The FastDay Forum

I don't understand it at all!!! I have been on this diet for 6 months and have fasted all but 3 weeks on 5:2 with a 2 week break at easter and a couple of weeks ago I fasted for only 1 day. All together (and at my lowest) I have lost just 8lbs. It all came off in the early days and I've now entered the mother of all plateaus. Not only that, for some reason today I have gone back up by 2lbs!!! Ahhhhh


I fast all day and have 500 cals in the evening. I do some exercise, admittedly I should do more. I don't count calories on non fast days but my days of going "whaheeeeey" are over - funny enough I lost weight when I over ate I am usually just within my (forgotten the acronym for a weight based calories consumption limit) Also...has anyone noticed that their hair and nails grow really fast?

I have a sneaky feeling that my body is becoming used to the lack of food as I no longer have lots of physiological signs of fasting - only the tingling tongue remains. (I am fasting today and it's not at all painful)


However - the bit that is driving me nuts is I AM LOSING SIZE. In February there were lots of clothes that wouldn't get past my thighs let alone fasten at the waist. This morning all of them fit snuggly (not comfortably yet, but they fasten) My scales are monitor body fat ratio and I have lost around 5% fat.


So why the hell is my scales telling me otherwise weightwise???? They are about to be thrown out the window.


Should I stop fasting for a week? (keeping under 2k calories and reprise the diet the following week?) will shaking up my body's expectation stop it feeling so smug because it can no longer work out when to slow down my metabolism - I am now resorting to believing that my body is an independent, sentient yet malevolent entity - that's how flipping crazy this diet has made me....

Ok, phew, I needed that

Elise

Hi Elise

Your clothes are fitting better and that is more important than anything your scales say.

I'm sorry I can't help you with why you haven't lost weight but I have to say your rant made me smile. However I think if clothes fit that didn't then it doesn't really matter what the scales say does it? I'm not down to my target weight yet but I can get into the jeans that I was wearing when I was that weight. Hopefully someone else will come along and offer you lots of helpful suggestions

I understand your frustration.

This might be something you should focus on, at least for a week: 5-2-diet-chat-f6/topic6600.html

Forget the scales Elise, this WOE is working for you if you are losing size, you are 8 lbs lighter than you were six months ago, your clothes are looser - count the extra 2 lb as a blip.

You could try all of the different tips on this forum to re-start the weight loss, eat less on non fast days, occasionally have a 'pig out' day etc. etc. Have you calculated your TDEE correctly and the amount of calories for your fast days? When you have lost weight the amount you can eat to maintain your current weight goes down too.

You are eating a quarter of the calories on two days each week so sooner or later your weight 'will' go down.....

Thanks for the replies - I'm gonna have a browse through all the tips on here to see if any work!

[Moogie]

Sounds to me like you're just changing fat for muscle - you'll get smaller but muscle weighs more than fat.

While we all like to see lower numbers on the scales, isn't it more about body shape at the end of the day? Would you rather be 10 stone and a size 16 or 11 stone and size 12?!

Hey Elise, throw the scales! BMI is untrustworthy and as long as you are working towards your waist being less than 50% of your height (if it isn't already) and you are losing size and feeling great - GOOD!
IF apparently stops you from losing muscle mass so maybe the IF plus the exercise is increasing your muscle mass?

Or maybe your scales are broken... lol x

Hi Elise, I have being doing 5:2 since mid Jan and have only lost 9 lb or so in total. I dropped about 7 lbs in the first 6 weeks thereabouts but I don't think this was all true fat loss, I think a lot of it was water and generally 'gut cleansing' to put it politely .

From end of March to end of May, nothing much happened since I strayed from the path somewhat due to Easter, birthday and two bank holidays but got back on track at beginning of June. Since then, only a couple more pounds have come off but I feel like it's now 'proper' 9lbs fat loss since I can get into clothes that I didn't have a hope in hell at the start of the year (even after losing initial 7 lbs).

I am now only losing around 1 lb per month but as long as it continues to drop, albeit slowly, I'll keep going.

I'm doing a lot of exercise and still 80kgs but fitting into increasingly smaller clothes! Lose pounds or inches, rarely both.

Its certainly an odd phenomenon but it seems common. I lost well to start but then stuck. I had bit of a hiccup but got back on track. Like many others the scale keeps telling me that I am simply gaining and losing the same 3lbs but I just got my first pair of jeans in over 30yrs! I could never have worn them before even though my waist/hip size is no different as my thighs were far too fat. I was so thrilled when they fitted! I've gone down a size at the top and I can see my dreaded bingo wings dissolving at a steady rate.

Its so frustrating as we are geared to what the scales say and yet we have concrete proof that we are smaller! Every night I go to bed and vow that I wont get weighed in the morning but every morning I bounce on to them full of hope only to sulk off again disappointed! Its all crazy!

As others are aluding to, you didn't mention if you are exercising. You mention you lost 5% fat, which is quite alot if you are working out more and adding muscle too which will not show in total weight lost. This would explain why your clothes are fitting better even though the numbers say otherwise.

Another thing you did not mention is what BMI are you at - If you are low already and have been working out for awhile it is going to be much harder to lose pounds at a fast rate.

I do think you should track what you are eating on feed days though for a bit to see if calories are creeping in, and look at the quality of calories as they are not all equal. I do believe it is a misnomer to think we can eat whatever we want on feed days and still expect to lose weight at a decent rate. I shoot for a 500 deficit from TDEE on feed days, and then fast 3 days, and am losing at a nice steady pace, which calculates out as expected when it comes to calories, but I also still have about 35 lbs to lose. We can look at it all in different ways but ultimately its calories in vs calories out.

[Betsysgr8]

Wow! Lol when the quiet ones step up! I can only repeat what the others have said, stick with it, you have lost some weight and most importantly size.

Elise, I've only lost about 3lb in 3 months, BUT have lost 4in off waist (haven't measured anywhere else yet) and it is beginning to be visible. This seems to happen to quite a lot of people, and lots do say, don't rely on the scales. 8lb is half a stone, so give yourself a huge pat on the back!

Thank you all for the replies and encouragement!

Here's the thing, my BMI is 33.4 and whilst I am moving a bit more I am not really doing a full blown exercise regime *looks guiltily at the unused treadmill taking up most of the dining room....*

But I will say that I did a different TDEE calculator that the one in the links above which came out as more than this one, so maybe my tardy weightloss is down to eating too much on non fast days...

There is another phenomenon - this diet is so weird - I am definitely losing off different places first - usually when I diet, it comes off all the useless places first - like who needs a skinny wrist when you are still wearing out your linen trousers every summer :-/ but this time, it is come off my waist, tum and thighs first (soooo NOT complaining about that)

I'm gonna stick with it for as long as I can..

Please be prepared for the occasional rant and call for support as I wail into my herbal tea!