The FastDay Forum

Hi,

I keep seeing 36 hour 5:2 fasting mentioned. I just wondered what this means, and why it is a hot topic?

How do you approach your 36 hour fast and does it give you better results weight loss wise? When were you ready for it?

Thanks for helping!

It's basically a 5:2 fast day but without the 500/600 cal meal(s) that most people have on that day. ie. you finish eating at 7pm say day before fast; next day no food (but water or liquids!); wake up next day, have breakie. That would be roughly 36 hours.

Sorry, I meant to say, I am not doing this pattern but search for '36 hours' and the thread should come up. I am not sure what section it is in now....

[carorees]

Hi, I understand why you're confused. The problem is that the diet is described as a fasting diet but for most people they don't fast completely but have 500/600 cal. A few are doing without the calories and making it a complete fast.

The 36 hours runs from after dinner on the day before the fast until breakfast on the day after.

So almost everyone is doing a 36-ish hour 'fast' but only a few are doing it with no calories. It's a hot topic because the folk who are doing a complete fast have only recently reached significant numbers...so it does take a while to feel up to it. As not many have been doing it for long we don't yet know how it affects weight loss.

Um, not sure if that's any clearer?

I think you ahould not get hung up on the 36 number.... Just eat normally one day, go to bed, get up - EAT your 500/600 allowance, go to bed, get up and eat normally again.... It is just some people like to count how many hours they went just consuming 500 calories, On Sunday I eat Sunday dinner at about 3-4pm, and Monday I fast... On Tuesday I might have breakfast at 0530, this would mean it took me 37.5 hours to eat 500 calories... BUT I just look at it as a WAKING DAY fast coz another day I will eat and drink til 10 pm, fast the next day and have breakfast the day after at 0500... so only 31 hours passed. You do what suits you really xxxxx

Hi Fasting Annie,
I read your blogs and in light of that please don't jump headfirst into doing the water only 36 hours fasting. Hold off a while and let your body get used to the 5.2 and see how you feel a couple of months down the line. Wildmissus is one of the more experienced "veterans" on here (sorry Wildmissus, makes you sound ancient!) and did 5.2 for many months before she went onto a longer water only fast. One of the very best things and IMO most important thing about 5.2 is the sustainability of it and it would be a shame if you take it at a running leap and end up disillusioned (just another diet that didn't work...) if you check my progress chart you'll see that I'm losing weight at a steady and HEALTHY rate (and I am much older than you!) and that is important for long term sustainability. There are no indications so far that 4.3 (fasting 3 days a week) or 36 hour fasts are better than 5.2 for weight loss so with that in mind I hope you do 5.2 and enjoy it for a few months before doing longer fasts. Good luck

Thanks everyone for taking the time to explain. It makes sense now.

Dhana, thanks also for your advice having read my blogs. You must have known I can be a bit gung ho and obsessive so it's nice to be reined back! x