The FastDay Forum

I am a 39 year old male looking to lose a few pounds. I understand that on a fast day I am limited to 600 calories. What i haven’t seen anywhere is if fat is limited on these days also. Today is my first fasting day. I drank black coffee for breakfast so no calories there. I was able to limit my lunch to 90 calories with 30 calories from fat (3 grams). For supper I’m looking at staying fairly low carb, but not necessarily really low fat. I’m thinking a couple of eggs, some center cut bacon, some cheese, and some 2% cottage cheese to go with it. After doing the math this would be right around 500 calories with almost 181 calories from fat (about 21 grams). Is this meal too much as far as fat is concerned?

[carorees]

Hi @mlttcmck and welcome to the forum!

Your plan sounds perfect to me low carb is the best choice for a fast day with your calories coming from protein and fat. Protein is best for quelling hunger and fat helps keep your body in fasting mode. There is more information on this in the fasting library in the getting started section and the science section for more detail.

I notice that you're showing as female in your info next to your name...you might want to go to the user control panel to change that

Then please do go to our introduce yourself board and tell us more about you

Hope the rest of your fast goes well and all the future fasts too!

@mlttcmck, if you are asking about PERCENTAGE of fat, there is no "limit." But you still have to count all of the calories you consume, including any you "exercise off." As Caroline says above, low carb is a good way to go on "light" days, as it doesn't trigger insulin response and (for many of us!) wake up the "hunger monster." A male friend of mine is trying 5:2; he normally puts honey in his tea...plus, he has issues with not eating for hours. So, I've recommended to him that he drink his tea without sweeteners on light days to avoid triggering unnecessary hunger.

Thanks for the replies. My total amount of calories for the day was under 600. I was just a little worried about fat, as eggs and bacon definitely have more fat than vegetables etc. At the same time they are low carb and high in protein and fill me up for longer periods. Not to mention it's more my style. The bacon was a leaner, center cut bacon, and I only did 2 pieces. I'm not overly worried about my fast days. It's the off days that get me. The wife is doing this with me which makes it easier. The hard part is all of the social activities and kids activities we attend.

@mlttcmck, I'd say then that the most important issue for y'all is PLANNING AHEAD. Having something "safe" with you, in case you are ambushed by pizza or the like at an inopportune time. Eh, you may end up like me; so much more comfortable with hunger that you don't usually see it as something that is an emergency...

And you just hit on the beauty of this Way of Eating. As you look at your week and see that there's an event that you would like to enjoy (Eat and drink normally at. ) but it occurs on your regular fast day. You can shift your fasting day to another day with no penalty. How cool is that? As things progress, you can actually do it on the fly. Say you start your day out fasting, but you're not feeling it or someone invites you out for lunch or , you can say. "Okay, today is not a fast day. Tomorrow is a fast day. No Problema!" It is as easy as that. No failure involved. No beating yourself up.
At first, you may want to plan ahead as much as you can, but as you get more comfortable you can adjust as you need.

This is a good summary about fats. http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2004/PingZhang.shtml

The scientists in the room please advise if anything wrong in there

One thing i see is that fats is highly dense in calorific value thus if you eat too much fat you end up reaching your 600calories too quickly and still left hungry.

The energy density for fats is 9 cal/g, when proteins and carbohydrates only provide 4 cal/g. However, when measuring the energy content, it is converted into kilojoules. In SI units, fats has 37.7 MJ/kg while, proteins and carbohydrates have 16.8 MJ/kg.

So I still have button on a fast day but in very limited quantity.

If higher density is all it takes for something to be bad for you, then swallowing an ice cube is much safer than a sip of water.

A high school homework website isn't a place I'd think of for dietary facts, but then there may be untapped wisdom behind the old bumber sticker that said:

"Hire a teenager while they still know it all."

[carorees]

As ADFnFuel says, density does not relate to how satiating something is. In fact, fat seems a lot more satiating than carbs for a given calorie content even though the volume of fat would be less, protein is also more satiating than carbs even though the calories per gram is about the same. Although there are stretch receptors in the stomach that report back on how full it is, they are only a tiny part of the system that controls satiety. In fact, there are many many hormones that control appetite and these have little to do with how full your stomach is.

You asked what was wrong with that web page. Quite a lot:
"Because it's the most fattening of energy sources." is incorrect. Carbs are just as fattening because they are directly converted into fat in the fat cells under the influence of insulin released in response to rising blood glucose. While insulin levels are high, the fat cannot be released from the cells to be burnt as fuel.

"But, if you have an excess intake of fatty foods, it can lead to the storing of fat." As can excess carbs and in fact, excess carbs are more likely to cause fat storage because the high insulin levels caused by the carbs prevent any fat stored from being released again and used for energy resulting in hunger as the bodies cells are deprived of fuel and thus we consume even more calories rather than burning our fat stores.

"The fat may build up in your arteries and clog them. It may give you an increased chance of heart disease." this is completely wrong. There is no link between fat eaten and fat build up in your arteries. In fact, the risk of death is lowest among those with the highest cholesterol levels according to a recent study (published in April): http://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/381654

Indeed the US dietary guidelines are about to be changed such that cholesterol is to be dropped from the ‘nutrients of concern’ list, saturated fat will be: " ‘de-emphasized’ from nutrients of concern, given the lack of evidence connecting it with cardiovascular disease." Concerns will be raised over blanket sodium restriction given the… "growing body of research suggesting that the low sodium intake levels recommended by the DGAC (Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee) are actually associated with increased mortality for healthy individuals" and recognition will be given to the specific health risks posed by added sugars.

It is better to have calories from fat or protein than from carbs on a fast day.