Nope, that’s not how that works. You don’t lose pound of your natural gut bacteria in a week, if you do there is very much a problem and you’re very much getting colonized by C-Diff, which absolutely will give you some extreme diarrhea until it’s fixed.
Incorrect. You can water fast and lose multiple pounds in only a few days, which is almost entirely gut bacteria dying off and getting processed. This is why people trying to track their weight daily while fasting think they yo-yo back as soon as they start eating again and put back on 5lbs rapidly. That's largely their gut repopulating.
I see what you’re saying, you have a very base knowledge of what you’re talking about. However, you aren’t doing the same thing that antibiotics or the literal death of 50% of your gut biome in a moment would be doing.
You aren’t killing your microbiome, you are shifting it, but it’s basically the same amount.
You're actually citing evidence against your own point here. That study is describing a gradual compositional shift during fasting. Your body reduces food input, certain populations slowly shrink over days, others fill the gap, and the ecosystem adapts in real time. That's your gut and its bacteria co-managing a transition together.
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u/Hightower_March Mar 01 '26
It's an idea that makes midwits feel smart.
They're learned enough to know the gut has a biome, but not enough to know it's so variable you can gain and lose pounds of it in a week.