If you normally drink caffeinated drinks, don’t cut them out, as a sudden lack of caffeine could give you a headache and make the fasting day harder. If you like milk in your tea or coffee just remember to count the calories. A cup of tea or coffee with (50ml/scant ¼ cup) semi-skimmed (low-fat) milk has 25 calories, made with skimmed milk it has 19 calories. A short skinny latte from Starbucks has 67 calories and a tall skinny latte has 102 calories.
You may find the evening rather long and drawn out too. As you have hopefully had 250–300 calories for your dinner you actually won’t feel as hungry as you did during the day. But if you are at home with some snacks in the cupboard then you may well need some will power. Top tips to get you through your first fast day evening: find something good on the television, have a hot drink and go to bed early!
Remember:
• Feeling hungry is a natural state.
• Have a calorie-free drink to satiate your hunger.
• The first fast day is the hardest.
• You only have to do it once.
• Tomorrow you can eat like a king.
• You are actively losing weight right now.
• Feel proud and revel in a real sense of achievement.
Your first normal day
Congratulations on making it through your first fast day! If you want, you can weigh yourself before you eat or drink anything. You may well have dropped 1lb in your first day. Now, normally I would be suggesting that you eat healthily and don’t snack on the day after a fast, but I think the rules can go out of the window on the first day. So you can eat what you like. Even though you have most likely been looking forward to your breakfast for most of the day before, you may find you are not as hungry as you thought. Or you may find you are starving and can’t stop eating. Don’t worry about it. It’s just your body adjusting and you can allow yourself some treats.
I remember on my first normal day I didn’t feel as good as I was expecting. The big breakfast made me feel tired and lethargic and I found it hard to get motivated all day. I have heard similar tales from others when they were just starting out with the 5:2 diet. These feelings will change quite dramatically as you continue with the diet. Just as the fast days get easier, the normal days get more, well, ‘normal’ really.
I suggested that you should eat three small meals on your first fast day. As you continue with the diet, you will probably want to adjust this to suit your body’s needs and your lifestyle. It is normally wise to leave at least 50 per cent of your calorie intake for the day until your evening meal, although you can eat this meal as early as you like, any time after 5 p.m. But how you split your breakfast and lunchtime calories is more interesting. You could skip breakfast, skip lunch or have a small meal at each.
Here are a few questions that might help you decide how best to manage your meals on a fast day.
• Do you get up early?
• Do you work in an office?
• Are you exposed to unhealthy food during the day?
If you answered yes to some or all of the above questions then it might be worth considering missing breakfast and having a slightly more substantial lunch. Why? Because eating at lunchtime will make it easier to avoid snacks during the day. If you are rushing out first thing, you should find it easier to miss breakfast.
• Are you busy during the day with little time to think about food?
• Do you feel cranky if you skip breakfast?
• Do you have a morning ritual which involves breakfast and coffee?
If you answered yes to some of the above questions then you should try having a bigger (200–300 calorie) breakfast and then going through until your evening meal. Why? If you are busy at work you will not notice lunchtime.
If you are still unsure, stick to three small meals and perhaps adjust a little when you discover your hungriest times of day.
Count your calories
This is, I admit, the boring bit of a fasting day. You have to count calories and you need to do it accurately, without leaving anything out. Don’t allow yourself any snacks between meals (except low-calorie drinks), as a snack will just waste your calorie allowance.
Read the packet of anything you are planning to eat, as practically all packaging will list the calorie content, then use one of the recipes in this book, which has been accurately calorie counted for you. Or, make up your own recipes, counting the calories in each individual component, using the calorie reference at the back of this book (here).
You will find that you have a few favourite dishes that you come back to time and time again. It’s often omelettes or eggs in some form, or a salad. You will be able to work out the calories once and know for next time.
Feeling hungry – it’s a good thing
I’m going to be totally honest here: you will feel hungry on your fast days. It may be a new kind of hunger that you have never experienced before, but it’s not a bad thing. It won’t make you ill and your body adjusts to it very quickly. This is because hunger is a natural state for our bodies, which haven’t fundamentally changed since the Stone Age. Hunger makes us energetic and efficient and we use our coping mechanisms to find solutions to the hunger. In the old days this would have meant hunting for food. When we feel hungry by choice, this means finding distraction mechanisms.
‘I have a drink to deal with hunger pangs or nibble on a carrot stick.’
Sarah
You will notice two positive things on your fasting days that you won’t believe until you try it. First of all, you will have more energy, not less. It’s unbelievable I know, but the majority of people on the 5:2 diet feel great on their fast days. I tend to feel lively, very chatty and have a natural buzz – the same kind of buzz that I get when I exercise. This feeling may not appear on the first fast day, but give it a week or two and start enjoying the feeling.
‘I’ve had more energy, so the house is cleaner. The windows have never been so clean!’
Deek43
The second thing that seems a bit crazy before you start is that hunger comes in waves and normally passes in a few minutes if you think about something else. I tend to feel a real wave of hunger mid-afternoon, a time when in the past I would tend to snack unhealthily, but I now head out for some fresh air and don’t think about food, and the feeling goes away. I might not feel hungry for another couple of hours and then it’s nearly dinnertime and I’m on the home straight.
Special mention to mums at teatime
Are you a mother of young children? Do you struggle on a fast day at teatime? Because I do. With a meagre breakfast and/or lunch, by teatime I am hungry, and then I have to prepare food such as pasta or chips (French fries), which I can’t eat. It’s just