Twenty-four hours is a long time for fasting, but I made it. I fasted last week for 24 hours for the first time and I couldn't believe I could actually do it.

I decided to fast after talking to a physician and his wife who are fasting one day a week now. He explained the physiology that goes on in your body when you fast. I definitely have a little work I need to do, so I thought I would give it a try.

Let's just say this: by 2:30 in the afternoon, I felt like I was starving and I wanted to be done. But I kept going, drinking lots of water. I even exercised that night after work, and I was happy when 24 hours was over.

Fasting is not a new idea - it has been done for religious practices and other reasons throughout the years. But today, there is research that the health benefits of fasting are worth taking another look at for losing weight.

Dr. Michael Mosley's book, "The Fast Diet" and Dr. Carolyn Apovian's book, "The Overnight Diet" are receiving a lot of attention with the idea that when you fast, it jumps-starts your ability to lose weight.

"There is one advantage that the intermittent fasting appears to have over a standard (calorie restricted) diet: studies suggest that when you do intermittent fasting, you lose almost exclusively fat according to researchers Dr. Krista Varaday and Dr. Michelle Hoffman." They found that with a standard diet, you lose about 75 percent fat and 25 percent lean muscle, while with the fasting regime, you lose between 85-100 percent fat.

On Mosley's plan, he allows men to have 600 calories a day on their fasting days and women 500 calories. On his program, they actually fast two non-consecutive days a week, and the weight loss is quite significant. According to Mosley, this type of fasting is being studied as to its ability to help ward off the likelihood of cancer, dementia and Type II diabetes.

Dr. Carolyn Apovian appeared on the Dr. Oz show with her "Overnight Diet." She has a once-a-week fast in which she allows you to drink protein smoothies (she feels the best protein is whey and casein mix) and then the other six days of the week, you follow up with a low-calorie, protein-rich diet of regular foods.

According to Dr. Apovian and Dr. Oz, we lose one percent of our muscle mass per year. Muscle is what keeps our metabolism revved up, so that is why it gets harder and harder to lose weight as we get older. With her program you can eat fruits, vegetables and protein; she says it burns fat and not muscle and increases your metabolism, so it helps you decrease your overall weight. Dr. Apovian believes her diet decreases your risk of heart disease, Type II diabetes and cancer, and increases your longevity.

The fast that I did was a true fast: I did not eat any calories at all. It is a way for your body to be stressed on a cellular level, and then it mobilizes all of your fat stores to metabolize for needed energy.

In many ways, this is exactly what we do in physical therapy with our patients everyday that have a tendonitis, plantar fasciitis or muscle strain. We want the body to heal the tissue that is damaged, so we rally the tissue on a cellular level to evoke a change. That's how you make new tissue. You stress it, and it responds with new blood supply and resulting new growth. Our other tissue is no different. If we never stress the system, whether it is our cardio-vascular system or our musculoskeletal system, how can it change?

So change it up. If the way you have been eating or exercising isn't working for you, don't be afraid to see your doctor and ask for the help you need with a new plan. Every body is different, and every system needs to be challenged to move to the next level. Don't be afraid to step forward this spring to a new you. Get moving! We are rooting for you because your health matters to us.

Sheree DiBiase, PT, and her staff can be reached at Lake City Physical Therapy in Coeur d'Alene at (208) 667-1988 and in her Spokane Valley office at (509) 891-2623. Call for an appointment to make a commitment to your health.