The FastDay Forum

Hi

1st post and second day of fasting.....

going ok so far got a headache and feel abit lightheaded but not eaten since 4 am......i work night so i`m not to saure how i`m going to plan this diet out.

Was wondering can you start this diet as soon as you have eaten your last meal or do you have to allow a couple of hours for it to be digested?

I start my diet pretty much straight afetr i have eaten but i`m not sure if this is the correct way to do this?

any thoughts welcome

neil

Hmm good question, but I guess once you've finished food then if you, say fasted 16:8 you'd stop eating at 8 at night and eat again at 12 which means you've fasted for 16 hours. So, in short, yes, you fast from the moment you've eaten

Bean

Time it from when you finish eating the 'night' before. Or in your case your last meal. Then go to sleep. Wake up and miss your next two meals, then eat your 500 or 600kcals at the 3rd meal. Go back to sleep and eat normally for your wake up meal.

You end up sleeping through most of your fast. Its great!

Bean

Hi Neil and welcome!!

I'm a little concerned that you say you are feeling light headed. Some people do report headaches on fast days, but the light headedness worries me. That may point to an underlying condition. For example, I have only gotten lightheaded while fasting when my thyroid levels were too high. Low blood sugar as a result of diabetes or pre-diabetes could also cause this, as could weird random things, like inner ear infections.

Have you had a proper physical and labs recently?

Most people start this diet when they wake up in the morning. So I may eat normally in the evening, dinner at 6pm, and often includes a *small* (150 calories ish) snack at about 10pm. I generally go to bed at about 11:30pm. On the evening before a fast day, I try to make sure the snack is more protein based, and less sugar based. I may have a handful of nuts, or a small piece of wholemeal bread with a small smear of peanut butter, or a piece of cheese. Then I don't eat again until dinner the next night - 6pmish. I would count that as 20 hours straight fasting. If I didn't eat the snack, I would count it as 23.5 or 24 hours. (I'm not terribly precise). I finish my "fast" when I wake up the next morning. So we allot our calories to be from the time we go to bed the night before our fast (let's say Sunday night), until the time we wake up the morning after our fast (Tuesday morning). All of our calories in that time are our fast day calories.

I never get light headed or dizzy and if anything, my husband and I both report that we feel more clear headed.

Does that help?

Thank you for all your replies they are all appreciated.
Tracey
I spilt sleep and struggle to do a full 8 hrs sleep I get around 5/6 hrs a day.....but the weekends are better for me, I just cannot manage to stay asleep fpr long
I started my fast at 4am and have yet to eat.....I have drunk 2 x cups of tea and 1 x water, so maybe my dizzyness is down to a new system that my body is not used or maybe im not drinking enough fluids .i have a meal made up fpr me for around 16.30 ........fresh fish and a bit of vedge.........looking forward to that
I have been told that I have slightly high blood pressure, so that may cause a problem......but I'm due to see my doctor this Tuesday.so will ask him abouth this diet and get his take on it.
just wondering what sort of other questions to ask him?

once again thanks for all the help
regards neil

Hi @robinson And Welcome Good luck with the doctor hope it goes well for you as for the fasting if he gives you the go ahead don't worry to much about times for now if you do a 24hr brilliant if you only manage 18hrs that OK and more important to get used to the fasts before going without food for the full 24 hrs which I do. Sue

Light-headedness has been reported in people who cut out a lot of their caffeine at the same time as starting 5:2. Could this be the problem for you? Alternatively a lack of salt may cause this, though it tends to be in people who have low blood pressure, if you are taking medication for high blood pressure, could the tablets be taking you a bit too far? A mug of Bovril, low calorie soup, stock cube, bouillon etc can give you a enough salt to re-balance and only 'cost' 30 kcals.

Hi juliea

as of present I'm not on tabs.......... but I do drink alot of tea and coffee so maybe you have a point, I'm feeling fine right now and I have just eaten my last snack ( ham sandwich on that horrible brown bread ) only 4.45 hours to go haha and thats my second fast done.
Tbh I have found it easier than my 1st day so maybe it does get easier the more times you do it.

I notice many ppl on here have put their stats in, ive yet to do that but will have to look into how you do that.

Right back to work for myself and looking forward to my next fast day (tuesday)

Regards neil