The FastDay Forum

When you are doing 5:2 you can have 500 calories at any time and it isn't considered breaking the fast, so can you have any calories during the 16 hour fast? On 5:2 I would only have 150 calories all day until my dinner at 7pm (350 cals) so I am wondering when I do daily eating windows if I could have say 50 or 100 cals during the 16 hour fast. A little creamer in my coffee and a few almonds for example? I can't seem to find any info on this...

Curious on this as well. I don't need the 500 calories, but if skipping breakfast, I still would like a little creamer/milk in my coffee and I am golden

5:2 with 500 calories isn't a true fast, it's calorie restriction.

I've heard anything over 10 calories being considered breaking the fast. So you could get away with a splash of milk in your tea/coffee, but any more than that and you've broken your fast.

Some years ago I did the Fit For Life diet. I was successful at loosing weight on that for, I think, a number of reasons that actually are almost like a fast diet. That diet is cut into three sections, 8 hours where you eat, 8 when you process and then 8 when you eliminate. The process phase is a fast phase and usually coincided with sleep. The eliminate phase was to eat fruit and watery things to help remove waste. Also this diet is a food combining diet. Carbs and proteins are separated because of the differing times for digestion. Most 5:2 meals (or mine anyway) lack carbs so they automatically fit the combining theory. Also the timing means that the hours of eating are restricted. The other last thing Fit for life does is that you have to wait for the food to digest until you can eat again. On the 5:2 you have to space your meals as you don't have enough calories to be able to graze all day(which is my favourite way to eat). The more I do the 5:2, which is now week 5, the more I think of my old diet.

I've just been reading round the web about fasting 16 hours and eating 8 hours in every 24 and wondered if this change may help get past this weight-loss stall. Anyone tried it with any success? I have been fasting 24hours twice a week since the start of January and lost 17lbs and feel a change of pace may refresh things.
Thanks everyone.

After a month-long stall, my weight has finally starting to drop again, thanks to shifting to 16/8.
I got stuck on a weight plateau after my GP changed my blood pressure tablet to a non-diuretic medication. No weight loss at all since, just the usual up-down, always getting back to the same level.
I should be pleased there was no permanent weight gain!

I started doing 16/8 (also called the 8-hour diet) last Friday, fasting between 8pm and 12 noon everyday (16-hr fast), as well as sticking to 500 cal twice a week, and this seems to have kick-started the weight loss.
On a non-fasting day, I eat my usual light lunch after 12 noon and a normal diner between 7 and 8pm.
On a fast day, I have a cup of home-made veggie soup around 4pm, followed by a light diner before 8pm.

I'll carry on with this until the end of the month, if not longer.

I have been skipping breakfast on fast days all along.(Been fasting 8 weeks and have lost a solid 8 pounds and a lot of inches around the waist--all good.) This is sort of gotten me to the point that I am not all that interested in breakfast on feed days. Since I don't eat after 8:00 at night, if I eat lunch at 12:00 or later, I guess I would be doing 16:8? Is that correct?

I am mainly thinking of skipping breakfast to reduce the calories I eat on feed days, but am wondering, do people think there are other benefits to this? Also, I guess people doing this have abandoned the thinking that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day?" I think I might have read something from Dr. Mosley saying that he isn't sure there is any evidence to back that up.

One other question. Do people think skipping breakfast the morning after a fast day is okay? Again, since I have been doing 5:2, I am just not so interested in eating in the morning. Would rather save the feed day food for later when I am interested or for a glass of vino.

That's what I do @renaissancelady46 for example, I eat at dinner time on a Sunday, have nothing more till a -500 calorie dinner on Monday then I don't eat again till Tuesday at about 1:00. Strangely I am never hungry for breakfast. I don't know if that is the right thing to do but it feels right. I am doing 5:2 twos days a week, 16:8 three days and loosely 16:8 at weekends. Someone said that 14:10 has the same benefits.

Sounds like a plan. Check out the 5:2, 8 hour diet & 16: 8 thread for a wealth of info and discussion from people on forum doing this variation.

I personally find the morning after each 5:2 500 x2 difficult but persist and break the fast at 12 and close the eating window about 8pm. Weight loss slow but steady so happy with that.

All the best

After the original Horizon programme came out, I looked for info on IF on the web and all I could find was stuff about 16:8 - there was little or nothing on AF or 5:2. Most of the info suggested that 16:8 was good for body-builders who wanted to lose fat and gain muscle.

I did a period with 16:8 last year and found that one benefit was it stopped me being constantly hungry and finding myself in front of the refrigerator all the time. I think it has something to do with controlling an enzyme called leptin. I also found it easy - not eating after dinner, skipping breakfast and bingo by 11 am the 16 hours had passed.

I have just started the 5:2 diet but am incorporating 16:8 into it as it is so easy. After 1 week, feel fantastic and lost 3 kg (mostly water I know, but anyway.....)

What calories do you stick too? Tdee or lower?

I did 5:2 since April this year and lost about 3kg (low BMI to start with) and got abit sick of counting calories. So I started 16:8 which I found quite good and discovered that I don't really want to have breakfast (interesting development). Last week I started on 5:2 because my husband wanted to start. Now the big news is that I lost another 1kg. That is pretty amazing to me as I had plateaued on 5:2 for weeks and weeks. Maybe a change in the program is a good thing?? Who knows but I have broken through a glass floor that has been in place for years. My long term plan is to alternate between the two schedules over time as I get sick of both! I have also found that doing 16:8 every day kind of normalised a first half day of fasting for me. So now when I am doing 5:2 I don't even think about eating until early afternoon which seems to improve the fast from a psychological stand point.

Good morning everyone!

I joined this forum mainly because it welcomes alternate forms of intermittent fasting.

5:2 does not appeal to me, but I read a book about another form of fasting The 8 Hour Diet, and was happy to see this thread.

I am starting today. It really appeals to me, and I think if I don't overeat, I'll be ok.

If look further down the 'active topics' you will find my '5:2+8 hour diet+16/8' thread, there is loads of information and tips there, worth a look

Ballerina x

Thank you ballerina you're a star
Thought I may use this method while on holiday next month Sue

Thank you Ballerina.