The FastDay Forum

Hi,
A few weeks ago I posted a message titled "getting nowhere fast". I was coping fine with the fast days but really struggling to curb my enthusiasm on my feed days and I was quite genuinely eating "whatever I like" on feed days ( because that's what everything I had read told me I could do).
The result was simply a vicious circle of loss and gain.
But...................
I seem to have figured it out and am now seeing results.
Firstly, please don't take the " you can eat whatever you like" stuff literally on feed days. I honestly think this is the sole reason some people struggle on this diet. We are all big fans of our food - otherwise we wouldn't be trying to lose weight! so we are naturally going to want to treat ourselves on feed days and unfortunately that's where all the good work tends to be undone.
The biggest key to success for me on the diet is the elimination of snacking. I can snack for England given half a chance and would pretty much eat rice cakes all day.... every day.
I have banned the rice cakes ( really high GI it turns out so constantly messing with my system) and really tried to have a nice gap between meals.
3 meals a day - not rocket science when you think about it!
That way, if you fancy your peanut butter on toast for breakfast, then a lovely panini with crisps and cake for lunch you can..... I usually make sure I have a pretty healthy dinner and watch the portion size but I genuinely think the snacking is the road to failure - despite how good your fast days go.
Also, I don't find the need to change my fast days menu each time - I just stick to what I know works.
I don't eat until about 1-2 pm and I have a thin turkey steak with a bit of pesto and Mediterranean veg. For dinner I have seafood ( prawns, mussels, squid mixed - again with Mediterranean veg. About 200 cals each meal - which leaves enough cals left over for a few cups of tea and a mini milk ice cream for an evening treat! ( 30 cals... Who knew!)
I am currently sticking to that...... And I am now really starting to see results.
Also - and this will be a bit controversial..... I like to weigh myself several times a week to make sure I am not falling off the wagon on my feed days. Works for me!

Good luck to everyone.... Please don't give up, you just need to tinker with your feed days and figure out a pattern that works for u.

That's great. I think the feed days are a big problem for most people, and we just have to try and work out how much we can get away with eating!
I've just entered my breakfast into MFP and I've had 300 calories on a healthy breakfast.
Funny to think I have 400 on a fast evening and am quite satisfied. I try not to eat until lunch time a post fast day, but this morning after 2 days consecutive fasting I felt I needed to eat...was hungry.
Well done on making progress. If we want the health benefits we need to keep with it.

I really agree with the 3 meal solution and avoiding snacking and the the constant weightining. I like to weight myself everyday. i don't want to wait 1 week and discover I have gained 1/2kg and then start all over again. If I see something going up for 2 days in a row I know I have to reduce immediately my calory intake.

You're quite right Slimsam, you can't eat how much you like on feed days. There's no miracle there, you lose weight only if you eat less, on feed days too. I think it's the only down side of the Fast Diet book, it doesn't tell you this! But at least you can eat what you like but in very small quantities, like a couple of squares of chocolate instead of the whole 100g bar, which I used to do.

I like the approach that if you eat 200 kcal worth of whatever food, it's a meal, even if it's one doughnut or large mocha coffee from the coffee shop.

But I do eat what I want on feed days! I just find that I don't want as much anymore! I get filled up faster than I used to, because I believe my stomach must be shrinking from my 2 fast days a week. I feel that if I crave a whole chocolate candy bar, I should eat it. And I do! Then I'm not hungry for awhile, and when I am, I fill up quickly on whatever I eat. That's one reason I like this diet so much. No deprivation.