The FastDay Forum

Hi everyone
I have been trying the 5.2 diet for 1 month, I only want to lose half a stone but I was keen to try it for the other health benefits. I have lost 4lbs so far but I had a fasting cholesterol check on Thursday and was shocked to find my cholesterol level has actually gone up since my last check which was non fasting about 2 months ago! Has anyone else had this happen?

[Tracieknits]

Welcome

There are so many variables in this equation! What are you eating and how is this different from two months ago? Are you exercising and has this changed in the past two months? are you taking any new medications/vitamins and did this change?

Hi, No nothing has changed and I don't take any meds, I was expecting my cholesterol to be about 5 or just under and it was 7!!!!

[carorees]

Hi Ambergold

During a fast your cholesterol levels go up as the fat is released from stores and circulates round your body to be used for energy as you are not eating. Once you get used to fasting, your body switches into fat burning very easily so you will likely have higher cholesterol levels after an overnight fast that someone who never fasts. My tip for getting cholesterol readings that are comparable with a non-faster is to make sure you have your bloods taken after a feed day and not to have more than say 8-12 hours since your last meal before the bloods is taken.

In summary, I would not worry about a single high reading, and next time follow my tips for getting a meaningful test.

Thankyou for your reply, I have worked out I would have fasted for 15 hours before the blood test so maybe that was it! I hope so, will have another blood test in a few months see what happens!

Other than that I am really enjoying 5:2 I never thought I would manage so easily without food all day but have found fasting all day and having my meal at 5pm suits me fine!

[carorees]

I think that the whole fasting cholesterol level targets will have to be refined in the light of ever increase in people doing fasting as a WOL.

I spotted an article the other day saying that fasting or not fasting before cholesterol measurements makes no difference to the findings (in the average patient that is). To me that says that people eating a "normal" diet never really burn any fat, so that their morning readings are the same as after breakfast. For us though, fasting makes a huge difference. So I wonder if we need to fast at all before the test! I'll try to find the paper.

I think they like it to be a fasting test so it shows the full lipid profile, mine was LDL (bad fat) 4.8 which is too high!

[carorees]

No, there's no need to fast before cholesterol testing. See this: http://www.bhf.org.uk/media/news-from-t ... tests.aspx

After analysing data on over 300,000 people, researchers at the University of Cambridge concluded that tests can be made simpler and more convenient without making predictions less accurate.

However, if they want to do fasting blood glucose then, yes, a fast is necessary.

But it still holds that high cholesterol after a fast may be misleading for people who are used to fasting as it only indicates that fat is being mobilised and insulin is low.

The total:HDL cholesterol is the most important for determining cardiovascular risk.

HDL was 2.7 so perhaps not as bad as I thought! Thank you