The FastDay Forum

I've been trying not to answer every post like that with a link to here...but it's very tempting!

I am losing weight again but only by reducing what i eat on non-fasting days. It is not possible to 'eat normally' if your version of eating normally was to eat more than recommended calorie limits (surely the case for most of us or we wouldn't be dieting in the first place)! The great disappointment with this diet was that it promised we could 'eat what we liked most days' and it's not true. Unless of course there is somebody out there who can challenge me with an alternative experience? I am fasting two days a week and being careful the other five days but having the odd treat. Not quite what I expected and fasting is misery (why is everyone pretending it's fun?)! I intend to keep going until I get to my target weight - then I shall get back to having a life. A the moment,I don't feel I'm living on the fast days - merely surviving -and counting the hours until tomorrow!

[carorees]

I'm sorry to hear you are struggling. How long have you been going? It does get better. Have you noticed a decrease in appetite on feed days yet? I think that had certainly helped me to feel that I am not dieting on feed days.

I recently read about some research that discovered some people seem to do better on low carb diets whereas others do better on low fat diets. The research showed that the difference could be as much as double in terms of the weight lost. If your current fast day food tends to be one or other of those, you could try the alternative approach and see if that helps?

You sound miserable. Not good.

You might want to try more distraction techniques on fast days. It's much easier if your focus is elsewhere. I actually forgot I was fasting this week when busy whereas last week was hard.

You do have to have a calorie deficit over the week so it all depends on how you choose to eat. I have lots of treats but also increasing amounts of lettuce.

I'm not helping here. What I really want to say is we aren't suffering as much as you seem to be so it might be you need to experiment further to make it more bearable...

It is all about the planning Ummmb, plan plan plan I cannot stress enough! I think fasting is fun, I allow myself 1-2 days a week (usually the weekend) where I allow myself a stupid amount of calories (over 2000) the other 3 feed days I stick anywhere between 1000 to 2000 calories. I lost 3 pounds first week and a pound the following. I think as long as you are reasonably healthy such as not eating takeaways and cake every night then you will be fine. Just keep going at it, as Carorees mentioned, we all lose in different ways.

Hmmm. I have done 8 weeks and experimented with various ways of eating on what Carorees calls the 'feed days'. I only lose when I am careful on these 5 days. I am not miserable but trying to point out that the hype for this diet has misled us all. This diet is no different from any other. You have to live differently every day of the week - not on two days only. I amnhing that there will be health benefits that will have made it all worthwhile.

Do you have alot to lose or a few pounds if you don't mind me asking as it would come off slower if there was not much to lose. I think the gym has a lot to answer for, did you measure when you began fasting? Or how do your clothes feel?

Ah, but that's the thing. It is working for people but every one is different. I'm quite overweight so it's easier for me to lose weight than someone just needing to lose a few pounds. However, I'm losing more slowly than others as I do have treats on feed days...

If you can get to your target weight quickly, then it's different to someone like me who will take a year or so to get to 11 stone. I have to enjoy the fast days and get on with life as this is my life for the foreseeable future!

[carorees]

UmmB, everyone is different. Sadly it is not working so well for you. But for me it is working very well.

I am eating pretty much the same on feed days but slightly smaller portions not because I am being careful but because I feel uncomfortably full if I eat the same portions as I used to. Today I had granola and yoghourt, lemon drizzle cake, omelette with smoked mackerel, cheese and tomato, ratatouille, pasta, broccoli, smoked salmon, cream and a large glass of white wine. I will probably have a couple of pieces of chocolate soon too. That doesn't feel like being careful to me. Since the weigh in on Saturday I've lost another kg too! I tend to lose more if I have eaten well than if I have undereaten. Fast days I eat one meal in the evening of fish and vegetables (no starches).

I am trawling the scientific literature and discussing with the other folks who frequent the nerdy stuff section to try to work out why a minority of people are not getting the good results that others are seeing and if there is anything that could be done. Is it better to restrict on feed days or to adds another fast? Is it better to fast all day, to eat breakfast and dinner, to have an 8 hour eating window, to vary fast days, to exercise more, to add a high intensity exercise or endurance exercise or walk more, should you go low carb on the feed days? As you can see there are a lot of questions. In the meantime, sadly all you can do is to self-experiment. If you do find any break through, please do let us know...all data is important!

Thanks Carorees. You are very supportive. I still feel cheated by the hype. The front of the book clearly trumpets that you can 'eat what you like most of the time'. I can't and it looks like I am not alone - far from it.
Overall, I have lost about 4kg in 8 weeks. But it's bloody hard work - on 'feed' as well as 'fast' days. Felt encouraged by your delightfully hedonistic menu - lemon drizzle cake and chocolate eh? Yum!

I want to eat at Caro's place!

Thanks for posting!

Hi,

I've just read through your post and need some help. I've been really sticking to the plan, (there's no point cheating, after all I'd only be cheating myself!)
I've been on the 5:2 plan for 6 weeks. At first It was great, I lost 7lb in two weeks, but in the last 4 weeks, nothing! I'm getting really frustrated. Clothes still fit the same...it all seems pointless, any suggestions...??

Thanks
Alli.

[carorees]

Hi Alli

Don't despair! If you think that you have lost 7lb in 6 weeks and that the average weight loss is 1lb/week, you have done better than average. What has happened is that you lost a lot of water at first and since then you have regained the water while losing fat. As the article above says, the scales don't tell the whole story.

However, it's always worth checking your TDEE to see how many calories you should have on a feed day and estimating what you have been eating. You need to be averaging your TDEE over the 5 feed days.

I expect that this plateau will soon pass so that you continue to average 1lb/week.

Me again! I haven't posted for a while and thought I would update everyone. I am recently finished Week 9 so. I started at 73.8 kg and now I am 68.7. So I have lost 5kg in 9 weeks but it is not plain sailing and it is not easy and some weeks, like last week, I lose nothing, which is very hard when you are starving two days a week. I exercise a few times a week except when I am working - I only work part-time, in an unpredictable pattern..last week I didn't exercise and wonder if that is why I didn't lose. I feel I can't have treats except one day a week, when I have a bar of chocolate. Let's be really clear here - we are all doing this because there is evidence that fasting supports good health outcomes, with weight loss as an extra. But the actual type of fasting we are doing, was Michael Moseley's own idea and has not been researched as such. If you read the book, he tweaked other fasting regimes and came up with this as a way of fasting he could cope with. I am hoping that somebody out there is doing some real research on this. It would help when it's hard if there was a demonstrable basis in science. For now, I am enjoying being slimmer and hope I can lose the last 3 kg that I want to lose. After that, I will switch to one day fasting a week and see what happens. Does anyone know if one day a week sustains the health benefits?