reduced general hunger but in the dead of night yet I'm wide awake!! lost 3lbs!

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badwolf33

12:59 am
9 Jan 14
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Just curious if any body else is suffering from insomnia?! Since my fast day on Monday I’ve had 2-3 hours sleep each night and today I’m up at 5 to get a train for clinic!

Don’t feel tired but don’t feel with it either kind of a strange sensation, I’m a bad sleeper normally but that’s at least 6 hours a night….

Any ideas as to what is causing it?! On the plus side I’m 3lbs down since Monday and was able to resist a big bag of bacon fries for tea tomorrow so its having a good effect on me generally!! Appetite is reduced too got away with an apple tangerine bannana and 4 chicken fajitas (75% less chicken than normal and lots more mushrooms and onion mmmm) today on a non fast day and felt full and comfortable

hondakawi

6:37 pm
29 Jan 14
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Try uping your workouts!
I have and it helped!
Now I just wake up to pee a couple times a night but go right back to sleep. If I feel really awake I lay my head on the pillow, close my eyes and imagine freefalling. I will just drop right off then.
Hope this helps!

PreciousBooBoo

7:35 pm
31 Jan 14
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Hey badwolf33

I already suffered from pretty bad insomnia before I started this WOE; but now it has gone stratospheric (hope I’m spelling that right – I really hate mis-spelling but my dictionary is packed away!).

I am a Lady of a Certain Age therefore insomnia is something that can become more prevalent at my time of life; however, I can now lie all night long without any sleep at all!
I never used to have problems getting to sleep with my ‘usual’ insomnia but now I even have trouble going to sleep.

Another Lloaca said that she read somewhere that fasting hugely increases adrenaline in the body and that could be what is keeping you and me awake!
I asked her to let me know if she came across anything that could be done about this affect but haven’t heard anything as yet.

Please if you locate anything concrete that could be tried; be sure to post it here. So I can have a shot because lying awake all night is really gruelling.

Warwick

12:36 am
4 Feb 14
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I was never a big sleeper, but now I sleep even less, I’m talking 4 or 5 hours a night.

admittedly, I have a bit of caffeine during the day, but since going on the Fast diet the big thing I have noticed is the lack of the mid afternoon drowsiness.

Since it is a benefit I really like, I’ve actually tried a few different fasting techniques which include not eating during business hours.

before anyone suggests anything, I do eat in the evenings and always enough calories for the day.

I’ve just noticed that at work, not eating means I’m not drowsy and get work done.

The only downside is I’m simply not tired at night (but that could be the caffeine)

newto5-2

1:06 pm
14 Feb 14
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After a day of fasting, I find sleep more difficult. Sometimes I wake up constantly because of dreams of food, or just find it difficult getting to sleep.

A small workout before bed might very well be beneficial, but at the end of a fast day there is often little energy to workout with!

newto5-2

1:09 pm
14 Feb 14
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One method that I usually use if I cannot get to sleep is to try and stay awake. This normally works a treat and I recommend anyone having difficulties try it.

It is a thing known as ‘ironic process theory’ – here is a useful link about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironic_process_theory

I don’t normally like linking wikipedia, but I feel it does give a good description.

modpsych

7:00 pm
17 Feb 14
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I have been fasting now for three weeks and have found the same thing with sleep. I usually have a Pilates class on Mondays (fast day) and found exercise makes no difference to my insomnia. The only thing I’m thinking could be the extra caffeine I am consuming on fast days due to the black tea. I’m also yet to lose weight over the last 3 weeks but that is nothing new for me either. The clothes are looser.

oandlomom123

3:11 pm
8 Mar 14
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Try melatonin. Or ask dr. for Klonapin. I hated Ambien bc I would hallucinate if I didn’t fall asleep right away. All that said I still have trouble sleeping on the night of fasts. One night I was up at 3 after having to use the bathroom and was starving. Due to fast that day and almost used some of my 500. Instead I had some water and hot camomile tea and that quelled the pangs and I slept. Rewarded by the scale the next day!

symba7

8:33 am
9 Mar 14
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Hi,

Hubby and I both had this problem, we now have a small glass of milk about 9pm on a Fast Day, we think that helps.

It was in the Fast book or on this forum somewhere. Give it a go.

(we don’t count the calories either, but have lost 28lbs each to date!)

Good sleeping.

Jules64

9:09 am
9 Mar 14
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Yes me too! Dreadful effects after second fast day like I was revved up all night despite no caffeine and couldn’t sleep well at all….next day a non fast felt shocking almost fluey and am still a bit off. Tomorrow is fast day number 3 and am a bit wary after the last few but am told but the experienced ones all part of the drastic change! On a positive note lost significantly so a win for me!

RosieM

2:10 am
13 Apr 14
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It is 3am and I woke up at 2am starving hungry. This is the main worry I have about this diet as I have always needed a bedtime snack in order to sleep! I really need some helpful tips on preventing night hunger.

leevee

10:05 am
13 Apr 14
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Yes, me too. I’ve always been a brilliant sleeper but when I started 5:2 I found I couldn’t get to sleep on fast day nights. I now have anything I’m going to eat that day, even if it’s just a couple of tomatoes, in the evening which is not my usual pattern. I also have my treat of a low calorie hot chocolate drink at about 9 pm and I find that helps. I do wake for the loo which is a nuisance. But by the next morning, strangely, I don’t feel hungry at all so I carry on fasting till 10 am or later.

RosieM

9:41 am
14 Apr 14
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Thanks, levee. I must admit I just spilt calories 50:50 between breakfast and evening meal. So I am going to try just 100 cal breakfast and 400 in the evening and see how that helps. Not sure I could manage all day on nothing until the evening!

leevee

3:32 pm
14 Apr 14
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I must have funny innards! I’m fasting today and didn’t get a twinge until 2 pm yet I’ve only had water and cups of tea. I’ll be hungry in the evening but ok tomorrow morning. I’ve just found out that exercise before breaking the fast is extra good so I’m going to give that a go.

Digestive

1:38 am
23 Apr 14
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It’s 2.30 am on my fast day and I just had to eat something so I can drop off. It’s not so much the insomnia as the pain of thrashing about trying to sleep. Gives me pain as had big abdominal surgery six months ago and it twists everything.

Will learn from this and save a snack for just before bed.

RosieM

7:06 am
23 Apr 14
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I have tried 150 cal breakfast followed by 300 eve meal and then slimmer hot choc at bedtime (50cals) but still waking at 2am unable to sleep for 2 hrs. Often feel shaky with palpitations during night. Perhaps I am addicted to carbs?! I was better at sleeping when I used Cambridge diet shake/ meal replacements so may return to them on my fast days.

oandlomom123

2:58 am
25 Apr 14
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Try not eating until dinner. No caffeine after 1. Drink a hot cup of broth if the hunger pangs get bad. What I often do is save 100 cal before bed to have half a light English muffin and a quarter cup of 1% cottage cheese. Filling and delicious and lets me fall asleep. I take extended release melatonin 5mg plus 6 mg regular. Then when I wake to use the bathroom the sleepiness that provides always me to sleep, usually, without the hunger I feel getting in the way. Some fast days are easier than others. I have gone from 160 after the holidays to 140. 5 more
Lb to go then maintenance. I do EAD- not perfectly strictly bc I have young children and the wknds are tough to fast on bc they need my energy.

Tool

9:41 am
28 Apr 14
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Cholesteryl that’s what you’re missing in your diet if you are having problems sleeping / fasting,… you don’t need me to tell you cholesterol balances out sleep wake cycle,.. inform yourself on the benefits of being on a ketogenic diet,… it’s all well and good having a calorie restricted diet but if you can’t function normally throughout the day that you’re not getting the macro and micronutrients you need daily, is very possible to eat all the macronutrients you need in one meal,
I do daily,… there you top up with a syllogistical blend of readily available micronutrients,… these are simple mathematical equations we are working out here,… it is not rocket science,..