The FastDay Forum

[carorees]

Um, I don't think you should up your sugar intake (except you know as part of having a couple of treats now and then). Eating sugar is likely to make the mood swings worse...if your glucose control is not too good (which your symptoms might suggest) eating sugar causes a sugar high (bad for your body) followed by a sugar crash as the insulin kicks in. To avoid the mood swings, persist with fasting so that your body learns to use fat as a fuel and eat a balanced diet with moderate carbs, fats and proteins. Complex carbs such as in porridge are more likely to create a stable blood sugar.

Yesterday was my 4th fast day and I felt well all day except when I ate my dinner my body reacted as if food no way and got rid very quickly as it has on all fast days. Woke up early with migraine and pains in my hips and legs very weak and have a flu like feel today with a cough. Drank loads of water, any ideas anyone? I felt fine after my first 3. The 4th was 36 hrs where as the others were only 24hrs?
Lost 4 lb after first fast and nothing since but been really good on feed days

Thanks

Could you perhaps have flu or a cold? Seems strange that you would get a sore throat as a symptom of fasting? Sorry dont have anything more useful to add. Hope you feel better soon.

My side effects:
* dizziness
* cranky especially around 5pm
* tired
* low appetite and difficult to eat enough on feast days - also a benefit but not helping symptoms!

Yesterday fasting (ate breakfast) was ok till about 4 then didnt feel good at all the rest of the day/eve. Dinner at 8pm helped but just wanted to slob around. Felt a bit miserable really.

However... Woke up feeling fantastic and full of energy today and will be posting lots in positive thread too

This is a sad post for me. I've been doing 4:3 for the past few weeks because of metabolic problems and also to reap the health benefits - I have very painful osteo arthritis in my knees and had hoped IF would be the answer to this as all else has failed and the next stop is knee replacement surgery.

Over the past week I have been getting severe arthritic pain in my left heel and the knee pain has worsened over the past two weeks. Also, I am getting cramps in my leg muscles which is excruciating - I suffered with this for a long time before changing my thyroid medication when it went away. Now it's back. I wasn't expecting a miracle cure, or a speedy one because I've had these problems for quite a while, but I also wasn't expecting a worsening of the symptoms.

Don't know what to do now, to be honest. The weight loss has stalled, too, and I feel so disheartened when I was filled with enthusiasm before. I can do any diet to lose weight but I undertook IF to address chronic health problems and now I wonder if it's exacerbating them.

Any advice/words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Marlene

[carorees]

Hi marl

Seems odd that fasting would worsen OA. Many people have posted improvements. Have you been exercising/moving around more in order to try to lose weight? What meds are you on please? I'll try to find out some info for you.

Are you cutting calories on feed days? I am interestingly noticing that people who cut calories on feed days do not seem to lose weight any faster than those who don't.

If you have thyroid problems, fasting might affect thyroid function. I think that making sure you eat well on feed days helps.

I think it was noted in the programme that there was no significant difference in weight loss between those eating a high fat diet, and those following a healthy diet.
I suppose that's basically saying the same thing.
I'm sure we as a group will be producing some very interesting stats.
I think a lot of us are learning by trial and error what works best for our bodies.

I am interested in thyroid function too.
I have an under active thyroid. My last bloods were done in December before 5:2, and my dosage of 75 microg didn't need to be adjusted.
My next blood test will be in 6 months time, so it will be interesting to see if there is any change in my levels.

Hi marl

Seems odd that fasting would worsen OA. Many people have posted improvements. Have you been exercising/moving around more in order to try to lose weight? What meds are you on please? I'll try to find out some info for you.

Are you cutting calories on feed days? I am interestingly noticing that people who cut calories on feed days do not seem to lose weight any faster than those who don't.

If you have thyroid problems, fasting might affect thyroid function. I think that making sure you eat well on feed days helps.

Thanks for this, Caroline. I think it odd, too, since I have read that IF has lead to improvements in arthritis/inflammation but I can only report my own experience which seems to contradict this so far. Perhaps it's a case of things getting worse before they get better? I'm not exercising at all because I find it difficult and painful - walking can be a challenge some days. I'm thinking of purchasing a rebounder which might help build up under-used muscles. My hope was that the improvement in inflammation and pain would enable me to become more mobile but so far things have definitely got worse - pain and stiffness increased significantly and spread, which is more worrying. I can't think what else could be responsible, except that often the cold makes the pain and stiffness worse but this doesn't account for the spread of the arthritis.

So far as the thyroid issue is concerned, I have no thyroid gland or any tissue whatsoever so my condition is entirely controlled by medication - I don't think it can be possible for fasting to have a positive/adverse effect on this. I took Thyroxine for many years but gradually began to experience unwanted side-effects such as muscle cramps. I changed my medication to pure Liothyronine (T3) 20mcg x 2 daily and the cramps ceased. Now they are back suddenly and I don't know why. I do count calories on non-fast days but am not overly restrictive, i.e. I eat until I am satisfied and I count the calories so that I can see if the regime works and how effective I am at losing weight.

I do expect to have difficulty losing weight given my sluggish metabolism and I can deal with this but it's the worsening of the arthritis that's getting me down since everyone else seems to experience an improvement. I think I might just stop everything for a week and see what happens.

I was fasting yesterday and got achy pains in my legs, hips and wrists. I was thinking maybe i was ovulating because it was most painful on one side in my lower back, and i can usually feel cramping on one side when i ovulate, but that wouldn't explain why my wrists also hurt. I get aches and pains now and then so it might just have been a coincidence. I'll see what happens over the next few weeks, maybe it's a side effect of fasting.

I recall reading a while ago about a link between fasting and gout.
Apologies for the quick and brief posting. Will do some more digging later.

Very sorry to hear of your pain Marlene.

Hi all,

I've been doing 5:2 for about 8 weeks, i'm a large guy 6ft 4in big build started off at 20St 7lbs.

8 weeks later down to 17st 4lb. But I've not done the 600 calories on my fast days and instead done a complete 24hr Fast normally Mondays and Thursdays.

My only issue i'm having is i keep getting sweaty hands, I've always been a hot person, and sweat alot never really been smelly, I've always put it down to being over weight. But since losing some weight i'm still having issues with sweating and now my hands are constantly clammy which never happen before.

Keith

Hi Keith and welcome!

I can't give you any advice as I've not heard of that side effect before.

You've done very well losing 3st in 8 weeks though!

[carorees]

That's new to me too, I'm afraid. I'll try to find out though.

This is my 6th week, and I'm starting to feel really run-down on fast days, and finding it hard to concentrate at work. It's odd, because I was fine the first 4 weeks or so, and it's only the last 2 I've noticed this. I thought it was just the sensation of hunger, but I had lots to eat yesterday evening, and didn't really feel hungry during the day.

Think I'll go back to normal eating next week and see if that helps.

Yes I have had that around week 6 too! Just when a few people have said "don't go too far". So I have just had one fast day this week. I am still tired but am concentrating better. I am trying to get more nutritious foods on my usual days.

[carorees]

Hi all,

I've been doing 5:2 for about 8 weeks, i'm a large guy 6ft 4in big build started off at 20St 7lbs.

8 weeks later down to 17st 4lb. But I've not done the 600 calories on my fast days and instead done a complete 24hr Fast normally Mondays and Thursdays.

My only issue i'm having is i keep getting sweaty hands, I've always been a hot person, and sweat alot never really been smelly, I've always put it down to being over weight. But since losing some weight i'm still having issues with sweating and now my hands are constantly clammy which never happen before.

Keith

Hi Keith

I had a quick look around the internet and it seems that excessive sweating is a known effect of low blood sugar, and also in cases of excessive insulin secretion (causing low blood sugar). Do you get the sweaty hands on feed days as well as fast days? Do you get any other symptoms of low blood sugar? (dizziness, blurry vision, shaking, weakness etc)? Or perhaps it is worse after eating?

If you are getting the sweating all the time and it does not improve over the next week or so I think it might be worth a trip to the doctor as you should not be getting these symptoms all the time.

Hi marlathome,

I have psoriatic arthritis and I have been hoping that this will help with that too. I've noticed that my knee has been more swollen over that last few weeks, but to be honest I have put it down to the weather being cold and damp? On the plus side my toes are improved... too early to say for me I think. Fingers crossed for us both!