The FastDay Forum

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum and would just like to get some help!

I started IF at the end of Jan. Prior to that, I was on Atkins for 3 months (yo-yo) and then moved onto South Beach for 2 weeks before I commenced IF. At the start, I tried to let my body to get used to it as quickly as possible by doing alternative fasting for 2 weeks. Then I moved onto fasting after every 2 feeding days. I'm 20-year-old and do 20 mins cardio intervals 3-4 times a week. However, whenever I weigh myself, the scale just keep on telling me the same number. My measuring tape is saying the same thing again and again. I'm just getting so despaired as it seems that nothing is working on me, even IF .

Has anyone been in the similar situation? I'm desperately looking for some advice. Thank you!

My food diary for fasting days: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/ ... 013-03-11#

[carorees]

I'm sorry you are but getting any weight loss. I think the place to start is to look at what you are eating on feed days and compare it with your daily calorie requirements (TDEE). Could you make an estimate of your feed day calories and also check your TDEE (links to calculators in the FAQ). Also, how much weight do you need to lose to reach a healthy BMI? If you could give us the answers to these questions, we will have a think about how you should go on.

You could try replacing the skimmed milk with a substitute like http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/ ... =266126179 which is lower in sugar & carbs.

On one day you went a bit OTT with the protein having 200g of salmon in a meal - halving that would be more in line with what your body can utilise.

But these are tweaks, it is likely that your feed days are the issue as the fast days look reasonable - what do you eat then ? What's your BMI ?

Hello lazytomato!
I'm a bit in the same situation except that I managed to trick my body into losing weight for a couple of weeks (lost 2 kgs since I started at the end of January), but then it took its revenge and tends to somehow put on 1kg in the 2 days, whatever I eat (about 1600-1800 calories a day, according to my TDEE unless my calorie counter, which is also Fitness Pal, is wrong!). I fast on Mondays and Thursdays and for the last 3 weeks, I have been stuck at 58.8 kgs after a fast day. But after two days of eating normally, the weight creeps back up systematically to 59.9 kgs. This morning, after a fast day, I weighed 59.5 kgs, so the weight has actually gone back up and I have absolutely no idea why. My body fat is roughly the same as when I started, too.
I have decided to give it another two weeks and try to change my pace to see if it works: on fast days, I generally skip breakfast, have a reasonable lunch (chicken with salad usually) and a bowl of soup in the evening. I am now going to try and skip breakfast and lunch, have a cup of soup/apple if I happen to feel hungry in the afternoon, and have a normal meal in the evening (which will make my hubby happier!).
Now if that doesn't work and my weight is still the same after these two weeks, I'm afraid I will have to stop this diet (I will have had 8 weeks of it by then) because it is obviously not working for me and it is making me rather unhappy. I'll keep you posted! You are not alone

Icelandia, if your bmi is 21.6, what is it you're hoping to achieve?

Hi Melanie, It's more that I don't understand why my weight has stayed the exact same for the past 5 or 6 years without me being able to control anything, whatever efforts I make. Even though I was really careful for a good 6 months before my wedding last year in order to fit comfortably in my dress, I was unable to shed any weight at all. I used to be able to decide, before Christmas for instance, to lose a bit of weight in preparation before indulging myself. Now, I don't have this margin anymore. And if I overeat, the kgs pile on straight away! It would be great to be able to eat a slice of cake or a piece of cheese without knowing that it will stay 20 seconds in my mouth and 20 years on my hips! Rather than a BMI thing, it is more trying to regain control over my body and this is not really happening...

Hi - I think the question was asked as, if your BMI is at the LOW end of NORMAL, then why are you trying to reduce it further? I think you need to relax into the perfectly healthy weight you are and that your body is happy at?
Enjoy this WOL for the health benefits that fasting promotes, and enjoy the wide variety of food you can enjoy?

I would LOVE to be in your position.............

JB x

Thanks for your support Julie! The really good thing though is that I can now fit comfortably in trousers that felt rather tight before so I must be somehow reshaping. Looking forward to lunch now

Just this morning an article came to my mailbox about failing to lose weight etc- very interesting.

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/the-real-reason-diets-fail-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/

Hi lazy tomato!
I'm in the same boat as you I've been doing the diet since jan initially 4:2 but changed to 5:2 to see if it made a difference-it didn't!Ive gained .5kg and my body fat has gone from 29.3 to 29.6%.my TDEE is 2,370 cal per day.I do weights and cardio 6 times per week.I eat 500cal on fast days and within my TDEE the non fast days.My inches haven't decreased either Saying that,I love the concept of 5:2 and find the evidence pretty convincing but getting more and more frustrated by my lack of results I know some people are finding themselves in a similar situation.Im going to persevere for a little longer,I really want it to work!Hope you start getting some positive results soon

Just remember that body fat% is really hard to measure - the figures you get from your scale are very rough approximations, so 29.3% or 29.6% aren't very different.

Keep the positive attitude going!

I'm in the same boat as you I've been doing the diet since jan initially 4:2 but changed to 5:2 to see if it made a difference-it didn't!Ive gained .5kg and my body fat has gone from 29.3 to 29.6%.my TDEE is 2,370 cal per day.I do weights and cardio 6 times per week.I eat 500cal on fast days and within my TDEE the non fast days.

Perhaps your TDEE is actually lower ?

Let's say you ate 2 * 500 and 5 * 2200 = 12,000 a week, for weeks and didn't lose. Suggests TDEE is actually 12000/7 = 1715.

To lose 0.5 lb/week you want to take 1750 a week off the above, eating 10,250 a week or 2 * 500 plus 9250/5 = 1850 on feed days.

"Food" for thought

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the replies! Also, thank you Icelandia12 and Sharonmareelouise for sharing your experience! It really comforts me to know that I'm not alone after reading so many positive results! Thank you!

I'm 1.65m tall and weighs 71.7kg this morning. Although I don't really see myself being overweight (I wear size 12 top and size 10 bottoms), it would be really nice to not be medically classified as pre-obese.

I have calculated my TDEE (there were so many online, but I opted for this one: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/tdee), and the result came up to be 2253kcal. I haven't been counting and recording my calorie intakes, but I was sure that I was under this limit as I've noticed that my appetite has shrunken. I sometimes even wonder if I've been eating enough to keep my metabolism up. However, I'll keep a record of what I am eating for the next few days, see if I'm fooling myself by underestimate how much I put in my mouth.

The salmon was a one off thing. I felt really sick afterwards as 500kcal all in one go seems a bit too much for me on a fasting day. However, I will try to cut the protein out more next time and carry on trying lunner instead of breakfast and dinner.

Thanks again for all the advice! Good luck to everyone who is also in the similar situation!

[carorees]

You might also want to consider how the body responds to weight loss and the concept of the lower 'set point' which is the weight your body does not want you to drop below. This set point is different for everyone and so for some people it will be hard to get to the weight they want to be as their body does not want them to be that weight! Some people are lucky that their set point is lower!

Thus if you are already at a healthy BMI it is possible you will need to reduce calories more drastically in order to get a further reduction. But if you don't want to stay on these reduced calories for ever there seems to be little point as you will inevitably return to your body's preferred weight as soon as you stop restraining yourself as you will see from the following papers:

See these: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3209643/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 011.7/full

and this thread
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=395

I think PhilT's approach makes a lot of sense...if you know that you are not losing weight on a particular amount of calories per week you have to assume that is your new TDEE!

I'm 1.65m tall and weighs 71.7kg this morning. Although I don't really see myself being overweight (I wear size 12 top and size 10 bottoms), it would be really nice to not be medically classified as pre-obese.

I have calculated my TDEE (there were so many online, but I opted for this one: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/tdee), and the result came up to be 2253kcal.

26.3 BMI so at the low end of overweight. If your BMR is about 1300 (Katch McArdle formula) and you're quite active ( *1.5 ) your TDEE will be 1950 which is 300 short of the above - a difference that would almost wipe out the deficit from fasting.