The FastDay Forum

[Tracieknits]

@Pennyforthem - I wish I could say that your story sounds extreme, but it really doesn't. Two of my mom's friends are long term maintainers near your age, and they just don't eat much. They both say they have to be very careful. One of them took home some Christmas cookies that I made. She said she was putting them in the freezer and would let herself have one a week.

Sorry to be terribly new and naive.... But I thought the whole idea of 5:2 to was that it is infinitely sustainable forever..... This whole post is leaving me a bit bewildered. And worried. So people don't want to fast forever?
I don't think I mind the thought of fasting forever.... Or more like cutting back after days when I've eaten more.... But I cannot and will not count calories!!!!
But like i say.... I'm very very new here and know very little.....just thought i'd stick my oar in.....

Surely... It's the whole idea....to eat less now and forever.... To lose weight and keep it off..??? Like, a way of life, rather than a 'diet' that ends??? Have i got something wrong?
Sorry to be banging on.....

@Pudpud17
Sometimes for ever and ever seems like a long time.
I no longer do a 'proper' fast because I can keep my weight stable by cutting back when I've eaten too much, as you said yourself. I don't count calories and I don't restrict food types. I use the tools 5:2 has given me ,but in a way that is sustainable for me.
I did stick firmly to 5:2 to lose the weight but I didn't get hung up on calorie counting apart from fast days.

@Pudpud17 I can see how confusing this thread would be to a newbie. Dr. Mosely wrote about his research, his chosen method and his success with 5:2. Over the years since, many others have experimented on themselves with different versions of IF.

My takeaway from it all is that for some people using IF for weight loss and subsequent maintenance is easy. For others it is hard.

Now we need to figure out what causes the difference--early days yet.

Sure I get that... Thanks Mary Beth..... Just all rather disheartening.... So many people saying they can't maintain unless they reallly restrict themselves....makes me wonder if it's even worth bothering... I'm going to.... Cos I really need to do SOMETHING.... But jeez....

I think that people are so very different, and what works for one doesn't work for all. Similarly, what goes badly for one doesn't necessarily go badly for all.


Things I do know that don't appear to be specific to any weight loss program or method: Being obese is very unhealthy. Maintenance is hard and requires nearly as much diligence as weight loss.

Everyone I know who has maintained a significant weight loss complains that it's a lot of work - nearly as much work as losing it in the first place.

... In the past two years, I've lost over 20 pounds each year, and it's a lifestyle I feel I can maintain forever. I know I probably will have to if I want to keep my losses.

I can't tell you how many people I saw in Weight Watcher's meetings who showed up after having lost 100 pounds or more from gastric bypass surgery and then managed to regain most or all of that weight. It was at least a dozen different people, and I went to Weight Watchers a few times for anywhere from three to six months at a pop - maybe 15 months total over the past decade.

@Tracieknits

Thank you for hitting the nail on the head. In long term studies of people who lose a significant amount of weight and keep it off (see US's National Weight Control Registry - http://www.nwcr.ws/ ), people did not find it easy to keep weight off and tended to track eating consistently in maintenance. After about five years, they found it easier to maintain and levels of regain leveled off.
But I know from my past experience that preventing refattening required constant effort and vigilance; I stayed fat because I had patterns of overeating from childhood and it's way too easy to go back to those in times of stress or even just boredom.
I do not yet have to contend with menopause, but I do have to contend with my desk job, and know from lots of research that weight maintenance is best achieved (for most) with most exercise. In some studies, that may take 90 minutes a day, for those who have lost weight and want to keep it off. This is hard for me, as I don't care for it.
As others have indicated in this thread, much of that can be done through non-exercise movement (cleaning, dancing, mowing the lawn, etc). I need to incorporate more of that into my life, but one change I have made is that at my office I take a 5 minute break about once an hour to walk around the floor. People now recognize me doing this and while I was afraid they'd make fun of me, many are a bit envious of my commitment. In the nice weather, I walk around the parking lot.

I would like to say to @Pudpud17,and anyone else who is feeling discouraged after reading this thread, that this is not true of everyone who has lost weight successfully using IF. I first reached goal in July 2013. In October that year, I took my eye off the ball (family reasons), stopped fasting, stopped visiting this forum and extra goodies crept back into my diet. By January 2014, not surprisingly, I had regained 13 and a quarter pounds, but was still ten pounds lighter that the previous January! This in itself was a victory, of sorts, for me. I hadn't started a new year under twelve stone for forty years!
I started 5:2 again and regained my target weight in time for my 65th birthday on March 11th. Since then I have maintained at or around that weight and even though my tracker has more peaks and troughs than the Himalayas, due to holidays and family visits, I consider myself a 'maintainer'.
All of this I have achieved with 'straight' 5:2. I haven't cut out any food groups, so I don't do 'low carb', I don't do 'eating windows', I don't eat cauliflower rice or courgette spaghetti, I haven't given up chocolate or dairy etc, etc, etc. I wanted to lose my weight in a way that would be sustainable for me forever and so it had to include the foods that I wanted to keep in my diet forever. I have however cut down (not out) on all the foods that I know are high in empty calories and have finally learned that the world doesn't come to an end if I leave food on my plate!
Since reaching my target, I monitor my weight daily and use that as a guide to whether I need to throw in a fast or two. I can go several weeks without needing to fast but I also realise that I can't go back entirely to eating the way I have in the past. It makes sense that , if that's why I put weight on, then returning to that way of eating will have exactly the same effect again! I have also upped my exercise slightly by trying to go for a two mile walk several times a week - mostly successfully, although I don't think that I will ever be a 'keen' walker!
I have enormous sympathy for those for whom this WOL is not proving as successful as they hoped but maintaining a weight loss, particularly if you have a low TDEE, does require eternal vigilance. My hope is that it will become easier over time, as our bodies adjust to our lower intake and if it doesn't become easier then a couple of fasts a week does not seem too high a price to pay - not to me.
I hope that this very lengthy post doesn't come across as being all about me and how great I am. By telling my story, I am hoping to encourage new and not-so-new fasters to trust this WOL because, if a serial dieter for forty years can finally say 'I have found a WOL' which works for me, then it may work for them too.

In short... we are all different. @stowgateresident is a maintaining buddy. Same goal, different way, depending on our own bods.
Likewise @callyanna and @auriga (whom I haven't seen for a while) will also have their own ways.

Sorry, it's probably not what you were looking for at all.

I hope the truth is all everyone here wants to hear! Thanks for your honesty!

There is a refreshing lack of b-s on this forum, which is one reason I so appreciate it. Most diet forums and blogs are run by people who earn their living selling weight loss dreams and they will eject anyone who questions the fantasy that keeps the money flowing into their coffers. This group here, including the people who run the forum are much more interested in figuring out the truth and helping each other succeed. That's my approach too, and over the years I have embraced various forms of weight loss, done them for long enough to discover the flaws, shared what I have learned and appreciated every bit of what people who had walked the walk have had to share with me. Often it is not what you read in any of the books from anyone, mainstream or alternative.

@sarahg, I'm at a normal weight right now for me now, around 140. I maintained between 142 and 145 from the 2003, when I dieted down from 172 to the end of 2013 when some health issues sprang up that packed bunch of weight on me pretty fast and got me up to the lower 150s.

I started the 5:2 diet after a month of eating 1100 calories on a ketogenic diet took off only 2 lbs and I realized I couldn't possibly stick with that diet for the 5 months it was going to take to get back to 142. That was what made 5:2 such a pleasant surprise.

I am one of those obsessive people who have watched every bite they put into their mouth for years to maintain and yes, after a while it becomes all too much. If OH would just go bald, grow a paunch, and go to seed, my life would be far easier as I could just follow suit, but he insists on staying fit and handsome. (Mind you, he has never said a word about my weight, fat or thin. But I have my pride!)

Re Dr. Mosely's depiction of 5:2. He is a male and relatively young. When eating an effective weight loss diet with his young, male metabolism he can eat more food than most middle aged women can eat when they are not dieting. So older women who have weight problems really need to learn to ignore any diet advice given by younger males. My son in his 20s lost 50 lbs eating 2500 calories a day. I would not take diet advice from him!

What an interesting thread. My experience is I hit 50 and found I couldn't eat what i want and exercise away the extra few kilos anymore. I am a small build and as a kid was always teased for being 'skinny' by my siblings. I did 5:2 to get my weight down from 61 kilos to 56ish and a bmi of around 21, and that took about 5 months. I didn't count calories on non fast days and I have a very sweet tooth. But am lucky in that I've never had a huge appetite and once I feel full, I don't like the stuffed feeling if I carry on eating (usually to be polite to a host). I've been maintaining since May on either 1 or 2 fasts a week and for the most part it's been fine, though to be honest I very rarely weigh. I just go by my jeans and how I look and the occasional waist measurement. I think this works well for me as I exercise a lot (and am too cheap to buy scales). Fasting has made me think about food and eating a lot more though, which isn't a good thing I find. But I have never dieted before so am guessing any diet would do that. Caloriecounting every day would do my head in so I'm happy with IF.

Ro glow and Peebles,reading your posts is like reading about myself.i am small late fifties and struggling to keep the weight where I want to be.i don't even care about the scale ,it's the tight waistband.so niw I have bought elastic waistband pants,and loose dresses.w hat has become of me?
My husband,too is very motivated to stay slim but never ever says I am getting fatter.
It's true if he just gave up I might also....slip into middle age spread gracefully

My TDEE is now 1335, was 1500
Peebles are you in a ‘losing’ or a ‘maintaining’ mentality? I recall you are approaching one year into fasting, two months behind me. I moved into maintaining 30th December. It was a huge relief both physically and emotionally to finally accept maintaining (only 0.4lb from my goal!) because I had set a ‘goal’ and those last few pounds were so darn frustrating … I was up against a brick wall and feeling frustrated and confused. Can you believe it! I was like a stubborn mule ……….. Now that I have accepted maintaining I seem to have my mojo back and my first month maintaining has been a good experience. It’s early days and yes, I’m fasting Mon/Thurs but I don’t feel any pressure so far, I hope in time to move to an eating window and see if that fits. In hindsight I should have called in maintaining some time ago, or at least taken a break from ‘losing’ mode to ‘maintaining’ mode for a while. It’s also winter for us and I have learnt from @Sallyo maintaining not losing is a good winter strategy. So if you are at a great weight as you say how about making a decision for maintaining for now? I’m really looking forward to the spring it gives me a bolster that I can maintain these last few winter months and continue through what I consider the easier months of the year.
My take on your comment ‘fasting seems to make us eat a lot more on our non-fast days. After several months of comfortable fasting, I am also finding myself hungrier on fast days, which is making fasting harder, not easier for me’. I have not experienced this. I don’t count calories but estimate what 500 cals is from my limited knowledge of fresh food. I don’t eat sweet things, never have since my teens as they made me ill. I have reduced carbs which I don’t miss at all, pasta, potatoes, rice, bread. What I have learnt through fasting on 500 cals is you can enjoy the most wonderful and satisfying foods for so little calories. I think this is key to satisfaction for me – a balance of all nutrients. If I get my fast days right the rest of the week falls into place. It’s like balancing the week’s scales.
I have never been on a diet. I have followed 52 guidance and reduced carbs. Watching carbs works for some, but it sounds like counting is not right for you? Me neither. So what does that mean? Can you move to not counting?
I recognise I relate to @noodle and @carorees tent. Good time for a survey too.
I agree this forum is full of rich experiences, we are all different ...... what a very great place to be.

I would like to thank@PennyForthem for tagging me. I haven't been on the forum for some time since I moved house as I am up to the eyeballs in building work. I would like to say that I have been maintaining now for nearly a year . It's not been too hard as I have mainly relied on 16:8 with the occasion 5:2 week if I felt I needed a boost. Being over sixty years old I have had to cut down the amount of food that I eat now and I eat more healthily than before. Having been quite overweight I don't want to return to my old ways. 5:2 gave me the tools to lose the weight and it's staying off! It does require effort on my part, but I don't have to diet all the time anymore. I just eat later in the day and in a smaller window than before. It works for me. I hope this might help someone. I am very happy and grateful for the support I got here on this forum. Love to my old pals x x