The FastDay Forum

Thank you for the stats. This is really useful to know.

I think anyone who has tried any weightloss groups where you get on the scales and get applauded if you have lost 4lb in one week has the mentality that they should be losing weight as quickly as possible.

When I think about diets that I've tried before the main effort was sustaining them for long enough to make a big difference. This way of eating feels different - I don't have to deprive myself for months on end, I just have to be really strict for a couple of days. I can see me keeping this up for a year, more if need be.

If I can lose weight whilst still allowing myself to have wine / chocolate / take aways / anything I fancy then I'd rather do that and lose less than a pound a week than do something far more restrictive that I can't keep up. If I can manage a lb a week I could be half a stone lighter by the end of May, which is massively inspiring for me as it's probably the difference between fitting into my smaller sized summer clothes in the loft!

Finished my first week! I lost 2.2 lbs! Had a very hard time staying at 500cal on my fast days, more like 800. That is still a lot lower than what I normally eat. I ate about 2,ooo on my feast days. I know I need to try to get to 500 on fast days and I would like to try and do `500 on fast days.

oops I mean 1,500 on feast days

I have hit a stand still for three weeks ant suggestions???

[Betsysgr8]

I have hit a stand still for three weeks ant suggestions???

From reading your blog, you've had great success so far, 18 lbs off! That's fantastic! Have you tried changing things up? Eating more than TDEE then subsantially less than TDEE?
Or maybe your body is adjusting for the loss and when it's settled at new weight, it will start taking the weight off again.

Wendy - I think Betsysgr8's idea is good. Also... have you recalculated your TDEE since losing weight? Maybe you need to adjust your calories eaten.

I am heartened by these graphs. I am not a newbie to the diet but a "returner" - I did it from September til December, faithfully eating no more than 500 cal twice a week and most of the time on the other days trying to stay at or around 1500 cal. I was noticing some wild fluctuations in the first couple of weeks so decided I would give myself till Christmas without weighing myself at all - the theory was that over 3 months surely there would be some downward movement? In all that time I lost ONE POUND. Although my clothes were feeling looser, and my stomach and thighs feeling thinner, I was bitterly disappointed.

Since Christmas I have gained another stone and am feeling desperate. I am back doing 5:2 again but am exercising at least half an hour a day 5-6 days a week, which I wasn't doing before. I will definitely complete the questionnaire once I have been doing it a month but I'd be curious to know how often people are weighing themselves.

[Betsysgr8]

....I'd be curious to know how often people are weighing themselves.

I weigh every morning after emptying my bladder. Some days I'm up and some days I just stay at the same weight day after day after day .. lol and every once in awhile, there will be a small notch down. That said, I pick one day of the week as my official weigh day and log that in the progress tracker. For me, this is a very slow process but one that is doable and working. I had very good results on my Mom's scale this morning but will officially log from my scale when I'm home tomorrow.

This is an interesting thread, one pound a week loss is 52 pounds in a year don't forget (for those of us that need to lose that much!) Give or take a few weeks for holidays etc!!

I am amazed how many people weigh themselves more than once a week or even everyday! R u crazy?! Surely if its up then it demotivates you, I like the excitement of weighing myself once a week not weighing myself throughout the week with the scales going up and down. I wil likely move to fortnightly weigh ins after a month on this woe

I also find it strange that people would weigh themselves every day, particularly on this diet, and not be demotivated by the inevitable ups alongside the downs.

I am delighted to report that I swallowed my fear this morning and weighed myself and found I had lost 2.8kg in my first week. This is very cheering, although I am very much aware the scales could go quite in the opposite direction next week, while I may be doing the same thing this week as the last. I can handle a slow weight loss, just so long as there is more than a net of 1 pound after 3 months!

The advantage of daily weighing (although I don't do it) is that you can start to see a pattern and understand why your weight moves around as it does - kencc has a good topic based around his daily weigh-ins. Weighing at same time, same place each week still doesn't rule out extraneous factors which can cause your weight to be up or down by much more than the trend line, but it may be harder to understand why. So it depends on your psychology really.

I also find it strange that people would weigh themselves every day, particularly on this diet, and not be demotivated by the inevitable ups alongside the downs.

These two go together - if you're going to over-react to a daily measurement then you won't be able to understand why I would weigh daily.

Equally I don't understand why you would have to eat the fridge or shoot yourself if the scale went up by an amount that is less than the day to day variation

So each to their own.

My BMI is 21.5, I am 167cm tall and weigh 60kg exactly. I plan on doing the 5:2, do you think I will lose be able to shift the 5kg I want to? I feel like it's very hard to lose those last few kgs! I would be very happy to lose 1lb a week.

[carorees]

Hi shannonaleece and welcome to the forums!

Re losing your last 5kg, I expect 5:2 can help you there but it might be slow, especially as your BMI is pretty low. Then again others in your situation have lost the last few pounds fairly fast. It seems to depend on a lot of factors. If you have been dieting recently then it might be harder as well as having so little to lose. We are trying to work out how to predict whether someone will lose weight fast or slow but it is complicated! Certainly your body resists going below a particular weight (which will be particular to you) so it would be worth considering how important the last few kgs are and if you do lose them whether you are happy to continue 5:2 in order to keep them off? It is very flexible so pretty much all the people on here are feeling that they will carry on into weight maintenance.

Good luck anyway!

Thanks for the quick reply! I like the idea of making the 5:2 a permanent lifestyle choice due to the potential to lower the risk of breast cancer. I'm doing my first fast day tomorrow, super excited!
Thanks,
Shannon