The FastDay Forum

Well, you could try it but generally, "it's what you like not as much as you want". It's going to be personal, what you can tolerate, I assume.

Hi
Though I've read the entire thread, I want to clarify something. If I am doing 5:2 with a higher fat/lower carb pattern, I am still staying w/in or a bit below TDEE, yes? I'm not just eating butter, nuts & cream ad libitum & not keeping track?

Yes.

But what you find is that you eat fewer calories than you expect because you get full faster and don't get hungry soon after you eat as you do with carbs.

But bottom line is calories - you don't want to eat over your TDEE on average for your five non-diet days.

Good Luck!

But going "lower-carb" doesn't NEED to be extreme. It could just be cutting out all the refined 'white' stuff - like bread, pasta and rice. And maybe potatoes. I think you have to remember that loads of healthy veggies are stuffed full of carbs so the difference is to eat healthily and restrict the former stuff to special occasions only. Let's not forget, either, that the fructose in fruit is also carbohydrate. But the sugar from a tropical fruit like a banana or some pineapple is considerably better for you than a jam doughnut!

But if giving up bread will make your life miserable, why suffer.... you only live once!

I get bloated and feel sluggish when I eat wheat-based carbs.... so I prefer not to, these days. Ironically, although I feel sluggish, I also seem to suffer "rapid transit" too.....

OK all you guys know my weight and history so not actually knowing why I introduced a few items back into my life butter because @ballerina said she had.
Nuts because I love all nuts and yes again because all of you were + are. Hate all yogurt and milk so can't change there, i do buy cream most weeks. My question is am I starting all these changes too soon? do you need to be at maintenance before making these changes? Help I can't get my head around this.

Hope I don't confuse the issue BUT as much as I would like to be low carb my body doesn't response well when I really cut white carbs

I am happy to drop potatoes white and sweet and then wheat doesn't get tolerated well by my gut and sugar is in the back of the cupboard already but when I cut them all out after a couple of weeks what I consider to be low carb healthy eating I become extremely fatigued. I am talking can't get off the chair. I just hate that feeling so I have slice of bread and cheese and this helps a return of my energy. Will follow up with Thai curry and rice. Then back to low carb again

The other thing which is currently really bothering me is hair loss. I am not as bald as a badger but seeing the evidence and my hair is much much thinner all over so seeing doctor next week, already having been taking relevant supplements.

When I had a little look around there are some studies being done on the issues of fatigue and hair loss with IF and low carb diet for some people. So I agree with @izzy and @Tracieknits it is not for everyone. For me it is time yet to relax and maintain, as I don't want to be stressing my body too much

Hi Sue.Q I don't think it's a question of doing it too soon, for me it's more a question of balance, no point in upping your saturated fats if you are not prepared to reduce, say, carbs. Ying and yang, but not easy. I've been at this 5:2 lark now for some 18months and I'm still tweaking away like a demented weaker, but I feel that I may have at last found my own personal holy grail, it has been a long, slow journey and sometimes along the way I almost gave up and just went back to stuffing my face from sun up to sun set. I'm glad, though that I stayed with it and although I am now in a very comfortable place, I call size 8 jeans very comfortable, I am aware that I can never be complacent and think 'well, that's done' because it is never done, it is a permenant work in progress but a pleasant one but still easy to lose ones way.

You are doing SO well, so why not just carry on and gradually introduce some subtle but significant changes, in stead of say, fruit crumble with custard, I know, I know, have blueberries with cream? Instead of cereal for breakfast sometimes have bacon and eggs, or berries on porridge rather than sugar. All these things can make a huge difference over time but really the secret is to eat what you enjoy, WITHIN REASON, just rearrange things. Good luck, not that you need it as you are doing fantastically without any input from me,

Ballerina x

Gillymary, you are So right, this is not a one size fits all and I hope you find your personal holy grail soon. As far as hair loss is concerned, I hope I am turning the corner on that one, I have been on Biotin now for a few weeks and to my utter astonishment I noticed some new growth the other day. When I brushed my hair back, flat against my scalp, there were lots of little short hairs sticking up that had not been there before so I am hopeful. Tonight I shall slather some coconut oil on my scalp before going to bed and wash off in the morning. I am also taking zinc so who knows,it me,

Ballerina x

@ballerina I have reduced my carb intake and received amazing health benefits so I'm more than happy with where I am now IE: no breakfast doing 16:8 also dropped bread almost completely from my life and reduced potatoes rice + pasta so my carb intake is now considerably less than 5months ago and I'm happy with that for now, I am trying a few "other" veg with a little help from @PennyForthemand @callyanna and @rawkaren and not to forget @FatDog checking out her recipes and bought my first celeriac + butternut squash this week and my sample menus went well for me so I'm moving in the right direction and probably best left there for now with a few nuts
thrown into the mix.

It all sounds really good to me Sue and it is obviously working well for you so, just keep doing what you are doing and you will get to where you want to be eventually,

Ballerina x

@SueQ there was an excellent link to nuts by @rawkaren well worth a read. @Ballerina enjoying the journey and I will find what the right balance is for me.

Right ok, got it I think...... Had a look at FatDogs thread again and then went off to look at the Rose Elliott low carb vegetarian diet book on amazon. The 'look inside' section is really informative and at the end of it is a list of foods and their carb loadings. I have ordered it and will spend the week learning and planning for the following week. Shame it's not available on kindle or I would be half way through it by now!!

OK, a lot of nice things to talk about.

As many of you know, I think the low fat diet was one of the worst things ever foisted upon the general public by our benevolent governments.

I was able to figure out that a high fat diet was good when I was part of a clinical study comparing the DASH diet with Atkins. However, I also learned over time that I could not eliminate the carbs I 'loved' (was addicted to), even after learning how bad they were. I was able, however, to cut down on my total carbs and maintain my very high weight for years after that learning experience.

What is interesting about 5:2 is that it seems to compensate for bad eating. Using Varady's research, she was surprised that it was OK to eat high fat foods and get the same results as from eating high carb foods. But if you reverse the findings, you see that IF compensates for the effects of a high carb diet.

So my advice is to reduce carbs where you can, and replace them with fats. But don't go overboard - one end of the pendulum swing is as bad as the other. In the meantime, do 5:2 to compensate for the bad things that come with eating a low fat diet.

Good Luck!

This thread has given me a lot to think about but I will definitely have to go slow because I don't want to jeopardise my very slow weight loss. I have one question - where do beans and pulses fit in - do they count as vegetables? I have a real problem with constipation on this WOE and although I have always liked and eaten a lot of vegetables I don't think the leafy veggies have as much fibre in them.
I also still have quite a sweet tooth although it is much more controlled. I have moved to eating more berries than other fruits but still use sweetener to make things taste how I like them.If I don't do that I still find myself looking for something sweet although I have eaten enough. I also drink diet and no added sugar drinks. I know a lot of people think sweeteners are dreadful but do they have a place if you are trying to reduce carbs?

Chia seeds. High fat, work by absorbing water and increasing volume as the pass through. Works wonders. And very good for you.

I have those but only usually add a teaspoonful - is that noy enough?