The FastDay Forum

[carorees]

Why not try making one or two of the 16:8 days low carb days. So no fruit, sandwiches, potato, pasta, cakes etc etc, but plenty of foods high in fat or protein and lots of veggies. Another possibility is to extend the fast from 16 to 20 hours on a couple of days. Or both. This seems to work for me.

Isn't it amazing how husbands do that?! But don't expect him to stop offering you breakfast even after several months: mine asked me if I wanted porridge for breakfast yesterday morning...I've only been skipping breakfast since last July, of course I couldn't expect him to remember after such a short time *rolls eyes*!

Men!!! @carorees mine really thinks I'm missing out because I don't eat breakfast and because I was unwell in the middle of last week I dropped back into my old habits of cereal breakfast for 4 mornings the result being swollen feet again point proven earlier tonight getting ready to go out for unplanned meal and can't get my
new boots (xmas) on at all!!!
Told him in no uncertain terms exactly what the cause is and to stop the nagging + pestering Sue
Lesson learned pity it was the hard way.

Oh dear @carorees and @Sue.Q

That seems to be the general perception about Fasting, my Daughter went ballistic when I told her I didn't have breakfast, I was actually quite shocked!

I did try to explain the Fasting principle but to no avail, she knew better, and it has nothing to do with us telling her to eat breakfast as a kid, she just simply knows better and of course, probably has not has taken the trouble to read about 5:2 or any other type of fasting, yet she does do detox!! Go figure!!

cheers Maggie

that seems to be something that I could do if I set my mind to it @carorees - thank you.

I have little trouble doing 16/8 and I definitely only eat between 12-1.00pm - 8.00pm, I am so pleased with myself, as I don't feel the need to eat after the evening meal like I once did.

I also like to stay within my calories and carbs most days.

Once again, many thanks, cheers

Maggie.

@Maggiee Ignorance is the answer plus the fact that there'll always be someone out there that knows better than we do, I have one friend that doesn't get the fasting thing at all and in her words
"could never miss out any meal especially breakfast" the most important meal of the day crap she's overweight probably m/obese as I was she does every new diet out yes and detox and actually regular visits for colonic!!!! I may be desperate but no way could I have that 5or6 times per year yukkk yesterday I went for a smear test that was so painful and I've bled since thank god that only happens every
5 years or so. Sue
You're doing OK Maggiee not gaining I'd settle for that at the moment put in a good fast yesterday best in a long time and feeling as if I've got my mojo back but feeling bloated with my feet and legs swollen again and ready to fast again tomorrow will put in a good one despite everything else I do feel better for fasting and if you can only manage 16:8 so be it then pull back a little more next week to 18:6 until fasting feels right because it will return again.♥

I'm thinking about doing 16:8 on non-fast days. Breakfast is just unnecessary empty calories and carbs for me usually (a muffin). I think the only reason I do it is as a treat for getting through another fast day. I do wake up hungry sometimes, but I can survive until noon. Today is a fast day, so I won't try this until tomorrow. I'll let you know how I get on...

Why not try making one or two of the 16:8 days low carb days. So no fruit, sandwiches, potato, pasta, cakes etc etc, but plenty of foods high in fat or protein and lots of veggies. Another possibility is to extend the fast from 16 to 20 hours on a couple of days. Or both. This seems to work for me.

Carorees, could you give an example of average menu that you use on these days? And how many calories do you consume during such days?
I am "hitting the wall" recently - almost no weight loss after fasts, just about 100 grams (or none at all) despite of I eat less that 500 cal on fast days and I do 5:2 from July 2013.Thank you in advance!

[carorees]

On my low carb days I usually break my fast with a handful of nuts at about 12-1pm. Then a bowl of soup (no bread) then at dinner I'll have meat or fish and some veggies. It'll come in at about 800 cal.

On a standard 16:8 day I'll have an open sandwich for lunch or soup and a slice of bread or boiled eggs and a slice of bread. Followed by a small piece of cake or a little chocolate. Then dinner will be meat and veggies with no or one potato, or it might be a pasta dish but bulked out with courgette so I only have about 50g of pasta. And a glass of wine of course! If it's not too late I might have some stewed fruit and cream before the eating window closes. The calorie count will be 1400-1600 with around 150g carbs. Basically I'm mindful of the carb content but don't worry about the rest much.

First - sorry fro the lack of engamentent recently, but I do feel so verou out of it due to the thyroid levels. I know it will get better over time, but right now it is very much blaha.

OK, if this have been posten before, you simple have to excuse me - but I really don't get all these number abrivations or eating windows? Right now I am struggling with the ordinary 5:2 and on more fast days than I care to admit, I have fall of the wagon. For sure eating less than the 2000kcal, but a bit more than the 500...

But the sun is shining, the tree peony have big buds and the snow drops are in full bloom. Need to go online and buy som seeds for the greenhouse

Is it true that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" was thought up by the cereal company's', or is that just an urban myth.

@carorees
Thank you so much for your prompt reply.
So, it looks like you have 2 meals a day on 16:8 plus 2(or more) low carbs days inside of them.
My question is: using this, how one could mountaining after the end of weight loss?
Or loss will continue all the time, small but still loss?
If one only eats a little bit more or eliminates low carb days, weight will start to creep immediately? Do you consider eating 16:8 forever?

[carorees]

oh I think that unless you lose weight really fast, whatever method you use to get the went off will have to be for life if it's to stay off. I'm planning on 16:8 for maintenance with low carb if/when I need to (e.g after celebration meals, holidays etc). Two meals is fine for me but I might have the occasional breakfast if I have some really active days.

Is it true that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" was thought up by the cereal company's', or is that just an urban myth.

I'm not sure the answer to your question, but I think a good breakfast really is important for children. For adults, though, not so much. If you're not hungry in the morning, I don't really see what breakfast will do for you other than add unnecessary calories.

I promised to report back about my 16:8 experiment. It's 930am and so far so good (I'm still a bit jet lagged, so I've been up awhile now). I'm having coffee, and I might break down and have a latte, but I'll try not to. As long as I resist the muffin, I'll be happy.

I had this discussion with colleagues at lunch yesterday. Japanese people (at least where I work) have lunch at 12 on the dot. For me that is too early. But if I don't eat early, there are far fewer choices in the cafeteria. They sell these little vegetable boxes, which are a great way to go low carb, but they disappear by about 12:05! Anyway, since I'm eating lunch so early, breakfast really is not necessary. One of my colleagues said he hasn't eaten breakfast in years for this very reason.

People work quite late here. I really don't understand why they have lunch so early. It's also a problem that everyone is taking a lunch break at the same time.

edit to add: well, I survived. TBH I was more bored than hungry. I went to lunch at ~11:40 to get some good boxes. I got seaweed salad (in a lovely vinaigrette), a potato and vegetable mix in curry flavored seasoning, and roast chicken.

Going to pop on to tell everyone my experiences with this recently. I decided last week to "shake the toaster" and do my fasting a little differently. Up until now, I've done two 24-hour 0-calorie fasts a week (then eaten 500 or fewer calories and then went another 6-12 hours without calories, for a total of 30-36 hours) with maybe two 16/8's thrown in. I decided to just do the 16/8 or 18/6 last week during the work week and see how it went. I ended up doing 18/6 three times and 16/8 two times. It was fine. I don't know if I lost any weight because of it, because I only weigh once a month, but it was very do-able.

I think I am going to continue shaking things up and doing things differently, just to keep my body guessing. This week, I'm back to the regular 5:2 deal. Next week, I might do a 6:1 and do 16/8s or 18/6s the rest of the work week.

One thing I noticed that I wanted to share. The other day, I had breakfast of steel-cut oats and almond milk at 9 or 9:30 (one of those; don't remember). I wasn't hungry when lunch time came around, so I decided to skip lunch. I started to feel hungry at 2, but by that time, I decided it was too late to eat lunch when I knew I was going to eat dinner earlier than normal. I ended up eating my dinner at 5 pm because I had a tennis match that night and I didn't want to experience a loss of energy for it. That day was so easy! And I only had two meals, and I was quite happy.

I am bang on target this week, so am doing 16:8 every day instead of my usual 5:2 and 16:8 on the other 3 weekdays. Today I had salad with tuna, boiled egg and feta for lunch, Greek yoghurt with a banana as a snack and hairy dieters sticky chicken (except I used salmon) with salad for dinner. Just having a cup of black chai with some coconut milk and nibbling a few nuts. I have been stuffed full all day and could have gone without dinner but had it so that I could sit down with the family. Still balancing this maintaining thingie so experimenting. I think what I have had today seems like a lot but we will see what the scales say tomorrow.