Struggling since starting to eat 'clean'

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_deleted account

5:19 pm
1 Mar 16
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I’ve been fasting for two or three years now (I forget!), and I use it mainly for weight maintenance, rather than weightloss. I’ve always found fasting quite easy, I’ve got through my fasting days with few side effects, and often don’t even feel all that hungry.

I put some weight on towards the end of last year due to holidays and a general lack of willpower, so since Christmas I’ve been trying to lose some of it (8lbs down so far!). In order to shift this weight, and because I just wanted to feel healthier and eat less rubbish, I’ve adopted a mostly ‘clean’ diet as well as doing the 5:2, so I’ve cut out refined sugar and processed food. I’m not following the clean lifestyle religiously, I’m just trying to eat better in general. I’m monitoring my calories, and eating around 1800-2000 calories on my non-fasting days. I’ve adjusted to the diet well, and found it pretty easy. I feel so much better, plus I am seeing a result in my weight.

The only trouble is, since I adopted the clean diet two months ago I have been REALLY struggling with my fasting days. I’ve been massively grumpy, tired, had headaches, been ravenously hungry and had my stomach rumbling all day. It’s been really hard. Does anyone have any idea why I’m suddenly finding it so much harder? Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips?

QuietOne

6:41 pm
1 Mar 16
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I’ve been doing a heavily modified version of 5:2 for 14 months. In February I went to strict as written 5:2 and it was pretty dang tough. You can read about it here https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/little-voices-february-love-ourselves-challenge/page/5/

Probably because you have less sugar in your system so you are using up your stores of glucose/glycogen faster. Less sugar in your body is a good thing burning through your stores of glycogen faster is also a good thing.

1. LOTS of water. Add 3 liters of at a minimum to your intake, above what you normally drink.
2. If you are eating on fast days, (I recommend zero caloric intake on fast days, ie. water fasting) then make your meal higher in protein and fats with zero carbs this is more satiating (you will feel full longer) I recommend having all your calories as one meal later in the day. This will help with sleep disruptions and will make you feel fuller. You may want to have 1 smaller meal in the evening and a snack of about 150 calories around 2pm to get you through the rest of the day. You have to work the timing and amounts out for yourself.
3. It’s all about the FAST I strongly recommend you go to zero caloric, water fasting only days. For me it’s just plain easier. I can eat tomorrow, I’ll have chocolate tomorrow, ice cream etc.
4. Mint green tea. I don’t know why but it helps.
5. The day before a fast try to eat a moderate protein higher fat diet with moderate (25%-33%)amount of complex low glycemic index meals.

Cinque

8:34 pm
1 Mar 16
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Hi Squeaky,
And Quiet One!
I had a run of difficult fast days and I am not sure what caused the difference.
I am playing with: making sure I have a good satisfying meal the night before: a meat and veggies stew for example,
And, as I usually I don’t use up my 500 calories, I try to have a bean and veggie soup on hand so I can have a bowlful.
However, if I haven’t anything on, and I am able to be irritable with the concentration of a gnat, I let myself be it. I think it might be my body working really hard, in a good way.

This is just me trying things, so I am keen to see what others say.
I already drink heaps of water, and have miso soup.

Good luck working it out.

_deleted account

9:14 am
2 Mar 16
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Thanks to both of you for your answers and tips!

I’ve been finding it so hard that I even considered giving myself a week off from fasting next week (it’s my birthday week), but now I’ve decided to tough it out.

Cinque

10:03 am
2 Mar 16
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My birthday wish for you is that you have some lovely easy fast days! Good luck! 💐🎁✨🎉🎈

_deleted account

10:58 am
2 Mar 16
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Ahhh, thank you Cinque, that’s very kind!

QuietOne

6:18 pm
2 Mar 16
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The best birthday present you can give yourself. A FAST. Have a low cal, high protein meal, moderate fat meal and “small” slice of cake or half a cup cake as a reward to yourself.

I truly believe that if we deny our selves some small guilty food pleasures, we start to feel totally denied and that’s when major slips or totally going off the rails happens.

I do take breaks several times a year. I don’t fast I do drink more beer and eat BBQ and hot dogs and pastries and … well you get the picture. But I do it knowing what I’m doing and when my time out is over I get back on with it. Sure I gain weight but I’ve got great memories of time with my family, kids, grandchildren I’ve cooked some high calorie great fun BBQ (I love night train brisket, pulled pork, jerk chicken, pepper buttered steak) etc. 7 Pounds or so for a couple weeks indulgence is no major problem to over come.

Qsue

1:45 am
6 Mar 16
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Hi Squeaky, I was the same but I used my Atkins knowledge and realized on my fast days I was eating some carbs that were probably making me feel really hungry and miserable. I’d started eating nuts, legumes and root vegetables quite a lot. I just had two fasts where I ate mainly red meat and eggs, which is not my usual diet, and I felt OK and not hungry. Now if I feel starving on my fast days I go back to that diet but generally I just eat clean foods within the 500 calories. I tend to go with what my body tells me.I hope this helps.

_deleted account

3:28 pm
9 Mar 16
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Thanks for your comments, everyone, it’s been really helpful. I did fast this week in the end (not on my actual birthday though!), because my birthday celebrations have been spaced out over the course of a few days, and I figured I’d better try to limit the damage by fitting in my fasts. I am finding the fasting much easier this week, so hopefully I will see some progress when I get on the scales this weekend!