The FastDay Forum

Hi @Madmily, I cannot be as flexible as @StowgateResident. I am a firm, unalterable, carved in stone Monday & Thursday faster. That way I am 100% resolute. If I allow myself Flexibility, then I would get to 4pm and say, "Oh, that looks really tasty, I will make tomorrow my fast day and eat that now." I have never bent the rules on a fast day either. The limit is the limit. 600 cals (I am a man) Not a lettuce leaf more. Again, if I break the rules then the whole house of cards will collapse.
I do not have the strength of will that the amazing Stowgate has! I do this for my own protection.

Thank you you kindly for your compliments, @Fat_Teacher! Although they are mainly undeserved! My willpower comes and goes, hence the ups and downs on my Progress Tracker. At the moment it is easy to be focused - with less than a month before my month-long holiday begins. If you could see me on a cruise ship, with wall to wall food, you would realise that willpower is not a permanent fixture in my life!

StowgateResident wrote: Hello, @Madmily. I have fasted on Tuesday and Friday this week, although Monday and Thursday are my more usual days. That's just one of the things I like about IF. You can do it whenever it suits you best!

Yah you're right we can do it whenever we want. Thanks.

@stowagate were you always that username? I used to religiously fast thurs and Mon. However, for 2 weeks I'm going to try Mon Wed and a half fast friday to kick start things.

Hello, @teddybear. Yes I have always been StowgateResident, ever since I started on here at the end of January 2013. It seems a long time ago but this WOE is the only way in which I have stopped the yo-yo dieting which plagued me from my early twenties. I don't really like Monday, Wednesday, Friday fasting and only did it for a couple of weeks but it helped to focus my mind after quite a long break from proper fasting. I'm now back to twice a week and back to my target! Hurrah!

Good luck with your fasting regime!

Like @Stowgateresident I find Monday and Thursday fit best, but I might change things if I need to. For example, Mondays are a common holiday from school or work and it can be hard when I have the boys home.

Good luck with your Mon-Weds-Friday fasting, @teddybear. If you find it too hard to do that schedule, try Mon-Thurs rather than giving up completely. I have a rough time sticking with ADF myself, although some people do really well with it.

I'm one of those woo-woo spirit tarot astrology type people, so I confess that I pay attention to the Void of Course Moon and don't fast during those days, as anything undertaken during VOC will "come to nothing" -- so I fast when not VOC so that it works and if I eat something bad I eat it during VOC so that it has less effect! lol

But on a more practical level, when I started 5:2, I noticed it felt weird to only do it for 2 days a week, like I kept forgetting that a day WASN'T a fast day. Something about the routine of it? My days and frequency of fasts (beyond making sure I do at least 2 fast days a week) vary based on whether my body feels ready to fast.

Hi I am new to 5:2 (about 4 weeks in) but have been following various IF styles for about a year. I have settled on 5:2 as I feel that it is the most flexible and do-able in the long term. I have decided to follow 4:3 as this seems to fit best in my life at the moment. My fast days were Monday, Wednesday & Friday, however, I have just started back in uni. It's on a Monday (2pm-8pm) and didn't fancy fasting all day in uni when I won't get home until 9pm so I have decided to do Wednesday, Friday & Sunday as my fast days instead fingers crossed this will work well for me but I am also happy to drop a fast day if I am unable to fit 3 in due to unforeseen circumstances! Lovely to hear how everyone fits 5:2 around their lives and makes me confident that this is a WOE that I can stick to for life! Good luck on your journeys everyone

Welcome @emir3101!

If you have a read around assorted discussion threads - including the success stories - you will get lots of info on how people fit IF into their lifestyle.

I would guess the most common approach is "just do it"! For those who choose fast days, my summary of an "average" fast day is that the fasters aim to keep busy during the day using generally unsweetened drinks and maybe a salty drink to get them through, have an approx 500 cal meal for dinner, maybe something just before bed, and don't go to bed too late. Lots also aim to minimize carbs on all days.

When I first started 5:2 (I admire anyone who can manage 4:3) I had 3 small meals a day, and that worked well, but I did end up moving to the one meal a day alternative.

The windows approach to fasting is also quite common, where you only eat in an 8 (or less) hour window every day. What other approaches have you tried?

Best wishes and do keep us posted on your progress - start an "Introduce yourself" thread perhaps, and/ or join the challenge.

Monday and tuesday

I'm a beginner at this. Actually my husband and I are beginners. I finished my third fast at 10 a.m. This might be prone to change with us. It's because of my husband's work. I'm drawing my social security. He is, too, but he still does his work, which is contracting for several people. This week we started Sun morning at 10 and ended Mon at 10. It went so good. I felt great for the fast.

Hi, I'm new to this system and I'm still trying to get into the fasting habit too. My latest attempts are to try to fast as I can, not as I should. Each wednesday and fridays fast is a true challenge and sometimes I do better than at other times. Though I don't have any specific conditions I should be aware of, so I can vary my fasting days.