The FastDay Forum

I am just wondering what different ways people are reducing their intake to continue with their weightloss.

To try and explain what I am on about, I started this WOL with 8 stone to lose. The first few weeks, the weight just fell off, even though I was still scoffing my way through the house on non-fast days. After a bit of a plateau and coming on here made me realise that as I am lighter, it takes less calories just to move around, I have had to readjust my non-fast days.
I have now cut back on the alcohol to just at the weekend and have started skipping the odd lunch on non-fast days to hopefully kickstart the fat burning process without going to 4:3 quite yet. I am already a fairly active person but thinking of joining a dance class to increase the exercise some more. Im going to sound like such a numpty, as I am now realising that as my weight decreases, my intake must also decrease! I will eventually have the eating habit of a slim person!

So the next time I plateau I still have 16:8 and 4:3 to fall back on (still have 6 stone to go) but I am just wondering if others have found other little ways to keep up the weightloss other than these?

Hi horseygal have you worked out your TDEE,what I done for a while was tracked my calories on MFP to see exactly what I was eating , I know a lot ot people don't like doing that but I needed to find out how many calories I was eating in a week .I found MFP very helpful in the early days, I dont log it now as you get to know the calorie value,good luck

I'm down 5.5 stone with 1.5 to go. As boring as it sounds, I'm focusing on eating more healthily and exercising more.

I've realised that as much as I love sugar, it doesn't love me back and I won't be able to maintain if I don't keep a close eye on my sugar intake. So, I aim to "eat clean" at least 5 days a week, including fast days, and that easily brings overall calories down for me. However, Saturday is cupcake day and tomorrow it will be lemon and blueberry cream cheese cupcake day (not that I've put much thought into this...). I've also found exercise that I enjoy so it doesn't feel a chore.

That is great advice campanula.

I also have to reluctantly agree sugar and white flour are not our friends. having something that falls into that category weekends only is the way to go (not easy) but I suppose like the fast days will get easier with time.

prolong your overnight fasting by having breakfast mid morning and making it low or zero carbohydrate - 10 or 15 almonds perhaps. With 20g of cheese if you must.

My logic is that using fat is helped by having low insulin levels and they are held down by having less carbs / sugars in your system. Most of the calories in nuts are from fats, so you eat the stuff you're trying to burn off your body too !

That's the way I do it too Phil. Because of my lifestyle my TDEE is very low so counting calories is just depressing and makes me even more hungry. I try to combine 16:8 and low carb in an attempt to force my body to use a bit more from the fat store at the end of each fast period. Mostly its working but oh boy, could I have eaten a bowl of sugary porridge this morning!

For anyone who doesn't trust themselves with a block of cheese, the little mini Baby Bels give good portion control. I keep some of those and a couple of bags of nuts in stock so that I have something to grab for an urgent snack attack. They were invaluable when I was spending hours at the hospital with hubby. You try getting something gluten free in a NHS hospital. Can't be done!!

prolong your overnight fasting by having breakfast mid morning and making it low or zero carbohydrate - 10 or 15 almonds perhaps. With 20g of cheese if you must

Or bacon and eggs

For me it is not eating till I'm really hungry, not because it is a meal time or because I'm bored.

prolong your overnight fasting by having breakfast mid morning and making it low or zero carbohydrate - 10 or 15 almonds perhaps. With 20g of cheese if you must.

My logic is that using fat is helped by having low insulin levels and they are held down by having less carbs / sugars in your system. Most of the calories in nuts are from fats, so you eat the stuff you're trying to burn off your body too !

Really interesting idea - it hadn't occurred to me before and now that I think about it I usually break my fast with a meal including significant carbs (for me lunch is always my first meal). I have hit a plateau recently and will definitely try low carb options from now on. Does anyone have any low carb lunch ideas? Lean bacon, egg and grilled tomato appeals...

Thanks for the replies everyone! Some interesting ideas there that I will try out.
I haven't worked out my TDEE as I am blissfully living in ignorance and dont want to be thinking about calories on non-fast days, I would rather try to reduce my intake in other ways. It is something I may have to face up to eventually though!
I will certainly rethink how I break my fast as I do have carbs in the morning. Going to try and start my fasts earlier the night before a fast day too.

prolong your overnight fasting by having breakfast mid morning and making it low or zero carbohydrate - 10 or 15 almonds perhaps. With 20g of cheese if you must.

My logic is that using fat is helped by having low insulin levels and they are held down by having less carbs / sugars in your system. Most of the calories in nuts are from fats, so you eat the stuff you're trying to burn off your body too !

Really interesting idea - it hadn't occurred to me before and now that I think about it I usually break my fast with a meal including significant carbs (for me lunch is always my first meal). I have hit a plateau recently and will definitely try low carb options from now on. Does anyone have any low carb lunch ideas? Lean bacon, egg and grilled tomato appeals...

Curiouser: it can be difficult in the beginning, but there is no need to cut down on fat while eating low carb. Good rules of thumb are that light or lean products are to be avoided. So go for the full fat bacon and fry them up in some butter or coconut fat.

I am cutting down on carbs as well starting this week. Eggs and bacon with cream and butter at 7am and I was not hungry until 3pm. Make that low fat I and will increase the amount of insulin in my blood and likely eat again a few hours earlier.

Some lunch ideas are like you say eggs in some shape and bacon or other fatty meat. If you need variety exchange the eggs for a salad with full fat dressing and perhaps some cheese? I also like ribs or frying up ground beef with spices (taco spices or chili etc) with some full fat cream and top it with cheese.

For me it is not eating till I'm really hungry, not because it is a meal time or because I'm bored.

This is how I'm starting to approach it, too. I've always been a Big Breakfast kind of girl and it's really hard to let go of that belief and just listen to my body telling me when it's hungry instead of the clock. I'm fasting again today (Tues) even though I just fasted on Sun, since the rest of the week will be a lost cause (4th of July holidays) and I'm determined to get both fasting days of the week completed. I woke up really worried because I'm usually so hungry on fast days, but I've told myself to relax and just have my yogurt ready for when I do want it for "breakfast". It's shy of 10:00 am and I'm still doing fine with just my black coffee and water. I guess if I really do just wait until I'm truly hungry, I might not be so anxious about fasting days, or the rest of the week in general!

Lunch today was left over cooked chicken with mayonnaise, with watercress and spring onion - then I had a prawn cocktail - so double mayo ! Only because I was eating up from the fridge, but it kept me very full till dinner time. Tonight's dinner was salmon with a creamy sauce, with the remainder of the watercress, and a corn on the cob with butter.