The FastDay Forum

Still having trouble sleeping on days of fast which I can work through. A bigger pain is the number of times I have to get up during the night to go to the toilet.
I know I am drinking a lot of water and tea etc and what goes in has to came out but would really love to hear if this is something that is happening to everyone. Would also love to hear any suggestions to improving the problem.
Thanks Jenn

Hi there. I don't seem to have that problem, or not that I've noticed anyway! I eat two smaller meals later in the day and evening. I wonder if that helps. What time of day are you eating? If you ate later would that make a difference?

Thanks Mazajbg3. I am actually eating 2 meals around 1pm and 8pm so not sure eating later would improve anything.

I found I had to get up in the night for the first couple of weeks, but that soon settled down and I sleep right through now.

Could you stop drinking earlier? Say 6pm or 8pm?

[wildmissus]

Like Jemima, I was always in the toilet in the first couple of weeks but now I don't notice it so I guess your body needs to make adjustments.

Yes I think your body adjusts a bit but I still go a lot in fast days
As for not sleeping, I found eating all my calories at night helped.

[carorees]

I think its to do with the body burning glycogen which releases a lot of water (glycogen is 4/5ths water I believe). In the early days your body does not readily switch to burning fat and this causes all kinds of side effects. If it's not burning fat it had to burn glycogen, hence the weeing! When your body gets good at burning fat, it will conserve its glycogen stores and you won't need to go to the loo so often. Well that's my theory anyway!

I know I am drinking a lot of water and tea etc

How much ? Over 2 litres is probably excessive.

Try to avoid caffeine (coffee/tea) after about noon on a fast day for both the hard-to-sleep thing as well as the get-up-every-10-minutes-to-pee thing. Note that decaffeinated coffees and teas still have a little bit of caffeine in them and it adds up, so switching to decaf in the afternoon is not recommended.

Herbal or fruit teas (naturally caffeine free) are also better than straight-up water, I find, but of course straight-up water is good for you. It's just that straight-up water will dilute a lot of the other stuff you are consuming. On a fast day it's not so important except for when you actually have your 500/600 calories of food. Straight up water, if you drink too much of it while eating, can basically flush all the water-soluble vitamins before your body can utilize them, leaving you "starving" for nutrients even if you have plenty of calories for energy burn (water doesn't tend to flush calories too effectively...).

Thanks everyone, I will try your suggestions. Hopefully, it will settle down as I progress.

I'm so pleased it's not just me! I've been doing this WoE since the end of January and on my fast days I'm visiting the loo much more frequently. I eat a small breakfast and a dinner and have my last cuppa at around 6.30pm but on my fast days I need to get up 3 or 4 times in the night (as opposed to once on a 'normal' night). I find it difficult to sleep anyway on fast days because I'm so hungry, which probably doesn't help.

I like my water but I avoid drinking a lot after 10-11 pm or I'll be up all night peeing.

I'm in my 5th week and have to get up in the night of a fasting day. Only once and I do have tea and a 40 cal hot chocolate in the evening. I don't mind though.