The FastDay Forum

Hi

I am new to the forum and on my first fast day. I have tried so many other diets but not much weight shifts and what does shift goes back on. This is my first time on 5:2 and am hoping it will work for me. However to be honest I am pretty hungry by now ( mid afternoon) despite having a few berries for brekkie and cup of tomato soup(111 cals) and small apple for lunch. Does the type of food you chose affect your hunger pangs ? For instance is it better to use the calories to eat protein mainly?

thanks

Barb

[Tracieknits]

Welcome barb/@bmoles!!

Yes, absolutely your food choices and timing affect hunger.

Most of us actually just don't eat until dinner. We find breakfast is really easy to skip (I have two espressos with 1/2 tablespoon cream in each, then I'm on to black tea). I find that I might get a "oh, I am a bit hungry" but that goes away after 10 minutes and a glass of water or cup of tea. It tends to be in little waves, not a constant gnawing. Some eat lunch, but many don't, as we generally find that eating makes hunger harder to manage. When I'm doing proper fast days, I usually have a cup or two of warm broth/bouillon in the afternoon, when I need to manage my hunger. So admittedly, by 6pm/1800 I'm bordering on hangry, but it's managable.

Now as to food choices: carbs make me hungry. You ate pretty much just carbs, which would cause an insulin reaction. As the insulin pushes blood sugar into the fat cells, it tells you "oops, might be a wee more insulin in the blood then you want, best eat again". It's a rather vicious cycle. Most people find fat and protein to be more satisfying and to last longer. When I do eat lunch on a fast day, an ideal one for me is a single hard boiled egg, chopped into an egg salad with a dollop of mayonnaise and some seasonings (I use a lovely lemon pepper blend). I pile that onto a lettuce leaf and eat it like a wrap. If you use a lower fat mayo, it's about 100 calories. add a couple of dill/sour pickles or cornichons for 5 calories and I'm happy until dinner. You could swap out the egg for a bit of deli turkey or ham, or maybe some tuna.

Welcome from a fellow Aussie, Barb, @Bmoles

On fast days you do have to accept that hunger is likely to be an issue. We can't expect to eat much less than we usually do and not feel hungry. Sometimes you don't feel much hunger, and that is wonderful, but generally you will. As Tracie says, often that intense hunger feeling will pass quite quickly.

I find that keeping busy is the best way to deal with it - as well as lots of non sweetened drinks of course. If you are working, then you should be busy during the day (!), but it you are at home, get out and about, do chores, do anything active not sedentary (though I find singing practice good, you can't eat and sing!!! ).

Good advice from Tracie re not snacking on carbs. Agree that a boiled egg or tinned tuna/salmon is a good food to have and her suggested wrap sounds lovely - though in Aust most low cal mayonaise tends to have a lot of sugar, so perhaps better to avoid the mayo or have a small amount of a "good" mayo. I find a couple of Brazil nuts can help dull the pangs - nibble them slowly! A few berries won't harm if you really want something a little sweet - I do snack on blueberries and find that just a few can help. And you could have lots of lettuce, some cucumber and other low cal salad veg with your protein source if that helps. (I used to have that mix for lunch on a fast day, after a brekkie of yoghurt and berries, and then medium amount of fish or chicken and veg for dinner, and that worked well for me for a long time).

Whereabouts in Australia are you? Please do keep posting - we are here for support and there is lots of useful info in the website, so do read widely.

Good luck and best wishes

Thanks Tracie & Sassy for your replies and helpful suggestions. I of course made it through the first fast day despite the hunger and plan a second on Thursday. I think your advice about protein is good and will do that next day as I know protein sustains you longer.

I am retired and around home a fair bit so no work to preoccupy me but plenty of things to do always. I live in a beautiful spot in Caloundra Queensland right on the water so I can walk or swim. However I have a lot of osteoarthritis which limits me a fair bit but also is the main motivation for weight loss. I come from a family of big women and have struggled with my weight for 30 years. The only time I have dropped a significant amount of weight I was on 900 to 1000 calories of mainly meal replacements every day for 9 months which was very tough. However once I put any carbs back in my diet on the weight came again. I have also done WW and dieting under a dietician plenty of times before. I am 64 this year and this is my last big effort to drop some weight . I have read a lot about fasting and am hopeful it might work. I am very tired of the constant battle in my mind about my weight. I really wish I could think about it less. Is it the same for you?

thanks again

Barb

Just saying hi. I am another aussie newbie. Nothing of use to add other then support.
I am reading the Fast Diet book at the moment which is helping though. Giving the good background info behind it all I am finding helps.

Hi again Barb, @Bmoles

Health issues are a real pain when it comes to having to manage your weight, aren't they?! And genetics play a big part too (both with the health issues and the weight situation). If you are from a family of larger women, it may be that you are really battling the genetics. As much as we "all" want to be slim(mer), being as healthy as we can is maybe the goal to aim for.

Of course, weighing less should help relieve some of the pain from arthritis, as will exercising to make the supporting muscles as strong as possible. Swimming should be good for that! You certainly do live in a beautiful spot. Our caravan was built in Caloundra (AOR - Australian Off Road) so we have visited a few times as my hubby likes to get the van serviced by the manufacturers when we can. When we had to leave it with them overnight, we treated ourselves to a night at The Oaks Oasis at Golden Beach.. (Much as I love the caravanning lifestyle, it was nice to stay in a motel room for a change!!)

I am a bit younger than you (59) and was very fortunate to be able retire at 54. I have almost always been borderline overweight (BMI probably ranging from 24-26) but once I stopped work the weight started to pile on (more eating, less exercising). It just happened that at the same time I realised how much weight I had put on (when I was measured for a costume) that I saw an article about 5:2 and thought "I can do that". I have not spent a lifetime dieting, so I think that helped with the success I had with 5:2. I liked the idea of not having to exclude any foods from my diet, and only reduce my intake on two days a week. I lost weight easily but then found I had to keep fasting 2 days a week to maintain - which I didn't think was ideal, as it meant I was eating more than I needed on non-fast days. I think once the initial success and joy of weight loss had kept me on the "straight and narrow", after a while I started resuming/ increasing the bad habit of overeating in the evening, and probably eating a bit more during the day.

Since discovering this forum, I have done a lot of reading about diets and nutrition, and have been reinforced in my belief that the most important thing is to eat a varied diet that is as nutritious as possible according to hunger (most of the time!). Much easier to say than to do though, but I thoroughly recommend the Amanda Sainsbury-Salis books about the Don't go hungry diet (I borrowed them electronically through the local library). I do still think that fasting does have benefits, however, and can be a way to help lose weight.

Carbs are a bit of a contentious issue on this forum!! There are a variety of views about the benefits or otherwise of these!! I agree that for many people, minimising carbs does help with weight loss - if you can keep it up more or less forever. But I also believe that some carbs can play an important part in a varied and balanced diet - depending on any health conditions / food intolerances or allergies you may have, of course. I guess we each form our own views based on our own research, advice from health professionals and knowing our own bodies and minds,

The other important issue I believe is understanding the eating behaviours that are contributing to you weighing more than you would like (as well as the genetics and health issues that can contribute). Are there behaviours you are prepared to change and how do you change them? Simple things like cutting out all sweetened drinks can make a difference - I recall one health expert (I think it was on one of those excellent programs about the men who made us fat /thin) saying that if we got rid of all carbonated drinks the obesity "epidemic" would be significantly reduced.

I have kept off quite a bit of the weight I lost but I do still think about weight management far too much. I understand totally about wanting to think less about it...

I hope some of this is useful!!

Very best wishes.

Hi Again Sassy

Thanks for your thoughtful comments and sharing your thoughts and experiences. I agree generally that one shouldn't cut out any food group ideally. On a day to day basis I think I eat a healthy diet. I rarely drink carbonated drinks and we hardly ever have take -aways or buy processed foods. Mostly we eat friut/veges and protein which we make ourselves. I do know that I probably need to have smaller portions of protein and that I really like bread and potatoes so I have to try to only eat them in small amounts. I do get hungrier as the day goes on which comes from years of not eating much breakfast or lunch then coming home from work late afternoon and being very hungry and eating too much at night. That said my partner eats more than me and lots of sweets treats and has no significant weight problem . ( dam!) Anyway I will see how I go on the fasting . I see you lost 17 kgs at some stage which is great.

It is fine warm and sunny here today and the water looks beautiful. Yes I wish one day would go past without me worrying or overthinking my weight problem. Hopefully this forum may help.

Cheers Barb

Hi again Barb

My eating habits when I was working sound very similar to yours. Portion size is an issue for me too... (And my hubby sounds like your partner. He has a very high carb diet and is far from overweight, though is not as slim as he once was. )

How much fruit do you eat - I was having far too much, I do think the guidelines of 2 serves a day is probably right. I even found I have been eating too many vegetables... Replacing these with healthy fats (eg nuts and seeds, but you do need to watch the quantities) does seem to be way to go. And fat can help you feel full (if not combined with sugar!!!).

I love bread too, but generally only have it occasionally (except on caravanning holidays). I have reduced the amount of potato - particularly sweet potato which I really love (especially the purple skinned one that is white inside).

I lost 18kg in about 8 months 4 years ago, and kept it off for about 18 months, then started to put on weight (probably when I stopped fasting regularly) and think I have put back on about 5kg. I don't weigh myself anymore, for various reasons.

Hopefully the forum will give you the sort of support you would like!