5:2 diet

elizabunny

urbancookie1 wrote: »

Hi Everyone:wave:

Today has been my 1st day of doing the 5:2 Diet,

But i have 1 question, If i started my fast day after having Dinner last night at 5pm then should my fast day be over as its now (7pm) or should i carry on till breakfast tomorrow?

Im thinking it's over now, so i can have a cuppa & rich tea biccy before bed, But i think i could stretch it out till the morning.

Have you had around 500 calories today? Or would the cuppa and biscuit be the 1st thing you have had? My understanding is that you can have around 500 calories on your fast day. For example I started my fast at around 8pm on Sunday, I had 500 calories on Monday, my fast ended at 7am this morning:)

Mado

urbancookie1 wrote: »

Hi Everyone:wave:

Today has been my 1st day of doing the 5:2 Diet,

But i have 1 question, If i started my fast day after having Dinner last night at 5pm then should my fast day be over as its now (7pm) or should i carry on till breakfast tomorrow?

Im thinking it's over now, so i can have a cuppa & rich tea biccy before bed, But i think i could stretch it out till the morning.

I'm afraid, in my understanding, the fast is until tomorrow breakfast! So the 500 kcals are consumed over 36 hours. But that is if losing weight is one of your objectives.

I managed to last all day yesterday until lunch time today (skipped breakfast on my feast day) and felt fine with that. Made up for it tonight:cool:

urbancookie1

elizabunny wrote: »

Have you had around 500 calories today? Or would the cuppa and biscuit be the 1st thing you have had? My understanding is that you can have around 500 calories on your fast day. For example I started my fast at around 8pm on Sunday, I had 500 calories on Monday, my fast ended at 7am this morning:)

Ive had 480ish calories so far according to myfitnesspal and lots of water. So it sounds like no biccy & tea for me tonight then.

So, am i getting this right the fast day isnt really a 24hr day 5 till 5 it will be more of a 39hr day by the time i eat breakfast tomorrow.

superpup

Okay, so I'm nearly at the end of my first fast day. I'm hungry

I had a cup of tea first thing. Held off until about 11.30 then had 2 tiny oatmeal pancakes (117 cals).

Lunch was 1/2 portion of Bacon and lentil soup, recipe from Frugal Queen's blog (155 cals) with a cup of tea.

10g of spicy roasted chickpeas around 4.30pm - a ridiculously small amount but did kill the hunger that was rearing its ugly head (30 cals).

Dinner was the other 1/2 portion of soup (155 cals) and a cup of tea.

I counted 45 cals for my 3 cups of tea and have drunk 3 or 4 cups of green tea and lots of water throughout the day. Total 502 cals for the day.

I feel okay, no headache or anything and I have done a few hours of strenuous cleaning today. Just quite hungry now but not going to cave. Will drink more water and another cup of green tea. The soup was lovely, nice and thick and really filling but I think I will try and skip breakfast next time and maybe try either a lower calorie soup and more of it for lunch, or a shed load of roasted veg.

How long before it gets easier?

tyllwyd

urbancookie1 wrote: »

Ive had 480ish calories so far according to myfitnesspal and lots of water. So it sounds like no biccy & tea for me tonight then.

Just my opinion, but I really don't think that one cup of tea and a rich tea biscuit will make a difference to your diet, the 500 calories isn't meant to be that accurate. I'd just go for it!

Mado

tyllwyd wrote: »

Just my opinion, but I really don't think that one cup of tea and a rich tea biscuit will make a difference to your diet, the 500 calories isn't meant to be that accurate. I'd just go for it!

You're right.:rotfl:

But part of me think that if I'm going for an indulgence snack, a rich tea isn't going to do it! I eat very few biscuits, but when I do, I opt for the real buttery or chocolatey ones. Oink oink.:p

superpup wrote: »

How long before it gets easier?

I think I found it easier on my third week,and it's been more or less plain sailing since ( although had a couple of harder fasts after the Christmas splurge).
The new scientist article on the subject said 2 to 6 weeks, but since you appear to have managed your first day well, I'd go for the optimistic outlook!

Mamjak

elizabunny wrote: »

it was the headache and then this awful bloated feeling that I had all through the night. I am currently trying to recover from a really bad slipped disc (which is part of the reason I want to lose some weight and hopefully gain better health). My poor DH was up half the night with me, fetching hot water bottles etc. The pain in my back (kidney area) was like nothing I have ever experienced before, although I have been unwell since Christmas.

..........., but I have taken extra painkillers. This experience has taught me a lesson, I will if I can continue to follow the plan, but I won't if I experience anything like I did last night.

Sorry for the long post, Old Socks old Stick do take care.

PS I am going through the Men*pause

Just thought - are you taking pain killers on your fast day? In my experience taking most pain meds on empty stomach always leads to the sort of pain you described. Could you try cutting them out or down and only take when eating your 500 cal. I tend to only take mine at night in fast days so more chance of food to soak them up.

dominicr

The rules are pretty relaxed about what and how you eat your 500 (or 600) calories on your fast day, but many of us have found that it is actually easier to forgo all calories except for one meal, usually in the evening. There is also some evidence that this is better for maximising the long-term health benefits.

That having been said, this diet definitely gets easier as you get used to it so whatever regime works for you initially, that's fine too. When you have more confidence in your ability to come through the hunger pangs smiling, you can try varying it and it might make it even easier.

Some people look forward to their fast days! I can't say I've reached that enlightened stage yet...

Lots more info at the 52 fast diet forum, there's a good 'short answers' posting that summarises a lot of it here: http://www.52fastdiet.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=246

elizabunny

Mamjak wrote: »

Just thought - are you taking pain killers on your fast day? In my experience taking most pain meds on empty stomach always leads to the sort of pain you described. Could you try cutting them out or down and only take when eating your 500 cal. I tend to only take mine at night in fast days so more chance of food to soak them up.

Mamjak It's funny you should mention this because I have been taking painkillers and I did wonder whether they could have caused a problem. I can't cut down on them at the moment, but possibly by Thursday (next fasting day) I could try splitting my 500 cals a bit so that I can still take them with food. Hopefully this will solve the problem.:)

gien

Hi, I'd like to join you here - it's great to find a thread here on MSE. I was doing 5:2 before christmas pretty succesfully and lost some weight and felt very fit. Needless to say that the holidays abd the New year food 'hangover' means I've put sone of it back on and lost my rythmn.

I fasted monday - last ate at 7pm Sunday evening and went through until 6pm Monday evening when I ate 500. I'll fast again on thursday but some weeks I think I'll have to do wednesdays.

I do monitore the calories closely on a fast day and weigh pretty much everything - if you're going to go through the 'pain' of fasting then you may as well do it 100%.

I do feel as if the fast day 'resets' my body a bit, I just feel less sluggish. I'm going to measure and weigh myself tomorrow so I can see how far I'm progressing for motivation.