The FastDay Forum

hi!
i'm a newbie in the US and looking forward to starting. my first fast day this week is going to be on Thursday. I'm aiming for Mondays & Thursdays. Any advice or tips for someone starting out?
I have about 8-10 pounds to lose.

Thanks
mm

Hi and welcome!

Good luck with your first fast. The only advice I really have to give is that there are a lot of different ways of fasting and you'll have to find what works best for you. Some people try to fast all day and eat all 500 calories for dinner. Some people will break the calories up into 2 or 3 meals throughout the day. And some people, like myself, do eating windows or 16:8. This means that I eat all my meals between the hours of 12 and 8 PM and fast from 8 PM to 12 PM the next day, but I do this almost every day. You should also try not to overdue it on your non-fast days.

Unfortunately the forum has gotten slow lately, but everyone here is really nice and there's a lot of information here. There is usually a fasting thread every day, so you can look for that tomorrow!

Welcome @moderatemeals!

Best advice is to read through the "LEARN" pages and the discussion threads and you will come across lots of tips. Most people save their cals for dinner time, but you can have 2 or 3 smaller snacks meals during the day if that would suit you better. Time will tell what works best for you. Keep very busy and away from food as much as possible, drink plenty of unsweetened drinks, sometimes a salty drink (stock cube, miso soup) can help. Have a good source of protein and some veg for your meal(s). Go to bed early. Don't overeat on non-fast days but don't undereat either - though you can take the opportunity to adjust any less positive eating behaviours (eg snacking on less nutritious foods).

I am fasting today (Thursday) so please join me in the Fasting today thread that I will be setting up soon.

Please tell us a bit more about yourself. You don't have too much to lose so don't expect quick results - on the basic 5:2 the average loss is about a pound a week, but some are quicker, some much slower. Good luck and best wishes.

NB I didn't see cblasz's reply until I had posted.

Great minds think alike!