Congratulations on completing your first fast day Clare. Yes, eat all you want today. It’s fairly common to over-compensate on the day before and the day after a fast day when starting this new WOL. Perhaps out of habit, possibly out of fear of hunger. This will pass and you’ll probably find, like many of us, that you simply aren’t hungry at all the morning after a fast day. As time passes and you get more experienced at fasting, ‘what you want’ and how much of it after a FD will also change. That’s why I say eat what you want today. Master the FDs and the rest just comes naturally without even thinking about it. Good luck!

P.S. My husband, who is no longer fasting with me, heads straight to the kitchen the morning after my FDs for a big fry up! I, on the other hand, am so happy with my frothy coffee, I don’t eat anything until about 11am.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more nutritional, natural, healthy and whole food than a banana. Clare is complaining of hunger post FD, not failure to lose weight. Restricting carbs on day two makes this no different from any other diet and sets us up for failure. This is not what 5:2 is all about.

I think the point is that eating 100% carbs is not the best way to break a fast. Eat carbs if you want to but include some fats to temper the blood sugar spike. Porridge, banana and toast are all high glycemic carbs that will drive appetite when the big bolus of insulin that follows eating them causes blood sugar to fall.

Good luck with your second FD Clare. As you have noted, there are lots of different opinions voiced on these pages and my recommendation is that you read Dr M’s book if you haven’t already. It’ll be the best $11 you’ve ever spent and then you’ll have the background from which to decide whose advice best fits your personal situation. This is a very flexible way of eating and no one size fits all. However, with respect to 5:2, it works exactly as stated without changing anything else but, of course, you can change and adapt what you’re currently eating if you want to. Like you, I spent most of my adult life losing and re-gaining weight. With over 375 fasts behind me, I can say with absolute certainty, that this is a sustainable way of life. Once those FDs are mastered, the rest just comes. There’s no need to feel deprived. Most of the time.

Your idea of having a little protein in the evening of a FD is probably helpful in keeping you feeling more satiated and not waking early from hunger. There’s nothing worse that being hungry when you go to bed because, unlike during the day, it can’t be distracted with activity. I used to reserve enough calories for a boiled egg (80) or a banana (110) before going to bed. I’ve never woken up hungry.