The FastDay Forum

Please tell me the fasts become easier! Have had a miserable day - managed to do it but only just .... this is my 4th fast and it seems to be getting harder not easier. I try to fast until my evening meal. Feel proud I have managed to do it but going to bed very hungry indeed. I am not weighing myself until I have done a month (as I lose weight very slowly if at all and don't want to get despondant) so I don't have weight loss as an incentive (yet). Wondering whether I should try and do 2 x smaller meals in the day? Any advice or support gratefully received.

It does get a lot easier - focus on keeping at it for a month and you'll find it will be a cinch by then. Combined with a weight loss, you'll be glad you stuck it out through the first few tough weeks!

But if you are really hungry, do the smaller meals rather than give up. You can always re-adjust the intervals once you get more used to the system.

Hi Beckle,
Well done for today. I am hungry too but it has all got a lot easier. I had a migraine (first one for many years) after my first two fasts and then felt like I had ME for 3 days! Turns out my body was being a complete drama queen as I now don't need buckets of water, headache tablets, and feel pretty alert with a normal amount of energy. I think it is a shock as most people's bodies are not used to going hungry even for a short time, but most people are perfectly able to do it. Don't give up yet, see how it goes if you feel really terrible ever, you could always eat and fast another day don't feel like it's a horrible ordeal!

hi, i have two meals a day, normally a weight watchers or homemade soup, or tescos do a chicken spicy noodle salad that comes in under 200kcals (yum), then in the evening i have zero noodles and a stirfry. very filling. i never go to bed hungry and normally have enough cals left for an options hot choc. i made a few massive mistakes to begin with but has got loads easier now. stick with it, this forum is so helpful keep reading

Some fasts are harder than others but please don't starve yourself! If eating smaller meals makes you feel better then why not?

Sorry you're finding your fast days so tough, it does get easier. Have you tried having a bouillon drink in the afternoon & I always save 40 calories for a low cal hot chocolate before bed.

If you are still really hungry maybe increase your calories slightly until you get used to fasting, adjust your intake on non fast days to compensate so it doesn't sabotage weight loss.

Hi,

When I started I did 2 meals a day as I found it easier. Usually 180-200 for lunch around 2. Soup usually or omlette and then another 300 or so as late as I could manage. After a couple of months it started to become easier so I have switched to all my calories to the evening as late as I can manage. I also try and save enough for a banana or something just before I go to bed when I can. (Not today sadly:()

Hi Becky. I've not yet started the 5:2 diet as I await the arrival of my books from Amazon. However I've been exploring this site and am especially impressed by how the others have responded so positively to you. So much so I now keenly await delivery of said books - and, of course, receiving similar support from others if/when I too struggle with the fasting days. I wish you well and will watch your progress with interest and encouragement.

I have 2 meals - a breakfast & evening meal. Nearly 3 months in I find it varies. I am very hungry tonight (active day), hence why I'm on here, keeps me focused. But when you do weigh yourself & see the weight loss it will make it easier/more bearable. I find if I'm hungry I will lose the weight. I plateaued in the middle but I didn't feel hungry on my fast days then.

I found the first few weeks if fasting difficult, went to bed with rumbling tummy and often had headaches too. I found it did get easier and now I feel no different on a fast day to a non fast day apart from more cleaning gets done on a fast day as I replace meals with being productive! I began 5:2 with a light lunch (soup and occasionally those very thin puff crackers that taste of nothing) and then dinner, after a few weeks I dropped the lunch as it was no longer a problem to not eat even though I had a soup in ready! I now have an emergency weight watchers noodle soup in the cupboard at home and at work, but have not needed it since around week 4 so maybe ease yourself into the regime and give your body a bit more time? I also should add part of my ditching the lunch was I preferred a larger dinner to satisfy me and then read the hot choc before bed idea on this forum and now always save 40 cals for that before bed which is divine and I often end up sniffing the cup (that sounds a little bonkers), but it really completed my fast for me and I don't go to bed with cravings or a rumbly tummy any more! Everyone is different though so find what suits you and you may find time naturally adjust what you do. Most importantly, persevere! It will get easier!

Thanks you guys - will carry on, (but that is easy to say on a feed day!) I will experiment with 2 smaller meals as suggested and also shall save the 4o cals for the hot chocolate option before bed - anything that includes choc is a winner for me! @Ginge - I too am very impressed and touched by the support and advice I have received here - it does give you an incentive and the will to continue.... will let you know how I am doing. Cheers.

What lovely supportive replies to Beckie's plea! I'm borrowing them for me today because I'm just starting my sixth fast and feeling a bit negative. I should have fasted yesterday, but we had elderly relatives here, one of which has lost three stone after a cancer removal in January, so needed to try to encourage them to eat plenty- leading by example! Trouble is I had a glass and a half of white wine and have woken with a headache before I even start the day! Grr!

I hope you're day has gone better!

Well just an update really - 5th fast today - planned for a small lunch and eve meal this time and it was so much easier!! Might have had something to do with being busy too today but whatever it was, it worked...only downside was that due to this I couldn't try and factor the hot choc in at the end of the day - maybe once more used to it and able to fast through to eve meal .... Thanks again for all the advice and support on this post - it seemed to work for today - hope I can keep the positive mindset for Thursday's fast! Cheers. x

during my first few fasts, back in the dark and dismal days of February, i nibbled a lot. strawberries were particularly helpful here. Waitrose ones really are better (i taste tested strawberries from every supermarket i could find). pears are joyously low in calories. found that with most Covent Garden soups, you can have half a carton for less than 150 cals, so do that as yr veg + 100g of some sort of protein (2 hard boiled eggs? salmon? chicken?) you've got a filling meal for about 300 cals. the fasts do indeed get easier, i am just completing my first 24 hour complete fast with just water and rosehip tea & this is month 3. the weight loss will happen.