The FastDay Forum

How are things with you@eyup?

I hope that you are on the mend. In this part of the world not only do we mash the tea, but we also mash beer apparently. I believe that it is an early stage in the brewing process.

Are you gearing up for a fast this week?

I've had my usual one meal today which was aubergine in garlic and tomato sauce topped with parmesan and wholewheat breadcrumbs, served with steamed broccoli and waldorf salad. I then had raspberrries with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt.

I think that was pretty reasonable for a whole day's intake. Drinks so far have been black coffee and black darjeeling tea. I might have a coffee with coconut milk before bed.

I finally heard from the hospital today about surgery to remove a mysterious growth. I had hoped that the operation would be over the summer, but it is planned for October. What a shame, I was anticipating a sudden loss of inches and weight over the next few weeks. Not to worry, as at least I have an idea when thing will happen and Iwon't have to wait too long befor I suddenly become sylph-like.

Take care,

Bracken

P.S.@SpannerWhereabouts are you?

the aubergine meal sounds lovely!! Is it an easy recipe?? Well done for your excellent fast day. I am dithering about whether or not to fast today. Still not fully better. this bug is getting to be tedious!! However, in the big picture, I realise that it is a tiny problem. sorry that your op is later than you had hoped..... Keep going!! X

Good Morning,

Here's how I make the aubergine dish.

I'm not one for measuring and taking a careful stock of quantities, but I hope that the following makes sense. I tend to use one tin of tomatoes to one large aubergine and two standard slices of bread to make the breadcrumbs.

Ingredients
Aubergine
Glug of olive oil or tablespoon of coconut oil
Garlic to taste
Tinned chopped tomatoes
Sun-dried tomato pesto
Wholewheat or granary breadcrumbs
Grated parmesan

Method
1. If the aubergine is under-ripe it is not necessary to salt it, otherwise place the sliced aubergine in a dish and sprinkle with salt in order to release the juices. You might like to place a heavy weight on top so as to assist the process.
2. If you have salted the aubergines , when they have released their fluid, rinse them well under cold running water and then press or squeeze them to dry them as much as possible. Pat them with with kitchen roll
3. Lay the sliced aubergines in a shallow dish ( a lasagne dish is good).
4. Sweat chopped garlic in the oil and, when aromatic, add the tomatoes and cook down, adding pesto and basil to taste. If you haven't salted the aubergines you might like to add a little salt.
5. When the tomatoes are cooked, pour them over the aubergine.
6. Mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan together and keep to one side.
7. Place the aubergines and tomatoes in a medium oven and cook until the tomatoes are bubbling well (approx half an hour).
8. Sprinkle the cheesy breadcrumbs in a deep layer onto the aubergines and tomatoes and return the dish to the oven until the breadcrumbs are nice and toasty.

That's it. Easy peasy. Sometimes I layer it....aubergines, tomatoes, bradcrumbs , aubergines etc etc. You could make a vegan version with vegan pesto and nutritional yeast in the breadcrumbs, or simply plain breadcrumbs, but, as I don't always eat vegan food, I usually go for the cheesy version.

It is good with a variety of salads, but works well with vegetables. My husband will also have new potatoes. I love garlic and tomatoes, so this is a favourite dish. I'm a "throw it in and see how it goes" type of cook, so I hope that it makes sense to you.

Many thanks Bracken. Sounds just the kind of thing I like, and I am allergic to measuring things...... am trying the fast today but seeing how I go. It is already 1:30 and all well, except that I had a tea with almond milk...no big deal. If all goes well, this will be my third restart in a very short space of time, the main one, the post holiday one, and a post sickie one... will be great to get beyond a 2 week stretch sometime!!!!! when is your next day? Mine will be Sunday, hopefully.

Hi@eyup. How has your restarted restart gone? I hope that you've had a successful day and that you've returned to a state of rude health.

I adopt an "eating window " approach so I usually fast for at least 20 hours each day. I allow myself a day off every now and again according to social demands, so I'll generally be having fewer than 1,000 calories each day. It is really not a struggle. My appetite is much reduced and I have absolutely no desire to return to three meals a day.

I had a massive salad this evening and will fast again tomorrow , when I'll probably have a stir fry with tofu. I am being pretty disciplined at the moment. We'll see what the weight loss is at the weekend.

Take care,

Bracken.

Amazing that you manage 20 hour fasts most days!! I treated Wednesday as a training fast...getting ready for the third restart which I hope will be Sunday. It went OK. I am finally feeling a bit of the old zip back after the bug, but not yet back to full strength. I am going to try an experimental visit to the gym in the morning. hot weather makes it easier for me to eat less! Non fast days not bad at all... Can we book this weather until Christmas?? Happy week end x

Hi,

I'm glad that you are back on board and hope that the gym visit went well. I gave myself a break yesterday and will do the same today as we are in the middle of wedding celebrations. Then I'll be back with a vengence on Sunday.

I really don't find fasting difficult at all. I'm pretty busy during the day, so I don't really have chance to think about eating. I think it would be usefeul, however, to look more carefully at what my calorie intake is. I would guess that on most days it is less than 1000, but there will be times when it is over that.

The rhythm of this approach seems to suit me. When I began fasting I was doing the standard two fasts a week, but found after about six months that I was not wanting to have three meals a day, so I changed to alternate day fasting before going the whole hog and moving to every day, but upping my food intake a little. I can see myself doing this forever, perhaps with the odd lighten up for social occasions.

Enjoy your weekend and the weather, which is a little too warm for my taste. I'm definitely a northerner!

Hi Bracken. Looks like MY reply went missing this time! Or maybe I did something wrong ( more likely I guess...) Anyway, Sunday was OK. I was going to try your aubergine recipe but it was too hot to have the oven on in our small kitchen..haha..so I did a feeble kind of ratatouille.. Feeble in that I did not really know how to do it and only had tomatoes and aubergines in the house, no courgettes. Anyway, it was suitably nutritious if a bit disappointing taste wise! Tomorrow (Wednesday) will be fast 2 of week 1 on this restart...here's hoping I can keep going this time! Enjoying being back in the gym and also did a swim today. 16 lengths, 2 of them front crawl. My front crawl is like a beetle trying hard not to drown, and I watch amazed at other people seemingly ploughing effortlessly through 100 lengths of front crawl. I almost need to be put on oxygen after 1 length.

Oh, I'm sure that there are gremlins on here!
Aubergines and tomatoes are good together in any format, so I'm sure that your dish was great.
I hope that your fast goes well today. I think that I need to have a couple of full fasts along the way in order to compensate for the weekend's food and drink fast. I'm sure that will have set me back a little, but "hey- ho", in the great scheme of things it will be fine.

Well done you with your exercise campaign. I can't even do either front or back crawl because I develop really severe cramps in my feet when I try. It seems to be some kind of genetic problem; my mother used to be a swimmer as a girl and had to give it up because of the same problem. My big toes seem to lock themselves upwards and it is not possible to continue. So, beetle-like or not, I'm envious. I'm always saying that I need to exercise, but don't get round to it, apart from leisurely strolls with the dog. Time is a factor, but the main difficulty is inclination, or lack of it.

I think I'll try a full fast today, so we can compare notes tomorrow. Good luck!

I hope that today's fast going well for you. I am finding it tough today! It is only 11:10 and I feel really hungry! On the previous restarts it was feeling easy! I will try hard to persevere as I want to get into the rhythm of it this time!
Take the dog out! Walking with a dog is a really good way of getting exercise, and the dogs normally love every second of it...

Well, so much for good inclinations! I still managed not to eat during the day, so it could have been worse, but on Wednesday I ate a massive helping of pasta, and yesterday a friend and I went out for a curry.
I hope that you are faring better than me !
I think that I , too, will have to " restart the restart". Today is another day, so I'll give it a good attempt.

Wish me luck!

I hope that you are feeling better, by the way x

Hi Bracken, Hope that you feel you are doing better. At least you did the window bit, which I only know a little about from the forum. I want to get into the rhythm of 5:2 well and near target weight before I really consider other options. I have been eating less on non fast days too, and managing the gym (I can't do gym on fast days in spite of the fact that many people on the forum can exercise normally). Yesterday was a hilly walk with hubby instead of gym, which included a nice drenching in solid rain at the end! Scales went up a bit (!) but the forum says that is normal for a number of reasons!! Only about 1lb. Have not weighed today so I do not know if it has changed. Stay motivated!

Good Morning,
You seem to be back on track. I did well on Friday - eating window with around 500 calories of salad, cottage cheese and garlic mushrooms. Yesterday we went to the Tate Modern in Liverpool and.......well, it was an eating window day, but we called into one of those world buffet places to eat. I had lots of salad, but also potato salad and onion rings, followed by two small squares of chocolate brownie and a small piece of pannacotta. It wasn't disastrous, but it was much more than I would normally eat. The past seven days has been a bit of a food fest.

Anyway, this is the start of another week and I'm feeling quite determined. It looks very sunny, so I think I'll take the dog out. M

Your trip to Liverpool sounds lovely. These fast days are coming around quickly!!! So far I am never too keen on the idea when I get up and have 3 mugs of black decaf.... But reading several threads on the forum at breakfast time helps with willpower..... Wednesday is also house cleaning day, so two unfavourite things on the go haha. There are some benefits to living in a very small house however! If I cook a whole chicken tonight, will I be able to eat only 500 cals I ask myself. Think I will try for not-too-much-chicken and broccoli.... That means OH meals sorted for today and tomorrow also. Have a good day Bracken...

Hmmm think I blew it. I did well until evening meal then had chicken, probably too much, and cabbage, and a nectarine....and a pear ...and two Brazil nuts...and some plain yoghurt..and tea with milk....