The FastDay Forum

I've recently started running, and have for the last three weeks been out running at 5 am almost every second morning before breakfast.

Yesterday was my first fast day (ever), which went like a breeze, and running before breakfast today was not a problem. I expected I would feel powerless and drained, but no.., it was a great run, 13 km, slow pace and some serious hill climbing.

But, next time I'd like to run at the morning before fast day. What do you think, not having a big after run-breakfast, will it make my second fast day miserable?

After all, I plan a short run of 5 km in faster pace, burning around 400 kcal early in the morning, and then I'm supposed to live on 600 kcal for more than 24 hours. What do you think, nightmare or no problem?

I suspect you are a more serious runner than I am - 5km is my distance(or should that be limit) but I find running on a Fast day fine. I ate normally yesterday, had a good dinner of roast lamb and veg, nothing today yet apart from black coffee both before and after my 5km. I'm not overly hungry yet at 12.22.
Last week I ran 3 times, one fast day, one post fast day, one post a wey-hey half a bottle of wine, and didn't feel that different on any of them.
Try it and see teh worst that can happen is you have something to eat

I plan my runs around my fasts, preferring to run the morning of a fast and never had any trouble. For me it is just running before breakfast but then it's at least a few hours after a run before I get hungry anyway. I run at 9am and have always had 2 drinks before I do so. I would say that being hydrated has a bigger effect on me. My longest fast day run was 6 1/2miles. I have found that I don't have enough for a long run the day after a fast but now that I am trying to incorporate 16:8 as well my body may be getting used to not being fuelled until lunchtime. Perhaps if you feel you need to eat straight after a run you could find something protein based but low in calorie for the muscle repair process? I am off with injury at the moment but hope to be getting out there again soon. Fingers crossed. Xxx

I didn't run on fast days for the first few weeks but as this was too restrictive I often do now and can honestly say I don't see any difference in performance or energy levels. I generally run in the evening but have been known to squeeze in an early run and same applies.

I am in my third week of the 5:2 plan and am a keen (if slow) jogger. I run 5km three times a week without fail and always run after dropping kids at school and before any breakfast (although after a strong cup of tea). I have found these runs absolutely fine on the morning of fast days and have still felt quite normal all day, even with no food until a couple of corn cakes at 3pm. I'm actually finding it easier to run on the morning of fast days than the morning after, when I don't feel quite myself until I've had a bowl of porridge. Good luck with the fast day runs - I'd say, go for it!

[Tracieknits]

Welcome to the forums, Hourglass!

Hi Hourglass,
If you are in the UK do you know about parkrun? its a measured, timed 5k that happens on Saturdys at 9.00. Check the thread called "Are there any runners here?" its free you just need to sign up and print off your identifying barcode.

I run 6kms every morning, except after a full fast day. I tried this morning and had a terrible stitch. Running on a fast day or the day before has never been a problem, but the day after (before eating anything) I find really hard for some reason.

Hi Michael,
I exercise on fast days and the day after but I am in the happy position of being in maintenance, not wanting to lose weight any more. I have done 30 miles on the bike and 17 miles fast walk on fast-day mornings but I am worried about repair and losing lean tissue/muscle by not having some protein/carbohydrate within an hour of finishing. Nowadays I make sure to eat to replace energy used and not worry about calories in my other meals, you could perhaps do a similar thing but stick to the 600 limit for the other meals. Try it and see - you will certainly lose weight faster if you don't replace energy just burned in exercise but you might possibly end up eating into lean tissue as well as fat...

Hi Michael,
I quite often train on the day following a fast day and do not experience too many problems. However, when I first started it felt like I was running through treacle but since then my body has adapted, my weight has reduced and now it is fine.
I agree with CreakyPete and feel that I have definitely lost some muscle as well as fat but, for me, that was a small price to pay. I didn't know this had happened until I started the 100 press up challenge which made my muscle loss very, very clear to me!

I have casually heard (from someone whose doctor recommended this) that walking/running before eating in the morning is a good thing for weight loss; and recently came across this which seems to support the idea.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... found.html

I find it really hard to run far on a fast day, but, on all the other days, I have seen a great improvement in my breathing and stamina levels.

The same goes for swimming and cycling too.

Thanks for all these excellent replies!

I had a really small breakfast, some cucumber and a glass of vegetable juice and ran (slowly) 8 km, visited my father. I rested there for half an hour, ate a banana, drank some water and ran home without any problems, a total of around 1400 kcal burned.

The rest of the day I've had 500 kcal, chicken breast, spinach, broccoli, tomato, onion and some other veggies, and I've felt just fine.

It's still surprising to me, I've actually never gone hungry for any more than more than a few hours in my life, I wish I had known it's not much of a problem.

All these warnings when growing up, about how "low blood sugar" hurts your performance are obviously very exaggerated.

So far, this diet seems very manageable, nice!