The FastDay Forum

Hi everyone! At the risk of repeating what has been said a thousand times...here goes.

Does 16:8 literally mean that you skip breakfast and then have lunch and tea? Do you eat what you like or do you stick to 500 cals?

Sorry, I'm just a bit on the slow side lately. So far I've only stuck with 5:2. I did toy with the idea of 4:3 a while back but now I'm sticking with 5:2 and haven't tried anything else.

Lately, I've been naughty and keep eating chocolate and cereal. It seems I've reverted to my old bad habits. Perhaps I'll be stricter with myself in the new year. And maybe I should try and avoid chocolate for a bit then as well...who knows!

Ballerina has a link to the big thread on 16:8 in her signature, but in a nutshell - eat in an 8 hour window. Open it when you have your first calories and shut it firmly 8 hours later.

[carorees]

But don't eat continuously in those 8 hours or you'll eat too much! Also, you can, of course, close the window earlier! The 8 hours don't have to be the same each day...sure some days you might fast less than 16 hours but others will be longer than 16.

You make a very good point there Caroline (as usual) though that does seem an appealing strategy for Christmas day

The link is in my signature, good luck

Ballerina x

Well that doesn't sound too bad at all. Er @Carorees I think even I would struggle to eat continuously for 8 hours...or would I? hmmm,

I never quite got the idea of 16:8 from reading the threads so what I do now is not eat brekkie and then stick to lunch and tea with my usual cocoa after 9 pm. I try not to snack and it seems to follow on nicely from the 4:3 I was doing before. I am now very slowly losing weight again.

In a nutshell, if you follow 16:8 to the letter you can eat as much of anything you want during any 8 consecutive hour period each day. Because there is no calorie restriction involved, you must decide how many calories you want to eat. If you want to lose weight, you must eat less than your TDEE. If you want to maintain, you must eat around your TDEE. If you don't do either, you will gain weight. This is exactly the same as if you decide to eat during a four hour period each day, or a 14 hour period. History has proven that if the 'diet' is to eat less than your TDEE each day, it generally does not work over the long term because you tend to get tired of eating less each day and revert to your old eating patterns and choices. 16:8 does nothing to change either of these (except you may not eat breakfast at 7 am - just a meal you call something other than breakfast a couple of hours later).

Good Luck!

Hey @Ballerina I've just read your piece from 10 March. That was such a well written, often very amusing piece which has, ultimately, given me a real motivational boost (I've recently fallen by the wayside a bit, well, basically eating more than I should!) I just wanted to thank you so much for your inspiring piece. I'm still stuck trying to get below 11 stone and have started to think I won't ever make it at this rate...but having read your piece I feel fired up and ready for action...fasting action!!

Thank you

Bean

I've had better success by having my 5:2 fast days in a 16:8 framework eg on the previous night don't eat after 7pm, skip breakfast, eat lunch no earlier than 1pm and finish dinner no later than 7pm. Body seems to really like it this way.