The FastDay Forum

As I've mentioned elsewhere, my tummy has been unhappy on and oiff for almost two weeks now. I'm solidly below my original goal, with 7 lbs to go to the next, so I decided to take a week off.

As soon as I did, I found myself feeling anxious, which made me think perhaps I'm getting a bit obsessive about the diet. I think some of the problem is the binary nature of this diet, and the fact that I am eating more on non-fasting days than I usually eat when maintaining on my usual way of eating.

I would like to think I could go back to eating reasonably to maintain my current weight, but I wonder what the track record is of those who have tried it. I expect to see a bit more scale weight, so that won't upset me.

Any thoughts you more experienced 5:2 dieters might want to share?

I think that just one week off, as long as you don't completely off the deep end, will not make that much difference. I would think you might stay the same.

[Tracieknits]

Last year, when I was having the medically induced plateau from hades, I took a week off here and there. And I always take time off when I'm on vacation.

But really, it's such an individual thing. I can take a week off and then come back to the diet reinvigorated. Hubby doesn't have it so easy. He's actually been trying to maintain, but gained back about five pounds he's now battling.

It feels like our bodies want to stay put where they are, and it can take more than one week of fun to cause a problem. But it is up to you to go back on track after your break is up

Good luck!

[janeg]

Are you worried about losing control [tag] Peebles[\tag]?
Perhaps, rather than having a week off, you could consider an eating window style? That way, you would still have some control and may not be so anxious.
Just a thought...

[carieoates]

I agree with janeg, maybe an eating window will help out here. If I take a week off and revert back to old eating habits I gain immediately.

The only 'weeks off' I've had from eating like this since last June have been when I have been away and not able to eat as sensibly as I'd like - which inevitably means more carbs and THAT means for me that I PILE the weight on (5kg in 2 weeks last time). So if I was to go back to 'how I used to eat' (ie LOADS of carby things like bread) I would be quite eeeeenormous quite quickly.

If you're having tummy issues can you not pinpoint what it might be that is causing them or do you already know? When I started this I had terrible trouble with heartburn and indigestion (which stopped once I started 5 2) but now it seems to be back again and I'm not sure why. I need to investigate a bit methinks.

Taking time off from this way of life, for me, would mean that I would be eating the way I was when I was 3 stone (42 lbs ) heavier so it's just not an option which is why I have an eating window every day. That way I don't have to count calories, just skip breakfast and don't nibble late in the evening, job done. I have to have some control over how I eat or I will revert to old ways and put on weight again. We are all different and the only way to find out if something works for you is to try it. How much can you put on in a week? O.K. How long is a piece of string? You will know quite quickly if you are getting heavier, especially if you weigh or measure yourself daily. I love the freedom a window gives me because I know I can have whatever I want but unlike 5:2 I don't have to wait til tomorrow, I only have to wait til later. Hope this is helpful

Ballerina x

If you do an eating window, you will not have the big difference in food intake between fast and feed days that you suspect may be the cause of your problem. At least if you try it for a period you will see whether it makes a difference to your symptoms, and whether you can still lose weight, or at least maintain. Just eat the amount you think you should be every day within 8 or fewer consecutive hours.

I don't think you are necessarily being obsessive, I think you have worked hard to get where you are and just as an athlete would be worried about losing form if they had an injury, you are concerned that you may undo that hard work. I'd call that sensible concern and embrace it. Also, there is the question of which is worse for you personally? Being a little bit obsessed OR being a little bit (or maybe a lot) fat, with all the mental upset that can bring?

To my mind, "eating reasonably" translates as being a bit careful... But how is that any different to what you are doing now? You would still have to restrict something in some way, some of the time. Does that make sense?

Personally, I have taken a day, a few days and at one point since I re-started the WOE this year (I'm not counting the months off the wagon last year) I took about two weeks off. My observation is that it isn't the stepping off that's a problem, its the getting back on if and when you need to. Consider perhaps that you could test yourself out a bit by taking a break from certain aspects of whatever plan you are following. So, if doing 5:2, you do fast two days a week but then don't count calories. Or, as has been suggested, try an eating window with no food restriction. I've been doing a bit of the window thing over the last two weeks and it is so simple.

Good luck, and I hope your tummy settles soon.

Well, my situation is a bit different from many of yours as I lost a good amount of weight ten years ago and did manage to keep it all off until this last year. Even then I only regained 7 lbs. But what changed this year was two things. One was I had to stop taking metformin, which I had taken for the past 9 years, and which really helps me control my blood sugar and appetite, as I developed a stomach infection (diagnosed by biopsy) that took almost 9 months to clear and the other was that the technique I had used for the past decade to keep maintaining, which was to go back on my old diet for a month any time the weight crept up 3 or 4 real pounds, became too hard to keep using because my TDEE has dropped to where if I cut calories "gradually" I have to eat 1100 or 1200 calories a day for months to lose any significant weight. That is, as most of you undoubtedly know, pure hell. I could diet for a month or two just fine eating 1450 calories, but that extra couple calories less made me feel starving and crazy.

So that was why I turned to 5:2 which has worked very well for me. It let me create a deficit that led to gradual weight loss (2 lbs a month) but it let me eat MORE than I was used to eating on feed days. But one side effect of eating this way has been that I have been eating a lot more on feed days than I have been for the past 10 years, when I have been eating to maintenance calories, and I have become used to eating more, and really liking it. Obviously, if I keep eating that way without those 2,000 calories of deficit every week, bad things will happen.

Hence the anxiety, because I would like to know that I can go back to eating at my TDEE the way I used to.

I appreciate the suggestion to try the eating window. I'm just not sure I can do it every day. That feels perilously like dieting all the time to me, and that is not going to work for me at all.

I am trying to debug the stomach problem. I had started taking metformin again a month ago, which I had had to stop because the stomach infection made it too painful to take it. But I have taken that drug for many years in the past and at higher doses than I'm taking now without any stomach problems, so I hesitate to blame metformin for the many bouts of diarrhea.

I also have a history in the past of getting stomach problems like this at this time of year, which I think has to do with the fact that our water comes from a well and is not treated, just filtered for sediment. I am now drinking only boiled or bottled water.

Beyond that, I have also had problems eating guacamole at a certain restaurant in the past, and that also was a factor recently, though my husband ate it too, and suffered no ill effects.

I have read reports here on the forum that some people get diarrhea after fasting. So that too might be a factor, though I didn't have any problem with it the first 3 months I fasted. However, I am wondering if the combination of metformin and fasting, and perhaps eating a high fiber raw vegetable slaw on fast days, might have tipped things over the edge, digestively.

I've stopped taking the metformin and taken this week off fasting, and I'll see if the digestive tract calms down. If it does, I'll fast without the drug (and without the high fiber slaw) and if that works, reintroduce a lower dose of metformin. I really do need to take the metformin, (long boring story, and no, low carb alone won't solve the problem. I've tried that for long periods of time.)

I'll be very happy to be able to get back to fasting, and if the elimination sequence doesn't provide an answer, it will be off to the doctor (a rather grumpy and unhelpful one, alas) for some tests.

Gosh Peebles, that's a difficult balancing act alright
good luck, and I hope you find a comfortable solution.

You certainly are having problems, thanks for sharing. I really cannot offer any solutions as I am not knowledgeable enough but hopefully someone will be able to offer some help for you. Hope things settle down soon for you

Ballerina x

[janeg]

Ooh, that all sounds tough @peebles.
I've not got anything advice wise, as it sounds as though you're covering all options.
Wishing you well and hoping things calm down and you find a solution (withough a grumpy doctor)

[carorees]

Hi @peebles

I can understand where you're coming from, the fear that we might lose control of things is very real, plus the stress when our bodies are not behaving themselves and we are trying to work out what is going on doesn't help.

I know you say you feel that an eating window would feel like dieting all the time, but I have two things to say about that: first it really doesn't feel like dieting every day as when you do eat you can have what you like - I find that I average about 1200-1400 cals a day by skipping breakfast and not eating anything after 8pm but I don't feel deprived at all, and second, I'm sure you know that there have been studies showing that eating two meals a day is better for diabetic glycaemic control than eating three (or more).

I find that my eating window varies considerably from 5 hours to 8 hours depending on how life works out so it is very flexible. I would say, why not give it a try...you don't have to stick to it long term and it will add to the body of data about your physiology that you are collecting in your experiment of n=1!

Good luck whatever you decide

The reason fewer meals appears to improve glycemic control is that when people eat more carbs than they can process properly, their blood sugar takes several hours to come back to baseline. So eliminating one meal eliminates those hours. However, my strategy is to avoid eating any meals ever that push my blood sugar out of the normal range, so several smaller meals with less carb in each gives me better control than a limited number of meals with more carb in each. The "better control" in most diabetes studies is still much higher than the level that keeps people from developing complications. I've pursued levels much closer to normal for quite a long time now and it has paid off for me.

Plus, I usually wake with a slightly elevated blood sugar that drops after I eat a small breakfast. So except on fast days I like to have that 200 calories that do the job.