The FastDay Forum

Counterintuitively, exercise on fasting days, particularly if you tend to get cold (a known side effect of fasting). Even just a little bit of intense exercise (e.g. 3 x 20 seconds as demonstrated by Michael Mosley in Horizon programme 'The Truth About Exercise') will warm you up and raise your metabolism, and you will feel better afterwards.

If it's a house day, go out. Just go for a walk. The worst I felt was when I'd decided to wait until dinner to eat all my cals but at lunch my housemate came down and made some lunch and the smell just made me feel really nautious so I went for a walk and that really helped.

Great thread - thank you!

I agree with all the other tips but wanted to emphasise not eating until evening because the moment I eat something I become hungry even shortly after I have eaten on eating days. Keep busy & just accept the odd rumbling tummy & drink some water or have a fruit tea or Bovril. I like to think of how my body is enjoying a day off & going into repair mode!!
Isis

Be prepared and it's great to be in control for a day!! Don't keep weighing yourself. I weigh after a fast day and then look at the progress from when I started. I tend to put a bit back on on feast days so it was a bit disheartening when I kept weighing myself. Four fast done and 5lb lost!! Fasting tomorrow and Pancakes on Tuesday!! Good Luck

Audit: keep a diary or log of what you eat on the "5" meal days.

I think this is particularly true if you have a high BMI (say >30). It's high for a reason. Whilst the "2" part of the 5:2 is clear, you need to confirm that you are within or at "normal" guide lines on the 5 days (M/2500 cals, F/2000 cals). Remember compared to 'normal' the two fast days will give you just about 3000 cals deficit (female) and 3800 cals deficit (male) i.e. less than or slightly over 1 lb weekly.

The easiest way to achieve this is with a calorie counting program such as the free one on MyFitnessPal or DietPower. You can also use these to log your exercise. Ultimately, no WOE/WOL/Diet can buck the laws of thermodynamics, which always have dominion (calories in/calories out & exercise).

So Eat "normally" on the '5' days and not as you normally would eat.

I'd also say that you should try to take into account your natural body size. The 500/600 and 2000/2500 calorie thing is a nice starting point but remember that if you are a broad shouldered man who's 6'6" tall you're going to need a lot more calories to sustain you than a 5'6" tall guy with a slight build...

Keep busy and drink plenty water on Fast days

I love watching cookery programmes but find on my fast days it is best not to go there! Don't want to be reminded of food except when I have to cook the family dinner.

Alcohol: Drink alcohol, but in moderation. But, Drink smart. A pint of Stella has nearly 300 cals, most of which aren't from the alcohol. So ditch wine, beer and lager in favour of spirits.

Example: 1 measure of whiskey (25ml) has 1 unit of alcohol and is around 55 or so cals.

You can also check a spirit's ABV (alcohol by volume) will give you a guide to how strong it is. The ABV tells you what percentage of the drink is made up of alcohol. For example, a spirit with 40% ABV is 40% pure alcohol. The higher the percentage, the more alcohol is present.

If drinking out, watch out for "measure" as in addition to 25ml (1 unit), many places now use 35ml or even 50ml measures.

Finally, if drinking at home, if you use one of those medicine measures that comes with cough syrup you can measure out 10 ml or 12 ml amounts for a 1/2 unit hit. Mix with soda or another low cal mixer.

See drinkaware.co.uk for more info...

Realistic Goals: Set realistic goals. Personally, I've always over estimated how much I can loose week-on-week when doing a diet or picking a WOE. Looking back through old records, I've found some ridiculous targets of 2, 3 or more lbs a week.

When planning how much you may loose my tip is to go with just 1 lb a week, 3500 cals deficit. If you've a lot to loose (I have), then accept, this and plan for the long haul.

Now, you may achieve greater weight loss (a) intially on a diet, (b) by being careful and monitoring what you eat on feed days (c) through exercise.

But by picking a realistic, minimum like 1 lb, you are less likely to be disappointed and more likely to sustain it.

Think in terms of weeks rather than days.

You are aiming for a calorie deficit across the whole week rather than on any single day.

And use your TDEE - recalculate it every month
as the 2000 on the side of cereal packets is out of date and untrue for 99% of the population

Keep all the other health benefits in mind, it's not only weight loss we are aiming for.

Personally I like simple fast days too, no complicated recipes for me on those days.

Real Food: Follow the recipes in the book. I find the food much more satisfying than the pre-pared ready meals totalling 500 or 600 cals.

Following the recipes in the book have actually been a revelation compared to alternatives I've done in the past: Cambridge diet, Slim-fast, M&S "Count on Us", M&S "Fuller longer".... EXPENSIVE JUNK!

I'll admit to several years of buying the M&S "diet" foods. I started on count-on-us, then found them unsatisfactory, so had them on round or two of toast LOL, then moved "Up" to FullerLonger and found myself cooking vegetables to go with them. Then check the cost....

I know it would be tempting to do a "Slim-fast" for breakfast or lunch then a "Fuller Longer" for tea....

DON'T DO IT....

When you start listen to what your body is saying to you in terms of eating. I find I would like to continue fasting well into day two, but by day three I was not fit for nothing energy wise, so I make sure I eat breakfast dinner and Tea now the day after and it seems to help a bit

My Fitness Pal to track calories all days in a must. I know they sell the WOE as a eat fish and chips and 20 pints for 5 days fast for two and somehow you'll loose weight, na, that ain't going to happen.

BUT

if you count your calories, change the way you want to eat, it is going to make you change the way you eat and what you eat, that's the thing you are aiming for.