Is this something that will improve, or is fasting just not a good option for some people?
I've never dieted before - I've always been one of those lucky people who could just eat as they wanted and stay fairly slim. I'm still not overweight now, but have recently put on nearly a 0.5-1 stone and I want it to stop!
Anyway, the idea of 2 days on and 5 off does appeal, but I know that not eating has always affected me quite badly. I've never been able to comfortably skip lunch - in fact, I'm usually desperate for lunch by mid-morning. The afternoon/evening is not so bad - I can often cope with a late evening meal.
When I'm hungry I get light-headed and really pretty useless. I just had to eat a banana now as my lips were getting that slightly numb feeling. This is after having had an OK breakfast at 8am. So would 5:2 be doomed to fail, or will it change??
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Fasting / 5:2 diet
considering trying this but have always physically struggled with not eating
irregularegular · 16/04/2014 11:05
You know that skipping meals screws up your blood sugar
However, if you can do 5:2 you may find it actually helps stabilise it - I started doing it after a borderline high glucose test, within a few months it was fine.
It is something that gets easier as you do it. What darkhorse suggests is a good way to try. Many of us find that what works is to just drink through the morning (including caffeinated drinks if you usually have them), then a very light lunch (actually I only have miso soup now) and then a ~500 cal dinner, mostly protein and veg.
The other thing that you may want to consider is exercise - people find that some form of HIIT (high intensity interval training) is most effective and doesn't take long.
I did 900 cal FDs for the first several weeks, because I had splitting headaches when I first tried 500 cals. Probably because I'm a gym bunny who was used to 6 small meals per day for years.
I still lost weight; however I have a high (2400) TDEE, so still a big deficit.
You need a weekly 3,000 deficit to lose 1lb, so if your TDEE is much under 2000 and you don't manage 500 cal FDs, your weight loss would be very slow.
I persisted, because I had read the science of hormesis and was excited by the potential health benefits of fasting. Now I do 600 cal FDs easily and enjoy them.
What helped FDs:
. Drink loads, start each day with 1pint water
. Delay breakfast a bit more each day, until you can skip it
. Eat protein & veg,
. No grains or starches, except a little potato
. No fruit
. No yoghurt
. No chocolate, bikkies or any other junk whatsoever on FDs
. Remember "you can have it tomorrow"
. HIIT exercise stops appetite for a few hours, but moderate intensity increases it
A little bit of dairy eg a couple of cups of tea with milk or a dollop of plain yogurt on a curry may be OK.
I think it might suit me best to make some small changes that gradually move in the direction of 5:2 eating
Yes - some people jump straight in, others ease themselves into it. You may find that just cutting out snacking and swapping some carbs for more veg does what you need.
Once I got used to fasting, I found I could be less strict about the content.
Maybe because I found it so tough initially I had to be more strict than most folk.
My 2400 TDEE, compared to about 1500 for Errol may mean FDs are a bigger shock - or probably I'm just much greedier !
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