The FastDay Forum

Juliana.Rivers:
the point 2) resting of digestive organs... can you elaborate there for me Peebles

Well, there is nothing scientific about this, as it is based solely on my own experience. But not putting food in my stomach for almost 24 hours (since I am doing pretty much the same thing you are) seems to have given my esophagus and the irritated parts of my stomach a chance to heal. For a while there everything I ate was hurting, as the whole thing was highly inflamed. It was scoped and biopsied by a gastroenterologist, which confirmed my subjective experience. Even after taking powerful drugs it stayed inflamed for quite a while, and only seems to have calmed down when I started fasting.

So that made me think that just giving our whole digestive tract a chance to not have to deal with food and the acid that is produced each time we eat might be helpful. It might also, and this is again highly speculative, take some of the burden off the cells in the upper gut that secrete the various incretin hormones that help modulate digestion and control blood sugar. This could explain some of the improvement in blood sugar control people report that is not explained by diet, since people are eating carbs on their off days, and in theory this should keep their blood sugar high.

Hi,... I also agree with your 3 points peebles and the main reasons I'm back to fasting. It is also why I personally choose to only have liquid fasts, and ZERO calorie liquid fasts.
This morning I woke after a 36 hour fast.
So my last meal was supper at 7:30pm on Thursday evening.... I got up Friday, had black coffee,... water and green tea.... all day..... I managed to do a 'big shop' (bought myself a lovely slab of goat cheese to enjoy for lunch today on a food day!) and then chose to have a 77 calorie Ovaltine Chocolate light drink at 7pm (so 24hrs later)..... more water.... went to bed.... got up today and broke my fast with a Babybel!!
So only 77 calories in 36 hours.
No counting need, no guess work, no wondering if I had the right amount? too much? too few?.... I find this refreshing!
I also like the idea that my gut is getting a rest. It is a HUGE job our digestive system has to do and I honestly think it benefits from having a rest!

Keep going everyone, benefits all round!

JB x

Hi,... I also agree with your 3 points peebles and the main reasons I'm back to fasting. It is also why I personally choose to only have liquid fasts, and ZERO calorie liquid fasts.
This morning I woke after a 36 hour fast.
So my last meal was supper at 7:30pm on Thursday evening.... I got up Friday, had black coffee,... water and green tea.... all day..... I managed to do a 'big shop' (bought myself a lovely slab of goat cheese to enjoy for lunch today on a food day!) and then chose to have a 77 calorie Ovaltine Chocolate light drink at 7pm (so 24hrs later)..... more water.... went to bed.... got up today and broke my fast with a Babybel!!
So only 77 calories in 36 hours.
No counting need, no guess work, no wondering if I had the right amount? too much? too few?.... I find this refreshing!
I also like the idea that my gut is getting a rest. It is a HUGE job our digestive system has to do and I honestly think it benefits from having a rest!

Keep going everyone, benefits all round!

JB x

Im beginning to like the idea of a 70 to 100 calories only on your fast day. hmmm maybe just maybe its the right thing for me on a Monday as the Saturday and Sunday are my only 2 day straight feast days and i do feel like i need an extra fasting power boost. Probs wont do it 3 days a week but i might just try it tomorrow @juliebulie10and @peebles I wont tell my family though as i suspect they wont like it. I tend to be part of the food making so i can probably "hide" my non eating. I might do a small bowl of my home made yoghurt and ground almonds to ensure im getting my calcium.

My fasts tend to last virtually 48 hours. I'm doing ADF and do liquid only on my fast days. On my feed days, I've adopted a warrior diet/eating window type approach whereby I only eat in the evening. I do not eat all day and then have my evening meal. If I'm full after that, which I usually am to be honest, I eat nothing more. If I'm still peckish I have that window of a couple of hours when I can eat some fruit, soup etc. The following day I'm back to an all day fast.

Once a week, I allow a calorie spike. For instance, we went to PizzaExpress yesterday where I had a pizza and a dessert. Your body/metabolism needs that boost rather than low calorie/no calorie day in day out.

I love it and it works for me. I feel 100% better than I have done in a very, very long time. That's the joy of fasting, we can all adapt it to suit our own personal needs.

My fasts tend to last virtually 48 hours. I'm doing ADF and do liquid only on my fast days. On my feed days, I've adopted a warrior diet/eating window type approach whereby I only eat in the evening. I do not eat all day and then have my evening meal. If I'm full after that, which I usually am to be honest, I eat nothing more. If I'm still peckish I have that window of a couple of hours when I can eat some fruit, soup etc. The following day I'm back to an all day fast.

Once a week, I allow a calorie spike. For instance, we went to PizzaExpress yesterday where I had a pizza and a dessert. Your body/metabolism needs that boost rather than low calorie/no calorie day in day out.

I love it and it works for me. I feel 100% better than I have done in a very, very long time. That's the joy of fasting, we can all adapt it to suit our own personal needs.

agree about adapting @cheekychicken.

Hello Monday and per yesterday's post im going to give a 36 hour no calorie liquid only fast just cause its a Monday and ive had so much food on the weekend it actually gave me indigestion last night

Last meal was say 11pm last night meaning i dont eat for a llllllllllllllllllllooooong time. lol

wish me luck everyone. feeling strong

Wishing you luck@Juliana.Rivers!

I'm content with my 22.5 hour fasts, one of them now winding to a conclusion, but my good friend who introduced me to 5:2 swears by her complete liquid fasts.

Wishing you luck@Juliana.Rivers!

I'm content with my 22.5 hour fasts, one of them now winding to a conclusion, but my good friend who introduced me to 5:2 swears by her complete liquid fasts.

thanks @peebles. its 3.10pm now so its about 16 hours in so im nearly half way. been good. only drunk coffee and a 1/3 cup almond milk thus far. and 6 mints
not sure how i will get away with people not noticing ive not had dinner, ill figure out a way

@Juliana.Rivers, good point u make about snacking all day. Most important to add up your cals, including milk in coffee/tea. Lots of cals in milk. One of the reasons I have a mini protein bar, is the cals are written on the pack and it's seriously filling.

Hey
I'm wondering if you are sleeping through the last bit of your fast now??
How did you get on? did you miss dinner with no issues?
I also allow for (and look forward to!!) my calorie spike meal/day @cheekychicken I agree the metabolism likes this, and it really does spur me on to 'be good' the rest of the week knowing I can look forward the Thursday as 'cheat night'! (Thursday night here is like Friday night in the UK ) and then I get straight back on and follow that with a fast day on Friday
Fingers crossed for the scales this week, for all of us!
JB x

@Juliana.Rivers, good point u make about snacking all day. Most important to add up your cals, including milk in coffee/tea. Lots of cals in milk. One of the reasons I have a mini protein bar, is the cals are written on the pack and it's seriously filling.

'

Havent tried the protein bar method.. might be one to consider @gmh

I didnt manage to skip dinner.. well it went like this... My sis prepared lovely baked marinated chicken thigh and breast fillets and a nice salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, asparagus and dressing. I chargrilled some zucchini with olive oil and garlic and I harvesting some snow peas from the garden and microwaved them.

I dished up everyones meal up as I do (it was an eat on the lap kind of night). But I felt like I just had to partake of the dinner even in some small way and ended up eating 1 thigh fillet, a bit of salad, and some zucchini. I just couldn't forgo the meal completely as it felt unnatural and wrong on so many levels. I had the planned yoghurt too. The hunger wasnt that strong it was just my state of mind.

Now where to from here?.. I think i calculated 400 calories through the fast day if i add up the thigh fillet and everything else including the small drop of milk in coffee. anyhow its less than my 1/4 TDEE so feeling good about that.. I'll try again maybe next fast day particularly if there isnt a major cook up which just emits too many nice smells from the kitchen.
Not devastated or anything but we shall see.
My hats off to anyone that can fast the full 36 hours (or 2 sleeps between feeds as i see it) ...

I must admit it has made me realise just how easy it is to skip both breakfast and lunch when that in itself was daunting so i can carry that into the future ad infinitum for fast days. So the 21 hour fasting thus far is a cinch. It's the not eating the last meal at all thats hard to accomplish.

[carieoates]

Hats off to you Juliana. I couldnt go two sleeps without good unless I'm ill.
It's amazing how us "oldies" as apposed to "newbies" can still struggle to find the right IF to get the results we want.
Ive only just managed to get back into the groove since the beginning of summer. Thanks to (the) (your) (our) xmas challenge I'm heading back down the hill.
My new plan is to log all Cals on all days I know it's a terrible faf, but if you don't count em you forget how many you're eating. It's getting easier and easier (honest). Plus I log most of my days Cala ahead then I know what I'm allowed in that day. Rather than concentrating on what I'm not having.
Also one thing I've discovered (for me anyhow) is that it doesn't matter if I have three, two or one meal during my fast day as long as I only have the cals allowed its working.
So I wish you luck with your new way and I hope we will be doing the xmas challenge goal -smashed jig together.

Hi julianna great thread. I spotted it earlier this morning but thought I would save reading it as a treat to end my fast day. I find a good chat about fasting helps keep me focused. Yes I agree staying away from all food through the day is best because once I've started I find it very difficult to not keep nibbling, but lately I've found doing just that really hard. Every day turns into an eating windows day rather than a good old 5:2 day. I'm especially pleased with myself right now as I've just managed a proper fast. First time in weeks.
I like the small protein bar idea. Will try that. What's this about Thursday night being like Friday night? What happens on Friday night? I'm intrigued.

Hats off to you Juliana. I couldnt go two sleeps without good unless I'm ill.
It's amazing how us "oldies" as apposed to "newbies" can still struggle to find the right IF to get the results we want.
Ive only just managed to get back into the groove since the beginning of summer. Thanks to (the) (your) (our) xmas challenge I'm heading back down the hill.
My new plan is to log all Cals on all days I know it's a terrible faf, but if you don't count em you forget how many you're eating. It's getting easier and easier (honest). Plus I log most of my days Cala ahead then I know what I'm allowed in that day. Rather than concentrating on what I'm not having.
Also one thing I've discovered (for me anyhow) is that it doesn't matter if I have three, two or one meal during my fast day as long as I only have the cals allowed its working.
So I wish you luck with your new way and I hope we will be doing the xmas challenge goal -smashed jig together.

thanks @carieoates and glad you are heading back down the hill . Hmmm you and @gmh might have a good alternative to abstaining from the family meal at night.

I was driving daughter around this morning and kept thinking about this no food thing for the full day making it a 36 hour fast once you add your 2 nights sleeps either side.. it just seems to radical (though im thrilled it works for some so dont get me wrong keep doing it.)

I like your idea carieoates about logging calories... well for me at least on a fast day so rather than not eating at all i would weight and measure and go back to myfitnesspal.. for the small cost of the annoyance at least I can enjoy the dinner that will inevitably be around in this household. I stopped the logging about 3 months after starting 5:2 in April last year.

I would still do the 21 hour power fast so will skip brekkie, lunch, afternoon tea and snacking so the chances of going over are minimal and if i eat lean i can stick to that slightly under 1/4 TDEE like i did yesterday.

goood idea carieoates.

Fellow "oldie"

Hi julianna great thread. I spotted it earlier this morning but thought I would save reading it as a treat to end my fast day. I find a good chat about fasting helps keep me focused. Yes I agree staying away from all food through the day is best because once I've started I find it very difficult to not keep nibbling, but lately I've found doing just that really hard. Every day turns into an eating windows day rather than a good old 5:2 day. I'm especially pleased with myself right now as I've just managed a proper fast. First time in weeks.
I like the small protein bar idea. Will try that. What's this about Thursday night being like Friday night? What happens on Friday night? I'm intrigued.

its amazing how @peplum41, the talking about fasting and dieting makes you feel good and focussed. i thought i would not be able to not nibble but i managed to somehow and whilst my sister offers me food all day (and fresh juices) i resist. one day she will stop offering.

might try the protein bar at late arvo... are there better ones.. (well im in Aus, so i guess its different.. is there a thread around here about protein bars?)