The FastDay Forum

Hi there,

I've been on the 5:2 diet since February. All was going swimmingly so I decided to up the ante and try a month of 4:3 to really lean down for the summer holidays. The first week or so was ok but a few of weeks in and I'm going to have to return to 5:2. I just can't control my eating on feast days-it's insane, I'm like a crazy person. The psychological impact of fasting for 3 days in the week is just too much. In fact I'm paranoid that I have undone some of my hard work since switching to 4:3
I'm interested to hear if anyone out there had the same experience. I can't believe how much worse I coped on 4:3, particularly as I had no problems whatsoever with 5:2. I read somewhere that there is very little difference ultimately in the weight loss achieved on both these diets. I hope that's true.
Right I'm off to handcuff myself to a chair or have my jaw wired shut.

Thanks!
K

Welcome to the forums, Kiki77.

I know some people on the forums have been doing or attempting 4:3. I think it's just too hard to incorporate into my lifestyle, myself I imagine I would need to get my jaw wired shut too! LOL

I've been doing 4:3 since I started at the end of March. I haven't had the problem you experience. I'm often in a state of confusion of whether I'm fasting or not, and don't tend to overdo it until I have three non-fast days in a row. The first fast after three days off is always really hard, too. I've sort of been trying to switch to 5:2, but have struggled because of that and fear that I will stop losing weight (I'm pretty sure this fear is just psychological, but somehow I still can't switch).

I guess everyone is different. I don't usually have so many social activities that I can't plan around it on 4:3. There was one really painful week a short time ago where I had to sit in restaurants or at a party and not eat much. Normally I would just switch to 5:2 for a week, but I had gained the week before, so that wasn't an option.

Like MaryAnn says, everyone is different. I've been doing 4:3 for 2 weeks now I think and on my feast days I can barely finish a portion of anything. My stomach (not my belly though, lol) seems to have shrunk significantly.

I have been doing 5:2 since January and I had a period of time where I binged for a few weeks, a few others have talked about the same thing, it may just be a phase which would've happened anyway?? Good luck switching

interesting, because most of the research has been in Alternate Day Fasting and didn't find particular overeating issues on the feed days.

I think mariposa is right, this phase happens anyway and wears off, hence the good results with ADF studies. Plus in the ADF studies the subjects did overeat on non-fast days but they couldn't overeat by enough to prevent them losing weight.

I have done the occasional 4:3 with no problem. You could try 4:3 with only a half fast on the last day (Friday?) whereby you skip (or have a v low calorie) breakfast and lunch but eat normally at dinner (so can include a dessert, wine etc). I've done this occasionally when I knew there was a heavy weekend ahead!

Thanks for the responses guys. Looking back, maybe I overestimated, or just panicked about what I ate. I might just stay with 4:3 but leave the third day as optional, or do a half day like carorees suggested, depending on how I'm feeling. I'm pretty near my goal-just looking to lean down so I suppose it's really important that I can sustain this woe as the last few pounds always take longer to lose.
Thanks for your words of wisdom!
Kiki

carorees wrote: Plus in the ADF studies the subjects did overeat on non-fast days but they couldn't overeat by enough to prevent them losing weight.

True, that was one study of actual fasting alternate days. In one of the 25% calories on fast day versions ...

Dietary adherence on the fast day was high and stable over the course of the study (phase 2: 86 (sem 4) % adherence and phase 3: 89 (sem 5 )% adherence). Average energy intake was as follows: phase 1, 8104 (sem 748) kJ/d; phase 2 feed day, 7497 (sem 953) kJ/d; phase 2 fast day, 1725 (sem 351) kJ/d; phase 3 feed day, 6882 (sem 782) kJ/d; phase 3 fast day, 2460 (sem 192) kJ/d. Body weight decreased (P < 0·001) by 2·8 (sem 0·5) kg after 4 weeks and by 5·6 (sem 1·0) kg after 8 weeks of ADMF. BMI decreased from 33·7 kg/m2 (baseline) to 31·4 kg/m2 (post-treatment).

So in phase 3 - subjects at home, they ate 1646 cals on feed days and 588 cals on fast days (alternate days).