The FastDay Forum

So...here I am after 4 weeks of 5:2 and I have lost exactly ZERO pounds. In fact, I may be up a few tenths. I can tell I am smaller, both in the way my clothes fit and also the way I feel. Isn't it odd how you can feel smaller? I have let the scale dictate my mood for the past month and I am done with that. It is a number and it is what it is.

I'm nearly 55 years old, post-menopausal, 5'8" tall and right around 190 lbs. I think that's 13 stone 8 lbs in the measurement most often used here. Anyway......by any standards it is too much. I have been right around this weight for nearly 2 years after losing 30 lbs in early 2013. Much to my chagrin, my body seems very happy at this weight. I do a strenuous boot camp workout 3-4 days a week and have done for over 2 years. Consequently, I have quite a bit of muscle and am proud of it as it was/is hard earned! I also like to do a bit of running in the Spring/Summer/Fall. Winter weather here in central Pennsylvania makes me hibernate!(except for 5:45AM boot camp!). Also in the summer I play golf every weekend and walk the course while pushing my clubs. Each round is about 14,000 steps on my pedometer. I have the exercise covered!

As to my eating. I have been watching carbs and dieting since Jan of 2013. I tried 5:2 in July of 2013 and had the same result as this time and gave up. This time, I am going to stick with it as I am not willing to count calories every day for the rest of my life. I really think this past 4 weeks, I have been fasting for 2 days and dieting for another 3-4. I have had at least 1 day each week where I "let go", but even then, I doubt that I ate over 2000 calories. Having had a weight problem for over 40 years, I am quite well versed in the calorie count of most foods. I don't drink soda, I drink black coffee and tea with no sweetener. I do like the occasional beer and am not willing to give that up. I don't sit in front of the TV with a bag of chips or cookies(crisps or biscuits). I really wish I had one of those bad habits to give up!

Now for my plan. I will continue 5:2 because I quite enjoy it and do not find the fast days onerous at all. I will focus on my fitness and just be happy to be healthy, albeit overweight. I will still limit my carbs as diabetes is prevalent in my family and I really do not want to go down that road.

As for the coming to terms part, I will NOT let the scale make me grumpy any more! This week has been horrible as I've been in such a bad mood, all because the scale will not budge. ENOUGH! I'm happy today and feel like I'm in a good place. I had joined a 5:2 Facebook group that weighs in and posts every Friday. I left the group this morning because not only was I not having any good results to post, it was making me feel quite the failure when I would see all the others down 10-15 lbs in the 4 weeks we've been posting. I'm done trying to figure out what is wrong with me. The truth is, there is nothing wrong with me. I have a strong body that has served me well for nearly 55 years and I hope to keep it strong for many more years.

Thank you for listening to my rant. I just had to get it out. I was talking to one of the girls here at work this morning about just accepting myself the way I am and I got tears in my eyes. It's such an emotional thing for me and I'm hoping typing it out here will be just what I need.

See you around the boards!

Hi Lori. I feel your pain. However please give it a little longer if you want to lose weight. I didn't start losing until after six weeks. The fact that you feel slimmer is a good sign.
I don't lose anything on this WOE either right now because I eat too much on the other days and don't move enough. However it is good for my health. I had a physical yesterday and everything was absolutely normal. I can't complain at that (I'm a post menopausal 52 yr old).

Thanks Karen, and as I said, I'm going to keep doing 5:2 because I enjoy it and the community here! I'm just not going to put the pressure on myself to try to come up to the "normal" standard for this WOL. I'm still hopeful that I'll lose some weight, but it can't be the focus of my life anymore.

Thanks again!

[Tracieknits]

Ugh, I'm sorry!!

1) have you taken measurements? Seeing those numbers go down feels awesome and is a real, concrete way to see improvement.

2) maybe it's time to try something completely different? I know I recommend it a lot, but it's because I think her books have helped me a lot. The Australians love her and recommended her to me about a year and a half ago when I was having an awful plateau: Amanda Sainsbury-Salis, PhD. She was a teenager and went on a weight-watchers type diet, lost some weight and then gained it all back plus some. Then she went on another diet, lost weight, and gained it all back and then some. She did this until she was 50 pounds heavier than the time she thought she was "fat". So she decided to become an obesity researcher!!! She lost the weight and has kept it off. Her methods are backed by her research and they are reasonably easy and sound. It can be easy to forget to follow her advice, but it's good advice.
Book 2: I actually like it a bit better.
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Hungry-Life- ... bury+salis

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Go-Hungry-Di ... bury+salis

If it's any help I felt a lot thinner before I saw anything budge on the scale which was incredibly frustrating , I have been here since October and my scale only started to budge this year.

I know in theory you should be able to eat what you want on non fast days but the only way I can make the scale budge is to eat too or just under TDEE every day, and not have too many carbs (although I am possessed of a carb monster that would make the Loch Ness Monster look like a field mouse !)

I thought I would be hungry doing that but I'm not ...unless I happen to have PMT .. also I am only 5ft 2 so you have height on your side and will have a higher TDEE ... give it a go for a week it might just work for you too

Thanks everyone! I know the math says that I am eating more than my TDEE on non fast days. I don't dispute the math, but I think, that for me, the calculators for TDEE are not accurate. I am hypothyroid and on meds, so possibly that combined with a life time of dieting has my TDEE much lower than one would expect. I have many days logged all my food on MFP and my average days would not come near 2000. More like 1600-1700. I do admit to having a blow out day once a week, but still to show no loss in all these weeks with all the exercise I do? Unbelievable. Anyway, not going to beat a dead horse. It is what it is and I'm moving on. 5:2, eating normally on the 5 days & working out. Let the pounds fall where they may!

Thanks again everyone!

Hugs @Lori and all shall be well!
Have you tried not eating after 6.30pm until after 10.30am the next day? This would bring you into 16:8 eating window land and give you some extra fasting time for your 5 days.
We've all tried tweaks and found different bits work for different people, so keep going and measure with a tape measure rather than scales for a while?
Good luck :0)

Firstly well done for making such a positive decision, you are right, weight is not everything, and feeling thinner is a good sign that something positive is happening.
I personally have been maintaining for over a year, and even though I have not lost any weight in that time I have found that my measurement have shrunk, so something positive is happening.
Keep up the good work!

Lori,
What you might try doing is eating at the TDEE calculated for your GOAL weight on non-fasting days. You are going to have to eat at that level to maintain your weight loss if you get some weight loss happening, so getting into the habit of eating at that level builds the habits you will need in the future.

If you find you can't eat at the maintenance TDEE for your desired goal weight, it tells you that your goal isn't realistic.

The weight where the TDEE is one you can live with should be your weight goal, really. Any other goal is just an invitation to yo-yoing your way up to even more fat. Since you aren't gaining weight eating the way you are now, you at least know that your current TDEE is maintainable. But if you are maintaining now, you have to ask yourself if you really can cut thing else and keep it cut for the rest of your life.

Thanks @peebles

I was just doing some research on TDEE and am going to look up what my goal weight number would be. Thank you for the confirmation that I'm on the right track.

Hi @Lori I love your post even if to you it seems a bit angry. i think its got a great vibe. sometimes I feel a bit dismayed that people get so hung up on the scale weight instead of getting smaller (if that is what they want or need to do) and healthier. Being strong and rocking muscles is the new slim as far as I'm concerned. I am super impressed with how hard you work and your healthy diet.

I have a bit of a puny build but I'm trying - I can finally do man-style push ups for which I am exceedingly proud and I think i saw some triceps yesterday! I don't know what I weigh anymore though I have a rough idea. But I do know my dress size, how my clothes fit, and I how look in the mirror for a middle aged woman, and that's what keeps me doing the 5:2.

Hi @Lori, I echo Rowglow's comment about the vibe of your first post. You sound a very determind person - you must be to do those boot camps (I shudder at the thought! )
With no scientific backing to say this, I wonder if what is happenng is a change in the balance between water and fat in your body? I am noticing that this has happened with me - though in the wrong direction!! When I first reached goal, I was around 22% bf after a steady and easy loss, a year later still at goal, but had had to work at that after some serious indulgences, and the bf was 23%, and now after 3 weeks of heavy carb overload over the holiday period, I am still at goal but bf is now 25%!! And it is the water % that has dropped (and I am not dehydrated). I am pretty sure that a pound of fat occupies more space than a pound of water, so that could account for looking and feeling slimmer.
But I would hope that if you stick with it - as you intend to do - at some stage the fat loss will start to exceed the water gain.
Just a thought.
Best wishes and good luck!

Thanks again everyone! Yes, I do mean to stick with it.....doing nothing is not an option! I believe I will modify a bit and perhaps try a few weeks of 4:3 with the fast days being 800-1000. I'll also try to keep my "eating" days around 1500-1600. I really don't want to have to count calories for my whole life, but if I have to do it for a while, I will. It all comes down to how bad I want it, doesn't it?

You all are awesome and I appreciate ALL your suggestions and help.

[Debs]

Hi Lori,
All power to you for sticking with it, as you said, what is the alternative? I am in the same boat as you but I have struggled for a lot longer to try and find out what works for me. Not sure I am there yet, but there aren't many other alternatives. I have recently bought the Amanda Salis book that Traceyknits recommended and have just read it and am currently practising her methods along with fasting. I am also keeping a mood food diary to see what is happening as I am going through a stressful time at work so it is interesting to see what is happening with my eating. I am considering two days of fasting, and maybe a third day of 1000 cals as well as upping my exercise to improve my toning. If I can't be thin, I can be toned at least!!
Good luck, you are by no means alone in this!!
Debs

Well done, @Lori. I never lost any weight over winter and just plodded on with 5:2. And 4 weeks isn't very long, so stop weighing and just focus on how good your body feels. Or just weigh once a month or something. I also love Amanda Sainsbury-Salis, Don't go Hungry Diet. I was like you, I didn't have any bad habits, so I thought, to get rid of, but when I actually started logging my eating habits - not calories but levels of hunger and satiety, and what I was eating, I learned that I needed to eat more fruit and veg and I learned to stop eating sooner. I learned to throw perfectly good food into the compost bucket because it was better to do that than to eat more than my body needed. She writes too about the 'set point', the weight your body wants to stay at when you have lost weight and the plateau. She explains how to move on from that point. But after you've lost weight, it gets slower and harder to lose past your 'set point'. We lose weight in steps, not in a line. Excellent post and excellent decision.