The FastDay Forum

hi everyone

ive just started the 5:2 diet and im fasting on Mondays and Thursdays. i have managed to stay in the 500 cals allowance but dont seem to have lost much weight - maybe 1 pound in total that is terrible for all that effort! Am i doing something wrong? ive done 5 fast days so far - any tips would be greatly received

i am finding it hard to stay hungry all day and end up eating lots in the evening but try to stay within allowance - in the day i stick to water and some nuts if i get very peckish. any good recipes for fast days? on feast days i am feeling more peckish and eating some chocolate more than i usually do?

angelic

[Tracieknits]

hi everyone

ive just started the 5:2 diet and im fasting on Mondays and Thursdays. i have managed to stay in the 500 cals allowance but dont seem to have lost much weight - maybe 1 pound in total that is terrible for all that effort! Am i doing something wrong? ive done 5 fast days so far - any tips would be greatly received

i am finding it hard to stay hungry all day and end up eating lots in the evening but try to stay within allowance - in the day i stick to water and some nuts if i get very peckish. any good recipes for fast days? on feast days i am feeling more peckish and eating some chocolate more than i usually do?

angelic

Welcome Angelic!!

well one of the first things I had to do was to stop calling it a "feast day" -- I found that made me think it was a party and I could have all the chocolate I wanted. I call it a "normal day" now. Usually people find that if they stick to their fast day properly, they are actually less hungry the next day. Hunger only returns to normal the day after that.

We have a whole section of the forum for recipes. 5-2-diet-recipes-f5/

I know many of us tend to pick a few things we really like and keep them in heavy rotation. I tend to do salads in the summer, and soups in the winter, myself.

Weight loss tends to be different for different people. Are you a habitual dieter? If so, you won't get the whoosh of water weight that so many get in their first week or two. In theory, you are supposed to lose just under a pound a week on this plan. It's not a fast weight loss, by any stretch. But many of us find it very sustainable. I lost 50 pounds on it and I've kept 40 off (I'm having issues with my thyroid right now). I've never had this kind of success with something where I was deprived every single day. Plus I don't have to pay anyone anything for it

Here are some great articles Carorees wrote about why we don't lose weight as fast as we want etc etc

https://www.fastday.com/fasting/trouble ... h-busting/


Good luck!

Welcome.
The only advice I could really give is to be kind to yourself and make sure that you experiment a little to discover which way works best for you.
As Tracieknits so rightly pointed out, there are many ways and methods of 5:2ing but most will only result in a gradual weight loss. However, you will definitely find that you are losing inches if not pounds so I would get the tape measure out to give you some motivation if you need it.
You will soon fall into a regular cycle on your fasting days and will find them easier to complete once you have answered many of those quietly nagging questions that become loud, booming voices when you are feeling hungry in the initial stages.

Welcome @Angelic, great advice above. I found it helpful to first focus on my long term goal, do you have one? Once I had my goal in place I was able to navigate fasting and understand what worked for me. Good luck, look forward to hearing from you

Welcome to the gang and wishing you good luck on yr journey! Xx

: : Thanks all for your kind messages. As i am still new im just trying to find my way around the forum and will try and update you when I can...so far its been a great journey I think ive completed 6 fast days, theres been some highs and lows (migraines) but in the main its not been too bad really- today i am fasting and im feeling great ....ive only had 3 cups of green tea, lots of water and got my ready made meal to look forward to in the evening (salmon and vegs yummy) - so far it seems to be working out just fine! trying to keep myself busy at work - i even managed to complete some of the mundane tasks we put back lol just to get through the day and to not have to think about the hunger pangs! My goal is to lose 1.5 stones in the next 6 months - im not in any rush to lose weight but it would be nice to look slimmer and fitter by next summer as hubby has promised me a beach holiday to any destination of my choice (looking fwd to that) ...my main objective is to get healthier and live longer and to be able to enjoy life to the full and i want to look good - my two girls the joys of my life, ,my cheeky little princesses ( aged 10 and 5 ) are supporting me and trying to keep me away from bad foods lol on non fast days (always good) they are really motivating me to keep at it - anyway- its great having a forum to share my experiences with and im sure i will be back here asking all sorts of questions in no time, so please bear with me and thank you again - have a great day

@Angelic, great advice above! Here's a pdf I put together for a friend of mine; I think it summarizes "How To 5.2" pretty well, plus I share my personal version of 5.2.

5-2 et al.pdf

How to 5.2

(590.6 KiB) Downloaded 254 times

The best thing about 5.2 is its flexibility. In order to take full advantage of that, I keep a little journal; most light days, I simply write (today for example: "Thurs Dec 10 Light day 170"), then write down summary of what I eat (I don't track on normal days). I do get calories etc from MyFitnessPal, so I don't write all the details in the journal. I don't need to do this as much now, but at first I kept a brief but running account of "how my light day is going"; for example, would observe hunger pangs: time, strength, what kind of thoughts I had about them, etc. Plus any other thoughts/feelings running about. This is how I moved from eating early in the day to not eating till 6pmish. The first calories I ingest on light days is a cup of veggie broth (with a tiny blob of coconut oil) about 4pm (get up for work at 8am). But everyone is different; many here on the forum DO eat earlier in the day; whatever works for you!

[Tracieknits]

I'm glad to hear you're doing well! I think you're definitely on the right track.