The FastDay Forum

Do you think there is a fine line?

After reading a fair few topics on here, I really do think 5:2 can easily step into binge/starve territory.
I can see for a lot of people that binging tends to stop after a certain amount of time on this WOE but does it ever really go away? I mean can one honestly say they don't overeat on a feast day to 'make up' for a fast?

Please don't get me wrong because I do love this WOE but I can see how it could get out on control I guess?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Lil

Do you think there is a fine line?

After reading a fair few topics on here, I really do think 5:2 can easily step into binge/starve territory.
I can see for a lot of people that binging tends to stop after a certain amount of time on this WOE but does it ever really go away? I mean can one honestly say they don't overeat on a feast day to 'make up' for a fast?

Please don't get me wrong because I do love this WOE but I can see how it could get out on control I guess?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Lil

I completely agree with you - in fact, I posted something similar the other day. But I do think the impetus to 'make up' for a fast passes. There are fast days where I'm craving something massively and I'm sure I'm going to go all out on the next feast day but then I get there and I'm not so keen. I don't want to ruin all the good work of the fast day and anyway, my taste buds are changing.

So, short answer is yes, it could get out of control but it does pass (I think!)

It was when I was replying to another thread just now I thought to myself I don't just overeat I think I actually binge.
For example on Saturday -
Half a pack of crackers with peanut butter
An apple
2 glasses of white wine
A whole pizza
Garlic bread
1 and a half chocolate mousse's
Spag bol
Vodka and lemonades

That is not just overeating. That was binging because.. well, I could :/

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.

For the first time in a LONG time, I'm looking through the cupboards for something sweet - and not finding anything.
I have been in control of my eating for so long (and thus in control of the buying, too) that I cannot find anything to binge on.
So yes, it does pass - especially when there IS nothing to eat!!

Penny I totally get you. I am fine if it's NOT THERE. But if it is, I feel like I obsess over it! So now I just don't buy the things that I know I can easily overeat. No bread, no sweet stuff at all apart from the occasional 85% chocolate and chocolate soy milk for my morning coffee, no rice/pasta, no crisps, no chips etc etc. Very boring for visitors

Hello LilSmiler.... we are awake... and...starving!!

For the first time in a LONG time, I'm looking through the cupboards for something sweet - and not finding anything.
I have been in control of my eating for so long (and thus in control of the buying, too) that I cannot find anything to binge on.
So yes, it does pass - especially when there IS nothing to eat!!

I try to keep my house in the same state of "nothing to bingeness". That works as long as I can forget that there is a small supermarket just a reserve and a couple of playing fields away and two small shopping centres with large supermarkets half a block away in two directions. I'm doomed!

I binge off and on. The main problem is now eating too much makes me feel sick. I guess that means my feast days will become normal again as I hate the sick feeling.

I don't think I ever binge in response to a fast. That's not to say I never binge. I do. But it's for entirely different reasons (usually that I'm feeling sorry for myself or generally feel I deserve a treat).

This WOE has mostly cured me of bingeing. At first, I think it was that I was confused about whether it was a fast day or not (I'm doing 4:3 so pretty much every other day). I'd sometimes get most of the way through a non-fast day and remember I was supposed to be eating normally. Later, I think it was subtle changes in my appetite and attitude towards food that happened after surviving so many fast days and hunger becoming so routine.

I'm in a period now where I have the tendency to binge a bit. It has nothing to do with 5:2 and everything to do with the things going on in my life. If anything, 5:2 has made it difficult to binge. I get full (and drunk) so easily now it is really hard to overdo it!

I guess other people have a different experience. I wonder if it will change if they stick with it.

Just one other comment. For anyone who overeats before a fast day, thinking that will make it go easier: I don't think that works, and would recommend trying a fast after just a normal day of eating. I don't think our bodies have such a long memory of what we've eaten. They get hungry again no matter what (and depending on what we binged on, might be even hungrier than if we hadn't binged).

For the first time in a LONG time, I'm looking through the cupboards for something sweet - and not finding anything.
I have been in control of my eating for so long (and thus in control of the buying, too) that I cannot find anything to binge on.
So yes, it does pass - especially when there IS nothing to eat!!

I try to keep my house in the same state of "nothing to bingeness". That works as long as I can forget that there is a small supermarket just a reserve and a couple of playing fields away and two small shopping centres with large supermarkets half a block away in two directions. I'm doomed!

I live in the countryside - nothing open within miles - phew! xx

I live in the middle of nowhere, too, but there's a family mart (convenience store) nearby. It has healthy food (like these wonderfully salty not quite hard-boiled eggs and onigiri) but also tons of junk food. I've convinced myself mostly not to eat packaged junk food anymore. My big weakness is sweets, but I try to only have handmade ones now.

I think an important piece of the puzzle is sugar (specifically fructose). When you eat fructose, especially when it is not accompanied by fibre like you get when you eat a piece of whole fruit, then this messes with the body's appetite control mechanism, and binging becomes much more likely.

So, if you cut right back on foods rich in fructose (especially soft drinks and fruit juice), then your body will tell you when you have eaten enough. On feast days then, you just need to pay attention to what your body is telling you, and stop eating when you feel full.

Of course, this assumes a healthy metabolism, if you have issues with thyroid or diabetes etc., you will need closer monitoring.

I think anything that increases insulin levels will have that effect, not just fructose. but otherwise, I totally agree