The FastDay Forum

Hi Everyone. I've actually been following a similar version of this diet based around the genesis project, research into Breast cancer prevention. It was initially highlighted about a year ago in Jan 2012 in Good Housekeeping magazine. I started in about mid June 2012, so around the same time as Michael Moseley. I was really excited when I saw the Horizon programme was covering it, as by then I was all ready getting really good results and had decided I could see myself sticking with it much longer term than any other way of eating to achieve and maintain a healthy weight I'd so far tried.

After the first few weeks I settled into it quite easily. I've played around with different methods of following the diet, and I seem to prefer the eating nothing all day and eat a reasonable 500 kcal dinner method. Some days, if I'm feeling OK, I can even have less and make it to next morning. I'll then have a really good but healthy breakfast, based around eggs with either bacon or ham, sometimes even smoked salmon, with seedy toast or Ryvita.

I've learnt loads about my natural hunger impulses through this way of eating, and I'm really wondering where this "3 meals a day" routine came from historically? I was on weightwatchers and forcing myself to eat a breakfast every day, when I naturally don't really feel a need to eat until about 10 am, and even then, I'm happy with a glass of milk and an apple, instead of a carb heavy bowl of porridge. After the first few months of the 5:2 diet I realised I just don't need to eat if my body isn't asking for food. I have learnt what real hunger is, as opposed to peckishness (probably caused my seeing food). In fact I don't get really hungry, uncomfortably so, until half way through the second day. I had tried 2 consecutive days, but it was too harsh for me and the loss of concentration on the second day was causing problems (I even managed to book a trip away with hotel and flight dates out of sync!). I'm glad I did it a few times though, as I now know that real primal hunger doesn't occur until midway through the second day. Day one is more about staying away from food triggers. I am starting to feel a bit hungry by the end of the day, but I have developed a routine of allowing myself a low cal hot choc drink treat in the evening. I look forward to it and I know allowing a food treat isn't necessarily the right thing, but it works for me.

The main thing I want to say is that although the fasting days can sometimes be hard, it's got easier over time and I'm so glad I learnt about this. I can really see myself using this method of eating for the long term. It's the first "diet plan" that has ever made me feel that after 6 months. I don't necessarily enjoy the fasting days, but I don't hate them either. And I have my hot chocolate to look forward to tonight

Well, I could write a book about my experiences myself, but I'll stop here. I'm sure I'll be seeing you all on various threads over time.

[Moogie]

Welcome Gum168, it's great to have such an experienced member here I'm sure you've got loads to contribute here! Thanks for such an interesting first post.

I feel much the same way as you, 3 meals a day is rubbish - I don't feel hungry generally until almost midday most days and on a fasting day I don't feel real hunger pangs until around 5pm when I start to think about making dinner

Those low cal hot chocs are lovely as a warming treat on a fast day too. I used to have one (or a half of one) in the afternoon if I got peckish but I've learned to ignore that and save the cals for dinner or to allow myself the hot choc later on. I managed without it completely last week.

I'm fasting today and having seriously overindulged at the weekend due to a couple of social occasions I'm thinking of throwing in an extra day this week to give my body a rest. Unfortunately due to social commitments this week, it will mean I need to two two days in a row. I've not done that before but hopefully I'll survive & not lose my concentration too much!

Yes very interesting Gum168, I too have come round to a very similar approach to the fasting days. And from being (initially) very grumpy all evening I'm now pretty chilled about the whole process.

The original Genesis project diet involved a lot of milk on fasting days, I think, and some of us were wondering about that and whether it was helpful (or healthy). What is your experience?

Hi Moogie

I'm fasting today also. About to take the dogs for a walk to keep distracted and soak up some good sunshine. Looks blowy out there, but lovely and sunny.

It's funny really, I don't think of this as a "fasting" day as such, more a no food day. Don't think about food, don't look at it, stay away from the kitchen etc. The more I stay away from it the better.

Good luck with your day.

Hi Dominic

Oh yes, the grumpiness ha ha. That was partly why I gave up trying 2 consecutive days. I don't think my husband and daughter could have taken much more. I've never found day one too hard though.

I did start with all the milk allowance, but I kept getting to the end of the day with half of it still in the bottle (I measured it out every morning to make it easier and labeled the bottle with my name so no one else used it). I also got massive headaches, but increasing my water intake seemed to cure that. I made up lots of vegetable soup for the freezer and mostly used that at lunch and dinner times. I think it was a good way to introduce myself to the idea that I could eat very much less than I thought I needed on a daily basis, but even before the Horizon was shown, I'd started to move away from the milk part. After the Horizon, I gave up worrying about cramming 2 pints of milk in spread out across a day and experimented with just having about 500 kcals for a dinner, which is a very respectable amount for someone used to diets for over 15 years. I have to say that the weightwatchers and Rosemary Conley experiences have at least taught me lots of healthy low cal meals and 500 kcals is about what I used to aim for as a main meal anyway. If I'm unsure about any food I use myfitnesspal phone app to check the kcals, but I mostly know what I'm doing on that front now without looking.

Overall I prefer the non milk diet approach, but I think the key with dieting is finding the way that works for you, that you personally can stick with. All diets work, but only if the people following them can stick to them. Its the sticking to them that's hard. If it was easy there wouldn't be a need for the diet industry. We humans can't restrain ourselves around food and the modern developed world environment means we are surrounded by food everywhere we turn. In fact, I have for many years thought that the natural state for humans and all animals is to eat when they see food, and diets are really controlled forms of eating disorder. Telling me to count everything I eat causes an unnatural obsession with food because if I don't force myself to think about it, I end up putting more food in my mouth than I realise. For once I feel like this 5:2 way of eating fits what my body wants to do which is why I can see myself sticking with it. Only time will tell of course, but I've never felt this comfortable about a diet 6/7 months in.

Hi Gum 168
I found you posts really interesting, thanks. I couldn't agree more about the breakfast. I have never wanted to eat breakfast, but many diet plans insist, "It's the most important meal of the day" and suchlike. I think one of the beauties of the 5:2 diet is the freedom and autonomy it gives, as long as one simple rule is followed. Like you I have tried every diet plan going, and have always failed with them, but this is so much more sustainable. On fast days, I hardly think about food, unlike so many other diets when you are virtually forced to think about it all the time.
Before starting the 5:2 in January I had managed to lose about 18lbs by calorie counting, but it was so hard, and very patchy, plus I felt guilty if I didn't stick to it absolutely. With 5:2, I mainly feel virtuous!
Pat

Hi Gum168, welcome to the forum.

I only joined last week and find this site so friendly and supportive, which is such a great thing to have when like me, you're embarking on a new way of living.

I did two consecutive days of fasting last week (my first week), and didn't find it too bad, but will be doing either 4:3 or 5:2 in the future as I think it'll be easier to cope long-term. This week it's a 4:3!!

Like you, I have been a long term dieter and so know calorie values of most foods, which wasn't always the case. I seriously under-estimated the values and wondered why I wasn't losing weight!! It was only a true friend corrected my unfortunate ways!! Now though, if anything, I probably over-estimate calories and again, like you, have been having between 400 - 500 calorie evening meals, which is what I'm sticking to now.

Last week, I spread my calories out, but this week, I'm attempted to have just one main meal and will 'nick' your idea of having a low cal hot chocolate before bed.

It's lovely to have positive role models for this way of life. Long may it continue!

Hi Gum168

Great first (and subsequent) post(s)!

I began IFing (after a fashion) in Feb last year after seeing several articles in the press. This is what I wrote in my blog on the 27th Feb:


It’s becoming generally recognised that reduced food intake by mammals extends normal lifespan. 



Here’s a Time magazine article on the subject:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1963392_1963366_1963381,00.html

And another one, from the Independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/eat-less-live-longer-1744811.html

I also read recently (can’t find the article, sorry) that giving up food for a couple of days a week and eating what you liked for the rest of the week was good for your longevity. 

It made the point that homo sapiens had developed as hunter/gatherers, and were used to both feast and famine.

I’ve been thinking about trying this myself – but being rather unsure of how I would react I thought I’d dip my toe in the waters first.

So I’ve decided to cut my food intake down by half for 2 days a week (and eating normally on the other 5 days), starting today.


So, this morning I began with:


And then I list my three 50% meals for the day.

I carried on like this right up until early August, when the Horizon programme was aired - and, like you, I was very excited to see my methods justified. And then I reduced my food intake down to <600 calories on my fasting days.

Even on the 50% I lost weight at a steady pace. Initially I thought I'd lose the 2-3 lbs I'd put on over Christmas - but the weight just kept on coming off. For the past several months I'm where I want to be at just over 9 stone.

I'm delighted with this WOL and I doubt I'll ever give it up - I'm lean and fit and feel great. Looking back I was never in that position once I left my 30s (I'm now in my mid-seventies).

Like you I wonder where the '3 meals a day, breakfast is the most important meal' rubbish came from? Can't all be down to Dr Kellogs can it? Never in our history until the last couple of hundred years have we had cupboards (and now fridges/freezer) full of food - we've always wondered where the next meal was coming from.

I've got a fasting blood test coming up at the end of the month, looking forward to the results of that.

Cheers, Paul

Hi Gum168, (also Breadandwine and others) - thanks for all that feedback, agree with everything you say.

One little point that puzzled us about the Genesis diet menu we saw was that it specified 2 pints of semi-skimmed milk per fast day, but that alone is 568 calories, and there was quite a lot of other stuff too, so we wondered if it was a misprint for skimmed milk?

I will be interested to see what is recommended for fasting days in Harvie and Howell's forthcoming book (http://www.genesisuk.org/media-centre/articles/The-2-Day-Diet-Book.html).

Hi Paul

I just read your 5th jan post on your blog. I promise I had never seen that before I posted on here. But you've obviously thought about it in exactly the same way I have. I totally agree with your thoughts about a hunger switch.

In fact on eating days I've also started not necessity having anything to eat until I really feel the need to. That's not to deliberately cut calories, it's more about having found the confidence to listen to my body more carefully and go with the flow.

One of the "rules" of the Paul Mckenna plan is eat what you want when you want but only when you are genuinely hungry. I think identifying genuine hunger has become problematic for us in these times of plenty.

I'm really glad I found this place and to discover that so many other people are having similar experiences to my own. I'm now even more convinced that the 5:2 way of eating, or similar is a more natural way to eat and is closer to what our bodies expect.

Hi All,
I am new to this site - but not so new to the 5.2 - I started it on the 9th September 2012 and followed it missing about 3 fast days and then about 4 over Christmas. My goal was/is to lose 10kg and I have lost 6.4kg so far. I find it rather easy but have been feeling a bit deflated as the weight loss over the past month has been minimal (lost 1kg) in the last month) Wow, actually I just realized that is not so bad - not as much as in the beginning - but I did recheck my measurements yesterday and that put me in a good mood as I have lost 5cm overall. I guess I just want the last 3.6kg to be gone now.. i always seem to struggle with the last bit.. I find the fast days a real good break for my body and feel empowered by the fact that i am sticking to it and that I feel cleaned out. Anyone else have a slow down of weight loss near the end like this? (need any motivation I can get)
thanks - Sara

Welcome to the forum Sara, you already have some very good progress to show!

I think that as your weight/BMI falls you would expect weight loss to slow down, and the forum tracker stats confirm this. Also there is some talk of a plateau when you stop losing weight at about 10% weight loss from start of diet, though I can't see any physical reason for this.

The forum stats says that average weight loss for women of healthy BMI on 5:2 for a period of 3-6 months is 0.2 kg per week, so your loss of 1kg in month sounds fine. Keep up the good work!

[Moogie]

My loss has slowed down compared with the start, but I don't mind as I'm much smaller now than when I started and I know the number on the scales keeps going down... despite eating all the things I like. I don't feel guilty about treats anymore either.

1kg a month is still a good loss, especially when you're already in the healthy BMI range What other eating plan lets you eat all your favourite things most of the time and still lose weight?

Hi Moogie and Dominic,
Thanks for the feedback/replys. Good to know that the aim is 0.2 kg - so I am on track. I must say, today is my fast day (same as your Moogie) and because the cat work me early which woke the baby which meant I was awake at 6am... i have been a bit annoyed all morning. I was trying to give myself permission to not fast today... but i really don't have a good reason not to. I said to myself (some time ago) that i will not miss fast days (unless impossible) until i reach my goal weight.. and as i am not there yet .. i really can't give myself permission to not. But it helps knowing that you are also fasting today Moogie.. I have to fast if I want my 0.2 off tomorrow morning..

I sympathise Sara, we were also woken early by our cat and this is a fasting day for us too (Mon + Thurs seems to be the most popular days generally)... I'm told I was grumpy yesterday so I must prove I am (slightly) less grumpy when fasting!