Newbie, don’t know if I’m doing it right

[theladylovescupcakes]

I’m 52 and work a sedentary job, struggle with daily bloating, especially after eating at work. I have an evening meal at 5pm and have a milky coffee at 10am and a small piece of cheese at lunchtime, with plenty of water and black coffee through the day. I eat this way Monday to Thursday when I’m at work and try and eat normally but moderately at the weekend. Started a week past Monday.

Any tips? I absolutely live for food and find I’m a little flaggy through the day. Maybe I shouldn’t do it on consecutive days? Am I lining myself up for failure?

I believe you’re supposed to only ‘fast’ - ie, 500 calories - on two days out of five, and those two days should be as far apart as possible to prevent your metabolism slowing down.

I used to to Monday and Thursday, as avoided the weekend!

Unless you’re doing the 16:8, which I think you should do every day and eat ‘normal’ food in your eating window.

It's hard to get into a pattern to start with. What does your evening meal consist of?

I would probably do 16:8 anyway, breakfast at 10 and dinner at 5 and lunch in between.

Dinner is cooked from scratch, fish and potatoes, chicken and rice dish or similar. If I eat breakfast at work it’s yoghurt, fruit and homemade granola, and homemade chicken and veg soup for lunch.

it’s the bloating I was hoping to avoid (and lose weight, obv). I’m also coeliac which restricts my diet a little.

Maybe I should try 5:2 and see if that works better.

Am I messing with the science if I eat cheese/drink milky coffee if I’m supposed to be fasting?