The FastDay Forum

Hi, I am new here. I started on the diet 3 weeks ago and I am really hoping this will work for me. I did 6 fasting days so far and what I found most surprising is that they're not as difficult for me as I was afraid. I aim at 400 calories, since this way I won't exceed 500, even if I miscalculate here and there or taste a bit of dinner while cooking for hubby. I found that dividing my calories into two meals works best for me. The first two days I had a headache, hot flashes, wobbly knees and the works but I seem to have adjusted.

I have two problems. One is drinking on fasting days. I found I can't drink a lot of water or teas on an empty stomach. It makes me queasy and I need to eat a bit then so I don't throw up. It doesn't matter if I drink it fast or sip, I still get nauseous. So I am usually quite dehydrated on those days

My second problem is how not to overeat on non-fasting days. Especially the one immediately after a fasting day. I find myself just scarfing down everything in sight and the worst part is that I get those huge cravings for things I usually don't even eat like salty snacks or cookies! So far I have not been able to control it. Needless to say, in three weeks I have not lost a kilo (or a pound, since I am from the States). Has anyone had similar problem and managed to conquer it?

Hi Annabelle and welcome to the forum! Your avatar made me smile!

Great that you are already 3 weeks down the 5:2 road and seem to have got through the initial adaptation.

Re liquids on the fast days, do you like coffee? Or miso soup? Or bouillon? Or even sugar-free diet drinks? Any of the above are better than being dehydrated IMO.

Re the day after: this is quite a common phenomenon and one I have experienced. I think that easing back into 'normal' eating is actually the tricky bit of 5:2 not (as non-practitioners might think) the actual fasting itself.

On one occasion I found it so easy carry on fasting into the feed day that I just did, then when it got to the evening I figured I deserved a treat or two and then suddenly I had gorged about 3000 calories!

So my advice is to minimise the high GI carbs (sugars, white bread, potatoes, chocolate, fruit) because these are what tend to trigger the munchies (it's the insulin response). I tend to start my post-fast day with some oats+flax+a little granola in milk (effectively porridge but I don't cook it, that's just my preference) and a poached egg on buttered brown toast. This is a bit more than I would normally have but it seems to restart my appetite and then satisfy it sufficiently to prevent a later relapse.

Oh, do put your stats into the Progress Tracker here - you get a nice graph to show how you are purging those calories and you contribute to our overall forum stats which are also worth a look, especially with all the clever filtering options that Moogie has devised. Even more important, have your say here on matters 5:2 or indeed anything - it's all pretty friendly and relaxed. See you round!

Annabelle, Im having the same problem. Im in week six and for the previous two weeks have crumbled under the cravings both on fast days (or starve days as they are known in our house!) and on non fast days. In the first week i lost 5lb, second week lost 2lb then put 2lb back on. Im now back on track with my first proper fast day yestarday (doing mondays and thursdays). Ive weighed this morning and lost 1lb. Determind to stick to it thid time although i am having almost 600kcals instead of the advised 500. I have a very active job that involves doing anaesthetics and found my concentration was poor on 500 per day. If im off work on a fast day i do go to 500 though. As for cravings, im using chewing gum which seems to be helping (sugarfree of course) not ideal as a lot of chemicals in there but it gets me through the working day. Has anyone else got any ideas? Is flax high in protein?

Hi little welshbird and welcome to the forum! Flax (linseed) meal or seeds has protein but is especially high in the Omega-3 fat ALA, and it has lignans which are antioxidants and lots of fibre too. See here. Pretty good stuff...

[wildmissus]

Hi Annabelle, I too can't drink my first cup of tea of the day without food otherwise I'd be sick. What I found was -
1. I take my cod liver oil supplement with my meal instead of first thing in the morning
2. I played around with different forms of liquid and found that if I had a glass of water first thing in the morning I was fine and as long as I left it a couple of hours I could then drink herbal tea throughout the day without food. As dominic says try other types of liquid.

With regards to overeating, this seams to be a common thing in the first few weeks. Stick with it, it does settle down. The other thing I want to concentrate on is cutting out snacks on feast days and to not eat after my evening meal. After all I have the willpower to fast 2 days a week so I should be able to achieve these two things!!!

Hiya. To stop myself overeating today, I've planned my menu, and put it on My Fitness Pal, so I know what I can have, and that I will have calories left for a full on weekend. When its written down, I can stick to it, its freedom that sends me wild ! Once the kids are at school I'll break my fast with a cheese and tomato omelette - the fat and protein will keep me full all morning.

I know what you mean about nausea -I have had it a lot when I'm not eating/hungry, but I have found it is much reduced now (I've done 20 fasts). Yesterday on my fast day I just had 2 teas and 1 coffee, and then water on the go all day, and that was better than lots of black teas as I had been doing previously.

Hi Annabelle and welcome.

Further to the good advice above regarding the fluids here's a quick tip for you if the snacks are a big contributory factor in your binge eating after a fast day.

Gather all the snacks up in a bag and go give it someone.....then.....don't buy any more when you go food shopping. (and don't listen to excuses about them being in the house for others)

Hope that helps

Hi Annabelle,

I have also only been going for a short time and although I don't have your liquids problem I can certainly relate to the over compensating after fast days. Glad to hear from everyone that it should pass -will just try to keep out of the kitchen.

Hey Annabelle,

Well done for reaching week 3 when it's not been easy, that shows you've got real determination. It must be really difficult to get through a fast day without plenty of fluids, and nausea is a horrid feeling (I find my vitamin suppliment makes me nauseous, and that 45 mins is just miserable) so kudos to you for forging on.

Ice chips are generally well tolerated if you have access to them, and I agree with Dominic that any fluid is better than dehydration so try diet fizzy drinks. Also, don't forget that you can eat water rich foods on your fast days too - they'll give you fluids and they tend to be very low calorie as a bonus.

Good luck, and hope it settles down for you soon.x

There's really good advice here about how to avoid the desire to go mad on a non fast day. I just want to add that it's very normal in the first couple of months to find you get cravings after a fast and find it hard not to make poor food choices - processed carbs and sugar seemed to be the things we find hardest to kick. While it is important to exercise some control and not go crazy, the body does adapt and the cravings go away gradually. So don't stress about it too much.

Re liquids, I experienced a bit of nausea during the first few fasts and a horrible taste in my mouth that water just didn't shift. So I drank a few cans of sugar free red bull. Now according to some, it's super unhealthy, others will say drink whatever it takes to get you through. The red bull gave me a taste in my mouth and an energy boost so it was perfect for me. Now the fast days have become routine, I don't feel the need for it anymore and I just drink water.

So experiment and see what works for you until your body fully adapts.

Thanks, everyone! You gave me a lot of great ideas and encouragement
Today was my fasting day (I usually do Mondays and Fridays but had a taxing day yesterday so I switched). As some suggested, I tried a diet drink. I had one can of Sprite Zero, which I sipped and tolerated very well. No nausea! I read the thread about diet drinks, but since I don't ever drink any, if I have a can or two a week it won't be too horrible, I hope. Surprisingly, I expected a long list of ingredients on it, but it lists only 3 or 4 (if I remember correctly), and none of it an artificial sweetener. It doesn't taste very sweet, which I like. I will try this again since I felt much better. Maybe I will try a plain or flavored seltzer as well. Might make me burp though

I am relieved to hear that I am not the only one with the day after overeating problem and that it may pass with time. I guess what I've been doing wrong is allowing myself 'treats' which lead to uncontrollable vacuuming up of any food in sight I have to think of this day as an extension of my fasting day and start planning my meals. And no more snacks! Once I have one my will power is gone so it's better not to have any at all.

It sounds as though you had a much better day, that's great!
I find that sipping a small glass of low-cal tonic water works well if I feel a bit nauseous (have done for ages, pre-5:2), I like it because it's not sweet.
And I find that days where I have one treat tends to lead to many, so I'm trying to not have any at all during the week, except a little something in the evening (when its too late in the day for me to go mad!) and not worry about having a few cals extra at the weekend.

well.... not such a good day today. I was doing pretty well until afternoon and evening when I saw my hubby munching on candy bars. I should have known better. I had one, which led to quite a few "just one more"... I feel pretty disgusted with myself right now!

I am actually looking forward to a fast day on Friday. Somehow I am able to be really disciplined on those days, maybe because I know I can't eat so I see no point of thinking about food. On feed days, subconsciously I am thinking that I can have anything and this makes me look for snacks. I need to change this somehow. Or I just may do 4:3 diet....

Hi Annabelle. Oldestswinger said it, get the bad stuff out of the house and ask hubby not to eat it in front of you. If you fill the fridge with food that is fresh and needs preparation to eat then its not so easy to just grab it and eat.
Having said all that I still manage to prepare fresh food and overeat that so we all have our vices.
Did anyone mention sparkling mineral water, I live on the stuff on fast days.

Hi Annabelle, just for the record (and so you know you're not on your own) - I seem to be out of control on my non fasting days. I usually "over treat" myself for being so good when I'm fasting - I'm using the advise others have given to you to hopefully help me also! Good Luck!