The FastDay Forum

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this fasting lifestyle so I'm hoping someone out there may have already experienced what I'm going through & can provide some advice.

I'm a stay at home mum to 2 kids aged 3 & 1 and I'm finding that I'm a very cranky hungry person! By mid afternoon all the kids have to do is look at me to get yelled at. My tolerance level dips EXTREMELY low. And then nighttime rolls around & I'm so tired that when the baby wakes for a breastfeed I grump again. She's only a tiny person asking for what she needs & my rational side knows that but my hungry tired side just wants her to shut up & go away so I can sleep. I don't want to quit fasting as I want to give it a real go but I can't carry on being this person to my kids. It's not fair on them or me.

I've been searching forums this morning & have found one good suggestion to try 3 meals instead of 2 on fast days but any other ideas welcome too.

I'm also wondering if I should be increasing my 500cals a bit to account for the breastfeeding as per normal eating recommendations. Anyone know?

Thanks in advance everyone & happy fasting

I would definitely increase your calories if you're still Breastfeeding.
I got very cranky on fast days initially, not nearly as bad now after a few months, but if my children were still small, I think I would crack at them pretty much constantly when feeling hungry. Maybe postpone fasting until they are a bit older. They are little for such a short time, it's really worth enjoying it with them.

[Betsysgr8]

I agree with KataMac. Increase your calories or wait until the little one is weaned. The crankiness only makes things worse for you and your children and then that just steps up the whole stress scenario even more. There are a couple people on here that are still breastfeeding but their childern are a bit older. You can still do a couple of lower-calorie days by increasing to 800 calories. Maybe even a 4-3 with 3 days at 800 - 900?

[Betsysgr8]

I just did a quick search of breastfeeding on the forum and found several posts with information.

I thought I read somewhere that a lactating mother should have an additional 500 calories per day, if this is true, then I would think that your fast day should be 1000 calories until your child is weaned.

Hi simoneee, I am also very new to this (today is my third fast day). And I am also finding I get pretty cranky with the kids by the afternoon of a fast day.. I am hoping that this will improve over the next few weeks. I know back when I was breast feeding that I used to get starving hungry without being on restricted calories!

[Tracieknits]

Hi Ali and welcome!

Yes, crankiness is a side effect of fasting, unfortunately. I can get a bit cranky by 5pm when it's getting really close to dinner time. Are they old enough that you can talk to them about it?

Hi Tracie and thank you.

The youngest ones are 4 yr old twins, love them as I do, they are ones most likely to make me lose my temper (not always restricted to fast days!). So I can't really explain to them. I am hoping over time my body adjusts to fast days and I can deal with them oh so calmly.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I've only done 2 fast days so far so I'm hoping that it will get easier and I'm going to bump up my cal's slightly. Will try 600 this week & see if that helps enough as I'm only doing the occasional overnight breastfeed, not all day.

We'll have to plug at it together Ali41

I have 3 boys aged 4 6 & 7. My 7yr old is also Asd so fasting days are proving very interesting. I fast 3:4 but with increased cals due to physical nature of work. I have only just located the answer here in the answering questions section - although I didn't see a section for feeding mums, I know from experience that if you don't feed yourself you can't feed your baby! So go a little easier on yourself! 600 cals sounds too little honey!!! The key seems to be the no of hrs fasted, the cals consumed varies person to person. Eg I can consume 670 as I have a physical occupation & I'm training for an assault course! As your baby is a yr her primary nutrition is no longer from you but your milk as you know is full of nutrients that if you don't consume will be leached from your own body. So do take it easy. I'm following all of my intake via MyFitnessPlanner, it gives you the low down on nutritional content so you can see how the choices you make affect the nutrition you receive. As you are eating less it has to be fab!!
I too get pretty cranky if @ home around the chaos that is life with busy bears to entertain etc etc. I'm much calmer @ work & far less prone to falling foul of a headache which has occurred once or twice @ home which increases my crankiness. I have just completed my fourth week, it is getting easier if that helps a little. I would reconsider the type of fast you are doing until your baby is weaned for both your sakes. Is it possible to eat an early supper 4ish - then delay breakfast the next day to as late as you are able to manage, if you were able to delay until 12 you will have completed a 20hr fast & not noticed it quite so much! Just a thought. Goodluck xx

LOL I feel like that with my kids as well but I haven't found that it's especially linked to fast days, I often feel irritated when my 17 month old wakes up for milk at night, fasting doesn't make a difference.

I would definitely play around a bit with your meals and meal times to see what that does, I tend to skip breakfast, have a light lunch and a bigger dinner. Also although I try and have as long as possible between my last meal on a feed day and the first meal the following day once I've eaten on a fast day if I'm really hungry I eat some carrot or strawberries or that kind of thing, but generally I don't need to.

In terms of breastfeeding I usually eat around 600 cals on a fast day. I'm training to be a breastfeeding councillor and from what I've read the 500 extra cals thing is a really rough estimate based on exclusive breastfeeding, and well as long as you have some fat stores and you are not breastfeeding a tiny baby fasting should be fine. My daughter is 17 months though and eats a lot of solid food so it depends on your situation and how you feel. Also toxins are released into your milk if you lose fat too quickly, but it seems that studies show that losing around 500g per week is fine, which is a bit more than the average on here, so I would also eat more if I was losing more than that.

One last thing - I generally have a nap at the same time as my daughter on fast days (or whenever I feel the need), even just half an hour helps a lot with the crankiness!!

Hello Simonee;
Sounds like you're having an awful time of it. I don't have my copy of the book but I am pretty sure breastfeeding is contra-indicated. This WOL is about making your life better and it's very clear from your posts that you are not getting any benefits at all, in fact quite the contrary. This WOE will still be here when your youngest baby is weaned so why not leave it until then? Some things are more important than losing weight. Relax. enjoy being a mum, and start again when you're ready.

I am very similar to you, I have an 18month old (weaned 4 months ago) & a 3 year old. I have been on 5:2 since beginning of June & have found it particularly difficult w 2 very active kids. I am a WAHM with no work for last 2 months so I've had kids with me full time. I was really struggling on fast days & was awful to the kids with no energy or desire to do anything, cooking meals was the worst time of day, and if anyone came near me while cooking, there would be all hell & lots of tears from everyone. Working on fast days is 100 times easier.

Recently I've changed a few things which seems to really help. I've changed to 4:3 (or 3:4, keep cocking that up) & put my calorie intake up to around 600/700 per day (I don't sweat the cals so much, if I need a bit more I have it) because I'm having an even bigger overall calorie deficit over the week so I can afford the extra fast day cals. But the other thing that is really helping is having my big meal at lunchtime with more of a salad or snack at 6pm with the kids & that gets me through with way less stress!

I know that I could not have done this while breast feeding, I was very hungry all the time & I put on a good bit of weight while breast feeding! You should cut yourself some slack especially if you want to continue breast feeding, the less you eat the less milk you'll produce & your baby may end up weaning herself. But I also know how depressing it is to still be wearing your maternity & fat clothes over a year after the baby is born.

Good luck

Hi there others with young children,

I have a 7 year old and a little one just turned 2 last week, and I only began the 5:2 after I had completely stopped breastfeeding. I knew from experience with the older one that just when you stop, your appetite drops immensely and that is a great time to try to lose the last pregnancy kilos. If you can wait a few more months to start the 5:2 you'd probably find it an awful lot easier than you do now, and it will probably be much more effective too.

The little one still wakes up from time to time (for a bottle, now) and I do find that I am incredibly dizzy getting up in the night after a day's fasting.

Otherwise fasting with young kids is easy - especially as family meals are not such a big deal as with a more grown-up family. I'm just happy if I can get them to eat anything sensible in the evening, and if I'm not eating I can hover and wipe up spills much better!

I'm glad to hear there are others in the same situation, and would be delighted to swap tips!

Dimmit