Alcohol during fasting period

[Neveragain35]

Be honest- do you drink during the fasting period?

I’m trying to do 16:8 and I’m finding the food part just about manageable- I tend to fast from 7pm to 11am. I get up early for work but I manage to keep myself going to 11am with black coffee and peppermint tea, then have an early lunch and a normal dinner, with plenty of fruit in between if I’m hungry.

But I like the odd gin and tonic in the evening and I’m finding that the hardest habit to break!

Do you think a gin and slimline tonic would make a massive difference? Or would it break the fast completely?

Of course it makes a difference. You’re not fasting if you’re drinking alcohol. It’s still calories.

Even a splash of milk in tea or coffee will break a fast.

Yes it would break the fast, same as a few squares of chocolate would break the fast! Surely it is pretty unhealthy to deny yourself all food at the same time as having an alcoholic drink?! You are just swapping out calories from nourishment and replacing them with calories from something unnourishing and mildly toxic.

@AlbertCamusflage I’m eating a healthy dinner at 6 so I’m not denying myself food! It’s just difficult to manage 16:8 fasting with occasionally having a social life that involves a drink in the evening. I was just wondering what people do. I guess the other option is to move the fasting window the next day.

I‘m combining dry January with 16:8. So I can easily accept that the evening glass of wine (or g&t in your case) is not an option.

I you don’t want to cut it out completely, maybe have it with your dinner before you start the fast? Or choose one or two nights a week where you have a break from fasting

Yes, absolutely.

If this is going to be a way of life rather than something faddy it has to be sustainable.

It's easy to say 'no'. Much harder to live it.

Overall the fasting 'proper' on days when I don't drink gives the debatable benefits of a real fast. The 'fast but with some alcohol' has the net effect of stopping snacking after a drink, so taking in fewer calories than if I wasn't doing it.
I need the rules and control as I'm using it to override a very long established eating disorder. It has to be sustainable as I'm out of options.

So far I'm back at a healthy weight with only one week in 6 months of recurrence of the ED, and I know why that happened and strategies for next time. Overall my drinking has decreased too.

So yes. Do what YOU need to do.