The FastDay Forum

Tomorrow is my first fast .... am I am reasonably confident about it as I am very used to counting calories and have been entering them accurately into My Fitness Pal for several weeks.

My question is about feast days ..... because I am used to counting calories and have been sticking to 1400 calories per day (and even less sometimes as I have found my hunger is generally dimished) I wonder if sticking to 1400 on feast days (apart from the occasional meal out) would be OK? Or will it be deterimental as there will be less distinction between fast and feast?? Would be interested to hear everyones comments as I am really keen to get this right!

[carorees]

I understand your confusion! Problem is, no one really knows.

Some people feel their weight loss slowed if they restricted calories on feed days, others haven't found this. However, Dr M does say that it is the distinction between feast and famine that is important.

If you are not getting weight loss, Dr M says to check you are not having too much sugar, high GI foods/drinks. So rather than calorie restrict on feed days, perhaps carb restrict if you find your weight loss is too slow.

In the end, though, you will find your appetite changes and you do not tend to over eat on feast days, so I think it's best just to eat normally, whatever you feel like eating and see how things go.

Thanks Caroline ... I already find that eating 1500 calories is tough some days i.e. I am not hungey enough, so I don't think I will be going crazy - however, to know I can have a meal out once a week without worrying about counting it will be a refreshing change! What is a typical weekly weightloss amount - or is it too diffuclt to give an indication? I do understand it depends on a multitude of factors!

[carorees]

Have you registered on the progress tracker? If you go to the view forum stats link in the progress tracker you can see the average weight loss per week for different groups and you can filter the data according to age, gender, starting BMI and see what people like you have achieved...it's really cool!

As regards the health benefits, if you restrict your calories to <500 over a 24 hour period (or more from dinner pre-fast to breakfast post fast) you will have put your body's cells under stress - which is the aim of the exercise.

Check out this blog I've just posted about:

http://www.52fastdiet.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=516#p3335

I have registered on the progress page yes ... will have a look at the stats now! Thank you!