Hi, my name is Anna, I live in Australia, and have been on the fast diet for about 6 weeks after reading Michael and Mimi’s book. I started it for health reasons, as I don’t really need to lose weight.

Of course I am losing weight anyway and my friends and family have been expressing concerns since I appear “too thin” now. This is partly due to taking up Michael’s suggestion of missing meals if not hungry on non fast days which I experimented with at first—usually just breakfast, but on the odd occasion i knew the evening meal would be a whopper, so missed lunch as well. My partner (also doing well on the diet) says I shouldn’t be fasting on non-fast days if I don’t need to lose weight as such. Is this true?

I like my new look as it’s how I’ve always wanted to look. I don’t want to put too much of the small amount of weight I’ve lost (about 1.5 kilos) back on.I also work out regularly, and weigh myself at the gym, where I’ve been freaking out as I watch my equally regular weight fluctuation between 55 kilos and 53.90 kilos (often after fast days)—which seems totally weird.

Actually a secret reason for starting the diet, and fasting on non-fast days, is that I want to be able to eat more treaty foods without feeling guilty. But I find when I do “let go” on non-fast days, I’m over compensating badly, which I am concerned will actually be unhealthy for me and make me put back the that 1.5 kilos.

As an example I had 2 pork buns for desert after a full 3-course meal at a Thai restaurant, then despite terrible complaint from my stomach, ate cake and peanut butter out of the jar when I got home. Another day I ate close to a whole bag of my favourite breakfast cereal along with meals. Yesterday, the longest I went without some kind of food and/or beverage was 30 mins. I just ate constantly all day.

My question is; will the desire to binge eat after fasting lessen over time (it hasn’t yet)and if not should I actively try to control it like I was doing before?

My second question is: I haven’t been completely clear about whether the diet is about controlling the intake of calories or the intake of food generally. I find a few bits of lettuce (very low calorie, obviously) at about 3pm can keep me going to dinner despite having my “meal” at 12. Should I think of this as not doing the fasting right, because your stomach is working on something, despite being low cal? Is nibbling on low cal food adding to no more than 500 cals throughout the day bad rather than just having two set meals?

Well sorry to ramble on for so long.
Thank you for everything
Anna