This topic contains 41 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by Coffeecurlygirl 6 years, 4 months ago.
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Hi,
Next time when you fast is going to be much better. And then next week much much better and so on. It’s getting easier in time. In about two weeks maximum four you’ll have no problem at all. No light headed, no migraines nothing like that.
Just keep going.
I felt exactly like you but now I’m good, no problem at all during the fast days and I’m in my 4th week now. Plus you’ll see, in about two weeks you’ll start to eat less even on the non fast days.
Hi Coffycurlygirl,
May I use Ccg for short?
You did your first FD well. The lightheadedness could be a slight lack of salt. When we eat less food we aren’t getting the salt or fluid contained in the food we didn’t have. Therefore we need more fluid and sometimes a little extra salt. A 5:2 hack – wet just the tip of your finger, I just lick it, and dip it in salt and have that.
Do you have chronic fatigue or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.(ME/CFS)? If you have ME/CFS then you may need a little extra salt anyway.
You can lose your excess weight with 5:2 Coffeecurlygirl, and after you get the first few weeks done you’ll have worked out the basics, and it will not feel like dieting.
A couple of us here have ME/CFS, now maintaining, after losing our excess weight without exercise that would be detrimental to us. I lost 46lbs. It goes a bit slower than those who can exercise, but what is commonly seen here on the forum is that it’s what you do with food that loses the weight, and exercise is about health rather than weight loss.
Stay on the forum and you’ll see your questions answered and your weight go down.
Onwards and Downwards,
Merry
Hi CoffeeCurlygirl!
I’m back on the 5:2 wagon – I followed this way of eating before my wedding back in 2016 and managed to get some inches off my measurements and felt great on my wedding day. However, for all manners of reasons I didn’t keep it up, and in fact my eating habits turned terrible during 2017 and the first part of this year too, so I’m back on the forums and have become a lot more mindful of what I am eating.
I found the light headedness did get a lot better as my body got used to fasting previously. I also wasn’t eating enough salt on my FDs too, and realising that really helped with any ‘heady’ feelings! I’d sometimes have a Miso soup to help with that.
Really well done for getting through the first fast day! I’m doing my first FD today in over a year, so reading the comments above in the other replies has helped remind me of what to do for the best.
Coffeecurl, taking up Fasting is the right move. We started 5 yrs ago, got to the weight we wanted, and continue to Fast 2 days/week. it works. You can do it. My husband used to feel odd after breakfast on the day after a Fast, tho he doesn’t anymore. I chalked it up to having low carbs one day, then lots of carbs the next meal. As I said, he got over it.
You are correct to eat protein on a Fast Day, as it helps you to feel full.
Good luck!
We have developed a regular pattern of eating, so that we have certain types of foods on certain days. it simplifies our lives to preplan. So if I say we have pasta every Wednesday, we might have 20 recipes to choose from, not the same one every week.
What do we eat on Slow Days?
Sun: Pancakes or special Coffee-cake with chicken sausage for breakfast; roast chicken or lamb or pork with all the trimmings. Mon: Fast Day.
Tue: coffee-cake with fruit yogurt and bacon for breakfast and Sunday rework for dinner.
Wed: High fiber, high protein Cereal + fruit for breakfast, Pasta with sauce [husband used to eat 2-3 oz pasta to my 2 oz. now he has 2 oz pasta and I enjoy 1 oz] plus veg and bread for him.
Thurs: Fast Day.
Fri: Baked goods + fruit yogurt and Canadian bacon for breakfast, fish for dinner with rice [not much for me] and veg sides.
Sat: Cereal + fruit for b-fast, personal-sized home-made pizzas for dinner. We drink wine on Slow days with dinner.
We have a glass of wine with dinner. We don’t count calories on Slow Days but I do know my TDEE and try to stay at or under it. After many years of counting calories, I sort of know what everything ‘costs’ though I do count on Slow Days if my weight bounces up and won’t come down again…
good luck, Ccg
Hi Ccg!
How are you getting on? I’m in my second FD this week – Tuesday was a success and it’s just so bloomin’ hot again that I barely feel like eating today…. so at least the weather is helping in some ways!
When I was following 5:2 last time, I ate whatever I wanted on non-fast days and still lost weight. However, I was always so surprised at how I wasn’t hungry the day after a FD… I really was expecting to be starving, but very rarely found that was the case.
I was also a bit concerned about just eating whatever I wanted on NFDs, but it really didn’t stop any progress. I started off at around 10 stone 6 and lost a stone – most of that stone was lost in the space of 2 months too. As fasting_me said, I was aware of my TDEE and just tried to mentally tot up roughly the calories I was eating most days but I never tracked them, and never stopped myself from having a ‘treat’ too. However…. I started to find that if I’d had a day of pretty rich eating, I would actually look forward to my Fast Day to help ‘reset’ my body a bit!
Ccg, some people find that carbs [starchy ones] are an eating trigger and make them hold on to weight. That has not been a problem for me [except for white rice which I avoid]. You said you were leery of eating carbs on Slow days, so you might want to see if they affect you. Then you’ll know if you are OK or if you need to reduce them.
Fasting today: Eggs with Welsh Cheese & Leeks for breakfast. Strawberry-Chicken Spinach Salad for dinner.
fasting_me, your food sounded lovely yesterday! I had a couple of courgette & butternut squash croquettes mid-afternoon, then had a little bit of left over chilli from my FD on Tuesday with loads of salad (no dressing of course) last night. Other than that, I spent the day drinking what felt like gallons of water! It’s lovely to have a good summer, but man am I looking forward to a couple of days reprieve now?!
Ccg, I’m sure you’ll see a little movement on the scales even with the carbs. Of course, everyone’s different as fasting_me said earlier, and some people tend to respond to carbs differently but hopefully you’ll be absolutely fine with them.
I’ve just weighed in after my first week and pleased with the progress. Onwards and downwards!
Have a good FD, Ccg! 🙂
Ccg, I’m guessing you didn’t weigh yourself before you started Fasting… Lots of people are reluctant to know what they actually weigh. For me, I want to know where I started so that I can see how much progress I’ve made. At some point, do weigh in so you will have a comparison. Your once a week sounds reasonable. It is great to see the number go down! Sometimes they blip up for a while, but we know that a few good Fast days will set that to rights.
As for water retention, wouldn’t that come only if you were eating too much salt? Just curious. Not something I worry about.
Have a good weekend.
@fasting_me. For every gram of glycogen (stored glucose) you have about 4 grams of water retention. Hence the initial rapid weight loss when people start fasting. You are depleting your glycogen and hence shed a lot of water. After this initial burst the slower weight loss is more likely to be fat. While salt does play a role its really quite minor.
Yes Ccg!! – really good work on the 3lb loss! I shed 2lb last week. Good work on the Friday fasting too, on so pleased it was a lot better!
I ordered a couple of the fast diet books last week (the summer fast diet book an also the official 5:2 recipe book). I typically just make a low fat chilli and eat that with loads of salad leaves on my fast days. It’s what I used to do last time, but I’d quite like a bit of variety on my FDs over the coming weeks and months, so hopefully will get more recipe inspiration from the books.
It’s been a pretty indulgent weekend for me, as it was my sister’s birthday. So just drawing a line under that and carrying on with the 5:2 routine this week. Fasting today (Monday) and 2nd one will be Wednesday. I find only having one day in between fast days seems to somehow make the second one easier. Though it is nice to have the flexibility to throw a fast day in anywhere in the week!
Onwards and downwards!
That’s great @coffeecurlygirl ! I also feel a lot more vibrant since getting back to 5:2. It’s a bit like a sluggish, grey cloud has lifted – it seems so counterintuitive that eating far less than ‘normal’ on a day could make you feel more energised, but apparently it’s a common occurrence. Long may it continue. 🙂
I also did my FD yesterday though I have a leg injury at the minute which is scuppering my walking plans. I’m having it looked at today so hopefully it’ll settle down this week. I’m in a ‘workweek hustle’ challenge on my FitBit with some friends and their friends – I’m so competitive, I don’t want to come last, so need to get my steps up!!
I was a bit peckish at lunch time yesterday but didn’t have too much in the office, so I made myself a protein shake. I ended up working quite late and didn’t get home until 8pm or so, so I cooked up and egg with mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach and some smoked paprika for flavouring (I love chorizo, so smoked paprika gives me that flavour without the cals of chorizo on a FD).
I’ve had a quick scan through one of the recipe books and there are some lovely looking dishes in there. It’s the ‘fast cook’ book written by Mimi, who co-authored the original 5:2 diet book with Michael Mosely. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1780722176/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Next fast – Wednesday! 🙂
@fasting_me – thank you, your blog will be a great help – really appreciate it!
@coffeecurlygirl – thanks, the leg isn’t terrible but turns out it’s all stemming from a disc issue in my back. I prolapsed a disc a few years back in my mid 20s, so I’m going to do everything I can to stop this other one going the same way. I didn’t know then what I know now, so I’m hopeful I can stop it in its tracks a bit. I’ve booked onto the pilates class at my gym tonight, and will be cancelling my place at the Zumba class this weekend to avoid any unnecessary high impact. Such a shame, I love Zumba – but I love not having back pain more.
How did yesterday go? I ended up going to the cinema last night with my SIL and niece – I didn’t eat anything through the day and saved my calories for a small bag of salted popcorn. It worked a treat!! Movie was massive distraction from wanting to eat more, and I knew I wasn’t going over my cals with the popcorn because I’d checked it out online before I went.
1lb off this morning from last week and 1/2″ gone from my waist and hips (and my low waist, which is where I carry all my weight, but the tracker online here doesn’t have that as a measurement). I’ve joined in on the August challenge on this forum too, to keep me in check!
I totally recommend spices and herbs with fasting meals – they really help lift up the flavour and save on calories. Smoked paprika is a revelation – for years I was just using normal paprika (which still has its place), but since I discovered the smoked variety, I use it in Chilli, Spanish chicken, Jambalaya etc. It’s great.
Hope you had a good one yesterday 🙂
Onwards and downwards!
@coffeecurlygirl – DEFINITELY keep measuring, that’s the best sign of actual fat loss rather than just what the scales say. I remember reading that in the 5:2 book and from what the documentary said all those years back! Huge success – shows it’s working! 🙂 x
Keep up the good work, Ccg! How clever you were with the taco dinner! Brilliant!
Good advice about measuring, babs. When we began, we measured. Now we still measure and record it on our Fasting Anniversary, just to see if we have slipped or improved.
If anyone is interested, here is my recipe for fish tacos:
Fish Tacos: 266 calories 2.6 g fat 3.6 g fiber 23 g protein 37 g carbs 118 mg Calcium PB The food truck staple is now available for a Fast Day. Add more spices to suit your taste.
two 6” corn tortillas 3 oz cooked fish HINT: next time you grill or broil fish, cook an extra 3 oz for this recipe. Wrap it and label and store in freezer until needed. ½ cup tomato, cubed ½ cup cabbage, chopped 1 oz red onion, sliced 1 Tbsp lime juice or salsa verde [Herdez brand is good] pinch chili powder pinch cumin 1.5 Tbsp plain yogurt
Combine the cabbage, tomato, and onion in a bowl with the lime juice and spices. Heat a large griddle or cast iron pan and put the tortillas in it until they are warm, pliable, and beginning to brown. Remove to your plate. Spread the tortillas with the yogurt. Divide the fish between the tortillas and add a splash of lime juice or salsa verde. Top with the vegetable slaw. If there is too much slaw to fit into the tortillas, serve it on the side. What a simple summer dish!
@coffeecurlygirl – well done on the FD!
I managed yesterday though it seemed a lot more a struggle yesterday. I wasn’t too hungry either, but it was a real mental challenge yesterday. Still, I persevered – I didn’t eat any food until 7pm or so. I cooked up a chilli (the ol’ FD staple!!), and had it with salad and 2 spoons of rice (desert spoon).
Because I didn’t sail through with no negative thoughts, I somehow felt like I’d failed at fasting yesterday. However, I’ve reminded myself that I did actually successfully fast!
@fasting_me, thanks for the fish taco recipe – sounds beautiful! I think I’ll have to try that 🙂
Hi CCG!
I was the same this week – I stayed the same on the scales but when I measured I had lost 1/2″ on waist, hips and bust. Pleasantly surprised at that. I seem to remember this happening last time I started the 5:2 – the weight didn’t drop for a week or two but I ended up getting smaller.
Good work with the 16hr fasts each day – I’m pretty much doing the same too. I had a pretty indulgent weekend as well, so quite pleased I’m still getting smaller. 🙂
Ccg, here I am encouraging you. Fast Day tomorrow? go for it. What will you eat? Think ahead.
Emotional Eating is something that the Fast Diet will not/cannot cure. Since it comes from the individual’s own past and patterns, it must be solved/resolved by the individual. If/When you work out the ‘why’ of the eating, you will be stuck with it. Good luck.
Yeah, thighs are one of the things I measure, since that’s where I store the fat.
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