First Day fasting here in Cambridgshire, England.

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drummerhodge

11:29 am
28 May 20
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My first day and I’ve got a whole bunch of queries I hope to learn and get answered on this journey.
– Is it better to fast for a whole 24hr period without eating at all, to gain the maximum benefit?
– How to get 600 calories from low GL and GI foods in one meal?
– Does 24hrs from breakfast to breakfast OR dinner to dinner work best? Why not lunch to lunch?
– Will having two meals on fast days be better? Better for chances of sticking with the plan and therefore long term success, or better in terms of switching the body to fasting state?
– How about people who eat in 8hr out of 24hr windows (like my meat head mate at the gym); he does it for fat % reduction whilst keeping muscles (he obviously eats way too much protein) but does he still receive the health benefits of fasting as described in the 5:2 fasting if he reduced his protein and ate low GL and GI foods?
– How about people who just wait 12-14 hours between meals anyway (say between an early evening meal and breakfast) each and every day without having fasting days per se -do they achieve the same benefits of the fasting diet? As long as they’re eating healthily with low GI and GL foods?
– The last one I recently experienced in India on a yoga course as they were giving the experience for a month of a ‘yogic lifestyle’ – this also involved a 90mins yoga class in the last 90 mins of the 14 hour fasting period between evening meal and breakfast – I never looked so good lol. Is there any research if this lifestyle in India results in the same health benefits a the 5:2 diet?

See! So many questions – I probably need to book a session with an expert….

I’m 38 and I’m on this fasting journey for the long term health benefits – after seeing my family’s health deteriorate from their 50’s onwards and my grandmother experience vascular dementia I am keen to live a long life and for that life to be active and fun until the very end!

Also, whilst my weight has massively fluctuated over the last 10 years (5 stones on and off and on again) I have slowly got this under control and and currently slim and fit but remain a ‘skinny fat person’ ; my fat % is classed as ‘obese’ and I would love to see this come down from 27% to a healthy range for me (8-19%).

My goal for the first few weeks is to try different patterns of fasting. I know the 5:2 book advocates splitting meals on fast days but I want to try to 24hrs straight after breakfast. For me I think it’ll be easier for me to have the rule ‘no food until tomorrow’ rather than to constantly have to make the choice to not eat and what to eat through the day – I think i’ll be vulnerable to weakness via ‘decision fatigue’ as the day marches on.

Thursday I’ll try a 24hrs from evening meal to evening meal and see how I feel going to bed without a snack beforehand and getting up to no food. Next week I’ll try splitting the meals.

Happy for any nuggets of wisdom and if any experts out there can shed some light on the questions above that’d be great. Best wishes to all!

Cinque

1:18 am
29 May 20
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Hi Drummerhodge, welcome here.

5:2 is set up to make intermittent fasting easy and sustainable, so the focus is less on fast weight loss and more on sustainable weight loss.

The idea is to fast from after your last meal at night, over the next day, and begin eating normally again at breakfast on the day after. So it is really a 36hour fast.

The original concept was to have a quarter of a normal day’s calories over that period. 500 calories for women, and 600 calories for men. This was to make the fasting period easier and so more sustainable.

Some people find it easier to have no calories at all, just water through the day, I found I could easily have around 350 calories (cuppas and a big bowl of miso soup in the evening). Some people find one meal in the evening is best, others find it works to snack on carrot sticks through the day. It will depend on your lifestyle and individual needs.

Some people found it too hard altogether, so Dr Mosley amended the maximum to 800 a day if needed. He argues that this will still work fine. See his book ‘Fast 800’.

Re GI or GL in your meals. Stick to lean or vegetable proteins, and lots of vegetables and you should be fine. Whole grains if you use grains. Check out the Mediterranean Diet Guidelines. One reason they are so highly respected by dieticians is because they are low GI.

You are absolutely on track to consider your first few fast days as a work in progress, see how your first day goes and make changes if you need to. Remember, easy and sustainable is what you want. That way it really will help you towards a long healthy life.

Best wishes and all good things.

drummerhodge

8:25 am
29 May 20
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That’s great feedback – thank you! Will add a 36hr trail fast to the variety I am trying. Just completed first day of 24hr fast and was pretty straightforward – just that ‘I’m missing something’ feeling from early evening onwards, and a bit of disrupted sleep. Many thanks.