The FastDay Forum

please can someone advise me!?!
I've been fasting now for 6 weeks. After my 2 fasting days (Monday and Wednesday) I lose 3-4lbs then by Sunday it's back on again, only to repeat the cycle the following week
I fasted 2 years ago and it worked great. Am I doing something wrong? I don't go over 500 calls.
I'm ready to give up!

Hi Debi. Sorry to hear it's not going so well for you.
Have you looked at what you're eating on your non-fast days. That could be where things are going 'wrong' for you. I know a lot of people don't like to, but I still count calories on those days, just to keep things in check. If you don't want to do it all the time, perhaps you could do it for a couple of weeks just to make sure you're not eating way too much, which undoes all the good work of the fasts.

Good luck, because this has really worked for me.

[wildmissus]

Think back to when you first started fasting....I bet you were careful on non fast days as well. I know I'm struggling at the moment but if I'm honest I'm not as strict on non fast days as I used to be, in fact I have no control on non fast days!

Sorry youre finding it difficult..
I know its not a popular idea,coz it makes 5:2 like just another diet,but unless i count calories on non fast day and keep on or under TDEE, i regain..i have lost two stone fasting and put it back on...lost a stone and a half once more and put most of THAT back on..coz i lost control on my non fast days..how demoralising is that?!

I have now lost 15 lb again in conjunction with Slimming World ( where you count syns not cals)
This time i am determined to keep it off and to lose more thru continuing to do SW and 5:2... The best thing about 5:2 is the health benefits so altho i dont find it easy, i will d it ,even if i only manage once a week/ go over the 500 cals...its the health benefits for me that make 5: 2 "not just another diet"..plus i find with fasting i lose weight where i want to lose it..tum,thighs,knees,rather than from bust,face and fingers! XX

Hi, sounds very frustrating!

More info would help - what is your current weight or BMI? And your dieting history, and any medical issues that you know of. 3-4 lbs loss sounds like it would mainly be water - what is your carb intake like?

Do you feel you are eating more on non-fast days than you were before you started 5:2 again? It would be worth keeping a food diary for a couple of weeks - you don't have to count calories if you don't want. You may see areas where it is easy for you to change eating behaviours.

Fill up with veggies and other whole foods as much as possible; avoid processed foods. Try to get in tune with your body and what it really needs to eat.

Have you also checked other measurements and how clothes feel? Scales are not always reliable (changes in amount of water can hide change in fat!) and you may be losing inches.

Good luck for sorting things out!

Debbie Norton-Brown ....It can be so demoralising when you try so hard and it doesn't work. I had that too.... to begin with I was losing wonderfully without watching calories on my normal days. Then I suddenly stopped losing weight and I became very despondent because I like this WOE purely because I like the freedom of being able to eat a chocolate or some nuts "Tomorrow". So I stopped fasting for a month, whilst continuing to read a lot of the threads on the forum. Then I went back to fasting. For the first two weeks I lost nothing and was about to give up then I realised, I am not obese, I don't have a high BMI, and I want to lose between 5-8kgs, but I am not very tall and had an epiphany 500cals is too much on a fast day, so I have cut my fast day cals down to between 300-350cals and sometimes if I can, I go lower than that and now I am steadily losing weight. My mother has been visiting me for two weeks and she is the most wonderful cook, so have been eating on normal days, huge meals with rice, pasta, potatoes sometimes both, roti and curries, cakes, and chocolates constantly and throughout the day & night. During this time I refused to weigh myself afraid that I was going to gain so much weight. My clothes did not feel tighter infact they felt looser and this was very confusing because I know how much I had been eating. So I decided to weigh myself this morning and I have lost 1.5kg in the last 2 weeks, and it was simply because I lowered my calorie intake on my fast days..... I hope this offers some insight for you.... Good luck

Something I have not seen anyone else mention; is there a reason for the close together fast days -- Mon/Wed, rather than 2 days inbetween? It's possible that you are giving yourself too long with normal eating, not enough of a break between fasting days. Just a thought...

@Skinnyli, sounds like a wonderful time with your mum!

I do believe that home made foods are less likely to result in weight gain than commercially processed ones. Home made foods are generally prepared with whole foods and don't have all those additives. I think they are more filling. So although you had a wide range of goodies, perhaps you did not eat to excess (despite the chocolate!!)? And maybe you were busier than normal? And maybe your body is good at dealing with a bit of excess? Given you are not overweight, the chances are that your body does work pretty well in managing food consumed!!

I also found (during my initial weight loss journey) that keeping the cals low on a fast day helped - but that was more because I had let them creep up to 600+. Once I returned to less than 500, things got back on track. My TDEE is around 1800, so 500 seemed to work ok for me - tho it was a lot of veggie, and as I have said elsewhere, I feel that veggie cals "count less" than other sources.

@Debi Norton-Brown, tagging you in case you have not noticed our replies!

@Skinnyli, sounds like a wonderful time with your mum!

I do believe that home made foods are less likely to result in weight gain than commercially processed ones. Home made foods are generally prepared with whole foods and don't have all those additives. I think they are more filling. So although you had a wide range of goodies, perhaps you did not eat to excess (despite the chocolate!!)? And maybe you were busier than normal? And maybe your body is good at dealing with a bit of excess? Given you are not overweight, the chances are that your body does work pretty well in managing food consumed!!

I also found (during my initial weight loss journey) that keeping the cals low on a fast day helped - but that was more because I had let them creep up to 600+. Once I returned to less than 500, things got back on track. My TDEE is around 1800, so 500 seemed to work ok for me - tho it was a lot of veggie, and as I have said elsewhere, I feel that veggie cals "count less" than other sources.

@Debi Norton-Brown, tagging you in case you have not noticed our replies!

Thanks Sassy1 it was absolutely lovely being with my mom. I was a little overweight before I started using 5:2 and prior to fasting my body did not respond well to any kind of indulgence. Thats why I absolutely love this WOE because I think that prior to fasting my indulgence was really overboard, but i think that my appetite may have decreased slightly and now my indulgence may feel really overboard but in actual fact, is not as bad as it once was. I agree veggie cals don't seem to result in puffiness and weight gain so I do make certain that I eat them on my normal days to fill me up.