Anyone want to join me trying Every Other Day fasting

[Duh]

Just that really. Rather than the 5:2 I am going to do every other day. I need to shift quite a bit of weight quickly and I find the 5.2 too easy to put the fasting day off, I kept saying… oh I’ll do it tomorrow and then not! Having a fast every other day will hopefully work better for me, I tend to only follow rules when I know I can’t wriggle out of them as when there is the potential for a loophole I’m all over it and then I fall off the wagon.

I plan on consuming 500 calories on a fasting day and then eating and drinking normally every other day. I am on day 4 so am eating normally today. I weighed 80.5 kg before I started and I am 78.5 kg today

I don’t plan on doing this forever but I am going to aim for a month or two and then depending on how it’s gone hope reduce to a normal 5.2 in the hope that I will have developed some good habits/tolerance.

Is anyone with me?

Iwill give it a go. How many cals are you thinking of having roughly on your none fasting days?

I have been thinking of doing this today too weirdly as want to speed things up for a month, so I will join you too please! So 3 x 500 or literally every other day? I was doing really well with a weekly 24-40 hour fast but for some reason i have a mental block at the moment and can’t do more than approx 18 hours.

Just remember, eating "normally" is what got your overweight in the first place. You need to make sure you aren't consuming too many calories on the non fasting days, otherwise it'll just balance itself back out.

@Alwaysdieting i might try not restricting at first. If that’s not giving results I will aim for under 1500 cals or perhaps for carbs under 50g

I do think this is true unfortunatley. I have stress-related gut problems that stop me eating at all for several days in a row sometimes, but I put the weight back on at the gallop when I am able to eat again.

Might it be worth thinking about what is causing the weight gain? I know wheat sugar and fat are the things that make me hungry and heavy. If I cut those out, I shrink like a t shirt in the tumble dryer.

Love that image @TwelveTimesTables 😂. I think this is true tbh but I really like the stuff you just listed 😉

I’m so glad others are up for doing this. When I say eating normally on non diet days I am aiming for around 1800-2000 calories a day. When I have fasted in the past I find it tends to make me more mindful of what I eat and drink generally. However I am not going to be overly regimented on non- fasting days, I just wont gorge myself on cheese, crisps and twiglets!

@Duh is tomorrow an up or down day for you? I have planned out my day for approx 560 cal - will aim for one meal at lunch time.

just chowing down on an ice cream seeing as I am starting tomorrow 🙄 will have a coffee then press start on my fasting app!

🤞 everyone

Hi @Clearingaspace tomorrow is a down day for me, so will be my third day of fasting since Wednesday. Hope tomorrow goes well for us!

Yes I will do 500 cals on feast day and 1800 on non feast. I think as I get older im getting a bit wheat intolerant so might cut it, trouble is I love cereals to be honest I love most food but im getting really down with myself. Good luck everyone.👍

Following this thread out of interest and may do it on the odd week where I need to boost weight loss. At the moment I struggle to fit one fasting day a week in so interested to see how you get on and how your energy levels and weight loss are.

how is it going @Alwaysdieting and @Duh?

@TwelveTimesTables yeah it is kind of an experiment for me and I am pretty interested how it will compare to weightloss I have achieved already by clean fasting. I probably should measure my waist tomorrow as a reference too as technically adf is supposed to be good for maintaining muscle …

I did a weights workout so just broken my fast with a small portion of skyr, frozen raspberries, protein powder and almond butter. Have to try o be careful with nut butter as my intended 5 g plopped in as almost double! Also having an eggwhite and greens omelette. Plan is small chicken breast, avocado and greens to finish off later. One coffee with milk.

Hi @Clearingaspace it’s going well so far thanks. I have had a couple of black coffees and lots of water this morning.

Your planned dinner sounds great . I have to confess to make it a little easier on myself for the first couple of weeks on fasting days I am not having meals as such, just having diet shakes and some veg. I love to cook but cooking low calorie meals just makes me think of food non-stop so starting this way will hopefully get my body used to fasting and then I can ‘introduce solids’.

I have been pleasantly surprised that I am not waking up hungry at all after my fast day days so far and I feel like my sleep is really deep. I am also liking that not preparing food 3 x a day means so much more time is available for other things. No cooking a big meal = no washing up!

My husband is doing this diet with me and we are amazed at how much weight we have lost already but also how much tidier our house is as we both have more time to do those jobs we never find time for! 😂

Im ill at the moment but marking for reading up for when I'm well to then join in.

Wow that is amazing @Duh great that you are doing it with your dh and both feeling so well on it. Shakes are a great idea, I might get some at some point soon, but the one I have in is vile so I need to have it mixed with food! I am so sick of cooking food for my family as no one eats the same and they are all super fussy but at this moment coming up with low cal meals for myself on the down day is kind of fun. Well it’s fun on day 1 at least 😂

I am chuffed as I realised I put 2 coffees with milk in my plan by accident - trying not to have it immediately …

Get well soon @BirthdayRainbow

@Clearingaspace I take my hat off to you for preparing different meals for your family!

The shakes we are having are just the Tescos own brand ones, 200 cals each. They aren’t delicious but they aren’t offensive in taste either. They mix quite easily which is good. We are having 2 a day plus some vegetables on the fast day.

hope you feel bette soon @BirthdayRainbow - I missed your message earlier

The Tesco shakes sound perfect @Duh . I just checked the reviews on mine expecting it to score really low but they have good reviews! Maybe they improved the recipe as I have had my packet almost 2 years 🤪

so luckily I held off on my extra coffee as went for a walk with dh and he wanted one out. Opted for a small cappuccino (no chocolate) instead of my usual large latte - was delicious. Will need to decide if that’s it for cals today now though. I feel pretty full so maybe I will start a fast 🤔

Thank you@Duh @Clearingaspace .

How did you get on @Duh

i ended on 590 calories yesterday and was pretty hungry in the end, looking forward to breakfast now.

i have lost my weekend (Fri &sat) bloat I think, but not 100% sure as there is nowhere I can keep my scale so that I hop on without moving it so it varies by approx 1lb if I move it a couple of mms. I am going to say 1lb off so far.

Hi @Clearingaspace it went well thanks, I haven’t woken up ravenous but I’m pleased today is a normal eating day! well done on yesterday, particularly if you were hungry towards the end. I felt hungry early evening and took the dog out and felt fine by when I returned.

I have decided I will try to only do a weekly weigh in as I think I’ll get discouraged if the weight loss looks too gradual. However after just three fasting days I can tell my clothes are already much less snug and that’s going to be my main ‘tracker’.

I also tend to lose weight on my face relatively quickly and I am really looking forward to seeing some cheekbones! 😊

Weeklyweigh in makes sense @Duh cheekbones have sadly never been part of my face 😂

i over did it with breakfast so will try to be more careful with lunch.

Can I ask what fasting apps you all use. I need to break my sugar addiction, and I think that fasting may well be the way to go. I have many, many years of disordered eating behind me.

Hi @BeReet I don't use any app, sorry I am a bit of a dinosaur that way.

You are very welcome to join us, though - and I hope I am not overstepping here and I do not in any way mean any offence - but is fasting compatible with a history of disordered eating? I say that only because every guide I have read on it (and I do not in any way profess to be an expert at all - far, far from it) discourages it in such circumstances. That said, if you decide it is something to try I absolutely look forward to us supporting each other on here😀

I just broke my fast with my usual breakfast and while it felt great I couldn't eat it all so I am hopeful that my body is re-calibrating and telling me what it needs rather than simply taking everything I propose to feed it!

@BeReet I use the life app but it’s really only a timer. I sometimes log on chronometer, as in theory I want to keep an eye on vitamins but in reality if scanning barcodes nutritional info won’t be listed. Good for keeping an eye on carbs though - you could select relaxed low carb on chronometer to try and help with reducing sugar cravings.

the book fast feast repeat by gin Stephens might be worth a read as a starting point but I don’t think it covers alternate day fasting.

If you want healthier recipes then the first fast 800 recipe book is good by Claire Bailey, it’s included on kindle unlimited.