The FastDay Forum

Hi hi,

How is everyone?

I'm struggling today - had a monster mad weekend and am knackered! Had fruit fingers for breakie and a subway chicken tikka flatbread for lunch - so, used up all of my calories. I'm so hungry, now, I'm tempted to break my fast. Problem is, I don't even know whether I'll be able to get 2 fasts in this week, as seeing a friend tomorrow night and Wednesday and Thursday...then Edinburgh at the weekend.

What do people reckon? Have something small now, and just try to be as healthy as I can this week, starting again properly next week, or just stick to it and have one successful fast today?

If you go over today then just make it as light as you can bear and perhaps another light, rather than a full fast, later in the week. Good luck

Ballerina xx

Try to stick to it if you can..but if you find you can't, just keep it as close to 500 as poss
If you go up to 600 or 700 cals, i still call it a fast..some peep do,some dont
If you go over that,its still a low cal day..just dont go over yr TDEE..
Then do yr best the rest of the week! X and enjoy your week, sounds like its gonna be a fun one!

Yes I agree with ballerina just do the best you can each day even 16:8 are all good fasting days then restart next week with your normal 2or 3 fastdays good luck.

Try having a drink of water - maybe with a bit of no added sugar squash - that often banishes the pangs for me. Or possibly a salty drink - 1/2 ozo in hot water is only 7 cals. Good Luck

Sorry to here you're struggling pinchy, try your best to stay strong and finish the fast. If you can't, don't tell yourself you're breaking your fast, just give yourself an extra amount of cals and stick to that instead (in the past this has helped stop me going into binge mode). If you can't fast for the rest of the week, try leaving it as long as poss each day before eating and make wise choices. Don't you go AWOL on us missus, I need you here for when I have a wobble
Dee

What have you decided, pinchy?

@justdee - I'm not going anywehere, don't you worry! How's your fast going today?

I just had a small couple of slices of cheddar - not a lot, i'd guess at around 100 calories, maybe. I know I should have gone for something less calorific, but it was a desperate moment.

Now on the water, looking forward to a healthy day tomorrow. Thinking scrambled eggs and smoked salmon with wilted spinach on a muffin (if I can get up early enough to have breakie before work), a bulgar wheat and mushroom salad, perhaps, for lunch...I will be having a cocktail or two in the evening...ah well!

It's my birthday today so have gone over my 500cals but still well below 1000. I'm very pleased with self as birthdays are normally an excuse for me to eat everything I see (if I want it or not). Will have a low day tomorrow and then a solid fast on wednesday and again on friday.
Dee

Here is a post on another thread which I found very helpful from our AWOL @GMH full of wisdom

"I have noticed there is a bit of disappointment creeping in with quite a few people and thought I would share some of my observations on being able to lose weight whilst following this WOL.

Firstly it is IMPERATIVE that you get your head into the right space. Why are you doing this? Health, looking good, it's time, a special occassion, for life...all of the above? Then you need to keep this in mind whilst you perservere. Stop obsessing about scales and weight and being disappointed one day and ecstatic the next - it's a journey to health and there will be troughs and hills. Don't go hard on yourself if u have a trough. Give yourself a good talking to (or the wet fish) on why you are doing this and get back to it.

Secondly and I think this is VERY important. Find a way to fast where it is not a struggle. I have gone thru struggle town when I have changed things around (for no reason than I have been influenced by others :>). Now I am doing what I know works for me: HUGE bowl of vegie soup for bfst (yes I know it sounds odd, but it keeps u full for hours on 70 cals), black coffee and water till I get home from work, 8 cal hot choc, then vegies in some form for dinner and a mini choc fudge protein bar. I am only a little hungry during the day, but not ravenous. So you need to find a way to fast that gets you through without it being a struggle. Don't be afraid to think outside the square eg veg soup for bfst, vegetarian eating on fast days - veg has LOW cals, are very filling and can be the glue on a fast day. I mean you could eat 3 whole cauliflowers on fast day - would you be full eating that? Sure, you'd be stuffed!

The next thing is: Watch that you don't go off on a tangent if you don't need to. It is easy to read all of this helpful stuff and then u read something u think u should try cos everyone is else is doing it (not true anyway, just some people are doing it successfully) and suddenly you find yourself watching food 7 days a week, stressing if things don't seem right, then feeling lost in the jumble of info here. No criticism to anyone, but we need to be mindful that we can get carried away - yes it has happened to me a few times here and then I see my family & friends who DON"T read all this stuff, doing what they started doing and doing it successfully, so I realise sometimes u just need to get back to basics.

We also need to remember that although our weight is important in the scheme of our healthy lives, the sky won't fall in if we put on 1kg, whilst having a great time

Lastly I always go back to the advise of Dr Mosley (on that OTHER website):

What do I do if I am not losing weight?
Try adding another fast day to make it a 4:3 Fasting pattern as this still allows you some flexibility as to which days to fast.
If you want to lose weight faster, or have hit a plateau with the 4:3 Fast, then you might consider doing Alternate Day Fasting. As the name implies, with ADF you cut your calories to ¼ of their normal level (ie 500 for women, 600 for men), every other day. On your non-fast days you eat normally, though in some trials of ADF the volunteers were allowed to eat what they wanted and still lost weight. Studies on people doing ADF have shown that, on average, they tend to lose around 2lbs a week, most of it fat.
You don’t want to obsess about weight. What you really want to do is lose fat, preferably around the gut. I encourage you, before you start, to measure your girth (around the belly button), and monitor the change over a period of time.
Look at the calories you are getting from drinks on your non fast days. Juices, lattes, alcohol, fizzy drinks, smoothies all contain a lot of calories. If you can move to drinking more water and sugar free tea/coffee that will help. Calories you drink do not satiate. If you eat three apples they will fill you up. Drink 3 apples in form of a small fruit juice and it will not fill you up.
Simply moving more will help. I always take the stairs, even up 7 flights. Get a pedometer. Aim to do 10,000 steps a day. Most people do less than 5000. A long term study on people who lost weight and kept it off found that those who were successful all increased the amounts they walked.
Keep a diary of everything you eat or drink for a week. Then look at the calorie content. Some foods may leap out. I was horrified to discover a muffin can be anywhere between 300-600 calories. Lots of evidence that people who keep an honest diary lose more weight
If you cut your calories 2 days a week, don’t overcompensate on the other days and keep reasonably active then you will lose fat. Unfortunately fat is incredibly energy dense, which is why for some people the process can be frustratingly slow."

Hope it is helpful

Thanks, @gillymary!

That is useful - I feel very positive about fasting, just found it a struggle today. I'm going to try and fast on Wednesday, too. I'm so keen to get back into the rhythm of fasting properly, I loved it last time!

I've had a shower, which has made me feel better. Just need to keep drinking the water!

Thanks everyone xx

I liked 2 points GMH made eg find the fast style which is not too arduous and then you won't be too famished the next day.. It is a long wait when you have used up calories that is why I bullet coffee and don't have bread or other carbiferous foods.

Was thinking a big bowl if salad leaves might have helped you through and a low cal hot choc. Fluids good as you say