderstand and mischaracterize the issue. When talking about 5:2, we are talking about ‘severe calorie restriction’. For two days a week, people eat 75% or fewer calories than normal. It is totally unlike weight watchers or any other every day reduced calorie diet. The life extension program that led to popularizing 5:2 dealt with severe calorie restrictions – a man that had eaten 1900 cal. a day for years, 4 day water fasts, Varady’s ADF diet (25% of normal calories every other day) and mice that were fasted for 16 hours a day (human equivalent of 4/5 day water fasts). It is in that context I suggest the benefits come from calorie restriction, not time between meals.

Do you have any clinical studies that show that eating one 500 cal. meal per day provides material health benefits over eating 500 cal. in more than one meal per day? Varady’s research finds there is no difference. I would be very interested in seeing any studies you may have!

I have to ask but why do you need to have the water tasting sweet? Personally I don’t even have zero cal sweeteners. Our brain has been conditioned over centuries to associate sweetness with “that must be OK to eat”. It is hard wired into us and is a good survival instinct. Trouble is in the modern western world it works against us. When you have an artificial sweetener you brain is tricked into registering that you have just ingested calories. When the calories do not arrive your brain goes WTF happened to the calories I was expecting to receive?? Your desire to fulfil that expected calorie hit means you will most likely seek calories as a result of ingesting that artificial sweet drink. Short story, by drinking artificially sweetened drinks you make your task of doing 5:2 harder than it should be as you actively go looking for calories. Don’t think multinational food companies know this concept? Look at the number of obese people that drink artificially sweetened drinks. Its not working for them is it.

If you must flavour your water try lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to give it a tartness rather than a sweetness.