The FastDay Forum

Well, after deciding I need to weigh myself every day to see what is going on, I've been getting on the dreaded scale again. I've gotten on the scale the last two days, and the news is (as I feared), I haven't lost anything in over a month.

When I started this diet I was under the impression that I could let go and enjoy food the other five days a week. Well it looks like that is not the case. This diet will boost weight loss only if you are mindful about what you are eating the rest of the week. I was going overboard with too many binges, too much cheese and beer, french fries and pub sandwiches. Apparently, you can't do that.

My plan is to stick with the diet and continue to modify what I eat. I'm going to the super market now to get some more salad and veggies. I will be 50 years old this year, and losing weight is harder than ever. I just need to stay on top of it and learn to reign things in sooner when my weight starts to climb.

My thin friends weigh themselves compulsively every day. This is what I will do from now on. It's the only way to monitor my progress. I really don't have much to lose -- another five pounds maybe -- but those last few pounds are a bitch.

[carorees]

If you've been stable for a month then you could assume you have found your TDEE. If you could work out what you've been eating in a week, divide by 7 to get your feed day calorie allowance...try to average that over the 5 feed days, then the two fast days should result in weight loss. Look on your progress so far as setting a baseline

Good luck!

The good news is you haven't gained with all that indulgent eating! Well done you! I know that I will have to keep a close eye on what I eat most days of the week, even when I reach my goal. But, it is worth it to cut back a lot two days and only a little 4, and then not at all for two. I hate it when diets ask me to eliminate things I love (carbs) and eat tons of stuff I hate (meat) so this is working great for me.

You stole my post! I'm exactly the same and it is so frustrating! I only get weighed once a week but the pointer is firmly stuck on 13 st. Even if it had stuck on 12 something I would not mind so much Grr!
Still, I feel good and I know I'm getting the other health benefits so I'll keep going. I don't think I'm eating a lot on the grand scale of things but will have to have another look at it. Where will we be by the end of the year I wonder?
And Rufus I forgot to add that I am 59 so also facing the challenge of losing weight at an older age.

Me too! I got to within a pound of losing a stone and then it all stopped. In the last month I seem to be going up and down half a pound each week so although my weight has stayed stable I haven't lost any more. So frustrating. I have put it down to having rather a few social gatherings, weekends away (with lots of good food) and Easter. So for the next few weeks I am going to try and be a bit more restrained on my feast days and see if I can't kick start the weight loss again. I really don't want to have to go up to 4:3.

Thank you, Caroleen, NikkIn, Gillb and hope for your comments.

Gillb, I am learning as I go along. I'll have to cut out a little more, stop the snacking in between meals (it more more of a continual eating all day), and eat the special stuff sparingly. Just got back from the grocery store with bags of veggies. I did not go crazy and buy choc, crackers and cheese, which is what I did before.

I didn't realize how much I was eating. I also walk 21 miles a week religiously. Go figure...

I was the same. I have decided that I was treating feed days as feast days, and not just indulging, but over indulging. I think the idea is to eat normally on non-fast days, but my tendency is to just let go. Learning the lessons slowly, and have such a slow metabolism (post smoking cessation) that I can't afford to mess around too much. Happy to just have a bit of a blow out over weekends.

Hi Rendafast,

Well, I guess there are a lot of us. I think seeing Mosley eat that hamburger on the show "Eat, Fast and Live Longer" gave false impressions. It does take a long, long time to learn how to diet and what to eat in order to lose weight. Once those bad habits set in, it is so very hard to reverse things. But I feel confident today that I am back in control. Today is a feed day not a feast day. I've been up since 5 a.m. I've had one smoothie (that's how I pack in the blueberries) and one hard boiled egg. Picked up some salmon and lots of veggies for lunch. No more junk food in the house. Might enjoy a glass of white wine tonight. Beautiful day outside.

When I started this diet I was under the impression that I could let go and enjoy food the other five days a week. Well it looks like that is not the case. This diet will boost weight loss only if you are mindful about what you are eating the rest of the week. I was going overboard with too many binges, too much cheese and beer, french fries and pub sandwiches. Apparently, you can't do that.

I, like you, also learnt this the hard way I blame the media portrayl of this WOE.

When I started this diet I was under the impression that I could let go and enjoy food the other five days a week. Well it looks like that is not the case. This diet will boost weight loss only if you are mindful about what you are eating the rest of the week. I was going overboard with too many binges, too much cheese and beer, french fries and pub sandwiches. Apparently, you can't do that.

I, like you, also learnt this the hard way I blame the media portrayl of this WOE.

Me, too, Pip. I blame the media. The good news is that I'm back on track. Daily weighings will keep me in check!

Rufus, I feel for you but please try to focus to the positive things and to the fact that at least you didn't gain, even if you binged.
I'm sure that weighing in everyday and keeping an eye on what you eat will kickstart weight loss and in one week form today we'll be congratulating you on your results!
THINK POSITIVE!!!

If you've been stable for a month then you could assume you have found your TDEE. If you could work out what you've been eating in a week, divide by 7 to get your feed day calorie allowance...try to average that over the 5 feed days, then the two fast days should result in weight loss. Look on your progress so far as setting a baseline

Good luck!

Apologies for invading Rufus' post but I am not sure how to do this so please, please heeeeeeelp!

I have the calculations of both last week and the week before the last.
1-7 April:
weekly average with two fasts 1229
average of non-fast days 1523

8-14 April:
weekly average with 3 fasts 950
average of non fast days: 1288

These are Mon-Sun calculations and not weigh-in to weigh in.

Which average am I looking for in order to find my TDEE, the one of fasting days or the one of non-fasting days?

[carorees]

No problem TML13

Look at the total calories you ate per week and divide by 7! If those weeks you have not gained/lost weight then that figure must be your current TDEE! If you take both weeks you quote, then the average for the two weeks is 1090 suggesting that is your current TDEE.

Are you saying that from 8-14 April you only averaged 950 cals/day and lost no weight? Seems unlikely even with your thyroid issues! Perhaps there is something that you are eating for which the calorie count is very wrong? Probably something you eat quite a lot and which is very calorie dense which you are either weighing wrong, taking the wrong number from the calorie database/packet or has been wrongly stated in the database/packet. I suppose though, it doesn't really matter in some ways because the TDEE you derive from this method is unique to your own diet/calorie estimating method. Hmmm, not sure what to say really. I suspect that because your TDEE is very low due to the thyroid issue, your calorie deficit if you are consuming 500 on your fast days, so that 2 weeks is not long enough to know whether you are really maintaining or not. I think you should carry on with 4:3 for a month and then see where you are.

HTH

Thanks soooooo much!!!
I lost half a kilo.
The only mistake I've made regarding calories is the one on fast days with my cream cheese but even with that I'm slightly under 500 on my fast days.
I don't think that I'm doing any mistakes with calories counting because I double check from two websites and if I have any doubts I consult a friend who is calorie-counting all her life. In fact, she usually says that my estimations are higher.
If I want to be realistic, I can't say that I can do 4:3 for a month. I could squeeze in another 4:3 week till Easter (May 5) but that will be it. Well, unless something changes in my schedule...

[carorees]

If you lost weight then you have to add something to those sums to get a more realistic TDEE. If you lost half a kilo on the 4:3 week let's assume that your TDEE must be about 500 cal higher than your average intake, so call it 1450 per day. How does that match with your previous calculations? Of course, unless you weigh everyday and so know the weightloss based on the trendline, the above calculations could be wrong due to the snapshot nature of the weigh-ins.