The FastDay Forum

Hi everyone. My name is Nikki and I'm pretty new to fasting. I've done 5 fasts so far; three 36 hour fasts and two 42 hour fasts. I'm a small business owner, wife and mom of one little girl. I have about 40 pounds to lose and I'm hoping to lose them in the next 10 months by following 5:2 fasting (or some other fasting regimen).

For me this is pretty much just about vanity. I don't take any medications, I don't work a sedentary job, and I don't have any known health issues. I'm just tired of being the fat one in pictures and always trying to avoid cameras. So far my fasts haven't really resulted in much change on the scale, so I don't know if it is working or not. I feel like I eat a lot less on non-fasting days now, but I guess that isn't enough?

Anyway, I look forward to learning from all of you here!

Hi @CreativeNikki and welcome! Unfortunately the forum is REALLY slow right now. It's kinda slow regularly these days, but it's gotten even slower I think due to vacations, etc.

Anyway, there's a lot of information on here to check out. Please remember that it definitely takes time. Also I wouldn't overdo the fasting and reduced calories. Your body needs to know it's still getting food sometimes! There are many different options you can try. Just the tradition 5:2 or possibly 16:8 (fasting 16 hours a day and eating within an 8 hour window.) Just be consistent and really make sure you are not eating more than you think on non-fast days or too little either. Have you used the Tracker on this site? It will tell you what you should be able to eat on those days.

You do just have to find out what works for you and what you can stick with and give it some time. Your body will catch up eventually!

Welcome! Lots of good advice from cblasz.

I would certainly suggest sticking with the straight 5:2 for several weeks before deciding on variations or pushing the fast for too long. Are you having the 500 cals in those fasting periods? The "usual" 5:2 fast day has 500 cals consumed in a 36 hour period.

On non-fast days, aim to eat normally, though reducing added sugar, "white"' and processed foods is a good idea for those days too.

I also had 40 lbs to lose and did so in 8 months with the basic 5:2, no variations apart from what I just mentioned. I have kept most of it off for almost 4 years. Best wishes and good luck for achieving similar. (My wish to lose weight was for the same reasons as yours! )

[Tracieknits]

Hi and welcome!

You've gotten some great advice so I won't repeat it. I wish you lots of luck!

I should admit, I haven't actually read the book yet, so I don't know if I'm doing the 5:2 diet properly or not. I actually did another 44 hour fast that ended yesterday around 4:00 pm. For me, the hardest part is from around 2:00 pm until 8:00 pm on the first day of a fast. The second day, I hardly have any hunger at all so waiting to eat is easy. I could probably have gone all of yesterday without food, but I didn't want to go too crazy.

The days I have been fasting I have not been having 500 calories. I usually have coffee with cream in the morning (say 100 calories?) and then at most I'll bone broth later in the day which, according to the package, is 35 calories. Other than that it's just water and unsweetened teas. I guess I need to read the book to understand why the 500 calories are necessary or important. I plan to get it from the library, but I have like 3 other books on hold already.

One question I have is when can I expect to see or feel some results? What should I be looking for? On the scale I haven't seen any changes yet, which is disappointing. Yesterday when I broke my fast I had tuna salad and then a dinner of chicken, zucchini, tomatoes and fennel (cooked with olive oil). I wasn't able to finish my dinner and didn't eat any dessert. So, seriously, where's the weight loss? That is not much food for 2 days.

[Tracieknits]

I would absolutely suggest you stop fasting until you've read the book. You can probably get it at the library or very cheap on ebay.

I cannot recommend your 44 hour fasts. Our forum policy doesn't allow for discussion of fasting that long without supervision from a doctor -- this was a policy decided upon by our members important.php
Technically I'm supposed to remove your mention of them and post a warning. Unsupervised extended fasting is not a great idea.

If you are looking for speed, you might also be in the wrong place. 5:2 fasting is a lot of great things -- it improves health and many members (including myself) have found objective improvement in a variety of lab results. But it's not speedy. It's sustainable and it works, but it's not speedy and it's not unsafe. Most people can expect to lose about a pound a week.

HOWEVER

If you have been starving yourself by eating far too few calories for extended periods of time, you could be destroying your metabolism.

In a 5:2 diet, the idea is to eat *approximately* your TDEE (total Daily Energy Expenditure -- total calories you burn in a day) for five days per week. on two NON-Consecutive days, you "fast", consuming 25% of your TDEE (roughly 500 calories for a woman, 600 for a man). Most people like Monday and Thursday as their fast days. Most people don't really eat anything until dinner, saving most of their calories for a nutritious meal of lean protein and lots of nonstarchy veggies, and during they day the limit themselves to coffee or tea (with a small spash of milk or cream), broths and water.

also don't forget the measuring tape is your friend. You may notice progress on the measuring tape before you notice big changes on the scale.

Thanks! I figured out the restriction about longer fasts, but not until after I posted, obviously. I am going to get the book from the library in the next few days.

I don't care much about speed, but I do want to lose as much as I can before my sister's wedding next April. I'm just in a weird place mentally, I guess. I know what I should do, but sometimes I don't care enough to do it. Fasting for 36 hours is easy though and it's something I think I can stick with. I just want to be smaller. My blood tests are all good already, my blood pressure is normal, my cholesterol is good, blah, blah, blah... Yet, I'm obese on the BMI chart. So, it's not like I only have 5 pounds to lose or something, I have a lot of extra fat and I look horrible in photos.

[Tracieknits]

So how many weeks until April? I have my next big trip in April. So that's my next date that I want to be slimmer for.

It's frustrating. But the thing is we didn't get this way overnight. And we can't fix it overnight. Sure, there are crash diets that will help us shed weight quickly, but the problem is that the second we go back to regular habits, all the weight comes crashing back, usually with extra!!

I love love love this plan because I'm down 70 pounds, and I've been keeping the weight (mostly) off. I had a rough fall last year, when my mom was hospitalized a few times and I thought that I might lose her. But I was able to only regain 12 pounds and most of that is already gone again.

The great thing about slow is that if you can make changes you can stick with forever, the weight loss will stick forever.

This post might also help:

https://www.fastday.com/fasting/trouble ... t-fasting/

I have 42 weeks until the wedding. If I managed to lose 30 pounds I would be the smallest I've ever been. I've never been below 157, not even in high school. I was 157 on the day of my wedding in 2009 (yes, I weighed myself even on my wedding day). So, that would be pretty amazing.

I agree that what I like about this is that I can actually stick to it. In fact, on a stressful day it's even easier to fast because I don't need to stop what I'm doing to figure out what to eat. With my company, that happens pretty frequently lately because we're very busy.

How long did it take you to lose 70 pounds, if you don't mind sharing? I'm trying to manage my own expectations. Also, I'm honestly not sure how to weigh myself. I weigh myself every morning, but my weight fluctuates a lot. I don't know if I should judge by the highest weight I record each week to see if it's going down, or the lowest weight I record each week. My weight fluctuates by 5 or 6 pounds in a week so I feel like it's basically impossible to know what's happening.

[Tracieknits]

It's taken me a long time. My weight loss has been in fits and bursts -- in part because I have been battling a thyroid disorder are my levels haven't been stable. It's easiest for me to lose why my levels are stable and normal. I haven't been at my largest in 5 years, so it's been mostly a combination of losing with periods of maintaining. But maintaining is a feat in and of itself. I had a weight loss buddy five years ago. She lost weight along with me, but then stopped and over the past two or three years has gained every pound back.

I'm also in no rush at all. I'm focused on losing and maintaining. I'm very happy with slow because to me, slow says I'm developing the right habits to keep it off forever. I've also changed my tastes and preferences for foods. My diet is radically different than what it used to be and I'm mostly genuinely not interested in what used to be my favorite foods. There are some things I still love that used to be favorites, but I eat much smaller portions and I balance them with better choices.

My next goal time is March 29, when we go back to France for a trip. I would really really love to be another 22 pounds down by then, and I'm hoping I can stay focused enough to do it. I'm hoping we've finally beaten my thyroid into submission for good (I got radioactive ablation that didn't take at first, but now seems to be working).

Certainly a pound a week is a very reasonable and achievable goal. However weight loss does seem to slow down when one is closer to their goal weight. As for weight, I always go for the lowest number! Well, honestly, I'm a scale junkie. I weight daily on a fitbit scale that records the weights. I weigh first thing when I get up. But if I go to the bathroom and think I may be substantially lighter, I might weigh myself a second time. Of course I take the lowest number and delete the higher one. Fitbit averages all the weights in a week, and while I like the lowest number, I grudgingly admit that perhaps the weekly average weight they calculate is more accurate.

And of course I firmly believe that 0.2 pounds lost is absolutely fat loss and an achievement while clearly 2lbs gained has to be water! But seriously, our bodies fluctuate so much. We shouldn't get too wrapped up in it. Do the right thing and keep on keeping on. It won't show on the scale every day. But it will show eventually. and if you want backup to the scale, use a measuring tape.

I decided to order the fitbit scale so I can see my weight fluctuations on a graph. I weigh myself daily but I can't really remember more than a couple days' worth of numbers and I'm not sure what the overall trend even looks like right now. So, hopefully that will be a good tool.

I am planning on keeping up with fasting. Even if I only maintain weight, that's something. I can so easily fall off the healthy eating wagon and gain weight it is crazy. So, we'll see.

I know you've already ordered the scale, but there are some apps that will do the same thing for you. You can see a graph of your weight on MyFitnessPal and also there's an app called Libra, which lets you enter your weight daily and shows you your trend weight and some other statistics!

I know you've already ordered the scale, but there are some apps that will do the same thing for you. You can see a graph of your weight on MyFitnessPal and also there's an app called Libra, which lets you enter your weight daily and shows you your trend weight and some other statistics!

Yeah, I always intend to record my weight in the Fitbit app and I forget about 95% of the time. So, hopefully the scale will allow me to see the trends.

[Tracieknits]

I don't think I would have splashed out the $$ for it, but my husband asked for it for his birthday a few years ago. I have to admit, I love having it.