The FastDay Forum

I am hoping you guys can help me out. I have been having trouble lately staying on track.
Many of my fasting days, I do well during the day, but cant seem to keep control up in the
evenings when I get home from work. I lose all self control and go way, way, way over my 500
calorie limit for the day. Its aggravating, anyone else having this problem and if so, what is helping
you?
TIA, Lisa

[Tracieknits]

The only solution I've found is to not eat during the day, and save my calories for dinner. It sounds hard, but it's really not.

In the morning, I have a coffee or two with 1 tablespoon of whole milk in it. Then I switch to teas (no milk or sugar), seltzers/sparkling waters and in the afternoon, when I get hungry, a cup of chicken bouillon. The salty and warm bouillon really helps a lot.

At dinner, aim for 300 to 350 calories with a generous piece of lean protein and plenty of nonstarchy vegetables. If you haven't eaten all day, you will probably find this stuffs you. But then in a couple of hours you feel kind of empty again. That's when you have the last 150 to 200 calories, but make them satiating. I like whole milk yogurt (dannon is great, in the big tubs. It's really mild and doesn't need jam. 1 cup is 150 calories. If I have the calories left over, a tablespoon of jam is a nice addition http://www.dannon.com/dannon-all-natural/) Or try cheese and an apple.

Good luck!!

Hi, @LisaInCO, I wrote a reply and then TracieKnits responded too but I'll post it anyway!
Do you use your calories throughout the day or just have one good meal in the evening? Speaking personally, I don't eat at all through the day and then use about 350 calories for a 'proper' main meal at about 7pm. I tend to go to bed very late so this then leaves me with 50 calories for a low-calorie hot chocolate drink and 100 calories to 'spend' on eating whatever else I fancy later in the evening.
My other tip would be to find an activity which occupies your brain and fingers, even if you are slumped in front of the sofa, and to tell yourself that 'the kitchen is closed' after your last meal.
Even after nearly three years of 5:2-ing, I still get the 'evening munchies' from time to time but it happens a lot less than it used to. Hope that this helps and good luck!

Hi guys, thanks for the responses. I have tried it both ways, both not eating during the day and then eating and spreading my calories through the day. I think the hardest day is the first fast day after a couple of feed days, I seem to be hungrier on those days for some reason. I go to bed early, I have to be up at 4am, so its not necessarily 'late' night eating, just a loss of control in the evenings. Ugh. Thanks for the responses, I will give these suggestions a shot
Lisa

Hey @LisaInCO, I echo Stowgate's and Tracie's suggestions, and will add this:
• Seems that this is your mind saying, "I'm home, I'm HUNGRY, and it's TIME TO EAT!" You need to give it what it wants (food) as quickly as possible but that won't undercut your fasting.
• Lay out (like you would clothes) your "legal" food and stick with that. As a vegetarian, one of my light day mainstays are the Beyond Meat Chickenless Strips...but they are WAY too easy to start eating right out of the package! So, if I am going to use 6 for my recipe, I take out 6 and put the rest away; that way, if I nibble, I'm nibbling from my legal dinner.
• NEVER eat out of the package (or fridge).
• "Pre-eat" something that you just can't/won't overeat; for me, this is blanched broccoli. I can eat 3-4oz for minimal calories, my mouth is busy chewing, yet I won't go overboard, and it's relatively filling. I make that while I'm puttering around in the kitchen (you can even make it ahead of time, I just like mine fresh and hot) and sometimes eat it while I'm fixing the other (denser) food that I don't want to nosh on.
• Identify foods you just can't stop eating, even those that seem OK. For example, for awhile I would have a cup or two of low cal popcorn...but I found it just doesn't work for me on light days, I can't stop where I should. So I just don't have that on light days. (Same for me with nuts; love 'em, but can't stop with one or two.)

I too don't eat till later; see my attached pdf for my pattern on light days. Since I've established this pattern (through months of keeping a journal and experimenting) I follow it pretty closely on light days. This week, with MLK Jr Day, I switched my usual Monday light day for Tuesday, since I wasn't working and have found that the formality of working hours and that routine works well with keeping my light days on track. And it means I just don't think about alternatives; it's light day and I feel hungry? What time is it? 2pm? Huh...I can have plain tea, water, water with fiber...It's 4pm? time for broth! I have also found, to my dismay a few times, that I might feel quite hungry at 5pm (I work from home and am off at 5:30), but once I'm off work and need to go run errands, I might get distracted and leave the house without eating anything (my main dinner is 9-10pm, I'm a major night owl)...which invariably led later on to the "hangries" and usually eating more than I'd planned, or something illegal.

5-2 et al.pdf

5.2 basics

(590.6 KiB) Downloaded 158 times

If I want to snack after dinner I go for protein. For example I take a slice of ham, put some mustard on it and roll it. Then it feels like I'm eating a 'snack' and its only got about 25 cals so three of those little rolled ham fingers is 75 cals approx.
I also pickle eggs, so I always have a jar of hard boiled / pickled eggs in the cupboard, I can grab one to slice as a TV treat.
Right now I'm trying total fasting one or two days a week....strangely ive found it easier to eat nothing rathe than try to stick to 500, drinking lots of coffee... or i take a beef stock cube and make a bouillon drink in a cup wth it as a caffeine free alternative.
hope some of this helps

As a fellow early riser I also find it difficult going all day. I'm a little different and prefer my fast day meal at lunch. It its rich in protein and I go to bed early. Typically I'm not hungry the next morning and can go until lunchtime. I guess we are all different.

I know exactly what I can eat on a fast day and its all stuff I really like (no point wasting a precious calorie on something you don't!) I have nothing but black coffee until a late lunch about 2.30pm - once I get to there I feel I'm over the challenging part of the day. Lunch is 168 cals: 300ml M&S Chicken & Veg soup; cup of tea with 50ml semi-skimmed; small satsuma. Dinner is 333cals at 7.30pm: 300ml M&S Chicken & Mushroom soup; 65g chicken without skin; another cup of tea & another small satsuma. Sometimes during the late morning or late evening I might have another small satsuma (but I weigh it and record the additional calories because if I didn't I'd be quite capable of eating 20 satsumas some evenings & telling myself I'd done a good fast day with a bit of extra fruit!)

I've occasionally had a similar problem, I'm ok until I start to eat, so on fast days I tend to do liquid only or eat at a different, later, time. I also disrupt my usual routine if I'm in this cycle. Normally I use the back door and walk straight into the kitchen but on fast days I might go through the front door and into a different part of the house first. This means my instinct to see what's in the cupboard doesn't get a chance to kick in. Or if I do enter the house through the kitchen door, I'll go and check my emails, get ready for a run, tidy somewhere first, again interrupting normal pattern. Baby bel cheeses can be a good nibble food too 60 cals, protein, no Carbs to speak of and just a little bit salty, you can take lots of mini bites on these to make them last. Prolonging starting to eat gives me a shorter time to overeat.

I struggle with this too. You've already gotten some good tips. I definitely agree it's best to save all your calories for at night if you can, and then have protein at night. After dinner, maybe have a small square of dark chocolate and I find that sometimes flavored teas can help. Make sure you are drinking enough during the day. When you are done eating, brush your teeth! It's hard, while I like this WOE, it does take some willpower on fast days. But, you just have to remember that you can eat tomorrow! Good luck!