The FastDay Forum

Hi all
On my 3rd back to back fasts because I hit Plateau and so far I am ok not hungry but thirsty so drinking lots of green tea, will weigh in the morning and hopefully will be a few pounds down.
Its going to be a long day but I will not fail wish me luck.

I have to say that I don't really think that's a good idea. I don't think it's healthy and it might not even be effective, since your body might go into starvation mode. You really should separate the days with a regular eating day. IMO. Good luck with it!

Good luck

Hope it goes quick for you.

I am doing my first 2 day fast as busy on my normal day so hoping for a easy 2 days.

[carorees]

The problem with adding more and more fasting when you plateau is that fasting is stressful on the body and results in cortisol release, this acts to prevent fat burning and encourage the body to use its glycogen reserves. Thus it may be counter-productive. I am surprised that Krista Varady has been suggesting just adding more and more fast days to break a plateau. The best way to break a plateau is to continue with the feast/fast cycle. If you do decide to do a three day fast (which is the limit allowed for discussion on this forum), then you need to follow it with a really good feast. See this thread about fasting too much: 5-2-diet-chat-f6/fasting-you-re-doing-it-wrong-article-by-brad-pilon-t8861.html

Yes I will be feasting 2moro, I dont think Im doin any harm to my self Im feeling fine not hungry and still eating my 500 cals a day and drinking lots.

. If you do decide to do a three day fast (which is the limit allowed for discussion on this forum),

... glad to hear that. I thought 2 days of 500/600 together was the limit but clearly you say 3 is ok from the point of view that none of us ever being tempted into any eating disorder situation. Personally like the 3 days a week but spread out.

[Tracieknits]

Three days with food (500 calories/day), 36 hours with no food are the limits we can discuss here.

I don't think it's smart, or effective, personally. I think you're just likely to make your body think it's starving and then reduce your metabolism so that you don't burn calories. Even 4:3 isn't worth it in my book. Carorees did a mini study of forumites on the subject and found people lost an average of 1 pound/week doing 5:2 and only 1.2 pounds per week extending it to 4:3. That's not worth it, in my opinion - the third fast day makes you lose less than half as much as the first two, for the same amount of effort.

Three days with food (500 calories/day), 36 hours with no food are the limits we can discuss here.

I don't think it's smart, or effective, personally. I think you're just likely to make your body think it's starving and then reduce your metabolism so that you don't burn calories. Even 4:3 isn't worth it in my book. Carorees did a mini study of forumites on the subject and found people lost an average of 1 pound/week doing 5:2 and only 1.2 pounds per week extending it to 4:3. That's not worth it, in my opinion - the third fast day makes you lose less than half as much as the first two, for the same amount of effort.

I do see mixed feelings about 4:3 in the forum but the 4:3 tent is rocking fastonbury-glamping-grounds-f34/the-4-3-tent-is-up-t11057.html and we have many there that are feeling good about their decision to add a day to the traditional 5:2 regime either temporarily or long term. For some, perhaps the .2 pounds extra is worth it in that its an extra pound after only 5 weeks. And also many here so look forward to fast days because of
- more simple meals
- less food prep/time in kitchen
- keeping focussed on restricted calorie intake
- a way to negate the sins any "going over TDEE" on feast days.
- less food consumption /money saving

and probably some other reasons

hence, the extra day is no "effort" as such indeed in some ways can be considered less effort

but back to the subject of back to back fast days, I couldnt do it

I've been doing 4:3 for at least a year now, but not any consecutive days. It means I can eat a little bit more on my feast days. I've not had any bad side effects from fasting and have consistently lost weight.
As I've reached my target, I shall drop to 2 days a week, on my return from holiday, for maintenance.

[Tracieknits]

4:3 is fine, if people can handle it.

I tend to discourage it, especially for newer people, because *for me* I don't think it's as sustainable. And in the end, the best diet is the diet people can stick to for the long-term. My concern is that people will start off with 4:3 and decide this whole fasting thing is waaaay too difficult and give up altogether.

But yes, congrats to anyone who does have success with it and feels they can stick to it long term.

I tried fasting two days back to back, last year. I failed miserably!

For what it's worth, I haven't gone to ADF for the little extra weight loss, even though it would be nice of course. I needed a change, and I was weary of how 5:2 seemed to be getting ever more complicated for many people on here. I broke away from slimming world and other branded diets because I wanted a SIMPLE solution. By the time I contemplated counting carbs/cutting sugar/TDEE and who knows what else, I might as well have been doing SW

I'm actually shocked how easily the ADF routine has fitted into my life. It will have been three weeks on Wednesday and I'm loving it. The structure seems to keep me on my toes, and is easy to fit around my life as it is. I didn't have any qualms about fitting in an extra feed day at the weekend, because one doesn't have a milestone birthday every week

Good luck to everyone, whatever plan you follow at whatever stage

I am with Winesome on this one - I have found its actually easier to do ADF due to the structure.

I have also found my weight loss has doubled compared to 5.2 - I have lost the same amount now I did doing 5.2 over 6 weeks as I have doing ADF in the past 3 weeks.

Also as Winesome said it just makes it so much more simple as there is no need to worry at all about what you eat on feast days as you will always be at deficit. (well I am anyway and I try eat as much as I can on Feast days)

I am going to try and find it but I read an article recently about "starvation mode" and the scientist discussing it said it usually takes close to a month of near no food before the body would enter such a mode so I find it really hard to imagine anyone doing this WOL/WOE entering a true starvation mode.

4:3 is fine, if people can handle it.

I tend to discourage it, especially for newer people, because *for me* I don't think it's as sustainable. And in the end, the best diet is the diet people can stick to for the long-term. My concern is that people will start off with 4:3 and decide this whole fasting thing is waaaay too difficult and give up altogether.

But yes, congrats to anyone who does have success with it and feels they can stick to it long term.

I definitely dont encourage it to start off with. Reckon at least 2 months on 5:2 before you even think about it. which is roughly how it happened for me.

Indeed if someone is really new to the concept, and I evangelise all the time about 5:2 i say start with 6:1.. 1 day a week only just for a few weeks.

The problem with adding more and more fasting when you plateau is that fasting is stressful on the body and results in cortisol release, this acts to prevent fat burning and encourage the body to use its glycogen reserves. Thus it may be counter-productive. I am surprised that Krista Varady has been suggesting just adding more and more fast days to break a plateau. The best way to break a plateau is to continue with the feast/fast cycle. If you do decide to do a three day fast (which is the limit allowed for discussion on this forum), then you need to follow it with a really good feast. See this thread about fasting too much: 5-2-diet-chat-f6/fasting-you-re-doing-it-wrong-article-by-brad-pilon-t8861.html

I'm guessing that the effectiveness of throwing in another fast day (3 in a row! yikes!) depends on the reason you are plateau-ing. If it's because you are overeating on non-fast days to the extent that you are not in calorie deficit for the week, I guess it will help. If the problem is reduced metabolism (starvation mode, famine reaction, whatever) due to fasting, throwing in another fast day might make things worse. I used to think the former was unlikely, until I started logging my calories in MFP! My (predicted) TDEE is quite low. It's really easy to overdo it!

I am with Winesome on this one - I have found its actually easier to do ADF due to the structure.

I agree with this, too. A lot of non-fast days in a row is a disaster for me when I tried it. Krista Varady doesn't have sustainability issues in her trials of ADF. That is not to say it is for everyone, but in general, I would say compliance/sustainability are not an issue.