How long till you got used to Alternate Day Fasting?

JustStickWithThis

Hi.

For those of you who do alternate day fasting, how did it feel at first? Did you need to really push yourself to get through your fast days? How long did it take? And do you do complete fast days (no food at all) or modified (500 calories)? Is it easy now? Did it work?

I am starting this. I’ve read quite a few books, articles, and seen a few documentaries. It sounds good in theory.

How’s it in practice?

Thanks in advance.

rikkejohnsenrij

I do 5:2 IF...eating about 500 kcal on my "fast" days
the first couple of weeks it was quite hard (I drank a lot of spiced tea, sparkling water and ate gum)..now I'm starting to look forward to those days..especially after weekends with lot of social arrangements

I lose about 400 g / week (probably because of the weekends:) ) it's a setup that works fine for me

kommodevaran

I haven't tried this particular regimen (and not going to), but my experience with other regimens is that it's not so much about how long it takes to get used to, but about how long I can keep it up, and what I'll do when I can't anymore. Finding my "forever" diet and exercise plan, which sounds so boring that you'll die if I try to describe it, has been essential for my weight management and done wonders to my health and general wellbeing.

CaffeineAngel

I did ADF for a year and managed to drop 70 ibs in that time. About two years on not sure I'd say I haven't gained back weight, but that's because I've been lifting weights to improve body composition. I still do 16/8 daily because it suits me to eat within a six hour window and I feel sick if I don't exercise fasted.

For me the first week was tough to get through - a lot of black coffee and stock cubes in hot water made it bearable. Tried to make the days where I fasted ones when I had a lot to do so I didn't have time to feel hungry (ie long work days, hoursework). Naps are useful, and keeping warm essential as your body temperature goes a tad bonkers.

I admit I mucked up a little with ADF. I would eat 400 cals/ day one day and 1,200 the next as I had never dieted before and read a lot of misinformation. I dropped the weight quickly (started at 190ibs-ish, got to 120ish by the end). When I did start eating properly again, I was constantly ravenous and had severe moodswings...not saying this will happen to you . This is just to emphasise the importance of eating your TDEE/ TDEE + 10% on nFDs. I realise now what I did was some pretty severe crash dieting to put it mildly - I don't regret losing the weight or losing it quickly, but it's a pain to rebuild lost muscle. Getting there slowly.

Anyway, as this isn't about my being silly I'll stick to the point. Personally I love it and still do 16/8 and love fasting as a tool despite my mistakes. My advice would be try it for a week or month and see if you can adapt, and liking black coffee or hot water will make the process easier. If you can try not to eat during the day as even, or perhaps especially, a small snack will spike your hunger. For me it was easier to just keep busy and ignore food until the evening and eat the 400/500/600 calories then. Or just refrain from food those 24 or 36 hours entirely but I didn't do that.

No idea if this helps or not. It's not for everyone but worked for me (eventually).

JustStickWithThis

@rikkejohnsenrij awesome. I’ve heard about 5:2 also - sounds pretty good.
@kommodevaran I relate. I’m hoping this will be a forever diet of sorts.
And @CaffeineAngel that was quite useful! Great personal insight. I appreciated it very much.
Thanks everyone!

rikkejohnsenrij

@kommodevaran : I completely agree with you...finding the "forever diet" is what matters not jumping on every new diet in the magazines
FOr me 5:2 seems to be the one...I can (and often do) overeat in weekends...and lose it again by light fasting 2 weekdays

CarvedTones

I did 5:2 for a while and may again. I had one meal and no snacks on the "fast" day. The idea is that you reduce the number of meals from 21 to 17 per week and if you eat normal meals then you cut your calories roughly 20% or more, depending on what meal you pick and how much you normally snack. I stopped because I was not even close to the healthy range as I was cutting way back on other days. I started that before joining MFP and starting to track. I lost a lot of weight, but there was more lean body mass lost than I would have liked. Anyway, I may do it again from a healthy diet.

To answer your question - I did Monday/Thursday and never really had much trouble with it. Multiple days between fast days is best. You should keep your average calories above the minimum (1500 for men, 1200 for women). I did not and I could be happier with the results. I mostly lost fat but my chest and shoulders need a little work.

Dnarules

I know 5:2 works well for many people, so I am not coming in here to knock it. I'm just giving you an experience from the other side. I tried 5:2 for a full month. The first two weeks were not that difficult, although the fast days were not that much fun . I was doing about 500 calories on the two "fast" days and maintenance on the other 5 days. After a full month, however, I was starting to fantasize about what food I could have on my maintenance days. I actually don't have an issue with binging, and this is probably the closest I have come to just losing control and eating ALL the things. So I stopped. I much prefer the 16:8 type of IF.

toxikon

I couldn't do it, it was too rough. Same with OMAD. I was just so ravenous that I'd want to binge on junk food and fast food - and yes, I could stay in my calorie range, but I wasn't getting many micronutrients or fiber in the process.

I settled on 16:8, basically just skipping breakfast, having a light lunch and afternoon snack, then a large dinner.

rybo

No experience with ADF, but I've done 5:2. The fast days were no problems at all with regards to hunger. But the planning part had to be meticulous. I made sure to have lots of filling yet low calorie foods. Spinach, mushrooms and other vegetables, eggs, and fish were a staple.

JustStickWithThis

Sounds to me like most people eat either reasonably during non-fast days, or undereat on non-fast days. I have the opposite issue. I eat quite a bit more during non fast days.

TriflinTriscuit

not true! check out the 5:2 website and it is ENCOURAGED to LITERALLY eat whatever you want on the non fasting days. after getting used to sustaining on so few calories on the modified fast days, you just naturally don't eat as many on the "whatever you want" days. but don't think of it that way. part of the reason it has worked for me for almost 3 months is that I am not so hard on myself. I count calories by day but also add them up by week to make sure there is a proper defecit, and even if on 2 days i have over 2,000 calories, i still end up losing weight because so many modified days are 500-700 calories. I love it and have lost over 10 lbs so far.