The FastDay Forum

And hello from me, @stephd. I am fasting today. It's Thursday, and you are fasting today, but I think it's Wednesday in Canada. It's confusing! Welcome! I have done 5:2 for about 18months. I have lost about 13 kgs. I have easy fasts and hard fasts. But I see it as a lifestyle and something I am going to do for the rest of my life. If it's hard at first, it really does get easier. But then you go through hard patches, unexpectedly. Finding your way around the forum is a work in progress. There is so much here, I tend to stick to my topics and not read everything because it would take me all day to do that, and I have to do other things. Good luck, and keep coming back. We're in this together. And you will probably find you know people who are also fasting, but you don't know that they are. It is so popular here, I know lots of people but none of them understand the strength of belonging to this wonderful forum.

Hello Sallyo, thanks for the reply. A loss of 13kg! That is amazing. I'm also hoping to do this for the rest of my life but I will settle for the next few months to begin with . I haven't gotten into a set routine yet of fasting days but this is only my third week and I'm still working it out. I also think that if a chosen day doesn't work i.e. I blow the fast and start eating like I did on Monday I can still try another day. That will be what keeps me going I think, at least in the beginning. I think today will be hard because I didn't eat much past 6:30 last night and will not eat today until 3ish when I get home from work. I am looking forward to a large spinach salad. :0 It is now Thursday here, btw .

ssure, the second link re buddies was the one I had been looking at earlier but I just found a buddy on the first thread! I'm excited .

Hello Redrobin, it sure is difficult not to over do it on non fast days and I am so new to this. I had my sisters over for lunch on Sunday and pigged out on tea cakes and chocolate, not so good for the diabetes I know, although my sugars are under such good control apparently, or so the blood tests show. I don't understand since I have been eating sugary stuff and lots of high glycemic foods, lots of carbs. Anyway, I am fasting today and it is now Thursday here in Ontario, Canada. It remains to be seen how well I do because usually I really want to eat when I get home from work at 3 even if I don't feel hungry. I have this thing in my mind that says, "you haven't eaten for so long you MUST eat now".

@stephd,

I, too, missed your introductory posts. I'm on the East Coast of the US, so it looks like I'm in your time zone, but most of the participants here are in the UK, which is usually 5 hours ahead of us and Australia where they are heading off to work when we are finishing dinner the previous night. That's why you see all those "Fasting today" threads the evening before you are going to fast.

I've also lost more from my waistline than I expected. I have been dieting forever, and was only 9 lbs over my target weight when I started this last February, but I did so well that I continued on another 5 lbs and have recently been able to fit into some clothing I had saved for sentimental reasons that I had never thought I'd be able to wear again.

Re diabetes, are you taking one of the drugs that cause insulin secretion whether or not you have eaten? These would include repaglinide, gliclazide, glipizide, glibenclamide and possibly a few others I've forgotten. If so you should NOT take those drugs on the day you are fasting because they will cause hypos, possibly dangerous ones, when you aren't supplying a stream of carbs for them to work on.

You may not be seeing lows on your meter because you are getting a big burst of adreniline when you first go low, which will raise your blood sugar. However, and this is VERY important. Over time, if you are taking these drugs, or injecting basal insulin (Lantus or Levemir) your body will get used to going low and you will no longer get that burst of adreniline OR the warning that you are going low. At that point, you might end up with dangerously low blood sugars--40 mg/dl (2.2 mmol/L) or lower. This has happened to me in the past (with repaglinide) and it is not anything you want to experience.

If you are using basal insulin you will need to use a lower dose every day, not just on the days you fast, as Lantus takes about 3 days for the dose to adjust.

That is why fasting is not recommended for people with diabetes.

However, if you are only controlling with diet, you should be okay. You may be suffering "false hypos" which is the feeling of hypo people get when they are accustomed to higher than normal blood sugars and then lower their sugars to normal levels. That goes away over time, quickly for some people and very slowly for others.

I just got the best A1c I have had in years after 7 months of fasting which surprised me as I had boosted my carbs on non-fast days. However, I am feeling a need to lay off the carbs on nonfast days, because I don't believe it is the A1c that predicts health as much as the post-meal 1 and 2 hour readings, and mine have been creeping up on non-fast days.

[carieoates]

Hello Steph. Looks like you've got enough info and support to be getting along nicely now.

Hello all, today is my fourth fast day. I tried yesterday but was bored all day and couldn't think of anything but FOOD! today is much better so far. After two days of fasting last week I lost two pounds but after eating "whatever I wanted" I gained it back and then some. I will do my best to keep my calories in check on the non-fast days. I'm a little discouraged on here because this is my fourth post in the last couple of days and I've had no replies . I really need some support as the people in my life think I am crazy for doing this and say I will just make myself "sick". I have type 2 diabetes and that worries them. I know it matters not a bit, though and I won't be so rigid as to not listen to my body if it gets all shaky and ravenous. Well, I think I will go for a short walk before it rains again. Today has been amazingly warm for a fall day. Have to take advantage of it! Thanks for listening.

Don't be put off.
I don't know about the diabetes but portion control in general just makes so much sense.
A free day doesn't mean stuff your self with chocolates a sweets, it means eating as you normally would do; expect to feel usually hungry and just respond accordingly with healthy diet options.
Aim for 75% veggies and 25% protein. Get a bit of exercise too.

Fasting does take a bit of getting use to. I've been doing it for 18 months now. A tight stomach is part of the job!! YOu know you have the satisfaction of knowing your body is biting into it's fat reserves.

Take no notice of those who say you will make your self ill.....other than the Diabetes angle I can't comment on..... going hungry for a few hours didn't hurt anyone.

Hi @Stephd and welcome to the best ever forum! I've been super busy over the last few weeks, elderly parents up north and work, so I'm sorry I have not been on top of welcoming you and other newbies. Are you in Ottawa - east or west? Liz

Hi Liz, I'm actually not in Ottawa but in Southwestern Ontario near London.

Hello peebles, way to go for losing all that weight. How do you feel now with regular fasting? I'm not worried about my diabetes, or hypoglycemia with fasting. I take metformin, 500 mg twice a day and it doesn't cause hypoglycemia according to the diabetes information thread on here and from other reading I've done. I think I should be ok. Sorry to hear you've had such troubles. I'm sure you were terrified when your blood sugars went so low! dangerous for sure. The worst I've ever gotten is a case of the shakes and some irritability. I was a little shaky during Tuesday's fast but it went away within half an hour. I still can't determine if it was because of my blood sugar or my being so darn cold in my apartment lol. Way to go on your A1c! I only have a limited # of strips for my meter that are covered by my health insurance plan so I don't test every day. A box costs $100, too much for me to afford. My doctor says testing every other day is fine because I am doing so well. I don't think I am in terms of the foods I eat but that I can change.

Yup carieoats, lots of responses, almost difficult to keep up lol.

David, eating like a pig describes me to a T. I'm hoping that eating lots of veg on fast days will carry over into eating properly on non fast days. Today, I just ate a sandwich, had some blueberries, a bit of yoghurt with amazing apricot jam and I want to keep on eating. I'm craving sweets! I just made myself a cup of tea so hopefully that will take my mind off candy and chocolate. If I could survive yesterday, my fast day, I should darn well be able to resist sweets and junk food today! It is Halloween today so my son will come home with lots of candy. Will be tough to stay strong then.

Thanks everyone for all of your responses! now I feel special . So much encouragement! I'm so happy to have found FastDay. Enjoy the day!

Metformin will not cause real hypos, so you should be fine, @stephd You may be feeling false hypos if your post meal readings have been running high when not fasting.

Using a few strips to learn how your poist-meal numbers look can be extremely helpful. If you are going over 140 mg/DL (7.7 mmol/l) at 1 hour and definitely if above those numbers at 2, try cutting back on your carbs until you are you under that target. Not only will it greatly improve your health, you'll feel a lot better on fast days. Lower post meal readings will also keep the hunger monster under control. Sugars over that level after meals provoke hunger as they drop.

Great advice peebles. My doc and dietitian both say that being under 10 m/mol two hours after a meal is the target. I always thought that was rather high. As long as I eat properly I am under the 7.7 without a problem.
Thanks.

@stephd,

That 10 mmol/L target is excoriated by everyone in the online diabetes support community who knows anything about diabetes. The health organizations who promote it are heavily funded by the drug companies who sell oral drugs. They like that target because it is easy to reach with oral drugs. But if you maintain blood sugars that high for a decade you will develop all of the classic diabetic complications.

There was a time in the 1980s when those using insulin were using insulin mixes that were hard to control and did not have access to home blood sugar meters. So for their safety they had to maintain high blood sugars to avoid hypos. But those days are long gone and a person using insulin properly, equipped with a meter, has no reason to run high anymore. And people using only oral drugs that don't stimulate uncontrolled insulin release, or those controlling by cutting way back on carbs have ZERO reason to shoot for those damagingly high levels.

This isn't the forum to go into this subject in depth, but please do yourself a favor and google "What is a Normal Blood Sugar?" You can also google, "Research Connecting Organ Damage with Blood Sugar Level" for some eye opening research. I and quite a few of my diabetic friends who have been active in the online diabetes support community have been shooting for under 140 mg/dl for over a decade and we have not developed the classic diabetic complications. Many of us are normal weight, too, because normal sugars eliminate the obsessive hunger that you experience when your sugars go much higher. It's tragic that the drug pushers have so distorted the advice given to people with diabetes.

Hi @stephd - catching up after a few days away (another victim of half-term in UK - I took my younger niece to visit her sister who went away to uni in Scotland (almost 500 miles away)).

Anyway - glad you are settling in here - as you now know - we're a really friendly bunch and we're so glad you didn't give up on us after your initial experience!

Keep at it - it gets a lot easier and don't be afraid to ask questions - someone will be able to help!

Thanks for the info peebles. I've been diabetic now for over a decade and thankfully have no complications. I will do my best to stay under the 7.7 as you recommend. I am struggling on non-fast days, though. I can't get over the mindset that I have to make up for what I couldn't eat when fasting. I'm hoping the longer I fast the easier the non-fast days will be. I'm prepared for my fast tomorrow as I've made some hearty vegetable stew with tofu. I had some today but then kept right on eating other stuff. I don't know why it is so difficult. Just moaning, sorry.
Have a good night. and thanks again for your concern.
and thank you madcatlady for your kind words.

[carieoates]

I think you should change the title of this thread @stephd.
Looks like you've been inundated with so much great info here.
Where to start? This is such a great forum. I love it.

was thinking of the same thing but don't know how. I will try to figure it out