The FastDay Forum

[Debs]

Let's keep this nice please, there is no need for any untoward comments on what is an interesting topic of conversation.

[carorees]

The results from the questionnaire we ran back in April also show that one meal on fast days is best for weightloss, with a higher proportion of people who only have one meal among the big losers (i.e., the highest quintile of weight lost per week). More detailed analysis of our results is ongoing but supports longer fasting on fast days as producing faster weightloss.

I agree that DrM published before the science was fully established but if he hadn't I'd still be massively overweight and drugged up to control all the health effects of being obese. We don't need more research to tell us that losing weight is the best thing for our health if we're obese. If you can hack ADF, fine but the forum stats show that the weightloss is not all that much faster with 4:3 than 5:2 and I expect the same will be true of ADF as it only adds another half day. I think that whereas with ADF the non-fast day calories work out at 110% of TDEE, 5:2 results in people eating under TDEE, because our questionnaire finds most people eat less than they used to plus less carbs in many cases so that means less cals.

Last, I note that Varady reports people maintaining on having two meal, 1000 cal fast days...16:8 anyone?

surfing around I found this as well: http://www.weightymatters.ca/2013/04/di ... -diet.html

It speaks to two issues: do Mosley and Spencer deserve all of the credit they're getting for IF and do they misrepresent the science.

I am extremely new to fast diets and am a bit about these two articles. There are people on this forum who have lost weight and changed their way of eating for good.
Surely it must be working?
I intend to give myself 6 months on 5:2 and see how I get on!
I'd struggle to eat midday though, as I'd spend all evening obsessing over what I can't eat!

I can understand why Dr Krista is peeved, but if it wasn't for Dr Mosley's TV prog, how many of us would have lost weight and gained better health and confidence? Yes, fast books had been published long before the 5:2 fast diet but not many people knew about them.

Dr Mosley has changed so many people's lives for the better - my daughter is so happy now that she doesn't feel guilty every time she eats a normal meal and I wouldn't have even thought about losing weight, I would have continued piling on the lbs for the rest of my life if I hadn't seen the Horizon programme.

Yes Juliana.Rivers, he IS a God!

About 18 months ago I was toying with only eating every other day, I had been thinking of doing this for quite a long time, there is nothing new in ADF but for some reason ( I suppose I thought I'd find it TOO hard!) I'd not got round to it. I decide last June that I would just reduce my calorie intake by a little every few days and try to lose some weight that way. a few months later I saw the Horizon programme with Dr Mosely and decided that he made it seem do-able so off I went and the rest, as they say, is history.

I have always been aware that the programme was about his own personal experience and he certainly adapted Dr Varady's diet to suit himself. At that point I don't think he was aiming to take the world by storm or even write a book, but he caught a lot of imaginations, mine included, and a few months later the much hoped for book hit the shops. There is actually very little from Dr Mosely in the book, about one quarter to one third, the rest is padded out by Mimi Spencer. Lets face it, how many words does it take to say " two days a week eat 5/600 calories and eat normally the rest of the time"? That's right, about 15 words! It was all I needed, just 15 words changed my life for ever. Much as I love this forum and reading about all the differing opinions and topics and I love reading about about the tweaking that goes on, just like Dr Mosely tweaks and I now do 16/8 myself, I have never felt that "Pure 5:2" is what this is all about.

Whilst I can see where Dr Varady is coming from I really do not think it was Dr Mosely's intention to hijack her studies but on the other hand who amongst us would have heard of her otherwise and who amongst us would be planning to buy her book when it it released? Her attack on him is, in my opinion, a little ungracious.

Ballerina x

Last, I note that Varady reports people maintaining on having two meal, 1000 cal fast days...16:8 anyone?

perhaps not if they eat breakfast and dinner.

Caroline, do you know if Varady has done a study on the three meals versus one meal question?

It is an interesting argument but I find myself wondering how many people would manage to stick to ADF if they were not encouraged by being part of a study with close personal supervision. Not me for one. Sustainability not science really seems to be the key. If you think you can hack it with ADF fine otherwise do 5:2,4:3,16:8 with whatever tweaks work for you. Let the scientists fight it out and just get on with what works for you.
As for the 25 lb weight loss in 6months on ADF I have lost 21in the same time and have had at least 5 occasions when life has got in the way and I haven't fasted for at least a week, so I personally am quite happy with 2 days a week and the odd tweak.

I found out about 5:2 on one day, saw the program the same day and did my first fast the next day.

I did the same. Well, not exactly because my partner use that way of losing weight for 30 something years and I told him he was crazy when he first talked to me about it

Dr M told again and again that there were researches done based on IF but that WOE was not for him, so he chose to do 5:2 instead because he planned to do it for the rest of his life. He also had a Dr who was responsible for some research on the show. It's not like he said "it was my idea.

In some cultures,fasting is part of some life for centuries. Even the scientist who thought of this method didn't invent anything.

Anyway, I couldn't do IF, I would be bored after a while. For now I do 4:3 or 5:2 with 2 16:8, leaving the weekend alone and it have been working just fine for me. Why ? Because I really enjoy my fast days, they are not a chore. Sometimes I even look forward to them. If I had to fast every other day, I think it wouldn't be the case anymore and I think I would have give up by now. Instead, I plan on keeping doing 5:2 for the rest of my life... It's not a diet, per say, it's more a change in the way I look at food. Big difference.

Sorry what is 16:8?
Personally I find I have to do 4:3 to lose a 1lb a week.
Some weeks I only manage 5:2 because of social arrangements.
For me it doesn't really matter as I know I can sustain this for life.
No more yo yo dieting for me. I know I am in control of my weight.
Without the horizon programme and Dr M I'd still be on the low road to nowhere.

After calorie counting for a year I had started to lose all hope. I stopped calorie counting every day some months ago due to being so fed up with it and my weight had been fairly steady since. The problem is that I was ready to give it all up as I was totally fed up! I have changed my way of eating, but I don't want to worry and fret over everything I eat. This WOE is very appealing to me and I believe, that for me, it is sustainable in the long term.

My sister and her husband started slimming world this week. She is totally excited by the possibility of losing weight, though readily admits she's lost 3 stone with them in the past and failed to keep it off. In fact it went back on, with extra once she stopped. I am hoping that I manage to bring her over to the fasting WOE when she hits the brick wall of SW dieting.

Chin up people! If it's working for you, that's what matters. I'm interested in the science but not hung up on it.

16:8 is when you eat in a 8hours window (so between 1:00PM and 9:00PM for example) and fast the rest of the day

@Bellalou read all about it here on Ballerina's 16:8 thread

5-2-diet-chat-f6/topic5557.html

I hear so many of you saying that ADF is not sustainable. How many of you have actually tried it though? I know quite a few ADF maintainers on a different forum. I have tried it and found it is much more sustainable than Weight Watchers, Atkins, and calorie counting for me. Dieting half of the time trumps dieting all the time in my book. When I started getting burned out on it after 7 or 8 months it was part fatigue and part frustration at the scheduling. I wanted set fast days. So, I tried 3.5 days of fasting every week for a while by doing M W F fast days and Sunday as a mid-day/half fast. Then, I switched to 4:3 which is only one day less fasting for every two weeks on plan or 1/2 day less each week as someone up thread mentioned.

I do find it a little disappointing that so many people here will say they could never do ADF without even trying it. It sounds so much like what people say about 5:2 and fasting in general. That close-minded attitude is what keeps me from talking to people about IF/4:3/ADF/5:2 and even weight loss in general. I have tried every one of those plans and a few more IFwindow plans, too. I liked them all for different reasons. I did at least give them all a fair chance before saying, "Oh I could never do that!"

I find it difficult if I only have 1 day between tasks and have tied and failed to add a 3rd fast in a week, so I know I couldn't manage it long term and I was sceptical about managing 5:2 but found that doable if not enjoyable from the start. Now it is just routine neither enjoyable or not enjoyable just something that I do.

I do find it a little disappointing that so many people here will say they could never do ADF without even trying it. It sounds so much like what people say about 5:2 and fasting in general. That close-minded attitude is what keeps me from talking to people about IF/4:3/ADF/5:2 and even weight loss in general.

I originally would personally never even have considered fasting every second day, with what I know now it would be a possibility, but giving up my weekend binge doesn't appeal to me. Nah.., rather not.

Michael Mosleys decision to publish the book before the research was complete was to my mind very responsible, the right thing to do. A lot of people have significantly improved their health because of it, and from what I've seen he hasn't been taking the credit from the scientist behind IF.