The FastDay Forum

When I started Fasting, I used to eat small meals during the day, but was hungry all the time. I've found that having tea/coffee/herb tea/water (I don't worry too much about how much milk) during the day and eating a high protein (usually egg based) meal at about 6.30 works for me, sometimes with yoghurt later. I do find that 3pm ish is the worst time, so I try to get out and about then, or have a nap!!

It's hard for me to have my main meal at lunchtime on fast days. I like having stir fries or other things I cook myself, and that's difficult anytime but night (or weekends). I guess I could freeze things to bring in for lunch, but that might get boring.

Anyway… I tried having 200g of cottage cheese the other day at lunchtime just to experiment. It definitely helped with feeling hungry in the afternoon. I was happy just to have some vegetables for dinner. I went to bed feeling about as hungry as I usually do on a fast day. I wouldn't want to do it everyday (worried I'll get bored), but for the days where I'm really struggling to concentrate, I think a high protein lunch or afternoon meal is a good idea.

Before I started IF, I wasn't eating much in the evenings anyway. It was messing up my sleep, and I often wasn't hungry...

Thanks. So you can eat for a 5 hour window? Is that how you do it? Is it working? Do you feel as if you are 'on a diet'?

Hi @sallyo. It's a little like @ballerina says, you get into a rhythm and after a while you don't think about it. I also find it quite useful to have a little structure around my routine then I don't think about it so much. It's actually quite hard to eat all of your calories in five hours!

Today has been an exception. I was late for work and didn't have time to prepare my lunch. So what I did was to take bulletproof mocha in a thermal cup. The added cocoa kept me going all day, but I had an Epic bar (meat) in my draw which I ate around 4pm. Tonight I ate as soon as I walked through the door as I was very hungry. A giant chicken ceasar dressed with a generous portion home made mayo, but no croutons or cheese as I'm watching the carbs. It was a giant portion and I'm now very full. So no 500 calorie watching.

Dinner for me but loads of various beverages until then. Start each morning with about 64 ounces of water followed by a 24 oz mug of chai tea made with a splash of milk or coconut milk and sweetened with stevia. About 10 am I make a pitcher of hibiscus tea and several or us at work drink from it. At lunch I have about 10 ounces of beef broth from Trader Joes and a Zevia cola. I combat the 3:00 hungry with chocolate tea and maybe a quick walk around the parking lot. Dinner is as soon as I can make it when I walk through the door. I often have a microwaved apple with cinnamon later in the evening and I always end my night with another chai tea.

… I tried having 200g of cottage cheese the other day at lunchtime just to experiment. It definitely helped with feeling hungry in the afternoon. I was happy just to have some vegetables for dinner. I went to bed feeling about as hungry as I usually do on a fast day. I wouldn't want to do it everyday (worried I'll get bored), but for the days where I'm really struggling to concentrate, I think a high protein lunch or afternoon meal is a good idea. ...

The cafeteria had what seemed to be a perfect fast day meal, so I've tried for lunch again today: roast chicken (~100g), carrot/daikon/bell pepper/cucumber sticks with a sauce in a separate container that I skipped, and a cucumber/seaweed salad with a sauce that probably had a bit of sugar but was otherwise mostly vinegar. I'm guessing it was <200cals. I have enough cals left for cottage cheese and vegetables at dinner, which will help me avoid any late night hunger I think.

I think I'll experiment with cottage cheese tomorrow,@MaryAnne and eat an early dinner.@Or yogurt might do the trick.

[tag]Golinda that all sounds incredibly American, I must say. I don't know what half those things are! I can almost hear you saying it with an American accent! Wonderful! I love the diversity of the forum!