The FastDay Forum

I hadn't really thought about in terms of bingeing and starving, but I have had lots of thoughts on the control aspect of this diet.
The constant measuring and checking and not eating does become a little obsessive which worries me sometimes.
But I guess you are right with the then 'lack of control' on non fast days, although I guess some people here exercise a lot of control all the time, which I find to be exhausting.

Obviously people manage their diet in different ways but I have to say 'constant measuring and checking' has not been my experience in the past eight months while doing 5:2 (very successfully I might add). The whole attraction of 5:2 is that it's NOT a diet but a way of life, and it seems to 'retrain' your brain so that you start eating healthier. While I do keep track of what I eat with MyFitnessPal, I eat normal food, even on fast days and do not obsess over calories. I do have days when I 'treat' myself but I don't think you can call that bingeing. Neither would I call my fast days 'starving'. I agree with what Michael H said. I find it very sad that there's so much guilt associated with eating for a lot of people. What does that say about the society we live in?

[carorees]

MichaelH raises some good points there. It's actually important to have a feast/famine process. This strengthens your body and in my experience results in faster weightloss. In the year and a bit I've been following this WOE, I've never had a binge in the sense that Michael describes it, but often had periods of overeating. These have been followed by periods of rapid weightloss.

Secondly, as others have said, I find my appetite is greatly reduced compared with pre-5:2 so now the overeating days tend to be around 2000 cals rather than 3000+!

I think that relaxing into it helps a lot. But also cutting back on carbs has certainly helped me.

I have found that over time it evens out, so if I have a few days in a row of eating more than usual and then I have a couple of days when I don't eat much because I don't feel like it there is a balance. For me, the more I think about food, the more likely I am to eat.

I find that working towards a weekly goal is better than a daily goal so I don't even have to think about if I have overeaten on a particular occasion or for 3 days in a row, so that takes care of any stressful events, feeling bored or just eating for the sake of eating!

Lil Smiler

You listed your food 'binge' - was that your whole day's intake or was it all in one go? If it's your whole day then that doesn't look like a binge to me, just someone eating heartily. I can eat loads at weekends and yes sometimes I feel a bit guilty but I'm really trying to get away from this feeling of guilt with eating lots - it gives food too much power over us and how we feel. Sometimes your body just wants more food and I think that has to be ok. Yes ideally it would all be nutritionally perfect but it doesn't always work that way - and lets face it, the reason crisps, chocolate, bread and cakes exist is cos they taste so good! Like carorees said it can sometimes boost metabolism to eat more some days - when I was doing weight watchers years ago I don't think I ever stuck to my points every single day and sometimes (not always) the weeks I had biggest losses were the ones I slunk onto the scales feeling guilty at my greedy weekend!

If it was all in one go then yes that was probably quite a lot - I'm quite impressed!

We have a few comments saying that bingeing can sometimes result in weight loss, but what about the effect on the body as surely it can't be doing any good overloading our pancreas, liver etc??

I suppose it depend what you mean by bingeing. I certainly didn't intend my comment to include eating to the point of feeling sick - I don't think that can ever be healthy. But sometimes I just eat a lot throughout a day, probably way over my allotted 1800 cals (or whatever, I don't count calories any more), and sometimes I don't. I think that kind of eating - where we feel we've 'overeaten' but actually just eaten a lot that day - is ok as long as it doesn't happen every day or all at once as like you say it overloads the system.

I'm no scientist so have no idea if this is positive or negative in terms of what it does to my body but I feel ok and my weight is stable at the moment so I'm not going to feel guilty about having some days where I eat more, unless I hear otherwise. But yes, having huge amounts of food in one go cannot be good for anyone.

This week I am verging on the eating too much mode because of meals out with birthday celebrations & more wine than usual so I hope the swing to fasting mode will result in some weight loss as Caroline found! because I am 4:3ing for the first time to try & compensate for four days of 2500 calories. Since starting this WOE like others my appetite is much reduced & I usually can tell when I have eaten enough but also I rather weirdly enjoy fasting & I think it could be easy to slip into fasting mode on more days & that may not be such a good idea. But I still think that our 5:2 learnt ability to fast is a useful tool in itself to control calorie intake for when we do sometimes overeat.

I seem to be one of the ones that has been 'reset'. Prior to starting this I was trying to keep my weight steady by cooking carefully ( v low fat) and portion control especially for carbohydrates so I suppose eating 'normally' on eating days is not too much of a problem.I find the fast days not too difficult but 2 a week is sufficient for me and I amd not tempted to do more as longer as things are moving in the right direction however slowly.
What has changed is my sweet tooth. Previously I would buy bags of snack size bars because I knew if I started on a full size one it would all go. I now buy bars of chocolate and 3-4 times a week I will have 2 or 3 squares and that is enough.Also if my husband gets the cheese out on a weekend evening in front of the TV I now usually have a couple of small pieces of cheese just for the taste really but no bread or crackers. Unfortunately what doesn't seem to have been reset is my alcohol button. If we are socialising with friends I find it difficult to be moderate. We have been to a succession of 60th birthday party weekends this year which may explain why my weight has been on the slow side. However I have enjoyed myself so I am content.Looks like I am one of the lucky ones

I've been a binge-eater for about 50 years, sometimes to the point of actually throwing up, usually just to the point of feeling ill.

I've been a bit disappointed in my month on maintenance to find I still have that urge. Last week I felt hungry ALL THE TIME, even just after finishing a big meal. I was beginning to wonder if there was something about my current weight that just triggers my body to demand food. Because I have done several major diets in my life (by major I mean literally years spent sticking to a diet) where I got down to somewhere round my current weight and then something flipped in my brain and I just began to eat and eat and put it all back on. Plus more.

Last weekend, which was a trip away, was a huge blowout. I usually eat lean on Mondays and Fridays, but decided to skip Friday to allow for socialising - I'm maintaining so a week of 6:1 should be OK I thought. So: huge Mexican meal on Friday night. Cooked breakfast on Saturday including pancakes - the all inclusive deal was just too much temptation. Pub lunch. Cake in the afternoon. Pub dinner! And drinks. Pastry for breakfast on Sunday, pub lunch. Pub dinner - did at least manage to have just starter and dessert. And drinks. By late evening I was hungry again and only just resisted biscuits before bed.

However, 5:2 came to my rescue. Monday came, it's a lean day. Most unusually for me, I skipped breakfast. Held out till midday and ate my usual lean lunch. Since then I've been fine! Tuesday was normal. Ate what I wanted, but only wanted a sensible amount. I'm even doing an extra lean day today because I feel like it. I will admit I ate breakfast at 11pm the night before, because OH had got something nice in for today's brekkie and I didn't want to miss it! But that doesn't matter. It's the ability to say no, to be in control, that 5:2 gives.

So yes, there is a fine line between me and bingeing. And 5:2 is that fine line. Thank heavens for it!

I can honestly say since day one fast, I have not bingded.

I wasn't really a binger before, however I did enjoy HUGE meals. Not really a snacker either. I did develop a bit of a sweet tooth thanks to my OH ( )over the last couple of years, as he is terrible with sweet stuff.

This WoE has completely kerbed the sweet tooth. I no longer 'need' to have some chocolate and crips, and especially around TOTM

I very rarely eat sweet foods and feel my portion size is also under control. The HUGE portions went by week 2 as I couldn't eat as much Now I can eat a normal plate (maybe even a smidge less) and feel totally full

I can see how a low cal fast could lead to binging though

Be interesting to see how it goes approaching maintenace in the new year.

Edit: Thinking about it, I haven't had to try my willpower with Jersey new potatoes yet....

@kentishlassI think your post was so encouraging and should really give hope to those who are still looking for 'control'

[Tracieknits]

I also think this WOE has cured me of binging. yes, I did it the first few weeks. But fasting seems to naturally lower my appetite (at least on the days after a fast) and I have lost 90% of my desire to snack between meals. I do it occasionally, but it's rare now. It used to be constant.

In advance of a paper with an analysis of the results of the questionnaire on members of this forum (soon to be shared on the forum), some results on bingeing.
Of the women (128 in total), 25% indicate they binge 'never', 41% binge 'rarely', 29% 'sometimes' and 5% 'often'. For men the results are more or less the same, but we have only 16 men in the research.

For women the average weekly weight loss on 5:2 is almost 500 grams (0.49 kg.). The difference between those who binge 'never' and those who binge 'sometimes' is estimated to be in the order of 120 grams. That is, the weekly weight loss is 120 grams lower for those who binge sometimes compared to those who never binge. This estimation takes other relevant factors into account, but should not be taken as an exact number (it's an average).

More results will follow,
Pieter-Jan

[carorees]

A key message from those stats posted by P-JK is that most people either never or rarely binge, so although there are several posts about binge behaviour on the forum, this does not reflect the experience of most people on the diet. Rather, it shows that people who have these concerns are (wisely) seeking some support.

I never really binged, just overrate a few times. However, I find it easier to not overreat if I have the options at home.

I'll try to explain that confusing thought. Here I have biscuits, chocolate. I buy the same amount each month. Well, I did anyway because I will have to slow down as I don't eat them or very little. My contrariness would be to the max if I didn't have any choice. It's like when I stopped smoking, I stopped with cigarettes still in the house. I find it easier to deal with it that way, I am not as much frustrated as it is MY choice.

About the famine, I tend to only eat when I am hungry and, from time to time, I have several days where I won't eat because I am not hungry at all. It's like that for years so nothing to do with 5:2 and it's not worse since I began fasting 3 days a week.