The FastDay Forum

Hello all!

I made two important decisions today, firstly to give this a go and secondly admit it's probably my 'last chance' and hence my user name. I'm a 56 year old bloke and about 30 kg overweight.

Today is my first day (of the '5'), my wife and I are going to do this together, and have determined that the best days for us for the '2' are going to be Tuesday and Thursdays. Not sure how that will work out with just 1 day between, I guess we'll see...

My target for a long time has been 84 kg (it's what I weighed when young fit and healthy). I note that it was the author's weight when he started!! Diet wise I've tried many, the last was calorie counting, which brings me to my first question:-

On the '5' days, do you count calories? or do you go by 'gut instinct' . The reason for asking is that I know from my calorie counting days that it's pretty easy for me to hit 2500 (and then some!).

[carorees]

Welcome to the forum!

I do actually count calories on feed days,but very roughly. However I've not denied myself anything and my average intake over the week works out at about 1700 per day. I use a calorie counting app by the my fat secret website which calculated that I need to eat under 1800 a day for slow weight loss. And it is working well. You will find that after a while your appetite will reduce anyway so that on feed days you will struggle to overeat - unless you live entirely on chocolate I suppose, but you'll also find you won't fancy the high cal foods so much.

So, no you don't need to count calories on feed days but if it gives you peace of mind feel free to do so. The main thing is not to be on a "diet" for those 5 days and to eat normally (or for those of us for whom normal is too much, to eat our recommended daily allowance).

Hello LastChance, welcome to the forum and welcome to 5:2! I think/hope you've come to the right place...

One of the key points of this diet is that you don't have to count calories on the feed days (this comes from the research of Dr Krista Varady). That's the beauty of the diet; you only have to have discipline for 2 x 24 hours.

That having been said, I suspect that the diet will not deliver any weight loss benefits if you just make up all the calories that you saved on the fast days by eating more on the feed days. The research finding was that people didn't in fact do this, they ate maybe a little bit more than normal on the day after a fast but otherwise ate normally, so the calorie saving worked. On top of that there are hopes of some really big (but as yet unproven) health benefits that are quite separate from any weight loss.

See how you go, the first couple of days are the hardest, just stick with it and it gets easier. What is particularly important (from my experience) is that you will learn to feel hunger without getting panicked by it. You do feel hungry, but you know it will pass (even while you are fasting - it isn't constant), and you know that the next day you can eat again normally, so (unlike other diets) it doesn't seem like a life sentence. That's quite a liberating discovery.

Good luck and keep a little table of how you are doing weight-wise (Moogie is working on something online too). If you keep to your normal eating on the feed days and follow the regime on the fast days (aka 'repair days') you will soon see the benefits!

Dominic

Hi LastChance - and welcome to the '5:2' way of life (WOL)!

I'm a 75-year-old bloke who's been IFing for almost a year now, and I'm going to make several predictions:

I predict that:
Within 6 months to a year you'll change your name to something like, 'This is it!", or, "I've done it!"

Possibly to the annoyance of your wife, you'll lose weight quicker than she will!

You'll shortly become evangelical about this WOE (way of eating) and bore all your mates rigid with it!

To answer your questions, I fast on Monday's and Wednesday's - others do two consecutive days, but I'm too much of a wuss.

It's a good idea to count calories on your feeding days - at least for the first couple of weeks. I'm a poster on this forum on Mumsnet (where there are hundreds of posters successfully losing weight) - have been since October - and the OP has all the info you need on BMR, BMI, TDEE, and a host of other related subjects:

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/big_slim_whatever_weight_loss_club/a1655696-5-2-Diet-Thread-Number-9-welcoming-the-new-year

I think you and your wife will enjoy reading the whole of that thread (number 9 in the series!) and all the lovely positively inspirational tales that are on there.

There's also my story of my IF experiences since last February on my blog (plus a couple of low-calorie recipes), if you're interested.

Best wishes to you and your wife - and good luck!

B&W

Caroline, Dominic & BreadandWine,

Many thanks for the welcome, encouragement, advice and tips!!!

Trying to get psyched up read for first "F" day (on Tuesday). I feel quite excited and positive about this

Good luck Last Chance.

What really helped me on my first day was to treat it as an interesting experiment or a step into the unknown.

I kept a diary, making notes on how I felt at different times of the day, when I felt hunger, how long it lasted and what happened if I didn't eat (it went away quickly to my surprise).

I also allowed myself the option of a late breakfast and extended the fast as long as felt comfortable - for me until 5 pm ish (to my surprise, but a roast dinner the night before helped )

I also tried to see it as a challenge and something positive rather than an endurance test. I read somewhere that telling yourself any stomach rumbles is fat melting away helps - it helped me!

Best of luck. My bet is that you will be pleasantly surprised.
Jo

Hi there
I am new to this site but not so new to the diet.

I cannot see where to start a topic though!??!?!?
my main tips are....

Keep Busy on fast days (mentally) so you are not always thinking of food
Enjoy working out in advance your food for the fast day and stick to it rigidly
try not to go over your calories at all as this will help your will power on following fast days
Remember you have 5 WHOLE DAYS to eat as you normally would within reason so effectively you are on a 2 DAY DIET - This is not hard with the right mind set
Try not to have a break from the diet - I did for a recent 1 week holiday. One week lead to another then Christmas became an excuse and before I knew it the stone I lost in 8 weeks was back on within 6 weeks!

I have been back on for 2 weeks now and am determined not to fail, I am strict with fast days as never before and will be 12 and a half stone by the summer. I am currently 5ft 11 and around 14 stone 3 lbs

[carorees]

Hi Broomie

To start a new topic, go to the forum you want to start the topic in and look at the top left of the board, you will see a new topic button.

Any probs, let me know.

Completed the fast-day yesterday. All went well, parma ham and scrambled eggs early in the morning, then lentil dahl for tea. I have to 'fess up to one small cheat 1/2 a unit of whisky in some soda water (what's that about 20 cals?). Anyhow, I feel much better today and could do my belt up on a higher notch... Fast day two is tomorrow. I haven't weighed yet, I'm leaving that pleasure until Friday morning....