Elly,

Have you actually started 5:2 yet? Your post is very negative (“seeming a lot harder than I thought”, “definitely wouldn’t be able…”, “42%…feeling ravenous…tough call”).

This kind of negative thinking is setting you up to fail. How about approaching this with an open mind? “I’ve never fasted for 36 hours, so I have no idea how that will feel, I’ll try it and see how I go (after all, look at the thousands of people who do this, it obviously can’t be that hard…)”

Also, you need to remember (unless you plan on staying awake) that each 36 hour fast period actually includes two nights. You won’t be ravenous for the whole of the time because you’ll be asleep for at least some of it!

The first night is absolutely no different to any night! You’ve eaten; you go to bed.

The day of the fast (you eat 500 calories) will involve a bit of hunger. But if you make sensible food choices (and the 5:2 books have plenty of ideas) you won’t be ‘ravenous’. And you know what? Feeling hungry doesn’t kill you! It’s actually quite natural and something overeaters need to reacquaint themselves with.

And then you go to bed. And when you wake up it’s a new (non-fast) day and you eat ‘normally’ (within TDEE). So no more hunger there than any normal day (and in fact for some less, the day after a fast day).

And two days fasting in a row isn’t 72 hours, it’s less.

I hope you give this a try in the right frame of mind because, done properly, it’s life changing.

But if you try half-heartedly, expecting to fail, and do fail, realise that it’s you and not the diet at fault.

Good luck. This works! It really really works! (I lost 30 lbs last year, and I’ve been under 60kg (BMI 20ish, size 8 UK) for over a year now).

Hi Elly,

Sorry for assuming you were interested in 5:2 for weight loss!

If you’ve fasted previously, you should know that hunger doesn’t build and build, and that’s no different with a longer fast.

I don’t know how you split your calories up, but if you have problems sleeping you might want to save most of them for the evening.

Also I’d recommend avoiding processed carbs and sugar not only on the fast day, but also the evening before. In my experience it’s the carbs that make you hungry, and make the hunger less bearable.

Re: fasting for health benefits. I don’t do 5:2 (or even 6:1) to maintain my weight loss now, and I’ve been wondering how to get the health benefits of fasting without losing more weight. I’m coming to the conclusion that I should probably aim for maybe a 3 day fast every few months…but I haven’t summoned up the courage yet…!