How long did it take you to adjust to fasting?? Because I'm starving lol

This topic contains 9 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by Debbborra 6 years, 5 months ago.

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

MaryIreland5to2

12:37 am
3 Jun 15
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Wondering if everyone’s hunger pangs lessened once your body got used to it…. Or if you just learned to ignore it 🙂

Hilary4

3:09 am
3 Jun 15
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I have completed 35 fast days to date and I still feel hungry those days – particularly if they are cold. My first step, when I’m hungry is to have a cup of tea or coffee with a splash of milk – they are calculated into my 450 calories (1/4 of my current TDEE)and certainly help stave off hunger pangs. I guess the difference is that I now know I can get through it reasonably easily and tomorrow’s breakfast isn’t that far away.

But I have noticed that my appetite has diminished and I can’t eat as much bread at a sitting as I used, to because I just feel as if it sits in my tummy too long. I actually do enjoy the feeling of hunger before I eat – as if I am more in tune with my body than in the past. I now use a smaller dinner plate than the non-5:2s in the family.

MaryAnn

3:58 am
3 Jun 15
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It does get better, probably for both reasons: less hungry and better at dealing with it. I think by the third week I was ok. I do 3 fasts a week, and for a long time the 3rd was the hardest (i.e., the one before the 2 day break)

Good luck!

fitnfast

8:34 am
3 Jun 15
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It was very difficult for me at first. I couldn’t even fast for blood work! I hated my tummy rumbling!
Now I look forward to it, because I know I am burning fat off My body, literally. So it gets easier, and you tend to look for the feeling after a while.

TracyJ

2:30 pm
3 Jun 15
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I’m coming up to 3 years (in August) on 5:2 and it does get easier I promise. You take as long as you take to get used to the ‘hunger pangs’ (which are really NOT hunger at all, REALLY!! You’ll know real hunger when you feel it once you get past those first few weeks and those ‘pangs’ aren’t it).

Once you get past that stage you recognize the ‘pangs’ for what they are – biological habit.

Eventually it becomes habit to not eat 2 days a week (for me) until late in the day. And when you’re on a fastday you can say ‘No’ to ANYTHING.

It’s the non-fastdays that feel more like a diet from that point on because most people lose a fair bit while they’re still dealing with the traumas of early fastdays and once they’ve settled into that they’ve lost so much that their allowance on non-fastdays has now actually reduced, so they either cut-down a bit on those too, or slow down with the weight loss.

MaryIreland5to2

7:47 pm
4 Jun 15
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Thanks for the feedback everybody! Wow tracyj, 3 years! How much have u lost if u don’t mind my asking??

TracyJ

1:02 pm
16 Jul 15
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Apologies for not replying sooner MaryIreland5to2, I’ve been off the forum for a while.

I started out somewhere around 210lb (I think – didn’t take a start reading but I was AT LEAST 15stone & ‘a bit’) and a UK size 16. I lost all of my weight & all of the dress sizes in the first 1-2 years on 5:2. I am now 12 stone (give or take 1lb)/ 168lb and a comfortable size 10-12 (I do have a couple of size 8 tops too).

I actually lost a further 8-10lb in year 2 but I undid all my losses by going crazy at the gym for a year between Feb 14 and March 15. I’ve NEVER lost weight through exercise in my life and the year at the gym just reiterated to me that I need to do this through diet and then maybe get back to the gym when I’m ready for maintenance. I don’t want to scare anyone off the gym or exercise, it does seem to help most people shift weight but not me unfortunately. I’m definitely fitter and I do still do the same level of exercise as I did before the gym membership but I’m only really bothered about losing another stone (14lb) and then I’ll be happy to re-join the gym and maintain.

Nerves of Steel

5:27 am
17 Jul 15
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Hi Mary, I just found your post. I have been doing the Fast Diet now for 8 weeks (6 kgs gone!) and I was worried about the hunger, being a person who through over 40 years of dieting has learned to fear the pangs. Like TracyJ I have got used to the feeling on fast days, and welcome it now as I have started to think of it as my body restructuring.
I’ve had a lot of help in the form of an MP3 download I bought from Amazon – it’s a self-hypnosis session by Lee Michael Tiller called 5:2 Hypnosis. I recommend this to everyone starting out! He has a lovely voice and his gentle suggestions really come to mind every time my tummy rumbles – it soon goes.
I’m sure most of this, like anything, is a mind game, so anything that will help my poor old mind has to be a good thing.
All the best, Karen 🙂

Suzzane

11:55 pm
10 Jun 18
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Today isvmy first day and i feel like im dying of starvation. I believe my liwer intestine is eating my larg intestine…. So hungry

fasting_me

1:51 am
11 Jun 18
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Having been a Faster for 5 years, I do not find hunger to be an issue. Are you water fasting or eating food? We make sure that the food is full of protein and lots of veggies/fruit to keep us feeling full. Drinking water helps too. My husband lost 45 pounds by Fasting and he still continues twice/week. One has less appetite over time.
If you are hungry, really horribly hungry, then consider what you eat.

Debbborra

6:03 pm
16 Jun 18
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SOUP!
Seriously, introduce as much liquid and nutrition into your day as possible.

Also, at the risk of sounding like my father who said this about almost every complaint, try not to think about it. By that I mean, find distractions, not suck it up 🙂

The first day I did this I thought it was not possible. But eating more protein and more liquid really makes it easy.