Fasting to keep calories in check?
 

Does anyone here fast any days of the week to keep your calorie count down? I have like 2000 calories left for the week and was contemplating eating only dinner Friday, Saturday and Sunday at around 670 calories each. Any thoughts on this?

Some days I switch it up, if I intake less than 1200 on Wed - Thurs, sometimes Fri I will make it up for both days but I try to stay within the same range

I kinda went off plan yesterday and ended up consuming way more calories than I should have, so now I have to deal with it. I'm just wondering if anyone like will eat dinner, then not eat again until the next day's dinner...to keep the weekly calorie count in check. I have done intermittent fasting, so it's totally dooable for me...when I get hungry I can just drink water.

You should look at intermittent fasting.

Yup, this!

You definitely should NOT eat just 670 calories each day for 3 days! At 320 pounds, that's just not enough. Your weight loss will likely stall, you'll be STARVING and will likely eat like crazy on one of the days because you'll be so hungry....and your blood sugar will plummet, you'll feel faint, grumpy (because you're so hungry!) and generally really bad I would guess. You likely should be eating close to 2000 calories a day, not over 3 days!

How many calories do you give yourself each week...and what have you eaten during the rest of the week to only have 2000 calories left for 3 days??!

I have (lol)...I've done it before, just not on the amount of calories I'm consuming now.

My daily calorie plan is actually around 1,200. I give myself a little flexibility on that number, but yesterday I consumed a total of 2,300 calories. I went out for happy hour and it turned out to be an "extended" happy hour.

When I tried eating 1,800 to 2,000 calories, the scale DID NOT BUDGE and I got overly frusterated and un-motivated....so I am pretty sure that's too many calories for me.

I have read plenty of articles saying that Intermittent Fasting is a great way to reduce calories, and I have tried it on a number of occasions. I believe I read that your body does not go into starvation mode until after 3 days of not consuming anything at all, and I figured if I'll be eating dinner I would be fine...

There is good research about intermittent fasting, and I say if it's doable for you, then try it and see how you do. I personally would probably chew my leg off in my sleep due to hunger, as I am pretty programmed to eat a few times a day, and I am not good at telling my stomach "Not now, Mommy's busy." In the end, every individual needs to find a calorie level they can live with and still lose. I would starve to death (mentally) if I tried to stay at 1200 every day. However, I work out pretty intensely (lifting and cardio) about 5 days a week and have a fairly active job. Overall, just don't set yourself up for a self-sabotage by inducing such a hungry state that you become ravenous and eat anything that's not nailed down.

I'm not a calorie counter, but I do fast on certain days myself. I usually depends if I know I ate way over what I am now eating I fast the next day. And goodness it's been working for me! I think you go with whatever it is that works for you. There are people here who do different things to lose the weight and it just works for them. And not ALL of it is right for you, you know? Cutting my usual portions in half, fasting on certain days, and intense workouts work for me. But that's me. I think fasting does keep the calories in check because it works for me.

Usually I do have one day a week where I just don't mind the "cutting my usually portions in half" and usually fast that very next day. That day is usually Friday lol. But, I think I do do it Fridays, and Tuesdays though. But, again depends for me.

I think the best thing to do in this circumstance is to jump back into your routine as if the high day didn't happen. A higher calorie day every now and then is fine as long as you don't let it turn into multiple higher calorie days.

I've been doing intermittent fasting for brief periods of time over the last year. I find it's an effective tool in my arsenal. I'm coming off a 24 hour fast right now. I've gone as long as 36 hours and did just fine.

If you are choosing to eat that low for just a few days, you will find that your metabolism will not shut down. You'll still be breathing and functioning. It takes weeks of fasting to get to a dangerous state. If you've never cut that low before, it might be emotionally difficult to achieve.

I am just an inch shorter than you. I'm 51. I weigh almost 30 lbs less than you. I've been talking with someone who has done a lot of research on fasting and he tells me the lowest I should eat on a daily average is 900 calories. And I've done it a few times, calorie averaging, so that I was eating that low. I did just fine. I'd eat around 1600 calories for a couple days in a row then fast for 36 hours, starting after an early dinner, fast the whole next day and go to bed on empty, then have a nice little breakfast and go back to 1600 calories for each of the next two days. I actually lost about 30 lbs like that over the last year. I would have lost more but I had other health-related issued that prevented me from continuing that on a regular basis. I'm trying to get back to that routine now. I have to modify it somewhat because I'm a type 2 diabetic and I can't eat that many carbs and that much protein at one meal. Have to break it up into three meals because of how it affects my blood sugar.

But it's also okay just to count it as an anomaly and get back to what you were doing before. It's what normal thin people do.

Thank you so much for your input. I didn't think there would be anything wrong with 3 days of intermittent fasting...as I said before, I can definitely handle it - hunger does not bother me too much like it did before I tried IF. I've just never done IF with calorie counting before (perhaps that's why I didn't lose any weight when I tried it, lol).

LOL! I did that too! Fasted all day then snarfed down my day's calories during an 8-hour eating window. Somehow I missed the point of eating less. :D

I have read Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon and then joined the Venus Index community. All these tiny, tiny women who were fasting on that board. They would eat tiny meals under 500 calories! Even women who were as tall as us. I'm still trying to achieve that. I can get down to about 900 calories, as long as there's a lot of leafy greens and fats involved in the meal. This week I'm actually shooting for 24-hour fasts with a single 600-calorie meal. I ate under 1200 calories yesterday, but let myself eat too carby which affected my blood sugar this morning (too high). My body really does better when I cut calories.

I really wouldn't worry about it. I do IF too but I do eat all of my calories but if I happen to go over one day, I compensate by eating a little less the next day depending on how much I go over! :lol:

Like above mentioned about Eat Stop Eat- I think that program is just 2 full days of fasting (not consecutively, though) and you still eat your normal calories on other days. But you can always tweak it to your preferences.