The FastDay Forum

Hi, I'm looking for guidance, I've decided to try this eating window, 5 day s week, I have the weekend off as I like a drink at the weekend, I don't eat anything at all until 4pm, couple of crackers, some fruit, then I'll have my dinner with the family at 6pm, then water for the rest of the evening, starting again at 4pm next day with a snack. First week in lost 4th (probably water) then 2nd week another lb then nothing, I don't count any calories at all, in all of this, am I doing it wrong, any advice welcome, going to bed hungry, drives me crazy, so I haven't restricted my calories, should I? Any help welcome xxx

Hello, I do 2 - 7 every day. Like you I don't count calories and I lost the weight I wanted and am so far maintaining. The e-book for the WOE I am following warns that there may be no weight loss at all for the first 4 weeks as the body adjusts to it. Also the hunger during the fasting period should reduce. You should certainly not be feeling hungry when you go to bed. Are you eating enough protein and healthy fats to make yourself feel nice and full? You should aim to be feeling full at the end of your eating window. I don't want to sound critical and say my way is the only way, but if you are a newbie to fasting of any sort, a 3 hour window is a bit short to jump right into, even if you are eating "normally" for 2 days (they aren't "weyhey" days, are they? ) . Some people find they can do eating Windows on fewer than 7 days a week, but others find that the interruption makes it far harder to tame the hunger. Have you thought about starting with a 6-hour eating window and seeing how that goes for a while, with a view to shortening it gradually as it becomes easier? You would think that eating for shorter periods would speed things up, but that has not been my experience, and I have had days of only 2 or 3 hours.

I've just started doing an eating window. For me, how I'm doing it is lunch at 12pm (which I will move to 1pm over time) and then dinner at 5/6pmish - these times work for me as I'm an early to bed, early to rise person. So I'll only eat the two meals, no snacks. Snacking makes me snack more, and makes me hungry.

I've worked out calories I need to lose 0.75kgs a week, and have number crunched a whole heap of lunch/dinner options that will fit into these calories (and included fruit and even occasional chocolate). If I allocate the calorie allowance over breakfast, lunch, dinner, I constantly feel hungry. This way, I get to feel full from lunch until bedtime - and even better, after a couple of years of 5:2 fasting, my body is totally used to fasting, and I find getting to lunch fasting easy.

I'm doing a bit of calorie counting the first few weeks, but I'm hoping that I won't even need to do that in a while. And if there is a breakfast/brunch/morning tea catch up with friends, I'm not going to stress it, it won't be often enough to become habit, and I think it's good to mix things up rather than do exactly the same all the time.

I tried the 3 hour window in a slightly different way. Did it on my fast days only (3 a week). Well i failed. Created a post after naming it my 21 hour power fast 2 or 3 days a week mid October. I couldnt handle the full 21 hour fasting but the thread got some interesting comments

5-2-diet-chat-f6/my-5-2-or-4-3-21-power-fast-diet-t13272.html

All the best for it all

I have also decided to try an eating window.been doing lots of reading and I think I will start with a bigger window. Skip breakfast ,have lunch around 2 and then dinner and stop eating after dinner. For me the big thing is to not snack. I tend to get full quickly so I eat small meals and then eat a few hours later.and probably end up,eating too much.i plan to do this during the week and relax at the weekend.
Let's see what happens.

An intriguing plan @549may, is the main thing that bothers you the going to bed hungry? I see from your start date you're no newbie to fasting, did you start with 5:2? I do a combo of 5 hour eating windows with up to 8 hours on day on day off rota. Natch I'm usually hungrier on the 5 hour days, but like when I started 5:2, it's something I seem to have got used to. I make a hot herbal tea at bed time ( there are many for helping you nod off) get into bed feeling awake and hungry, but as soon as I start reading I'm drowsy and sleep great. Just have to power through the first few weeks.

I am pretty new to fasting too. I started doing 4:3 at the beginning of January and after reading a lot about eating windows I added 18:6 on three other days. So I fast on Mon, Wed, Fri. I only eat once on those days. A 400 calorie meal about 5-6pm. On Tue, Thu, Sat I eat between 1pm and 7pm. I fit in a small lunch and a main meal in the evening. On Sundays I have no specific eating plan.

I would find it very hard to stick to your tiny eating window every day. It wouldn't be sustainable for me in the long term. I feel I can cope with my system as I can eat lunch on four out of five days and on fast days I can tell myself it's only for the one day and tomorrow I can eat at 1pm. I feel really good on fast days but get some urges to eat by about 3pm. I have a lot of weight to lose but when I get to the maintenance stage I envisage doing some kind of eating window on five days and maybe one fast day a week, with one relaxed do-whatever-I-want day. I believe it's a case of finding what works for you in the long term. We are all different so there is no right or wrong solution.

I would find it very hard to stick to your tiny eating window every day. It wouldn't be sustainable for me in the long term. I feel I can cope with my system as I can eat lunch on four out of five days and on fast days I can tell myself it's only for the one day and tomorrow I can eat at 1pm. I feel really good on fast days but get some urges to eat by about 3pm. I have a lot of weight to lose but when I get to the maintenance stage I envisage doing some kind of eating window on five days and maybe one fast day a week, with one relaxed do-whatever-I-want day. I believe it's a case of finding what works for you in the long term. We are all different so there is no right or wrong solution.

3pm is when it kicks in for me. I seem to be able to hold out without even thinking about it but i can almost tell the time from my tummy that needs to eat something by 3pm on fast days having skipped both breakfast and lunch. I go for some protein fix so i can ride it out till about 7pm.

Is there an eating window thread? One to get a bit of support (like the daily fasting thread) for those of us who are doing some form of eating window? (I think of mine more of just eating two meals a day, but it is pretty much the same thing.) If not, would it be worth starting one?

https://forum.fastday.com/fastonbury-glamping-grounds-f34/the-16-8-tent-and-17-7-18-6-19-5-etc-t11084.html

Perhaps we could use this, @katamac?

Ah, that looks like the place thanks