Re: Water Fasting & Exercise: which does the body burn first, muscle or protein?

Hello cduliga,
In reply to your question................
fasting is essentially a "physiological rest" where all of the organic functions of the body (apart from elimination) slow down, including metabolism, which is natures way of ensuring that the bodys food reserves will last as long as possible in times of famine/injury/sickness/illness.
Animals who need to fast in the wild, will for the most part, conserve their energies for this very reason. They know instinctively that to rest is to maximize recovery.
To exercise while fasting is contrary to natures laws and which will lead to the exhaustion of those food reserves much more rapidly, and therefore the fast will need to be terminated sooner rather than later.
The great fasting supervisors of the past (including Shelton) emphasized the need for physical rest in states of disease and or ill health, but did recommend exercise in certain circumstances and mostly only for the purpose of weight-loss, and while the patient was in good or relatively good health.

With no source of external nutrition, the body has to live and feed from something, and that is the stored food reserves that we all possess to varying degrees, plus any foreign substances such as exudates, waste products, tumors and other effluent material, while preserving the integrity of the vital organs and well before the onset of starvation.

To exercise will burn these sources of food faster, and where any available protein will be redirected to the muscles, as it would while eating, but to a more limited extent. Muscle tone can be maintained and improved upon while water fasting, but the building of more muscle will be minimized in favor of the bodys preference for more urgent tasks.
Every cell within the body contains protein to a varying extent, because if not, the body would collapse and lose its structural integrity

But any exercise programme while Water Fasting has to be weighed against the ability/constitution/energy and strength of the individual. Each case would need to judged on merit.

Regards

Chrisb1.

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