The FastDay Forum

By they way: in my case, I never had any FR, and I was always eating very close to TDEE on practically all 5 feed days. For me it was 5:2 in its most basic form.

@Moogie whats the secret! How come your brain has evolved and mine is still sending crazy messages to ruin my weight loss plans! X

Caro & I were hypothesising (ooh, big word!!) about this yesterday as she has also not experienced the famine reaction. We wondered if it's because we have always mixed up or calorie intakes a bit, splurging a bit at weekends but balancing it during the week. I wouldn't call it binging as such, but by having these treat days I guess the body never thinks we're in times of famine for long if at all.

Yep@Moogie..in my quest and impatience to lose weight, i think have been too low cal,same as @Julieathome says..
i now realise that,despite swotting up on 5:2, i am still in that old mindset of cal counting and cal cutting..the sad old "same old same old " way thats ultimately led to me gaining stones over the years
I need to do two fast days and then mix it up more the other days ..i intended to do that but old habits die hard..ive lost nearly two stone but now its ground to a halt and i need to revamp my thinking! X bring it on! x

I know what that is... horrible! It has happened to me everytime I decided it was time to go on a diet. I don't eat very healthy, lots and lots of carbs, and when I eat properly I can easily loss 2 or 3 kilos the first week. 10 days later I start eating as if it was going to be my last day on earth.
I thought that would be better with 5:2 but the same happened. First 2 weeks really hard due to weakness and dizziness and as I could not face another fast day, I started eating a lot until today.
And it helps to know that I am not alone. I would like to lose 5-6 kilo and I am starting to think seriosly it is imposible.

You probably got carb flu, as it sounds like you have an issue with carbs, rather than it being the actual 5:2 and it depends on what you did the other days too.

Have a google of "fat adapted", lots of carb eating is going to be messing with your hormones so it's not surprising your brain had a hissy fit.

I think mixing it up is better, I've morphed to 16:8 as it suits my eating patterns but I think it's too "samey"...

Never say impossible@Bilbu
I know i know! It isnt a breeze,itshard work,but the results are worth it... I was five weeks on 5:2 before i started losing but ive lost almost 2 stone,which is about 11 kilos i think.. Have still got many more kilos to shed,so to me,your5-6 k seems very doable..
Change impossible to I'm Possible! Corny but it works x

[carorees]

You probably got carb flu, as it sounds like you have an issue with carbs, rather than it being the actual 5:2 and it depends on what you did the other days too.

Have a google of "fat adapted", lots of carb eating is going to be messing with your hormones so it's not surprising your brain had a hissy fit.

I think mixing it up is better, I've morphed to 16:8 as it suits my eating patterns but I think it's too "samey"...

I agree with all you've said there @bbt053!

I also do 16:8 but I also mix it up by having one or two days of lower calorie intake and low carb (maybe 1000 cal) and a couple of days of higher intake with higher carbs (1700+ cal). My TDEE is about 1500. Working so far...

Yeah, I think I'm going to have to give that a go. Some cycling of calories, instead of two/three fairly restrained meals.

I've complicated what I'm doing too as I started supplementing creatine, which is having interesting effects. It's supposed to add scale/water weight and it helps with mental acuity, so I'm heavier but feel very alert!

I started liquid fasting from 3pm to 3pm and the mornings were unbereable, and I think that perhaps doing 16:8 until my body adapts will help me adapting to this WOE. And try to avoid this famine syndrome...

[carorees]

The leangains guy makes a point of including scheduled carb refeeds into his 16:8 program.

I think the people suffering this had lost a good % of their bodyweights and have been eating this way for some time.

You hadn't got through the initial adaption phase, made harder by going from high carb to not.

Learn about inflexible metabolic pathways and you're right, use 16:8 to experiment with lower carb intake for a while or alternatively, phase fasting in with higher amounts of intake for a while. Going straight to liquid fasting, even for the shorter time is going to take a while to get comfortable with and was perhaps too quick a change.

I thought FR was more you stalled and didn't lose weight and needed to eat. I also think the overwhelming urge to eat after a couple of effective fasts that my body telling me I am low in some nutrients. I feed my body when it clamours so loudly calling it instinctive eating. With hindsight when recently I ate half a bag of corn chips (left over from Xmas) and felt sick for half a day it might have been my body was seeking sodium.

I hit my fast big stall after steady weight loss and decided to do liquid fasting though headaches were horrid, weight loss still a trickle so started 16:8 as well as 5:2 and wey hey weekends. Then my weight loss just stopped altogether. That is pretty much where I have remained even though I have done all sorts of IF variations.

I am in the ball park of where I need to be weight wise for my understanding of what I weighed as a young slim woman but now I have a tummy. I am coming to the conclusion the only way to shift that is movement. So am trying HIIT easing more now to 1 weekly fluid fast, 20:4 once as well and working on what works for me re energy wise

I think we need the stuff your face days as a catch up to replenish. I try to make these days as healthy as I can made from scratch but being human on the menus is chocolate, fruit, carbs, honey and not junk foods full of transfats and sugars disguised as food I once ate and now can't

That's the carb refeed strategy.

I think I need to eat more in general more days and much less some days, in order to get both metabolism firing but not exceed a weekly TDEE.

Tricky balance.

@BBT553 yes I think I can see the sense in a carb refeed strategy for me and as I value my energy don't care if I go out of fat burning as from experience I can get back excreting ketones by the end of a very disciplined liquid fast . Says she tapping her nose.

It is worthwhile us sharing our different experiences so that those who struggle can not give up but find their own way through

I also think different strategies are needed at different times. 16:8 worked very well for me over Christmas, particularly after a year of 4:3. Ironically, the only variety of IF I haven't tried is 5:2. Might give it a go...

Not to invalidate the whole famine reaction thing, just to give y'all some food for thought...As an astrologer, I'd like to put it out there that certain "transits" (what's going on in the heavens NOW that affects your birth chart) can make it harder or easier to fast/diet/control yourself. For example, certain Venus or Jupiter transits, while usually seen as "lucky," can make it suddenly more challenging to discipline yourself. And while Saturn transits might make discipline easier, they can also work to make one feel deprived. If anyone is interested in checking this out, I strongly recommended "Astrodienst," on which you can create an account, create your own birth chart, and get transits based on YOUR chart, not just the newspaper version. Bottom line: Don't overreact; many of these transits are either quite short, or you can adjust with some effort.