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24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 16 Feb 2013, 20:48
by Shirley
Hello everyone , please could you tell me is it ok to fast from 6 pm til 6pm next day . I did Monday and Thursday this last week but does it have to be 36 hours to get the full benefits ? Thank you

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 16 Feb 2013, 22:37
by Breadandwine
Hi Shirley

The idea is to have one day where you eat a quarter of your calories - but you sleep before and after. I fast for 24 hours up until dinner time - and then have a <600 cal meal. I resume normal eating on the following morning - so the body is essentially fasting for 36 hours.

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 16 Feb 2013, 23:18
by LastChance
I saw the subject and thought it was about BMI values!! ;-)

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 17 Feb 2013, 05:04
by Shirley
Thanks for that , I thought I had read somewhere that 24 hour was ok !! . Back to the drawing board then ...

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 17 Feb 2013, 09:39
by carorees
24 is okay as long as your total calorie intake over the week is reduced enough for weight loss and, if you want the other health benefits, there are long gaps between calorie intake. If you can work with those 'rules' to create a 24 hour fast, that is great.

A lot of confusion has been created by Dr MM calling the day when we have only 500 cals a 'fast'. A fast usually means no calories at all. But in the "5:2 fast diet" a true 24 hour fast followed by a light meal, done twice a week counts the same as spreading 500 cals out over an approx 36 hour period. Probably we need to call the latter a VLCD (very low calorie day) and keep the term fast for the period of no cals at all.

So, having a VLCD that lasts from 2pm to 2pm is not going to be very effective if you have a lot of calories before and after the 24 hours. On the other hand, having a 24 hour fast from 2 to 2, will be effective.

Am I making sense?

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 17 Feb 2013, 14:01
by Shirley
Right I have got it now , no wonder I thought this was easy , so I have to go all night as well . My way the 6 til 6 fit in great as I don't want my two girls who are at the impressionable age to cotton on to what I was doing . As you say it's doable if I restrict calories throughout the week but I've done all that ( ex slimming world ) so i will the 36 hour starting tomorrow . Thank you very much for your valuable advice .

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 17 Feb 2013, 18:54
by carorees
If you fast completelyfor 24 hours (6 to 6) and then have 500 cals you get a dinner that looks completely normal. If you have lean meat like chicken or fish and lots of veg you can cut down on potatoes to keep your cals down but cook some for everyone else. That's what I do anyway.

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 18 Feb 2013, 10:18
by Bee
Oooops..I got it wrong then, I've been having light breakfast at 6am nothing till 6pm then a light meal. I think I need to bang my head against the wall a few times :)
Still it feels good and seems to work so maybe I'll just stick to it this way...any thoughts ?

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 18 Feb 2013, 10:33
by carorees
Bee, it's not wrong! I was just pointing out that if you want to have a normal looking dinner so as, for example, not to raise questions about your eating habits, then having 500 cals in one go looks pretty normal. You carry on with what you're doing!

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 18 Feb 2013, 10:56
by Bee
Thanks Carorees....I just checked the q and a....sometimes my dumbness amazes me :)

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 19 Feb 2013, 07:55
by Shirley
Thanks Caroline , first fast over and tucking into breakfast this morning , didn't sleep to good but will look up other posts about that problem !!

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 19 Feb 2013, 09:41
by BlastFirst
Shirley wrote: Right I have got it now , no wonder I thought this was easy , so I have to go all night as well . My way the 6 til 6 fit in great as I don't want my two girls who are at the impressionable age to cotton on to what I was doing . As you say it's doable if I restrict calories throughout the week but I've done all that ( ex slimming world ) so i will the 36 hour starting tomorrow . Thank you very much for your valuable advice .


I've been doing 24 hour "fasts" (i.e. 600 cals limit) and it has been working very well for me. As I've carried on with the diet I have found my eating habits changing exactly as Mimi described in the book - I can put up with some hunger in the day so have probably reduced calorie intake on my off too though, as the book also suggests, I never count calories on those days.

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 19 Feb 2013, 20:56
by Shirley
Blastfast thank you , just to clarify you only do a 24 hour ? .

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 19 Feb 2013, 21:59
by mrsnju
So if I wake on a fast day and have breakfast around 730am the. Eat again at tea time say 5ish then not eat again till the following mornings breakfast, what am I doing ?.!

Re: 24 or 36 ?

PostPosted: 19 Feb 2013, 22:19
by carorees
mrsnju wrote: So if I wake on a fast day and have breakfast around 730am the. Eat again at tea time say 5ish then not eat again till the following mornings breakfast, what am I doing ?.!


Doing what suits you! Keep it up!