First fast day yesterday, threw up twice in the night from hunger -- normal?!

[BabyLabyrinth]

I'm tandem breastfeeding my 2yo and 3mo, so I went for 850 cals for my first fast. Perhaps a little low for my first fast? I don't know. I didn't think I'd find it that hard.

I ate two boiled eggs for a late breakfast (10 a.m.), some cucumber for lunch, and salmon and green beans for supper (at 5 p.m. as usual). I also had two coffees with full-fat milk in the morning, and tonnes of water all day long.

I shredded first thing before the kids were awake, and I biked a couple of kilometres with them in the trailer in the morning into town and back. The rest of the day was quite relaxed -- park in the afternoon, a bit of telly in the evening.

The little one feeds every two to three hours still, so I had a lot of feeding in the night. At 2 a.m. after a feed I suddenly felt shaky and sweaty with hunger. I ate a rice cracker and had some water, but then had to rush to the loo to be sick. At 4 a.m. the same thing happened again, but I had a little bit of bread after being sick, which settled my stomach.

This morning I've had quite a big breakfast and feel much better. I don't feel ill at all, so I don't think I've got a bug or anything. But is this level of hunger normal when you first start fasting? Should I maybe eat more in the evening? Usually I have an apple and some peanuts or dark chocolate as a treat, but last night I had nothing. Just to add, I didn't feel particularly hungry all day long; in fact, I quite enjoyed feeling in control of my food for once.

Any ideas? Thanks.

I don't mean to be rude but I think you are mad to be going so low cal while you are breast feeding not only a little baby but a toddler too!

I'm no expert but I think the exercise is a problem too when your calorie intake is so low. A friend is doing the Cambridge diet and has been told she is not allowed to exercise as her body isn't taking in enough calories (energy) to cope with it.

As I say, by no means an expert but rather than 5:2 couldn't you aim for a healthy balanced diet and exercise? I am BF a 9 month old and have been tracking calories on MFP since Christmas when she was 5 months old. I am on 1200-1300 cals a day and go to the gym 3 times a week. I have lost 2 stone now.

Good luck to you & please be careful!

I also think the 5:2 is probably not for you. It sounds to me like your body can't cope with the exercise, breast feeding and fasting.

I too would recommend MFP I've also been on there since Christmas, have lost nearly two stone. I tried the 5:2 but it made me feel ill and mucked up my periods, so I'm sure it's not for everyone.

Calorie controlled on top on your exercise should see a nice safe steady weight loss. Good luck !

( oh and there's a group of us on MFP for support and encouragement if you do want to join )

Oh dear, I guess it's not normal then. I had really hoped this would be the solution to get back down to pre-pregnancy size.

Thank you for your advice, both of you. I'll take it on board and try the MFP thing.

Are you sure it was hunger? We've had a bug going round quite similar to what you describe, kind of like a very, very, very mild Noro which just flashes on, gives you the sweats/shakes/sickness, then vanishes after 6 hours or so.

That being said, I don't think 5:2 is suitable for your current lifestyle. For all the things you are doing, on top of the sleep deprivation, your body needs quick and accessible sources of energy, and a fast really isn't the answer.

Maybe come back to it once you're only bf'ing 1?

Hi- I have been doing 5:2 for 5.5 months since my baby was 8 wks and have lost 30 lbs. I am now below my normal weight but my bmi is 23 so I am not underweight. I am still exclusively bfing and have had no problems with supply. But I have been easy on myself and hVe 700-1000 cals each FD. I love how it works but does not require constant low level deprivation.

I think you probably started too low esp as you are feeding 2. Are you sure you had 850 cals? It sounds like a lot less to me unless you had a v v large salmon fillet (2 eggs = 160, cucumber maybe 30, salmon 250, green beans 50 and 2 coffees 100 = 590) I have once or twice felt sick but just ate something and it passed. There's no need to be totally strict as you will lose weight anyway as long as you don't binge on your NFD.

She only feeds after lunch for her nap, so maybe when she drops that she'll self-wean.

Nobody thinks I should just stop shredding? evil dvd

On a side note, how would I work out my TDEE with the breastfeeding? The calculator linked to in the intro thread just wanted to know the usual weight/height/activity level stuff.

I had quite a bit of mayo with the salmon which I thought brought me up to 850 ish, but I suppose I was just estimating. I also allowed 300 for the salmon as it was quite big and had soy sauce and ginger on it.

I feel hungover today, which is very unfair as I haven't had more than a slurp of wine in about three years!

plec, I'm pretty sure it was hunger not a bug as I really was starving! If I get a d&v thing, eating is the last thing on my mind.

Many folk BF on 5:2, without problems, including tandem BFers.
No other reports of upchucking.

I suggest for the first few weeks until you are used to fasting:
. Do 1000 cal FDs as recommended in the main thread OP
. Don't exercise on FDs
. On NFDs, don't exercise before breakfast

Some people can do fasted training on the first day they try; others prefer to keep the 2 FDs as rest days from training. See how you feel.

Calculate your TDEE for your activity level without any changes for BF - that comes in the higher cal FDs

Ok, that sounds sensible. I did think that there were plenty of other BFers on here, but didn't know if any were tandemming.

And I'll give the Shred a rest thank you thank you on FDs. I do have to do it before breakfast though, otherwise it doesn't get done. I usually eat pretty much straight after though, once I've got DD and DS up.

Going to head on over to the recipe thread for new supper ideas now! 1000 cals sounds eminently doable, and much kinder to my body. I know DS is still little, but I put on over 20 kg with his pregnancy and have felt so horrible being so big. I'm down to the last 5 kg thanks to the Shred and low-carb dinners, but I haven't been able to shift them.

Thank you to everyone for the advice.