The FastDay Forum

Ok so fasting is harder than I first thought, a lot harder, I think I have foods that'll fill me up but be low cal, but I work it all out and I'm still close to hitting the 500 by mid afternoon, I don't know where i'm going wrong and I can't last on a tea (or dinner if ya prefer that term!) of say 50 cals!

Can anyone help and recommend foods i should get that are filling and low cal, but still leave room to have a half decent tea?!

I really want to keep going but I need a guiding hand to help show me what to eat but not either over fill on cals or leave a tiny amount for evening meals!

Anyone willing/able to help?!

I just find it easy to not eat but I am home all day. Have you tried low cal soups or a drink of bovril/ oxo. I think Marmite can be made into a hot drink too.

[Debs]

Give us an idea what you have been eating and we can suggest some alternatives to help. Meanwhile don't stress, it took a while to get here and it'll take a little while to get it right!

Love your motto btw!!

ok an example of ya, this was what i was gonna have yesterday (until my neighbor messed it up! lol)

Breakfast: 7.30am Slim.fast banana flavor, Lunch: 2 rice crackers, 4 batons of cucumber and 1/4 roast chicken breast (a small one from iceland) and tea: M&S count on us bolognase sauce with 50g of pasta,

I thought it was going well but i worked it all out and it was like 530, but yesterday went to pot as my neighbor brought me a home made loaf of bread! lol,

And thanks, gotta love a bit of Groucho!

What is your TDEE for fast days as mine is 521 cals. so yours might be over 500 too so you haven't completely blown it. Would it be better to have a banana for breakie or skip it altogether. Ditch the rice cakes and have more salad. Make your own bolognaise sauce and freeze the leftover. I made Quorn bolognaise the other day and froze the rest. have a look at the recipe section.

My TDEE is 522, so I guess it's not that bad, but still want to make sure i can stay at 500 to push that fat burn that tiny bit more! Bananas I can do, I do like to nom on one when ever i can so having on for breakfast is easy to do! How come I should ditch the rice crackers? They're only 30 cals each! I do normally make my own sauce but I thought the M&S one might be lower cals, lol, (i make the hairy bikers version sauce!) does quorn mince taste the same as normal mince? cause I dislike the quorn chicken and sausages!

[Debs]

I would ditch the carbs in favour of veggies with your meals, cut the rice crackers. They may only be 30 cals each but you get a whole plate of veggies for 60cals which will fill you up a lot more. You could try the miracle noodles instead of pasta too if you still want the noodle thing going on.
The majority of people here do go as far through the day as they can before eating and then only having dinner. A big soup at this time of year will also be good if your 'lounge' is in the northern hemisphere!
Have a look through the posts in the foodies corner for more ideas.

what sort of veggies should i be aiming to get in instead of carbs? Never heard of miracle noodles before *zooms of to google* lol, I don't think I could last waiting to eat for most of the day, liquid doesn't seem to fill me up what so ever! lol, could have a grape or 2 i suppose to help tied me over!

I'll head over to food corner and plonk myself there to see what i can find out!

[Debs]

I have been reading that people have been having an egg with mushrooms, spinach and onion for brekkie which is low carb and filling. Low calorie veggies are the way to go, use a calorie counter like my fitness pal to check calories. Low cal fruit for lunch like berries are the best. Veggies like carrots, etc. definitely get some foodie ideas to make sure you get calories for your buck as it were!

[Tracieknits]

Well I could cut out the slimfast. Those things are junk and I bet it's making you much hungrier than you'd be if you had nothing at all.

Slimfast and rice crackers are nothing but carbs, pretty much. Carbs will make you much much hungrier. They're a very bad idea on a fast day. I am *NOT* a low carber. I love my carbs. But I do recognize that they are a very bad idea on a fast day as they make me so dang hungry!!!

To be honest, I find my hunger is much easier to control if I have nothing but black coffee (I put 1 tbs whole milk in each of my two morning cups). I have one cup at 6:30am when I'm making my son's breakfast and packing his lunch, then another at about 7:30 or 8am. For the rest of the day, I have water, mint tea (hot or iced, depending on the weather) and maybe a cup or three of chicken bouillon (oxo cube). I then break my fast at 6pm with a lovely dinner - you can have a lot for 500 calories!!

If you absolutely *must* eat during the day, try to stick with veggies and just a bit of protein. Fruit and grains will just make you hungry. That banana will make you ravenous. Some people do veggie soup for lunch - there's some very low calorie veggie soups, but try to get one that doesn't have pasta in it, or you will wake the carb monster.

I have a boiled egg and 1 slice of toast small wholemeal bread about 2oclock that tides me over till 7pm till i have dinner of normally always grilled chicken and salad of fish. Inbetween when i feel hungry i just drink lots of water and the feeling does past quite quickly. I stay at home and my hubby comes in about 2 and i make his lunch of rolls and sausuage, french toast etc and he always has a cake or biscuit with his....nothing like temptation huh lol

I'm with Tracieknits on this - eating before supper is a killer. If I'm starving or getting a headache I will have a waitrose chicken consome (1 tin is about 50 cals). If you need to feel you're eating, how about adding some miracle noodles to that. Occasionally, when I'm struggling I make up some low cal jelly, but I don't usually get to eat it, as my kids almost always find it in the fridge first.

I drink a pint of tea first thing in the morning (in bed) and then allow myself a 50 cal milk allowance for the rest of the day to have when I feel the need. On fast days, I add milk to tea and coffee, using the measuring cup that came with a bottle of night nurse. Tea gets 20ml and coffee gets 30ml. Apart from that I swear by Pukka herbal teas. Pukka's ginger, 3 mint and night time are my faves. The Teapig licorice and peppermint is amazing and tastes quite sweet and very satisfying. Just don't try to drink any wine afterwards, cos it does something to your tastebuds.

For suppers I eat MASSES of veg stir fried with just a bit of rice and chicken or prawns. If I'm feeling lazy Sainsbury's fuller for longer does a really tasty chicken or prawn biryani for around 320 cals. Stir fried veg (always with a fry light spray) with an egg stirred in at the end to make a kind of frittata is good too.

Finally, before bed I have a slurp of warm milk in the hope that I can sleep. I sleep terribly on fast nights, but weirdly don't feel too tired the next day.

Hope that helps. I really need to know I've got my 500 cals stored up for the evening. It might be worth trying. Good luck!

[carorees]

As everyone else has said, carbs just make you hungrier. This was borne out by the recent Horizon documentary Fat V Sugar (or possibly Sugar V Fat!). The twin who ate the low fat/high carb diet was constantly hungry. The twin who ate the high fat/low carb diet was not hungry. The low carb twin lost the most weight.

On fast days avoid carbs at least until the evening meal. Stick to protein and veggies.

If you can't go all day without food, work you way towards it by pushing breakfast progressively later. At the same time you can work your way down to 500 cals if you're really struggling by having a bigger calorie allowance, say 800 cals, and each fast day going a bit lower. As you push your breakfast later and later I think you will find it all sorts itself out.

Don't worry about it taking a little while to get yourself sorted...as someone else on the forum says, "once you reach your target, who cares how long it took to get there?"

@tracieknits, I am a huge carb monster normally, but i shall chain it up and put it in cement and leave it in the shed! lol, you say a bit of protein, but how much roughly? don't want to over do it! lol,

@hourglass, shame i don't have a waitrose near me, sounds quite nice! Jelly is a good idea, I have asda own nas strawberry jelly i'm gonna make up on monday! I can't live with out my morning cup of tea, so think i'll have to keep with that, and not have much else in the way of milk, I do have M&S strawberry and raspberry tea, rather nice to sip on, may try the pukka teas, the ginger one sounds intriguing! Stir fries always sound interesting to me, never actually made one though, will have to try it with chicken (not a prawn lover!)

@carorees I'm going to watch that horizon episode tonight if it's still on iplayer, sounds interesting! I'll try the pushing breakfast back, say every half hour or so. I love the sounds of working my way down to 500!!! I am struggling a bit with the sudden loss of food in the day, working my way down to it sounds a more gentle approach, i like it!:D

Click on the coloured bubbles at the top of the home page too. There is lots of helful information there.

This is a really good, friendly and helpful site that is also addictive so you may be spending some time here - you will be amazed at what you learn!