The FastDay Forum

Hi everyone, new to this forum and hoping for some inspiration and advice.

I have been doing the 5:2 now for nearly 4 weeks together with my husband. My OH has been doing very well and losing weight, however, I have not. I weigh the morning after fasting and register a small loss and then eat normally for the next few days before the second day of fasting. I seem to be in a lose/gain cycle and am no lighter than when I started on the 5:2 regime. No I do not go mad on my eating days so that is not it. I just wondered if anyone else had experienced a no weight loss trend with this diet?

Hope everyone else is doing better than I am.

[Moogie]

Hi & welcome

Sorry to hear you're struggling to lose weight, especially as your husband is doing so well.
It would be really helpful to know what your current BMI/weight is and how much you're looking to lose. Could you also tell us a little about how you do your fasts, for example how you split your calories and whether you do a 24 hour (1 sleep) or 36 hour (2 sleeps) fast?

Do you have any underlying medical conditions such as a thyroid disorder or diabetes? Had you previously been on a diet of any kind just prior to starting this way of eating?

Is it possible you've been consuming more calories than you think on feed days, for example through alcohol, fruit juice, fancy coffees etc?

Do you exercise a lot and therefore it's possible you're gaining muscle mass which is heavier than the fat lost?

Do you drink a lot of water on fast days, but perhaps rather less on feed days - which may result in water retention?

Have you measured yourself at all? For some folks the loss shows up better on a tape measure than on the scales!

Sorry for all the questions, but the more info we have the better we can try to help you

I have been doing the 5:2 now for nearly 4 weeks together with my husband. My OH has been doing very well and losing weight, however, I have not.

How does your food intake compare to his on fast and feed days ?

To be in a calorie balance on 5:2 means overeating by about 600 cals per day on feed days compared to your energy expenditure.

Hi, I started dieting seriously (Rosemary Conley yet again) in January 2012 when I hit rock bottom and a little over 200 lbs which at 5'5" is obviously a lot. I am 64. I successfully got down to 162 lbs but over that summer until now I have been unable to get to grips with dieting again and have been dipping in and out and maintaining around 170 lbs, I think BMI is around 28/29. After watching Michael's programme my OH and I decided to try this approach. We fast Tuesday and Friday. We started by eating breakfast usually around 9 a.m. (we are retired so it varies) and then dinner at 7 p.m. now we have the first meal of the day around 1 p.m. (usually l egg and 1/4 cup egg white poached on a slice of wholemeal bread - oatmeal and blueberries sometimes instead), dinner has been either the salmon with veg or the chicken and bacon ceasar which fills us up better.

I am in good health having just had my annual physical and my Doc. said just looking at the figures she would have thought I was an athlete, BP 110/67 with a 52 pulse (nearly fell off my chair laughing). I have not been very active over the recent weeks but do aquacise once a week. I live in Canada so in the winter months not always easy to get outside to exercise but we have a recumbent bicycle and an elliptical which we try to do every other day, but not so much just recently. In the summer we like hiking up mountains etc.

I drink green tea, black coffee and some water during fast days but sometimes find that I am suddenly bunged up and unable to pass solids so I am trying to drink more water to help with elimination. Perhaps I am overeating on non-fast days (although felt I was just eating 'normally' so perhaps I should start counting calories on those days, but the idea of fasting for two days and not having to count calories was the attraction for trying this diet.

I have not measured myself but will do so soon. I do not feel that my waistbands are any looser so don't feel that I have lost inches.

My OH doesn't really want to lose weight now as he is beginning to look a little gaunt. He is 72 and 5'10" and is down to 169 lbs. He says his reasons for doing it is more to benefit his brain function! Rather disappointing to know that your OH is weighing the same or slightly lighter than yourself and being more successful than me at it.

Hey ho, I will not give up yet. We decided to give it three months. I will try and monitor non-fasting days better and see if that makes a difference.

Hi Woodmanery, I am not an expert at this but 4 weeks is not that long for 5:2 as lots of people take time to adjust to it. I am glad you are going to stick with it. I have reduced my calories to under my TDEE for 2 days a week and am seeing some results now, but I put on for 3 or weeks! Measuring is great because if you are like me there is wild variations due to water and things. There's a thread on here about why you may not lose weight even if you are doing things right.
RE: your husband, I agree men are jammy when it comes to weight loss, my partner has not been on board but decided reluctantly to join in last week and he is ace-ing it so will probably keep it up! grrrrrr

if it's purely down to calories you should be expecting to eat 20 - 25% less than your husband for the same weight loss.

Thanks everyone for comments, much appreciated. I will measure myself in the morning and keep count of calories on non fasting days and will report back on progress. We have given ourselves 3 months to see results so as long as I can stay around the 170 mark and not put on any more and hopefully the 5:2 will kick in soon I am not disheartened too much.

Yes Mrs H-R why do men have it so easy! One reason may be that they do not have to constantly think about food and what to put on the table for the next meal!!! When my OH tells people how good he has been at losing weight I have to remind him that it is all my hard work that has done it for him LOL Good luck to everyone.

if it's purely down to calories you should be expecting to eat 20 - 25% less than your husband for the same weight loss.

I am aiming to give him the 600 on a fasting day, 500 for me. He eats a fair amount on the other days.

Well good news this morning down 2 1/2 lbs. Will measure myself after shower and see if much difference there also. The challenge is to be extra careful today and count calories until my next fasting day, Friday.

Aquacise tonight also so a little more exercise but that is usually finished off at the Vietnamese restaurant with my daughter having Bun Ga Nuong cha Gio, any one else like Vietnamese and can recommend what to go with. Think the Bun has around 500-600 calories in it if I do not have the spring rolls.

I am a firm believer in using activity plus encouragement to reach my goals.I get both through my activity tracker program.It is just brilliant.Good luck and don't despair.

I am a firm believer in using activity plus encouragement to reach my goals.I get both through my activity tracker program.It is just brilliant.Good luck and don't despair.

Thanks for the encouragement.