The FastDay Forum

HI All

I am fasting today, my second week on the 5:2 eating plan. I am pretty much organised for the day, I am hoping that I can suppress my hunger and not eat until at least 2pm, I have half a jar of carrot and coriander soup, which I am going to add some slim pasta to it to bulk it out, but the pasta has 7.7 per 100g, I also have with me some mini houmous snack pots, which are 50 calories per half pot, to have with some chopped up carrots as well.

Tonight I am going to have a small tuna steak with some zero fat noodles, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, spring onion, chilli and ginger.

I reckon calories for the day will come in at

soup 77
pasta 8
humous 50
carrots 30??

tuna steak 150
noodles 8
soy sauce etc 30 ??

353 calories

Does that sound about right, anyone got any ideas how I can use the other 150?

Di

[carorees]

More veggies!

[Moogie]

Agreed! Lots more veg But only if you feel hungry, you don't have to eat the full 500 cals if you don't need to
Tonight I plan on having a big bowl of salad for around 250 cals, which will fill me right up. Might have a low cal hot choc before bed for 40.

yeah I was thinking it was lacking in the veg department, I will pick up some broccoli and green beans to add to the noodles.

My 2nd fasting day today (first ever was Friday), but 1st of this week and struggling already! Had a wee bowl of porridge with water for brekkie and then plan to just drink hot water and lemon all day until chicken and veg for dinner. Starving!

I'm in the middle of a 24 hour fast today - began it at 6.15 last night. Earliest I've ever started, I think! Means I can eat at a reasonable time tonight.

About veggies - I'm just making up a veg stew to play around with for today:
100g onion 31cals
100 celery 8
75 carrot 21
120 cabbage 18
110 mushrooms 15

Total 93

And my saucepan is already over half full. By the time I've added a tin of tomatoes and any flavouring the calorie count will be about 200 - but don't forget, that's for 2 meals!

I'm eating normally after I've ended my fast, so I'll have half of it, spiced up a bit, of course, probably with lots of r-k-beans (my absolute favourite) and a load of bubble and squeak made from the leftovers from yesterday's roast dinner. And I shall have a pudding of some sort.

But on Wednesday, when I'm on a full <600 fast, I'll have the other half with some calorie counted curried wedges, or homemade pasta, or maybe a potato lasagne, or brown rice, or - the possibilities are endless.

About carbs on a fast day - potatoes are best, IMO. You get more bang for your buck, being only 72 cals/100g.

Veggies - I love 'em!

mazzimaz - just seen your post. If it's only your second fasting day, I wouldn't worry too much about sticking strictly to your <500 calories. You're starving because the body thinks it's a 'feast' day, because of the porridge you ate earlier. (I never have any kind of cereal on a fasting day - too calorie-laden). Once you eat, you turn on your 'hunger switch', and the appetite is stimulated until you can have a long gap between eating.

If I were you, I'd sort out some nibbles from the fridge - celery, carrot, that sort of thing. My favourite nibble is a raw mushroom - filling, but only 13 cals per 100g. And take it easy, don't stress, just relax with your favourite hot drink - this is the start of a lifelong journey for you - good luck!

Next fasting day, try and eat as late as possible - and save your porridge for a normal eating day!

Cheers, B&W

Veggies is definitely the way to go. I'm fasting today (my 7th week) and I've just had a HUGE lunch hat mainly consisted of salad leaves and roast Mediterranean vegetables. It all came to less than 250 Calories and although it won't be long-term filling (not enough protein in the meagre 65g of chicken I had), the sheer bulk of it is enough to psychologically fill me up for hours...

Wow thanks for the advice breadandwine! I actually have only just finished the book and i was a little confused by the message of when to eat on a fast day... is it best to leave as long a gap as possible between eating, or is it best to use all 500 calories on nibbling throughout the day? I based my porridge on one of the menu suggestions as brekkie for a fast day but agree that the calorie count seemed high! i also agree that when i have brekkie, it does trigger my hunger and i'm usually ready to eat again 2 hours later! would it be best to skip brekkie and just have a small lunch (last friday i had miso soup and a cracker bread 100 calories total), then eat dinner? or go for an egg or something for brekkie followed by early-ish dinner?
really want to make this work, especially as i'm in it for the long haul! (although mentioned to my Dr on Friday and he was far from supportive!!)

Yeh, my doc is very noncommittal about IF. I'll have to send him a copy of the talk I gave on Saturday - it has all the references anyone could need.

Personally, I'd hold off eating until you absolutely must. That's how I started 24 hour fasting - I thought I wouldn't eat until I got hungry, but I never did. I then ate my 600 calories for dinner. Not everyone finds this OK - there are a few people who have all their calories in the morning and then don't eat for 24 hours until brekkie the next day. You really need to find what works for you, and this'll happen over the next week or two.

But if you bear in mind that I started a year ago, on (roughly, I never counted calories, I just divided every meal in two) 1200 calories twice a week and still lost weight, you're not going to break the bank by exceeding your 500 cals occasionally, while you get used to fasting. I can promise you - it does get easier.

I'm almost 20 hours into this fast - just drinking water and black coffee - and I've just done 20 minutes vigorous exercise and I'm absolutely buzzing! I shall put a CD on in a minute and I'll practice my salsa around the kitchen for a bit!

HI All

Pasta worked out well in the soup, only had half the packet, left the other half for Thursday, hopefully they will be ok in water in a Tupperware. Barely ate any of the hummus either, and munched on a few carrots.

All is good, though I have only just eaten!

Di

I suspect that everyone needs to find their own "best way" to eat on fast days. For me, it is definitely best to wait until lunchtime (maybe 11am if I'm really hungry) before eating, then to eat a meal of roughly half my calories for the day. Then to eat the other half in a 2nd meal at around 5-6pm. If possible, I skew the calories slightly towards the evening meal (so 250-300 for lunch and 300-350 for dinner).

I also think that it's really important to find a way that you can fast without it being too difficult - otherwise the chances of you keeping it up in the long run are slim to none. By eating two meals as described above, I find the fasting days quite easy to do. I know that if I had to wait until teatime to eat anything, I wouldn't be able to keep it up, so regardless of whether that may (or may not) be a better way to fast, it would be pointless for me to try it.

Yep - i think on Thursday i am going to do something similar, a bigger lunch to make things a little easier until dinner. Agree that there is not much point making it harder for myself, as i just wont keep it up! Thrilled so far though - 2 fasts down, 3lbs down! I love breakfast normally and so will indulge on a normal day, but miss out on a fast day.

I found it easiest to adjust gradually. So for my first couple of weeks, I stayed eating the 3 meals a day plus snacks that I normally would have had. (Perfectly doable within 500 calories with the right planning!) Now I'm weaning myself off the snacks, and having a really light lunch of miso soup or similar.

But I'd experiment with what suits YOU. I know I have to eat breakfast, whereas others find they manage fine with longer actual fasting periods.