The FastDay Forum

Ten weeks of 5:2 and I have no choice but to give up. I didn't find the mental effort a problem but every fast day, I felt a bit more unwell. Until by the 20th fast day i was so unwell, i had to cancel appointments and spent part of the afternoon in bed. Very unlike me. Nausea, extreme tiredness, thick head generally unwell. It was better when I had three small meals but that made it very hard for me as once I start to eat, I find it very hard not to carry on. It wasn't dehydration.

My question to the experts! Is there any benefit in a half hearted effort? If I eat mid evening, have no breakfast, then eat at lunchtime. Keeping calories low but not down to the 500 mark. Perhaps about the 800 level

I am not worried about losing weight. I have lost 8 stone (not by th 5:2) and have kept it off for six years. This is to help me maintain but more importanly for the health benefits.

Any comments gratefully received! Kate

[janeg]

That's a bummer Kate but you have to be well! I'm not an expert by any manner of means but from what I understand, there are benefits to be gained from modified fasting- not a 'half hearted attempt!'
No doubt others will have more detail, but there are advocates for 'windows of eating' where any nutrition is consumed within an 8 hour window, with nothing outside this time.
I think franglaise and dom are looking at this for maintenance (see the 6:1 isn't working thread).
Hope this helps until someone more knowledgable comes on. (think they's all gone out for lunch!)

[carorees]

Hi Kate

I find it odd that fasting has affected you in this way. What kind of diet do you have on your fast days and your non-fast days? I mean what kind of proportions of fat, carbs and protein did you have in your diet?

I think your idea of eating in an 8-hour window (essentially skip breakfast, no snacking after dinner) could well work out for you as you don't have to count calories, you should get some benefits from the fasting process and, as you don't need to lose weight, you should find your weight is stable. Of course, followers of this 'eating window' approach do this every day rather than 2 days a week. I would imagine that you would need to do it more often than twice a week to get benefits.

I haven't seen any studies on whether a 16 hour fast daily brings similar benefits re IGF1 and other indicators of health benefits compared with other fasting patterns, but then I haven't really looked.

I suggest you have a think and see how you could fit fasting into your lifestyle, bearing in mind that the longer you go without food the better but that it doesn't have to be 24 hours and 16 hours might well be enough, especially if done more often.

For example, you might set a target of always having at least 12 hours without food overnight and on some days (perhaps a minimum of 3 a week) increasing that to 16 hours. If you find you need to control your weight on that regime you could then restrict your calories on the 16-hour fast days to, say 1000.

The 2-day diet, which is a variant of 5:2 does not have such a low calorie allowance on the 2 days but instead goes for 2 very low carb days and 5 low-ish carb days (a so-called Mediterranean diet), so another tweak might be to ensure your modified fast days are low carb.

Basically, the bottom line is: 1) incorporate some fasting periods of 12 hours or more into your life as often as you can; 2) have some days that are low calorie/low carbohydrate. Using these precepts you can design your own diet to fit yourself!

Hope that helps!

PS..8 stone! Wow, that is impressive!

Hi Kate,

Oh Caroline has just posted while I was writing this. And has said most of it better than I can. Still...

Jane is right as of course are you - you have to listen to your own body.

It's unlucky (and unusual) that you found the side-effects getting worse not better over time! My 2p:

• Is your normal diet high in carbs especially sugars? (A normal western diet is!) Or indeed in anything specific that you might be reacting against missing on a fast day? Caffeine even? The general trend here seems to be towards low-carb dieting (and I concur with that) but there is evidence that for some people a high-carb approach might work better (within the 500/600 cal limit of course).
• The health benefits of fasting (apart from weight loss) are still largely unproven so it is hard to know which fasting strategies (ADF, 4:3, 5:2, 6:1, 16:8) might give good long-term results. I would say any fasting is probably better than none, if you can tolerate it. If you can't it's not the end of the world since you've already got your weight under control.

Thanks, everyone! I also find it odd it is getting harder! The first half dozen fast days were ridiculously easy! I am not a breakfast person and lasting until a teatime mug of veg soup was not difficult.

I take note of Dominic's question about carbs and caffeine. And I wonder........! I have in recent weeks been visiting a lot of people and staying at their houses, lots of rather rich food. So maybe, just maybe, I have been switching too much between high and almost no carb. Hmm!

Might give that some more thought and in a week or so give a fast day another try!

Maybe I have just been rather stupid!!!

You are great, guys! Thanks!

[carorees]

Not stupid Kstep!! No, it just takes some experimenting for each person to find the fasting method that suits their body and lifestyle best...I'm sure you'll get there.

Well Hubby (fairly slim, maybe an inch or so to lose round waist) has been doing it with me. And finds it easy and has gone down two notches on his belt. Doing it for cholesterol not weight but delighted with the fat loss.

I can confirm that no carbs and no caffeine makes me feel so ill that I can't even get up from the couch.

I can confirm that no carbs and no caffeine makes me feel so ill that I can't even get up from the couch.

Have done another day. Made it a bit more "normal" in that I got up to my usual skinny latte. So caffeine AND carbs and 110 calories (i actually measured it carefully). So it did break into my total abstinence period but then a lot of people, MM and MS, included have breakfast.

Then about 400 in the evening.

Gueee what! I feel OK! Coincidence is possibe but in fact I think you guys were right!

THANKS.

Ah, that's good to know, thanks for coming back to us. I always start my day with a double espresso and a splash of milk which wakes my up and prepares me for any day, fast or non-fast. I don't know who invented coffee but I am eternally grateful to them!
Good luck on your next fast, let us now how you get on with everything!