The FastDay Forum

Hi
I've just signed up to this forum hoping for a little support.

I was lucky enough to take a year out and go travelling in Asia in 2011/2012 and managed to gain 18lbs in the first 3 weeks! Since returning last September I've managed to lose 8lbs but have completely levelled on that despite sticking to the Slimming World programme pretty rigidly and going to the gym or swimming 4 times a week.

I missed the Horizon programme on TV but caught up with this programme in a Radio Times article a few weeks ago. This seemed to be the perfect thing for me as I've recently been diagnosed with highish blood pressure and highish cholesterol levels. Neither quite high enough for medication and I'd like to keep it that way!

Anyway ... I've done the 5:2 for 2 weeks now but haven't lost any weight whatsoever which is somewhat disappointing. I'm not ready to quit just yet but can anyone motivate me!

[Moogie]

Hi & welcome

Lucky you getting to travel all that time, surely worth the weight gain to have such an amazing year!

The last bit of weight is always the hardest to shift, and it would seem that with 5:2 if you've not got a lot to lose it won't come off as quickly at first as for those who have a lot to lose.

Your weight will vary slightly naturally from day to day and week to week depending on all sorts of factors. For example, I find at 'that time of the month' I can't lose anything (but before 5:2 my weight was always up that week).

You may find it helpful to measure yourself as well as weighing, as some folks find they've lost size even if the scales aren't showing a weight loss just yet. Give it a couple more weeks and I'm sure you'll see some loss

Also be sure that when you weigh you do so on the same day each week at a similar time, so the results are comparable.

Have a little look at the progress tracker system, you can see how other members of the forum similar to yourself (age, gender, starting BMI etc) have been doing with their weight loss.

If you give us a little more info about your situation & how you fast that might be helpful to 'troubleshoot' too - what's your BMI range at the moment? How do you split your calories on your fast days? What sort of foods do you eat on your fasts? Do you drink plenty on your fast days?

Hi and thanks for your support! I've gone a bit past 'that time of the month' if you get my drift so that's not the problem. I do measure myself too and to be honest, I actually measure more now than before I lost the 8lbs - don't know how that works! I always weigh after breakfast on Mondays.

I fast on Mondays and Thursdays and my intake for today for example was 35gms porridge made with water and 110gms of blueberries for breakfast. I can't manage without breakfast! Then dinner was 120gm of oven baked salmon with 10 cherry tomatoes and 100gms of French green beans. My drink of choice, always, is green tea. I always have the same breakfast on fast days and aim for a dinner of 250-300 calories.

I didn't know I could look at other members' progress tracker - am going to do that now.

[carorees]

Your previous dieting may have slowed your metabolism. Eating up to but not over your TDEE on feed days should help. You could check roughly what you are eating on feed days and adjust if it is well over/under. There's a link to a TDEE calculator in the FAQ (link in my signature).