The FastDay Forum

Hi everyone.

This 4:3 is working for me really but still sometimes I am thinking : I am afraid to eat up to my TDEE on my normal days, so I keep myself down around 1400 calories and then about 400 on my fasting days. I think it's because I have always had trouble losing weight - have thyroid problems (low)and do take medicine for that. I see many of you are talking about, that it's not too good to go too much under TDEE on normal days.

But I am thrilled about the result so far and I can fit a lot of my old clothes now. For now I have lost 10.9 kilos in 11 weeks. So I think this way works for me. .. Still - would it be a good idea to eat up to my TDEE, maybe just in weekends and more restricted like now, on weekdays ? I'm really afraid to put the weight back on. Are there some here who are like me?

Pia

[Betsysgr8]

Pia, If what you are doing is working for you and you are happy with what you are doing/eating, then why re-think it? You are doing fantastic! If you want to have a bit more on the weekend and restrict on weekdays, then do it but don't do it because of the chatter on here.

I think Betsy is right Pia, don't believe everything you read - even here!

The key thing is that it is sustainable for you over the time period that you need to reach your goal. And then when you reach that goal you need to adjust your method to stay there (that's the stage I'm now at).

I don't believe for a moment that cutting on non-fast days will prevent weight loss. There may or may not be something in the idea that over-restricting on non-fast days will lower your metabolism so you lose weight more slowly that you would otherwise expect, but I think you will still lose faster than if you hadn't reduced at all. And this effect may only be noticeable if you are consuming less than 80% of your TDEE, which is probably not your situation anyway.

Sorry that came out sounding really complicated

Bottom line: what Betsy said - if it's working for you now, stick with it. The trickier bit comes when you have to modify it to maintain weight. Then you can no longer just lean one way, you have to balance...

dominic - what you are saying in your third paragraph must be right, and I think people forget it: if you take in fewer calories than you burn you will lose weight. It's a basic, immutable law of physics (isn't it?). The rate at which you lose may decrease if you cut calories drastically, but you will still lose. I've said it before - if that isn't right, how do you explain weight loss in anorexics and hunger strikers?

The reason many of us are not restricting our calories on top of 5:2 is not because we think that we won't lose weight if we do that, but because it is difficult to sustain that kind of restriction once the weight is lost. And also, as you hint, the tradeoff between weight loss bang and eating pleasure buck doesn't make it worthwhile (at least it doesn't to me).

I tend to bang on about people eating enough but I think those are people who haven't grasped the calorie restriction is from the fasting and are then reducing calories too much the rest of the time when first starting. You aren't doing that and are now an experienced faster.

I'd go with Dominic, you'll lose weight, it's maintaining the loss that might be the key for you and for that, you'll need to be a believer!

Thanks a lot lot for your replies. I am a little bit wiser now . And you are right. I have been reading a lot here to get more information of course and because of that I was in doubt about if I was doing this in the right way. Still I need to loose about 10 kilos more - and I know as you all are saying that THAT will be the big challenge, when I have to maintain my weight . In that time I need to find the balance for me - I know .

For now - I am continuing the way down to my target weight . And really, it is the best WOE/diet ever for me. it is years since I have been where I am now in weight and with a BMI UNDER 30

Pia