The FastDay Forum

Just wanted to post about my recent experience of Famine Reaction ..may hopefully help others going through similar,or allow them to recognise what is happening when they are going into FR
...coz i didnt know what Famine Reaction was ( had read about it,but -goldfish brain - had quickly forgotten again..)which could have been disastrous as was on the point of jacking it all in and drawing a chair up to the fridge...
Anyway,my story..
Over Christmas,even tho i ate everything i wanted, i didnt really want very much..i even lost two lbs!
Returned home after Christmas and was horrified to notice immediately that all the things that had left me cold at Xmas (biccies,chocs,etc) i was suddenly craving..to the point had a real inward tussle to restrain self in the Co Op from buying the ( by now) reduced tins biscuits / Quality Street/ christmas cake. .. Not to mention the newlyinstalled Valentine and Easter goods now on display!
Fellow shoppers could have had no idea that behind my mild facade a war was raging..
The impulse for sugary fatty stuff was intense and all i really wanted was to put my head into a vat of cream,or climb into a mountain of chocco..
but i wanted nourishing stuff too...roast dinners,casseroles,fish,buttery scrambled eggs,tons of veg..
However,whatever i ate, i was still starving,all the time...and cold,hungry,restless,miserable and a big crosspatch24/7

I was dismayed and puzzled ..had felt so smug at xmas!...which was only a week or so earlier..
i really felt i was going to have to abandon IF coz fast days now felt impossible..i somehow got thru one hellish fast day then had to abandon the next one...and on feed days i was ravenous, and exhausted from my efforts to resist eating!

Luckily somehow i happened upon an old posting by Debs about famine reaction..the link she posted led me to Dr Amanda Sallis and her work on Famine Reaction ..thanks @Debs

What i read there made so much sense and at last i understood what was going on...
Which was that suddenly my body had gone,
"oh hello..she is losing weight,better help her out here and send her strong reminders to get as much food as poss down her gob! Famine on the way,eat up!everything and anything!"

The body becomes so desperate to hold onto fat that it sends out urgent impulses you just cant ignore in its efforts to stock up on nourishment.. It's not lack of willpower,its not greed..its complex physiological reactions we have no control over..survival instincts as old as time to keep the human race going!

With some advice from Caro and also after reading a free chapter of Sallis's book "Don't Go Hungry " i put the plan into action to restore normal service asap..
I knew i needed to up the calories big time ( cheery prospect! ) and possibly face gaining in the short term in order to lose longterm

Feed days,well how jolly they now were! i ate well and didnt count calories,luxury for me, just made sure i got three decent hot meals to pacify my inner workings!
didn't want to stop fasting completely if poss coz was too scared i might never get back on board once i stopped
So the next fast day that came along, i did 16:8 instead with some extra cals..but not too many.
Had one day where i totally overate and enjoyed every moment of it!
Sparks flying off my knife and fork heehee!

Sallis says it could take anything from a week or two to a month to reset things and Caro suggested my fast days would give me an idea of when FR had passed
So when i did a normal fast monday just gone with just the usual fleeting hunger pangs,i knew i was over it...the awful gnawing relentless hunger had disappeared so i guess i have reassured my body for now..
"move along please,no famine here! "

Took only a week or so to get sorted ( quite disappointed in a way..a bit longer " off the hook" with the extra grub would have been nice)..but then, i probably would have put a pound or two back on,tho it would have been worth it as long as i beat the Famine Reaction!
As it was, i've lost another two pounds since my 2lb xmas loss.and funny thing is..the day after my "Wahey!Big splurge eat loads" day,was when the compliments started rolling in! Suddenly everyone commenting i was looking slinkier!
Wasting away to an elephant hehe!
It seems feed days are as important as fast days...they have their part to play in thwarting that ole FR and keeping the scales moving onwards and downwards.
There's also something called the Fat Brake that Sallis writes about..works alongside FR..but thats another story
So folks watch out for those warning signs and take speedy action if you feel the FR setting in! XX its just Mother Nature wanting to keep the species going!

Hey Candice

You challenging me for the longest post this week

Well done for sticking with it and sorting yourself out

and yes, very useful to know

Thank you Candice, for such a heartfelt post. I think so many of us (well, me, certainly) have been in that position, without knowing why.
Onwards and downwards, now, and you're in a position of strength to deal with it, should it rear its ugly head again x

Great post CandiceMarie! Thanks so much for reminding us of the Famine Reaction, hope typing such a long post hasn't made your poor hands more painful. Big hugs and congrats on getting back 'in the groove'. (Groovy Baby!)

[Debs]

That is a brilliant post, thank you so much for sharing and alerting us, and me especially to what can happen. I get days like that when the flashing blades of knife and fork can't be seen under a mountain of food!!

Thank you CandiceMarie,

I have been a fan of Amanda Salis and have read all her books. Her 'Don't Go Hungry' diet was my previous diet before I found 5:2 and i think it's very sensible. The 'fat brake' amounts to the processes which stop you from putting weight on. When you have had a big 'pig out' you sometimes don't feel hungry at the next meals and so if you listen to your body, you don't eat as much and so you don't put weight on, even though you've over eaten.

I think if you lose a lot of weight fast you are more prone to experiencing a famine reaction. Also plateaux are connected to this process. You lose weight and your body kicks in to stop you losing any more. After a while - who can say how long - your body adjusts to the new weight as normal, and then you can start to lose again.

Her books are very good to read for anyone interested in weight loss and even though I am now doing 5:2 instead of 'Don't Go Hungry' , it informs me about what is happening in my body.

I have heard her talk on radio in the last year in support of the 5:2 diet. And indeed I wrote to her about it, and she wrote back very supportive of 5:2.

Well, a very timely post. I was also smug at Christmas but have both been starving & put a limited bit of weight back on since.

I have been eating more to try to reduce the chocolate cravings & I think it helps. I also took note of Sim 's posts about being hungry as I had adjusted to not feeling too hungry, so a bit of "suck it up, Princess" might be in order too...

However, this makes sense. I also wonder if it's double the 6 month thing or that I'm below my set point. Regardless, time to be vigilant but cautious.

Well done on posting!

I too had a bit of an FR the week after Christmas. I hadn't put any weight on, but my first fast after New Year collapsed into a 20:4. The second fast was a real struggle and then I started eating, but unlike you it wasn't healthy nutritious stuff (can Christmas cake be considered nutritious, all that fruit?) it was all the treats that I had managed to avoid before hand. The rest of the fasts ended up being 500kcal fasts instead of my usual liquid fasts. Then on Tueasday I had a normal (for me) liquid fast, with no bother (except for a slice of salami). So fingers crossed I am over the hump and can get back into losing weight.

Thanks CM, that is very interesting and really good to know.
Xx julianna

I heard Amanda Callis once on radio national here I think - she has extra street cred because she's had weight problems herself. Was there a particular weight loss that triggered FR, around 5-10% weight, does anyone know off the top of their heads?

loved reading your story, Candice!

[Debs]

http://www.garvan.org.au/pdfs/miscellan ... ebPage.pdf

Is your cross trainer called squeaky? Cute

I think this explains how I've been this week - thanks for all the info - I can now go about "eating my way out of it"!

Thanks very much for the post @CandiceMarie - like you and others, I think FR was what I experienced (and maybe still am??) both over Christmas and since. Hearing about your experience and how you handled it is very useful.

I have also ready some of Amanda Sallis' material and think it makes sense. But even tho I have consumed my TDEE worth of cals with healthy food, I am also eating less healthy stuff on top of that - mainly chocolate and leftover fruitcake - and for the first time ever last Sunday I exceeded my fast day calories significantly And continued to exceed the non-fast day TDEE on the days that followed.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I think allowing cereal and bread back into my diet may not have helped...

But yesterday was the next fast, and I had no problems keeping to 400cal. So I am hoping I have turned the tide! I am trying to be mindful of what I eat today...

Thanks again

thanks for the reference, @debs, so she says it happens from around 8% body weight loss - I wonder if I had something similar to this a couple of weeks ago, I certainly felt lethargic! and cold! I had a week when I ate more & I'm certainly now in a better space, energy-wise.

and "squeaky" - was just an adjective, but I think it's a great suggestion! I used to have a guinea-pig called Squeaky - so it can be in honour of her! so Squeaky the Cross Trainer it is!

[Debs]

Nice one!!! We had a guinea pig called Squeaky as well when I was young. You've done really well so far, considering you haven't been at it that long. I need to up my HIT to somewhere near yours I think, but that early in the morning is soooo hard!!!