Very grumpy on fast days?

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Very grumpy on fast days?

This topic contains 13 replies, has 12 voices, and was last updated by  happylc 10 years, 10 months ago.

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  • I’ve been on the 5:2 diet  for just over 2 weeks now, Ive lost 500grams (1 ib) and 2 inches off my chest (under the bust) – not as much as I was hoping for but its better than nothing! Ive been steadily gaining weight over the past 6 months for no reason (doc says its prob stress as i dont exceed my GDA) I put on 12kg (26.5 ibs)!! Tried every diet imaginable and nothing works, including regular exercise, even tried the 800cal a day starvation dieting and just didnt lose any weight at all. So 1ib and 2 inches is a celebration for me!

    But. I am a complete psycho bitch on fasting days. My body is in pain from around 2pm onwards, its so bad that it makes me cry sometimes. Cramping, heart burn, stabbing pains, its awful. Besides that I am grumpy, irritatable, aggressive and just all round unpleasant. Does any one else experience this? will it go away after a while? or am i fasting for too long at a time? I normally fast from dinner the previous day (7pm ish) to breakfast the following day (10am ish) which is around 39 – 40 hours at a time. Is this too stressful on my body perhaps? should my fast days be shorter??

    If my mood on fast days doesnt start to improve i’ll have to quit the diet, or my boyfriend might kill me haha! Your comments would be much appreciated!

    I know what you mean. I have to eat a proper meal the night before – something healthy with enough protein – and then not eat until dinner. If I have something in the morning (barring milk with coffee), I don’t feel as good during the day.

    Also, I find it very very important to drink much more than usual – I think we get a lot of fluid from food, so I feel I have to make up for that. Or maybe the drinking enough thing is all in my head, but whatever – it helps.

    That might not work for you, but I hope it gives you some ideas of things you might try. Good luck!

    Agreed on the water intake. Very important! It can also help assuage the feeling of hunger if it gets really bothering. Try having hot drinks as well – tea, coffee, whatever rocks your boat. I know that now in the summer you probably won’t feel like it, but warm things in the stomach have a comforting effect =)

    That reminds me: a hot cup of miso soup or veg bouillon is great when I get super hungry in the afternoon! I agree with Sylphadora, the warmth helps assuage the hunger pangs.

    It sounds from your calcultations that you are not eating at all on fasting days? I know people are trying different variations and what works for some does not work for others. The book says to eat 500 calories on a fasting day – normally spread over two meals, either breakfast and dinner, or lunch and dinner. I have found that by skipping breakfast and then having a light lunch as well as a light meal in the evening I am actually only fasting for around 16-17 hours at a time. However it keeps me motivated to know I can have something (however little!) at lunchtime and then it’s not long until dinner. I am only a week in but the scales are moving in the right direction already (although I appreciate I won’t really be able to tell for a few weeks while my body adjusts).
    I think if I didn’t eat anything at all on fasting days I would give up very quickly – and would be hell to live with too! It may be you’re fasting for too long at a time?
    I also agree with the hot drinks suggestion – I’ve found a cup of black coffee works wonders!

    I’ve found that I’m actually quite cheery on fasting days – more so than usual – provided I do eat my 600 calories (I’m a large bloke, hence the different number). Those 600, though they aren’t a lot, make the difference between excruciating discomfort and mild discomfort. I doubt I could bear a true zero-food fast, but the 3 small meals are quite welcome… and make me appreciate them more.

    For what it’s worth, I also second (third, fourth…) everything said here about drinking lots. Coffee, fruit teas, fizzy water, maybe even the odd diet can. It makes a small but noticeable difference. If you have heartburn, though, fizzy drinks and coffee are probably not that good an idea, as they can exacerbate it. Fruit teas may not taste quite as good as their heavenly scents, but they remain pleasantly palatable even when they cool.

    I also suffer from heartburn (not specifically on fasting days, though if it happens then it gets worse than normal) and I found that Gaviscon (which is a true miracle cure for acid reflux and heartburn, IMHO) keeps it at bay. You might want to give that a try.

    I had my first fasting day yesterday and I was fine until the evening when I became a psychobitch too! I am sure I will get used to it and find a rhythm which suits my body – either that or I will become a hermit 2 days a week! Lots of fizzy water and green tea with jasmine got me through and I have to say I had a fantastic night’s sleep last night. Being busy and getting fresh air was important too.

    Update:
    @ JacquiA I am eating on fasting days, I eat 500 calories, usually comprising of breakfast and dinner. Ive found that black coffee with stevia get me through the day and having a protein based breakfast makes the world of difference.

    I have just started my 4th week and I am no longer that moody on fast days, in fact I have come to rather enjoy them strangely enough. I was fasting from the last meal the day before, until breakfast the following day, which was around 38 hours, but now I have started to have a mug of warm milk and a light snack at night at the end of my fasting day, rounding it down to around 26 hours instead.
    Ive only lost 1.5kg in the 3 weeks ive been on this diet, but my stomach looks firmer and slow weight loss is better than none.

    @ Ghengis65, I think if you are experiencing bad moods like I did, change the way you fast. The changes I made were: make sure I get my 24g of protein on fasting days, dont fast too long, start the day with a protein based breakfast (protein shakes are amazing for this as you can get your entire GDA of protein for just 110 calories)and drink lots of warm drinks.

    I have been doing the 5:2 for 6 weeks, and the grumpiness may fade for you if you stick with it. I used to have hypoglycemic reactions to hunger, but it feels that fasting is helping my body manage better. I was patient and hopeful, pushing through the discomfort to reap the benefits of a brighter mood after a couple of weeks.

    Week 5 feeling fine. Week 6, so far, I have been a total grouch. I feel like I have been pretty positive about things, but yesterday I was totally grouchy. I sorta blame it on my muscle soreness from working out. But I was frustrated that I couldn’t eat more because I felt hungry. I went to bed early last night and I am feeling better today. Hopefully the grouchiness has passed. Good luck to everyone!

    Hi musicgirlalaska, I can relate to being a grouch! Monday was fast day for me and hubby he was at work I had the day off and when he got home from work we just snapped and snarled at each other. We are a couple that never row and even our 13 year old daughter said “Why don’t you two just eat something!” We were able to laugh about it but I am finding that our fast days are often grumpy and as I am a believer in “life is too short to be grumpy” it depresses me. I envy the people on this forum who enjoy their fast days. I have also developed another problem in that after a fast day when I eat normally I feel queezy all day like I am going to be sick and this is starting to really bother me. If anyone has any thoughts it would be a great help.

    Hi Very Grumpy on Fast Days,
    All of what is said before me resonates. The beginning of the diet is probably the hardest time for everyone. Remember to be kind to yourself and that your body and your mind are going through changes and they’re telling you so in no uncertain terms (hunger, mood etc). I found the first week a bit of a killer, but I reinforced what I was trying to achieve by reading some of the stories written in by ordinary people in the 5:2 book and also what Michael wrote on the physiology/psychological side effects. We are so used to eating any old time that our bodies expect it and sends signals to the our brains saying ‘hey, let’s have a coffee and a muffin because it’s 3.00pm and that’s what we’ve always done’ … or whatever the habits are that we’ve created.
    It does sound as if you’re a long time between your normal evening meal and your fasting day breakfast. Maybe you need to tweak the timing a little if that is possible (I don’t know what your job etc may, so that may be difficult in reality). I have found that eating a couple of poached eggs with tomato and greens really does take me through now with relative ease to the late afternoon. I use the afternoon to take a walk – I’m in Australia so have daylight until 7.30pm, which obviously makes that achievable – more difficult if you’re in the UK. I also cook on fast days from the 5:2 recipe book and that takes up around 30 minutes, plus cooking time. We sit down earlier, by 7pm(ish), on the fasting days. If you don’t have the official recipe book, I urge you to get it. The food is truly delicious and we comment every time that we can’t believe this is a diet! Make sure your food looks great too. I think it’s important in making those days special rather than viewing a couple of blobs on your plate and thinking ‘bleugh, when will this end’.
    I am especially lucky because I’m doing this with my partner. He doesn’t need to lose any weight but has a history of alzheimers/dementia in his family and will try anything to lessen or slow his own risk. So he eats a little more on his normal days. We have just entered our sixth week and both reckon it’s become habit already and both feel quite profound positive affects. I generally recognise, for the first time in my life, when I am full. I don’t think I really appreciated that before. I wasn’t terribly overweight but had allowed myself to creep up over the past year from around 62kgs to 70kgs. I’m 167cm so could almost pass it off if I dressed well, but I was uncomfortable and not enjoying carrying the extra around, especially if exercising or having fun. I was really fortunate that in the first couple of weeks I did lose quickly. Truth be told, we changed not only what we were cooking on normal days, but how we were cooking it. We are foodies and love cooking from Jamie Oliver’s recipes, stuff like that. The past 6 weeks has been less oil, less bread, substituting cream for low fat yoghurt or reduced carnation milk, that sort of thing. We’ve also entertained a fair bit over the past few weeks and had family stay, so have enjoyed desert and wine and long breakfasts. I really believe that the fasting days have jogged my metabolism into working more efficiently on the normal days. I have lost just over 5kgs in 6 weeks. I am prepared for this to slow considerable over the next period and my goal is to be back to around 62kgs (I am just under 65 now), by around February … Christmas WILL be enjoyed!
    I guess what my advice to you would be, is don’t be hard on yourself and reward yourself for both wanting to change and also taking the step to effect that change.
    Like everyone else said, drink, drink, drink. It does help. And if one day is not working for you on the fast, let it go for that day – you’ve lost nothing. Over half of your day was probably more successful than you give yourself credit for. I’ve never been into the motivational banter, but I readily say that re-reading the official 5:2, as well as checking out the personal forums, does offer a bit of solace when the going is tough. Saying that, it now doesn’t seem tough. It’s approached as a positive and we shop and cook according to what recipe we’re next trying out.
    I wish you loads of luck and best wishes in your journey. It’s different for all of us. I figure if the population really is going the way it’s reported to be – a huge percentage of us will be over 70 years of age, possibly obese, if obese then definitely with all the flow on health issues that come with that, a pension that seems to not afford a very good lifestyle and limited choices given to us at that stage of life. All not good! If we’re prepared to be ‘greener’ in terms of our environment, why on earth would we not also want to be healthier ourselves and leave less of a footprint for the kids coming up behind us. I read the other day that in Japan (talking of the rising older population) that nappies are bought at a significantly higher rate for adults as opposed to for babies. That’s alarming. I for one want to be fit and healthy when I’m older, or at the very minimum, know that I looked after myself and that whatever comes my way was not made worse because I gave up and continued the way I was headed.
    This somehow became more serious than I had intended.
    I should have said “Dear Very Grumpy on Fast Days – It gets easier and good on you. Everyone thinks your terrific for doing this.”
    I hope to see your name change to ‘Fabulous on Fast Days’ sometime soon!
    Cheers, Rebecca

    I look forward to fast days, or salad days as my husband refers to it.
    What I’m mindful of is not being grumpy but putting in more effort to concentrate through the day. I’m also aware that just because I’m fasting, that my colleagues don’t realise the difference.
    So I’ve been keeping busy on fast days both at home and at work, so I don’t think about food.
    This week is week 4 and I’m determined to stick to it – 1.5kg down on the first week is my motivation to continue to get rid of the 4 kg total.
    Cheers.

    I’m grumpy the morning after a fast day!! Have had to say to my poor husband to let me eat before asking me to function or discuss an issue!!

    I’ve found upping the water intake really helps with adjusting n to get results. Still trying to get into more exercise esp. on fast days but only just about to start my fifth week. Feeling better n healthier than I have in a long time so the weight loss might take its time but I know I’m doing something great for myself.

    Persevere n always listen go your body. Be prepared to experiment with slightly different ways of applying the 5:2! These forums are great to grab ideas from all over the world!

    Happy fasting.

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