The FastDay Forum

I've been on the programme for 2 weeks now and although my fast days are going ok, I just can't handle feed days. I can't eat normally and just end up bingeing. I go all day being good and then blow it in the hour before bed when I'm like a plague of locusts hitting the kitchen cupboards. It's really getting to me tbh. This would be the perfect diet for me otherwise. I'm at my wits end now as I just don't know what to do...

Give it time. Possibly move away from the being good frame of mind, eat some more in the daytime and eventually the freedom will stop being a novelty.

I had a munchies phase. It's much better now.

[Tracieknits]

I think my first couple of weeks were like that. But I calmed down a lot! LOL I agree with BBT - give it time

Thankyou BBT and Tracieknits - yes, hopefully things will calm down with time.

Hi Esmeralda
I lost nothing for the first 3 weeks and was getting quite disappointed although I did feel better. While I didn't binge as such, I struggled to cope with the freedom of 5:2 and just ate far too much - if I could eat a sensible and balanced diet like that I wouldn't be obese with a BMI over 35! I then did three things which seemed to help me.
1: I switched to 4:3 just for a couple of weeks to get some initial progress.
2: I increased my intake of fruit and veg and generally ate a lot of healthy foods over the day following my fasting day and cut back on most, but not all, of the 'treats'.
3: I made a couple of rules for myself ie no eating after 7.30 in the evening on a normal 'at home' evening.

Some will possibly say that I have just set up another diet regime within 5:2. However, I am eating healthy food, still have reasonably large portions and can accommodate an occasional slice of cake, restaurant meal or evening out drinking. More importantly, unlike other diet regimes that I have tried, I am not chewing my knuckles or a pig to live with! Still very early days but after the first 3 weeks in which I lost nothing, I have lost 9 lbs over the subsequent 3 weeks which is actually a bit faster than I would want.

You're maybe not as overweight as me, these strategies may not work for you and I am not sure which of the above changes was most beneficial. However, I do now feel more in control and can see myself doing this, or something similar, for a very long time. I hope some aspect of this is helpful - good luck.

Why not try the Bath aversion therapy, take a book, have an hour soak in this "feasting" hour.

It works for me.

This happens to me every day

I'm guilty of this too! Trying to up my exercise and hope I stop taking 'feast/feed' days so literally!!

[wildmissus]

Can't agreed with BBT more. Give it time. Having read a lot of posts this seems to be a very common thing to start with. It does start to settle down. I find that now I am starting to listen to my body - something I've never done. Don't get me wrong I still chose to eat chocolate even though my body doesn't want it but it is nothing like it used to be. Give it 4-6 weeks and you should start to feel it settling.

Esmerelda, I know what you mean, my difficult time (on fast days and feed days) is the late evening, especially the evening on the day after a fast day. And I have been doing the fast diet for 6 months.

If you do baths (I don't) then that's a good idea, but leave the chocolate box in the cupboard!

Watch out on the high GI food intake, I think this is what triggers those munchies. Enjoy your dinner but skip the sugary treats afterwards - one treat leads to another in my experience...

It really isn't just you! I've had this quite a bit and as I am doing 4:3 it seems to be worse after two "up"/normal eating days together. I think once I start eating I just want to keep going sometimes.

However it does get better over time as I think the fast days train you to not just eat every time you feel hungry or just feel like eating (when not hungry).

Hope it gets a bit easier soon!

Just keep in mind if losing weight was easy there would be no overweight people. Lots of us are/were bingers and in my experience the tendency will always be there. What I have found is my binge times are more controlled and I do not eat anywhere near what I used to. I also no longer suffer the guilt due to fasting twice a week. For me, I am staying with this for life and am ditching formal dieting. Finally after decades of denying myself and feeling guilty I am enjoying food. Okay I will never be of super model proportions but I am finally happy with how I look. On paper I am over weight!

[Moogie]

I suspect we all went through a phase of over indulging early on - but when it gets out of hand and effects the weight loss I'm sure you'll start to adjust your habits. Remind yourself that if you're losing weight and still eating like that, imagine how much more you could lose if you cut back on those treats a bit! Its not as if they're forbidden as on other diets, you can have them any time but don't over do it. And if you're only maintaining weight at the moment remind yourself that in the past if you ate like that you would be gaining weight but at the moment you're enjoying your food and at least not gaining - how nice would it be to see those numbers on the scales go down by just cutting down the binging?

Do you binge on the evening before a fast too? Maybe try to cut those two out first, starting your fast after dinner? This is what I do and I've found myself doing it most feed days now, nothing after dinner unless we've got company. My dad is a terrible evening snacker who really has no idea about calories - when I think about an evening snack I remind myself of all the times I've told him not to eat so much in the evening - I don't want to end up diabetic like him.

Best of luck to you x

Some really good tips there guys - thankyou. It really helps to talk about this with people who understand - I don't feel so alone with it. Good idea Moogie, I'm going to start my fasts after dinner so that will be 2-3 cut out for starters. Currently I'm losing weight slowly as I'm actually eating less overall despite the overindulgences. And I really enjoy my fast days strangely enough so I'm definitely carrying on with the plan. As many of you kind souls have observed, the passage of time will certainly help. Thankyou.

Hi Esmeralda I think the idea of a bath is a great idea. I actually tried it myself on a non fast dady where I was starving and was going for dinner and didn't want to eat in advance. A bath filled the extra hour perfectly. On a fast day yesterday, my partner and I went for a walk to fill the night time and stopped in the shop and I treated myself to a diet coke which filled me right up.