I actually thought that consecutive day fasting was the method until recently. So i’ve been doing it. I find it easy but yes fasting does make you mentally slower and yes i think fasting should be done on non-work days.

It happens because your brain is not getting fed enough. Low carb diet books explain this pretty well.

You probably need the rest anyway.

Fasting shouldn’t really affect your mood i think and if you are getting mood issues, its probably a bit of stress about the fasting perhaps.

A lot of weight lost on a fast day is water so what you regained was mainly water anyway. Don’t worry about it. Put it down to a learning experience. But on non-fast days, i find i eat a little below my TDEE anyway. That said, the last two days have rather gone a bit over the top. Yesterday by design and today by accident.

Counting calories is quite time consuming so there are other ways. Learn about hunger and satiety ratings from Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis’s book The Don’t Go Hungry Diet. Her second book goes into it at great length but the first book introduces it, gives you the basics and focuses mainly on another important weightloss concept – set point. Its actually the most important diet book i’ve ever read. And whatever else you may have heard about set-point this is much better.It was her subject in research.

Anyway i do count calories but use the rating as well. Also i can just manage weightloss simply by food logging (which i did for most of the year) but i rather like calorie counting so now i’m doing it.

But i think for weightloss, its better to reduce your calories a bit below TDEE on non-fast days. Not much, just a bit say 50 or 100.

Also when you fast on the weekend, try to go without breakfast, beyond a coffee milk say. Then have a big lunch when you are hungry. Choose lots of vegetables cooked in a delicious way. I like them steamed, then sautéed in olive oil and garlic. Its simple but yummy and filling and sustaining. It takes about 300 calories.

In the evening a vegie soup is good. Or if your want protein, make your other 200 calories from protein.

Hi BookishCat! Just wondering if your mood and concentration problems have stabilised, or whether you’d decided to go for the weekend fasts.

I am in a similar position — not an academic, but a graduate student, and working in research at the university. I know the problems with academics — it’s totally brain work, so you have to be sharp, and it’s often self-directed, so you have to stay motivated to get things done!

I’m only on week four or so and am still finding the fast days pretty tough — feel like I’m swimming through glue sometimes — and try to get through work days with heaps of herbal tea and my head down. I’ve been finding I have heaps and heaps of energy the day after a fast though — maybe you could try planning out your week to take advantage of your highs and lows?

It’s hard to find ways to ‘treat yourself’ at work on fast days, in the way you need to to keep going. If you come up with any good tricks, let me know!

Hello Gecko, I’ve been practicing 5:2 since July 2016. I have to be very careful in planning my fasting days for the reasons you specify above. Like you, I am often dogged with brain fog, feel fatigued or tired on fasting days. I don’t have mood problems either, just issues with initiating anything and remaining focused. Many feel more focused and energized. In contrast, I feel as if my ‘get up and go’ already got up and went.

Because of this, I plan my fasting days on days that I have no commitments or responsibilities and regard them as ‘retreat’ days. I take time out and am gentle with myself as best I can be.

I’ll note here that I’m aware of why I respond to fasting days in this way and it is because I have related thyroid and adrenal weakness. I take thyroid replacement for Hashimotos Thyroiditis, which is an auto-immune condition. I also have a related issue with chronically low cortisol, which is an adrenal hormone. The body is prompted to produce more cortisol hormone in response to fasting and since my adrenals are weak, they are not able to produce optimal amounts. When others can easily exercise and work on fasting days because they have a plentiful supply of cortisol, my body struggles a bit to produce that hormone. Prior to 5:2 I took bio-identical replacement cortisol, so I’m aware of the symptoms of low cortisol and how they arise as my fasting day progresses.

I’m aware that many health experts caution against anyone with adrenal weakness to even consider fasting. So, what I did was to start out with only 1 fasting day a week to see if I could even handle this. I did okay, so progressed to 2 fasting days a week. I reached goal weight and have continued with the 2 fasting days though am looking to dropping back down to 1 a week in the near future. I’m finding that the heat and humidity of the summer weather where I live is also a stress and my fasting days have been somewhat more tiring than when I was fasting in more moderate temperatures (I’m talking temperatures in the mid to high 80’s in our house since we have no air/con and humidity at 80% since we live in a subtropical climate).

So, sounds like you are doing the best you can by fasting on the weekends. However, personally, I’d find back to back fasting two days in a row, too overwhelming for my adrenals, so given that you are able to complete both fasting days in a row, you’re doing better than I!

Thanks both for your comments 🙂 I had a thyroid test a year or so ago, Lael, as I was getting very fatigued, but the Dr said the results were fine so it was put down to just being overstressed generally. But it is still a problem.

I also eat mainly in the evening. I find that if I eat early I can’t stop! It sets my appetite up to expect food, I think! Whereas if I don’t eat until teatime, its much more manageable. I try to combine some kind of vegetarian protein (tofu or quorn for example) and vegs. Generally in the form of a stir-fry or something. But maybe I’ll try to switch it about and see if that makes a difference … Nothing to lose by giving it a go 🙂

Have a great day G x