The FastDay Forum

[carorees]

Yes, I agree with the others...too many carbs. If you ever track your calories on my fitness pal or calorie count or any of the many other apps and trackers, you should get a figure for carb intake. For most people (though of course everyone varies) it is much harder to lose weight if your carb intake is over around 150-200g per day. The way fasting works (apart from reducing calories) is to allow insulin levels to fall (insulin is the hormone that is released in response to eating carbs). Insulin packs all excess carbs away as fat and prevents fat from being released from your fat stores for use as fuel. If you want to boost the effect of fasting, restricting carbs is a good way to do it and prevents the need to cut calories on your feast days.

Try to keep carbs below 150g per day and see if that gets results!

For me, breakfast was the worst meal for carbs so I decided just to stop eating breakfast. If you don't want to go that route then I would go for yoghurt and berries or eggs for example. Porridge and a banana and honey is a real carb hit. I would guess that is around 100g of carbs just for breakfast.

Here is a list of foods that contain 50g of carbs as a guide: resources-links-f3/foods-containing-50g-carbohydrates-t9173.html

However, if you don't want to be having to think about all that while you are so stressed (I know I wouldn't) then just carrying on with fasting twice a week or even having a week off and then returning to 5:2 will, I'm sure, bring further weightloss eventually.

I guess the choice is:
a) stop 5:2 and come back to it later (but you will most likely put weight on)
b) continue 5:2 and ride out the plateau
c) continue 5:2 and try to reduce carbs a bit which may kick start the weightloss.

Most important is not to add to your stress, so do whichever works best for you.

Here's hoping things start to work out for you in all ways!

Hi

My porridge for breakfast comes in at 400kcal.

I will try and shake things up a bit, but I am no fan of salad. I am trying to teach myself to like it but truth is I don't. I'll tolerate in rolls, sandwiches or wraps but eating it on it's own. No not for me. I don't like vegetables either but will tolerate some of them with a meal.

Ready meals are ideal as my lunch breaks are very short and I do have to call in at home to check on our youngest, let the dog out etc. This means that cooking/preparation times are not aloud to be more than 10 mins or I won't have the time to eat it.

I take sugar in hot drinks so I have cut them to once daily.

The only non-carb foods that I like is meat but that would work out very expensive.

I had a more detailed reply but saved it as a draft and then it disappeared.

someone asked what my TDEE is the figures are 2530 and 633 for fast days.

I don't think that I am anywhere near those most of the time but will pay more attention and might just keep a detailed food diary for while as was suggested.

Thanks for all the tips, I'll do some thinking over the weekend and see how and if I can change things up.

[Moogie]

What does your TDEE come out as if you select sedentary? A lot of people over estimate their exercise levels so sometimes it's best to use the sedentary figure as your baseline, if you're not already.

I never used to like salads, until I realised you can add lovely ham, chicken or cheese and have a nice salad dressing to make it creamy and tasty. Yes, it adds to the calories but you can still have a massive bowl of salad for relatively little.

Are you actually hungry most mornings? You may find a smaller bowl of porridge is enough for you or even skipping breakfast some days. I know I don't feel like eating first thing most mornings now, and tend not to eat until almost midday!

Do you like eggs? They're really good for keeping you full and so quick to prepare! Eggs, tomatoes and lean ham for lunch can be low calorie, low carb and filling. Do you like soups? They can also be nice & low cal and great now it's winter.

I bet there are some vegetables you could come to really love. I always hated veg, would never eat salad and would only have peas and spuds with my roast dinners as a child. There are still some veg which I only tolerate, but I know how much better I feel when I eat them What about fruit? Could you have a big fruit salad for lunch?

I also enjoy porage and have 0.5 cup porage with 1 cup of 1.5% milk (40g porage + 195ml milk) and the calorie count is 238 (according to MyFatSecret). Maybe if you make a few adjustments with what you normally eat/drink you can save a few calories?

MOH likes to have two sandwiches for lunch - I eat the filling only eg 2 slices of ham and 2 slices of gouda and half a tomato = 180 calories.

As Moogie suggests you can so so many things with eggs, eg scrambled eggs, omelettee and I find these satisfying and make me feel as if I have more energy.

I also make any calculations as being 'sedentary' so if I do any exercise then it's a bonus - but I don't eat any extra or that would be defeating the object.

Cheerio for now - hope some of the suggestions we are making come in useful

by Navwoman » 25 Oct 2013, 15:34

I also enjoy porage and have 0.5 cup porage with 1 cup of 1.5% milk (40g porage + 195ml milk) and the calorie count is 238 (according to MyFatSecret). Maybe if you make a few adjustments with what you normally eat/drink you can save a few calories?

I take mine with banana and honey and made with milk as this recipe is recommended for people like me with IBS. It tastes lovely and soothes the pains. The calories work out at 40g Porridge 148kcal, 1 medium banana 105kcal, 1 spoon of honey 65kcal, 1 cup of milk, between 50 and 100 kcal. so a total of 365 to 400 kcal. I prefer to over count than to underestimate, just in case there is a bit more honey on the spoon, the banana is bigger ...

I am thinking about skipping lunch all together, maybe just my late instead and then dinner.

I need my breakfast after the fast and at weekends this often keeps me going until the evening. This way I would cut out some carbs and I am sure once I'm used to it I wouldn't even miss lunch all that much.

I believe that the comments about often eating out of habit as opposed to hunger are very true.

I'm going to sign off for today as there are some things I need to wrap up before closing time.

Thank you for all the advise and encouragement. I should be back on Tuesday.

Alexandra - thank you for posting this. Feeling the same frustration. I've always had slow progress since beginning this WoE in April, but at least I had experienced progress nonetheless. Recently it's slowed right down. Same weight every week for 3 weeks, then up a lb. and this morning another lb.! Grumble angry smash smash!

I'm heartened by the tips you've received and for my own purposes will take on @Carorees"Try to keep carbs below 150g per day and see if that gets results!" Seems like a manageable tweak and worthy a try (for me).

Personally I worry about my NFD tracking as I eat out a lot and like my vino. I do feel I need to track my cals (and do a better job of it obvi!)as I have quite a load to lose. Now I plan to watch the carbs as well and see if that kickstarts the process.

I'll update in a week or so if it works!

Also, I'm sorry for the stress you're experiencing currently. Weight frustration only exacerbates it. Wishing you (and myself) success getting back on the "loser" path!

Hi Alexandra
I too have been yo-yoing up and down the same 1.5kg since 2nd Sept. I was about to post a question asking other members how long their plateaus lasted! Again, I too have lost about 9kg since I started in May. I read Moogie's blog on her website the other day about this same issue and it gave me hope.
Good to know you are not alone and thanks to this site and such helpful people on here you and I (and others) will soon be tracking further losses.

keep me posted on how you go on - feel free to pm me too so we can support each other.

hugs

Thank you everyone for the kind responses and tips

I have thought about this all weekend, and I am still here. Fasting again today.

I have decided to skip breakfast Saturday to Monday, skip lunch on Wednesday and Friday's and continue with my 2 fast days.

I will try to limit my carbs so either I shall have breakfast or lunch but not both, which should cut out about 400kcal/day. I will continue to enjoy my weekends, because let's face we all need a bit of me time and not feel guilty about what we eat or drink.

I will also continue to walk our dog and will add in swimming one evening starting this Wednesday. To cope with the pain this will create I am going back on Amitriplyline which is an anti-depressent but is used by specialist for pain relieve in both IBS and Arthritis. Taking these again should cut down on the Cocodamol which in turn has already had a positive effect on my IBS.

I am taking my Actimel every morning including fast days, its 75 kcal I just have to calculate into my day. The positive is that it means I can take my medication regularly in the morning as it does count as a food.

I am going to ditch the ready-meals and cook even on fast days from now on. Starting today.

So fingers crossed all of this will mean the weight will start coming off again. I am sticking with it at least until January and will then re-evaluate whether I am loosing weight or not.

Well done Alexandra, it sounds like a 'cunning plan' you have decided on to tackle your problem and hopefully these changes will get you back on track and losing again.

Hi,
I know there's been a lot of advice on this subject but it really is the carbs thing - it's not so much about the calories you eat as what those calories are made up - if it's really carb heavy then you won't lose weight as quick (and I speak from experience) - when I started this WOE I ate LOADS of bread etc on my non fast days (because I always have and I love bread). Initially I did lose weight but quite slowly and then it sort of really slowed down to the point where I got quite disheartened because I have a fair bit to lose. For another reason I decided to try and reduce the amount of carbs I was eating and it really seems to have kick started the weight loss again. I think carorees' advice is really sensible because under 150g is manageable without feeling deprived of ANY carby things. Hope it works out soon but don't give up!

Good on you for sticking with it. Sounds like you have really thought it through. Good luck