How long till you got used to Alternate Day Fasting?

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

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).

@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

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.

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.

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.