The FastDay Forum

[wildmissus]

Plan ahead. I live and work in a small town so don't have the luxury of nipping into M & S. When I do the weekly shop I always write down a rough plan (involving the kids) of what we might have for dinner for the next week. It works a treat and as I am last in the house at night hubby/kids (on the odd occasion!) can start the tea. On fast days I always give full consideration the night before as to what I will have which means I know what I have to look forward to and I stick to it.

I don't eat anything till dinner time so i get a proper meal. I just make something with lots of vegetables in it and i give myself a smaller portion than normal, and i usually have a big salad with it, no dressing, just with lots of herbs, garlic and lemon. I don't calorie count, but mainly because i know the calories of things by heart anyway so don't need to.

I'm on a fast day today, wondering what to have for dinner........think I'll make vegetarian lasagna and salad.

Well I live in France, no M&S and not much in the way of ready meals....shock...horror! I am trying to build a self sufficient life as far as possible and have settled into the routine of porridge for breakfast (I have it sent from UK) and homemade vegetable soup with a slice of homemade bread for dinner. During the day I drink black coffee and water. I tried having three small meals but was more hungry and food focused. This way I just stick to it happy in the knowledge that tomorrow I can eat normally again.

Having moved over to this way of dieting from Atkins I have found that I can do mornings on 2 scrambled eggs, this will take me till way after normal lunchtime and my friend's personal trainer said that protein in the morning turns your body into a fat-burning machine. Then I make a batch of soup with any vegs kicking about, not potatoes, nor too many carrots or parsnips which are high on sugar, currently picking off sprouting broccoli tops etc. from the end of the winter greens - I find something hot more satisfying. Then in the evening I have either half a pack of prawns or defrost a bit of chicken breast on a bed of mixed leaves. Suits me fine, one day chicken, one day 'feast', next day prawns. Am finding that on 'normal' days my appetitie is reducing slowly.

[carorees]

Re protein turning your body into a fat burning machine. Since excess protein is converted to glucose, you would have to be careful how much protein! To burn a lot of fat your body needs to have no access to glucose or stored glycogen. As we store around 1000-2000 cals with of glycogen the true fat burning won't get going until this runs out. Not eating carbs at breakfast and exercise will help.

We only need 40-60g protein a day for repair, the rest is converted to glucose.