I think Australian sizes are the same as UK.

I’ve always been a pear and that’s still the case. I’m now having to buy padded bras…because they mostly don’t make unpadded bras in small sizes ☹️

Well done Barata! Fantastic!

And thankyou for the info re cheese being good to break a fast. I didn’t know that. Are you allowed to have anything with the cheese?

Yes, over three years on, and I still can’t believe it (I still check my labels, and take larger sizes into changing rooms!). In a few shops, and depending on style, I’d probably be a 9. I have seen ‘odd’ (not really half!) sizes in clothes in the US, but never in the UK.

Barata, good work on 62 hours! I did eat yesterday, post-fast, but really not that hungry. I had to force myself to eat in the evening. I could have comfortably not.

Carol, I think with 24 hour fasting, it probably doesn’t matter what you eat to break it, but as it lengthens the advice is to begin with easily digestible food, small portions, then build in more. The following includes a list of foods that are easy on an empty belly:

http://www.allaboutfasting.com/breaking-a-fast.html

Yes, I’ve been worried about the wooziness factor with longer (>1 day) fasts. That’s why I’m gradually extending, rather than jumping straight in 😀 Next time OH is away though.. no more excuses! It would be interesting to see if a 3 day fast perhaps once a month was as effective for maintenance as weekly fasts, particularly given the extra health benefits that would accrue.

The woozy feeling was very mild, Happy, and it will be a normal FD tomorrow.

44 hours is vastly more than I had achieved before this week, AT. And I think the Kiwi sizes are different again – but looking forward to the winter sales in Queensland next week. 🙂

Oh, Happy, i was thinking that you’re in Australia, too. Of course you’re not. Damn iPad not letting my main email account through, I’ve had this trouble before, but don’t want to use the iCloud address in general or my phone will be flooded.

I’m really impressed with your discipline, Barata and Happy. Two fast days a week were enough for me and not eating until 1ish is now a habit. I was indulgent yesterday ,though. We saw British style chips at the mall and couldn’t resist a small portion. I also ate the Hershey bar I bought a while ago. The irony is that we hadn’t intended to go anywhere near this damn mall, but missed the slip road from the highway.

AT, we could be in north Wales or Cumbria with the current weather – complete change.

Pol.

Carol, we will be in the Gold Coast for a week from today. Will you be in Brisbane? It will be sooooo lovely to go from single-digit temperatures to a balmy 25. And they are offering us snow down to 300m this afternoon (and our house sits at 300m above sea level 🙂 ). It’s been years since we have had snow here, a most rare occurrence. I will have breakfast once OH gets home with the eggs, then we will be OFF !!! 🙂 🙂

Ah! Our grandson will be 9 in October – in Sydney 🙁 Won’t be seeing them until summer, though.

Polly,

I guess you’re home now… to rain and distinctly cool conditions I’m afraid!

I’m not going abroad this year, but I am heading 300 miles south next weekend where it will at least be a couple of degrees warmer than it is here ☔️💨

I’ve fasted again today. As last week, just some milk in my morning tea and 100ml or so of kefir. Hopefully this will see me a bit lighter before Dad tries to feed me up at the weekend! He’s a b**ger for overeating himself when he has guests, and always overcaters. Actually though this time I’m going to take control of the cooking and take him to Asia and India. He’s quite an adventurous eater in his old age, but not such an adventurous cook.

Anyway, I’m off to bed via a hot shower. I’m cold!

hi, everyone. Yes, we flew home Monday night, arriving Tuesday morning, of course. Flying from Philadelphia or New York is hardly long-haul, which means a disturbed night’s sleep, as compared to flying from Tampa when we’d get a good 7 hours.

All over the place at the moment, which meant not thinking about food. Too much ironing to do and I’m a judge for our U3A short story competition, so printed loads out yesterday. Still just over 126lbs. Quite happy with that.

Carol, on a non-fast day I occasionally treat myself to a small chocolate bar, especially on Saturday afternoons in the rugby season. I gave the place to myself, quick Hoover round, wash kitchen and bathroom floors before feet up, good book and the little chocolate. Aldi and Lidl sell them in packs of five, but I suppose that’s no use to you.

Back to typical Welsh weather. Cold, just like Cumbria, I think.

Pol. 🙋🏼

Ditto: almonds or an apple. (Which doesn’t mean I don’t do chocolate, but I darent use it as a snack. I treat it as an essential part of my diet – 2 squares of 90% on NFDs, 1 on FDs, after dinner each night – calories saved, allocated, accounted for! That way I get all the benefits- nutritional and pleasure- but it stays under control. And 90% has negligible sugar, so guilt free!)

Carol,

I often eat a bit of cheese or a handful of nuts. I don’t each much sweet fruit. If it’s really bad, something on oat cakes – marmite or occasionally peanut butter (although I don’t have it in the house often as I can’t be trusted once it’s open!).

Re longer lower calorie fast period. I’m finding it very effective for weight loss/maintenance…at the moment. I’ve done three in three weeks and am now 59.2 down from 60.5. For me it seems to be more the effect it has on appetite/satiety/portion control over the next few days rather than the calorie deficit from the fast itself.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Pretty much what I’m eating but hadn’t thought of an apple. Good idea as you need to chew it up which helps with saeity. I often have a carrot with some tahini spread for the same reason- chewing takes time and I feel fuller.

Thanks for choc tip Fast, I knew you ate it but wasn’t exactly sure how much and how often.

oat cakes a good idea too Happy.

I have milk in my tea on FD too but dont count it. Glad it’s helping maintain your weight Happy.

I still lose but thought maybe I’d lose more with longer fast. I do find it easier though to adhere to mindful eating on post FD’s.

Love it AT – cake for breakfast lol.

That was a supreme effort then Barata if that was your first long one!

Yes, we’re also enjoying the sunshine in Brisbane- has been so cold at home!

I don’t wake hunger dragons either Barata, but slip into my old eating habits and it is purely habit! Don’t want it, don’t need it but eat it anyway because it’s there! Scream, scream!

Wonder how Happy is getting on being fed up by her dad 😊

Gosh. You guys go to great lengths to maintain your loses through fasting!
For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve Fasted for 4 years and have readjusted my ‘target weight’ twice — downward. Now I Fast 2 days/week, ingesting <600 calories in 2 meals, with 8 oz of milk and 1 0z of cheese for ‘lunch’ and one Turkish fig for snack. On Slow Days, it’s a normal breakfast and dinner, again with the milk/cheese/fig for other eating. This does not exclude cookies and dessert a few times/week. We go out for dinner or lunch about every 2 weeks. Some Slow Days, if my weight is too low, I eat a little lunch. Also on Slow Days, I have learned to eat smaller portions: one muffin instead of 2; the recommended 3/4 cup cereal, rather than 1cup+; portioning the pasta to 2 oz/person. You get the idea.
I suppose that many non-Fasters would think that I don’t eat enough, but with a smaller appetite this is all I want. You all know how that is.
Anyhow, it is working and that’s what matters! And writing my blog about it helps keep me honest and gives me a chance to work up new recipes to look forward to on Fast Days.
Happy Maintenance to all of you.

Polly,

Sorry, I thought I’d said that I want at some point to do a three day fast, for the increased health benefits. Stretching out the fast period from my usual 24 hours in increments and with fewer calories edges me towards that.

And I really don’t think it’s extreme! It’s just different. This isn’t ‘great lengths to maintain’!! I haven’t needed to fast at all since a week last Tuesday. And I’ve had an indulgent weekend away! So rather than two fast days (36 hours) per week with 500 calories I’m looking at one 36 hour (to 40 or so) fast with perhaps 100 calories and only having to do that every two to three weeks. Less fasting in total, increased health benefits, what’s not to like?!

I expect a few years ago, the idea of restricting calories would have seemed extreme to most of us. It’s all relative…!

Carol,

Thanks for asking. Dad was a bit below par, so I took over cooking duties and fed him up for a change!

Hi Polly,

Well I didn’t put on between the first two lower cal fasts. They were one week apart, and the reason I did the second was because I did want to drop a kilo (I did 😀). Since then my weight has been pretty stable, not even elevated by the long weekend and a couple of meals out.

Eating not at all on the fast day has had a better reset effect on hunger and portion size. I had been just toooo hungry the day after MM’s suggested 800 cal fast day allowance.

At the moment, the effects of a longer fast period with very few calories seem to persist for longer than standard 5:2.

And I think at the moment I’d rather not eat on a fast day than pfaff around trying to eat 500 cals. But that might just be because it’s summer, I’m busy in the evenings, and not cold! I don’t promise not to eat in winter when it’s dark and cold at 4pm…!

Happy, I agree. When I do the 24 hr fast it certainly resets my hunger period. I don’t have any cravings for the rest of the week but all hell breaks loose on the weekend. Seems as soon as I have the first sweet food or glass of wine (which lets face it is a lot of sugar anyway) the hunger genie is released!

Barata, I got back from Brisbane 500g above first trigger point (I have 2). Which wasn’t too bad considering I didn’t do a fast and had kids party food for tea Friday night and all the left overs over the weekend.

Still no fast as friends arrived to stay the day we got home. Had my dads 95th birthday yesterday so chocolate cake, wine, cheese, you get the picture! Very much looking forward to 24hr fast on Monday.

Happy, sorry your dad was poorly but at least you had comtrol over what was cooked! 😊

Well fasting is going without food isn’t it? Eating 500 (-800) calories isn’t really fasting, just calorie restriction.

I feel sorry now for people who can’t miss a meal without thinking they’ll die… The panic when they’re delayed and lunch is no longer being served… The people who can’t do the weekly shop without eating in the supermarket and handing an empty packet to the cashier to scan… People stuffing their faces in the street…on the train….in the cinema…the constant eating all around. I’ve been liberated. I’m free. I’m in control.

And no, I don’t agree that looking forward to a fast is seeking permission not to eat. It isn’t all about food.

Fasting -me, the 36 hours I do is my only fast for the week. So over time and being inspired and motivated by other forum members I have extended the fasting period.

Interesting point you raise about situational hunger – caused me to think about that and it’s true for me that I find it harder to control my eating when in particular situations but it’s not hunger it’s just habit! The food is in front of me and so I eat it.

Re looking forward to a fast – I do, but because it’s a normal part of my routine now, I enjoy it and I enjoy the feeling I’m left with afterwards.

I still have some emotional hang ups when it comes to food and I’d love to be able sort those out. 😳

Carol,

Like going to a buffet/all you can eat place! You gradually come to realise you don’t have to eat everything in sight, just because it’s there.

And yes, for me too, looking forward to the fast isn’t about ‘permission not to eat’, but the feeling of wellbeing I get as a result. There’s a mood boost (similar to that after going for a run), but also the subsequent lack of cravings, and less demanding digestive system!

Polly,

Yes on NFD’s I mostly do 16:8 ish. I’ve never been hungry first thing. Now I often break fast at 11ish. Evening meal varies between 7 and 8, so sometimes more 15:9! I don’t eat by the clock, and it seems to suit.

After a lifetime as a full-on fatso – apart from the periods of being slim or nearly slim, all of them when living in mainland Europe – I’m delighted to find a WOE that works! I’m back on a plateau AGAIN, but this time only 5 or 6 kilos short of BMI 24.9. It will probably take me a 5th and possibly 6th year to get there, but it’s pretty damn good when I started out doing hippo impersonations with a BMI of 35.

The old bod seems to thrive on fasting, either 24-hour dinner-to-dinner, or inside 16:8 or 18:6. I haven’t been able to face breakfast for at least 10 years, and doing without lunch is dead easy. If I do eat lunch it will be lean protein and salad, so sarnies are out of the window, although I’m perfectly happy to prepare them for the OH. And, as Purple points out, with the passage of time we need far less food. In my own case, misjudgment, especially of carb intake, can end in tears and occasionally the best part of a day in bed feeling like death.
What I hadn’t bargained for was the resulting domestic strife. Sir takes it personally that there are “so many things” I “won’t” eat. It’s less about “won’t” than “can’t”. And it’s the refined carbs that do the damage. Meat, fish, eggs, fruit, veg and “good” carbs (see list in the BSD cookbook)are fine, although I recently had a bad encounter with what I thought was a perfectly normal serving of brown rice.
The fatty, sugary stuff makes me feel sick, bloated and extremely uncomfortable. Even relatively healthy wholemeal bread with nuts and seeds can do damage if I exceed more than a slice. This includes Himself’s home-baked bread which he has ceased making because “it’s not worth the bother if YOU won’t eat any”. Which is untrue. It’s just that I can’t eat large amounts. Silly bugger won’t bake rolls or smaller loaves, or large ones that can be halved, and one half put in the freezer.

We had the same scenario when, after finally giving up smoking on my 10th attempt – I’m now halfway through my 15th fag-fee year -, I found that red wine tasted like vomit and G&T like something you’d use to clean the loo and I never liked beer anyway. Which meant I became a non-drinker, which he took as a personal affront. I will very occasionally have a liqueur at the end of a special meal and regularly cook with wine.

Has anyone else been down that route? Needless to say, I’m very good at sticking up for myself. Meek and mild, I ain’t. I’m convinced I’m doing the right thing and that much of what he says is total b***ocks.

Amen to the comments on how others are into gluttony. This sounds sanctimonious, but it is true that our culture is food obsessed, as if we had just come through 7 years of famine. I used not to be able to control what I wanted to eat because as a child I was very skinny. So everyone always offered me things to eat. And I didn’t gain weight until 9th grade when I filled out. Never got really fat [except after the college summer in Europe], but couldn’t get down to a good weight for me because I had to change the old habit of eating everything that looked good and not knowing to stop when full.

Fasting has been good for me and my Own Dear Husband. I took it up for the health benefits [and to lose about 8 pounds. which changed to 16 pounds] and to keep ODH company while he lost 40 pounds. And it worked! Yes, Carolann, we look forward to a Fast Day because it makes us feel good and because we like the food we eat those days. We enjoy food and wine, but not to excess.
Sorry to hear that Sir is such a Debby-Downer about your quest for health, Hermaj. YOU are making good choices and he refuses to let you?!? Maybe he’s jealous of the fact that you are sensible enough to let go of poor nutrition and health. Some people are resistant to change even if they know it can be good for them.

Do you ever find yourself in a crowd, observing how many overweight people there are, and wishing you could take them aside and advise them to follow the Fast Diet?

Happy, this isn’t the first time we’ve found that we each live with a miserable old git who is reluctant to accept change. Time was, I would also have loved a traditional roast dinner, but now just the thought of it fills me with trepidation. I’m right with you on the Mediterranean menu – apart from shellfish.
It’s comforting to know that Mr Fast does occasionally yearn for the old days, bad or good depending which way you look at it.
A similar food-related situation would lead to verbal fisticuffs about “you and your expletive-deleted stomach” every time we went to visit the Frau Obergrueppenfuehrer, aka his mother. Even pre-IF, I never had much of a sweet tooth and overindulgence in rich, fatty, sugary stuff left me feeling very unwell. Savoury stuff like taramasalata and Pringles were my weaknesses, as they still are, but now they’re a very occasional treat.
As if the fascism, snobbery, racism and an overdose of crap telly weren’t enough, m-i-l also shoveled shedloads of food down our throats and even suggested I should consult a doctor to find out why I felt so ill after eating vast quantities. After a weekend with her I would put on half a stone (just over 3 kilos), which would take a month or more to shift, if I was lucky. Most of the time it just stuck.
Initially, OH and I did 5:2 together even though the MOG was not overweight and was more interested in the other health spin-offs. His training as a Tai Chi instructor made him very health conscious. He has let things slide and is now borderline overweight (only by less than a kilo), but is developing a paunch, largely due to cheese and biccies and up to 1/2 a bottle of vino most evenings.
For this reason, we’ve now gone back to 5:2. Although this doesn’t lead to any great change in my own eating pattern, at least it means he is strict for two days a week.
BTW, as a non-drinker, I can’t judge whether 1/2 bottle an evening is moderate or excessive. Guidance would be welcome.

Don’t worry, Pol, I’m by no means undermined. I know what I’m doing. It works, it’s not too difficult and I like it. I do sympathise with Mr Pol putting on weight when giving up the ciggies. I was very careful not to resort to sweeties instead and while I didn’t actually put on weight all attempts to lose any were in vain.
We certainly haven’t given up on the move, thanks for asking. Indeed, it looks as though it’s going to work this time, although I won’t count my chickens before we exchange contracts. We have sensible buyers, who’ve hung on in there, as well as very reasonable and helpful vendors, whose own purchase appears to be going according to plan. No nasty surveys on either side.
Now it’s a matter of lawyers et al doing their stuff, which sometimes moves very slowly as people disappear on holiday or some one screws up, or misunderstands. or fails to pass on important information, thereby causing delays. We probably won’t make it to Cambridge until late September at the earliest.