The FastDay Forum

Hello everybody!

As probably many of you did, I found my way to the Fast Diet via the BBC/Horizon documentary. I watched it last Friday, bought the book, and read it during the weekend. And then, yesterday, I completed my first fasting day!

I am a Norwegian closing on 40, and have been changing my ways the last three years going from 112 to 91 kg, loosing 21 kg and 20 cm around the waist. I started exercising using the "less calories more exercise"-method. It has been a functional but slow process, but I feel that I now master the art of keeping my weight stable. My challenge now is to reach my goal weight of 86 kg, something I am struggling with at the moment. I hope 5:2 will give me a boost here towards my goal, but I am also very curious about the other short and long term benefits.

My first fast day went OK. I did not experience any of the side effects I feared : headaches, nausea or lack of energy. Probably being the first day in my entire adult life consuming so few calories, a little rumbling and discomfort in the stomach came as expected. The most discomforting was the freezing, especially in the legs/feet, which increased from 16:00 and the rest of the day. Trying to keep a cool head about it, I will keep trying this out for a few weeks, then maybe some of the uncomfortable things subside or goes away.

At the start of the day today I felt a bit on the downside after a normal breakfast, surprised that I was not feeling hungry waking up, but around 10:00 my energy picked up and now I feel perfectly fine.

Good luck to all of you newbies out there also trying this out for the first time!

Gnoory

[janeg]

Hello Gnoory and welcome to the forum and the 5:2 WOL
You have done really well so far losing the weight and taking up exercise. Shows commitment that does!
No reason why 5:2 shouldn't keep you going and as you've managed your first fast you're well on your way.
Lots of us get cold on a fast day. I'm in the middle east- it's 19C today and I have a long sleeved tee shirt, cashmere card and a hoodie fleece on. I'm not cold yet but expect to feel much chillier this evening!
Do let us know how you get on

Hi @Gnoory And Welcome glad your first fast went OK for you I only eat evening meal because I actually become more hungry quicker + longer and I've not had the cold or any other side effects which is good for me as I've a very long way to go indeed but utterly thrilled with my results.

Lots of us get cold on a fast day. I'm in the middle east- it's 19C today and I have a long sleeved tee shirt, cashmere card and a hoodie fleece on. I'm not cold yet but expect to feel much chillier this evening!

Thanks for your support, Janeg

I lit up the fireplace, it must have been 27C where I sat, but it helped just a little. A lot like a feverish-like freezing I felt, like nothing really helps that much to comfort it. Maybe a hot bath would help? Anyway, I would gladly swap with you - here the temperature is dropping below zero and we are going into the cold season

:clover: Hi @Gnoory And Welcome glad your first fast went OK for you […] I've not had the cold or any other side effects which is good for me as I've a very long way to go indeed but utterly thrilled with my results.

Thanks, Sue! I see you have some very impressive results. Looking at your graph you have had a very predictable and steady pace each week for a long time. That's a sign of good quality both in your work and effort, and the effectiveness of the diet. Keep up the good work

The forum is a nice place to be. Many new starters around, especially some new guys. As you might have noticed, we even have a 'men only' section that is pretty old, but recently got some renewed attention:
progress-f4/topic3903-150.html
Enjoy your journey and view the progress charts of the members to get inspired!

Gnoory, do stick with it. All the side effects go away after a few weeks.

The weight loss and health benefits are really worth it.

So..... Go for it and good luck with your 5:2 journey.

Lesley

Today has been a bit different than I expected. My money was on hunger in the morning, then stability the rest of the day because of the steady intake of 2500 calories.

The day has been more like a roller coaster ride.

I woke up feeling almost no hunger at all. That was my first surprise. Getting up, I started to feel a little bit empty on energy. I got a normal breakfast, and got to work. An hour before lunch I got a real high, feeling super fantastic mentally and physically for an hour or two. But some time after lunch the hunger hit hard again, only increasing past dinner - which was a good portion - much the same feeling I had yesterday after eating very little. At 20:00 I trained pretty hard for an hour, and now I feel great again. Seems like my body not quite know what to make of what happened yesterday

But all that aside: The accomplishment of managing the fast day, and shaving of 1700 calories without training in one day. Priceless! A big motivational boost

As you might have noticed, we even have a 'men only' section that is pretty old, but recently got some renewed attention:
progress-f4/topic3903-150.html
Enjoy your journey and view the progress charts of the members to get inspired!

Great tips P-JK! I'll head over there and take a look. During my past three years with the "less calories, more exercise"-method I attended a "Mens only" forum, which was very useful.

The weight loss and health benefits are really worth it. So..... Go for it and good luck with your 5:2 journey.
Lesley

Thanks, Lesley! Being in the context of changing old habits for a few years, I have never been on a forum where such a large share of the members are overly positive towards a diet after trying it out for a longer period of time. That is really motivating, and helps getting the boost to manage uncomfortable side effects until things stabilise

The day has been more like a roller coaster ride.

I woke up feeling almost no hunger at all. That was my first surprise.

@Gnoory Thank-you for the remarks+ encouragements
And the "clip" from your post is what I believe to be the reason for my consistent weightloss ( my only non-holiday gain being xmas). I now wake up not hungry and make most days 16:8
The my usual 3 fastdays, obviously I need to continue losing because of the amount I need to lose but this WOL has given me the best opportunity of my life and now I've found it I'm not letting go that's for sure.
Hope the side effects don't get to bad for you and if you can hang on in there to see if they subside after a few days.

Thanks for your comments.

We are all different and handle things in our own way.

I did feel cold on a fast day evening for a couple of weeks. I just went to bed early, cuddled up and read the posts on this forum.

I also had headaches and found they were due to cutting out coffee, so I went back to drinking coffee on a fast day. I had less milk in it and counted the cals.

The side effects don't usually last for more than a couple of weeks but are very manageable. It really is worth working through them.

Lesley

Hope the side effects don't get to bad for you and if you can hang on in there to see if they subside after a few days.

Well, today has been an excellent day! Eating good, well within 2500 cals and that's before I subtract for an hour and a half of basketball. No side effects what so ever, and that is good because now I am motivated for the second fast day tomorrow.

Good to know things will get better. At the moment I have a very good feeling about this project

The side effects don't usually last for more than a couple of weeks but are very manageable. It really is worth working through them.

I'll keep this in my pocket for reference tomorrow, Lesley!

Do any of you have any input on drinking for example Cola Zero or Pepsi Max on fast days? I got rather tired of water my first fast day, so some kind of variation is needed.

The standard suggestion would be black coffee or tea. But sticking to water might also be a good idea. I have been on mainly water (also on feed days) for some time and once you become accustomed to it you will find that coke or Pepsi are really 'too sweet' for your tast (I was used to drinking coke). However I can fully understand that in the first few weeks you can get tired of the water pretty quickly.