The FastDay Forum

I just finished my 4th week on the plan. I've lost a total of 6 lbs, and 1 inch off my waist, my hips and my bust.

I lost weight the first 2 weeks, gained the 3rd and lost again the 4th week. Have to wait and see what the 5th will bring. I think it's a plan that will work, just may take longer for those of us with Thyroid problems.

I would suggest those who are taking meds for your Thyroid, be sure and get your Vit D levels checked. Mine were tanked, and once those came up, my Dr lowered my Synthroid since my body was using it better. Granted, I felt 100% better when my TSH was a 0, but my dr about had a heart attack! He would not let me keep it there.

I've been on the 5:2 diet since January, and am now maintaining on 6:1. I started at 68kg and am now 56kg. I have had an underactive thyroid for the last 3 years and was taking 150mg levothyroxine a day. This allowed me to function, but kept me in the low range of normal - I'm bipolar and being in the upper range isn't recommended.

As an experiment I stopped taking the levothyroxine when I started 5:2. I had blood tests taken this week which were to investigate the possibility of the start of the menopause: I had all the classic symptoms: erratic periods, anxiety, increased heart-rate, change in core temperature, etc, etc... what the blood tests showed was that I now have a slightly overactive thyroid.

(And my reproductive hormone levels are normal.)

I have hypothyroidism and take 100 mcg of thyroxine atm. My dosage does go up and down from blood test to blood test and has for 10 years. I have lost 8lbs in the six weeks I've been on this WOE and I'm very pleased with that. I always take my thyroxine on an empty stomach.

[Betsysgr8]

Looking around, I found a couple of papers that might be relevant:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3959900

http://www.lifeextensionvitamins.com/thde.html

This is a general look at the thyroid, so I've extracted the relevant paragraph:

"Thyroid Deficiency in Obesity and Diabetes

The enzyme that converts T4 to T3 is called 5-monodeiodinase. Unfortunately, this enzyme is inhibited in response to diminished caloric intake (dieting). That means that the fewer calories ingested, the lower the production of 5-monodeiodinase. This is the body's natural method of conserving fuel during shortage. Because "dieting" is not a natural state, it elicits the same physical reaction as famine--another reason why "eating less" will never effectively treat obesity. Deficient peripheral conversion of T4 to T3 is found almost universally in patients who become overweight."

I was treated for Grave's disease nearly 20 years ago with radioactive uptake and am now, of course, hyperthyroid. Just had my appt with my endocrinologist Tuesday last. I saw her 6 months ago and I tested a bit low and we were on the verge of raising my levothyroxine from 171 mcg daily average to 175 mcg daily but as I was feeling pretty good on that level and didn't want to risk having the heart palpitations again, we didn't make any dosage changes. Since then, I've been experiencing all the classic symptoms of hypothyroid for last 5 months and was completely shocked when my TSH levels were nearly zero and that my T4 was hyper! I don't feel hyper at all! So I'll try 160.7 mcg daily and test again in 2 months. But this time the test will include free T3. I asked her if fasting a couple times a week could affect the changes and she didn't think so but seeing this information posted by breadandwine, I'm wondering if fasting had an effect on my blood tests? I did test 2 days after a fast and had eaten breakfast and lunch the day of the blood draw. It was during that week I had a fantastic weight loss and have since crept back up.

I've been taking .25 mcg of thyroxine for a good many years--my doctor checks my thyroid in the annual blood work. Sounds like a lot of people are not aware or careful about taking the med on an empty stomach and then waiting 30 min before eating (an ideal time to pop that aerobic video into the machine and get that over with even before breakfast [easy for us retirees to say, I know])

I'm on the second fast day of the 5th week and am satisfied with my progress, but still having trouble with feeling too full on feast days--have to get my habits and my actual appetite in sync.

My daughter didn't realize you had to take thyroxine on an empty stomach.
She now keeps it in the bathroom and takes it when she goes for her first visit to the loo in the morning.
She said she feels it works better taking as recommended on an empty stomach, and 1/2 hour before eating.
The thyroxine I take gives you this information on the leaflet.

Hi Ladies and Gents,

I got diagnosed with Hashimoto's over 15 years ago and take 75mcg Thyroxine daily. I have managed to keep up a healthyish BMI for all that time by following Patrick Holford's Low GL WOE and eating miniscule amounts of 'treat' foods at w/e.

The 5:2 sounded great to me so I started 3 weeks ago at 10st 5 (I am 5ft 4")and I have lost precisely, wait for it.... NO WEIGHT AT ALL and a negligeable 1/2 inch round the waist (but that could just be me holding my tummy in in vain hope of a measureable result)! I did have a dip of 2-3lbs the first week but since then it's been creeping back up steadily despite eating the recommended 450-500 on Fast Days and around 1500-1600 on Feast Days. In fact this morning I weighed myself AFTER yesterday's Fast Day and I'd put on another 1lb and arrived back at 10st 5. What's going on!?

I am probably 'sedentary' to 'light' in terms of exercise but I do have 2 kids under 10 so there's a lot of running round after them.

I am seriously depressed today. Anyone out there got some helpful thoughts on what I might be doing wrong?

I am hypothyroid and was in my 22nd week of intermittent fasting. My last labs were performed right before I began fasting....when I was tested last week (due to some troubling symptoms that had been developing) we found that my levels had risen TSH and T3 and T4 meaning that I wasn't getting enough thyroid meds. Unfortunately, this must have been going on for a bit because I actually triggered an adrenal crash..complete with adrenaline surges, high b.p., rapid heart rate, profuse sweating, waking at night with the whole bed shaking (of course it was really me having full body tremors) I lost no weight and have insulted my adrenals. The only positive change I can point to was a decrease in my RA inflammatory levels (which is why I undertook this in the first place). It dropped 200 points in the 22 weeks. I also feel I have a healthier understanding of when I am really hungry and when I am simply eating habitually (no small thing) I'm currently on supplements to deal with the adrenal/cortisol freak out... and will be starting new thyroid dosage on Monday. Until things settle down for me, I have been advised by my Naturopathic Dr. to cease and desist with IFing.

[Betsysgr8]

Welcome to the forum SunnyArizona! How tragic to have such a reation! I have a non-functioning thyroid due to radioactive iodine treatment for Graves disease. I have found over the last 20 years that it is imperiative to go for a test ANY time symptoms of hypo or hyperthyroid appear. I found that with weight change of plus or minus 10-15 pounds merited a change in medication. It's important to keep in touch with your endocrynoligist or doctor when on any type of medication as weight change may affect the effectiviness of dosage. @Carorees may be more able to respond to the actual response you had to fasting. For now, my doctor (and many others) is very supportive with my method of weight reduction.

Thanks Betsysgr8- Fortunately it was handled before it became "tragic". The thing is...I didn't have any weight loss so the reaction I had wasn't about the weight/dosage ratio. The metabolic stress was, apparently, enough to mess things up. I wasn't concerned about not losing weight as my goal with IFing was about lowering inflammation levels to manage my RA better....which it actually did do by about 200 points. So now I'm taking a wait and see about continuing IFing once all things hormonal (adrenal/thyroid)are balanced again.

Hi,

Since being diagnosed Hypo 11 years ago at 26 I have put on 4 stone which wasn't helped by giving up smoking and piling on the weight. I have tried Atkins, WeightWatchers, Exercise and all our very slow at least 3-6 months to get anywhere. Whereas with 5:2 I had very quick results with 7lbs in 3 weeks before my holiday. I'm now back on it and hoping for consistent results again and it will be interesting to see if this continues long term.

It is a must to use a calorie counting tool like myfitnesspal (which is free) especially on fast days. Every gram and colorie really does add up and it's amazing how quickly you get to 500. I have 28g porridge with 200ml skimmed milk, tuna salad, quorn stirfry on fast days and drink plenty of water and peppermint tea to see me through.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else feels fatigued when doing this over a period of time. My concentration seemed to dip and I just wanted to sleep all the time.

I went to a BTF talk and the Endocrinologist said not to take supplements especially iron with your tablets and leave an hour before eating. I know alcohol, coffee and sugar are especially bad and I have cut out or moderated these in my diet along with processed foods, fizzy drinks (for aspartame and sugar). I find exercise has been the only thing that makes me feel energised.

[carorees]

Hi @SunnyArizona and @GeordieKat!

I have looked at the way that fasting affects thyroid function in the 5:2 lab section. A key paper is this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6403568

This study in fasting, mildly obese females suggests that: 1) The transient suppression of serum TSH during early fasting is not TRH mediated. 2) Fasting does not alter plasma TRH levels. 3) A temporal sequence of changes in serum thyroid hormone indices occurs in fasting, this being an initial rise in FT4 (10 h) followed by a fall in both serum TT3/TT4 (12-14 h) and TSH (30-36 h) and finally by a rise in TrT3/TT4 levels (48 h). This sequence of events suggests that the initial inhibition of serum TSH levels in early fasting results from the acute elevation in FT4 levels, and that the reestablishment of normal serum TSH levels with continued fasting is associated with declining serum TT3 levels.

I think that this suggests people with thyroid issues should not fast for too long at any one time, perhaps no more than 12-14 hours without food? I wonder if for you, SunnyArizona, three fasting days a week but with a higher calorie allowance and no more than 12 hours without food might be safer?

@carorees - Thank you for the additional information. I think a big first clue for me, as a hypothyroid person, should have been the failure to lose any weight. Despite scrupulous adherence to the plan for 22 weeks. Honestly I should have realized that the only way a sharp decrease of calories, while maintaining my normal activity level, could fail to realize some kind of weight loss is if my metabolism slowed even further. Even with the way this has gone I am totally glad that I did it as it created a very different relationship with food and hunger. Something I needed to "reset" and something I needed to have greater consciousness about. I hope that hypothyroid folks who are really following the fast protocol to the letter but not losing weight will be sure to have their levels checked...sooner rather than later.

I was diagnosed April 20111..but still trying to figure out what works for me. Currently I am on 25 mg of Levo and 30 mg of Armouor..

I take my pills every morning at 4 am..and go back to bed..so no issue about waiting to eat for me.. I have been able to lose 30 pounds by doing this..I am scheduled to go back to get bloodwork done..hopefully this time they have figured out what my right dose should be..

Well I've adopted the 5:2 way of life at the end of February 2013 and have lost 28lbs in those 7 months.In 1992 I had my thyroid removed and had radioactive iodine treatment for thyroid cancer. I've never had another cancer problem and I've been taking 150 mg of oroxine until 3 months ago. After 3 months on 5:2 my cholesterol had gone from 6 to 4, my liver function increased by 100% and now is in the normal range and as my TSH was too low the doctor reduced my oroxine to 125mg. Interesting hey? One suggestion offered me as 5:2 is helping us heal our bodies it's helping us metabolize thyroxine more effectively. I wonder???