It isn't about 'feasting'

This topic contains 20 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by catinhat 10 years, 3 months ago.

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sylvestra

11:33 am
30 Jan 14
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More and more I’m seeing posts about ‘feast days’ on here. I don’t know where this term came from, it certainly isn’t one that is used in the book or the video and I’m sure Michael Mosley doesn’t use this term.

It gives entirely the wrong impression and, psychologically, puts the idea out there that on the days you are not fasting you can eat as much as you like of whatever you like with abandon.

Those of us who have been doing this for a while know that it’s not the case but there are always new people who have just joined and who are sometimes struggling to get their heads round it.

Call these days ‘non fast days’ or ‘feed days’ but please let’s stop calling them feast days.

xx

Angie090465

12:20 pm
30 Jan 14
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I agree Sylvestra!!

I call them normal days, because that is what they are lol!!

Number 1 rule, eat WHAT you like not HOW MUCH you like 🙂

Linds

2:26 pm
30 Jan 14
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I agree totally.

I call my days non fast days. What I am hoping to get from this WOE (apart from the weight loss and other benefits) is to be able to control my appetite and cravings in a way that is more “doable” (is that a word?)than on the usual fad diets so that the weight stays off. Linda

sylvestra

4:57 pm
30 Jan 14
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@peterichardson‘s post http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/a-warning-and-perhaps-some-encouragement-too/#post-26245 shows just how ‘feast’ can be taken too literally

xx

sylvestra

11:43 pm
30 Jan 14
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And I just realised that this ‘feast’ idea comes from Krista Varady and her ‘every other day’ diet.

Hmmmm .. I read about her prior to starting 5:2 and decided it was not a life time sustainable plan. ..,, but maybe it works for some

Stef.

11:45 pm
30 Jan 14
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Sylvestra, I agree with not calling a feed day a feast day.

I have read Krista’s book and while it might not be sustainable for a long time it is quite doable for a week or two from time to time, particularly if you know that you will go over your TDEE, i.e. over xmas.
Stef.

sylvestra

11:52 pm
30 Jan 14
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I agree Stef…it’s a short term quick fix …possibly to move xmas or holiday weight …..but it’s still restricted to the TDEE on what she calls ‘feast’ days and 300 non protein cals on fast days.

It’s advertised as a life time plan but personally I can’t see anyone sustaining 300 calories every other day indefinitely…but each to their own.

xxx

Couscous

8:27 am
31 Jan 14
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Hi all. Rocky, toms mantis and me exchanged comments on the “Feast” word back in Oct in the post “Spreading the Word”, if memory serves me well. In his original Horizon programme Michael, during his interview with Krista Varady at a Fast Food outlet is sitting in a car eating a huge greasy Burger. At this point he uses the word “Feast”. Dr Varady during the programme discusses the extent to which people in her fasting regime are seen to eat no more than 110% of their usual daily intake on a non fast day. As I have said before, I believe Michael made a mistake using the word, how ever momentarily in that piece but also used the word “Feed” elsewhere in his research. Now it is recognised by most that we use the word “Feed” and also aim to eat as “normally” as we can and to our recommended TDEE on our non fast days.
Good luck to you all.

sylvestra

12:27 pm
31 Jan 14
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@couscous….unfortunately posts get ‘buried’ so I felt it was time to bring the subject to the top again.

I agree that Michael made a mistake both using the word and being filmed eating the burger. Varady uses the word ‘feast ‘frequently and I really don’t understand why she thinks it’s OK to consistently eat 110% of the daily requirement. With a TDEE of 2000 calories that is an extra 200 calories per day x 5 = 1000 calories per week.

Initially Varady seemed to talk sense but recently all she seems to do, instead of being helpful, is to continually criticise 5:2. Her latest comment ‘5:2 is all about calorie counting, the Every Other Day Diet doesn’t require that’ …..really?
All this back biting is counter productive in my view. People will decide what is best for themselves.

xx

Stef.

2:09 pm
31 Jan 14
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Sylvestera,

I have read her book. When you do ADF you are NOT restricted to your TDEE, which is the whole point. Varady’s research has shown that people who can eat as much and what they want very rarely go over 110% of their TDEE anyhow. That is the beauty of it, you can munch away as MUCH as you like, i.e. over xmas without a bad conscience.

I have done it and it works, but I would not want to do this longterm.

Stef.

Couscous

2:13 pm
31 Jan 14
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Hi sylvestra, I totally agree with your comments re “feasting” by Dr Varady. I believe her criticism is because having done a lot of research into fasting herself, and being slow off the mark to get her book published she has to resort to criticism of Michael and his version of fasting with 5:2. In fact I believe she actually took legal advice at one point regarding some comments made by Michael in his book.
Good luck.

sylvestra

6:46 pm
31 Jan 14
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@stef I read this when I was considering the Varady plan http://www.ehow.com/how_5002954_do-other-day-fast-diet.html

the first two paragraphs say

‘Instructions
1
Determine your daily caloric needs. You can use online calorie calculators to do this. You merely enter your gender, age, height, weight and activity level. The tool will then give you the amount of calories you need daily. This is the amount of calories you will consume on alternate days.

2
Begin the diet with a low-calorie fast day. On this day, you must eat no more than 300 non-protein calories. These are calories that come from fats or carbohydrates.’

So from this I deduce that there are calorie limits. I didn’t find anything that told me to do otherwise.

xx

sylvestra

7:05 pm
31 Jan 14
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Not interested @rysss post reported as spam

hermajtomomi

7:28 pm
31 Jan 14
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Maybe Fast/Feast was simply about turning a neat sentence by using with a bit of alliteration – I know, I sometimes do it myself.
I remember the sequence where Michael was sitting in a car chomping his way through a rather large burger with Dr Varady looking on approvingly. In another scene we saw him visit the Heart Attack Diner/Coronary Cafe (the name was something like that) where they prided themselves on their (literally) killer portions. We only saw him emerge, a not very happy bunny, defeated and looking very sorry for himself. I think the message got through to most of us. The things our Doctor Michael puts himself through in the interests of science!
BTW. well done for seeing the troll off the premises, sylvestra.

Stef.

5:35 pm
1 Feb 14
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Sylvestra, she clearly states in her book you can eat whatever and how much you want! Well…as long as you don’t completely binge. No mentioning of staying within your TDEE.

She also has a facebook site, see here:
https://www.facebook.com/TheEveryOtherDayDiet?ref=ts&fref=ts

I quote directly one of her statements from the facebook site:

Here’s a question I am often asked: “Do I need to count calories on the feast day?”

Absolutely not. Our studies show that people tend not to overeat on their feast days (they eat only about 110% of their energy needs). As such, you don’t really need to count calories, unless you feel you are bingeing on the feast day (which is unlikely). Most subjects lose about 10-30 pounds in 8 weeks.

One of the things people like best about this diet is the freedom to eat whatever they want on feast days. The ability to feel normal (not deprived) every other day also helps people stick to EOD for longer than daily calorie restriction diets. So feel free to enjoy the foods you love every other day!

My research on EOD shows that the majority of people don’t binge on the feast day (they actually only eat about 110% of their needs). The reason for this is not known, but most likely involves stomach shrinking that occurs with fasting every other day. Since 5:2 only has 2 fast days/week, it is possible that this is not enough to induce stomach shrinking, and thus hunger is not suppressed. Without hunger suppression, some people may binge on the feast day and not lose any weight.

Stef.

Stef.

5:52 pm
1 Feb 14
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Just found the book. Her chapter 3 of her book is called:

“Feast Day- Eat all you want and anything you want and keep losing weight”

I quote:

“I know I know it is hard to believe…that a diet can contain a day on which you eat as much food as you want and whatever foods you want and you still lose weight.
Any food at any time in any quantity!”

Take note of the last sentence!

She writes a whole chapter about exactly the point that you can over indulge on your feast days, but that the chances are that you still won’t go over the calories that you would eat were you not to fast every second day.

If you think it through it makes sense: every two days you create a deficit of 1500 calories, so one day you eat 500 cal and then the next day you could eat 3500 and you would be at the same as it you ate your normal 2000 cal over two days per day.

This is the beauty of ADF, as you really do not have to count calories.

Stef.

sylvestra

5:56 pm
1 Feb 14
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@stef …let’s just agree to disagree. You will never convince me, no matter what.

yes I’ve read her Facebook page – or as much as I could take. I’m not impressed by her dismissal of all other plans and her ‘you will, you must’ attitude, I won’t be following her plan. I appreciate it works for some people but it’s not for me.

I also read her ‘advice’ on what to do if you are not losing. ‘add another fast dayand do more exercise’ – so you could end up fasting 7/7? – surely ‘eat less on your non fast days’ would be better advice.

‘One of the things people like best about this diet is the freedom to eat whatever they want on feast days’ Isn’t that the case with 5:2? the emphasis being on WHATEVER not HOW MUCH!
and
‘If you think it through it makes sense: every two days you create a deficit of 1500 calories, so one day you eat 500 cal and then the next day you could eat 3500 and you would be at the same as it you ate your normal 2000 cal over two days per day.’ what’s the point of that?

‘“I know I know it is hard to believe…that a diet can contain a day on which you eat as much food as you want and whatever foods you want and you still lose weight.
Any food at any time in any quantity!”

Rubbish! If you eat more than you use you will not lose weight…simple maths.

However, we are all different and I shall happily leave this subject aside now.

xx

Stef.

6:04 pm
1 Feb 14
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We can leave it, but if you read my above quote, she says “Any food at any time in any quantity”.

I actually like her and understand her criticism of Michael using her research in his book. What I like is her scientific approach and the fact that all her findings are based on clinical research.

We should all do what works for us and for me a combination of different approaches works best.
Stef.

sylvestra

6:46 pm
1 Feb 14
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@stef …I’m glad you find it works for you – but I’m not interested in anything about her or her plan and I don’t need to be told to ‘read any above quote’ so the subject is closed as far as I am concerned.

As I said to each their own.

xx

Neverendingstory

10:59 pm
1 Feb 14
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I totally agree with you sylvestra, about your inital post: I am not feasting on fast days, sometimes I am below my TDEE and sometimes slightly above but I believe this is totally normal if you are not really planning to be exactly on point every day. In general I turned to healthier options on non-fast days such as more salads and more vegetable as I really love the taste and see what it does to my skin and my general wellbeing. But I also have ice cream and once a week I go out for dinner. As other slim people do. There is just a balance between non-fast days with more and such with less food intake which for me comes automatically as I learn to listen to the signals of my body.

sylvestra

11:48 pm
1 Feb 14
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Absolutely spot on @neverendingstory On most of my non fast days I am just over my BMR and eat mainly veg and salad with a small amount of fish or chicken (I don’t eat red meat much) with very few carbs and I have around 350 cals on my fast days. Weekends I might go over my TDEE a little – I love my full monty Scottish brunch on Sunday – but like you I listen to my body and when it signals full I stop eating, even if there is still food on my plate. I lose on average 1lb per week and when I (eventually) reach my goal weight I know I can maintain indefinitely on this way of eating.

Good luck and…keep on keeping on

xx

catinhat

4:05 am
2 Feb 14
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I really like this conversation, because it helps me see how differently we can approach this plan. It’s funny, because most of my ‘feasting’ goes on in my imagination on a fast day. Then my eating day comes, and I just want an egg and a little salsa. 🙂 I think having permission to ‘go wild’ keeps me from doing it most of the time, and then when I to over-indulge (hello, Christmas), I chalk it up to ‘one of those days’ and just continue on.

Overall, this is better than anything I’ve ever tried. The weight loss is slower, but there is literally nothing for me to revert to, no diet to ‘fall off of’ and no sense of failure when I eat something that is not nutritionally stellar. This feels permanently feasible for me…and it’s helping me deal with the physical part (me being overweight) as well as the emotional part (delayed gratification and discipline), and even some spiritual aspects of how I relate to God. So, win win win, as far as I’m concerned. 🙂