The FastDay Forum

Hi everyone
So my question is... does anyone fast 2 days a week then on your feed days do you follow another diet e.g slimming world/weight watchers? I havent tried it yet but wanted to ask if anyway else did it to boost the weight lose or is it just a bad idea?
I think its just me being impatient, but i feel like im only really losing 1lb a week and that isnt enough for me when i still have just over 2 stone still to lose and the tracker on here says ill reach my goal in March 2015
What are your thoughts?

Hi the answer is yes and I'm sure members will be along to tell you how
I've been doing 4:3 for exactly the same reason and started walking on each of my 3 fastdays and for the moment will keep on with this if however I plateau for long spells I will mix it up a little
Good Luck with all the advice coming your way Now Sue

well the last few weeks ive been doing 4:3 but this week im doing IF just to get me out of a 4 weeks plateau. So yer thats why i asked really. thanks for your response

I'm not too sure, I think it's best to eat up towards your TDEE on non-fast days, otherwise you just won't be eating enough for either your health or your metabolism. 4:3 or 16:8 are good to mix around a bit, but I wouldn't do WW on non-fast days personally.

Having said that, we're all different, give it a go if you want & you'll see

I think there's a few people here who combine low carb with 5:2. I do 4:3. For quite awhile my weight loss was close to 2lbs a week. That's not really why I stuck with it though--I like the rhythm. I guess the point im trying to get to is: Don't forget sustainability in your desire for quicker weight loss. ( though I totally understand it--I'm a very impatient dieter!)

P. s. I wonder what you mean by IF. I thought 5:2 and 4:3 were IF...

I think sometimes it depends on what your TDEE is. I'm not very tall and my lifestyle is sedentary with little or no opportunity to increase it due to health issues. 2x500c days just don't give me a big enough deficit. If you subscribe to the calorie theory I was only ever going to lose around 4oz a week! My only alternative was to mix and match.

I would always say to give 5:2 a good shot but for people like me who would be looking at a daily average over a week of around 900 cals to achieve 1lb a week loss then sometimes you do need to tweak it a bit. A slower loss is not always a bad thing though. It lets your body adapt to a new weight and so should make it easier to maintain your lower weight when you get to target.

Sorry Maryann i meant alternate day fasting.
I see what you mean by eating towards my TDEE and also i wouldnt want to feel like im depriving myself. I think i will probably just stick to mixing up 5:2, 4:3 and alternate day fasting.
i know what you mean Miffy. apparently im losing 0.4 lb a week according to the tracker :S so yer i should be happy with losing slowly. better than putting it on

I often do two fast days and then one flexible day where I start fasting and see where it leads, sometimes it only lasts until lunch and sometimes it's a full fast, has made my weight loss more consistent (although I 0 cal fast too which saves a few more calories). Might make life easier than with a bit of flexibility?
I would also recommend thinking a bit about your non fast days e.g have your eating habits changed at all? Are you over compensating to treat yourself after a fast day? I have found that eating breakfast later stops me snacking on non fast days and I now have a cut off in the evening where I don't eat after a certain time.
Good luck whatever you decide to try :0)

The basic , ground level attraction of this way of eating is its sustainability. The reason most of us have failed, many of us numereous times, on Weight watchers, slimming world, low carb, Atkins and all the rest is the sheer lack of sustainability. You cannot keep those kinds of diets up long term and if you do, you can't maintain on them. Eventually the weight will go back on.
If WW etc actuallly worked they would soon be out of business as everyone would be lovely and slim, no return custom.

5:2 or 4:3 (you will lose more on 4:3 but its counted in ounces, not pounds, so it may not be worth it), is long term doable. Its only 2 days a week, you will get all the nutrients you need through the week. You won't feel deprived and you can join in social occasions with a whole heart. The lack of obssession with food is the most remarkable thing for me. I am not thinking day in day out about food, apart from planning whats for the family dinner that night. No more thinking, do I have enough points, can I have just one bite, 2 bites or the whole thing. On a normal day you can have what you want.

A word of caution. You can eat what you want. You can't eat as much as you want. Don't overcompensate on your normal days. So a slice of bread and butter is fine, the whole loaf and a stick of butter is not.

there are some great ideas there mariposa. every so enough i do fasts like there were i fast all day then rather then having 500 cals for dinner ill just have a meal that i want but not go over board.
Yes i think my eating habits have changed slightly. At the beginning i was very much overcompensating on feed days af if i was missing out of fast days but i dont do that so much now. i also have noticed ill crave foods on fast days then eat them on feeds days. for instance today i had a chocolate cookie and i was craving one yesterday and after it i feel slightly sick and thought 'actually it wasnt worth it' so there are slight changes but i still could improve.
what do you do on a 0 cal fast?

I do one or two days of Dukan's attack additionally to 5:2 but I wouldn't combine it with a calorie restricting diet unless you restrict your calories to your TDEE and not lower.

Thank you julieathome. Ive always thought that doing 4:3 would help me lose a extra 1lb or so a week but it doesnt seem that way after what you;ve said. I also think your right when you said you can eat what you want, just not how much you want. maybe that is whats doing it on my feed days. Im eating more than i need because i have the mindset of ' im on a feed day so i can' which is wrong.
I also find on my fasting days and im keeping myself reasonably busy then i dont find i start getting hungry until 3-4pm which 6 months ago i would of been starving!
i also find on feed days i eat at certain times rather than when i have to which i find cant be helped when im at work as i cant eat while im working and only get 30 mins lunch so if i dont eat at 12 then i dont eat till 6pm which would be too long :S

Yes I do similar to mariposa sometimes doing extra ( like today) where I do full 24 he fast and then eat what I want for evening meal it usually comes well inside my TDEE, out with friends for meal tonight and that's the best thing about this WOL I really is very sustainable for the future, it fits well for holidays, celebrations, and repairs our very Naughty days that most of us do now + again Sue

Not exactly a diet but since 1999 I have been food-combining ever since my nutrition specialist recommended it as a way to treat my numerous food intolerances and food allergies. Basically I don't eat starch and protein at the same meal and ensure I have at least 4 hours between eating a protein food and a starchy food.

Navwoman, that was the diet trend of the 90's in Greece!!! Everybody was eating protein with green salad and bread with jam but not butter.
I tried it for a while and I was a HUGE failure. Why? Because I like my pasta snowed with cheese!