The FastDay Forum

Morning fellow low carbers!
I must be doing something wrong as I have gained 1.5lbs this week! It all started last weekend with a little more food, albeit low carb except for the red wine! I fasted Monday and Wednesday and will fast again today though will go over the 500 cals as we are goiung out to friends tonight. (I don't like to be too picky when people have gone to a lot of trouble to prepare a lovely meal)
Still, tomorrows another day and I will have another look at the amount of food and carbs I am eating.
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Thank you, Caroline, for sending the link. I am so new to this site I missed that information.

"It takes around 12 hours of fasting before any significant amount of fat is being used for fuel. The longer the fasting state progresses, the more of the body’s energy supply comes from fats and the less from glucose."

I may need to switch from 4:3 to 16:8 next week due to vacation schedule. The information above makes me feel better about doing that.

@carieoates - cheers for the link. In response to what someone else said on this thread recently (can't remember who, sorry) when I do stick with the low carbiness I a. have FAR more control over my appetite and am not as hungry and b. fluctuate far less weight wise, day to day. Carbs (as so many have said on here) set the hunger monster off big time. I just wish I could eat some of the substitutes people use like celeriac and root veg - but they upset my stomach alas. Too much info!!

[carieoates]

There's a lot of fascinating information on this site which I don't think everyone knows is there.
Personally I've not been on the ball. I have been lowish carbing, I have been 16.8ing, but without logging. Did get to ketosis though, so not a total disaster.

So we all know what that means....... I've been overeating. Not massively, then the odd glass of wine. Naughty girl.
Got a fortnight now to get my butt in gear, before wedding and then family holiday. I'm hoping to drop a few pounds now so that I can relax into holiday.
It helps that hubby and I will low carb together now to keep motivated. Can't have a wey hey weekend if I'm going to do this right.

It might help to accurately log a day or twos eating to find that low carb point, 50-100g a day for steady weight loss, less for a faster hit.

[carieoates]

It might help to accurately log a day or twos eating to find that low carb point, 50-100g a day for steady weight loss, less for a faster hit.

Yes @Azureblue, I've been a bit blaze, I know. I also find that when I've done a couple of really good weeks I sabotage myself, but it's all part of my journey isn't it. Having a social life, a job a family. It's finding the right balance is all,!!!!!

I am starting to find that if I stick to around 60g carbs a day (70 at a push) I can lose weight steadily and the appetite is controllable - any more and it all goes a bit to pot

Thanks for the kink @carioates I have read it before but like to reread from time to time especially if I'm struggling as I did last week
My carb intake was quite low but since giving up sugar in April ive regained a sweet tooth, the chocky monster struck more than once HE won those minor battles but I'm not taking the sugar back no way!!!
Pledged a fast yesterday that ended up a good low cal day, today is going to plan as a 20:4 then tomorrow I fast.
@loversghost I feel for you I really do because without the celeriac + turnip/swede I'd be lost completely as I'm not really keen on veggies at all but I've upped them and yes they are so much more filling than the carbs, on NY fastday last week I made veggie casserole with
quorn/chicken pieces and lots of veg,
I was stuffed this is the way my fastdays
should go for now.

After my week of switching to brown carbs (although ending it with a slice of chocolate fudge cake, oops - it is brown I suppose), I feel like I might actually be able to do this low carb thing properly. I love all veg except lettuce and peas, so I've got a lot of choices for substitutes.

Can I use butternut squash or is that carby?

There are four weeks until my holiday to the south of France, so I'm going to see how it goes until then. I will stick to it religiously unless I'm at a social event (after all, life is for living). Got tapas on Tuesday so at least I can pick from the meat and veg based dishes rather than the carby ones.

I really hope I can manage this! Especially as I will still be cooking pasta etc for DBF's meals.

I am sure I will be back soon looking for some advice

Can I use butternut squash or is it too carby?

@lottie89, butternut squash is a carb but look at the difference between it and potatoes.

1 cup mashed potato = 33 gr carb; 214 cals
1 3" baked potato = 62.4 gr carb; 331 cals
1 cup butternut squash = 16.4 gr carb; 63 cals

Big difference

@swan51 yay that's good! Thank you

Right I've read up a bit more and have come up with the below plan:

Aim for under 50g carb a day on fast days, and under 75g on feed days (but up to 100g is fine). At the weekend if the opportunity comes up for cake/pasta I won't pass it up, but neither will I seek it out. I think it's important for me to not feel like I have a set of hard and fast rules as I will tend to beat myself up for breaking them, and then give up! I tend to plan meals and shop around that, so I should only have to deviate if I'm out for dinner. As long as I stick to properly low-carbing for 5 out of 7 days I'm hoping I see/feel a difference. This plan will involve tracking what I eat on feed days, which kind of goes against 5:2, but I don't mind too much. Hopefully after a few weeks I will have learnt which foods are okay and I won't need to track as much.

I'm going to try and eat fruit for puds - I know some are carby but if I don't have something sweet after a meal I just sit and think about that fact for the rest of the evening. And then put on my Uggs and go to Tesco and raid the bakery shelf (unfortunately we live 30 seconds from a Tesco Express and this is all too easy to do).

What is going to be hard to get my head around is that I can have cream on my fruit, olive oil in my cooking and even butter on my (celeriac) mash. One thing I am REALLY pleased about is cheese. I love a good extra mature cheddar, but for years (WW) I've had to ration it and then every now and then would succumb to a late night craving and stand at the counter eating slice after slice! Now I can just incorporate it into my meals

I am mostly worried about work lunches, we have lots of options but all geared towards people who eat 'normally'. The 'salad' bar is great but unfortunately I only really like sweetcorn and carrots (both carby) from the veg section - the rest is all cous cous/pasta/rice salads. Can't stand lettuce which narrows my salad options somewhat. We have a Waitrose but again, it's all sandwiches, wraps and pasta salads. Will have to think about that! Actually while writing that I remembered about the 'grill' with grilled chicken, beef etc. Hopefully I can have that option without the carb!

I'm a bit nervous about what's ahead, and really hope I last more than one day.

Today's dinner (fasting) is tandoori chicken in a marinade I made last night with full fat Greek yoghurt (yup) and a tomato, red onion and coriander salad. Rice for DBF!

Feeling determined and looking forward to seeing results before my holiday (where I will be eating baguettes for a week).

[carieoates]

Seems like a great plan @lottie89 looks like one which I have established over time.
You will see great results I know it. It's great to plan these things and see it in black and white for all eternity.
Good luck.

Good plan Lottie89, remember strawberries and low fat natural live yogurt for dessert, most berries are lower sugars than bigger fruit, and I've recently learned to not mix fat and carbs in a meal. Apparently the body will use the carb for energy and store the fat if it's given both together :0@

Ooh ok so we should have low fat if it is pudding? But full fat for a low carb main course? This is going to confuse me!