I’m on my second attempt at the Fast Diet. My aims are to lose body fat and maintain a steady weight. I find the fasting easy and go for a 4 : 3 regime. I am a poor sleeper at the best of times, averaging about 6 hours sleep a night, but the Fast Diet has made things much worse. I’ve had nights without any sleep at all and I cannot envisage keeping on the diet long term. The disruption in sleep happens on most fast days regardless of the amount of exercise I do. I’ve read through the posts and not found anything to cheer me. I’m considering adopting a ‘normal’ weight loss regime and including one fast day. Would I still get the benefits of intermittent fasting this way? In the past I’ve lost muscle and don’t want this to happen again.

Try different ways of entering ketosis. For example, eat a protein/fat only diet for dinner (e.g., salmon, beans, meat) and also for breakfast (yogurt, eggs). I changed to this and things improved. I didn’t get the radically quick weight loss like before, but I actually weight exactly what I did when fasting. It just took a little longer.

Hi Everyone,

Anxiety, stress, and depression are some of the most common causes of the sleeping disorder. Other common emotional and psychological causes include anger, worry, grief, bipolar disorder, and trauma.

TiredStephen – sorry to hear about your sleep issues. I too have my sleep affected by 5:2. Dr Longo in his Longevity Diet book does address this issue directly and speculates that 5:2 may cause jet-lag like symptoms in some people. I’ve been doing 5:2 about 8 months and I have found that my sleep is slowly improving but I still wake earlier than I used to. I have found recently that eating carbs in my evening meal helps. Unprocessed – eg a root vegetable stew – low enough in cals even for a fast day if prepared without oil. I know lots of people tend to avoid carbs but perhaps they are not all bad?

Maybe you should try the Fasting Mimicking Diet for a bit? 3-5 days of fasting once a quarter or once a month. It is a good weight-loss programme if done once a month – a little slower than 5:2 but possibly more health benefits?
Both Penguin and Diverdog have tried these and done well. You would get the benefits of fasting, which seem so much better than daily calorie restriction, and possibly less disruption to your sleep?

Good luck in finding something that works and let me know when you do!

I struggle sleeping on my FDs too. In the past, as well. When I have more to lose, it’s not a problem, but when I get closer to goal, it gets worse.

I’m normally someone who sleeps a solid 9 hours per night, and I’m very active as well. But after a FD, despite saving all my calories for dinner, I get hungry before I fall asleep and this seems to keep me alert all night. Then I’ll wake up around 5.30, alert yet exhausted.

I’ve done some reading on this and it seems to be due to higher cortisol and adrenaline from not eating enough. Biologically your body is stressed and needs to energise you so you can go out hunting for food. This keeps you awake longer, and then wakes you sooner than normal.

As far as I can see, the only way you can get around this, if keeping fasting is a given, is to somehow increase what you eat before bed. Or at least give your body the sensation of this. So I would have thought something high in protein might be beneficial. Personally, soup really fills me up, so I am thinking of ensuring I have a small bowl or mug after dinner and before bed, to trick my body into feeling full enough to relax properly.

I’ll see how I get on and report back, as these past few post-FDs have been a tired struggle. Otherwise I’ll have to think up something else.

Hi Endellion. I put back on 10kgs eventually as I just didn’t have the discipline to maintain the 1 fast day a week with my chaotic work life. I am now retired the 10kgs are gone. I’m following the fashionable Keto diet combined with intermittent fasting (stop eating at 8pm and start again after 12pm the next day). No problems sleeping or maintain weight. Keto should not be maintained permanently but a low fibre and carb diet suits my body. I find the intermittent fasting easy too. Plenty of U.K. Facebook groups and other English speaking ones that are very supportive. I was introduced to Keto by a retired general practitioner doctor.

Didn’t feel too hungry on my FD today, and felt quite relaxed as well. Often on my FDs I feel quite alert rather than sleepy by the evening but touch wood this’ll continue tonight into drowsiness.
Have been around 700-800 calories total today, allowing for a sensible amount of filling pasta for dinner with veggie sausages. Then I decided to try some fat before bed – 1 tbsp coconut oil stirred into some warm milk with vanilla extract and a dash of sugar free syrup. This actually tastes amazing and very indulgent too, and I’m hoping will be what I need to have a proper sleep.
Luckily today I woke up early and did a good workout, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to drop off and sleep well.

Lost my post…

Anyway, the gist was it still took me a little while to drop off, and I still woke up at 5.40 this morning (I have no idea why it’s always that exact time post FD?!). But I fell asleep again, woke up at 7.15, and feel rested enough to go about today as normal. Unlike after some of the bad sleeps I’ve had where I just have no energy for anything.
I certainly felt more satisfied and drowsy before bed, and didn’t have that gnawing hunger during the night or on waking.
It’s too soon to say what helped directly this time, as I woke early yesterday and also did an energetic workout.
But I’ll be keeping up the coconut oil or similar before bed on my next FDs and report back.
In other news I hit a new low on the scale this morning so it’s good to know my experimenting isn’t impacting negatively on my progress!

Reporting back following another FD, and my best post-FD sleep. I went for a long walk, and worked out. Then I was very satisfied after a bbq dinner, a huge plate of veggie sausages and lots of different grilled veggies and salads, for around 450cal.

I enjoyed a half cup of warm oat milk with coconut oil and a splash of vanilla extract before bed, at around 10.30pm. Fell asleep easily, and slept right through til 7am.

You seemed to have nailed it. Once you get to your desired weight, try intermittent fasting to maintain

I never did 500 calories because I read another 5:2 recipe book. Unfortunately even
eating 700 calories was too low for me. I achieved the weight loss anyway at between .5 of a kg to 1kg a week. I upped to 800 calories. Always had dodgy fast nights.
Glad you have found success.

I recall one scientist explaining importance of sleep and shown most of mind effort during sleep goes to repairing digestive system. From that study follows: if you don’t eat -> less need to repair -> less sleep needed. You do not report fatigue etc., so just find something interesting to do in them additional hours – you have more time to be awake, to live!

Disclaimer: that was just some videos of somebody I recall watching long ago, not peer-reviewed study and I’m not sure I have checked studies he mentioned, but his talk seemed logic and scientific. However I won’t guarantee results are correct, anyway I kind of like this idea.