The FastDay Forum

Hi All

i've been on the diet for 6 weeks in total and in first week lost 3 lb's since then its been so slow and sporadic i.e. lose a pound gain a pound now last week after a week of no loss i actually lost 2 lb's (over the moon) now this weeks weigh in put on 2 lb's .....what is wrong with me?

Total loss of 4.5 pounds in 6 weeks!! I'm off on hols to turkey in 6 weeks and really wanted to have lost a stone by then.....no way is that going to happen!

I have 3stone to lose if not more. My TDEE is 2090 but i eat on average 1800 cals on feed days and 500 on fast days. I walk 3/4 times a week. I eat mostly clean food (homemade) have the odd treat of chocolate at the weekend.

I fast 2 days and then do a kind of half fast on a 3rd day i.e. dont eat from 6pm Thursday evening until around 4pm on a Friday ...

Really getting down now - what am i doing wrong - advice welcome x

Sorry it isn't working too well at the moment TracE, let's see what we can come up with...

A few ideas that occur to me:

1. I know that by your calculations you are already eating under your TDEE on feed days, but cutting more might help. Maybe your TDEE is lower than you think - the online calculators are only a rough guide and you may have a slower metabolism than average.
2. A new idea just hot from the nerds corner: try switching what you eat. If you are currently eating mostly carbs on feed days, cut these down somewhat and replace with the same amount of calories but as fats. Or vice-versa. There is some very new scientific research which suggests that some people lose weight well with one dietary balance and others with the other. [More insulin-resistant people do better with high fat...] Since they are eating the same amount of calories overall it must be to do with their metabolism changing depending on what they eat.
3. If you can hack it and it doesn't seem too anal, try having more 'feast' days balanced with 'thin' days i.e. instead of all feed days being the same number of calories, make some more and some less. Some people have reported that this seems to give them better results (presumably again because of the way the body's metabolism reacts).
4. Eat more to lose more - not! Personally I think this is voodoo and not good voodoo either. But others might disagree...

Hi I have lost 15lbs in 6 weeks. On feed days I have eaten well but avoided carbs as in bread, pasta and rice and potatoes. I have eaten lots of veg including sweet potatoes butternut squash roasted which are low gi I believe. At weekends have continued to enjoy a roast with roast potatoes but just find I am not going back for more which was my usual behaviour...
Good luck with it and maybe just change some of the foods you eat on feed days...

Hi, I have to say I am pretty much the same...have been doing this for a month and lost 2 kilos in First Week and since then have stayed the same...have been going to gym and feel slimmer but haven't seen the results on the scales like I had hoped. The thing that is keeping me going is this forum AND the fact that clothes feel better and I feel better! Keep going, lets hope it suddenly drops off!! I know I have been over indulging on feed days so I am going to change that....after the Easter weekend!!!

TracE, if that is you in your avatar I would say you are just fine!

There endeth lecherous Bald Fat Ginger Uncles post!

Sorry it isn't working too well at the moment TracE, let's see what we can come up with...

A few ideas that occur to me:

1. I know that by your calculations you are already eating under your TDEE on feed days, but cutting more might help. Maybe your TDEE is lower than you think - the online calculators are only a rough guide and you may have a slower metabolism than average.
2. A new idea just hot from the nerds corner: try switching what you eat. If you are currently eating mostly carbs on feed days, cut these down somewhat and replace with the same amount of calories but as fats. Or vice-versa. There is some very new scientific research which suggests that some people lose weight well with one dietary balance and others with the other. [More insulin-resistant people do better with high fat...] Since they are eating the same amount of calories overall it must be to do with their metabolism changing depending on what they eat.
3. If you can hack it and it doesn't seem too anal, try having more 'feast' days balanced with 'thin' days i.e. instead of all feed days being the same number of calories, make some more and some less. Some people have reported that this seems to give them better results (presumably again because of the way the body's metabolism reacts).
4. Eat more to lose more - not! Personally I think this is voodoo and not good voodoo either. But others might disagree...

Hi Dominic and thanks for the informative reply so good points there - Will try lowering cals on feed days or maybe combining the mixed amount of cals on diff feed days - Now Carbs i cut down on when i started 5:2 - really cant remember last time i ate bread and only eat wholewheat/wholegrain pasta and rice and even then only once a week. Will deffo take on board some of your tips.

Hi I have lost 15lbs in 6 weeks. On feed days I have eaten well but avoided carbs as in bread, pasta and rice and potatoes. I have eaten lots of veg including sweet potatoes butternut squash roasted which are low gi I believe. At weekends have continued to enjoy a roast with roast potatoes but just find I am not going back for more which was my usual behaviour...
Good luck with it and maybe just change some of the foods you eat on feed days...

Hi there - i cut right down on carbs when i started 5:2 and feel better for it i.e. not so sluggish and bloated - i avoid potaotes where possible and eat celeriac chips or Bns chips or roasties - as above i only eat wholegrain pasta/rice and even then only once a week, i avoid bread. Love sweet potato roasties too. I love cooking so am quite inventive in the kitchen yet to try the cauli rice though. BTW huge congrats on your weight loss thats fab .....i'm well jel x

Hi, I have to say I am pretty much the same...have been doing this for a month and lost 2 kilos in First Week and since then have stayed the same...have been going to gym and feel slimmer but haven't seen the results on the scales like I had hoped. The thing that is keeping me going is this forum AND the fact that clothes feel better and I feel better! Keep going, lets hope it suddenly drops off!! I know I have been over indulging on feed days so I am going to change that....after the Easter weekend!!!

Hi Melting (what a great name) its pants isn't it! But same as you i've lost my bloated feeling and look better in t-shirts ..... its nice to know i really am NOT THE ONLY one that feels like this ...i'm going to try some of the tips above and see how i go - best of luck x

TracE, if that is you in your avatar I would say you are just fine!

There endeth lecherous Bald Fat Ginger Uncles post!

Hi There boboff

This was me about 6 years ago now...... 3stone lighter, so not a true "now" pic this what i aspire to get back to

Oh the other way you can be sure to lose TracE is to do a lot more exercise, at least some of it high-intensity. To add to the walking you are already doing of course...

Was thinking of giving spinning a go but not sure i'd come out alive

[wildmissus]

Hi TracE, I've been following some of the nerdy stuff that dominic is talking about and it sounds very interesting, so I'll be following some of his tips. The biggest thing that keeps me going is the forum. I've had lots of ups and downs and if it wasn't for the forum I'd have said it wasn't working for me but it is.

Your avatar of you 6 years ago is gorgeous, you have an amazing figure which most of us would die for and I bet even carrying the extra weight you still look stunning.

Keep plodding on its not a diet its a way of life.

Also, something to consider....do you actually FEEL better, i.e are your clothes feeling looser and do you 'feel' like you're losing, but it's just not showing on the scales?

If that's the case, then I'd suggest just keeping off the scales - the cursed things. Before I tried 5.2, I lost a stone by eating well and exercising lots. Problem was, everyone was telling me I looked like I'd lost weight and my clothes felt better but I swear for about 6 weeks, the scales did NOT change. My friend suggested that if I was doing the right things and my clothes were feeling better, that it WAS working but I just needed to hang in there and stay off those cursed weighing machines.

I did...and about 6 weeks in, voila, it just started falling off. Hang in there - sometimes we can overthink these things and I wonder if that pressure doesn't make our bodies rebel just a little!

Woop Woop, not just me that's a lecherous old sod then!!

Hi there xxx

Ok - Do your TDEE as a sedentary person.... Mine was over 2000 if I included exercising, but it was around 1750 - 1800 if sedentary. I say this as I decided to eat into exercise calories on feast days, which meant if I did not exercise my calories were realistic for having a rest. Also for 2 weeks I did about 1300 calories on Feasts, just to Kick Start, then increased to TDEE over the next two weeks. xxx I only had about 25lbs to lose. I did an experiment too - where one week I ate "bad" foods and my weight was static.... for bad, read high carb sugary fatty foods (pizza, doughnuts, pub grub, puddings - beer, all within the calorie allowance but just not what is considered balanced. I even put ON 6lbs in that week - but as I fasted the next week that weight vanished after the 2 fasts!!! SO...... what I am saying is CHANGE SOMETHING..... Try eating more proteins to carbs, more veg to taties.... Mess around with the foods for a couple of weeks and hoping this will Kick your weight loss into touch and suddenly you will be happy! xxx