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How do you eat on Feast Days?
22 Jul 2013, 11:09
I'm completely new. Just finishing my first fast day, eat my 500cals and looking forward to tomorrow but nervous and unsure of how it can work.

Can I eat anything I like?

Do you need to control what you eat or change how you've eaten before? I find it all so very strange!

Are there any food diaries of what people eat on feast days on the forum?
I find starting a feed day with natural (probiotic) yogurt is a good first food in my tum :0)
Hi, I find that after a few months of this WOE my appetite is suppressed and I can't overeat like I did. I don't 'diet' on my feast days and I don't worry about what I eat, but I do tend to feel more full and less hungry. Because of IF I can go longer periods without eating and weirdly I am starting to enjoy the feeling of being hungry, something I haven't felt since I was a young kid (a few years ago!).
You find that being hungry won't kill you, it's just something that happens to you and you can get over it.
So my advice to you is to take your fast days seriously, it's only 2 days out of 7, and then live normally for the other 5. Combine this with lots of exercise and you will lose weight easily. I've lost 22 lbs since I started in April and 6 inches off my belly. My clothes are too big for me now and I'm enjoying adding another notch in my belt!
I tend to have a small muffin for brekkie (I want to switch to something healthier and lower carb, but haven't figured it out yet). Lunch is my main meal. We have a good cafe at work which makes everything from scratch. I tend to have their little boxes of veggies and roasted chicken, but occasionally something less healthy like a slice of pizza. Dinner is usually something small, like babaganoush on a tortilla, unless I go out to eat.

Oh. I should be honest about the unhealthy stuff too. I do like my wine, but for various reasons have been working hard to cut down. Also I've got a sweet tooth and I do have the occasional treat.
I believe you can eat pretty much what you like so long as you don't go wildly over your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). There is a calculator http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx where you can work it out. Many of us are finding as we go that we desire to fuel with healthier foods anyway. So it means you can eat what you like, but not as much as you like if you see the difference. So if you want to factor in some treats, go for it! (But maybe keep an eye on your total calories at least initially, that's what I'm doing to make sure I don't go too wild! I use sparkpeople.com to track my food).

Your appetite will probably reduce as well as you get used to the fasting days.

Hope that helps.
As long as your weight was stable before you can continue eating the same things and still loose weight from fasting, to be honest that's what I did in the beginning and it worked fine. After a few fasts a lot of people find that they eat less, don't snack and generally eat more healthily, but you don't need to do anything much, it's a natural progression. Personally I eat in a similar way to how I ate before on feast days, and I even eat more 'treats' than before but I think I eat less in general, as long as I am strick on the fast days it works for me!
I like to break my fast with fruit. After that anything goes. However, as much as I would like to eat and eat - I cant because it gets too uncomfortable. I keep trying tho because for some reason I cannot be satisfied with the fact that I can eat what I like. Have to try and put away as much as I can too (fortunately without much success).
I know what you mean about trying to eat more, that is my fear. I have resisted many types of. Food to lose the weight I have lost so far and now I'm giving 5:2 a go I'm concerned I'm letting myself sabotage my efforts, now I can eat cheese and bread and biscuits is that all I'm going to eat!?
The key is to find the balance. When I started fasting I binged on crisps and cakes 2-3 times a week, just because I thought fasting will even everything out. It did work for the first two months but then I hit a massive plateau. After several months on this WOE I learnt the boundaries and I do eat everything I want (from the cakes and snacks department) only in small quantities and not every day. On non-fast days I usually have 3 normal meals (porridge, main and some soup) and a little bit of this or that to satisfy my taste buds. However, I do stick rigidly to one small low-carb meal on the fast day.
As people have said you can eat 'whatever you want', so butter on that bread is fine. You shouldn't eat as 'much as you want', so a whole loaf and half a pound of butter is not good.

I today have just eaten a whole graze box of goodies to myself. It was all good foods, but at over 500kcal, a bit too much of a good thing. I had all the good intentions of keeping it for a week and spreading it out. But, my piggishness took over and I wolfed the lot. I will have to make a couple of changes to today's meal plan to compensate, but not too much as I didn't have breakfast today. I will just have a half portion of rice at dinner and skip the bread roll for lunch and have a salad instead.

The above is an example of how the flexibilty of the way of eating (WOE) can be adapted to your life, not you adapting to a rigid diet and causing you grief.
Firstly, I don't refer to non-fast days as "feast" days, they are normal days. I generally eat pretty healthy with the occasional splurge. Breakfast greek yogurt with chia seeds and a few strawberrys. Lunch depends on what's in the fridge. Dinner is usually protein and veg (same meal I have on fast days). I don't have many carby foods available in the house. If I have a meal with a lot of carbs then the next several meals will have little or no carbs. Since starting on this WoE journey I have discovered that I use alot of milk in my coffee (I've cut back ALOT) and having beer on every normal day will slow or stop my weight loss. :bugeyes: :doh: For me it's all about balance, treats are nice but they are just that a treat and not an everyday or every few day occurence. Relax, just because you CAN have something doesn't mean you should have ALL of it and then some. :wink:
I don't have any breakfast at all now on any day and just green tea all morning. For lunch on a 'feast day' I have a huge salad with chicken (leftovers usually) or boiled egg and/or ham or tuna. I have some fruit during the afternoon and then in the evening I have another huge salad with chicken or fish. I have tea during the afternoon and evening and bottlegreen squash and fizzy water with dinner. I don't have any snacks apart from fruit. On Fridays I have curry (no rice) for dinner, wine and chocolate. Saturdays and Sundays are the same as the weekdays but with the addition of wine and a dessert. Roast dinner usually on Sundays. I only have bread and potatoes (both of which I love) at weekends.

That all sounds very draconian, but really it's not. I like eating lightly, although that may change in the winter. I am only losing less than 1lb per week and if I ate any differently I wouldn't be losing any at all I don't think because I have a very low TDEE. Just do what feels right for you and eat whatever you fancy, just keep an eye on your TDEE and caloric intake for a few weeks and then adjust as necessary.
Julie just reminded me that I had 2/3 tub of Ben & Jerry's one day last week for a mid-day snack (or snack attack I should say). It came round at about 800 ckals. That was no big deal, I just ate less for the rest of the day. I'm just trying to say you don't have to beat your self up if you go overboard once in a while. It's not like you've destroyed all your efforts.
I enjoy my non fast days, with family or friends and just eat what I want. That includes wine, or a burger, or pizza, or ice cream, or just whatever we go out for.

But I go by the general idea of I can have ANYTHING I want, I just cant have EVERYTHING all at once. So if I feel like a dessert after dinner I have one, but share it with my husband instead of ordering a whole one for myself. I usually wind up with a few bites, that makes me happy, and he eats the rest. But I DO eat on my non fast days, with joy and without guilt!
I skip or delay breakfast most days. For my meals, I eat probably 3/4 plate salad and low-carb veggies/fruit and 1/4 protein with maybe a tiny taste of bread or dessert and the occasional glass(es) of wine. It is what tastes and feels good to me. :heart:

I am on this WOE/WOL for the short and long-term health benefits as well as weight loss. I was borderline high cholesterol and blood sugar at my last check-up in late April, and I do not want to have type 2 diabetes and heart disease for my future! :razz: :curse: :smile:
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