How much do you eat when you fast?

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maryalene

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I hope that you will humor me with what may be a dumb question. I know that “officially” fasting is defined as three meals a day with the combined two smaller ones not exceeding the amount of food in the third meal. But in the past, when I have fasted, I usually end up feeling that I am just not eating between meals instead of really fasting. I never feel very hungry, and I feel like I am just eating too much. So I am curious to hear how much food people eat when fasting (i.e. what is a typical breakfast, lunch and dinner).

Also, I have a very special intention that I would like to fast throughout Lent for. I am in good general health, and this would be the first time I have done any type of extended fasting. I am thinking about breaking my fast on Sundays to make it more manageable. However, for those of you who are experienced fasters, do you think this helps or do you think it makes it more difficult to start fasting again on Monday? Finally, if anyone would like to share their strategies for overcoming the temptation to eat while fasting, I would appreciate hearing your suggestions. Thanks in advance!
 
I will have a normal breakfast, a light lunch, and bread and water for dinner.
 
For some reason, the “one meal and two snacks” regime just doesn’t seem like fasting to me. :confused: Sometimes that’s what I eat on a normal day; fasting, to me, should be less than that.

DaveBj
 
I agree Dave. It is a sacrifice for me not to eat between meals but it really doesn’t seem like fasting either. On the other hand, I don’t want to want to go overboard, not eat at all and turn into a cranky you-know-what.

Thanks for sharing thistle. I was thinking about eating my biggest meal in the morning. I thought that might help me stick with the fast.
 
A bag of chips, cheese stick, and a cup of soup. Hope that ain’t too much!:eek: But I’m a small, thin young woman and I need my energy!
 
I’m going to fast for Lent too, and start off with a prolonged three day fast. Then I will have a light breakfast (fruit or cereal) and a small dinner only. No meat on Friday’s or Wednesday. (except for feast days during Lent, then I’ll break my fast).
 
Last year on all Wednesdays throughout Lent I had one McDonalds shake on or about lunch time (they had something green for St Patricks Day during Lent; pistachio I think). Boy did that shake taste good.
 
Hello there,
Just wanted to drop my thought here…
I’m too really confused with this matter and don’t quite acctually know what I’m not allowed to do while fasting…
Yet I reckon that fast is first of a great opportunity to give up on things that we like for this holy period of time, just one more way to show Jesus our love… So for me it will be partying and going out,
god bless you all, k.
 
When I fast, I fast. I don’t eat that day. I sort of thought I was cheating a bit because I have tea, pop, even Ovaltine in the past, whereas I understood true fasting meant only water.

I would say, though, if it’s a sacrifice to cut out between meal snacks, then it’s a sacrifice, and surely God honors that you are making that sacrifice.
 
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maryalene:
I hope that you will humor me with what may be a dumb question. I know that “officially” fasting is defined as three meals a day with the combined two smaller ones not exceeding the amount of food in the third meal. But in the past, when I have fasted, I usually end up feeling that I am just not eating between meals instead of really fasting. I never feel very hungry, and I feel like I am just eating too much. So I am curious to hear how much food people eat when fasting (i.e. what is a typical breakfast, lunch and dinner).

Also, I have a very special intention that I would like to fast throughout Lent for. I am in good general health, and this would be the first time I have done any type of extended fasting. I am thinking about breaking my fast on Sundays to make it more manageable. However, for those of you who are experienced fasters, do you think this helps or do you think it makes it more difficult to start fasting again on Monday? Finally, if anyone would like to share their strategies for overcoming the temptation to eat while fasting, I would appreciate hearing your suggestions. Thanks in advance!
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Even if you are in good general health, depending on the severity of your fast you might want to seek medical advice before you start. My mother only discovered her blood sugar was slightly abnormal when she started rigorous fasting on Fridays.
 
eating the biggest meal at breakfast is a good idea if you have the time, and makes the other two light meals seem more of a sacrifice. Try returning to the older practice of no meat during Lent except on sunday, challenging and rewarding, look at the sticky on Lenten Recipes. Make a recipe, like a tuna casserole, and eat it all week for lunch, for instance. the lack of variety will be a penance in itself. Or make a pot of vegetable soup and eat if for supper all week, same principle.

Also try abstaining from artificials: non-food items that are so much part of our diet, snack foods, cold cereals that are all coloring and flavor and almost no whole grain, margarine, jello, soda, most manufactured desserts, sauces and toppings that are all chemicals or synthetic etc.

As I have said before, my medical diet is so restricted and rigid now that it constitutes penance and fasting already, so I will look for other penitential practices. This year I have been fasting from unnecessary shopping. No more running through the dollar store, target, bookstore or gift store buying random articles. All shopping is planned, needed, and for a specific purpose.

Last year I fasted from paperback mysteries. For one thing some of the plots and story lines have become so perverted I find a lot of mainstream authors disturbing, even old favorites. For another it was becoming a time and money waster. I now find I have no more taste for them and my standards are much higher for the books I do buy. Also have saved a ton of money.

This year my “fast” will be a ramped up walking and exercise program, incorporated into a schedule that allows more time for prayer, adoration etc. and better time management in general.
 
well there’s lots of different kinds of fasts! Like the “Absolute Fast” where you dont eat anything! And the 7A-9P fast where you dont eat anything from whenever you get up till like 6. There’s a lot more but I’m too tired to name them all. Another time, another time.
 
Great suggestions Annie! Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate them!
 
for some inspiration from inspiration

Isaiah 54:

58:5 Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed,
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

58:6 This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;

58:7 Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.

58:8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

58:9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;

On the day of Atonement, the Jews eat nothing for 24 hours.
during Rammadan, the Muslims do not eat anything from sunrise to sunset, if I understand correctly.

Our practice of “fasting” is more of a “mortification” – a denial of self, if I may preach a bit.
 
Since I have to eat something for breakfast and dinner for some medication i’m taking, I’ll leave it at that. Probably a small breakfast, small dinner, and thats it. Or something. But most likely not much more than that.
 
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