The FastDay Forum

Hi Susan, well look upon it as a new discipline - sticking to 6:1 instead of 5:2 and stabilising your weight.Because it will require a bit of chopping and changing I suppose in its way it might be more demanding than the 'weight loss' phase.

I plan to do the same when I've shed another 4 lbs, I reckon Monday is the easy fast day for me after my usually over-indulgent weekend. My thinking is that I will continue monitoring my weight and try to stay within a band of say 4 lbs; if I have put on a bit too much I do a bit of 5:2, and if I have lost too much I either drop the fast day altogether for a bit or eat more on the feed days. Unfortunately in my case I doubt the latter situation will arise very often!

Maybe over the next few months there will start to be more 'maintenance fasters' on the forum too. Dr M and Mimi S seem to be managing it...

Oh, and you will need to update your signature once you're on 6:1!

Thanks Dominic, thanks for the reminder about the signature! I hope you soon shed your remaining 4lbs and I'm look forward to comparing progress notes with you on 6:1! I think there will be quite a few of us on the 6:1 soon too. I'll be doing Mondays too, I always found them a lot easier than Thursdays.

Yes from me, too! As others have said, those of us who have tried various diets over the years have that 'I've blown it' feeling when we eat something calorific or forbidden... And I personally need to get over that whole 'ok I've eaten that piece of cake, I might as well have those crisps too, and that bar of chocolate' mentality - Exactly the sort of mindset I really hoPe to lose with this WOE over time. In fact am feeling guilty now as after my two good days this week i did go a bit crazy last night and had a huge chinese meal with duck, rice etc. etc then had mini Easter eggs when I got home...

Really encouraged by what others are saying about having a more healthy relationship with food over time...

Reading responses with interest!

Hi Susan,

When I reached my target weight a few weeks ago I thought, like you, that I would now go on 6:1 maintenance, but after some tweaking I found that instead I would would maintain an 8 hour eating window EVERY day instead. As I don't like breakfast or eating late in the evening then this is not difficult for me. I never eat before 12 noon which gives me til 8 p.m. to eat whatever I want and sometimes my 'want' had been rather significant. Since doing this I have had some quite spectacular blow-outs (Birthday bash, St Patrick's night!) and my weight has never so stable in my life. If I think I may be eating later than 8 p. then I just break my fast later. After reading pages 42-44 in Dr MM's book about the 2 groups of rats, one group allowed to graze constantly and the second group restricted to an 8 hour feeding window, they were all fed the same amount of food, the 8 hour window rats lost 28% more weight than the free range ones. I decided that if this was good enough for rats then it should be good enough for humans based on my experience of two legged rats I have unfortunately encountered in my life.

This solution will not suit everyone but it is perfect for me, never calorie count again
and never put on weight, I hope! Good luck,

Ballerina xx

Yes, still can't stop thinking about food being good or bad and still have guilt pangs if I eat chocolate. But what I have noticed is the time I spend thinking about food is so much less. On non fast days I eat when I'm hungry and so eating far less without thinking about it. I'm sure the guilt will eventually disappear.

thank you Dominic, your reminder to Susan re- her signature prompted me to change mine xx

Hi Ballerina,
I love my breakfast so would find it hard to miss that every day! So I'm going to do 6:1 and then miss lunch occasionally. I don't eat much in the evenings anyway, usually just salad or quiche, so hopefully the weight will stay off. I'm going to try and keep the week wine free too - 5:2 has made me realise that I don't need a glass of wine with supper.

Susan -- your point about fast day discipline is interesting. My wife and I attempted a slight modification of fasting this week where instead of the typical 75% calorie restriction for 2 days we did a 50% calorie restriction for 3 days, but no food on the fast day until the evening.

I found that we were more casual about counting calories (because it was far easier to not blow through a 1200 kcal limit in the last 4 hours of a day than it was to blow through a 600 kcal limit) and that change in discipline towards counting calories might have bled over to the feed days where we don't track at all, which may cause me to overeat just a tad more on feed days than I was.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm the type who needs to stay on top of it more rather than less, and maybe get a little OCD on tracking what goes into my mouth... a psychological thing that applies to me but certainly not to everyone?

I so glad that this has come up!!
I am exactly the same!!! I am perfectly fine on fast days, I even did 3 this week rather than 2 with the last 2 being back to back-no problems. BUT feed days!! Absolute guilt filled nightmare! I know in the sensible part of my brain that I am "allowed" the food I'm about to eat but feel like I'd be undoing all the hard work of the fasts by eating it. I have restricted my feed day calories to 1500 which, on paper, is too low, but even eating to that is a struggle.
I think the main problem is that I haven't lost any real weight with this WOE, having lost 21lbs with myfitnesspal which restricted me to 1220 cals a day I have carried this thought process over to the 5:2 which, when I'm thinking clearly, probably means I'm eating too few calories overall and so not shifting any more weight!!!! Ahhhhh

I'm having a feed day today (I feel like living in the Zoo, LOL) and I already had 3 biscuits for breaky and pasta with salmon for lunch. I realised that I am full with eating less amount of food and I'm very pleased, considering that I'm only following this for less than a week.
I will eat a veggie dinner tonight, just to keep things balanced.
My main concern is Monday, because I'm going out for a late lunch. I do plan to have no dinner though, and Tuesday is a fasting day so I'm crossing my fingers that my scale won't disappoint me on Wednesday!!!

What I LOVE about this diet, is after a fast day, I'm not very hungry! I went to bed so hungry last night, thinking that when I wake up I can eat! But I couldn't for several hours. Then I fixed a big breakfast of cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. Could barely eat half of it, and then I felt and still feel a little sick.

My main concern is Monday, because I'm going out for a late lunch. I do plan to have no dinner though, and Tuesday is a fasting day so I'm crossing my fingers that my scale won't disappoint me on Wednesday!!!

It seems to go either lots off and then not a lot for a while or a very slow loss to start off with and if you've lost the average 1 pound, it's hard to see so don't rely on having a eureka moment on the scale, give it 2/3/4 weeks.

I don't feel guilty, but feel a bit panicky . I always feel much fatter on a non fast day than on a fast day, and do worry about not having a weight loss.
Hopefully this will get less over time.
I enjoy all my food, and like most, have found my desire for sweet things has really diminished.

I don't feel guilty, but feel a bit panicky . I always feel much fatter on a non fast day than on a fast day, and do worry about not having a weight loss.
Hopefully this will get less over time.
I enjoy all my food, and like most, have found my desire for sweet things has really diminished.

Yes, I feel just like that too - and guilty too. I really know I am not alone and hopefully, as Bellalou says, it will get better over time.

BBT053, thanks for that, I'll keep it mind! I just don't want to gain any weight after my big outing. Not losing will be fine.
Btw, I too feel fatter on non fasting days. Weird creatures we are, I say...