Hi Kolojo, it is also my first fast day…. this week. I’ve been fasting since April this year and it has gone well on most days. Eating the way you have doesn’t give your body the opportunity to get into ketosis or autophagy. If you had had all of your 500 cals in one meal at around 1PM you would then have ended up with two periods of approximately 18 hours of fasting, and this, though harder to do, is a more effective way to do it.

My plan today is to follow the ‘it is easier to not eat’ and haven’t had anything but water since 19h30 last night, and don’t plan on eating until 7h30 tomorrow morning. This gives me a 36 hour fast. It is 16h05 as I type this, so only fifteen more hours (some of which will be sleeping) before I get to eat again.

I remember my first fast day was quite difficult, the second was easier and since then it has been mostly easy.

Good luck with keeping with it!

Hi Kolojo:

No, you were correct.

Dr. Krista Varady’s recent research addresses the question of when you should eat on your diet days. Here is her summarization of her research on the topic:

“Quick update: Our “meal timing” study is now finished and the results have been published in the Journal, Obesity. Please find a link to the abstract below…
Results from this study show that people can eat the fast day meal at dinner or as small meals throughout the day and lose the same amount of weight as eating the meal at lunch. This is contrary to what we expected…before the study was complete, we assumed that people would not be able to control their calories if they ate small meals throughout the day. We were wrong!
In short, feel free to spread your fast day calories throughout the day if this works for you.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25251676

As the research shows, you can eat whenever you want, and as long as you stay within the calorie restrictions you will lose the same amount of weight regardless of one meal or six.

Hi Kolojo:

Remember, the TDEE is an estimate, so if you feel it is too high, it may very well be. But for now you don’t have to worry about it and can use the estimate until it proves wrong (if it does, it may be just fine).

So, yes, you can eat any foods you want as long as you eat about 1680 or fewer calories. There is no requirement to eat the full 1680, so coming in under that number if you otherwise want to is just fine.

The basic rule is the less you eat, the more you lose.

Good Luck!