The FastDay Forum

Hi all,

I'm finding fasting today pretty hard going, and it got me thinking as to why some fasting days go smoothly and others feel like an uphill struggle from start to finish! Things I have noticed before are that personally I find that the busier I am the easier things are, and the colder the weather is the harder fasting feels.

My question is, do you think it makes a difference what you eat as part of your last meal before starting a fast? I do 36-hour periods of 500 cal, so the last thing I have to eat is typically dinner the evening before my nominated 'fast day'. Last night I had a big sugary pudding at the end of dinner, which is not something I normally do, and today I'm having a more difficult fast than usual. Does this type of thing sound familiar to anyone?

Hi@fancyacuppa it's ringing a bell with me ...

I find if I have been out late before a fast and come home and have toast for dinner rather than a proper meal I find it so much harder the next day.
I am terrible if I have been out at the airfield and come back and can't be bothered to cook for myself ( I tend to eat different meals to my husband) and end up having toast and jam or something like that which is almost pure carbs the following day is much worse even if I have technically eaten all my calories to TDEE , I rumble and feel really empty the next day.

However if I eat protein or make protein the biggest part of that meal its easier ... I don't pretend to know the science behind it but maybe it sticks around in your tum longer , I am guessing it wont cause such an insulin spike either as something more carb based.

I find the best thing to be something like chicken or salmon with less starchy veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus etc and then if there is time a snack later of something like Babybel light.

I love toast too much to go low carb for real but little adjustments I find do make this whole WOE easier

I try to avoid eating late the evening before a fast and I definitely struggle if I eat a carb rich meal before a fast. I have learnt this the hard way and have had to abandon the odd fast day because I've been struggling so much. Still knowledge is power!

It's quite common for people to report that if they eat high-impact carbs (for them) later on a non-fast day then the following FD is that much harder. (I say 'for them' because some of the GI/GL calculations were done with very small groups of people and the individual variation is considerable. Oats are high-impact for me and altho' I enjoy them, I don't find them a 'slow release' fuel but something that would make me hungry much earlier than usual.)

A simple meal with protein and some appropriate vegetables and whatever suits you as a level of fat - as the others suggest, it may be worth experimenting with that to see if it sets you up well for a FD. It may well be useful for you to experiment with this for 2-4 weeks to see if you can record a difference in your response?

Last night I had mackeral and veggies, strawberries and double cream, all done by 7pm.
Just starting to feel hungry after fasting 21 hours.
Dinner will be Amy's Kitchen GF split pea soup with added veggies, about 200 cals, maybe a co yo yogurt if still hungry :0)

I vaguely remember being careful about this my first time around with 5:2. I tried to stay away from carbs/sugar to avoid blood sugar spikes and dips.

I'm back to 5:2 after falling off the wagon for 18 months. This time I'm being more careful to not snack after dinner. I find that the longer I go without eating the less I want to eat. If I can get thru the few hours before bed without snacking, then I'm not hungry for breakfast and the rest of my fast day has been going pretty easy. But this is my 2nd week back to 5:2 so I'm not sure if this will hold true long term.

I think each of us has to experiment and find what works for us. So many here swear by protein to keep themselves full but that doesn't work for me. I need carbs to feel satisfied by a meal.