The FastDay Forum

Hello, I'm new to the forum. I decided that I am going to try fasting daily with an eating window between 2pm and 8pm. When I was younger and for many years this was exactly how I use to eat. I never ate breakfast, preferring to eat around 2pm which is when I used to get hungry and I seldom ate after 8pm. I remember a friend telling me how unhealthy my way of eating was and that I should start eating breakfast. Of course I wanted to be healthy so I started eating breakfast but quickly found I seemed to be hungry all of the time?? Fast forward 10 years and if breakfast is half an hour late I feel like I'm starving. I've got about 14lbs to lose and I am hoping that this WOE will help with that but mostly I am looking forward to the freedom I once had with food returning. I never worried about calories, was healthy and full of energy. I should add that I ate well and was by no means starving myself... I was slim but not under weight. This is kind of an experiment to see if I can happily return to such an eating pattern, drop the extra pounds and get back some much needed energy I seem to have lost. So today was day 1 for me. It was a bit of a challenge in that I seemed to obsess about what I was going to eat once my window opened but it has not been too bad. I have probably eaten around 1200 calories today so far and will probably max at 1500 per day allowing 2000 for a couple of days per week. Of course when I have dropped the extra pounds I will review this. Anyone else fast daily?

That's really interesting. I don't like counting calories and enjoy my food and wine so as well as my two days fasting I tend to miss breakfast on other days. I never used to but since being on this diet I've realised I can easily and what's more it means I get a few minutes extra in bed!! I'll be interested to see your progress.

It works great for me, will never go back to eating from dawn til dusk. No calorie counting, no doing without the foods I love, and like you, I realise that this was how I ate when I was young and didn't have a weight problem,

Ballerina x

Seem to have lost my last post? Anyway, I noticed that 2 until 8 is actually an 8 hour window. Hi Ballerina and Catalena... Can't help but feel I'm on to something! I like my wine too Catalena, at the weekend mostly. Just enjoying a glass before my window closes.

Sorry a 6 hour window! Maybe this glass of vino has gone to my head!

Better it goes to your head than to your hips

Ballerina x

Haha! Very true!

Haha! Very true!

[janeg]

Hello FuntimeFrankie
Are you fasting every day? As in having 500cals? Or have I misinterpreted?

I'm in a bit of a muddle here. Is the theory that a daily eating window of 6/8 hours helps with weight loss (& other health indicators)? Or maintenance? Or it's just what works best for some people? And this is in addition to the 2 days on 500 cals?

My understanding is that you eat what you like in the eating window, and like 5:2, you may overeat at first, but once you settle into it, you'll be eating pretty much what you need. (So no way would it be only 500 calories) I think that the 5 hour window is about weight loss, but as you extend it out to a bigger eating window, it becomes more about maintenance and taking advantage of the other health benefits of fasting. And yes it's daily, and stand along, not done in conjunction with 5:2.

Though of course, it's all flexible, and you could adapt bits until you found something that worked for you. We're all so different, there is nothing that will work for everyone.

Like the original 5:2 I think the eating window is evolving and being adapted to suit individual needs. I started doing 16/8 as I neared my target weight. I was still on 5:2 but found that I was also having my 500 cals within a 'window' on my fast days. I soon dropped the 500cal fast and just continued with unrestricted eating everyday within a 'window' as I found this really suited me and was my natural way to eat. This will not suit everyone, my husband HAS to have breakfast or he will be dead from starvation before noon, he tells me!

I believe you can mix and match quite successfully, I have done it and it worked for me, or you can do 5:2 which also worked for me or you can do a 'window' only which is what I now do every day and this also works for me. I have lost weight on a 'window' only so I am convinced that you can do this. Rainbow and her husband jumped straight into a 5 hour window and I understand it is working a treat for them.

Experiment, experiment and then experiment again til you find a way that suits YOU and then just go with it. You can only lose, hee hee

Ballerina x

Hey Funtime Frankie,

Welcome, I'm new too. I just want to say good luck.
I've completed 2 fast/repair days now and feeling great, sleeping really well also.
I'm eating 1500 on feed days too, but with an 8 hour window, and it's going well.
Hope it all goes well for you and you find a way of eating that works for you.

Hello everyone. Yes Janeg, I am fasting everyday (eating window between 2 and 8pm) averaging between 1200 and 1500 calories a day. I eat what I want but have found so far that I do not feel the need to go above this amount which is great because before this I was struggling to keep the calories below 1800. It does not feel like I am dieting and I don't feel deprived either which is great. Hi It-is-time, thanks for the welcome. Its only the end of day 2 for me but already I feel like I have turned a corner, its really working for me. Good luck to you too. Let me know how you get on.

Hi Funtime Frankie, ref your first post on this thread, that's me that is!! When I first looked at the first few lines I honestly thought I had written it and forgotten. Spurred on by Ballerina I am now combining 5:2 + 16:8