The FastDay Forum

Peter, I thought the same and on my 4th fast (I think it was the 4th) I decided to do a bit of housework and then go to the supermarket. OhmiGod, I thought I would drop dead in the middle of the street, supermarket bags all over the place, neighbours wondering what's wrong with me etc.
Thank God I reached home safely but I'm not doing it again!!!

I have just finished my 16th fast and I feel full of energy! This is a fairly recent phenomena and it has just kicked in during the last couple of weeks. Up until then I found it quite mystifying that lots of people were feeling great, more energy etc. I dreaded my fast days for a few weeks. now I find them much easier and I feel much more energised, so maybe it's just going to take a little longer. If you still feel so drained in a week or two I would suggest a visit to the doctor is in order, just to rule out an underlying issue e.g. thyroid comes to mind?

Oh that's given me hope I look forward to getting there! I am much less tired on the fast days things are improving but have to take it slow in the evenings.
Perhaps you get better at burning fat over the longer term and start to suffer less side effects from no carbs.

Sue - how long had you been having between fast days? I ask since I started off with just one day between fasts and kept on cycling and exercising (Pump/Combat) and found myself becoming really fatigued by the end of the week. Now, I try to make sure that there are two days between fasts and I've felt less tired post-classes as a result.

Have you allowed for your exercise in your TDEE that you're eating on feed days? It can add several hundred calories to your TDEE - as does the particularly calculator you are using.

And I've found myself going to bed an hour earlier to get an extra hour's sleep.

Good luck!

I have been wondering about this too. Today is my 7th fast day. I hike about a mile every day in our woods. Until I started the 5:2 WOE I have never felt like I didn't have the energy for it, looked forward to it, and go at a really good pace. (When my family joins me they laugh because I go so fast and they don't keep up!) Well since I have started this WOE I feel much more sluggish, and it's really on the walks that I notice it the most. I just do not have that spring in my step or that drive to just crank it out and get the walk done. I just kind of mosey along, and just feel more worn down doing it. It's kind of bumming me out.

I am on my fifth fast and I feel exhausted today, I have exercised on all my previous fasts no problem and been full of energy but today I only managed half of my workout, the only thing I can think it may be is the impending TOTM!

I have been feeling exhausted, I am super lethargic, it is mainly during my fast days but I also have lower energy in my normal days. I really hope this gets better because this is not fun at all

Feeel for you Iz
Have just had v difficult fast n repair day and went over my 500 cals at dindins
( by about 200 cals)
Have felt miz today and tired and cranky and been quite snippy with people
Its a rollercoaster coz often on these days i feel great

Hope you feel better tomozz x

I have been feeling exhausted, I am super lethargic, it is mainly during my fast days but I also have lower energy in my normal days. I really hope this gets better because this is not fun at all

Unless a doctor says otherwise, consider adding some salt back into your diet. A bouillon (stock) cube mid-morning, mid afternoon (2-3 grams) can make a difference.

Why?

From the book The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living (Volek):

Page 20, 150 and 240: "Salt deprivation leads to light headedness, fatigue, headache and malaise."

"... the body responds [to sodium restriction] by contracting its circulating volume... [which is what] causes dizziness, headache, and ease of fatigue."

"... the amount of carbohydrate in our diet changes our need for salt. High carb diets make the kidneys retain salt, whereas a low carb intake increases sodium excretion by the kidney ('called the natriuresis of fasting')."

HTH

I was a bit lethargic, the first two or three weeks, or rather more introvert, not grumpy but I just wanted to be left alone. No problems since then.

I believe these beginner problems are mostly because the body isn't yet used to switching to fat burning, having snacks with carbs should reasonably make this process longer and more difficult. You continue to be a sugar burner with insufficient supplies, instead of a fat burner with plenty of fuel.

I'd recommend Miso soup or proper homemade stock instead of stock cubes, the same thing but without these highly processed and very unhealthy fats. Or not eating at all.

Reducing carbs also means eating more fat, which makes the quality of these fats a lot more important.

Hmmm, I'm cooking on gas at the moment, or rather cooking on fat as I have increased my fat intake........... Maybe there is an adjustment period.

Just bumping this up again, if it's okay. I'm quite lethargic & even slightly sleepy the day after a fast these days. And I have a mild background headache most of the time, and I NEVER get headaches - pushed through my dance lesson yesterday, but obviously got a bit of a cortisol surge, because I got the same nausea I feel when insulin-resistant, and sugars were higher - 6.6 than they have been in the last few weeks. Tried a small amount of carb (a barley wrap), some nuts and some smoked salmon & did feel better, but sugars still highish this morning.

So what I've been doing differently in the last couple of weeks is - 4/3, eating all of my 500 cal at night, trying for lower carbs, like 75 g on day after fasting, but also added 4 HIIT a la Steve Boutcher - last one the evening before I felt lousy - and it was also a fast day.

oh a couple of complicating factors - not sleeping well due to menopause, often awake 3 am to 5 am, and did actually wake up & get up at 4 am that morning. Also on antibiotics for a skin infection. Probably plenty of good reasons for feeling a bit off!

But what to do first? Am I overdoing it? Am I stuck in the dreaded no-man's-land between burning carbs & being ketotic? Is this "low-carb flu"? Should I not exercise that intensively on fast days? Should I go back to 5/2? Should I just try tackling my sleep problems? Thanks for your advice, people, as you can see, I'm a bit confused!

I get very lethargic if I am too efficient with lowering my carbs, I seem to need some bread to fuel me every 4 days or so. 2 slices of toast usually does the trick.

[janeg]

Oh, lots of stuff going on in there jools.
At one point, I was managing 4:3 and HIIT on fast days with one meal in the evening of sub500 cals. No I'll effects, just the same sleepiness at night with an early bed. I don't count or restrict carbs. Meal is nearly always 2 poached eggs and 2 slices of toast.
So, perhaps it's the other factors, sleep disturbances and antibiotics. Can you maybe drop back one step in the HIIT protocol and/or up the carbs slightly and see how that goes until the antibiotics are done?
Hope your sleep improves and you feel more energised soon.

[carorees]

Just bumping this up again, if it's okay. I'm quite lethargic & even slightly sleepy the day after a fast these days. And I have a mild background headache most of the time, and I NEVER get headaches - pushed through my dance lesson yesterday, but obviously got a bit of a cortisol surge, because I got the same nausea I feel when insulin-resistant, and sugars were higher - 6.6 than they have been in the last few weeks. Tried a small amount of carb (a barley wrap), some nuts and some smoked salmon & did feel better, but sugars still highish this morning.

So what I've been doing differently in the last couple of weeks is - 4/3, eating all of my 500 cal at night, trying for lower carbs, like 75 g on day after fasting, but also added 4 HIIT a la Steve Boutcher - last one the evening before I felt lousy - and it was also a fast day.

oh a couple of complicating factors - not sleeping well due to menopause, often awake 3 am to 5 am, and did actually wake up & get up at 4 am that morning. Also on antibiotics for a skin infection. Probably plenty of good reasons for feeling a bit off!

But what to do first? Am I overdoing it? Am I stuck in the dreaded no-man's-land between burning carbs & being ketotic? Is this "low-carb flu"? Should I not exercise that intensively on fast days? Should I go back to 5/2? Should I just try tackling my sleep problems? Thanks for your advice, people, as you can see, I'm a bit confused!

my guess is the added stressors caused the cortisol increase which increases insulin resistance (to keep you in sugar burning mode as part of the flight or fight response) which means you get signs of metabolic inflexibility. Try cutting down on the fasting or HIIT until the infection clears. Hormesis means a little stress is good, a lot is not. It'll all come.right in the end, never fear.

Oh thanks so much, Caroline, hard to get that sense of perspective when I seem to be in the middle of a maelstrom - really appreciate your thoughts!