The FastDay Forum

Hi! I'm in today. I had a black coffee before taking the OH up to Burnie for an MRI scan. He had to do it fasting. We had to leave home by 8am. After that he wanted to go out for breakfast so we went to a favourite cafe in the strip of Burnie which we call the Lygon Street of Burnie. Melbourneans will know what I mean. Any one who has been to Burnie - a dying ex-industrial city trying to re-invent itself, will get the joke. Anyway, this cafe sells Rocquefort and Italian cheeses which I have seen no where else in Tasmania - not at The Italian Pantry in Hobart - so there you go. We went there. OH had a toasted cheese and ham sandwich; I had pumpkin and baby spinach salad and another long black. We spent about $100 on that and yummy things to take home - cheeses, porcini, fancy red wine vinegar - made in Australia, (that was about $30) and fancy pasta. Got out of there and now home, ready to head off again. Busy busy. That's the way on a fasting day. It's local muscovy duck breast with orange for dinner tonight.

Sounds like a very nice day @Sallyo - I do love Roquefort cheese, have not had it in years!

I am currently only managing the 16:8 window, don't know why, it just seems that's what my body is telling me. so I am going with it. I can skip breakfast, but beyond that I start to feel hungry. I am still doing Paleo and keep away from sugar as much as I can, but a very stressful and anxious time last week, led me to emotional eating and to comfort food!

Anyway, I feel better now that I am back on track.
Can anybody recommended a good read on 'emotional eating'?

So it was bacon and eggs for lunch (no bread) and tonight we are having Braised lamb shanks done in the slow cooker.

Happy Fasting everybody
cheers
Maggie.

~INTRODUCTION~ Does this program really work??

I am a 42 year old Operating Theatre Nurse, Wife and busy Mum of 3 teenagers from Sydney, Australia. I am currently at my heaviest weight ever 114kgs and a BMI That I am too ashamed to disclose publicly!

My GP has suggested the 5:2 program to me a couple of times and after my visit to her this week, I decided to look into it further. I just watched the BBC doco "Eat, Fast, Live Longer" and was quite surprised at how much research has been done in this area.

Like most of us, I have done every fad diet under the sun over the past 20 years, all with various degrees of success. Most recently The Biggest Loser Club program, where I did lose 10kgs before I fell off the wagon. I just got a bit tired of having to log in everything I ate. I might get my mojo back when The Biggest Loser comes back on TV soon......!!

I was also sucked into the whole Garcinia supplements thing after a Dr I work with swears by it. He lost 15 kgs in 3 months with little or no effort (according to him!) Needless to say, I didn't have anything like those results!

So.....today is my first Fast Day!! I've had 104 cals and it's just gone 2pm. I'm feeling pretty good so far. I am planning to Fast Thursdays + Mondays as I know I will be busy at work. My biggest fear is going to bed hungry! So any ideas on filling, low cal dinners for Fast Days??

Any tips, tricks, advice or motivation most greatly appreciated!!

[Tracieknits]

Welcome to the forums, @Shelltox72!

Going to bed hungry is the worst thing about a fast day. My solution was to not eat until 6pm. I would aim for about 300 to 400 calories at dinner, and then 100 to 200 as a snack right before bed (perhaps some cheese, as that is quite satisfying). If you're smart about it, a 300 calorie dinner is about right, then there's room for a lovely snack before bed.

Sorry to hear you wasted your money on those supplements

Welcome @Shelltox72. Yes, it works. Well, it has for a lot of us. If you look on people's profile, and click on the little wheely thing on the left hand corner, it will show you how much weight that person has lost. I found that very inspiring at first. I have lost more than they say because I changed scales and the new scales weighed heavier than the old. I have lost 13 kgs and now have a respectable BMI of 26 point something. You can see that on my tracker graph when my weight suddenly goes up. It didn't. That was the new scales. I do not go to bed hungry. High protein dinner is a good idea. Fish or steak or chicken and veg, just leave out the potato, the rice and the pasta. Just off to check out my calories for today after having a bowl of yogurt at quarter to 4. What I like about this diet is that it isn't a diet. I hope I can do it for ever. Then on 5 days a week I can eat what I like, which is usually a pretty healthy diet, but I don't want to worry about not eating cake or chocolate or drinking wine. Except on 2 days of the week. That I can do.

Good afternoon/evening southern hemisphere folks! Hope you've had a good day so far!
And welcome @Shelltox72 and good luck! I think 5:2 definitely works ... and most inportantly it's doeable (but then I'm pretty new myself)
I'm in today - sitting here with my black coffee looking out of the window - it's sunny today (a very rare occurance in Scotland this summer).
I nearly fasted yesterday - but then for some reason I couldn't - I woke up feeling really wobbly
and HUNGRY ... so while somwhere in my head a nasty little voice said - oh, you're just soo weak willed, don't be pathetic etc. etc. my good sense won, I listened to my body and I had a breakfast of Mango, yoghurt, nuts and seeds - and didn't fast
So, today feels like a much better day...
I don't have any tips for not going to bed hungry ... I tend to not have anything to eat on fast days ...

I'm in today. I might be in again tomorrow, since I didn't fast on Tue or Wed. It's been a crazy crazy week!

It's 1pm and I'm late checking in. As many of you will have gathered I'm on leave this week - it's a week at home just catching up on jobs (look out for the resurrection of the de-cluttering tent ) , friends and life. Interestingly I enjoy my fasts when I'm at home because I can give myself time to be mindful, embrace the fast and congratulate myself on my achievement. At work I just don't have the headspace and often I arrive home by 7pm not having thought about the day's fast and too tired to get into the mind set of really enjoying it. I have successfully fasted Mon/Thursday for 18 months but I'm considering experimenting with Saturday/Wednesday fasts.
@Turtlegirl I hope your fast goes well today and the wobble has subsided. We all have wobble days where forcing a fast can feel like a battle but then after a good nights sleep we can find ourselves raring to go with ease the following day. That's the beauty of 52.
@Shelltox72 welcome to the forum and good luck with your journey. Yes this is way of life works for me and many others, all our journey's are different and you'll learn a lot by reading and engaging in the forum for support, motivation and accountability.
So far I have had hot water with lemon, I'll have a miso soup at 5pm and then dinner -feta salad and Co-Yo yoghurt (YUM) with blueberries. Then the kitchen door is firmly shut apart from drinks
@Sallyo congrats on your 16k steps - it's pouring with rain here (thunder as I write) so I'm off to find the de-clutter tent.
@MaryAnn Enjoy your crazy week

Hello All!
Back to fasting today. I'm going to try to just have one meal. Usually at work I need a little something for lunch to keep my patience, but since I'm off I'm going to try to just do one meal, not sure if that would be a lunch or dinner. I did a little window shopping yesterday which was a bit depressing since I've put on 10lbs since this time last year! But I'm all the more determined to have a successful fast today and get back to downward motion on my tracker!
Welcome! (I don't remember how to tag a name and can't seem to go back and find it) but yes, this is a great program. I don't have a problem going to bed hungry, I'm usually happy at that point that I was so successful. My problem is right after work, when I'm all stressed out and want snacks. If I can make it through that, then I am good!
Good luck everyone! Have a great day!

Fast day for me too. I am back at it after 2yreas maintaining. I need to lose 5 pounds to be in my happy place. I have crossfit today so I had coffee and an apple. Then a high volume low calories meal tonight. I love exercising on fast day because I am never hungry after a hard workout

@nycnyc2013 hope you have a good day. I'm coming to the realisation that fasting for me during a busy work day is so much harder than the weekend. It's akin to CBT therapy without added mindfulness stage that is now practiced, not that I'm a therapist or in therapy ... I just read recently as a young friend is about to embark on dialectal behavioural therapy and it made me think about my fasting and how to be mindful. Just my take on me

I'm in today, just 9:30am here in semi-sunny Seattle. Had my black coffee, on to the green tea. I have a meeting at my friend's house (she's the web person), but as she knows all about my 5:2ing and is supportive, not a problem.

@Shelltox72, welcome! I can say that I'd given up losing weight before 5:2 and this lovely forum. Yes, it's worked for many of us, and I can say the best thing about 5:2 is its flexibility. That said, there are some common elements that seem to work best; for one, most of us recommend that you do "plain" 5:2 for awhile to find what works best for you; it's hard to tell if you keep changing it up. I've attached a pdf of some thoughts on 5:2 I put together for my friend who started a couple of months ago.

5-2 et al.pdf

(313.71 KiB) Downloaded 29 times

Managed it. I seem to be on a plateau, perhaps I'm not getting all my usual exercise after minor surgery. Hopefully back to normal at the end of the month after follow-up check-up. As a cup half full person I am enjoying the lovely comments from people who are noticing my smaller size so I'm not giving up, those compliments make up for the disappointments.

OK! I did it! 2 solid fasts this week. I feel very accomplished! It's been awhile since I managed to do 2 good ones, with no little cheats or add ons. Also, I managed it on just one meal, which seems harder to me. I had a nice big fattoush salad around 2, very flavorful and satisfying. I had a miso soup around 5 and just water/coffee/tea the rest of the day. I really appreciated the boards today, helped me stay on track. Hopefully the scales will be good to me tomorrow!