The FastDay Forum

Feeling greatly reassured on two counts - I'm not alone (yay!) and having a 2,000 cal blow-out may not be quite as effortless as I had feared. Eminently do-able, of-course, but not without really going all out, mainly because I don't have sugar so my calories would come from starters, main course, and possibly cheese to finish. Plus wine. Actually, scratch that, it would be effortless!

I read in the UK press a while ago about people managing to eat something like 8000 calories over a weekend. How?? And I can eat!!

Well here in the US next week is Thanksgiving, a day of football, Christmas parades, and gluttony. This is what I found regarding our "traditional" meal...

6 oz. of turkey, with skin: 299 calories
sausage stuffing: 310 calories
dinner roll and butter: 310 calories
sweet-potato casserole: 300 calories
mashed potatoes and gravy: 140 calories
green-bean casserole: 110 calories
cranberry sauce: 15 calories
brussels sprouts: 83 calories
pumpkin pie: 316 calories
pecan pie: 503 calories
whipped cream: 100 calories

total: 2,486 calories

This of course doesn't include any of the beverages, or pre-dinner nuts, olives, and cheese and crackers, but it is totally within the realm of possibility, and actually is only considering single servings, if you were to go back for seconds on anything well, you know.

I do think 2,000 at one sitting is totally doable especially if you are eating something that is calorically dense (like cheesecake) vs. something that is not so much (say broccoli). Apparently the typical stomach can hold about 8C of food (actually anywhere from 4C to 12C), so if you wanted to slow it down calorie wise you could start with something that would take up a lot of space but doesn't have as many calories.

The calorie count on my pack of sprouts is 55 per 100grams. That's an awful lot of sprouts for 83 cals!!

From recent experience (my birthday meal) I cannot eat either the quantity I used to or the rich food I (still) love!

[carorees]

My plan at Xmas is to have just one BIG meal a day! Hopefully I won't go over TDEE too much!

I found this you tube video. While some of the examples in the video does not refer to meals but to individual foods e.g. How many avocadoes, bacon rashers, almonds etc I found it interesting nevertheless.

http://www.thekitchn.com/what-does-2000-calories-look-like-you-might-be-surprised-video-187300

Christmas Day 2013 is a Wednesday and one of my usual fasting days is Tuesday. I can guarantee you that I shall be fasting on Christmas eve and I'll be breaking that fast with Christmas lunch. I just have to decide if I'll fast on Boxing day (Thurs) or on my regular fast on Friday.

Regardless I have every intention of not worrying about what I am eating and enjoy the day to the full.

Last week I couldn't resist the incredibly low price on high quality french chicken, so I had one for lunch all by myself with skin and all, even sucked the marrow out. I guess it was about 1500-1600 kcal. Delicious, but I skipped dinner.

So, a whole chicken with coke or beer and dessert would be around 2000 kcal, perfectly doable.

I read in the UK press a while ago about people managing to eat something like 8000 calories over a weekend. How?? And I can eat!!

Curry and beer on Friday, posh dinner out Saturday, big Sunday lunch, plus some fried breakfasts and nice snacks - I think that could easily add up to 8k over a weekend

Curry and beer on Friday, posh dinner out Saturday, big Sunday lunch, plus some fried breakfasts and nice snacks - I think that could easily add up to 8k over a weekend

Put like that - I think you're right - I'm obviously not having as much fun as I could be!

@GoLinda I agree, I am pretty sure that the list I showed is pretty conservative regarding serving sizes. I would not be surprised to find it is actually twice that.

[Betsysgr8]

As for the calories listed in the Thanksgiving meals brussel sprouts being a bit high, I'm pretty sure there was some kind of sauce or butter included.

[carieoates]

Nowadays I think a 2k meal for me would consist of more luxurious food rather than carbs and quantity. I don't want to be panicking about Xmas food, so I've decided to skip breakfast, not snack and keep a check on carbs only.

funny, I use bacon fat to caramelize my Brussels sprouts so I thought it was a bit low.

I also plan to just do the one meal on Thanksgiving day, and one meal on Christmas day, no worries. Though I will use my carbs for things that I deem worth it (ie. homemade desserts) and not waste them on things like potatoes that I can have anytime.

You lot are so good planning your Xmas fasts already!

And 8000cals in a weekend? Easy!
Friday night.. bottle of wine (700) with a takeaway (up to 1500)
Saturday.. fry up with all the trimmings (1000) another bottle of wine (700) average sandwich/crisps lunch (700) steak and chips for dinner with dessert (1000)
Sunday.. another breakfast (1000) and roast dinner with a few wines and dessert.. easy to make 8000.

[janeg]

oh, can't miss Christmas morning breakfast! That's when we cut the Christmas cake and have the bubbly!

I don't know if this was mentioned previously, but in Teesside (where I live), there's a take-away dish called the 'Parmo'. You can get them from pizza places and kebab shops, and many North Easters will have heard of this I would think.

A full parmo (which by default comes with chips and salad) is around 2600 calories from what I've read. This is why I always order a half (which I think would be between 1300-1500 calories), and I certainly won't have anything else on that day, unless it was things like celery.

Sadly, being somewhat attracted to these things was how I put on weight over the years (though it included FULL parmos).

Although I've started on this 5:2 diet, I still wouldn't mind having one at least once a month, because they taste so good! ... also, I make sure that the parmo is made fresh... there are some takeaways in Teesside that use processed meat/cheese and tastes utter rank! The one I always go to is made in its traditional way. ... but on the long-run, it's not the best choice of food to have for obvious reasons.