The FastDay Forum

You have all given me (pardon the pun) food for thought. Although I don't weigh in till tomorrow I am not very optimistic about showing any loss. I do feel I need to do something to get out of this rut, but have this thing in my head that I don't want to count calories on my non-fast days. Creating an eating window of 8 hours sounds much less drastic. Like ballerina's, my husband is also 3-4 stone overweight but insists that breakfast is non-negotiable. I love muesli and peanut butter on toast but will try to do without them, or just save them for lunch. I didn't think I could get through my fast days without eating during the day but that was proved wrong - this has to be easier!

Erm ... I went and ate yogurt and flaxseed at 8am because I really wanted to. Not very good at this.
Anyway I did lose 1 kg after yesterday's 5:2 fast so hurrah!
Perhaps I'll do 16/8 whilst away on holiyers and see how that works.
But I do like to start the day with me yogurt ...
Oh dear!

Meanwhile, here's some sparrows not 5:2ing nor 16/8ing.

Aww azure blue, thank you for the cute sparrows. I know how you feel, I love greek yoghurt fresh fruit usually a banana and blue berries and a sprinkle of seedy mix and splash of flaxseed oil . It is about 300 calories but makes a beautiful breakfast, (no cereal out of a box for me) and my tummy is happy until lunchtime.

Ah but that was pre 5:2 so hardly manage to have it anymore but when I do yum

I used to be a big breakfast fan,waking up hungry and enjoying my cereal but then being starving by 11 am.since doing 5,2 I have been skipping breakfast occasionally on on fast days too and feel so much better....more energyn,less starving
I am reding the 8 hour diet and have decided this is the way to go,so will give it the 21 days to change the habit but will stick to two fasts a week til I have lost the weight.
Has anyone read the book?

I'm reading the book at the moment. Since I started reading it I only have a cup of tea with milk in the morning and another in the evening after my eating window, drinking fruit teas during the day. This makes more sense to me as then my body can get to work using my fat stores rather than converting the milk I usually drink in tea during the day.

I've found the book quite interesting. I'd like to be able to do this every day but the day after my fast I am hungry first thing and need that breakfast boost

I can't exercise at the moment (poorly hip) so have been trying to walk lots more than normal to try and help with the 1200ish calories I would have normally used. I'm still losing and think I've beaten my plateau so hopefully the 8 hour window is a positive thing for weight loss.

How are you finding the book? I'm about a third of the way through. Shelley x

Gillymary and Azureblue, is it the actual food you miss or is it not eating at breakfast time? Just wondered if you could still have your yoghurt and berries but within your 8 hour window. Or you could break the 16 hr fast with it and have a lighter main meal? It wouldn't be the first time I've had a 'full English' for my evening meal if I've been fancying one.

Hello all, just jumping in to urge you all on. I got to goal weight using a 5:2/16:8 combo. My eating window was 2-10pm as we eat dinner late. I found 16:8 perfect for managing my eating on non-fast days without having to count calories. I'm maintaining now and still use 16:8 sometimes (along with no snacking) to manage my non-fast day eating.

Thanks miffy
I used to eat my above mentioned breakfast regularly about 3 times a week, but since ,beginning 5:2 it seems I am out of the habit or routine of that breakfast. I started eating when out to lunch today so more often now am onto savoury foods. I have discovered labnah which I have made myself so that gives me a yoghurt fix of sorts.

Anyway headache gone, feeling good and onwards and downwards with kgs

Here's one for the science nerds (I can post it in the lab too if necessary) - I'd always heard that the later you eat the more likely you are to hold onto the calories as fat. For years dieting gurus said never to eat just before you go to bed. If your window is, say 2pm till 10pm and you go to bed soon after that (and don't eat again till 2 the next afternoon), does this still hold true? This is the reason my husband insists on breakfast, but it seems to me that it's the fast itself that has the benefit, not the time you fast. So even if you do go to bed on a full stomach, if you give yourself the full 16 hours before eating again you're getting as much benefit as if your eating window had been, say, 8am to 4pm.

Does this make sense?

Isis,the book is called the 8 hour diet by David zinczenco.i think
I bought it from amazon on my kindle.interesting reading .
Gillymary,hope you feel better .
I enjoyed my nonfast day ,went out for dinner but only ate in my 8 hour period.fasting
Fast day tomorrow

Here's one for the science nerds (I can post it in the lab too if necessary) - I'd always heard that the later you eat the more likely you are to hold onto the calories as fat. For years dieting gurus said never to eat just before you go to bed. If your window is, say 2pm till 10pm and you go to bed soon after that (and don't eat again till 2 the next afternoon), does this still hold true? This is the reason my husband insists on breakfast, but it seems to me that it's the fast itself that has the benefit, not the time you fast. So even if you do go to bed on a full stomach, if you give yourself the full 16 hours before eating again you're getting as much benefit as if your eating window had been, say, 8am to 4pm.

Does this make sense?

I'm also interested in the answer to this question. I've always been much more of a late eater and have recently started doing 8:16 as it seems so easy for me to slip into, BUT I hold out for as long as possible before eating because I don't get hungry in the mornings...

I am giving 16:8 ago for a month just to see how I get on as I have found recently doing 5:2 I get so hungry and slightly grumpy on my fast days!

Yesterday and today I have managed not to eat until 1pm and had a late dinner last night at 8pm and plan the same again today.

I haven't missed breakfast as I don't always have it anyway. By about 12 I have been quite hungry but knowing I only have another hour to go and then I can eat something is fine.

Be interesting to see how this goes over the next month.

Gillymary and Azureblue, is it the actual food you miss or is it not eating at breakfast time? Just wondered if you could still have your yoghurt and berries but within your 8 hour window. Or you could break the 16 hr fast with it and have a lighter main meal? It wouldn't be the first time I've had a 'full English' for my evening meal if I've been fancying one.

Hi! It's a bit of both really. The yogurt is probiotic, non-sugar, proper natural so good for my stomach, I've found it's the best way to start my day. I'm not always at home or near somewhere I can get it later on (say 11 - noon) and wouldn't want to start my days eating with a sandwich etc. I will figure this out as I have done 16/8 for a fortnight in April to break a plateau but did find getting my indispensable yogurt on board a tricky problem, ended up having it as dinner dessert but that didn't have the same useful effect.
First world problems eh.

Mummybunny I lost weight eating 2-10pm. I am maintaining a 5 stone loss whilst eating dinner at 9pm!

Hi Gang, This is what I had to eat today 16:8. Just wanted to run it past you for analysis and comment!

DO NOT READ THIS ON A FAST DAY!!!!

Green tea all morning
Lunch at 1.00 huge salad with leftover chicken leg and 2 slices of ham
1 pear
1 apple
Few cups of chai with 1% milk this afternoon
Dinner at 7:30 grilled chicken marinated in Nandos BBQ marinade, 2 wraps, salad and a few nachos with salsa and melted cheese (really, just a few!)
I am full to the brim now and won't have anything else except maybe another cup of chai.

Do you think that sounds ok or too much? I am so fed up with this on off 2lb.

Thanks