The FastDay Forum

I had my first fast day today. By 11 am I felt awful and so I had a bit of cheese. By 2 I couldn't concentrate and people kept asking if I was ok. Skipped the gym and had some soup and an apple. Had to lie down for an hour while my husband got kids ready for bed. Ended up having a 700 calorie dinner and going to bed early. Probably had 900 calories today.

This wasn't willpower. I felt physically ill. Did this happen to anyone else? Maybe this isn't for me . I thought I'd try the 2pm-2pm fast one day next week? If that doesn't help I guess I'll have to give up...

The first day is the hardest, you have the old habits to beat and your body has a load of adaptation to do too. 900 cals is far from a disaster, and it will get easier. Have plenty of liquids (not sugary, of course), soup is good too. Celery, if you like it, has almost no calories.

If you can stick with it, you and your body will adapt. The worst is already behind you. Good luck!

Hi pumisimo, It is true that the first day is the hardest. The best advice I can give you is to drink water. I know you've heard that before, but it really works. I didn't get it to start with, taking a few sips when you're hungry just doesn't help. The key is to drink A LOT of water. The recommended 6 glasses a day just won't cut it. I drink at least 3 litres every day, and even more on fast days. I also drink a lot of black tea and coffee and green tea on fast days, the caffeine helps. I hope you get there, you'll feel great when you do.

[carorees]

Yes, I felt awful, physically ill as you say. The next one was 200% better! I did the full 24 hour fast from the start too. Interestingly, OH who had never had a weight problem was fine....I think it shows us something about our bodies' inability to burn fat....we could put it on but not burn it off, whole my OH has probably always been able to burn fat. Fasting makes is like thin people!

Thanks everyone! I had about 6 litres of water yesterday as well as 2 cups of coffee and a calorie-free iced tea. I'm a HUGE water drinker at baseline, normally have about 3-4 litres per day.

I'm encouraged to here that the next few fasts should be easier. A friend suggested I taper my fasting calories down over time...so start with 900 (my husband reminded me I had a bunch of almonds last night too so I actually probably had 1100. Oops!) for 2 fasts, then to 800, etc.?

On the plus side:
I'm not really hungry this morning
I'm very happy to have found the support of this forum so I will try again next week

Well, although my Day 1 was a total flop, I'm going to try again this week on Tuesday and Thursday. I think there were several reasons Thursday wasn't an ideal Day 1 to start: I'm still a bit jet-lagged, my period started that morning, I had a very stressful day at work, and I'd had a big meal on Wednesday night (and that always makes me wake up starving!)

Since Friday I have to admit that I have noticed a change in my appetite. I am a lot less hungry! I didn't even have breakfast yesterday (I traditionally love breakfast and never intentionally skip it. I was truly not hungry!)


I've decided I will have a piece of 45 calorie toast with laughing cow and chia seeds (110 calories or so) around 10 and around 2:30. Then I will have a 300-400 calorie dinner. The goal is to keep below 600 but I will allow myself another 100 calories in almonds if I am feeling really awful like I did last week.

If that all goes well, the next week I will try to drop the morning toast and the almonds to keep to 500.

I will keep everyone posted!

Sounds good! I find that having a Miso cup-a-soup at lunchtime helps if I'm hungry, it's hot and feels a bit filling but is low-calorie.

Pumisimo,

I don't think I could survive fast days without breakfast.. Perhaps you should consider the 250/250 cals split breakfast/lunch or breakfast/diner.

Personally, I think skipping breakfast is just twp.