The FastDay Forum

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to say hello, I've been doing 5:2 for three weeks now, and with 6 fasts done I've lost 6lbs!

I can't quite believe it! I've found the diet to be much easier than I thought it would be and after reading Dr Mosely's book I feel like a light has been switched on in my head! I've always been a really awful "hungry person". If I went without breakfast I was miserable, if my stomach started rumbling I could feel myself getting snappy and my mood turning grumpy. I always hated the feeling that food controlled me - I thought that if I got too hungry I would collapse and die or something! So believe me when I say, I never thought I could fast, hunger was my enemy!

I watched the Horizon programme back in August and it really struck a chord, but because I didn't think I could handle being hungry I put it to the back of my mind. When I saw the book on Amazon (good old Kindle daily deal!) I thought, what have I got to lose! Except the obvious of course.

Now, everything has changed! It's an absolute revelation to me. Hunger is now my friend and, guess what, I didn't collapse and die when the pangs hit - who knew?! Hunger really does come in waves and you really can ride them out!

I'm confident that this is a life change that I can stick to and I am so excited to see the weight drop off. I've been raving about the diet to all my friends and have even talked three of them into doing the diet themselves! Although, it didn't take much persuasion, they've all told me I'm looking smaller and wanted to know how!

This is a great forum btw, if, when, if (!) my resolve weakens I'll just get myself back on here for some encouragement and support. Brilliant.

[Moogie]

Hi Donna, welcome to the forums

Sounds like you're doing really well already, that's great. I know exactly what you mean, this really has been a revelation to me and 7 months in it's a part of my normal life and yet still amazes me every Friday when I weigh in. I love it! I've become a total evangelist for 5:2

Be sure to keep us informed as to your progress, it's always great to hear how folks are getting on - and of course if you need a little support and encouragement just drop by and we'll all be here for you!

Donna,

(my apolgies if this is a repeat post - I'm not sure I posted correctly last time.)

Congrats!! I'm so envious! I've been on 5:2 for two weeks (4 fasts) and have not lost an ounce. I wish I knew your secret

I figured that my TDEE is 1885, so I've been keeping my feast days to 1650 calories and 500 per fast day.

It seems like people either have super success or none at all. I just really want this to work. I find the fast days to be pretty easy (not a slam-dunk, but totally do-able).

Any recommendations would be greatly, greatly appreciated!

Carol
(Minnesota, U.S.)

[carorees]

CAD66: If your TDEE is 1885, I'd try actually eating that many cals on feed days just to see. Myself and a few others have noticed a bigger weight loss after weeks when we ate up to TDEE than when we restricted. If that scares you, I'd recommend you try eating up to TDEE on weekends at least. Or increase feed day cals and add another fast day or half fast. I have a theory you see that there needs to be a big difference between fast day and feast day calories so cutting cals on feast days is oddly less effective.

[Moogie]

I agree Caroline, every time I've had a week I felt as if I'd pigged out or not been as healthy as I could have been, I've been sure I would only maintain or worse still gain - but every time I've been amazed to see the scales drop again.

Comparatively on weeks where I've tried to be 'extra good' and eat less, exercise more I've found that I've tended to maintain or lose very little.

Now I just try not to think about it. I listen to my body for the most part but allow myself to have treats pretty often too I satisfy the needs and I find the wants are satisfied more easily than they used to be.

CAD66: If your TDEE is 1885, I'd try actually eating that many cals on feed days just to see. Myself and a few others have noticed a bigger weight loss after weeks when we ate up to TDEE than when we restricted. If that scares you, I'd recommend you try eating up to TDEE on weekends at least. Or increase feed day cals and add another fast day or half fast. I have a theory you see that there needs to be a big difference between fast day and feast day calories so cutting cals on feast days is oddly less effective.

Thanks Caroline,

It sure does make me nervous to eat up to the TDEE, but I will give it a try I've struggled with my weight my entire life and my brain tells me that if I ate my TDEE five days a week, plus my two fast days at 500 x 2, I would average about 1489 a day, per week. Seems hard to believe I'll lose weight on that, since I've always been told I need to eat 1200 or less to lose weight. I realize this is a different WOL, so I must throw out my old thinking. Still makes me nervous though

[Moogie]

CAD66 - how do you split your cals on your fast days? You may find you notice a greater effect if you just have one meal (many of us just have a 500 cal dinner), thereby also having the benefit of a full 24 hour fast from dinner the previous night until your fasting dinner. I can understand you being nervous about eating more on your feed days, and it does sound contrary doesn't it? But it can be surprisingly effective - and I wonder if that 24 hours between the meals (if you're not already doing it) might give you a psychological boost for a while, counteracting the anxiety over the increased intake on feed days! You may feel a bit more like you're balancing things out then.

Moogie - Day one of fast for the week is on Monday, so for example, my last meal is Sunday night at 7 or 8 pm, then I don't eat anything until 12 pm or 1 pm on Monday afternoon (a minimum of 16 hours of no food) which usually is soup at 70 cals, then, I don't eat until dinner at about 6:30 pm, then nothing again until about 10 am on Tuesday, my feast day. How does that sound?

[carorees]

Sounds good to me! As I say I think it's the difference between feast and famine that works especially well with this diet. If you are very nervous about increasing food on feast days, why not try 4:3? That way you can still have a fairly low weekly average but have a good feed between fasts! Although the progress tracker does not show a particularly big difference between 5:2 and 4:3 it could be because we don't have enough members doing 4:3 to get good stats! Or, I think I saw someone doing one fast day in three (2:1 if you will). Lots of different options!

I have a theory you see that there needs to be a big difference between fast day and feast day calories so cutting cals on feast days is oddly less effective.

Now THAT would be an interesting and possibly feasible subject for a forum study!

Hi CAD66,
Although it's easier said than done, try not to even think about calories on your feast days. There's a kind of freedom about not thinking about calorie counting five days a week. Likewise, it then,weirdly, feels nice to focus on the calories on the fast days. It could be that you're too fixated on your calorie intake overall. Just concentrate on the 500 cals for two days and chill out for the rest of the week. Quite hard to do but liberating too! I've read that with a big loss initially, it is very likely to slow down or even plateau- so I suppose then it'll just be a case of shaking it up again. It's all a learning curve for me, an eye opening one for sure! Don't be disheartened, your body will thank you eventually!

Hi there.
I too really struggle to not feel guilty when eating on a feed day. I'm very active, walking 7 miles a day & running 30K a week on top of being a mum of 3 so my brain tells me that eating fairly normally on a feed day is perfectly acceptable but I've been on a self imposed MyFitPal diet for the past 10 weeks-keeping to 1200 cals, so, having now done 2 1/2 weeks (5 fasts) in this WOE, I've upped that on feed days to 1500cals. I read with great interest carorees' comments on eating enough on feed days to create a noticeable difference between fast & feast and that making a difference to weight loss but its really hard to relax the calorie restriction!!!!

Hi there.
I too really struggle to not feel guilty when eating on a feed day. I'm very active, walking 7 miles a day & running 30K a week on top of being a mum of 3 so my brain tells me that eating fairly normally on a feed day is perfectly acceptable but I've been on a self imposed MyFitPal diet for the past 10 weeks-keeping to 1200 cals, so, having now done 2 1/2 weeks (5 fasts) in this WOE, I've upped that on feed days to 1500cals. I read with great interest carorees' comments on eating enough on feed days to create a noticeable difference between fast & feast and that making a difference to weight loss but its really hard to relax the calorie restriction!!!!

Hi Sarah, I feel the same way as you do with worrying about eating around the TDEE point, I have started baking more so there is cake around on my feed days, I tend to have my highest amount of calories on the weekend so I would say to just eat cake mmm yum yum x