The FastDay Forum

Hi all,

I've been 5:2ing since June. Started at 74kilos, with a target to get to 67 which would have me in the middle of the healthy BMI band. I lost 3 kilos in the first few weeks, but since 1st July I've really not lost anything and my % body fat is basically the same. I mean, I've been bobbling around - 69 one day, 70 the next, 72 the next (averaging 71 most days). Seems crazy and I don't know why I'm not losing. I do between 30 and 40 mins aerobics or kick boxing 6 times a week. It would be impossible for me to do more than that - as a working mum it's hard enough to find the time for that.

I'm very strict on fast days and calorie count properly, but I admit I only estimate on non fast days (as calorie counting all the time is a pain - one of the reasons I was attracted to 5:2 in the first place!) I guess I will have to do that, but I dunno, I just feel like I'm ready to give up. Today is a fast day for me and I have no real enthusiasm for it any more

[janeg]

ach, lisainch- it's so frustrating isn't it!
Can you let us know how you structure your fast days- 1 meal, 2 meals? What your TDEE is - you can check that on the progress tracker. With a wee bit more info we may be able to suggest things to try. Hang in there though. I am a very slow loser but feel so much better.
Of, and have you measured yourself? The tape measure can be so much kinder than the scales!

I generally eat 2 small meals on fast days - I never eat breakfast because frankly I hate breakfast and rarely eat until midday on non fast days anyway so it seems ridiculous to eat it on a fast day. Then I'd normally have a leafy salad for lunch and veg with grilled chicken or fish in the evening. I never eat carbs on fast days - it just seems a waste to me - I love veg and salad and I'm not a huge fan of potatos/pasta etc. anyway so it's no great loss. The TDEE calculator on here says I have 2140, but to be honest I don't think that's right - I do a lot of aerobics but the rest of the time I'm not all that active so it's difficult to be sure, I normally take it to be 2000 and eat 500 on fast days.

I admit I eat the occasional cake and packet of crisps, and I drink the occasional beer/wine, but never excessively (maybe a once a week treat kind of thing)?

I do measure, but I'm not measuring my waist because I have nothing to lose there being a pear shape. On hips and thighs I've lost.... drum roll..... nothing at all. Not even one measly centimetre.

Sorry to hear that. Are you willing to tweak your routine a bit? You could try 16:8 and perhaps 4:3 for a week or two to see if it might kick start you the losing again? I agree that you shouldn't start calorie counting on the non fasting days because as you say, it is a pain and not the idea behind this woe. I am feeling unwell today and finding it a harder than usual but we should remember to look back at where we were before we started and think about how easily we have achieved a great loss in just a few weeks. Good Luck!

Three weeks after starting 5:2, I felt demotivated earlier this week (see my No progress at all thread in this forum) after losing a kilo then it going back up, but finally 10 days later seeing some weight actually drop off. I was pre- then menstrual in that period so once my weight dropped it was clear I'd had a lot of fluid retention.

Obviously your issue is a longer-standing one. There were a lot of really good suggestions as to why my weight wasn't dropping so you might want to have a look - PCOS, fibromyalgia, thyroid... could any of those be behind it? Would it be worth getting your GP to check you over?

Like you I'm not really breakfast eater so I tend not to eat until 2-4pm on my fast days and then I also try to stay away from carbs and fill up with veg instead. However, I *do* calories count on normal days - I just figured that at least to start with it will help me make more sensible choices about what I eat. Yesterday was a normal day for me but I had a mango and some fat-free Greek yoghurt mid-morning, then a (bought) chicken salad wrap for mid-afternoon as I was out. I didn't get home until 10pm and I picked up a falafel wrap takeaway for a late supper. I worked out I'd had about 1200 calories (the chicken wrap had a calorie amount on the wrapper). I'd also had some wine at my do, so I made allowances (uncounted) for that. As I'm still new to this I crack jokes about being a bore inputting my calories on my phone when with friends - I'll get over it! But I find it does help. I've decided to aim for 1500 cals on normal days and it's easy if I'm opting mainly for veg and salad plus a bit of protein.I think once I'm really in the swing I may feel less need to log everything on normal days but for now it's focusing my mind and helping. Could this be a kickstarter for you? I've had a FitBit for a year and I'm finding it so useful to track how much activity I've actually done. I'm a bit geeky anyway so tracking stuff with smartphone apps is a bit of a no-brainer for me!

lisainch,
I have nothing to add to the wise words the others have said.

I had to reply to acknowledge Vildehhaya's new positive approach. wow my dear you have turned it around in a week, good on you
Excuse me asking Vildehaya are on the forum FitBit group? are you one of the 2 Victoria's?

Thanks for the replies
I did fast yesterday and must admit it was a struggle and I nearly quit - my head was just not into it. But somehow I managed to get through.... And I guess I will keep going. I decided to keep a food log on non-fasting days - not calorie counting as such, just writing what I eat to see if something stands out at me. I'm pretty familiar with calories anyway having previously done proper everyday calorie counting to lose weight (3 years ago I lost 11kg in 2 months by doing 1500 calories a day) so I pretty much know the calories in food I typically eat and I also know for example that the 30g of cereal that's quoted on most packets as a portion is about half of what most people put in their bowl!

Anyway, I was also interested to read that healthy bmi people (which I now am, albeit only just) tend to lose slower.

I don't have any health problems, although I must admit TOTM is a disaster for weight loss for me - I know it's impossible for me to lose in that week, so I tend to not weigh at that time as it's too depressing!

Water as well - must drink more. Yesterday I made it to 1.5 litres - was in the loo all day (tmi sorry!) but think I feel better for it, so want to try and keep that up.

[janeg]

Well done on getting through yesterday successfully. I really think your head does need to be in the right place for this to work- and that sometimes you can get it there by sheer bloodymindedness!
Sounds like you have a plan to stick to so that has to help.
Good for you upping the fluids too- yes, we end up weeing more but it helps with the headaches and general lethargy that can accompany the first few fasts. Can I suggest that you keep and eye on your wee (sorry) - if it's too pale you may be dehydrating (well, washing away the important salts) and that can make you feel awful. A drink of bullion or stock can help restore the salts and restore you.
Hope your new plan works- will you let us know please?

Try 4:3 I swear by it. Dr Mosley suggests this too if u r not losing.

SianS - No, I'm not a Victoria. I did join the FitBit group, but left a couple of days later as I just don't really have enough spare time to hang out on yet another forum. I do feel I turned a real corner this week, even though it's early days. I've lost 2kg in 3 weeks and - more importantly - my body fat is down 3 percentage points from 43.4 to about 39.9%, which was a massive boost when I stood on the scale this morning! First time it's been under 40% in 5 years.

One thing I know since starting getting healthy is that people underestimate what they eat....by a lot. I say get yourself a food scale and log into a calories counter site. Just for 2 weeks will help you know exactly where you stand. Also, maybe change the kind of exercise you do, when we always do the same thing, we have a diminishing calories burn with the same exercise. Maybe look into HIIT? It is a great way to shed fat

Good luck

If you are not losing weight then, one of the reasons might be that you are taking too much calories on the Fast days. My suggestion would be to look for what you get from the juices on your fast days. Some types of juices are rich in calories. You can reduce the quantity of juice you take and drink lots of water. Another suggestion would be to go for fruits instead of juices.
Hope this suggestion is of help to you.

Hi lisainch. I'm sorry that you are frustrated but congratulations on sticking it out your previous fasting day.

Aside from the wonderful comments made, I want to encourage you another way.
I'd like you to think of what this IF lifestyle is doing for you internally. Your blood glucose levels are lower, your risk of getting diabetes are slim to none, your chance of contracting heart disease have reduced to almost nill, your chance of getting cancer have been diminished drastically.

According to http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/05/17/intermittent-fasting-diet.aspx you limit inflammation, improve circulating glucose and lipid levels, reduce blood pressure, improve metabolic efficiency and body composition, help prevent type 2 diabetes, as well as slow its progression, reverse type 2 diabetes, improve pancreatic function, improve insulin levels and insulin sensitivity, reproduce some of the cardiovascular benefits associated with physical exercise, protect against cardiovascular disease, modulate levels of dangerous visceral fat, reduce LDL and total cholesterol levels, to name a few benefits.

I hope this encourages you some, even if that silly weight is being stubborn to lower. It will happen, just remember the good things that are going on inside your body.

I'm a slow loser! But I like this fasting business. There are so many great suggestions here, but I'll add my hat to this ring...

I myself don't use the scales, since I don't own one and money is short to buy things.... I think it's made me more motivated because I'm not focused on # - I'm focused on how I feel!

Because of that, I've added not a whole fast day, but another 1/2 fast on Fridays. I think it really speeded things up for me! It's just not eating until 7pm and then eating dinner with my family on Fridays, not worrying about how many calories are in dinner. So now I'm 5:2 + 1/2! Not so drastic as a complete 4:3, and I can have a little wine on Friday, which I wouldn't want to live without.

It's tough to fast... but after a while it's just a break. I just take breaks from eating now. I don't even count calories! I've had it with being too strict... and I am losing weight, and I feel better!

Hang in there, go your own way, and make it up as you go along. Take breaks from eating... some days I even take a break on a feast day, I don't eat in-between lunch and dinner most times... I'm just eating less.

to ya!

Hi everyone, a bit of an update from me so I spent the last few days logging food, and in the end I decided to calorie count too (I have an app for that after all anyway.) So really on average I don't overeat my TDEE which is good as I didn't think I was - I mean, I tend to eat 1800 calories one day and 2100 the next etc. But averaging out around 2000. I'm not a snacker really and I only really drink tea and water (never juice, not sure where that comment came from?) I do love a glass of milk before bed, but I have weaned myself off it!

So, what now, well, I decided to keep going (yaay me) until the end of the year and then see how I am. I'm not doing 4:3, there are just no other convenient days for me that would fit in another fast so I can't see it working, but I decided on doing two low calorie days - so, 1200 calories to see if that has some impact.

And yes, I think I do need to stop being quite so obsessed with the last 3 kilos. The fact is I have a healthy bmi, waist measurement and body fat. I mean, bmi and bf are at the top end of healthy, but hey, that's OK - I don't need to be a model - I'm just a mum in an office job for goodness sake! Lol

Anyway, thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm only doing 1 fast day this week as it's my son's birthday this week and there's far too much cake eating planned to be fasting more than that