Anyone else do it like this?

This topic contains 10 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by Jassey 11 years, 2 months ago.

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watters87

12:23 pm
5 Sep 13
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Is this cheating…

Before a fast day I have my last meal at dinner time the night before. On the day of the fast, I eat nothing all day until dinner time but I do drink around 2-3 cups of coffee with semi-skimmed milk (plus loads of plain water!) I can’t bring myself to count calories so at dinner time on a fast day, I have just been having a healthy meal eg. tonight I will have baked chicken breast, homemade sweet potato wedges with 1tsp olive oil, broccoli and half a corn on the cob.

Am I still going to get the benefits of fasting? I’ve been loosing weight but I have also been very careful on my non-fasting days.

Anyone else do it like this?

DrLL

12:56 pm
5 Sep 13
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Watters87, you are not alone. I’m doing the 24hour fast twice a week without counting calories (except I drink my coffee black).

If anything, you will have more health benefits than if you had three small meals because the health benefits are somehow related to how long we are in a fasted state.

watters87

1:22 pm
5 Sep 13
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That’s interesting, thank you DrLL.

Even though the scales have been gradually going down since I started last week I’m finding it hard to believe that the weight loss is ‘real’ rather than just water weight.

franfit

1:43 pm
5 Sep 13
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As long as your portion sizes are reasonable (as in one chicken breast, approximately a cup of sweet potato), the dinner you describe sounds like it could easily come in at under 500 calories. If having to count calories would sabotage your efforts, I think it’s better to avoid it and just be careful instead, like you are. The weight loss is real — amazing, huh? No other way I could lose weight so easily.

watters87

1:46 pm
5 Sep 13
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Thanks Fran – long may it continue!

DrLL

2:45 pm
5 Sep 13
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😉 well, my weight loss is real. More than 10% reduction since last day of May. Fat melted off (punched two new holes in belt and adjusted straps on helmet). By the way I started on 5:2 with 600 KCal a day, but I hate the calorie counting part so drifted into the “5:2 – 24 h not counting” version you are also doing.

If you do not believe your luck then perhaps google and read the e-books on fast-5 lifestyle (free) and the Eat-Stop-Eat diet (not free). Lot of explanation why this works and how it may affect your health in positive ways.

Keep doing what you are doing, it seems to be just what works for you.

TracyJ

3:07 pm
5 Sep 13
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Hi watters87, you’ve just described what I do whenever I go on holiday. For normal fastdays I know exactly how full my bowl of bran flakes needs to be for my quota but when I go on holiday I hate to think about calorie counting. So the day I fly out I eat nothing until I get wherever I’m going and then just have a restrained evening meal and on the day I fly back I do the same. They’re not exactly ‘to the letter’ fastdays and they usually don’t both fit into the same 7 day period but it’s something and it helps me get back into the swing after not thinking about what I’m eating at all while I’m away.

watters87

4:17 pm
5 Sep 13
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That’s a really good idea Tracy – I’m going on holiday Monday to Thursday next week and think I’ll do exactly that.

I have to say, never did I ever believe I would be able to go 24 hours without eating. But now if anything I’d say I am hungrier on my non-fast days.

I suppose if I plateau I could always cut the white coffees and switch to rigid calorie counting of my evening meal to get things moving again!

TracyJ

9:33 am
6 Sep 13
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Yep – I know what you mean. It can be hard to stop sometimes on non-fastdays. I think you just get yourself into a rigid “I can say no to anything today” mindset on fastdays and then the second you break your fast on a non-fastday you can’t stop thinking about what’s next food-wise. Only sometimes though. Most of the time, especially on days where I just treat my day at work as if it were a fastday too, I can’t get more than 1500 or so calories down me in the time between getting home from work and going to bed – even if I really really try 😉

InShape

8:03 pm
6 Sep 13
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I usually skip breakfast on a fast day and do not eat anything for at least 21 hours (from 7 pm to 4 pm). Then I have a healthy snack and a regular supper. I believe my total calorie range for the fast day is between 7 and 9 hundred. A tad more than Michael is suggesting but a lot less than my non-fast day averages of 2800 – 3200 calories.

I have been fasting for eight weeks now, three of which I only had one fast day and I have lost eight pounds. I am more than satisfied with a weight loss of one pound a week.

Last year I put myself on a calorie restricted diet of 2300 a day. This caused me to constantly think about food which made me ravenous. I hardly every stuck to the 2300 calories and during the nine weeks of the experiment I didn’t lose an ounce but felt hungry, guilty and unsatisfied all the time.

The fast diet gives permission to skip meals and that seems to be the key for my success.

Jassey

12:54 am
7 Sep 13
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Hi watters87, I do a similar thing to you except that I eat breakfast then nothing else until the next breakfast two times a week. I have done this since April and find its perfect for me. No fussing with food on fast days is a plus for me- I enjoy a break from the kitchen and meal planning etc. And have been amazed at how easy it is to just stop eating for awhile! It is something I can stick to. As I have lost weight I have noticed my apatite changing- I dont seem to want to eat as much but still have to be aware that as my weight reduces so should my portion sizes.

I can totally relate to your experience InShape about calorie restricting/counting. In my personal experience, I found the obsessing about calories/points really got me down and my success was small anyway. This suits me so much better and am so thankful I have stumbled across this approach.

I hope that everyone is having a successful day and enjoying any newfound benefits of fasting! (I’m surprised at how I seem to have the “brain fog” lifting, which can only be a good thing!)