The FastDay Forum

I think it is easier to think "I'm not going to eat anything tomorrow" and to stick with it, than to have the fast start and end during the day.

I believe I would start a slippery slope of "I better eat now, because in 5 minutes I can't eat" and "If I just hold out 5 more minutes, I can eat whatever I want" if I had a 24 h fast. And then of course rationalize it somehow.

Reading all this is doing my head in! I never was very good with numbers - so this is how I do it and can somebody tell me if I am ok or should be trying something else PLEASE

Evening meal on eating day is usually 6-7 pm - then I go to bed (10ih) - wake up (fast day) and have nothing to eat until around 1pm lunch time (200cals) and then I eat again at 6-7pm (300cals) - and then I go to bed (10ish) and have a normal breakfast the next day at around 7ish for an eating day to start!

Make any sense to anybody?!!!!

Thanks in anticipation

You're doing it exactly right! A 36 hour fast eating upto 500 calories

Thanks for your post Faery, as I thought it was only me getting totally confused!!
I do exactly what you are doing, maybe less calories at lunchtime, if I can manage it, in order to have a more filling dinner. I can now cut out breakfast which I found really hard to do at first. Seems to be working for me so far, long may it last!

Also thanks Minumonline for keeping us right.....at least I now know what I'm doing!!

Reading all this is doing my head in! I never was very good with numbers - so this is how I do it and can somebody tell me if I am ok or should be trying something else PLEASE

Evening meal on eating day is usually 6-7 pm - then I go to bed (10ih) - wake up (fast day) and have nothing to eat until around 1pm lunch time (200cals) and then I eat again at 6-7pm (300cals) - and then I go to bed (10ish) and have a normal breakfast the next day at around 7ish for an eating day to start!

Make any sense to anybody?!!!!

Thanks in anticipation

I'm confused too!


So this way of doing it - would that be a 36 hour fast?

[Betsysgr8]

Yes, misshannahlouise, Faery's post is the 36 hour fast with 500 cals and is the plan that is advocated in Dr. Mosley's book.

I either do 36 hours with one late evening meal of around or under 500 cals, or with only green tea and water.

I suspect the 'best' is whatever works for us as individuals. Some people need the compartmentalisation (ooh long word!) of having their fast days as discrete 36 hour periods, with one full waking day at a time concentrating on the fast, whereas for some, doing it 2pm-2pm or 7pm to 7pm is going to work better. It will depend on lots of things - what your work timetable is like, whether you can't sleep if very hungry (I couldn't but am surprising myself!), what your family & social commitments are etc. Likewise it will vary person to person as to whether they consume all 500 cals in one meal, over 2 or 3 meals, or even not at all.

The idea of this way of eating is that it should be flexible, sustainable and something that we weave into our lives instead of remaking our lives around it. If it's working, keep doing it, if not, look at other ways of doing it. Don't make it too hard for yourself.

Currently I do 36 hours of 500 cals, usually split between a small breakfast/lunch and a 3-400 cal dinner. Am considering slotting the odd 24 hour 2pm-2pm one in as an extra to maybe give me more leeway at weekends, but I'll see how it goes. I'm trying to keep this stress-free so I can stick to it as long as possible.

I agree with you greenmonster - the whole object is to keep it stress-free and I follow the outline you wrote in your last paragraph. also - if I do overeat on a fast day, then I just to the fast the following day. I enjoy the flexibility and that is what makes 5:2 sustainable for my needs.

Yes, misshannahlouise, Faery's post is the 36 hour fast with 500 cals and is the plan that is advocated in Dr. Mosley's book.

I'm really confused by this now. Isn't a 36 hour fast one where you don't eat from, say, 1900 on Sunday till 0700 on Tuesday?


I eat an evening meal at c 1830 then have nothing to eat until c 1900 the following day then nothing else until c 0700 the day after. I've considered that to be a 24 hour fast because, 500 cals only or not, I've only gone 24 hours without 'breaking my fast'.

Do you mean I've been doing 36 hour fasts all this time . I've really impressed myself now!

This is where slack use of language gets us.

If a 500 calorie day is described as a "fast" day then the 36 hour period with only 500 calories is a 36 hour "fast". Within that period you have no calorie intake for about 23 and then 12 hours.

This is where slack use of language gets us.

If a 500 calorie day is described as a "fast" day then the 36 hour period with only 500 calories is a 36 hour "fast". Within that period you have no calorie intake for about 23 and then 12 hours.

Thanks PhilT - that's what I thought...

I always feel a bit guilty using the word fast, because I'm actually eating something. To me, that's not technically fasting, but it's quicker to type, and easier to spell, than "restricted calorie intake over a 36 hour period"

Maybe we should call it a 0cal or Zcal day?

Reading all this is doing my head in! I never was very good with numbers - so this is how I do it and can somebody tell me if I am ok or should be trying something else PLEASE

Evening meal on eating day is usually 6-7 pm - then I go to bed (10ih) - wake up (fast day) and have nothing to eat until around 1pm lunch time (200cals) and then I eat again at 6-7pm (300cals) - and then I go to bed (10ish) and have a normal breakfast the next day at around 7ish for an eating day to start!

Make any sense to anybody?!!!!

Thanks in anticipation

Hurray! Understood THAT. Like you, the numbers thing just confuses me. The schedule you set out is more or less what I do. So glad to learn that others agree we are doing it right.

My fast starts from 7pm the night before.When I wake up I consume my 500 cals between that time and 7pm that night (normally all on dinner? Then I will eat the following day.Either bfast or 11am if I am doing a 16:8 the following day.

Does that count as 36 hour fast and does that sound right??

Karen