The FastDay Forum

I am 63 @peebles so that's why I do 4:3, because my little old body didn't want to relinquish the fat doing 5:2....I have beaten it into submission now doing 4:3 as well as the eating window etc.....I just hope that like @carorees I shall be able to say that I still have it beaten in 5 years time!
There isn't much documentation about women of a certain age and over on weight loss programmes and not much medical research going on with our age group either. However, as the population ages I think it may be necessary to consider us far more and give us a voice.

I'm in week 9 of my 5:2 diet, and I am finding that the weight loss tracks exactly to the calorie deficit created on the fast days, after figuring that losing 1 lb of body fat requires a deficit of 3500 calories.

So since it only takes a pathetic 1500+ calories a day to run my small, elderly, body, and since I'm eating about 425 calories on my fast days, I'm losing 1/2 lb a week.

For someone younger and larger, who burns 2000 calories or more each day, the deficit caused by fasting will be significantly larger, so they will lose more.

Men typically burn a lot more calories each day than women, too, which is why I have come to be deeply suspicious of the "easy weight loss" claims found in diet books written by men whose entire experience with dieting turns out to be losing 10 or 20 lbs.

Where is the diet book written by a middle aged woman who has lost 50 lbs and kept it off for 5 years?

If your tdee is 2000 calories shouldn't people be consuming 1/4 of that... i.e. 500 calories on a fast day and thus relatively speaking the calorie deficit is exactly the same whether you are younger or smaller.

I'm a bit clueless in this energy maths stuff so forgive me if I've said something stupid

Speaking from a mans point of view.... I don't doubt that men do burn more Calories a day due to the build of men(generally larger) . I don't think that it is however, necessarily easier for men to lose weight. I have struggled for years to lose weigh. I think it may have more to do with types of jobs etc. I am an engineer and used to work 12 hr shifts where I was doing reasonably heavy work. I was overweight then but nowhere near as much as I am now that most of my work is sat at a desk all day. Although men do need more cals to survive I think its all proportional and just as easy for men to have the extra cals that lead to weigh gain. Hope that makes sense.

Speaking from a mans point of view.... I don't doubt that men do burn more Calories a day due to the build of men(generally larger) . I don't think that it is however, necessarily easier for men to lose weight. I have struggled for years to lose weigh. I think it may have more to do with types of jobs etc. I am an engineer and used to work 12 hr shifts where I was doing reasonably heavy work. I was overweight then but nowhere near as much as I am now that most of my work is sat at a desk all day. Although men do need more cals to survive I think its all proportional and just as easy for men to have the extra cals that lead to weigh gain. Hope that makes sense.

It certainly does @philxjr

In the case of my OH despite 4:3 ing his weight loss is so sllllllllllllllllllllllllllooow to be scary. if you thought i was slow he is much slower. and he has that "man" belly weight problem so many men suffer.

It's been pretty much a year since I've heard about the 5:2 and started doing it. I'm not gonna lie and say I've been 5:2ing for the entire year. More like 4 months of solid 5:2 and then 6 months of relaxing (but still looking at my calories) and then 2 months back on it.

But the end conclusion is that in the year that I have heard about the 5:2 I have lost 2 stone in weight. I still have half a stone left to lose but still, I firmly give myself a pat on the back for doing so well.

Well done @iliveabroad That's a great weightloss
Happy Fastiversary to you on to the next year
Enjoy maintenance + Good. Luck.

Interesting that on average ADF'er lose only 0.2 ibs over 5:2'ers really. I'd not have expected that.

(not that it matters, ADF is definitely something I'd stick with regardless of how much/ little weight I lose. But still - interesting).

Speaking from a mans point of view.... I don't doubt that men do burn more Calories a day due to the build of men(generally larger) . I don't think that it is however, necessarily easier for men to lose weight. I have struggled for years to lose weigh. I think it may have more to do with types of jobs etc. I am an engineer and used to work 12 hr shifts where I was doing reasonably heavy work. I was overweight then but nowhere near as much as I am now that most of my work is sat at a desk all day. Although men do need more cals to survive I think its all proportional and just as easy for men to have the extra cals that lead to weigh gain. Hope that makes sense.