How I lost 20 pounds in 1 Week – Health Starts in the Kitchen (2024)

Curious about water fasting? Want to learn how I lost 20 pounds in 1 week? I’m excited to share my 7 day fast weight loss results with you!

I am not a dr and cannot legally share medical advice, this post is my OPINION and personal experience. IF you choose to undertake any fasting I need to remind you that you should seek out medical supervision to ensure you do not experience any nutrient deficiency or muscle loss.

This isn’t a sales gimmick or fad diet, this… my friends, is my real life and my7 day water fast weight loss results. And I’m so excited to share with you that I’ve lost 20 pounds in 1 week, which is pretty amazing 7 day fast weight loss results, Right?

I wanted to write this post to help others, like me, who are struggling with their weight and worried about their health, there is hope for all of us!

I’ve recently come across interesting information that intermittent fasting is #1 diet among Americans. If you’re struggling with weight loss and concerned about your health, consider trying Lasta Fasting app. It’s an intermittent fasting app that can help you achieve healthy weight loss. With features like a fasting tracker and meal planning, Lasta Fasting provides valuable support on your weight loss journey. Many people have found apps like Lasta Fasting to be effective tools for managing their weight and fitting into their busy lifestyles. Give it a try and see if it works for you!

How to lose 20 pounds in a week?

Easy!! The fastest way to lose weight is with strict water fasting!

Here’s the thing. I’ve been eating a healthy diet of real foods for several years, yet I’ve continued to struggle with my weight, just as I did 20+ years ago when I ate more of a standard American diet. But see here’s the thing, every one’s idea of ‘healthy’ is vastly different so I feel it’s necessary to explain my healthy diet so you can understand…

• I buy local, know my farmer and grow my own food
• I hunt and gather
• Ieat organic, free-range and grass fed eggs, meat; poultry, beef, pork, etc
• Idon’t eat processed foods or drink soda
• Vegetables are my favorite, especially avocado
• I don’t over do it with the protein
• I get plenty of healthy fats
• I rarely go out to eat, so I eat mostly my own home cooked from-scratch meals
• I was gluten-free for 7 years and mostly grain-free for 5 years – even wrote a book; Without Grain
• When I eat dairy, it’s Raw, from A2 cows raised exclusively on organic pasture
• I drink filtered water like a boss (it’s practically all I drink)
• I eat fermented foods regularly – even wrote a book on Fermented Foods at Every Meal
• Have homemade bone broth several times a week
• Dessert and sweets aren’t my thing, I rarely eat them
• CICO, Calorie Restriction and Starvation are very different than fasting

I’m no where near perfect, but do my best to be 95% of the time. Now that we are on the same page, you can see with my all general standards, I’ve got this healthy eating thing down pat.

So, why on earth am I still overweight???

I must be eating too much and totally lazy then – right? I mean calories in/calories out, duh. Nope. Despite the fact that the whole calories in/calories out theory is total BS and just plain irrelevant to weight management…..

I’ve played withovereating or undereating, I’ve manipulated my macros – but have only been successful at not exponentially gaining weight. And Ihave regularly incorporated intermittent fasting into my lifestyle for the past few years. I’m an active homesteader, my average day is 10k steps plus I routinely lift heavy things like carrying 50# bags of chicken feed and 3 gallons chicken waterers to the coop.

When weather permits we enjoy long multiple-mile hikes in the mountains and we have a large garden that needs tending. And then thereour dogs, Hercules & Argos, who need walks and play time. I’m not sitting around on my ass folks. I could go on and on, explaining all the wonderful things I do for my health. But you know what, I think you get my point. So, there HAS to be some underlying healthy issue that needs tackled, right??

My blood work comes back fine, with solid cholesterol numbers and good A1C. My thyroid has been checked every way possible. Ruled out PCOS. I had a little adrenal fatigue in 2014 when I finished my first cookbook, but I’ve since healed it. Only my fasting blood glucose is only on the high side of ‘normal’. I’ve been there and done that, when it comes to diets and testing.

So, with all do respect, I beg of you, please don’t try to tell me what I’ve done wrong and how I need to become vegan or anything obviously against my fundamental human existence.

I’m happy that you found your best healthy life, but we are all totes unique individuals and there is no one-size-fits all perfect diet. I’ve researched until my eyes crossed.

And with my understanding of how the body works, I finally realized with routine blood glucose monitoring that I’minsulin resistant. You know the elusivemetabolic syndrome, that without addressing while in a very mild form leaves me open to a fate of pre-diabetes and diabetes… I’ve got it…despite my healthy lower carbeating and active lifestyle.

As I progressed in my research I came across the idea of fasting to reset the body, resetting insulin resistance and fasting blood glucose in particular. Fasting in addition to helping with my ‘blood sugar’ is also notorious for helping the body to heal and detox overall. It is also the fastest and most effective way to accomplish everything my heart desires, and, DUH, you loose weight while you’re at it.

So, I dug deeper into the idea of fasting, to determine if it’s safe and as potentially effective as touted. I couldn’t stop. I’ve read everything I could get my hands & eyes on about fasting. Man has been fasting for thousands of years, it’s only been in recent history that we’ve adopted a fast-free lifestyle.

We’ve Feasted during times of plenty, preparing our bodies for times of famine…. fasted for religious/spiritual reasons and taken voluntary hunger strikes. The average human body is generously prepared to fast for roughly 40 days, safely When I talk about ‘fasting’ — I’m talking about the real deal;therapeutic, healing, Water-Only Fasting. You know, drinking only water, nothing else (I do also allow myself to have mineral water, hot herbal tea and a squeeze of lemon) I’ve done various extended ‘fasts’ in the past – Juice Fasting for 30 & 45 days and Bone Broth Fasting for 30 days, so mentally I was prepared.

Initially I embarked on several shorter 1-3 daywater fasts. All of which left me feeling great and most importantly solidified my belief that I wanted to complete a longer fast. Why am I telling you all these details? I want to you clearly understand that my decision to water-fast was not one that I took lightly. I also didn’t just sit around on the couch all day, eating junk food, sweets and drinking soda, bitching about my weight pre-fast.

And I want to stress to YOU that fasting isn’t something that anyone should enter into lightly. It’s a serious test of your ability to overcome cravings and conditioning to eat. And there’s folks that Fasting isn’t a good choice; if you are underweight, pregnant, etc. I decided to water fast to help give my body the time it needs to fix whatever is wrongly causing it to hold on to excess weight.

How to Lose 20 Pounds

Teaser alert, the fastest and easiest way to lose 20 pounds is with water fasting! AKA only consuming water (and maybe some electrolytes) – for MOST of us it will take about 1 week to drop 20 pounds. The dramatic reduction in food intake forces your body to access its fat reserves (and purge your glycogen stores, aka water weight) for a quick fat loss.

Fasting is the most comprehensive elimination diet too! And Fasting has, in just 7 days, has proven to be everything I’ve hoped it would be plus so much more! Today I’m full of energy,do not have any hunger and am 20 pounds lighter than when I started fasting a week ago. My fasting blood glucose has dropped significantly, my skin is bright & clear, I sleep soundly and just can’t help but excitedly share it with YOU!

Here’s an overview of my daily weight loss while on awater diet for a week

• Monday, I Started fasting (my last meal was Sunday night)
• Tuesday -8.3 pounds
• Wednesday -3.2 pounds
• Thursday -2.2 pounds
• Friday -2.3
• Saturday -2.0
• Sunday -2.3

For a grand total weight loss of -20.3 pounds in 7-day fasting. Pretty sweet huh? I know many people will say ‘it’s just water weight’ and you’re welcome to offer any explanation you’d like. However, my first day I consumed over a gallon of water and lost 8.3 pounds. (and no, my body isn’t canabilizing organs or muscles, that doesn’t happen until you hit the point of starvation, when there isn’t fat stores available)

CLICK HERE for my WATER FASTING FAQs post

The next question you’re probably going to ask is about maintenance – UPDATE I’ve kept fasting, both extended and shorterintermittent cyclesand I’ve lost a total of 38 pounds (as of June 2018) One of the hardest things to deal with when you are fasting is trying to come up with things to do to stay busy, instead of cooking/eating. After all I sincerely LOVE to cook and It’s been tough to stay out of the kitchen for a whole week. But my closets are getting deep cleaning and I’m doing lots of reading 🙂

To learn more about my fasting journey check out my daily posts:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Day 6

To learn more about Fasting, CLICK HERE to find my favorite Fasting Resources.

Oh and one last thing before you go – please don’t ask the infamous question: what did you eat? Because it’s super silly and obvious you didn’t read this post or any of my daily posts I linked to!!

What is the fastest way to lose weight?

Hands down, water fasting provides the fastest way to lose weight when compared to any other diet that I have tried over the past 20 years. While in the past, I have hesitated to give weight loss estimates, I feel it is highly likely that you will quickly drop roughly 10% of your body weight when doing a 7 day water fast. Making water fasting the best way to drop pounds quickly & ditch some belly fat in time for your next vacation, wedding or class reunion!

Although like any diet, the weight loss is only temporary if you don’t make long term lifestyle and diet changes.

Water Fasting and Long term weight loss goals

I’m writing this section on July 7, 2022 – over 7 years since I completed this water fast and lost 20 pounds in 7 days. And I want to openly address the long term results of using fasting as a weightloss tool for 8 years as a part of my healthy lifestyle.

When you first finish fasting and resume consuming calories again, there will ALWAYS be some initial & immediate weight gain. In my experience, it is generally 10% of what weight you lost… so if you loose 20 pounds, expect to put 2 pounds back on just accounting for the food in your system.

A word of caution, if you end your fast and immediately return to your unhealthy lifestyle you will undoubtedly suffer from weight gain. Any time you want to maintain weight loss from any diet (or fasting) you must make serious lifestyle change & diet plan – changing your eating habits… whether that is monitoring your calorie intake, low-calorie diet, doing more cardio, increasing fiber intake, portion control, intermittent fasting, etc..

The best way to maintain weight loss after a Water Fast

Again, in my experience the best way to maintain weight loss and lean muscle mass after water fasting is to transition to eating a diet focused on healthy protein intake (like salmon, chicken breast, to help replace and muscle mass loss) and filing the rest of your plate with foods that keep your blood glucose as stable as possible. Learn more inTHIS BOOKand wear a Continuous Glucose Monitor (click HERE for the affordable CGM that I wear & recommend – use the code: HEALTHSTARTSINTHEKITCHEN20 for 20% off)

You may think initially that wearing a CGM means that you’ll need to stick to a keto diet to maintain ketosis or very low carb diet, but that’s not the case at all. Many foods contain carbohydrates AND support stable blood sugar levels, aka glucose (lentils, carrots, beans, legumes, quinoa etc)

And in THIS BOOK you will learn how eating a lettuce salad (or other veggies like cucumbers, broccoli, spinach, celery, tomato, etc) BEFORE carbs like pasta, white rice, brown rice, white bread, and other whole grains (even ice cream, chips and cookies) can nearly eliminate any health-damaging glucose spike too!

And again, to be honest if you have been yo-yo dieting for years your metabolism (and hormones like cortisol) is probably damaged.. a 7 day water fast will not magically repair it. Many people are singing the praises of fasting as the holy grail of weight loss and “healthy living” — I’m not here to say that their experience is wrong, only that you need to be very cautious of their level of experience with fasting over the long term before you assign value to their opinions.

5 Tips for the best water fasting experience

1. Schedule your fast during a time where you CAN rest if needed. In many cases fasting at first can be difficult and you may need to take it easy depending on your health and health conditions.
2. Pay attention to your water intake. There isn’t a magic amount that’s perfect but listen to your body, if you are thirsty, DRINK more. Dehydration is the reason most people feel bad while fasting.
3. Speaking of dehydration, for some of us drinking water alone isn’t best. therefore I always recommend combatting any side effects or dizziness with an electrolyte drink supplement. Choose one with the least ingredients or just add sea salt to your water.
4. If you aren’t able to follow through the full 7 days, that is OK! there are many benefits with shorter 3-day fasts as well. Focus on eating a diet rich in nutrients and gut health promoting probiotics (like yogurt) following your fast then try again in a few weeks.
5. Do not drink FRUIT JUICE or vegetable juice while fasting, no matter what. Zero calories and zero sugar is key.

Water Fasting FAQs

Yours in Health,

CLICK HERE for my WATER FASTING FAQs post