I'm on week two of IF'ing so I thought I'd join in here. I was going to calorie count and throw in a 24 hour fast every Monday but then hubby and I watched the documentary about the 5/2 plan so now we are doing that. I'm still calorie counting but fasting mondays and tuesdays.

Last week I just did Monday and it was not hard so we'll see how two days go. Eek! The one difficulty is I noticed heartburn in the evening (when I normally would have been plowing through some food). I'll take a Pepcid tonight. :)

Can you repost the video please? I can't seem to find it.

Also I posted a forum question about IF and breakfast, but i'll pose it here as there seems to be more traffic. I'm generally eating 2 meals at 11am and 6pm and having little/no issue with snacks. But I have a problem with breakfast, I'm not craving breakfast but my cup of coffee which I drink around 7am seems to make me nauseous and I've been eating a few almonds to counter it. Is this ok to do?

There you do, wannabeskinny!

I think that whatever you do for not being nauseous is a step up from not being able to enjoy your morning coffee without inconvenience.

I wouldn't worry about eating a couple of almonds. Many people put cream in their coffee with no ill effects. As long as it doesn't trigger hunger, I would be fine with it.

My first two fast days are finished and it wasn't too bad! The heartburn issue wasn't a problem this time probably because this was week two of calorie counting. A funny thing this morning was I broke the fast with a coffee with 1/4 milk, then had a doctor's appointment and they couldn't draw the labs because I didn't fast. After so long fasting!! Haha!

I'm excited for this plan that might be the trick for breaking me out of emotional eating.

Hello all! Today is my first fast following the Eat Stop Eat plan. For those who don't know, it is a 23 hour fast where you don't eat after dinner one night until dinner the next night (you can move the timing around but I go dinner to dinner as it is easiest for me). I used it a few years ago and had success and could kick myself silly for ever stopping it.

CoolMom75, I'm an emotional eater too and I know when I tried IF before it really helped me. It showed me that I have a lot more strength to control my food than I thought I had.

I'm on week 3 and it's going great! The two fast days (doing 2:5) reset me and I notice my appetite is low, gradually increases each day until it's fast day again. And, yes, fasting forces me to find something other than food to relax myself after work or whatnot.

Hi! I've just started doing 5:2, as I got so tired of calorie counting every day. Is there a special thread for this diet? I couldn't really search for it, probably because of the format.

My first day (yesterday) went really well. Today I'm not very hungry which is nice. I think fasting turns off my appetite. I hope for another successful fast this week, but am a little scared of getting really hungry. It was a TOM kind of day yesterday, so that wasn't an issue... but hope I can keep it up.

Any tips for curbing hunger, aside from caffeine? I had some too late yesterday and was up all night. :( I also had a protein shake as my last meal, which was a huge mistake... It made me even more hungry for several hours. Lesson learned!

Herbal tea? The hunger feeling is kind of reassuring to me, that it's doing what it's supposed to: increasing hormones, decreasing insulin, burning fat, etc. I'm still calorie counting my other days but I am with ya on being sick of it.

I was wondering when IF would turn up in the mainstream... the latest Health magazine as an article about 5:2. Ha! Bout time

Hi everyone!
Not sure if I am a true IF'er in that I haven't read studies on it, or really much about it beyond 3FC. And honestly I don't really plan to.

All I know is when I fell into it last year from being on these forums I had never felt better, I trained for a long race while doing IF, and felt in so much more control over food, AND was losing weight 2 to 3 pounds each and every week. And all of that is good enough for me!

The very cut and dry nature of I don't eat now, I do eat now helped me tremendously. I learned to recognize the true feeling of hunger. And it kept my mind OFF of food, because I wasn't worried about when to eat, how am I going to get in 3 meals and snacks into these little amount of calories, constantly feeling unsatisfied.

When I think about the numbers, I do a 16/8 plan with one day a week doing a 20-hour fast. I begin my day at 11:00 with lunch and then eat a dinner, stop eating by 7:00 at night. I typically didn't have snacks because I would eat such a filling lunch that I wouldn't need one before dinner. A couple of times a week would have something after dinner as a 'treat'.
I found out quickly that I can get myself through morning no problem, but being hungry in the afternoon was just a ticking time bomb for me, where I just couldn't stick it out and without a doubt would dive into something bad for me. So the logical thing was to not eat breakfast, fill up at lunch, and then, bam, no afternoon hunger! :)
This plan worked beautifully for me and I am back on it as of this week.
I have no idea why I let it go and have allowed myself to feel like garbage for a year, BUT that's a post for another thread. LOL!!

Look forward to checking in here! And feels great to be back in control! :carrot:

Was it a positive article?

It would be nice if it got a little more attention and they busted some of the myths around it - like when people tell you you'll mess up your metabolism if you go a day without food. That one gets me every time.

DaugT, great job. I think the hardest part is finding what works for you. I love doing the 23 hour fasts and it works fairly easily for me. But I had a friend who just suffered trying it. It just wasn't the schedule for her.

I could have written this myself. I don't know if I'm doing it the "right way" but I basically skip breakfast, have an early lunch and then dinner. My afternoon cravings have either vanished or become tolerable.

What I'm confused about is why are people with eating disorders not supposed to do this? I have had an eating disorder and have been ok doing this.

I guess they are worried that if you start skipping one meal soon you'll be skipping more. Just a guess though.

That's the best feeling, to have those overpowering, distracting cravings gone!
I would guess the same thing, just nervous about the meal skipping. But if it's working for you then go with it!!