The FastDay Forum

so, after a very strict week of 16:8. I have gained 200g!!! I feel like crying. that makes me 75.2kg with a bmi of 30. I seem to be actually defying nature now and gaining weight no matter what. I had planned on fasting today and at 2.50pm I still haven't eaten anything...yay me. Should I bother? My fear is that I am still going to get fatter regardless.

I feel for you because that is so frustrating and just not fair!
There will come a week when you know that you haven't eaten so well, and yet you still lose weight, and that's not fair either, but obviously less frustrating...
I'd encourage you to keep going, because it does seem to work in the end, but definitely not in a nice smooth line downwards for most of us.
Hang in there, we're with you, and do understand how it feels.

Sending hugs don't give up @debsie

I'm in the same boat at the moment .. everything is conspiring against me .. hideous work stress, eating too much on non fast days and seeing the scales going the wrong way ( I would lay money on the fact they will go up tomorrow when I weigh in if I had any money after car repair bills!!)
But if you can hang on in there I am sure it will happen and things will start going down again rather than up.
There may be other things going on besides what you are eating that that is affecting your weight ... I have been reading about cortisol and how it makes loosing weight nigh on impossible but I'm not going to give in and give up because I know life will hopefully even out a bit and then I will get a reign on it all again... and in the mean time I will carry on fasting as it makes me feel good even if it isn't making me loose weight.
In the big scheme of things 200g is not a lot ..dare I say it .. its probably a big wee wee if truth be told

So chin up .. have a great fast day and know that even if the scales are wavering a bit .. fasting is doing so many other good things for you as well as the weight side x

I know a lot of people are successful with the 8 hour diet (16:8), but it did not work for me either. After following it strictly for a month, I gained weight! I almost threw in the towel and ran back to Weight Watchers, but then I reminded myself I can't count points every day for the rest of my life, and 5:2 DID work for me back in 2013. I lost 7lbs. in a month. So now I"m back on 5:2 starting today, just doing it a bit differently to ensure I actually keep up the 2 fasting days a week (doing them consecutively this time).

Don't give up. We can all do this!

I just want to add, for those reading this and frustrated with their losses, if it's one thing I've learned in my lifetime of dieting history, it's that WEIGHT LOSS IS NOT LINEAR!

When I lost all my weight before, my weight loss was all over the map, up and down, but the big picture told the truth. I was losing weight over time, even with the scale going up.

It's the bigger picture that counts! That's what I'm focusing on this time around.

[carieoates]

5-2-diet-chat-f6/topic6317.html
Debbie warnings to all newbies link for you and robin.
Some questions you need to ask yourself....
Did you measure everywhere? Are you drinking enough water, do you exercise, are you logging All cals? ....and I mean all days.
Only thing which helped me was accurate logging as we soon forget that biscuit, milk in the tea. Etc etc.
I gained one and a bit pounds last week possibly due to cheating on cals, and because I'm retaining water, and because I started having red wine at the weekends again. I was losing a pound a week without alcohol. A week a fortnight a month we need to give our bodies chance to get used to this so be patient all of you.
Check out my progress tracker.....


Edit...this is a marathon and not a sprint. Slowly does it.

Everyone is so lovely and positive it makes me try to be positive too. I don't count cals because it inevitably leads to self sabotage! I can count them on fast days however, although at the mo I'm having a sort of melt down and so eating windows are hopefully my friend...I did sabotage there (when I posted the thread) so just gonna stay in the 5hr window. Also didn't measure cos measuring has not been my friend either and I know there is no loss

Oh berlimey! I just wrote a long reply and its just disappeared
In short, don't give up @debsie. We all have our ups and downs but, to me, fasting is the only way to long term weight loss. Good luck
Bean

[carieoates]

I'm not kidding you this isn't the answer to everyone's eatimg problems. But I sincerely hope that you measure and calorie count. Not to restrict yourself but to learn whats in the food you re eating. It's not a
Easy to start with but how do know you're eating UP to your TDEE if you don't count?

So I suggest that you get your tape measure out asap. Because if the scales don't show a loss the tape measure often does. I promise....
Are you using the tracker? Maybe your TFEE is too high?

Now another thing rather than concentrating on what you're not allowed think about all that you can have..

For me today at work I took an ainsly Harriot Thai chicken cuppa soup about 80cals. I was a bit cold so I had it. But i knew if I needed it I could. Because this morning I planned my food for the day.
Later I'm having salmon with something, not sure yet maybe cauliflower cheese. Odd combo but I love cheese.
I will have some extra cals for a low fat jelly tonight when I get home from my exercise class and maybe a couple of dessert spoons of yoghurt with it.

I'm currently making a chicke with loads of veg curry for tomorrow. Keeping occupied even by prepping food can help too.

So have a go at my suggestions and let me know what you think.,I will come back to find out how you're getting on.

@debsie - I know this isn't what you want to hear but I would strongly recommend you count cals on non-fast days - otherwise, how can you know what your overall calorie deficit is? And why should logging calories lead to self-sabotage?

You might find it helpful to buddy up with someone on MyFitnessPal so they can see what you are consuming and suggest tweaks if you're not losing the weight you think you should be.

Totally agree with Debsie. If I'm going to count calories every single day, I might as well go back to Weight Watchers.

I know there is controversy in the fasting community on counting just on fast days vs. counting every day, but no way will I ever count calories every single day again. Been there, done that for many many years as the weight went down...and then up. For me it just wasn't sustainable, but good for those who chose to make daily counting a lifestyle.

I guess in the end we just all need to find what works for us individually.

Well the bottom line is you have to consume less cals to lose weight, so if you do 16:8 eating less you should lose, but if you go for it, you may be disappointed. Personally 3 days of 500 cals i lose pretty fast, simple. Not counting cals the other days but not going nuts every day, tho some days i find this strategy easy to follow and it gets results.

I'm sorry that you didn't loses anything with 16:8 debsie. I didn't either. I was going to suggest a 5 hour eating window might be more conducive to weight loss but then you suggested that yourself! To be honest I use that method for holidays and tend to maintain due to the extra drinkies that holidays involve so to lose weight it may be necessary to throw at least 1 x 500 calorie fast day in there with your 19:5 method if you can but if not just see how you get on with the shorter eating window. I know that worked well for @carorees.
Best of luck!
Xxx julianna

@debsie - I know this isn't what you want to hear but I would strongly recommend you count cals on non-fast days - otherwise, how can you know what your overall calorie deficit is? And why should logging calories lead to self-sabotage?

You might find it helpful to buddy up with someone on MyFitnessPal so they can see what you are consuming and suggest tweaks if you're not losing the weight you think you should be.

I've counted cals, points, checks, everything. As for why it leads to self sabotage I have no idea but it does. It's the focusing on food I think, I just start putting stuff in my mouth and say my target is 1500kcals, what'll happen is I'll just eat til I get there and then when I get there (which might be at 2pm) I actually feel relief cos I have ruined it so don't have to count anymore..and then of course i eat more and gain weight. This is indeed the basis of my belief - very few people are overweight because they don't know what or how to eat - it is usually (in my opinion) an unhealthy relationship between food and the mind that is quite complex and difficult to solve.

I'm reading a book at the mo recommended by someone on here, called How to have your cake and your skinny jeans too, it talks about how dieting leads to overeating. It's very interesting, it talks about what you said about eating too many cals then continuing because you've blown it - the idea is that you stop dieting and eat normally. I'm not explaining very well but personally though I lost well on 5 2 in the beginning I couldn't sleep, so I switched to 16/8 and couldn't lose. I somehow had got into the habit of overeating on feed days as I was feeling deprived, and just ate too much within my 16 hour window. Since I read the book I have got to the stage where there are no restrictions on feed days but I eat more or less normally (I mean like a normal non dieting person), and I use an eating window on other days without feeling deprived. I am slowly losing (supposed to be maintaining but had gained), haven't counted calories at all recently but best of all not obsessing about food for the first time in many years!