I totally salute you.  I will experiment with this further down the line.

OMG no food!! well done.. that must be hard. I am starting the diet this weekend after my wise food shop but will be trying my first fasting day on Monday so that if i fail i still have more days to succeed

I agree.
No food = no thinking about it; put it out of your mind.
No kitchen visits; I carry a bottle of water and am brought drinks of tea by OH.
No food also means no alcohol so that must be good.

Off topic: I wonder if smokers could do 2 days off a week to start cutting down? . . .

And I, like Sylphadora, feel hungrier from eating a bit than from have nothing.
‘Bear with it stoically’ is exactly right.

I’m working my way up to a 24 hour fast (I’m at 18 hours now) and I’m not going to bother with calorie counting then either. I’ll just take a small dinner and if I don’t feel like I need that anymore, I may even fast 36 hours.
For the time being, I love having a large salad with cottage cheese for dinner since it really fills me up.

I would certainly appreciate a comment from Dr. Mosley on this question. I am just starting the diet and I have no trouble going a full 36 hours without eating, and I like the simplicity of it.

What I would like to know is whether this is a healthy approach or not. Is thirty-six hours without food potentially damaging?

I CAN think of one possible argument in favor of eating low calorie meals on fast days – it acquaints you with low calorie foods that are enjoyable to eat and could spill over into influencing better eating of non-fast days. Just a thought, though.

Mike

Add another one here who agrees with Christian.

I tend to drink water, tea and coffee and just get on with it. When I started, the 2 meals a day made me think about food. I decided I would just delay eating for an haf hour or so and kept extending it. Once I had delayed far enough I thought why not carry on and just get it over with?

I did think in the beginning that I couldn’t ever do the mid-day to mid-day fast and today I’m giving it a go.
I am not looking at this as tortuous, rather something I can do to improve my over all health that is flexible and gives me a greater sense of control or management.

A quick thought Mike, on non fast days you could also acquaint yourself with lower calorie foods. Many of the foods are good and not necessarily designed with “rabbits” in mind 🙂

What has helped me is following a food plan based on the lower side of the glycemic index. It has really made my non-fast days healthier and delicious.

I believe that Dr Mosely addressed the metabolism question in the book. You aren’t going to go into starvation mode in a 24-36 hour period. You are still consuming fluids. I don’t have my book to hand, but I’m sure he adresses this.

Best of luck to you all.

i too am going to try a ‘no food at all’ strategy. i have ‘stuck’ at 20 pounds lost in 17 weeks (nothing lost for last couple of weeks) and i am finding that although I manage OK all day at work with just a green salad at lunchtime, I find that in the evening at home it is difficult to restrain myself. i think I can cope by removing food altogether and hopefully this will give me the boost – I am still committed to the IF lifestyle and hope this hels the weight loss – thanks – hadn’t thought of that !

Total fasting works for me – better than denying that a measly 500-600 calories was measured wrongly 🙂
So many people declare that they could never do a total fast – without trying it first – but if the battle is already lost in the mind, chances are that success would not follow.
Open your mind – you never know.

G’day Christian.

I also find it easier to just Not Eat At All on fast days. I cheated a little last week because my daughter really wanted to buy me lunch on my birthday and I gave in to fast food, it was supposedly healthy fast food. Totally regretted that. put on half a kilo! Won’t cheat ever again…

Hi, all. I am like AmandaBB and am also working my way up to a complete 24-hour fast. I made it to 20 hours on Tuesday (but only 18 yesterday because I had eaten a late dinner the night before and had commitments with my children). Next Thursday I am going to try to go 24 hours without eating–nothing but water and black or green tea–and then eat a 500-calorie dinner.

Mike Maddux–please don’t worry about doing your body harm if you don’t eat for 24 hours. You are not harming yourself in any way.

I am starting day one of my first fast and I agree 36 hours no food at all just water. I am having an early night to help avoid unhelpful thoughts, besides I had a big day and rest is great! I too would welcome Michaels reply to ascertain if this is completely safe and beneficial.

Lilygirl…this is a wonderful idea for Fast Days 🙂 May try it myself!

But, bencarl4321, why would you fast on your birthday? That’s setting yourself up for a fall – as you did. And then you feel guilty. This is not a diet about guilt.

I cannot go on fasting for only twelve hours but in excess of that I cannot. It makes me feel so dizzy and weak. I imagine all the foods I want to eat, lol. I can do cleansing diet only from eating raw vegetables and fruits for a week to ten days and I really lose weight so fast in doing so.

I’m impressed. I’m going to try this, maybe just coffee and tea with milk on fast days. Will I fall asleep though?

I am on week 4. No food is an option that I will eventually try.

Hi Lambada and welcome

Here are some tips: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

Hi wildflower.
I have met several other people (including my sister) who decided to fiddle with this diet and wind up falling off the cliff. The plan is 5 days of normal eating and two days of fasting where we limit ourselves to 500 cals for the fasting day.
What has been proven is that this combination works and is relatively easy to maintain.
I’m no expert but why do you want to change from something that has been proven scientifically to something that is not.
If I were you I would consult with others on this forum before trying to modify.
Just friendly advice and not wanting others to follow what may be a false trail.
Cheers
and good luck

Easier for me to not eat anything during the fast period.

Ie. Sunday evening to Wednesday morning. But since I don’t eat breakfast anyway go to noon. Have a hot cup of green tea with mint and hang on to supper. It’s close to 48 hours. It’s easy for me though,

I’ve experienced 24 dry fast for religious reasons and done 3 day dry fasts for spiritualistic tests and ideals.

The there’s the whole thing of just being underfed and malnourished as a child money didn’t grown in our garden or fall from trees. 2 and 3 days with out food was not unusual. and I can remember fried pan bread in bacon grease or lard with a 1/3 of an orange after not eating for 3 days. Lord thee orange made a veritable;e kaleidoscope in my brain. Pan bread in bacon grease as to die for.

Hunger passes in a day or day in half. The real hunger at any rate. I don’t think I could do 600 cal a day on fast days. It would just be torture or how hunger works. Not eating is easy just push the hunger to the side. I can easily deal with it tomorrow. I don’t get hungry unless I have something small to eat. Eat a little is truly painful.

I usually go close to 48 hours fasting ie. Sunday night after supper to supper Tuesday night. it’s not difficult. The only mental thing has been having to cook for others during that period. Lord I’d kill for those hash browns and eggs I made for brunch for the son.

It’s just easier to make up my mind no food on fast days and stick to that. I don’t have to start wiggin on should I have 200 now and 400 later or 600 all in the evening or luch or mayb midafternoon tea. Persoanl I’d rather have 1800 every 3rd dayday …. if anything I’ve said makes sense.

Hi astumbler. I started 5:2 in October and stuck religiously to the 600 calorie (for men) total up until last week when I tried eating nothing for 36 hours. I managed it and today am on my third 0 calorie 36 hour fast.
Everyone is different but personally I would have struggled in the first two months I think if I had not had something for an evening meal.
Just as a suggestion maybe hold off eating your evening meal until 7:30-8:00 pm, thereby giving the hunger pangs less time to kick in before you go to bed.

If you do decide to go immediately for the 0 calorie option, good luck, but if it’s too difficult please go back to 500 cals Fast Days with perhaps a higher fat / protein meal to satisfy you at the end of the day.

I started off my 5:2 4 weeks ago and I also decided it would be better not to even go near food on my fast days. I eat on Sunday night and then have nothing but water and occasional coffee until Tuesday morning (36 hours). I repeat this on Wednesday night to Friday morning. So far I have lost 6 kilos (nearly a stone in UK). I thought it would be much harder than it actually is. I find that I sometimes do get a slight headache and that I have vivid dreams! My goal is to lose 4 stones in total. When my weight goes below 15 stone I shall also add light jogging (something I can’t do right now due to being overweight and having a slightly dodgy knee)

I began the 5:2 diet at New Years 2016. I have never eaten on fast days, but do have one or sometimes 2 cups of coffee with milk. Other than that, just clear tea, and infusions of grated ginger and lemon juice with stevia sweetener. I fasted 3 days a week during the 40 days of lent, for religious reasons, Interestingly, it did not increase my weight loss. I began in January at 132 lbs, and now I am 120 lbs before my fast, 115-116 lbs after a two day fast.

I began doing two consecutive days of fasting so that I could get it over with and have 5 days of normal eating. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Actually, now I enjoy it. I am more productive because I don’t have to grocery shop, cook, eat, or clean the kitchen. I use my time to get things done uninterrupted. I rarely feel hungry, and when I do I have a hot drink, and feel very satisfied. I am only 5 feet, zero inches. I still have a bit of fat around my waist and thighs and on the inside of my knees. I feel that once my body switches over to Fat Burning mode, I am better off staying there for the whole two days and 3 nights, and keep burning fat continually for the whole time. If I do the two days separately, the body has to go through many more hours before the Fat Burning switch is turned back on again. This way- it is a continuous burn, and only one “Lead Up Time” to get into the mode.

I now fast on weekends so that during the work week I have full energy. My job is physically demanding. I can work and paddle with no food, and have done it with seemingly no ill effects, but would prefer not to. Mind you, I have a tremendous apatite on my feed days, and enjoy food very much. I have noticed though that I now can stop part way through a meal and say “I’m not hungry any more, I think I will stop here and put this food away until later.” I also find I am more selective about what I eat. Without trying to- I began to choose quality over quantity, and when I break my fast,I chew slowly, savour every bite and give thanks to the countless, nameless people who participated in the growing,harvesting, and distribution of the food in every bite.

The 5:2 diet has changed my attitude toward eating. It is no longer something I do because I’m bored, or because the clock says it’s meal time. I eat when I’m hungry, and stop when I’m not hungry- rather than when I’m full. I still enjoy a full varied diet, and even occasional indulgences of fries, ice cream, muffins, cake, etc- all without guilt. I now have a dislike of foods that have lots of bread or pastry around them, and I dislike drinks and foods that now seem too sweet- things I used to enjoy before, like iced cappuccino- now they seem sickly sweet, and I avoid them completely- same for soda pop or any fruit juice. These are changes that I did not anticipate, but I am very grateful for. I feel my relationship with food is much more healthy than before- especially that I never feel guilty about eating anything now, because I have paid my dues with my previous fasting period, and I can never feel like a glutton when I am going totally without food for two consecutive days a week. Today I complete my 67th day without food since January 2016- 7 months, 1 week. I go from Friday night to Monday morning- about 60 hours each time. My weight fluctuates about 4 lbs during the week, but has not reduced in 13 weeks. maybe this is my body’s “Happy Place”, or maybe I need to reduce my calories on the feed days to finish getting rid of the visible fat and complete the weight loss. Then I will move to maintenance, and fast one day a week.

Good Luck to everyone. I truly believe in this lifestyle choice. Thank You Michael Mosley for bringing this to the public- a much needed tool for the global obesity problem, and a great lifestyle change for anyone. I began this for my weight, but I stay at it to try to preserve my brain and reduce my cancer risk as I age, as I have a family history of early death with cancer, and a fear of senility in advancing years.

PinkQueen–Don’t ever doubt that you will get down to your desired weight. Once your mind is made up- and you are on the 5:2 as a permanent lifestyle choice, it will happen….gradually…perhaps slowly….but it will happen. This is way better than losing is much faster then ending the diet and regaining it all and ending up with Metabolic Syndrome. Slowly and gradually is the best way for lasting change.
I am a great admirer of St Francis of Assisi, and for anyone who thinks that a difficult goal is impossible- I think his words are as true now as they were over 800 years ago when he said…”First do what’s necessary, then do what’s possible, and soon you are doing the impossible.”
A more modern adage with the same message is…”How do you eat an elephant? Answer…one bite at a time.” You will lose the weight one pound at a time, but you will lose it, as long as you don’t give up. Enjoy the journey, not just the destination. I’ll update when I have changes to report. I wish you happy fasting, PinkQueen!

I was initially turned off by the idea of eating 600 kc through out my fast day. I actually started my own version of 5:2 with 36 hour water fasts. I might have done a 4:3 but I could only work in two days were doing so doesn’t make me horribly anti-social. Anyway I’m only a little overweight.

Reading these forums I soon realized that the diet is flexible and I just bought the kindle version of the book. It is nice to see a group that is more open minded about diet.

I’ve probably done more than a dozen short fasts and find that I’m not seriously hungry until after I eat something. Sometimes there is some minor hunger but it is less than I used to experience when I was trying to make the eat less and move more method work, then I really suffered.

In May I cut most of the refined sugar out of my diet and found that I was eating less and less hungry. I doubt everyone is like that, but there seems to be quite a few people like that. I now try to keep my added sugars under 5 teaspoons a day. After cutting back on sugar I lost 8kg very quickly even though I was adding back “healthy” calories. However at around 86 kg, the easy weight loss stopped and while researching about sugar I learned about IF. I started by skipping supper sometimes and it just evolved. This morning I was at 82.9 kg but that was at the end of 36 hour fast. However that was only my 3rd 36 hour fast and before that my weight was stuck at 86 kg for weeks. So I’m hopeful.

Okay if I was still calorie restricting I would probably be eating around 13000 to 14000 kc / week. This last week I ate ~ 15500 kc. So it really doesn’t feel like I’m restricting myself. However it is possible I’m overeating, time will tell. I’m mostly doing the fasting to improve my health, weight loss isn’t the only concern.

I believe I may try this as well. On fasting days I am constantly thinking about my next meal. This may help me not to fall off the wagon! Thanks for the recent posts on this topic, I think this may be what I needed.