The FastDay Forum

I just dont know what happened, the first three monthe of the 5:2 Way of life was a breeze, I lost wieght slowly and regularily, and then WHAM; just before almost reaching my goal, things turned 180 degrees!

I really have no explaination, I am doing exactly what I have dont in the loosing wieght period! On the whole, nowadays it is just much much harder to fast.

I am hanging in there, but I am loosing heart, and have lost motivation. Surely, one would think that the good times will come back, but my progress tracker refuses to turn in the right direction.

Desperate now!
PS I have only missed one (1 only) fast since I started in April 13.

Ahh bless..its a bummer isnt it and youve been so good with your fasts
It could be that that you've lost a lot of weight but you havent adjusted your TDEE accordingly - the lighter you get,the less calories you' ll need and may have to check out yr current TDEE and change how many cals you have daily / up your exercise
or is it that ypur weight is just not moving down any more - if so,it could be the dreaded plateau which many here talk about..it takes patience to stick it out,but your weight will start going down again eventually if you stay with it x

[Tracieknits]

Your BMI is at 20! Perhaps your body has said "that's quite enough, thank you - please don't lose any more weight."

Hi:

You are learning that thin people do not have higher metabolisms than fat people. Because you are thin, you need fewer calories to get through the day. Your TDEE has gone down and caloric intake that caused weight loss before no longer does. It is sad but true.

If you 'give up' you will simply gain weight.

If you are happy with your weight, you need to work to stay there.

If you want to lose more weight, you will have to eat even less than you are now eating.

Good Luck!

[carorees]

This sounds like it could be a famine reaction. The difficulty fasting is a clue. How much are you eating on your non-fast days...are you trying to cut calories then as well as fasting? Alternatively, you may be over eating on feast days as your body tries to overcome the reaction.

I think you should read this thread on the famine reaction: 5-2-diet-chat-f6/the-famine-effect-interesting-article-on-aus-radio-national-t8533.html

and consider trying to maintain not lose for at least a while. As Tracie says, your BMI is below optimum so perhaps you need to take stock about your goals?

Another thing to consider is what your balance of carbohydrate and fat is on your feast days? This can affect your scale weight.

Don't panic...we'll get to the bottom of this.

OK, so I need to give the TDEE an overhauling!

Tracieknits, it is true that I have 20 BMI, but that doesnt help much when I am apple-shaped 52 year-old, all the wieght is around the middle, and have a very unhealthy hieght-to-waist ratio.

I just HAVE to loose those kgs for health reasons alone.

Thanks for your responses! At least I am not down all in the dumps now.

Thanks Carorees!
I will read up on the link.

[carorees]

If it's your apple shape that's the problem you might like to consider lowering your carbohydrate intake. Low carb diets can help to reduce abdominal fat. There is a lot of info on this site about the impact of carbohydrates on fat gain and risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. Just reducing intake by about 50g of carbs per day might be enough to make a difference.

Perhaps excercise is the key to shifting the belly fat. At a BMI of 20, it doesn't appear that you need to loose any weight. Certainly I would say the Famine Reaction has hit. Relax. Enjoy not being overweight. Concentrate on maintaining.

[Betsysgr8]

Are you measuring your waist at the narrowest part or around the belly button?

I measure just below the belly button, Betsygirl, but I am afraid I dont measure it often, it hasent changed more than 2 cm since I started!

[Betsysgr8]

What is your does your waist measure at the narrowest part? What is your height? @Carorees has a post somewhere with the correct place to measure but my understanding is that for health your should measure at the narrowest part of your waist and that is the part that should be half your height.

http://www.52fastdiet.co.uk/resources-links-f3/topic1019.html

This is the thread on where to measure your waist.

[carorees]

Ah ha @pben! That's not the right place to measure your waist for the waist: height ratio. Your measurement just above the belly button gives the best indication of abdominal fat (the bad stuff). Measure your waist at about half way between your belly button and the bottom of your ribs (should be the narrowest place) and if that is about half your height then that's fine from a health perspective.

The fat that lies under the skin over your lower abdomen (below the belly button) is not harmful as long as your BMI is good (which it is).

Get your tape measure out and report back!

See, there is NO "Narrow" at all I measured again (thanks for the link) Now it is 94 cm (my hight is 165 cm) so even without doing the math, one can see I am way off.

See, in my case the BMI is totally misleading- I have thin, stick-legs and thin arms (no thighs, no butt,) just a humpy-dumptly sort of figur that happened in the last four years (got Arthitis, so I could not move as much as I used to) thats why I started 5:2.