The FastDay Forum

Hello! I go by 'Shanti' online, not my real name. I'm a married mom of four kids, ages 18, 16, 12 and 10. I had never heard of 5:2 fasting until I got my first smartphone last Saturday, March 2nd and was introduced to the MyFitnessPal app by a friend of my hubby's. I am a nurse, and have really enjoyed just working on over-all better eating patterns and journaling with MFP. Two days ago I heard of 5:2 fasting and started reading information about it. Now I've watched the Horizon video and I'm curious and intrigued about the 5:2 fasting lifestyle. The medical research really spoke to me and what I know already.

I hope to lurk and read and learn from your experiences here. I am certain this is a lifestyle I could do and work with - my life is busy enough that the idea of having days where I don't have to eat much would actually save me a lot of headache and time!

I have some pertinent questions at the get-go, though. I do not own the book yet, but found the FAQ answered a lot of my questions.

1. In addition to general health improvement, I do need to lose weight and want to build strength/endurance. Do you feel weak/tired on your 'fast' days? Would it be wiser not to exercise heavily on those days?

2. My husband and I donate plasma twice a week. This is an 'extra money' thing as we work on getting our financial health back in order as well as our physical health. It's not *necessary* to our budget and our lives, but it is helping us pay off some old debt more rapidly and such. One of the requirements of this process is to keep our blood protein levels high enough. They check this protein at every donation and we have both sometimes been turned down due to low levels, so that we focus quite highly on good quality and adequate amounts of protein in our diet every day. I see on that video that protein can be a negative thing to the aging hormones! We're not ready to give up this income source just yet. My thought is that we would make sure not to do our fasting days on our donation days. I wonder if anyone has thoughts or suggestions here?

3. Vitamin supplements, yes or no? Particularly, I wonder if anyone uses any sort of herbal supplement for appetite suppression to make the fasting days easier?

I am glad to learn more and appreciate any information you wish to provide.

1. Probably a personal thing, see how it goes - don't set off on a fast day with the same aspirations as a feed day. Of course if you exercise in the morning before eating it won't be much different.

2. Pass. I haven't seen anything in the literature about plasma protein levels on alternate day calorie reduction trials however http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/46/4/557.full.pdf may help "The increases in branched-chain amino acid levels and decreases in other amino acids during short-term fasting have been reported previously (12, 36). The increase in
branched-chain amino acid levels is consistent with the increased proteolysis."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 24/?page=4 suggests some early increases during fasting.

3. Not read many if any people on here using supplements.

Yesterday was a fast day for me and I had nothing from 7pm Sunday to 7pm Monday. During the day I
Made flapjacks
Cleaned out pantry
Cleaned out chickens and ducks
Shoveled and spread a ton of gravel
All with only black coffee and water and one mug of oxo!

Yesterday was a fast day for me and I had nothing from 7pm Sunday to 7pm Monday. During the day I
Made flapjacks
Cleaned out pantry
Cleaned out chickens and ducks
Shoveled and spread a ton of gravel
All with only black coffee and water and one mug of oxo!

And you're still here! (Wonder Woman) ...just goes to show, doesn't it.

[carorees]

Yes, exercising when fasting is no problem.
I've not come across anyone taking appetite suppressants. I also don't think that vitamin supplements are necessary as we are eating normally almost all the time. In fact, I probably eat more healthily on a fast day than on a feed day as I have so many vegetables!

And I have muscles to prove it!

Hello there,

Just another opinion:

1. I haven't found any problem with exercising on a fast day. I tend to exercise first thing, before eating, anyway - so it doesn't make any difference to my exercise session. And (to my surprise, I'll admit!) I haven't found I get really hungry or tired later in the day due to the morning exercise. I have a <250kcal carton of soup around lunchtime and again in the evening; tonnes of water and black coffee & tea all day. It's fine.

2. I'd be surprised if the protein levels in your plasma would change 'overnight' (or same-day) so to speak. I would think this is something that averages out over the course of several days and as long as you're *generally* getting sufficient protein in your diet, the two fast days a week shouldn't make much difference. But if they test for it before taking your donation anyway, you'll have an opportunity to find out (which will be very interesting, if you come back and tell us?!) If concerned and/or if they test and find your levels have dropped too low, then you could simply tweak your dietary protein intake on fasting and/or feeding days so the %age of protein is higher.

3. I never both with vitamin supplements personally (if your diet is varied and overall basically healthy, you shouldnt need them IMHO) and have found no need of appetite suppressants. It's probably mostly psychological but I find there's something about defining a day as an official 'Fast Day' that makes it pretty easy to abstain. Much easier than saying 'I'm on a diet' and attempting to cut down calories and/or cut out certain foods for the foreseeable future, which is sure to send me howling towards the discuit barrel in short order...