@boobag before I started 5:2 I was using always starving until I cut most of the added refined sugar out of my diet. It turns out that in general processed foods make me hungry. I find now that the healthier I eat the less hunger I have. On my non-fast days I try to eat around 10 servings of fruits and vegetables. Works for me.

@boobag. It gets easier with time. You will have to use will power for about a month. It gets easier after that. Then after 6 months it gets ridiculously easy. I know this is cold comfort for you now. The production of ghrelin (hunger hormone) is produced in your stomach and pancreas and comes in waves which not surprisingly coincide with the times of the day that you eat which you have established over the years!! Its a partially learnt response! Ghrelin production goes down as your stomach shrinks when you start to eat less. When you get the hunger sensation have a big glass of water with lemon juice in it. Or a tea or coffee (NO SUGAR in it though). Then get up and go for a 10-15 minute gentle walk. This will also lower cortisol levels which is causing stress associated with not eating. The sensation will pass as ghrelin production drops.

Leptin is produced by fat cells and if you are overweight then this signal should be pretty big!! Leptin tells your body you have a lot of stored energy so don’t panic if you don’t have a meal today. While leptin is being produced it is blocked by sugar and fructose from being received by the brain (hyper thalamus). So you need to cut out all sugary treats. Limit you intake of grain based processed foods like bread, cakes, biscuits, pizza, breakfast cereals (pure nutritional junk by the way). If its grain based don’t eat it. No fruit juice, its nutritional junk!! You want fruit eat a whole piece of fruit.

Get your carb intake from veggies (no potatoes though) which contain a lot of fibre. Don’t be scared of fats. Eat high fat low sugar plain greek yogurt. Cheese, avocadoes are also good. eat whole fruit and go for your berry type fruits or very tart fruit like granny smith apples (crab apples).

Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food. If you have to open a packet to eat it, think twice about doing so. Real food doesn’t need a label on it telling you its healthy!!

Good luck. 5:2 works if you want it to.

I hate feeling hungry too, and although I’ve only done 2 FD so far, I’ve found fitting in food at my normal eating times (7am, 1pm, 8pm) works well for me. I can trick my body and brain into thinking I’m eating like a normal day, but the portions are much smaller for each meal. For “lunch”, the one meal I’m a bit more comfortable skipping, I have a 10 cal Hartley’s jelly pot and a big herbal tea, so at least I’m going through the ritual of eating at lunch time, then I have an apple mid-afternoon during the slump period at work where I’d usually grab a biscuit. I have a far smaller breakfast than usual, but I’ve had breakfast all my life and couldn’t survive without it, and my usual dinner post-gym of 2 poached eggs on a slice of Vogel. This seems to be working for me so far, but if you’re feeling peckish, grab a low cal jelly or some carrot sticks, or make a herbal tea or black coffee. I’m hoping it gets easier too as I get hangry as well, which isn’t fun for anyone around me!

@tigster14 it is normally to feel a little hungrier after a day of fasting. You might be better off delaying your breakfast a little so your two meals are closer together. Also try eating really slowly, when I do that I find it takes less food to fill me up.