The FastDay Forum

I have followed a low-carb WOE for 3 years now, so I don't go mad on non-fast days.

I am interested to know whether people lose much weight when eating what they like on non-fast days.

From reading the book, I thought that the whole point was that we COULD eat what we wanted, for 5 days each week.

There are now so many variations of this WOE, with so many people adopting so many regimes, that I have lost track of it all.

I am managing to lose the last little bit with this WOE, but feel sure that if I didn't stick to not having many carbs on non-fasting days, it would all pile back on.

Dr. Dee, I think that is an excellent distinction - hunger and craving. I once had someone tell me that if I thought I was hungry then I needed to eat something like plain celery. If it was a craving that would not do at all, but if it was hunger it would at least be passable.

tomtank, I think the really wonderful part of the 5:2 is the fact that there are so many variations. The important part is to find the variation that keeps you losing the fat. I had been doing a low-carb WOE, unsuccessfully, for the past few years and thought that by adding the 5:2 into the mix that would set me losing. What I found is that I don't need to do a strict low carb with the 5:2 (at least not yet) and I still lose, and I am much happier because on my non-fast days I can go to dinner with my vegetarian daughter and join in what ever she is having, or I can have lunch with my BFF and join in with what ever she is having, and not have to explain what WOE I am on currently. A relief to all after 40+ years of trying everything

Thanks for that, deMuralist. It is good to know that you can still lose weight, even though you are not counting the carbs on your non-fast days.

I think I will experiment a bit, and see if that applies to me!!

I actually had lost about 20 pounds the first few months on low carb and stalled, then tried low carb with Primal and gained about 10 pounds, and have been playing with the macros trying to find the magic combo. Out of desperation started working on IF, first every other day-which was not workable and I didn't lose, then with 4:3 again not workable for me and I didn't lose, and finally did low carb with 5:2 and it worked, then I started to loosen up on the low carb part and it still works and I am still losing. I am still lower carb than most but it seems pretty high to me (almost always under 150, usually under 100g)

Dr. Dee, I think that is an excellent distinction - hunger and craving. I once had someone tell me that if I thought I was hungry then I needed to eat something like plain celery. If it was a craving that would not do at all, but if it was hunger it would at least be passable.

I've been using a rule something like this. I got it from Michael Pollen who wrote "The Omnivore's Dilemma". "If you aren't hungry enough to eat an apple, then you aren't hungry." Sometimes it works.

If I know it's a craving and not hunger, and I'm still tempted to binge, I remind myself that if I cheat, I'm cheating *myself* out of potential weight loss.

And for the binges that still happen...I forgive myself and focus on the future and how I might do things better.

I eat what I like on all days But I stick to 500 calories on fast days and to around my TDEE on normal days I am loosing 1-2 lbs a week and I eat carbs without restrictions

Same here - low carb WOE for the last 3 years but I started to crave carbs so when starting 5:2 I added them back and it works fine. I still make sensible choices but eat rice, pasta, sour dough bread, quinoa - organic if possible. And I still lose weight.

I had a terrible binge weekend which was more linked to emotion than hunger. I knew I was doing it and I felt powerless to stop. I'd be too terrified to count up what I had on Saturday but feel I will do so on my next non-fast day (tomorrow) just to have an idea of what I'm putting away.

I felt terrible binge guilt this weekend so I hope to try to curtail that this weekend with a bit more planning and a bit less looking at nice biscuits in the shops.