The FastDay Forum

I'm a dad in the South who loves to eat! I'm trying to lose about twenty five pounds. I've tried a lot of diets and this one looks interesting. Any advice will help. Here's what's happened so far:

Day One- Monday July 11, 2016
Weighed in at 197.4 this morning. I’m allowed 600 calories today. As of 4:00 PM I’ve had nothing to eat or drink. I’ve worked all day and I’m pretty hungry right now. My plan is to consume my 600 calories tonight and stay busy until bed time. Monday’s seem to be a good fast day for me so I may stick with Mondays and Wednesdays. We’ll see. I’m not going to lie, I’m HUNGRY!

Day Two- Tuesday, July 12, 2016
What a great day! I had a Chick Fil A wrap for lunch with fries and sweet tea. For supper I had a half smoked chicken, green beans, a few rolls and half a peach turn over. Can you really lose weight like this?

Day Three- Wednesday July 13, 2016
Today is another fast day. I did not eat breakfast. I’m a little hungry right now (10:40 AM). I can handle it though. My plan is to eat supper. I’ll likely have a sandwich and a bag of chips to fill my 600 calories. I haven’t weighed since Monday. Not sure when I’ll weigh. I feel good.

[Tracieknits]

Hi and welcome Kyle

Yes, you might lose weight that way. But you could also make it easier on yourself by changing up what you eat. For example those chips are a lot of calories for not necessarily a lot of satisfaction. For 600 calories, you could have a fairly large piece of meat and a pile of veggies which would totally fill you up.

The things like sweet tea and fries and a peach turnover, all in one day, might be the first things to look at if you don't lose weight.

That being said, If you are happy with slow and steady, then your current plan will probably work for you. Dr. Varaday has certainly said her dieters are allowed to eat *ANYTHING* they want on the every other day diet, and they still have success so long as they stick to the fast day calorie limits.


BTW, you are allowed to drink during the day -- please DO drink during the day!!! Water, unsweetened iced tea, black coffee and seltzer/club soda all have no calories. You're correct that you will lose weight faster and have an easier time of it if you don't eat until dinner, but you can have a *few* calories. For example, I have 1/2 of a tablespoon of half and half in my coffee, and I allow myself two coffees with cream on a fast day. It doesn't seem to cause any problems. Another thing people like on fast days is chicken broth/bouillon. It's 10 calories for a cup and it's very satisfying (probably due to the warmth and the salt). Many people have one of those in the afternoon to hold them over until dinner.

Welcome to the forum!

Hi and welcome Kyle

Yes, you might lose weight that way. But you could also make it easier on yourself by changing up what you eat. For example those chips are a lot of calories for not necessarily a lot of satisfaction. For 600 calories, you could have a fairly large piece of meat and a pile of veggies which would totally fill you up.

The things like sweet tea and fries and a peach turnover, all in one day, might be the first things to look at if you don't lose weight.

Thank you! I know I can drink, but I usually don't drink much throughout the day anyway. I get caught up in work and just don't drink. I'm sure that's not good for me. It's not intentional though, just always been that way.
That being said, If you are happy with slow and steady, then your current plan will probably work for you. Dr. Varaday has certainly said her dieters are allowed to eat *ANYTHING* they want on the every other day diet, and they still have success so long as they stick to the fast day calorie limits.


BTW, you are allowed to drink during the day -- please DO drink during the day!!! Water, unsweetened iced tea, black coffee and seltzer/club soda all have no calories. You're correct that you will lose weight faster and have an easier time of it if you don't eat until dinner, but you can have a *few* calories. For example, I have 1/2 of a tablespoon of half and half in my coffee, and I allow myself two coffees with cream on a fast day. It doesn't seem to cause any problems. Another thing people like on fast days is chicken broth/bouillon. It's 10 calories for a cup and it's very satisfying (probably due to the warmth and the salt). Many people have one of those in the afternoon to hold them over until dinner.

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you! I know I can drink, but I usually don't drink much throughout the day anyway. I get caught up in work and just don't drink. I'm sure that's not good for me. It's not intentional though, just always been that way.

Hi @Kyle Giddens, welcome to the forum and to this way of eating (WOE). Well done on getting started, that's the biggest step already taken.
I would say you really need to drink when fasting, even if you don't usually drink very much. We get water from food too so without the food you'll be getting even less water. This can hinder your progress, your body will hold on to water if it thinks there is a shortage. Sorry if tmi but not drinking enough can also cause constipation in fasters as the digestive system slows down. Men usually lose weight easier and faster than women but I'm not really sure your plan is the best way to approach 5:2 if you're new to fasting. If you plan on fasting on Mondays and Wednesdays, you'll have 4 non-fastdays in a row. For myself and I know many others, I would regain anything lost through fasting in those 4 days, unless I was very strict and really watched what I ate on non-fastdays too.
Sorry if I sound negative but I don't want you to think this is a magic plan that will work wonders if you just do 2 fast a week. Tracieknits mentioned that Dr. Varaday said you can eat whatever you want on the every other day diet but that's not the plan you are doing. I think you would be better fasting on Thursday instead of Wednesday, to have less days inbetween and definitely try to drink 8 glasses of water a day.
Good luck as you continue, please keep us posted on how you get on. Happy fasting.

Thanks Dee. I won't get discouraged. I've dieted my entire life! I appreciate the advice and perhaps I'll look into moving a fast day. I agree I need to drink more. I hope I will. I just don't get thirsty. My wife gets onto me all the time! I have fasted a lot in the past for spiritual and health reasons so I'm not new to fasting, just new to this diet. I have tried lots of diets and found most of them work. I get bored easily though so I try new ones. I'm 5' 11" with a big build and I weigh 197 as of Monday. I don't need to lose too much. Thanks for the advice. I really do appreciate it.

Hi kyle and. Welcome!
Plentyof good advice there from the two lovely ladies above, and tons more tips and so on if you browse round.
Wishing you the best of luck on yr journey! X

[Tracieknits]

Yes, sorry for the assumption -- I assumed you were doing the Every Other Day Diet, which is a totally legit diet that this forum supports. We started out as the 5:2 diet forum, but we changed our name to FastDay in order to incorporate, among others, the Every Other Day Diet and 16:8/Eating Windows/8 hour diet.

If you are doing 5:2 and all of your normal days look like what you described, then JustDee is right, you probably won't lose weight.

I'll weigh Monday and see. I have no problem making adjustments. Today I had two sandwiches one with one slice ham and the other with one slice of turkey and cheese. I had a total of about 460 calories. I drank water. I decided to weigh after I read the advice and I was down about 2.2 lbs since Monday. I realize that could be water weight but then again I ate really well yesterday.

[Tracieknits]

Personally, I would have done more meat and less bread. 150 calories of deli meat is a lot more filling and satisfying long term than two slices of bread But that's a great result!

Hi and welcome Kyle,lots of good advice from people so far,I have 2 fasts a week and try and throw in a one meal a day as well,it does work but it's slow, but you need to be careful what you eat and how much you eat on the free eating days,I work as a domestic cleaner and it's hard work,on a good day I drink 2 litres of water when fasting and I feel fine the trouble I have is staying on track although I know it does work for me,I don't have a lot of weight to lose but would like to lower my cholesterol level.
All the best to you

Hi there! I'm new here as well and today marks the start of my second week. Somehow, I lost 3 lbs already (though I know I may not lose at all this week). Today is a fast day and I'm surviving on coffee. Also looking forward to dinner tonight!

[Tracieknits]

Welcome to the forums, @ECH258 Congratulations on your loss!

@Kyle Giddens, welcome! I'll chime in on the good advice; here's a pdf I put together for friend of mine.

5-2 et al.pdf

5.2 Basics

(590.6 KiB) Downloaded 54 times

It summarizes how 5.2 works, as well as some observations made about what works...and what doesn't.

For example, although I don't limit carbs AT ALL on normal days, by default I surely do on light (fast) days; no bread, no alcohol, no starchy stuff at all...pretty much veggies, fake meat (I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian, so yes on eggs and cheese--though the only cheese on light days a sprinkle of Parmesan) and maybe beans, eggs (surprisingly low cal for satiety potential), fruit, and low cal/high protein (Greek) yogurt.

Many of us find that eating carbs in particular triggers the appetite/hunger monster. I've found a trick that helps me stay on track on light days: I tend to get pretty darn hungry by dinnertime, so I blanch a few ounces of broccoli and eat that while I'm making my main dinner. The fiber and negligible calories helps me get past the "frantically hungry, eat anything that can't escape" phase.