The FastDay Forum

Hello, first post on the forum, looking for some assistance, I've been doing the diet for just over a month and have seen no appreciable weight loss, I make sure that I stay within 600 cal on two fasting days a week, I may stray over by a marginal amount but nothing excessive. I am 6'3" and weighed 14 st 7lbs at christmas, admittedly did not weigh myself before starting the diet, but did yesterday and I weigh, you've guessed it 14st 7ilbs!!. I appreciate that I may have put on loads of weight after christmas and am now losing it, but I think it is unlikely. On my normal eating days I try to eat relatively heathily and cycle to work and back everyday which burns a good 700 cal according to the cycling app on my phone. Has anyone else seen little or no weight loss? I appreciate different metabolisms can work in different ways, but when you read of some people shedding pounds a week it gets pretty depressing. I would like to lose a stone approximately. Let me know your thoughts. Regards Matt

Hmmmm. As you say, it's a bit of guess work as you don't know your starting weight for sure. Did you measure yourself at the start? Some people find they lose inches more noticeably than pounds.

6' 3 is pretty tall - what sort of bmi are you currently at? The nearer you are to a healthy weight the harder it is to shift those pounds.

[carorees]

Hi Matt and welcome

The first thing to do when not seeing any change on the scales is to check your waist measurement...some have found a decreasing waist despite no weight change which is probably due to increased muscle or water retention hiding the fat loss. Have you always cycled to work?

If there has been no change in your waist measurement then you need to ask yourself whether you have been over indulging on feed days. It's worth keeping a food and drink diary for a few days and use an online calorie calculator to get a guesstimate of calories consumed. Also, work out your daily energy requirements. There is a good calculator here: http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

That will give you an estimate of your BMR (the amount of calories you're body needs just to maintain itself if your lay in bed all day) and your TDEE (how much you need to fuel your daily activities as well as the BMR). Your calories consumed needs to average your TDEE on feed days (doesn't matter if some are more than TDEE if others are less). This doesn't mean you need to calorie count all the time but it's worth getting an idea what your TDEE looks like in terms of food & drink.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the advice, I shall do some calculations and measure the waist, my BMI, is a little over 25 which I believe is veering into overweight. I'll keep you posted, regards Matt.

25.4 BMI. If you are in energy balance eating 600 cals 2 days per week then your feed day intake is (1.4 * your TDEE - 240).

eg if your TDEE is 2500 you are eating 3260 on feed days.

That's the maths

Hello again sorry for being a little slow on the uptake but Phil can you clarify your figures, when you say I am eating 3260 on a feed day, is that what I should be eating or purely what I am eating and therefore maybe too much. I did the calculation given to me by caroline which seems to say my TDEE is 2361. If this is added to my BMR then it adds up to over 4000 cal. which I don't imagine is going to make me slim!!

Matt,

If you are not losing weight, it is likely because you are eating too much food. I have been having a similar problem. I was overindulging on feast days and enjoy too much of the chocolate, beer, chips and so on. I realized that I needed to change my ways, so I got all the "bad" food out of the house. Now even if I do feel like binging, I can't get too far because I'm stuck with eating salads and berries.

If maybe that you are eating too much after the bikerides or your portions are too big or you are eating too many of the wrong foods. Also, take a look at sugary drinks because they can add a lot of calories. Hopefully you will find a way to cut back.

I did the calculation given to me by caroline which seems to say my TDEE is 2361. If this is added to my BMR then it adds up to over 4000 cal. which I don't imagine is going to make me slim!!

Don't add your TDEE and BMR together. Your TDEE is calculated from your BMR and already inlcudes this figure.

If your TDEE is 2361 you should eat an average of this amount for 5 days and then 600 on your fast days.

Hello again sorry for being a little slow on the uptake but Phil can you clarify your figures, when you say I am eating 3260 on a feed day, is that what I should be eating or purely what I am eating and therefore maybe too much. I did the calculation given to me by caroline which seems to say my TDEE is 2361. If this is added to my BMR then it adds up to over 4000 cal. which I don't imagine is going to make me slim!!

My explanation was a bit minimalist

I was estimating that you have been actually eating an average 3260 on feed days, given that a) you haven't lost weight and b) a guess at your TDEE of 2500

As your TDEE is a little lower my revised estimate is that you've been eating 3060 on feed days - is that likely ??

hello again phil thanks for the calculation clarification, I suppose it is possible to be eating those amount of calories although I certainly don't think it would be a daily occurrence. I'm going to keep a rough record of my intake on feed days and weigh myself next week and see what it adds up to. Thanks for your efforts. i'll let you know the results. Matt

whats TDEE?? please

whats TDEE?? please

Total Daily Energy Expenditure - how many calories you use living your life.