I want to start 5:2 but I am scared of the fasting day <idiot>

[SpotsDotsandFlowers]

I've been overweight my entire adult life to varying degrees. My weight has crept up and up over the last few years and I'm now the heaviest I've ever been (including post dc )

I've done weight watchers successfully in the past but trying it again has failed. I've tried just calorie counting and lost 10lbs or so and then reverted back to overeating.

So 5:2 sounds like something I could sustain as it is short bursts of what my screwed up food brain thinks of as 'deprivation'.

However, the thought of the fasting day is quite frightening! I know a lot of this will be down to my excessive food consumption but being hungry leaves me shaky, sweaty and extremely grumpy. Will it be like that every fast day?
Also, I don't eat fish/seafood, pulses or beans and lots of the recipes seem to be based around those. I do love veg though. Can anyone reassure me?

I found it tough at the start and wondered how I would cope because I used to get shaky and faint if I didn't eat for a few hours or skipped a meal. Do it gradually. Start by just missing breakfast and have a very light lunch and dinner. You will find soon you can go to dinner. I can now do the whole day if I want and not feel hungry at all. I never feel shaky or faint any more. On Tuesday I went from Tuesday night to Thursday afternoon because I was busy and forgot and didn't feel hungry even then.
I'm not sure this is good, by the way. I'm sure my body has adjusted to a much lower amount of calories and so it's going to have to be a way of life for ever now, I suspect. But I do find the fast days easy now. In fact, I tend to get a bit hungover with all the food at the weekends and positively look forward to Monday!

MusicPosy you give me so much hope! The couple of long fasts I've done so far I have just survived. Have felt so sick, shaky, panicky, but typically for me I wanted to do it all at once; go from regular mild over eating to total abstinence with no problem! No wonder it was tough. When am back from hols on Tues will attempt to begin the 5:2 programme in a more sensible, measured fashion. I have confidence and am even excited about it

It has worked so well for me. I did start off slowly though, 3 small meals (grapefruit is brilliant for breakfast didn't seem to make me feel as hungry as if I started with anything else), boiled eggs and salad for lunch -eggs brilliant, only 65/70 calories per egg and keep you feeling full for ages. Now though, I mostly don't eat until 6pm. I find it generally very easy, have been doing it about 4 months and so happy, managed to get into my wedding dress for first time in 10 years...! My guilty secret for fast days is a. oxo (in a cup with boiling water) and b. loads and loads of sparkling water (hate doing it as environmentally poor but it helps so much - must invest in a soda stream!). Good luck. I have found it far more sustainably than any previous diet because there is nothing you can't eat and you learn not to be afraid of hunger.