The FastDay Forum

About two months after starting IF I began to get serious leg cramps at night. I don't know if it is dehydration/lack of salt or even if it is realted to the diet. I get them following fast and non fast days and they are very, very painful.

Completely unrelated but my brother-in-law who has Parkinsons is following this diet as well.He had an appointment with his consultant last week. He had decided to tell her about his diet but was a little apprehensive that she would disapprove. Far from disapproving she told him that she is herself is doing it too.

Thanks to all my forum friends for your helpful replies!

I will make sure I remember to drink plenty of fluids when I've eaten out- I usually don't eat dinner if I've had lunch out but must keep up the herb teas!
I don't have large amounts of food, I suspect it is the "rich" foods you have at restaurants which I'm not used to.

I do seem to be fine with a little dark chocolate at home though!

Re the leg cramps - I've had a couple of nights in the last 3 weeks of 5:2 where my toes have been cramping in the middle of the night. I've been seeing a physio about tendonitis and I asked him about it last week and he said it's normally a lack of quinine so tonic water (or diet tonic water on a fast day!) should sort it out. I've yet to buy it and put it to the test but maybe worth a try?

Some medications can cause leg cramps. So read your side effects lists to make sure its not that.

At the beginning I felt a terrible pain in both my legs from the waist to the toes. It was not cramps, it was something like you pinch several nerves at the same time 24/7 and I wasn't comfortable even when I was in bed... Even my GP doesn't explain what happened but it can be a side effect of the diet (I didn't take any medication at the time)

My nights were terrible as well, I didn't sleep more than 1h30 at a time so I was quite grumpy the next day. Now it's much better and since I have a new mattress it's even better

Lately feeling a tad queasy at work when I smell everyone's lunches and I'm fasting. Not sure why what they are eating smells unusually bad to me (I don't remember it bothering me before) - but just glad I'm not feeling as hungry...

I got two wasp stings a few days ago, one on the arm (not too bad)and one on an ear (!).

Feeling comparatively rubbish on fasting certainly didn't help as the sting on the ear was quite nasty. My ear looked like a road beacon yesterday but I think it's going down now.

Just becareful out in your gardens just now, the hot weather has brought the wappos out, I just don't recommend it.

My only solace is I got my own back and washed their nest away with a hose.

I'm not a wasp fan at all.

Hello all.

I've been doing 5:2 since 15 April, so with slightly less than four months, I'm not as seasoned as many of you.

My fast days are Mondays and Thursdays. I usually have 2C of black coffee throughout the morning, an egg with a low-cal piece of toast around noon, and then a 350-400 cal dinner. I tried 4:3 for a few weeks but found the weight loss no different than 5:2. As of late, my fasting day caloric intake does not exceed 500 kcals.

I exercise M-F on the elliptical machine, traveling over 7km in 40 minutes. In June, I added strength training, which follow my cardio routine. I just turned 50.

My negative experiences have been cold hands on certain mornings. On Dr. Mosley's Horizon show, it was mentioned that this is when fat is being burned. Another side effect has been the need to buy new pants, as my old ones have become too baggy and may fall off, despite adding an extra hole in my belt.
Also, all of the shirts in my wardrobe now fit without being obscenely stretched across my tummy.

For the first time in my life I feel that I have some sort of restraint over what is being stuffed into my mouth. If I've been 'bad' on a feed day, I know that a fast day is coming soon, along with some semblance of self-control.

Our monthly food bill has decreased, I am eating slower, drinking more water, eating healthier foods and losing weight. Thus far, these are the sum total of my negative side effects of the 5:2 diet.

Negative side effects, hmmmm. A cupboard full of treats that aren't being eaten. We kept on buying treats at the same rate before we realised they weren't being eaten. To me it feels weird to not dive in the cupboard as soon as somethings bought and eat the lot in one go.

The downside for me is feeling cold. I have always suffered with cold hands and feet but fast days make it worse. I also find it really hard to get to sleep on a fast day. Yesterday we went out for Sunday lunch and I couldn't even make a dint on the amount of food on my plate. I felt so full and part of me felt like the food had been wasted. OH said taking me out to eat was becoming pointless if I couldn't eat.

Food spoiling in the fridge and wastage. Poor sleep. Leg cramps. Bad breath. Slimy tongue.

I seem to have some problems to adjust blwith the shopping. It was already a problem before but it's much much worse now. It's not that there is food spoiling or wastage, just that shopping i a chore as I never knows what to eat and it's worse and worse. I don't even really see the cheap side of it because I didn't really see any difference

Also my knee hurt really bad these days and I didn't hurt myself so there's no real explanation other than it could be a negative side effect.

I reached my goal of losing 10 pounds a month or so ago; the last 2 weeks at least I've had a resurgence of menopausal symptoms. I'm that rarity today: a woman in her 70s whose been on HRT ("natural", that is, estradiol patch and progesterone capsule) for 21 years. I refuse to give it up because I favor quality of life over longevity.

Perhaps I should start a thread of oldies discussing their takes on HRT--another day, I think.

Some online research indicates that weight loss results in less estrogen being stored in the fatty tissues, therefore there's less estrogen available overall. (or something like that). So having to ask for a new prescription for a larger (literally!) estradiol patch to control hot flashes (not flushes in the US lol), insomnia, palpitations, etc. looms in my future. I'm a little apprehensive that my doc and/or pharmacy/insurer might raise questions because of my age. Their knowledge often lags behind research, I think.

Also my knee hurt really bad these days and I didn't hurt myself so there's no real explanation other than it could be a negative side effect.

You don't have to have injured your knee for it to hurt. For example, knees tend to wear out over the years. I have lax ligaments that cause me knee pain from time to time. Coincident is not the same as causative.

I defintely find myself struggling to drop off. Come 9pm I am wide awake and thinking about breakfast the next day!
Strangely though I don't wake up hungry!!

It's been so warm these last couple of months that I haven't noticed being cold but doubt I will hit my target weight before winter so will reassess later.

On a personal note, for me, any negative effects are FAR outweighed by the positive ones