[Closed] Fast Diet..didn't believe it but it's working for me.

Me too. Below is a copy and paste of a post i made on the other diet thread but I'm sufficiently impressed to post it again anyway.

[i]I started on mfp just after new year,targeting 1600cals per day. I found mfp great not just for the 'absolute' numbers but also to show me where stuff I thought wasn't so bad actually was,so I now have a better understanding of which foods are regular vs sometimes vs rarely. However, i also found sticking to 1600cals per day quite hard with my lifestyle, I enjoy eating out with my family and I also travel with work and eating out with colleagues and customers when you are counting cals is hard.

So 4 weeks back, I switched to the 5:2 plan, which suits me way better. I think the things I learned from mfp are still useful, my intake even on eating days is usually pretty close to the 2500 +/- that is about normal for a man of my build, rarely exceeds except on special occasions, and is generally just healthier (less refined carbs/ bread, less red meat, more veg, etc). The fast days are no problem, porridge for breakfast and then grilled fish or chicken plus shedloads of veg for dinner. And the weight's coming off still at the same healthy rate of 1-2lbs per week; so far about 20 lbs gone in 9 weeks ( had a couple of big losses in WK 1 and 2 which wasn't a surprise since i went on to 1600cals per week after eating my own bodyweight in Christmas goodies the week before!!), now much more regular and stable.[/i]

Today's update - 20lbs lost since new year

It is certainly an eye opener when you realise how a slice of bread or a half cup of rice can eat into your 600 fast day amount.

I skip brekkie completely, just black coffee, then a light lunch, perhaps just a tin of low cal soup and then have a big (ish) tea I find that stops the hunger pangs and munchies that the evening brings.
Mornings are easier to miss as I crack on with work so not thinking about food.

I've been doing it for 2 months, but some weeks I've only done 1 fast day, and I think I've done slightly less exercise than usual since new year. Still, I've definitely lost a few pounds and I find it easier to be really strict for 2 days than moderately strict for 7!
Having said that, I sometimes struggle with hunger by the night following a fast day, especially if I do a big ride the day before. I don't know anyone else who says they struggle with feeling hungry!

I don't struggle with feeling hungry on non-fast days, in fact wouldn't say I struggle particularly on fast days either, because you know it's only for a limited time. But I think that's also where my first few weeks of calorie counting helped, making me better equipped to cope with low level hunger which can be ignored and will pass (drink water) and also which foods help you feel fuller longer.

I don't feel hungry on non-fast days. What I mean is, if I do a fast day on a Monday, then I have only 500 calories between teatime on Sunday and breakfast on Tuesday, so often by late Monday night I do feel really hungry, so much so that it even keeps me awake sometimes!

I understand now. That's why I split my intake on fast days to have just enough breakfast and save more for evening meals. Typically maybe 150-450.

I might try that - saving more calories for the evening. This week I've been trying huge bowls of salad leaves with a little bit of olive oil and lemon juice. That's more filling than I expected.

And also go higher on protein in your evening meal - seems to make you feel fuller for longer. Eg; my Monday evening meal was 2 chicken breasts and 400g of vegetables which is a sizable plateful.

It certainly is an eye opener when you realise how many calories are in cereals and bread, which I eat a lot of!
I've also swapped my first thing in the morning cappuccino for espresso, on most days, not just fast days.

Skipping breakfast ?! Not only does that not make sense but its also dangerous.

Think about it. You have gone all night without food and despite what you may think you have been using up your energy supplies through the night. When you wake up in the morning you are on empty, fluids and blood sugars etc are down. By not having breakfast you continue to run on empty until lunch time. You then start drinking tea and coffee through the morning and that further dehydrates you. The nett result is that you can find yourself easily passing out, or going into a seizure all caused by drops in blood pressure or a lack of blood pressure.

When you have breakfast you start your metabolism going IE your engine, the whole process of turning food into energy and burning it and believe or not having a breakfast can actually help you loose weight more than skipping breakfast because you are kick starting that process.

I am speaking from experience, as I made myself bloody ill by skipping breakfast and not eating properly and it's not nice for either you or those around you so please be careful.

My advice would be a Special K Fruity cereal for breakfast, a good meat or fish based salad plus an apple and a Banana for lunch, then a good hearty dinner at the end of the day. That on top of your biking and maybe a swim once a week is a good healthy balance.

Here endith the lesson !

I would never trust the advice of a man who eats Special K Fruity cereal for breakfast.

Do you go weak at the knees when you see Hugh Grant on TV?

I haven't eaten breakfast regularly for 10 years, when can I expect my first seizure/blackout/death?

Same here I started the fasting on Mon and Thurs for over 8 months now.
Same as he did on the telly just 1 cupa soup before bed. I find if i dont start eating i dont really feel hungry until i know its getting close to cuppa soup time. Do struggle to get to sleep sometimes (not tnite its 7:36 here in Dubai) but the pounds have fallen off and I intend to keep it up for the rest of my natural 🙂

It's so easy to fit in around your normal life. You're not denied "naughty" food, just wait until tomorrow. There are other massive benefits to health other than just the decrease in weight as well.

It's only the last what, 30 years, where mankind has had three meals a day plus snacks. For millions of years, we didn't know where the next meal would come from. Unless you've got an underlying medical condition, 24 hrs on 500 cal is a doddle.

I've been doing 4:3 to kick start things and lost two stone so far this year. According to the bodyfat scales (l know they're far from perfect) I've maintained lean body mass as well.

I'll drop to 5:2 soon and eventually, probably 6:1 just to keep the health benefits of fasting.

There's also benefits to be had from exercising in a fasted state.

I think it's great.

Another fan here. I'm probably eating too much on non-fast days but the weight is still slowly coming off. Fast days are indeed a doddle - ham at 2pm, yoghurt at 4pm, soup at 7pm and I'm happy.

The 5:2 fast diet doesn't mean a skipped breakfast every day, or even at all if you don't want to.
Skipping breakfast isn't 'dangerous' for a healthy person anyway. It does increase the chances of eating an unhealthy snack late- morning, though!

lol at missing breakfast being dangerous.

During summer I will regularly just get up, get on the bike and leave the house, I probably won't eat anything until I've done a full ride of 60-80 miles and got back to the house. I've been doing this for years and I've not keeled over yet.

There's plenty of energy stored in your body.

Breakfast is a recent invention. How we didn't become extinct millennia ago is a mystery.

I'm 5/2ing. Not for weight loss but I'm more interested in the other benefits. I do feel remarkably good on it.

I would never trust the advice of a man who eats Special K Fruity cereal for breakfast.

I would never trust anyone who still believes the myth that tea and coffee dehydrate you..

My advice would be a Special K Fruity cereal for breakfast

Terrible advice. Nothing but refined sugary crap.

I am interested in this type of diet, can someone post a reference to the book or website please?

I'm pretty sure if I didn't eat every 2 hours I would die. My brother is the same.
You wouldn't like us when we are hungry.

The fasting diet is interesting stuff. I'll be interested to see large sample clinical data to see how it works out over time. Calorie restriction will always reduce weight, but, to me, it seems that perhaps where certain regimes add benefit is the way they help reduce hunger when in calorie defucit to make the diet sustainable.

On a different approach I do actually find that protein seems to be more efficient at killing appetite than carbs - but that like much else is just my anecdotal contribution

There is always confirmation bias in all these things, with the successful wanting to share their successes, which is why I'd like to see some data.

Ultimately I guess, f it works for you, it works.

Old dog; I agree with everything you wrote. I have read the book which contains a bit of science-lite and some references to studies (which of course I haven't read) which of course back up the benefits. But that too is to be expected, who'd write a book and then include a load of references that contradict what the book's about. I'll be honest, I'm sceptical whether there are significant cellular regeneration health benefits to fasting as well, but that's not why I'm doing it, I did it to lose weight, it's working, and it's easier to stick to and fit into my lifestyle than calories counting every day. Do I feel healthier as a result - not sure i can say that after 'only' 5 weeks on it and also normalise out how much fitter and healthier (and hence inwardly happier) I feel as a result of being nearly 2 stone lighter and lighter than I've been since I left school 20-odd years ago.

Re protein filling you up. Again I'm sure I've read 'science' somewhere to back that up, but there's enough anecdotal evidence, me included that I am convinced by that one.

cheese@4p - Member
I am interested in this type of diet, can someone post a reference to the book or website please?

You can watch the original Horizon documentary [url= http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/110651/BBC_Horizon_2012_Eat_Fast_and_Live_Longer/ ]HERE[/url]

Its interesting that the original premise of the show was to look at the effects of aging and the weight loss thing was just a side effect.

You have gone all night without food and despite what you may think you have been using up your energy supplies through the night

Lol, not a chance. I've got a good 10kg of energy supplies, which funnily enough is what I'm trying to get rid of!

You have a lot of reading to do - start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin

I'm on 5:2 and finding it great. No idea about the science but it makes sense to me that Mr Hunter-gatherer didnt have 3 square meals and survived just fine.

Mr Hunter-gatherer didnt have 3 square meals and survived just fine.

Survived just fine? Yeah right 🙂

[i]I would never trust anyone who still believes the myth that tea and coffee dehydrate you.[/i]

And we have our Troll, Ladies and Gentlemen.

[i]Re protein filling you up. Again I'm sure I've read 'science' somewhere to back that up, but there's enough anecdotal evidence, me included that I am convinced by that one.[/i]

Meat is a tough substance to break down when it enters the small intestine. So, peristalsis slows, in order to allow the meat to remain in the small intestine for longer so that our digestive system can extract the protein. I hope that helps.

[i]Survived just fine? Yeah right[/i]

World domination, as in becoming the dominant species on the planet, not good enough for you ?.

Am I getting a whiff of Trollgrips ?.
🙄

Survived just fine? Yeah right

World domination, as in becoming the dominant species on the planet, not good enough for you ?.

Er.. this is getting insane. As a species we prospered, however that's not the issue here. Otherwise dying of heart disease at 50 would not be an issue!

Life expectancy was somewhat low in neolithic times afaik.

Surely unless you do this for the rest of your life, you'll just pile it back on and more when you go back to 'normal'?
Better to change your lifestyle and habits surely...for good.
Food is ace, I'd hate to not have it for a day or more... 🙂

I would never trust anyone who still believes the myth that tea and coffee dehydrate you.

And we have our Troll, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I'm not trolling sunbeam.. look it up

the liquid in a mug of tea or coffee far outweighs any diuretic effect of any caffeine present..

it's just science 😕

think about it.. your grandparents probably only ever drank tea as their only form of rehydration.. if it [i]really[/i] dehydrated you that whole generation would have been desiccated

here's a [url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5281046.stm ]link[/url] for you seeing as your kneejerk response to something that you don't understand is to call troll.. 😀

Time will tell. But (anecdotally) I've continued to 'monitor' intake on non-fast days and rarely exceed 2500 except on special occasions, and frequently I'm less. Hence, with 2500 being my rough balance then I'd be confident I won't bloat out once I reach target weight unless I overexercise my pieroid gland.

And the book / plan suggests that fasting one or two days a week longer term (as a lifestyle in fact) is good for you anyway, hence once you reach target you go from 2x a week to 1x a week, or increase from eg: 600 per fast day to 900 - find what works for you. And if you start to increase, add a second day back in, or cut the fasting intake, or.....

Clearly with any diet if you return to old habits you'll return to old weight too, but for now at least this feels like something I can keep up long term, irrespective of whether it has health benefits beyond weight loss.

Food is ace, I'd hate to not have it for a day or more...

Have you read earlier posts? I'm not going without for a day.... I'm having a decent bowl of porridge or scrambled egg on toast for breakfast, then nothing till evening when I'm eating a load of lean meat and vegetables. Hardly not eating for a day.

What do you eat on a 600 day?
I work 12hr shifts which can be quite physical and hot at times. When busy I can work for a while before starting to feel light headed and needing to eats
On a road bike ride I feel the need to eat at 20-30mls before starting to feel tired and the need to refuel

MrsT is diabetic. How would she cope on such a diet?

Can't do it if I'm home, being just close to food makes me hungry.

So through winter I've been two semi fast days (consecutive hence the semi), eating a moderate breakfast, just fruit and coffee at lunch time, and a low/zero carb tea with lots of veg, and then, early to bed. If I kick about the house I get hunger temptation, if I'm sat in bed with the laptop I don't. Make no sense I know. Given my bad habits the rest of the time this has kept my weight under control over winter, nopt shifting into summer, riding more, and working non consecutive days, so will start doing it porperly. I was surprised how easy it is. I will, this year, bloody will make my 90k target.

Food is ace, I'd hate to not have it for a day or more...

Have you read earlier posts?

Ummm...no 😳

Trekster

Breakfast; 30g porridge oats with skimmed milk = 200 cals (makes a big bowl and actually I make mine half-half milk and water and save another 40 cals)

Or, 2 eggs on toast (scrambled or poached) = 225 cals

Dinner - 2 skinless chicken breasts = 265 cals, leaves 100-200 cals for vegetables which is a lot. 230g of haddock loin = 240 cals approx. Lean protein is quite calories cheap and very filling.

I don't think they recommend intermittent fasting for diabetics, from what I recall in the book.

.... FFS I was only saying !!! Passing on some good advice from doctors and dieticians was all... and where the hell did I say anything about dying 😯 ! Over reacting isn't in it !!!

BTW I did say....

I am speaking from experience

Finally, Fruity Special K.... I eat it because I like the ferkin taste not because I'm on some mad ferkin diet. I now eat well (including breakfast) and exercise regularly and feel great for it without the need to calorie count, fast or diet.

Christ on a Bike 🙄 !!??!!

What's this ferkin diet then? Will it help me get rid of me moobs

I've been going this for 6 months now - find it easy and intend to continue with it forever, as is my wife. I wasn't overweight beforehand (about 11st 3lb) but thought the other health benefits seemed fairly compelling.

I have a bowl of porridge for breakfast, an apple and banana for lunch and a big bowl of soup in the evening. Soup is great as you can make your own if you want (lots of potential flavour variety) and as it's about 80% water it's bulky and filling for only a couple of hundred cals. I can feel a bit hungry in the evening sometimes but it's no hardship. I reckon I eat 500-600cals on a fast day. Currently I weight 10st 3lb, which seems to have stabilised, but I've had to go out and buy new jeans - 30in waist! I don't remember having jeans this small even aged 18.

Goodness. Me. Loggin in... On a Friday afternoon. Oh well.

Yunki !.

I'm not likely, going to agree with you on the coffee, tea thing.
If you're posting what you believe, then you can't be blamed for that.

So I withdraw my call of [i]Troll[/i] and wish you, along with everyone else here, a great weekend.

😀

Now, which way to the pub !.

EDIT:
Oh, the breakfast bunny ^^. FWIW, I..... Agree with Molgrips 😯

You don't need breakfast. I often get up in the morning, and mash out 20 or more miles in an hour, on the rollers. Fasted !. No problems.
Its more a case of the man selling breakfast cereals, shaking the tree, me thinks.
😉

Right, now I'm really going.

Byeeee
😀

davidtaylforth - Member

I would never trust the advice of a man who eats Special K Fruity cereal for breakfast.

Do you go weak at the knees when you see Hugh Grant on TV?

davidtaylforth, this must the first time you have ever said anything that
a) I agree with
b) made me laugh
and
c) I intend to re-use in a conversation soon.

So, what do people do a couple of hours after tea when hunger pangs set in? I tend to go for muesli (non sugar variety, but I know thats is quite carby).

Anyone of the 'always hungry all the time' persuasion come up with anything good and effective?

I'm always hungry! I eat my tea quite late on a fast day. Sometimes I eat a few almonds or something to keep me going!

hmmm - maybe i need to distract myself and delay tea. I will need to find something really compelling.

Jelly ftw

Is jelly not bad for me? Surely jelly is bad for me... really? is jelly OK?

Distract yourself with an "early night" maybe?!

Not eat my own weight in jelly? I suppose...

Sugar free jelly is almost calorie free and surprisingly tasty.

But seriously, to deal with hunger - mtfu, it's an eating day tomorrow.

Konnyaki noodles - 46kcals a packet, tasty with miso soup.

Had a really gorgeous soup from Waitrose today - warming chicken broth - soooooo tasty, about 260kcals.

Anyone of the 'always hungry all the time' persuasion

I used to be like that.. not any more though....

Food doctor lentil, tomato and quinoa packet soup with a dash of chilli. Only 100 calories but makes a big thick mug full and has no corn starch, MSG or other crap in it.

But seriously, to deal with hunger - mtfu, it's an eating day tomorrow.

not for me.. though not writing about it might make it easier.

Just to give some proportion to my phenomenal hunger, at uni I was unbeaten at Pizza hut AYCE with 24 slices of Pizza, and various side dishes. People would try beat me and fall groaning by the wayside. serve 6 macaroni cheese? doddle. I have honestly never met anyone who can eat as much in one sitting as me. I wish you could do it competitively in the UK, apart from the not wanting to end up huge thing.

@Rockhopper70...Racing snake on a diet? whatever next.... 😆

Just bought the book as it sounds like it will work for me.

Hopefully will need loads of new cloths soon.

The best diet advice I ever heard, came from - of all people - Dale Winton.

"Eat less, move more".

He was right.

So, what do people do a couple of hours after tea when hunger pangs set in?

Cup of tea.

Or, eat low GI and your body'll get used to it.

12st 4lb tonight......

@ bfith....I'll let you have my old 34" shorts... 😯

13-9 here (86.5kg). Still a way to go, I reckon I'd like to do another 5-8kg which would make me 24-25 on the bmi scale and quite a bit lighter than I've been for a long long time. But at the rate it's moving - another 8-10 weeks should see it done and that doesn't scare me in the slightest.

Had to put a new hole in my belt just today, and my mum says I'm looking 'gaunt' - but mums are supposed to keep you fat aren't they!

I started this 5:2 fast diet three weeks ago, along with keeping a rough check on my calorie intake/expenditure using the myfitnesspal app. Also been making more of a concerted effort towards more exercise - longer, brisker dog walks, more miles on the bike.

Half a stone down after three weeks! 😀

Well on the way to shedding the stone I wanted rid of in time for my week with Riviera Bikes in June.

Am in a routine on the fast days - coffee for breakfast, watercress/spinach omelette for lunch, soup for dinner - and make a point of exercising that day.

The gnawing feeling in the gut that I guess is my body telling me to eat something has been progressively less noticeable on each successive fast day.

Hoping that this is the diet that ceases to be a regime, that sticks and simply becomes a habit.

vickypea - Member

Food doctor lentil, tomato and quinoa packet soup with a dash of chilli. Only 100 calories but makes a big thick mug full and has no corn starch, MSG or other crap in it.

You missed out an ingredient; food.
HTH.

Time for a pre-bedtime snack of bacon and avocado on some just baked bread topped off with some fresh coriander. 8)

Sweet dreams kids.

It's only the last what, 30 years, where mankind has had three meals a day plus snacks. For millions of years, we didn't know where the next meal would come from.

Im half way into my second week and find the fast days quite easy, just MTFU and get on with it, I can eat tomorrow.

Usually I and just have a brew, eat an apple when I'm hungry at 10, skip lunch or just have a salad then eat tea with family but a rather more selective tea for me, no spuds, plenty of veg, eat the meat, what ever is on that night.

No idea if I am doing 800, 600 or 400 calories on the fast days but part of this has to fit in with family and work life for it to be sustainable. I know I should not have milk in my tea or coffee but that would be like a punishment so I just have a drop.

Lost about 5kg so far and feeling great.

I don't particularly feel starving on fast days either.

Keep it up everyone

I lost 2 stone last winter by eating healthier and reducing my daily calorie intake. No fancy dieting or fasting involved.
I do a pretty active job so my daily calorie burn is going to be a bit higher than average, which does make it a bit easier to lose the weight - the old 'eat less, move more' thing again.
I'd be interested to hear how the 5:2 system works for people who are spending 8-10 hours a day on their feet, continuously on the move. If it works for you then fair play, but there's no way I would have been able to do a working day on 600 calories.
I always start the day with a decent breakfast - a good size bowl of muesli or porridge and juice, or poached eggs and beans on toast at the weekend. I prefer to fill up in the morning and eat little and often through the day with a small dinner, rather than skipping brekky and waiting til later in the day to eat.

You poor sods, doing stuff that isn't good for you just to try and loose weight.

What happened to breakfast being the most important meal of the day? Since when is starving your body of food 12hrs or so good for you? Surely your body will just hold on to fat rather than process it...

Your body doesn't hold onto fat because you don't eat for 12 hours. It's people spouting carp like this which is why the nation is obese. Every person I know who has tried this eating plan has lost weight easily and in a sustainable way. Maybe read up a bit before commenting?

Oh and people are losing weight not loosing it!!!

Who says breakfast is the most important meal of the day? What's that based on? Who says not eating breakfast is doing you harm?

I feel better in myself and I'm losing subcutaneous and visceral fat.

It's just eating less moving more distributed in a slightly different way. There is more to it that just losing weight though. It alters your perception of full and hungry and resets your relationship with food.

I know the other benefits have not been proven long term and some not even proven in humans but I've considered this and I'm happy to take a punt on it. At least until someone can offer actual evidence that it's doing more harm than good.

I'm down about 30lbs so far this year and maintaining lean tissue.

The only time I could see myself struggling I after a big weekends riding. Did the WHW carrying all our own gear at the weekend, and I ate everything in sight on mon, tues and prob most of Wednesday. I'd like to give this a shot though.

Easy, pic two days a week to fast that suit. I've actually done hour runs and 35 mile road rides on fast days without issue and I save all my calorie allowance for the evening meal.

It's an interesting diet that's pretty popular at the moment, I think it needs a fair bit more research though. Things like whether the weight-loss is coming from the 3500-4000 calories less a week people are getting or if it exceeds that and something else is happening in the body to respond to the fast days.
Might give it a go myself but I have very little willpower so not sure if I can avoid the snacking temptation...

That's why it's so easy. No will power required. It's only one day. Have the biscuit tomorrow. It's not total denial.

Although I've generly improved my diet because of it. I now don't have the biscuit on most feast days either.

FW

Possibly - but as I've said before, trying to stick to 1500-1600 per day every day and so avoid snacks and temptations every day is too hard for me, with my lifestyle / job, and not sustainable for the long term. If it is purely calories reduction but in chunks, and still works, that's fine for me. If there is some magic to it as the writer claims, that's an added bonus but purely a bonus for me, and like others I'm sceptical of those claims until its proven long term.

Avoiding temptation on the fast days isn't as hard as you think. If anything, getting a bit hungry during the day is a pleasant feeling - it's not as if you're dying of starvation, just a bit rumbly in the tumbly - and the anticipation of eating in the evening makes you enjoy it that bit more. When the hunger kicks in, drink some water and do something more interesting, it soon passes.

To those giving it a go / just starting and finding the fasting bit easy. Be careful, first couple of weeks are novel and easy. I found the next few harder, once novelty had worn off. I'm now I think 7 or 8 weeks in, and it's now ingrained to be normal. Stick with it.

Last comment - I wish it wasn't called the fast diet for 2 reasons. One, it doesn't feel like a diet when I can eat what I want largely for 5 days a week. Second - 'fast' does it no favours, because of the connotations of speed, ie crash type dieting. I'm averaging 1-2lbs a week which is hardly crash.

11st 9lb tonight.
It was an intentional weigh in as I am now hovering around this weight.
I'm going to use October to see how doing only one day a week affects things.

I forget the October update but no real difference to my weight when doing only one day. Approaching one year on and I'm 11st 5 and in a 32 trouser which was the target. Back to 1 day a week now for maintenance!

I thought I'd post my own progress as I'm quite proud of it.

Started 1st April at 215 lbs and have now reached 187 lbs with 5:2. I have had breaks for August and the festive period but am approaching my target of 182 lbs almost without trying now. I am 6'3" and have gone from a 38" waist to a 32" waist. I can easily maintain the weight it was just shifting it that was the problem.
I allowed myself 660 calories on the fast days. I have been looking at the weather forecast and choosing the rainy days for fasting and the fine weather for riding. Has worked out perfectly.

10lb since NYD using this and some healthier eating ... feeling good with myself about it. Although a minorish man-flu thing going on.

I allowed myself 660 calories on the fast days.

I had a 0% yogurt and honey for brekkie, approx. 100 cals. I had a ready meal from Asda for lunch, usually about 300 cals. I had another yogurt in the afternoon so running total about 500 cals. I then had another snack of about 150 cals mid evening followed by an early night. The lunches from Asda kept hunger at bay at least until 5pm.

I sometimes had a massive skimmed milk latte in the morning and clung on until 12 noon for lunch.

You are definitely hungry in the morning and last thing at night but it's better than being hungry 7 days a week which is how I see normal 'diets'!

I feel mentally more alert as well.

I have a man-flu thing going on at the mo so last fast day was last Thursday but there must be a delayed reaction sort of thing because the weight has continued to drop since then.