The FastDay Forum

I think everyone comes to this WOE from their own viewpoints, and everyone finds different things that work for them. Maybe you could read all the answers and pick out those that will be helpful. I think everyone who posts has a genuine desire to help.
Anyway, thats my tuppence worth, will be watching for your postings with interest...

I'm not giving up, Valentine26. Where did I say that? Where did I even hint at it?

But you're right, everyone is different so it's really not helpful when someone who weighs vastly more than me and has a vastly bigger BMI thinks it's ok to tell me to stop drinking and that I should be putting weight ON based on my calorie intake and telling me I should cut down on normal days when I said plainly that I already have. I wish people would read what I actually post instead of reading what they want and then making comments based on that.

I feel disheartened, not because of the lack of loss to date (and I had some great support at the top of the thread) but because of the criticism lower down. I thought this forum was supposed to be supportive. I feel cross too.

Sorry, I thought you were saying that was a normal day. Maybe you could track calories for a few days to check where you are, if you don't do that already. You will be getting health benefits even if you're not losing much weight. I know thats disappointing. It would drive me mad. Keep going

I read everything here over again, and once more and didn't see anybody implying that you should cut out drinking. Only, that maybe you should go even lower in calorie intake on normal days. Did you consider doing that? Unless you are a tall person 2100 ckals TDEE seems a lot to me. You can check the forums' TDEE calculations. Just enter your data into the progress tracker and it will do it for you, don't have to publish it.

If you try and go down to about 1500 ckals on normal days, what do you have to lose except from unwanted pounds?

No offence, just trying to help.

It's seems very common people naturally change their eating habits on non fast days after a while, they change preferences ant start to eat better/less without thinking much about it. I think anyone "trying" this as a diet should at least give it six months or a year, before that you really can't say it's not working for you.

I don't think everyone necessarily should demand of themselves to "try harder", but as with most things, if you do something for longer, it gets easier. You build one habit at a time, life is long and there's no rush.

I don't understand why people who have been kind enough to reply to your post are apologising that they may have caused you offence, when in fact they have tried to be supportive and offer possible solutions to your lack of success. I get the impression that the poster you refer to above is gracious enough and confident enough in herself not to let your comment hurt her. I hope so. She was in fact giving you very sound advice, based on her own experience. In no way was she being critical of you.

I wasn't criticising that person, but one other. Mostly I've had very sound and supportive advice. Most useful have been the suggestions from several people that it takes a while to see results. I just never said I was so disheartened I was thinking of giving up.

I don't actually think I'm doing anything wrong - I'm tracking everything I eat, even on normal days, and making healthier choices and eating smaller portions. I'm allowing for the fact that some days I'm going to consume more calories because I'm having a couple of pints of beer or a few glasses of wine several nights a week. Because I don't want to deprive myself - I wouldn't last 5 minutes on any kind of diet or eating regime where something is off limits. That's why I've opted for 5:2 because it's more manageable and means I can have a drink on normal if I choose to. It just stings very much when one person thinks I'm doing it wrong because what I'm doing doesn't work for her, on her own admission.

Hi Vildekhaya

I started just before you and so far have lost 2 lb. I have a fair amount to shift so had hoped it would be more by now. However, 2 lb is 2 lb! I do find it very motivating reading the forum and for inspiration. Generally, I have found the forum to be very friendly and helpful. I'll stick with it and see how i get on over the next few months.

I've been recording my food on My Fitness Pal as recommended by quite a few of the forum posters. I'm not sure if you use anything like this tool, but perhaps it may help in terms of planning and recording. You are doing very well with your steps on Fitbit - I don't even get to 1,000 as I'm stuck in the car or at a desk for lordy knows how many hours!

Hope you have found some comments helpful and all the best on your 5:2 'journey'

I hated My Fitness Pal! I log my food in FitBit and I'm also simultaneously logging food in Livestrong, My Net Diary and Calorie Count - I haven't decided which of these I like best, but I've just found it easier to create custom entries on these rather than on MFP.

I also installed Fasting Secret on my phone and I love it. I can preset fast days on it to run automatically (at the moment, Mon and Thurs from 6am to midnight). I can also log weight, BMI, body fat percentage and measurements. This last one I measured my waist, thigh and hips on day one - I've not remeasured yet as I've not had enough loss but I will do once my clothes start feeling looser! I can make custom notes on it too and also set goals - my target weight is in there plus the goal end-date.

[carorees]

Regarding TDEE, I'm sure you all know that the TDEE calculators can only give a rough guide to a person's TDEE. The actual figure can vary greatly from the calculated figure. There are many reasons why a person's TDEE is lower than expected, including a variety of medical conditions and medications. However, it is relatively easy to work out your actual, real, TDEE: you add up all the calories consumed and relate that to the amount of weight gained/lost. If you have not seen any weight change in several weeks, by definition you must be eating to your TDEE on average. Thus, to lose 1lb per week you will need to lose a further 3500 cal from your weekly calorie intake. This could be done by adding another fast day, cutting calories taken on fast days or reducing non-fast day calories (or a combination of these).

I find the Libra app (on Android) really useful for showing how much below my TDEE I am currently eating. I weigh daily and the app shows the weight trend but also shows how much less than TDEE I must be eating in order to achieve the weightloss observed. I don't know if the iOS apps give the same facility.

Another factor is sensitivity to carbs. Some people are very sensitive to carb intake and will lose weight considerably faster by reducing carb intake. So, even if you feel you don't eat many carbs, you may still find that a further reduction brings a benefit. Try reducing carb intake by 50g as a first step and see if that makes a difference. If you use MFP or a similar logging app you can easily work out how to cut down on the carbs.

Good luck!

I've been checking all my tracking and my TDEE is 2,100 as I said earlier. And my average daily calorie intake on non-fasting days is lower than I previously thought, at 1,769.

[carorees]

If those figures are correct you should be taking in 9,845 cals per week but your expenditure is calculated as being 14,700 which should result in over 1lb lost per week. If this does not happen then your TDEE must actually (i.e., what your body actually uses rather than what is estimated by the calculators) be less than 2100, in fact it must be about 1800 for some reason. The calculators can only estimate your TDEE so you can't rely on the figures given.

Some possible reasons for actual TDEE being lower than calculated:
Degree of muscularity lower than assumed by the calculator
Body fat % higher than assumed
NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis)
Inaccuracies in calorie intake calculation for a whole host of reasons
Thyroid function (may not show up in blood tests)
Other medical conditions such as PCOS, fibromyalgia
Certain medications that cause weight gain such as steroids

There is a lot of info about the factors that influence the body's energy needs in the 5:2 labs section.

If those figures are correct you should be taking in 9,845 cals per week but your expenditure is calculated as being 14,700 which should result in over 1lb lost per week. If this does not happen then your TDEE must actually (i.e., what your body actually uses rather than what is estimated by the calculators) be less than 2100, in fact it must be about 1800 for some reason. The calculators can only estimate your TDEE so you can't rely on the figures given.

Some possible reasons for actual TDEE being lower than calculated:
Degree of muscularity lower than assumed by the calculator
Body fat % higher than assumed
NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis)
Inaccuracies in calorie intake calculation for a whole host of reasons
Thyroid function (may not show up in blood tests)
Other medical conditions such as PCOS, fibromyalgia
Certain medications that cause weight gain such as steroids

There is a lot of info about the factors that influence the body's energy needs in the 5:2 labs section.

My Aria scale measures my body fat percentage. Apart from my very well-controlled epilepsy I am healthy - thyroid fine, no PCOS, fibromyalgia or any other chronic condition. I have blood tests every year because of my epilepsy meds and my GP is pretty thorough. I'm perimenopausal and last year's hormone test indicated all is normal - I'm being monitored carefully for this as epilepsy and menopause can be tricky to manage together. My medication is not known to cause weight gain. As I said in my OP, I'm counting my calories rigorously on fast days, less meticulously on normal days but still logging what I eat. I know pretty much to within 25 cals what I've eaten so far today and I've had only 550 according to my log - all healthy: small tin of one portion baked beans on a slice of dry pumpernickel, an avocado and 40g of strawberries (actually it may have been slightly less, but it was a handful). Dinner is likely to be lean salt beef and veg.

I rarely eat chocolate, never buy cakes or biscuits (can't even remember the last time I ate either), eat a bag of potato crisps about once a month, ditto a takeaway about once a month, haven't cooked any potatoes for weeks and have had pasta only once in the last three weeks. Never drink fizzy drinks (no sweet tooth). I don't buy ready meals, ever, or any processed foods. My diet is mainly meat, fish (at least once a week), vegetables, eggs and cheese (this last perhaps twice a week),plus some bread (not every day) and my only real indulgence is a few drinks around 3 times a week. As I said, I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, which is why I posted in the first place.

[carorees]

Have you worked out your TDEE using the more accurate Katch-McCardle equation (here is a site that uses it) that takes account of body fat?

I'm not saying you are doing anything wrong at all, just that logic dictates that if you are not losing weight when eating up to the calculated TDEE on non-fast days for several weeks, then the calculated TDEE must be wrong! Sorry!

It's the same on here with the progress tracker as it is on my own apps.

[carorees]

What is it using Katch-McCardle?