You CAN do this. I know it. It is hard – we all struggle with it, but it is possible. Try maybe 2 small meals rather than grazing a bit during the day? I have breakfast, then just water/black coffee/green tea until dinner and that gets me through. I do want to eat of course, but I just rush about at home doing housework and don’t go in the kitchen! You will get there. Keep going!

Dont give up – its a matter of finding what works for you. If it has to be 700 calories then stay at 700 till you get used to it then reduce some calories little by little. Remember 700 twice a week is better than the huge amount you were eating in the past. 700 is a start.

Have two eggs instead of one maybe time your meals out I have my non fast dinner then dont eat again until 12pm the fast day then again at dinner time. Drink lots of water I also find drinking warm liquids help ALOT green tea and black tea work wonders.

Dont give in, take measurements as well.

Hi,

I think that Couscous has a point. We can all sabotage ourselves, even though we aren’t trying to. Here is one way to think about 5:2: We are eating a small breakfast, skipping lunch and eating a small dinner. Doesn’t sound so hard that way does it?

Roosandwombat, maybe you need to set yourself a different goal. Instead of worrying about how much you eat, you need to train your body to go for longer periods of time without food than you do now. On your normal eating days write down the times and places that you eat. I bet you are a “grazer”. That is someone who eats small amounts through out the day. Not unusual as for years we were all told that eating that way would help us lose weight.

I drive a lot in my job and it is awfully easy to have snacks sitting on the passenger seat next to me, so that I can just reach over there and get something to eat. So now on Fast days, I make sure there is either no food in the car or at least, no food within reach when I’m driving. I still sometimes eat in the car on my eating days but not nearly as much or as often.

Good luck you can do this but you might have to work your way up to a full Fast day.

Quick

I find the secret is to keep very busy, plan lots of outdoor activities or outings especially places like the countryside/allotment/garden/swimming pool to make sure you are not hanging around anywhere near food or the kitchen, or even take a bath, dye your hair/do your nails etc. Or do a sudoku or crossword. In other words distract yourself, don’t give yourself time to think about food!

Hi R&W, I’ve completed 2 fasts now and am going to try to not eat breakfast on fast days, on my food days I normally graze and have done countless small meal diets. I am finding that eating stimulates hunger, but i think the most important thing i have learned so far is that hunger isn’t the disaster I previously thought,I won’t die, just be a bit (or a very lot)uncomfortable.but being busy and away from food helps. We can do any thing for one day, and tomorrow we can feast 😉

Hello Cydney

I struggle a bit on my fast-days, I find that i am quite hungry by late afternoon. Do these Fating-Support-Capsules really help? Where do you get them from?

I would appreciate it very much if you could let me know

Also, I am not losing weight (been on the diet for 4 weeks) Do you think it would help if i did 3 fast-days?

Thanks

Looking at the ‘5:2 Fasting Support Capsules’ for sale on Amazon, they appear to contain soluble fibre from the root of the Konjac plant (Glucomannan) which I believe is the same stuff as the ‘Zero Noodles’, mentioned in some other postings on this site:

http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/zero-noodles/

http://www.zeronoodles.com/

I have not tried either product and have no idea how helpful they might be in assuaging hunger or aiding weight-loss.

I had my 2nd fast day yesterday and it was a lot harder than my first day, but I think part of it was some dumb decisions I made in the morning — I actually can get constipated on feast days rather than fast days, and I woke up constipated yesterday and took some Senna, which was a big mistake. I think I was dehydrated yesterday even though I kept the fluids going. I felt lightheaded and cranky (was also hormonal, yeesh!). I can manage my hunger during the day, but after dinner I got completely ravenous to the point where I was in pain. I finally had a bowl of low calorie rice cereal and that did the trick, but busted my 500 calorie count. I’ll keep trying, this is only my first week, and I definitely learned from my mistakes yesterday. I’m really doing the Fast Diet for the health benefits and hoping to loss some body fat. I don’t need to lose much weight and I already keep my calories pretty low (1400/day mostly), so I hope I can see some benefits in my numbers when I go for my checkup later this year. I didn’t think 500 calories would be so hard for me, but it is only my first week. I really want to give this a good try to see if it helps my numbers so I won’t give up, but I’m also don’t want to get in a guilt spiral if I have to go over the 500/day. I’ll keep reading tips and strategies that other folks have and keep at it.

Rootsandwombats, I’m assuming that you’ve checked your TDEE and 500 calories is correct for what you should be aiming for? If not then I’d recommend you do that asap.

I had no idea about TDEE and was just going by the 500 calories quoted in the documentary for the first 10 months or so. It took me ages to get used to the hunger (which wasn’t really hunger but felt like it) and it turns out that I could probably have easily been having another 100 calories for months and still benefitting from the lifestyle. According to my TDEE I could still be having an extra 60 calories on fastdays if I want, so I don’t bother being particularly rigid and if I feel like I need another piece of fruit I have it.

If you’re struggling at 500 then I see no problem with hiking up the limit a little bit until you’ve gotten used to it. Then you can bring it back down if needs be. Whatever helps you ‘bed in’ to this lifestyle and stick to it.