Hi Hayley

Take it one day at a time. Your first fast day will probably be a new experience – you might feel a bit wobbly, and you might not. Drink plenty: water, tea or coffee – count any milk into your 500 calories. Each time you start to feel hungry, have something to drink first.

Plan your fast day food ahead of time the first few times – I wait till lunch time for food, usually a light soup and a mandarin or kiwifruit. Then for dinner I have a thicker vegetable soup or a mushroom omelette or a piece of fish with lots of steamed carrots and broccoli.

You will get through the fast day – just remember it is just one day and you can have breakfast tomorrow. It isn’t long now.

Use the “how it works” page to calculate the number of calories to maintain your current weight and aim to eat a little less than that on your non fast days (NFD). Keep a record of everything you eat for a few weeks until you are familiar with the number of calories in various foods. I have been doing this for 17 weeks and still keep a record (on my Fitbit page). Get a smaller dinner plate and cereal bowl and get familiar with appropriate serving sizes. If there is a particular food that is your downfall, enlist someone’s help who will give you a small portion, and learn to savour it – ie let a square of chocolate dissolve on your tongue without chewing it up quickly.

I found it really satisfying to feel genuine hunger – it makes you appreciate your food all the more, and to really think about what it is that you want to eat.
The beauty about this way of life is that there is no sense of deprivation. There is no food that is out of bounds (although diet drinks and artificial sweeteners can work against what your body is trying to achieve).

Be kind to yourself if you do stumble. If a fast day falls over, make the next day your fast day.

Some folks on here like their fast days back to back, I prefer to slot mine more evenly over the week (Monday and Thursday works for me) so experiment to find out what will work best for your work and social life. Finding a buddy to do it with you so that you can encourage each other is great – my daughter and I are working together and now several of my work colleagues have joined me. Check through the threads on here and choose one from your part of the world for some online encouragement.

Best of luck.