The FastDay Forum

Hi everyone,

this is my first post and i would like to ask the following;

My friend and I have been doing this 5:2 diet for 6 weeks now. My friend has been using slimfast shakes for her 500 cals, and I have been weighing out salad stuffs for mine. I have only managed to lose 2lb, and my friend has lost nothing!! I can feel the difference in my clothes and I seem to look a bit smaller. What are we doing wrong. I am 5ft 3" and weigh 67kg, my friend is 5ft and weighs 51kg. We were thinking of throwing in the towel yesterday - but have decided to ask for advice first. My weight went down to 65kg on week 3, but went back to 67 on week 4!! my starting weight was 68kg. I have decided today to have my 500 cals in one sitting rather than 3. I do try and wait 16hrs from my last meal to my first fast meal of the day anyway, so don't know if i need to change something.

PS, I don’t exercise as I don’t like it. My friend however runs 5miles, 4times per week as she is training for the Great north run (uk marathon)

Has anyone got any advice!! Please help
Elagazine

Hi elagazine and welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear that you and your friend are not making the weight loss progress that you hoped for. Let's see what might be going on.

First, though, your friend already has a normal BMI of 23.5 so she doesn't really need to lose weight on health grounds. You are just outside the 'normal' bounds but it won't take too much to bring you back inside.

It sounds like you are losing visceral fat i.e. from round your tummy, even if the weight overall is not coming off, and that is actually the most important thing for your health. We have a great tracker here into which you can put your weight and your waist measurements on a regular basis and watch one or (usually) both go down - do try it.

Anyway, back to the weight issues, these are my thoughts, others may have different suggestions.

In case you wondered, the 5:2 diet helps you lose weight by restricting your overall calorie intake, it's just that most of us find it easier to do this by substantial restriction on just 2 days and eating normally the other 5. (I'm simplifying a bit here, and there are other health benefits too, we hope.)

So my first question has to be what you are eating on the other 5 days. Because although you might have heard that you can eat as much as you like on those days and still lose weight, it ain't necessarily so. You shouldn't need to calorie count on those days, you just eat 'normally', but that means eat your TDEE i.e. the same amount of calories as you are expending. This is affected by your level of activity as well as your own natural metabolic rate.

So if you want to work your TDEE and start counting, that's one way to do it. But the truth is that if you are not losing weight, and you are confident you are sticking to the 500 on fast days, then 'over-eating' on the 'feed days' is almost the only possibility left. So the solution is to cut down on the 5 feed days somewhat. Doesn't have to be every day, in fact some variety in calorie intake might help, but overall.

I say almost the only explanation, because your friend is taking quite a lot of exercise and this can affect weight loss. Of course it burns a lot of calories but I guess she is probably eating more calories too. It also causes inflammation of the muscles which is part of the process by which they develop, and this can means water retention. So in her case her half-marathon planning might be part of the cause too. That's not a reason to stop running of course!

Hope that gives you some food for thought

Have a look at this thread: Why do the scales show an increase when I've been so good?

In a nutshell. Weight is lost on average 1lb per week. There are a number of ways that can make it look as though you have gained weight or had a dramatic loss. Over the long term you will lose weight, but you can't tell weekly. Monthly or 2 monthly weights would be better.

Don't give up,
Peter

WHo cares what the scales say if you are slimmer???

Thank you all for the advice. I am going write down all what i eat in my up days. I have been eating too much chocolate for a start!!! I dont want to give up as the health benefits alone are fantastic..just thought the weight loss would be a good bonus too. I think i took (you can eat what you like on up days literally!) Now ive found this forum i feel i have extra help and support.
Thanks again.
Elagazine

Pleased we were able to help!

Chocolate is the very devil! It's the easiest way to put on weight known to man...

I use my fitness pal on my phone in line with my tdee on the five off days and am strict not to go over on the fast days. My fp is great it has graphs and easy cal counting all in one easy app

On feed days I donsometimes go over but at most 300 cals but the graphs make it really easy to see what's happening

I think i took (you can eat what you like on up days literally!

I did that myself when I first started 5:2 Ooops.

Thanks, I have been using my fitness pal, but only on fast days...I will now also keep track on feed days too...