Hi HungrySteve, I felt like that when I started. I felt like that when trying to quit nicotine as well. After a week or so the sensation disappeared. Two month is a long wait.

If you are overweight and otherwise healthy you can be reassured that you are carrying plenty of fuel for the brain, however, like me – having eaten too much/ too often for years – it takes time to get the system ready to running on fat-depots again.

Assuming that your doctor finds you healthy! then one idea could be to eat MORE on the evenings on your fasting days, and slowly try to extend the period you are able to go without food. Once you can do 18 to 24 hours without symptoms, you can start reducing the intake/ or do more fasting days. Another idea could be that the on-off fasting is difficult to manage. Some advocate doing fasting for 19 hours every day (without counting calories) because they find this easier.

HungrySteve,

I have to calorie count every day or else I gain weight. For me, it’s more than just “listening to my body’s cues”, as I am one who can eat and eat for no reason. Or because I’m stressed, bored, tired, even when I’m totally stuffed. There’s a reason why I have been overweight, and after having had not such a great relationship with food for 25 plus years, I can’t merely rely on my body’s cues.

This is my 11th week on 5:2, and I am definitely more in tune with my body, hunger cues and eating habits, but I could still sit down and eat and eat if I wanted to, which some days I do. It’s interesting over the past couple of months, how many feelings I have experienced doing this plan, from being nervous to elated, doubtful to thrilled, discouraged to
steadfast.

A lot of people seem to hate counting calories and it doesn’t work for them. I am anal in nature, and I don’t mind counting, because I get a realistic accounting of what I eat, and then I don’t stress and worry about maybe having overdone it in a day and wanting to give up.

This http://thefastdiet.co.uk/how-many-calories-on-a-non-fast-day/ gives you a rough idea of how many calories you shouldn’t exceed on a non fast day.

Don’t know if it’s of any use to you but thought I’d mention it.

Any ideas? I have been sticking to 5:2 over 5 weeks now and not gong nuts on no fast days. I lost weight to begin with but am now stuck even putting on a POUND! I have not too much to loose, about 14lbs more would be good. Any Ideas or am i being impatient

I think my wife is seeing similar results as yourself. She finds the fast days absolute torture and then pigs out on non fast days. Lately shes taken to skipping fast days here and there which doesn’t help.

For myself it has stopped my weight gain dead. I realised that eating “normally” for me actually meant putting on weight. I think due to having spinal surgery back in Feb and having limited mobility since then.

I am now keeping a food diary and trying to be more aware of portion sizes and crap eating habits.

Best of luck to you man. Being overweight sucks.
T

HungrySteve, I’m sorry 5:2 wasn’t for you. It would be surprising, I suppose, if everyone reacted similarly to IF. I hope you have now hit upon a plan that suits you, and is sustainable.

Your experience makes me reflect on my own situation. I hope that my own take on IF has lowered my IGF-1, etc, but I can only guess at that. I’m not losing any weight currently, though I think (from belt etc) that I have lost some abdominal/intra-abdominal fat. That might be attributable to restricting my food intake to a six of seven hour period in the 24, most days, but eating what I want (which has always been lots). I don’t find abstaining from food for 18 hours difficult. Some days I have only one (big) meal, in the evening. The changes have NOT curbed my big, big appetite. It’s not post-fast bingeing, just my baseline level of greed. As I’ve said elsewhere, I broke even a 96 hour fast with a modest roast chicken dinner, but with seconds and then thirds, followed by a couple of bowls of home made soup about an hour and a half later. So much for a re-educated ‘stomach’.

I’m currently trying to cycle regularly, to raise my spirits in my SAD season, and help weight control. Calorie counting is not for me. I’m an all-or-nothing person. My family will be away for a few days soon, so I hope to do a decent spell of fasting, maybe 48 hours (water only), maybe more. I’ve felt like a 5:2 fraud for a while, because my weight is static. Hearing how it simply didn’t work for you makes me feel less bad. It obviously doesn’t suit Tobiasc’s wife, either. I don’t plan to abandon the first diet I’ve ever put myself on, at age 62, now 63. I want to sustain the likely metabolic benefits of IF, even if my weight remains static. Ideally I need to do more, cutting my overall intake in a sustainable way.

Hi Snadguis:

The key is “There has been no change in my food regime.”

You have lost weight, your TDEE has gone down, but you are eating the same amount of food as you were when you were heavier.

Figure out your current TDEE, count calories for two or three non diet days, and you will probably find your answer.

Good Luck!

Hi Snadguis:

Calorie trackers are commonly off by 10% or more. Unless you weigh and measure everything you put in your mouth (serving sizes, tastes while cooking, proper fat content in meat, etc.) your calorie count might be off. Also, TDEE is an estimate, so whatever you are using may also be wrong. You might recalculate using a lower activity level – unless you are training for the Olympics, you are probably moderate activity at best, probably less.

You cannot eat less than your TDEE on a weekly basis and gain weight consistently – your weight can go up/down a couple of pounds a day, but over time, if you eat less than your TDEE you have to lose weight. If you are gaining, you are eating too much. That is how everyone gains weight – by eating too much.

It is that simple – sorry.

Hi Snadguis:

Well, you should tell your personal trainer there is no such thing as starvation mode – your metabolism does not slow down if you eat too little food. Yours is a good example of how the myth (check FAQ, above, for Dr. M’s comments on the starvation mode) is perpetuated. You are working with a trainer. Your results are not satisfactory. Why? Can’t be the workouts which you are probably paying for. Must be something else. Wa La – a starvation mode that mysteriously prevents people from losing weight if they don’t eat enough calories.

Think about it – what would happen if you stopped eating altogether? Well, it is a scientific fact that you would lose weight. A ‘starvation mode’ would not kick in and stop your weight loss.

I still doubt that your numbers are correct. You say you ‘probably’ eat 1200 cal. a day on average. Research has shown that people that estimate their calories, on average, are almost 50% lower than what they are actually eating. Even nutritionists, that should know, underestimate their intake by, on average, 16%.

I suggest, again, that you count calories closely for two or three non diet days and see where you are.

Good Luck!