This topic contains 205 replies, has 59 voices, and was last updated by Sarelle 9 years, 6 months ago.
Kiwilarry, yes, to me that is 24 hrs no food. Dinner Monday night till dinner Tuesday night and only 600 cals for dinner that night
Then Wednesday morning back to Normal.
Some have done 36 hrs with quite bad results ( dizzy, weak, have to go home from work etc) I would do 24 hrs at the most, until you are good with fasting then go 4 days or 30 if you want. So long as you feel ok.
I thought we were allowed 500 (or 600 for men) calories in the fasting period. So I had breakfast at 7.30 on Monday morning, muesli & yoghurt, costing 206 calories and dinner at 7.30 that night of fennel salad with 110g chicken breast, costing 263 calories, so I was not far under the 500 allowed. I resumed eating normally at breakfast on Tuesday morning. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?
OK, I’ve done a bit of searching around this site and the book and this is what it says, bearing in mind that you fast how YOU can manage it and stick to it. There is no hard and fast rule.
From the FAQs on this site:
Is a “fast day” 24 or 36 hours?
In reality a fast day is 36 hours. If you finish your last FULL evening meal at 7.30pm on Sunday, then Monday is your fast day, you are not going to be eating NORMALLY till Tuesday morning 7.30am. That is 36 hours.
From the book, the chapter ‘The Fast Diet in Practice” under the heading ‘When to Fast’:
“On a fast day, he’ll (Michael) have breakfast around 7.30am then aim to have dinner with them (the family) at 7.30pm, with nothing in between. That way he gets 2 twelve hour fasts in a day.
As the book says, you choose when you eat your 500 (or 600) calories within that period, be it one meal or two meals or several snacks. The time from 7.30 am on Monday (after breakfast) to Lunchtime on Tuesday, when NORMAL eating resumes, is 36 hours.
I can imagine I would feel faint, nauseous and be in a rat-shit mood if I had to go from Sunday night dinner till Tuesday Lunchtime with nothing to eat!!
Actually I’ve made a boo-boo. Normal eating ends with DINNER on Sunday night and finishes at BREAKFAST on Tuesday, not lunch time.
Maureen, so when do you eat the 500 calories? To me it’s as clear as day. You eat dinner at 7.30 on Sunday night.
12 hours later (Monday) you have breakfast of, say 200 calories, nothing till dinner of 300 calories at 7.30pm (another 12 hours) and then nothing until breakfast at 7.30 on Tuesday. The 500 calories are consumed DURING the fast day.
Therefore 3 x 12 hours with 500 calories.
Hi all. Another Kiwi here. I’m in Hunua (Franklin). I’ve made a semi-start for the last few weeks but have a pesky Type 1 diabetes issue to contend with (I’m on a pump so that makes fasting doable) and am on thyroid meds which may yet need increasing to get the most out of my efforts. I’m going to have a nosey around the other forums to see if there’s anyone who has just started (or is about to start) to see if we can’t ‘hold hands’ on our journey as it were but I thought I’d start here as it would be nice to stay close to home for support. Reasons for embarking on the journey – general health and wellbeing plus weight loss (about 15kg).
Hi all. I’m in Wellington. I started two weeks ago, fasting on Mondays and Thursdays and have lost the expected 1 kg, i.e. 1 lb per week. I have breakfast and the evening meal, using the recipes from the two books.
I think, not eating between breakfast and evening meal, while drinking black tea or water is the key.
The recipes in the books are good and I have sometimes used them for a healthy lunch on non-fasting days.
Don’t forget that it is not a strict regime, you can change your fasting days or the times you may want to eat.
The Book Depository has the Fast Diet book on sale today for $13.01 and free shipping. Also the recipe book. http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Fast-Diet-Mimi-Spencer/9781780721675
@monkeyw1210
“Ya.. they can talk.. they always talk to me and say “eat me!! choose me!!””
How would you respond so that your chips never talk to you again?
And you never, ever listen to them again?
➰
Hi all. I am from Hamilton. I have been on the fast regime for 4 weeks. I lost 1 kg in the first week and have been stuck since. I am determined to stay on it though fighting frustration with lack of weight loss. The documentary and the book hi light other health benefits that hopefully make it worth while. There is hereditary diabetes in my family and my husband has early onset dementia so I am wishing to avoid both.
I bought my fat, water, muscle, weight scales from Briscoes where they had weight watcher ones on a half price sale. They are quite clever. However I could cheerfully chuck them in the river right now because they refuse to show me any progress!!
Glad to have found a kiwi forum
Hi lizy, welcome. Unfortunately I am in England but at this moment in time am watching France v The All Blacks score is 9 all at present. Am hoping for an All Black win. I hope you get back onto “Losing ways” re your weight. I am so sorry about your hubby, I am an Ambulance Driver and take patients with Dementia and other mental health issues to and from hospital so I am fully aware of your issues. In respect of Dementia could I suggest you “Google” Turmeric and its possible health benefits regards Dementia. Apparently Dementia in males in India is very low. It is believed that some properties found in Turmeric may hold the key to prevention or slowing the disease down. I take a small amount daily in a Broccoli smoothy more in hope than any thing else. I know it sounds like I am a bit weird over this but have a look and make your own decisions.
Good luck.
Hi, I’m from Auckland and I’m another one that started yesterday, Monday, always a popular day to start a new project.
Been reading about the woes of book orders, I ordered my book from Mighty Ape. They have never let me down with deliveries and if book in stock you can quite often get same day delivery. A bit of a plug there.
Good luck to everyone with your personal journeys, looks like lots of local support here.
I am using a calorie counter app called “easy diet diary” Australia and nz calorie” counter. Fantastic.
Hi Tread and welcome to the NZ forum. Pity that app is only for iPhones – don’t these app builders realise the android market is far bigger than the iPad one? Nevermind, I’ll go and see if I can find a suitable app on Playstore.
I’m just doing my 4th fast day and lost 700g in the first week, which is OK by me because I have lost just over 19kg since February but needed something I could do for life rather than just dieting. This is it. I can do this no problem, combined with the exercise routine I’ve set up for myself.
I bought the two books and like the ‘manual’ which explains everything in depth making it motivational and easy to understand. However, I feel a bit cheated with the recipe book. There are lots of recipes but they haven’t got the calorie count for each food used in the recipe, just the total count for the whole recipe. A bit useless when I want to substitute, say melon for the strawberries. Or when I can’t find a food in NZ that’s on the UK market. Or when I need a bit more of the protein content at breakfast to last me through the day. There’s no way to tell the calorie count of each food without going to a website to find the relative values. And the book was advertised as not needing to do any calorie counting, it’s all done for you! It’s an expensive book of ideas!
At the back of the fast diet book ( not recipe book) are loads of foods and calorie counts. I just use that. The recipes don’t interest me. ( I have that book too) The low cal foods do and I make my own meals using ALL the low cal foods…so more bang for your buck.
Ie 8 egg whites…same as 2 eggs. More protein for your bang!
Make mayonnaise with the yolks for non fast days or se it as a mask or a hair conditioner or buy frozen whites, if we have them in this country.
( I actually don’t use eggs on fast days, too many other lower cals…like celery!)
Thank you Dumpling, hadn’t got as far as that in the book! I would have found it in the next day or so.
I differ from you in that I prefer to eat a high protein, low carb breakfast. The protein helps me last through the day. Celery is definitely low calorie but it has zero protein. I’m not interested in fast weight loss, just a steady loss suits me and I know that protein is good for me, especially after exercising. This morning for breakfast I had strawberries with balsamic and black pepper topped with low-cal cottage cheese and it will see me right through the day, topped up every couple of hours with a glass of water or cup of green tea. On non-fast days I just eat sensible foods and even treat myself occasionally and I’m doing well. Only another 12kg to reach my goal weight.
So glad this forum is still active. Gosh Dumpling, you are busy all over the site and you have some really pertinent things to say. Thanks.
This is my fifth week now and am glad to say the scales have finally moved downwards again. I only have another four kgs to go so I am probably expecting too much to drop them quickly. Like Lorie I really am trying to start a life time habit for the health reasons I mentioned above. However despite only a 1.7kg loss over the period, I have lost 2cm around my waist and another 2cm around the belly.
What a fab day. Makes you feel good when the sun is shining. Enjoy.
Glorious day up norrrrrth!
If I have breakfast, i’ld be wanting food 20 mins later, so holding off works fine for me. But I hear ya!! I eat from 12.30 onwards..not really eat, drink a boysenberry smoothie, then salad about 3 pm etc
I have kidney beans, shrimp and chicken in my evening stir fry, with a lot of veg, and that protein keeps me going for a bit and then just before bed ( hate being hungry going to sleep) cottage cheese, criskets and left over salad
Seems to work ok. 2 nd week, 1.4 kgs off in 2 weeks…is that about a pound and a bit a week?
Had 3 chocolate krispie biscuits for breakfast today. As you can see , non fast days are appalling, so 1.4 off is great!!
hiya, I have been making the Tuna Fagioli from the fast diet recipe book (on page 124). It says that it is 286 calories in total but I have discovered from reading the back of the fast diet book that the beans are worth 640 calories on their own! (per person). I’m a bit worried about the rest of the recipes now
Oh my goodness!!
However they had kidney beans wrong in the book. It is a lot less than the book says. So I think some of the book is very wrong.
So check on line re 100 grams of whatever it was you used and see if it is different from the book.
Congrats hunny on the weight loss, brilliant.
Lili3 I’m going to meet up with Nika in the Hamilton gardens in July school hols for lunch. Want to come?
July school holidays?? That’s 9 months away! Why don’t we have an area meeting somewhere, for lunch or a picnic or something. I come down to Hamilton quite often (Cambridge really, my daughter lives there).
About the calorie counts, if you’re not sure whether a recipe is right or not, look up the food here: http://nutritiondata.self.com/
It’s an American site but it has proved to be very accurate. I know we should be able to trust the book, but I’ve commented earlier in this thread about the lack of specific food calorie counts. I’m a bit disappointed with the recipe book.
I know,,,but the nz govt won’t give her a visa till next year, so she is in china now and comes to us then! So I said i’ld meet her.
I’ll show her the gardens ( I’m in Whangarei, so don’t pop to Hamilton much)
But hey, have a few meet ups, but keep the July holidays in mind as well and I’ll come down.
I’ll bring me coat.
The Hamilton Gardens is a great venue and a long way to ‘pop’ to dumpling. a gorgeous site but probably not at it’s best in July. Would love to join you and could be a bit of a guide – if nothing else, to the nearest coffee shop!
Myfitnesspal is a really good calorie count and diary site for anyone who is interested. I also use the calorie guide in the back of Michael’s book. I like that they are in 100g portion. Amazing how I have under estimated the size of my portions.
Have a great day
Hi, I just ordered the book and the recipe book from UK Book Depository yesterday. It was around $25 all up with free shipping – great value! I can’t wait to start. I need something that I can do for the rest of my life, and I think this will work; I’ve had experience with fasting before and found that if I have breakfast I am hungrier than if I had waited until mid-late afternoon – before eating, it’s very strange but it works for me!
Hi 68ginia
Where abouts are you? I’m on the Coromandel Peninsula. Don’t wait for the books, there are some breakfasts and dinners on the website that will get you going: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/menu-for-a-week-in-early-january/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/9483381/52-diet-healthy-recipes-250-calories-or-less.html
But good luck anyway, this is a very supportive forum for us Kiwis, so keep on visiting and ask any questions and share your successes.
I’ll have to try eating later in the day; I usually have breakfast around 7.30am and find I can stave off the hunger by drinking a glass of water or going for a walk. Works for around 1/2 – 3/4 of an hour then I have to have another drink. Mind you, it’s got to be good; gets my 8+ glasses of water a day into me! Today is my fast day and it’s now 3.40pm and I’m doing OK as long as I don’t think about what time I can eat again. Once I start saying ‘only another 5 hours’, I become ravenous and like you, can’t stop once I start.
Today has been the easiest so far, so it might be true, once you’re in the swing of it, it becomes easier. Today is my 5th fast day (start of 3rd week) and weigh-in is tomorrow but I had a sneaky look on my scales this morning and had lost 400g since last week. I expect it to be even more tomorrow, but I’m happy with 500g a week. Slow and steady. I’m hoping to be under 81kg very soon as that will mean I’ve lost 20kg since I changed my lifestyle back in February this year.
Hi people I am in Waihi and trying the 5:2 diet starting fasting today. Will go low carb low fat the other days. This is my millionth try at losing weight. I am 137.2 kg and 54. Nearly through the menopause #%*@# and hoping that this will help me to get under 100kgs. My brother-in-law has had good success with this 5:2 so I have seen it working. Would love to hear from anyone out there.
Cheers.
Hi Colleen100. Good on you. This way of living does seem to work for a lot of people. Have you looked at the forum for women of a certain age? lot of comment and support there as well. I guess it is trying not to look at the big picture and just taking it a day at a time. I suppose we are all a bit similar to alcoholics and can easily get discouraged. It is a lifetime journey, isn’t it?
I am in my fifth week and finding the fast days easier and easier as my mind and body gets used to them. I keep busy on those days and just remind myself that tomorrow I can eat normally.
Storitelr – you are welcome to join us. NZ is a great place to live.
YAY! Put the flags out. At my weigh-in this morning I have lost 1.3kg this week taking me down to 80.5 which means I’ve lost 20.5kg since February! Ooh, that goal is getting closer and closer. Get under 80kg and I’ll no longer be OBESE. 🙂
Welcome Colleen100,I’m wishing you well as another who was over 100kg. I feel good, better than I’ve felt for years, and dare I say it, I look good, too. You can do it, too, I know you can. We’ll all be here to cheer you on.
And welcome storitelr. Even though you’re not a Kiwi, you’re welcome here and we can make you an honorary Kiwi, I’m sure. So where are you? Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hi from the Manawatu.
I have been going for 3 & a half months. I have lost over 8 kg and am below my goal weight and looking at figuring out a maintenance regime. My brother has lost 20kg (has been fasting for longer than me) and looks trim. I can’t even remember him ever being so slim (except in old photos!).
On fast days I generally do meals that I can eat and add extras for the rest of the family. Sometimes I will use similar ingredients but cook them separately with for example less oil and weighed portions. Lots of vegetables.
I’m thinking it would be great to start a recipe file, logged under calorie amounts, say 300, 400, 500 & 600 calorie categories. With trialing, I have made up some recipes which I really enjoy. I will have to type them out & post them. Watch this space (when I have time!!)
Hi and Welcome, Rosemary G.
A simple way to do ‘maintenance’ is to cut down from 2:5 to 1:6. You will still reap the health benefits of fasting without losing weight provided you eat sufficient calories on the non-fasting 6 days.
Your idea of a recipe bank is a good one. The recipes I really like are the ones that list the calorie count for each ingredient then if I want/need to swap any items, I know how much to change the total count. That’s the downfall of the official recipe book – it only gives a total calorie count for each recipe, which is OK if you live in the UK and can get the same foods. But if you want to swap say chicken for fish and leave out the rice, it’s a hassle having to recalculate it all. There are literally thousands of 5:2 recipes online, but you have to be careful that the calorie counts are correct and the number of servings is recorded.
Could I also suggest that you put your recipes in a new thread called NZ 5:2 recipies, or something similar, then we won’t have to trawl all through the chatty posts to find them. I’d be happy to contribute some of the recipes I have collected from various places.
Just one thing, I note you say you cook things differently for the family. Wouldn’t it be just as healthy for them to have their meals cooked the same way as yours, but give them the appropriate size portion?
Hi Lorel
Thanks for the advice. I will probably stay with a definite (ie Tuesday) day to fast (suits me better) & then maybe just have just dinner on Thursday or something. I will experiment.
For the family meals, I usually just add calories for the others as they are young, skinny and energetic (like me now!! …maybe not the young)For instance tonight we are having tortillas & salad. I have also got some humus for them (& I may have some with toast for lunch tomorrow!)
The recipe thread is a great idea. I will type up some as you say. I am very aware that calorie counts for food can vary depending on where you look up the information & which product you use, but people can just adjust accordingly when the calorie & weight data is included.
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Michael Mosley gives an update for 2019, current research in the field and announces a tour starting in February.
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