The FastDay Forum

Hello,

I'm new to this and was hoping for some help from some veteran fasters. Please can you advise me what foods you eat on a fast day. I will start my first fast tomorrow and have already planned my food. I was wondering which foods help you to get through the day so I can adjust my next fast. Also how do you prefer to do the two days, separately or consecutively?

Thanks guys

[Tracieknits]

Hi and welcome to the forums!

I don't eat until dinner time, so I can just have a lovely dinner with my 500 calories. I also find that if I eat breakfast, I'm just hungrier all day long.

For 500 calories, you can have a really generous salad with a lovely piece of grilled meat/fish, or a big hearty veggie curry, or my a big dish of black beans and rice with chicken sausage in it.

There are tons of recipes in the forums to give you ideas.

In the winter, I really liked to cook a big pot of something on Sunday night, so that on fast days (Monday and Wednesday) I could just reheat dinner for the two of us. It can be hard to cook something that needs to stew or simmer for a few hours while you are hungry!

Now that summer's coming, we're definitely doing more salads. Since it's only two nights a week, it seems like a fairly good plan. Just be careful of what you put in (cheese, croutons and starchy things can really add up)

I'm very boring I always have the same thing. Weight watchers ocean pie for lunch at work then baked haddock with a green veg in the evening. I put a shake and chilli flakes on the haddock to spice it up. Then I enjoy a weight watchers hot chocolate with a slice of bread if I'm hungry spread with ' I can't believe it's not butter' light. It all comes to just under 500 calories. I cope well and often feel quite energised in the evening. I tried skipping lunch last time but felt very hungry and grumpy in the evening as a result so I won't bother doing that again.
If I know I'm eating out and having wine on non fast days I tend to skip breakfast on those days too. I am losing weight now that I seem to have found the right balance. Easier if you don't drink alcohol but I do like my wine! So my compromise is no brekkie. I don't want to count calories and it has taken me a while to get it right!

Hi and welcome,

On fast days: most of the time I skip breakfast, than a light lunch (usually some veggie soup) and around dinner time either a stir fry with tofu or an omelette with loads of green veggies, spiced up with garlic and cayenne pepper. Good luck!

Some people have found it easier to eat no food rather than just a little. I'm one of those people - eating a little food makes me hungry, so I don't eat anything on fast day and the hunger goes away by evening.

Hi and good luck with your first fast.

I tried having breakfast for my first few fasts but like others found it just made me more hungry so now I have nothing until dinner (about 6pm). Dinner is usually some fish or chicken with roasted veg or salad or somethings something egg based.

Most fast days I have three small meals, but occasionally I miss breakfast. I have been making porage for breakfast, lunch is a huge salad and in the evening a small piece of chicken with hot vegetables. There are so many ways of doing a fast day it's a case of finding out what suits you. I think there are lots of ideas in the recipes section or you can search on the internet for eg 200 calorie meals. Some people buy prepared meals and others eat the same each fast day.

I've tried a few different ways on a fast day, but i find the best is to have breakfast (boiled eggs) then nothing until my evening meal where i either have a nice ham or chicken salad, or make the "mexican pizza" out of the fast diet book (tortilla, mushrooms, red onion, yellow pepper, mozzarella light, passata on the base) its yummy.

Hiya! I've got loads of recipes and general 5:2 meal ideas and stuff on my blog, the link is in my sig xx

I can really recommend The Hairy Dieters book if you can get it, loads of amazing meals for under 500 cal. Love the 'fakeaways' sweet and sour chicken, chicken jalfrezi yum!

First: it's really good that you've already planned your food. That worked very well for me, especially at the beginning. For future fasts, what I found works best for me is lunch and dinner. Lunch on a fast day - which for me will be tomorrow - will be a can of soup (for me, Progresso Light, 120 calories for the whole big can) and an apple. Dinner will be a white fish (for example 5 ounces of haddock) plus up to 2 cups of broccoli or asparagus or green beans. I've been doing this for a couple of months and after dinner I'm never hungry. (there are times in the afternoon that I may be really hungry so I keep some miso soup in my desk - works miracles)

Porridge makes a really satisfying breakfast and leaves you feeling full for hours. I soak rolled oats, buckwheat, chia seeds and raisins overnight and then cook the porridge next morning on a slow heat for 10 mins. I eat it with low-fat yoghurt and a little honey. Delicious and nutritious! The only food until dinner is a piece of fruit, then dinner is a bowl of soup and a slice of rye bread with tahini.
Yum, yum and YUM!

All good ideas above - I am in the camp where I have to have breakfast (but am thinking of trying to wait till lunch to get in 16 hours of fasting for repair.

The "rules" for the 5:2 diet recommend not fasting 2 days consecutively.

Good luck, I know this change of eating habits is working for me

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'm going to wait as long as possible for my first meal and then have a 'normal' sized meal. Probably oats and yoghurt with fruit and nuts.