The FastDay Forum

Hi,

Hoping someone can explain this to me as I am curious.

I have been doing 5:2 for just over 8 weeks, during which time I took a week long holiday (with no fasting) and have lost 5.1kg which I am happy with. Twice now I have tried to do 4:3 as I like the pattern of a M/W/F fast, however both times I have weighed myself on the Saturday morning and I have been (marginally) heavier than than after the Wednesday fast (roughly 200 grams). Why would this be and which weight do I believe, the lower or higher? (I realise that it is really a miniscule difference but each little bit helps when long term goals still seem so distant!).

Thanks in advance!

Do you think you are overeating on non fast days when you do 4:3? If not, maybe you should try 4:3 longer to get a better idea of how it works.

I'm a 4:3 and usually heavier on a Sat than a Thurs. Don't worry about it.

Try not to get so hung up on these small ups and downs. If the overall trend is going down that is what matters. Some people weigh daily and others weekly and there are pluses and minuses for both methods. the important thing is the trendline which should be going down, even though it may spike or plateau from time to time. you can see from mine that it is not a straight line, lots of bumps, on a plateau at the moment, but if I stick to 5.2 guidelines it's going DOWN!! Be sure to fill in your tracker and please display it, not compulsory I know, but we love to see those posters displaying their stats!

I honestly don't believe any one weight measurement. Water retention and amount of food/waste in the gut can change your weight so quickly and by much more than you might think. Even 2 measurements doesn't make much of a pattern in my opinion. Overeating, like MaryAnn suggests, can cause those changes without any actual fat gain thru weight of the food, too much salt causing water retention.

Also, I seem to remember Carorees or maybe someone else posting that it's the day after the day after you fast that you lose weight. Am I remembering that at all right? I've wondered about how that would effect my weight measurements on 4:3 vs 5:2 since the days that I'm fasting will more often overlap the day I should be losing weight. I'm not one of the nerds here and got bored trying to figure out what the pattern would be so can't tell you.

Do you have a scale that measures fat% and/or muscle%? If so, you might want to track those numbers. Mine does and I notice even as my weight # is bouncing around the fat% is more consistent about going down, even day by day. (It can occasionally jump around, but by a much smaller number so it's not quite so disheartening for me to see.)

If your scales don't have that feature, then you might want to try one of the weight loss apps that map out your weight trend. A lot of people here seem to like Libra. It's trend line smooths out the little blips in weight change and also gives you an approximate date when you'll reach your goal at your current rate of loss. You are getting a good rate at over a pound a week. Would something like that help keep you motivated?

I do 4:3 because I too like the pattern. Is it MWF? Then I'm fasting. Is it TTh? Then I'm not. No shuffling the days around for me as I don't care to waste time and mental space on decisions like that. As a result, I'm not good about tracking my weight loss on 4:3 vs 5:2, but I do know I'm still losing.

Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate the time and effort it takes as well as your insights to it all. Even as I was posting my question, I think I intuitvely knew the points made, but needed to hear it from others who have walked this path also - so thanks!

Sometimes I panic on the scale. But when I am in the right frame of mind I know a little increase is nothing to worry about. I go up and down. But at the end of the day I am still down 22lbs.