Hunger Management

[FastLove]

I'm totally on board with the science behind introducing an element of fasting into my diet and am doing a mix of 16:8 some days and a vlcd some days. I'm also working on increasing the nutritional value of the foods I'm choosing.

But...

I'm really struggling with the hunger.

I'm not getting used to it - some mornings it's ok but as the day goes on I feel really hungry and it's going against my intentions.
How do people manage hunger?

[FastLove]

Haha I'm guessing everyone's just as hungry as me then! Better get some better distractions!

[CMOTDibbler]

Drink water /green tea/ anything else non calorie. On low calorie days I have my main meal at lunchtime so its not long through the morning, then sugar free jelly in the evening.

But its also learning that hunger is OK, and you don't need to eat the minute you are hungry

[TPel]

I do get hungry but find drinking helps. A mint tea or coffee.

If I am really hungry I have a miso soup.

The best solution is to do something physical if you get hungry. I walk the dog usually.

[Vibrantella]

When my tummy is rumbling, I drink a large glass of water or sip a hot drink (I like green tea or black coffee) and it really helps. I usually eat one meal around 3-4 pm, so between 12 and 1 I'll have a mug of broth from a stock cube (or marmite, Bovril etc.)

[Yddraigoldragon]

I do eggs for breakfast and as late as I can in the day, and then tea of something like chicken and cabbage at night.
Eggs don't give you a blood sugar spike and crash, and you feel full for ages.

[FastLove]

Funnily enough I did eggs this morning about 9.45 - was hanging on till 10 after eating last at 6pm yesterday but was too starving! Cold weather doesn't help! Eggs kept me going longer than usual so will def repeat that.
I've had some home made veg soup since then.
Must buy some miso soup.

[HortonWho]

I'm doing alternate day fasting and was only hungry for my first day and second day of fasting. Then it stopped, which i thought was rather a small miracle! I eat very low carb and have cut out sugar and drink green tea throughout the day.

I still have cravings for food, but I'm not actually hungry and my stomach doesn't growl. It's an interesting feeling to mentally separate the two and stop myself from eating, especially on normal days.

I find it harder to have one main meal on my fasting day and prefer to drink my calories (usually in form of double cream in my coffee or chicken broth). if I do have meals, I stick to specific meals on my fast days so that I don't overeat from habit alone and don't need to count calories.

[FastLove]

That's really interesting, separating the thoughts and the feelings. Links to ideas from mindfulness etc about just monitoring our thoughts and feelings and observing them in a detached way rather than jumping to act on them. I'm going to try and do that more consciously.

I like to know that I've got something coming to eat later in the day as I find it agonising being around family members eating and they're all back early evening for dinner so I think that I'm going to have a more structured effort at 16:8.

[GrannyGrott]

Biggest revelation for me was that it's okay to feel hungry. 20-24 hours of not eating is not going to do me any harm - although I was a bit snappy at my OH when he put baked apple and blackberry pie in front of me and then said (helpfully) - "oh, wait, you can't have that can you".

Good luck with the FDs - hopefully one day when your brain tells you you're hungry, you'll find yourself thinking "so what?"

[FastLove]

Granny Grott

I went to bed a bit hungry last night and after reading these messages I just lay there and kind of observed the sensation. I don't feel the same this morning and am really proud that I stuck it out. Going to try for a 20 hour stretch today ahead of the weekend. I realise how afraid I was of getting hungry before and that doesn't make much sense since most of us aren't ever very far away from being able to do something about it if we need too. I like the idea that fasting gives the system a chance to rest and recover and regain balance.

[Yddraigoldragon]

I actually feel really well in the afternoons when I am fasting. First few were hard of course, particularly in an office where everyone was eating lunch.
Once past that though, I generally felt amazing at about 3pm, bouncing around with a big smile on my face.

[diggerdigsdogs]

I'm in the middle of a Fd now. Last two Fd I have worked up STARVING. Which hasn't helped at all.

Routine for today has been:
Water and green tea all morning.
As late as possible Miso soup
Celery sticks around 3
400 cal dinner at 6.

I still want to eat my arm but it's been the best I have felt.

[CalmYoBadSelf]

I think this depends on your weight too. 500cals was picked as being a suitable number of calories for the average woman as it is around a quarter of the 2000cals an average woman burns each day

I am considerably larger than the average woman and calculating a quarter of my TDEE gives me 700-800 which is far more manageable. I usually have eggs for breakfast, I buy these at Costco which are a great lunch and have a chicken stirfry or similar for tea.

[HortonWho]

Oddly, when I cook for family, it doesn't bother me. I suspect it's because the smells start gradually and mix slowly. DH microwaved a ready meal last night - dear god, I was actually salivating at the lovely smell. Wasn't actually hungry, just felt like one of those old fashioned cartoon characters who waft over mesmerised by the smell of food.

[HortonWho]

By the way, this site has a calculator that supposedly figures out your basal metabolic rate within 10% accuracy. That in turn tells you how many calories you burn just by existing in 24hr period, and you can then calculate your 25% fasting rate. Damn it, mine should be closer to 400 than 500 a day if I do no exercise.

thefastdiet.co.uk/how-many-calories-on-a-non-fast-day/

[HortonWho]

Hope I haven't killed this thread, but just read something interesting in Gulia Ender's book Gut.

Apparently, the hungry rumbling tummy isn't hunger and it isn't my tummy. It's my small intestine and the noise is part of the migrating motor complex, which she calls "the little housekeeper". It's when your stomach and small intestines are finally empty enough so your body can do a clean up of both. And whether you hear it or not depends on the amount of air in there.

[Yddraigoldragon]

So does that mean the rumble is a good thing?

[smorgasborgen]

The evenings are hard for me.. Marmite and toast or cheese n crackers are always calling me from the kitchen!x

[FastLove]

That's really interesting Horton! I'm going to take note of when I hear the rumbling now as I often do!
I've just been having the weekend 'off' as in not obsessing over it, just keeping a slight eye on starting eating later in the day and not going too crazy! Not scientific in the least but it seems to be working for me and gives me the oomf to start again on a Sunday evening/Monday morning. I've downloaded an app that monitors fasting time etc and I set that running just after 6pm.
I used that online calculator on Friday and was very interested to see my TDEE and see that I've got more calories than I thought I did - but aware that's only because of how heavy I am so need to be aware that as I lose weight I'll have fewer.
Well onwards and upwards into the next 5 days. Going to try to fast from 6pm to lunch time ish then have a snack type thing and a tea time meal every day. Hopefully sticking to no more than 1000 calories.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Base your FD meals on protein with masses of veg, i.e. low GI to reduce hunger pangs.
Most folk do better without starches or fruit.
Definitely avoid fruit juice, which is concentrated sugar and usually v acidic for an empty tum. No FD alcohol or sugary junk, either.

It usually takes about 3 weeks for your body to adapt to fasting and for you to get used to hunger - often psychological, realising that hunger is ok for a few hrs.

Most folk have black coffee for breakfast and either save nearly all cals for a good supper, or split them in some proportion lunch : supper
I prefer a 350 cal lunch, then 150 cals after my evening training

Wrt losing weight:
those who don't lose well on 5:2 or ADF are usually eating far too much on NFDs, i.e. eating back the FD deficit.

On 5:2 NFDs, you should roughly average TDEE (which is what your body burns daily, higher than your BMR)
On ADF, you can lose on up to 120% TDEE on NFDs, ntbo because you have more FDs

Everyone is welcome to join us for support on the Main IF Thread #60

[FastLove]

Thanks BigChocFrenzy

What sort of calorie limit do people use on 16:8? I've been aiming for 1000 to create a deficit every day since I'm spreading the fasting out over 5 days of the week.

[Vinorosso74]

I'm struggling with the fast day hunger too. I first did 5:2 in the summer without hunger like this. It's only week 2 so maybe the psychological side needs to kick in or is it the cold weather making me hungry?!

[Brokenbiscuit]

I've only been doing 5:2 for a short time, but my experience so far has taught me that I find it much easier if I avoid eating during the day and save most of my calories for my evening meal. As soon as I start eating earlier in the day, I find I'm starving, whereas if I know I'm not eating until the evening, I just don't think about it.

[Jellylove]

I have a coffee in the morning, then make a smoothie to sip throughout my working day, (it's essentially a raw soup with mostly Vegas as opposed to fruit and water as the liquid element, eg carrot, kale, red grapefruit, a few blueberries, fresh ginger). I start drinking this as late in my day as possible. Then have a soup for my tea.
If I have a desperate moment, I have a marmite rice cake!

[SansaClegane]

I find that drinking lots, especially hot drinks, helps.
I'm doing 16:8 rather than 5:2, so I aim to have my first meal at 1pm. I find it much easier to fast in the mornings. Once I start eating, it's harder for me to not stuff my face too much! I have most of my calories in the evening, and stop eating by 9pm. That means I don't go to bed hungry, but I'm also not stuffed (main meal at around 7pm) as I've had time to digest.
Eggs are good for hunger pangs, what I also like is plain low fat natural yogurt which I mix with fresh figs and some granola (a low sugar one!). Keeps me going for quite a while!