Help..a few questions..

[TonytheFish]

Does it matter what you eat on the fasting days, as long as it is 500 calories?

If I want to use it for losing weight is it best to start with Alternate Day fasting?

I have a lot of weight to lose! About 5 stone...I do not mind if it is not quick, but i want it to be effective.

Also, on non fasting days is it very important to count calories and have 3 meals, as in breakfast, lunch and dinner, as i never have breakfast really.

Is there a good time slot for the 24 hours? I was thinking of just doing midnight to midnight as such. But wondered if say something like 2pm to 2 pm would work better, so have a good late breakfast at about 11am , then have a 500 calorie evening meal, then the next day have nothing till after 2pm and have a good late lunch? But that does not seem like it would work right..since I have not a full waking period of fasting as such iyswim?

[frenchfancy]

Hi Tony.

No it doesn't matter what you use your 500 cals for, but you will find it easier if you stick to vegetables and lean protein. Carbs and fruit just tend to make you feel hungrier half an hour later.

I think you are better off starting with 5:2 until you get used to fasting, then increase you fast days if you want to.

The 2 days is not really 2 - 24 hour periods it is two calendar days. You can do 2 - 24 hour periods, but your weight loss will be slower.

Again for NFDs the best thing is to start just eating normally (ie normally for you) on NFDs. Once you are used to fasting, if the weight is not coming off as you would like then you can start to look at your NFDs.

[TonytheFish]

"The 2 days is not really 2 - 24 hour periods it is two calendar days. You can do 2 - 24 hour periods, but your weight loss will be slower."

Ah, that makes sense....yeah, I will do the calendar days. I got to wondering about if it was just a 24 hour period, as I could not see how that would work..Was planning on having fish quite a bit on fasting days, since dh hates fish and otherwise we don't eat it.

Do you find that naturally you begin to feel fuller on less on NFD? That is what I hope happens tbh.

[IdealHomeHouseBeautifulLivinge]

Does Quorn count as lean protein?

[frenchfancy]

I have no idea about quorn, I've never eaten it. Read the label I guess;

[Tommy]

hi there - just started today.
missed breakfast - lemon juice in hot water and black coffee
crackers and cottage cheese at lunch (think 110 cals)
homemade fat free veg soup for dinner (100cals?)
cup of tea with skimmed milk (10)
and drank water.
I seem to have half my daily calorie allowance left!
what have I done wrong?!

[MelanieCheeks]

Tommy, how many crackers and what type were they? Just the one cup of tea? Doesnt sound like you've done anything wrong - it just shows that it IS possible to survive on such a low calorie figure.

[Tommy]

I had 2 Doriano crackers - 141cal per portion and I had half a portion
have had a few black coffees during the day.
I may have another cup of tea

[Tommy]

I'm not sure about the soup since I made it myself but it doesn't have any fat in it - just carrots, onions, tomatoes, stock. I googled a similiar one and it said 68 cals per bowl and i had a pretty big bowl so upped it to 100

[IdealHomeHouseBeautifulLivinge]

frenchfancy - maybe someone who does know the answer might be kind enough to answer.

[frenchfancy]

idealhome I wasn't being sarcastic, it is just what I would do. But as you can't be bothered I googled it instead:

What is Quorn?

Quorn is made from Mycoprotein. Mycoprotein is a nutritious quality meat free protein, naturally low in fat and high in protein and fibre.

So yes it counts as lean protein. A quorn roast for example has 123 kcals/100g , vs about 185kcals / 100g for chicken breast.

[IdealHomeHouseBeautifulLivinge]

Excuse me, French fancy, I thought this was a support thread. I have eaten Quorn for years and know what it's made up of; I'm new to dieting and wondered if it counted as lean protein for the purpose of this diet. Thank you for your reply.

[frenchfancy]

idealhome the big thread is the support thread. This is a thread where tony asked some questions and I answered including recommending lean protein. No one on here is going to tell you what to eat or what not to eat, this WOE doesn't work like that. All we can do is let you know our experiences on what works and what makes fast days easier. If you already eat quorn then you know what it is and you know whether or not you can fit it into your 500 cals.

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

I don't think FF was being as snippy as you gave her credit for, Ideal Different Quorn products aren't as lean as others. I think the fake chicken ones are higher in fat, for example. Do you mean the Quorn mince?

But, basically, it's a protein and that's the most important part (er, in addition to the calorie count, ofc). We just typically say that you should keep carbs low on fast days as they tend to spark hunger and not fill you up as much as protein does. I am not a low-carb person but I definitely low-carb on fast days. I mean, not officially, but I just gravitate naturally towards veg and proteins, and avoid carbs.

Tommy it's important to count specifically how much you're eating. Don't "think" 100 calories, but actually weigh out/ measure out the cottage cheese, and the crackers, etc. Also, I wouldn't worry too much if you don't make it to 500 calories on a fast day, as long as you feel alright. The 500 calorie mark is an arbitrary figure; the creators of this WOE have said they just decided on 500 calories because they assumed people are more likely to try it if they can eat something. In their ideal world, we'd actually be completely fasting for 24 hours to get the health benefits they espouse.

[Tommy]

thanks - just a bit baffled as to how I can measure the calories on homemade food that I don't have recipes for

[frenchfancy]

To measure homemade food I use the recipe analyser here: caloriecount.about.com/ You just put in your quantities and how many it serves and it tells you the cals per serving. MFP has something similar, but I think the about one is better.

[Tommy]

that looks helpful - thanks frenchfancy