Hi everyone! This is my second week of 5:2 and really liking it. I want to lose about 7 to 9lbs. I didnt weigh myseld beforei started but after 4 days I weighed myself and used that as a starting point. less than a week later I had lost 3lbs. I weighed myself this morning (after 3 feed days) and I have put it back on again! My weekly calorie intake is a few thousand under so a bit confused. When is the best time to weigh and how often?
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Our Frequently Asked Questions topic will answer many of your fasting & weight loss questions!
If you're new and have a question or need some advice, please give us as much information as you can about your situation in order for us to be able to help you as best we can. For example, it's helpful to know your BMI/weight, how much you want to lose, any medical conditions which might affect your weight and (if you've started fasting already) how you do your fasts in terms of splitting up your calories, what you eat etc. Thanks!
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Welcome to the forum spottydogs and well done for starting a new way of eating!
Weighing yourself is pretty inaccurate actually. You can easily have a couple (or more) of pounds of water and food in your system on one day and not another. Over the weeks though you will see a downward trend. Measuring your waist is a better indication of fat lost. This week for example, I've lost no weight but my waist has decreased by an inch, so I'm still happy!
Apparently you need to under eat by around 3000 calories to lose a pound of fat so that loss could easily be hidden by water/food in your system on weigh day!
I would suggest weighing on the morning after a fast, once a week, but don't worry if you don't lose any weight or appear to increase, next week you'll probably get a big drop. And measure your waist too!
Weighing yourself is pretty inaccurate actually. You can easily have a couple (or more) of pounds of water and food in your system on one day and not another. Over the weeks though you will see a downward trend. Measuring your waist is a better indication of fat lost. This week for example, I've lost no weight but my waist has decreased by an inch, so I'm still happy!
Apparently you need to under eat by around 3000 calories to lose a pound of fat so that loss could easily be hidden by water/food in your system on weigh day!
I would suggest weighing on the morning after a fast, once a week, but don't worry if you don't lose any weight or appear to increase, next week you'll probably get a big drop. And measure your waist too!
Thanks for the quick reply Caroline! I will get my measuring tape out! I've been using Fitness Pal as a guideline. It sets my daily rate to 1200 for normal calorie counting weight loss and after excercise I am mainly sticking to it (excepts for the odd major feast day!) So I am hoping that with two 500 days my weight should come down. Its disheartening when you gain though! My other question is, can you take excercise into account on a fast day? I havent so on one day I was negative calories!
Hi glad to have read this as I have just finished week one & was feeling concerned as I weighed today & am the same weight as before starting. I am doing a Monday & Thursday & had lost 1lb on Friday. Three days of sensible eating & back to square one.I will however now measure my waist ! It is great having this site for advice & support.
I measured my waist todday. I've been doing this since the end of September and of course we've had Christmas inbetween. But my waist measurement has gone down from 32 to 29 and a half. It hasn't been so low for about ten years!
Hi spottydogs
Dr M says no, you can't take exercise into account on fast days.
I'm surprised mfp says you should only have 1200 cals on feed days! You must be quite small?
I worked out my feed day allowance by finding my TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) for my current weight. If you then divide this by 4 you get your fast day allowance. So if you eat around your TDEE on feed days and a quarter of this on fast days you will have, overall, cut your calories by a fifth, which is what the recommended reduction is for weight loss.
For the average woman this works out at 2000 and 500 for feed and fast days, respectively, but if you are v tall / short, you should do the calculation I've described.
Hope that helps!
Dr M says no, you can't take exercise into account on fast days.
I'm surprised mfp says you should only have 1200 cals on feed days! You must be quite small?
I worked out my feed day allowance by finding my TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) for my current weight. If you then divide this by 4 you get your fast day allowance. So if you eat around your TDEE on feed days and a quarter of this on fast days you will have, overall, cut your calories by a fifth, which is what the recommended reduction is for weight loss.
For the average woman this works out at 2000 and 500 for feed and fast days, respectively, but if you are v tall / short, you should do the calculation I've described.
Hope that helps!
I, m 5ft 2 and weigh 134lbs today, it was 131lbs a few days ago! My calorific requirement is around 1800 but I had already set my FP daily requirement at 1200 for weight loss, this was before I started 5:2 . I decided t o keep it at that. I mainly use FP just to monitor. I am sticking to it apart from 1 day when I did 2500 cals (oops!) and an other when it was around 1900 but the other feed days have been under 1200 cals which is why Im confused as to why Ive gained. I will stick to weighing myself once a week and measure myself. Im aiming to get to 119lbs. I put it all on around my waist which is 32in and uncomfortable so good to see that this helps with that!
Hi spottydogs
You might have gained muscle, have water retention or still have a bit more food in your body than last time you weighed. You don't have very much to lose so it is going to take a while I would think. Let's see what the tape measure says!
However, I do think that 1200 on feed days is too low. The scientists don't believe that your metabolism slows down on a very low calorie diet but on the other hand, the scientific study by Krista Varady in which people 'fasted' (i.e., had 500 cals) every other day but were allowed to eat a typical American diet on the feed days (i.e., high fat, high carb diet) and were compared with another group who ate a healthy diet on feed days, showed that the high fat/carb diet resulted in the same weight loss and other health benefits as the healthy diet. So, my recommendation would be to eat your 1800 cals on feed days, or better, stop counting calories altogether. The beauty of this way of eating is that you don't have to be on a diet on the non-fast days.
Whatever you choose to do, though, don't worry about the weight loss, after all, this is supposed to be a lifestyle change so you have the rest of your life to lose those 7lb!!!
You might have gained muscle, have water retention or still have a bit more food in your body than last time you weighed. You don't have very much to lose so it is going to take a while I would think. Let's see what the tape measure says!
However, I do think that 1200 on feed days is too low. The scientists don't believe that your metabolism slows down on a very low calorie diet but on the other hand, the scientific study by Krista Varady in which people 'fasted' (i.e., had 500 cals) every other day but were allowed to eat a typical American diet on the feed days (i.e., high fat, high carb diet) and were compared with another group who ate a healthy diet on feed days, showed that the high fat/carb diet resulted in the same weight loss and other health benefits as the healthy diet. So, my recommendation would be to eat your 1800 cals on feed days, or better, stop counting calories altogether. The beauty of this way of eating is that you don't have to be on a diet on the non-fast days.
Whatever you choose to do, though, don't worry about the weight loss, after all, this is supposed to be a lifestyle change so you have the rest of your life to lose those 7lb!!!
Thank you Caroline good advice! I have weighed myself again today out of curiosity and it was132, 2 so it is either my scales or fluctuations, either way Im going to stop worrying. 7lb isnt a lot I know but it all sits on my tummy which I dont like, i am doing this for a life style change too. It is good to be mindful and feel hunger! Thanks again!
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