The FastDay Forum

I don't know what Dr Sims says, I don't even know who he is.

LOL

Wildmissus - it is interesting, isn't it?

But please don't despair losing weight!

I don't know why I'm fat, but I do know it is not because I don't care or am not willing to try to lose weight. I also am not a glutton.

I got a hint of what one of my issues might be when I participated in a clinical study of the Atkins diet. Under Atkins, after you lose weight you slowly add carbs back into your diet until you start to regain weight. When you begin to regain, you can figure out the number of carbs you need to eat (or less) to maintain your weight loss. I lost 35 pounds in the three month weight loss period of the study (for those familiar with Atkins, the entire three months was equal to the two week 'induction phase' in the book). When I started to add carbs to my diet, I started regaining weight at the 45 carb per day level. That is about two slices of bread. It seems my body puts on weight quite quickly eating only a few carbs (of any kind, not just sugar). Some participants in the study did not start regaining weight until several hundred carbs per day in. I basically could not, and would not, eat 45 or fewer carbs per day for the rest of my life to maintain my weight loss, and so I have gained it all back, plus (like most other dieters). The Horizon program highlights that people's metabolisms are different, and respond differently to the same inputs. I seem to respond differently to carbs.

That is why 5:2 is such a godsend to me. For whatever reason, my body responds positively to it and, much more importantly, I can stick with it (unlike Atkins). I don't lose weight very fast, but I do lose and I can eat a reasonable amount of carbs along the way.

I enjoy all of the debates about calories in, calories out, and whether a calorie is a calorie, but I have no position on the subject. I just know I can lose weight on 5:2 - and keep it off. I have never been more successful on any other diet in my life.

[wildmissus]

Thanks, simcoeluv. No, not in despair but I'm glad I wasn't watching it when I was in a negative mood.

Your study is also very interesting. I did initially think it would be interesting to know my carb level but like you it wouldn't make any difference as I'm a carb girl through and through which as you have said is why 5:2 works.

I think there will continue to be countless documentaries and experiments done and perhaps I'm a bit cynical but I think many of them have decided what the answer is before they have asked the question.

I'm a carb girl too and thank God my body agrees with me. Not only pasta is the only thing that my stomach tolerates when it's having a bad day but I also remember losing weight with the pasta/rice/potatoes diet. Not that I would do it again. It was like asking for constipation, LOLOLOL!!!

I think there is a lot we need to learn about obesity.my mother is very overweight and so,are many of my cousins on that side of he family
My Dad was a slim man and his family are all slim
Watching my parents eat was very interesting.my Dad ate healthy and sparingly
My mother loves food,particularly high fat,high sugar and can't seem to stop herself
I am like my father in that I can control how I eat but I do tend to put on weight easily.
I think,and I am not joking that there is a will power gene involved here
It just seems easier for some people to control what and how much they eat

Hi Wildmissus, I've never been obese or even overweight (highest BMI 23 except when pregnant) and was brought up to eat healthily so maybe that helped. Or maybe I don't have the fat gene(s) at all, but some people in my family definitely do!

[wildmissus]

This has been really interesting. To me it comes back to the nature /nurture arguement and I don't think we can split them. We have the genes we have, we have to live with that just like there is nothing we can do about our height. But on the other side of the coin a lot has to do with how we were brought up and our attitudes in adult life. One thing for sure though - us lot on here are trying to make a difference and 5:2 seems to be different.

I think appetite control may have quite a lot to do with it- the willpower gene if you like. I know some thin people who will eat what seems to me a tiny amount of food and then complains that she is too full to eat any more. For me and most members of my family, there really isn't a stop signal. I can eat and eat and eat and my preference is definitely for high calorie, high sugar and some fat foods. If I never ate lean meat,chicken, salad etc again I would not mind in the least. I cannot imagine life without good cheese. But my real downfall has always been chocolate - until I started 5:2 if I wasn't eating chocolate I was craving it! Not joking - it has made my life a misery

I believe that eating a small amount of food and being full is a curse. I thank God that most of the times I can eat a LOT and still have time for dessert, or a second round.
Do I do it often? No. But that one time a week when I eat a large pizza and wish I had one more piece it's utter bliss and I'd hate it if I was unable of doing it.

I have found with the "resetting" that I now feel full after a reasonable portion of food, whereas I would eat really huge portions a few months ago, especially potatoes, pasta and bread. now I am full and happy with smaller amounts and far from finding it a curse I find it almost miraculous! Happy, full and still enjoying my food, without pigging out!

I am prepared to take on board the alarming conclusion of that Horizon programme that there are naturally 'fat' people, whether because of the number of their fat cells, their genes or some other mind/body thing, and that they (er, we) will always feel hungrier than thin people.

Even when we fatties reach maintenance, we may look angelic but our sinful nature is still within us. My weight rises quite alarmingly left to itself. Between my last two fast days I put on 5.5 lbs in 6 days, and I wasn't on holiday. I'm not suggesting any magic here, clearly I overate but there was only one blowout Indian meal honest! Fortunately 3.5 lbs of it came off yesterday...

Until now our only options were to be fat and satisfied, or to be thin and hungry. Intermittent fasting offers a third way. We tolerate a degree of hunger (and even learn to love it!) on a regular occasional basis, and then we can eat normally the rest of the time and keep our stomachs happy. No nagging hunger and no permanent self-denial.

By all means call obesity a disease or a medical condition if you like, but with 5:2 we don't have to succumb to it, we can beat it!

Couldn't agree more with everything you've just said Dominic!

Interestingly, of all the millions of people that have suffered the nightmares of concentration and work camps where diet was enforced, as in barely sustainable, starvation levels were exceedingly high. I've not seen any evidence of genetically obseity or the fat gene in existence in those situations. It beggars the question that the "obesity disease" has only been "discovered" in affluent societies where individuals have access to unlimited choices in food sustenance.

I found this link this am about obesity as a disease in USA
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/23011804
Don't seem to have learned how to do hyperlinks.it might be of interest

the "obesity disease" has only been "discovered" in affluent societies where individuals have access to unlimited choices in food sustenance.

Point taken!

I found this link

Thanks Merlin, the attitude of the piece (and I fear of the whole debate, including within the AMA) is whether it is helpful or unhelpful to classify obesity as a disease. I would have thought the real question is: is it true? Once you step away from truth the law of unintended consequences steps in and wreaks havoc...

There do seem to be genetic conditions and diseases/conditions which pre-dispose people to obesity but that makes it a symptom doesn't it, not a disease?

I just hate the implication that obesity is something that was done to us and we have no personal responsibility for it. Everyone here is clearly taking control by following 5:2 (in some form) and beating this monster, but so many more out there have now been given the perfect excuse to keep on eating...