Hi roxydiva,
I just read your post and then went looking around the site (my first visit). I thought you would find the following answers in the FAQs interesting:
o The initial response of your body to a reduction in calories is to increase your metabolic rate. This is because, in our hunter-gatherer past, survival in times of food shortage would have depended on our becoming more active, going out to hunt and look for food. Only under conditions of extreme calorie deprivation, when we have been for weeks without enough food and our body fat has fallen dramatically does the body go into “starvation mode”. IF is not the same as crash dieting. Starvation mode does not happen if you cut your calories for a day!!

o 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. If you decide instead to fast from 2pm on Monday until 2pm on Tuesday, then that will only be 24 hours. Wait till 7pm and that is 29 hours. To do 36 hours you would have to hold off till 2am on Wednesday, which would be a little inconvenient

Thankyou Hannahbanana! Nice to have a response x

Hi, Steev – I’m a bit puzzled by some of your comments, I’m afraid. For a start, I wonder if you are following the regime described in ‘The 2-day Diet’ (written by Michelle Harvey & Tony Howell) rather than that of ‘The Fast Diet’ (by Michael Mosley & Mimi Spencer), only the latter book being the basis of this website. The two systems are similar but do emphasise rather different approaches. For instance, a banana or a baked potato would be fine on fast days according to The Fast Diet whereas they would both be off limits on the restricted days of The 2-Day Diet, being classed as too high in carbohydrates. Certainly, neither system says ‘vegetables only’ on your Mondays and Tuesdays – rather, you are advised to choose a good balance, including protein-rich foods as well as vegetables, to keep you satisfied as much as possible. The Fast Diet has no food restrictions – just a total calorie limit for fast days – and allows you to choose when to schedule your 2 fast days each week whereas The 2-Day Diet specifies only certain foods on restricted days and recommends 2 consecutive days. Perhaps you need to do some more reading and experimenting before choosing which one of the two systems you prefer. To my mind, mixing them up can only lead to confusion. Take a look at The 2-day Diet’s own website too, which is separate from this site. I hope you thrive on whichever method you settle on.

Douglas, there are no calorie-free foods – and there is no such things as negative-calorie foods, either (where, theoretically, the effort to digest the food burns more calories than the food itself contains). There are low-calorie foods – such as watery vegetables like celery or fruits like watermelon – and then a broad spectrum of increasingly calorie-dense foods, through to sugar, right up to pure fat. Have a search around online for the various calorie calculators that are available, if you need more information.

Like roxydiva I too found the Secret Eaters programme fascinating viewing and was dismayed – for others – about the criticisms of fasting. Fortunately, having lost 4kg in 4 weeks on the Fast Diet, I now have sufficient confidence to continue with it. However, I was interested to learn recently from a young army sergeant that the army too perpetuates the same view as that stated in the Secret Eaters programme….