The FastDay Forum

I agree about the exercise and losing weight. I exercised for the previous year before starting 5:2 and I don't regret it because it has lots of benefits but weight loss isn't one of them! I don't love exercise I have come to quite like it a bit and do a moderate amount for the wealth of health benefits and nice tight muscles! If love it, great but I wouldn't do more than you want as a weight loss strategy.
You have only been doing 5:2 a few weeks so it's too soon to tell whether it is working for you you need a bigger picture.

Wally yes you eat very well, but you still became obese inspite of that. Is there another reason the weight piled on in the first place (you have hinted at not exactly knowing how many calories in your food, a teaspoon here and there... but are there any medical issues?)

Wally yes you eat very well, but you still became obese inspite of that. Is there another reason the weight piled on in the first place (you have hinted at not exactly knowing how many calories in your food, a teaspoon here and there... but are there any medical issues?)

Yes, that's what I was wondering - I cook with butter and cream, eat chocolate, drink wine, eat cake and biscuits and lots of cheese (I never eat 'diet food') and have never been over a BMI of 23 in my life. Is it possible you could have a thyroid problem?

I may be an idiot but I am very sceptical of assertions that intensive exercise will cause you to gain weight long-term. I can see why it may do in the short term, but I have yet to hear or see any evidence of the debunking of the old "calories in less calories expended through normal living and exercise equals weight gained or lost" as a guide to life. And intensive exercise burns calories - no one is disputing that. The Guardian article didn't persuade me - all it said that I picked up was that (a) exercise alone without changes to diet will not necessarily cause weight loss and (b) exercise alone may actually induce negative changes to the diet that cause more calories to be eaten and therefore weight gain. None of this should be news and none of this conflicts with the old chestnut above.

We are all by definition making affirmative changes to our diets at the same time (in many cases) as we are embarking on fitness programs. I simply cannot believe that if we stick with it good results will not follow. The problem is that many people become demotivated by having to wait so long to see their progress so they think the program itself is to blame, and they stop and perpetuate the cycle of weight loss and gain.

Wallypott, it does seem the case with you that your loss is definitely in the normal/slightly better than normal range for where you are in the process. I hope you are able to stick with it and make it a habit - for what it's worth I think you should exercise as much as you want to. It may be slow but the vast majority of us aren't going anywhere and you will find loads of people here to get you through the ups and downs (as in commiserating the ups on the scale and celebrating the downs!)

Good luck.

Wallypott I loved the way you spoke about exercise making you feel good and enjoying the doing of it. I don't agree with the "give up exercise" point of view at all. After all, what is the point? For me it is to be healthy, feel good, look good and be able to physically do the things I want to do. I don't care what the scale says if I have the rest of it! The WOL includes the WOE--not the other way around!

Hang in there and be patient. Make little tweaks--don't give up important parts of your life. Sustainability is the key.

I'll be pulling for you!

I piled on weight over 7 or 8 years I think mostly because I lost all sight of what a portion should look like. I gave up smoking, 4 times over that period, which I had always used as a reward, and replaced it with sweet food. I did a lot of emotional eating as well. I've also used my fat as a way of hiding from the local troll population. And that has been very effective!

The 5:2 seems to be helping me to relearn portion size. I think part of the issue is that I'm in a hurry.....and I just want to get on with it now I've got the bit between my teeth so to speak. I guess I just have to go at it a bit more slowly - and accept that 2kg a month is probably as good as it is realistically going to get.

I have only stopped the bread etc since April 29 - when I could no longer ignore that my stomach was really hating it, and I wanted to try a low GI diet. It was only two days after the start of my GI diet that I discovered the 5:2 video and got motivated!

I think I have maybe been trying too hard, which was setting myself up to be disappointed. If I just weigh myself a lot less often, I think that will help. My body fat seems to have gone down a little from 41.4 to 40.7, not sure if that is a good result. Clearly its still an appalling percentage. The guy at the gym thought it might be better if I'd done in the same conditions as last time, ie on a fast day. So Monday I plan to do the full weighing and measuring.

[Betsysgr8]

Awww Wallypott, we all want it gone in a hurry but remember that it did take time to "grow" on us. I think you are doing everything to help yourself, now you just need to let time do it's work as well. Stick with it for another month and see how it goes.

As others have said, heavy Cardio is not going to help you lose weight. All the studies show that if you are trying to lose fat, then resistence training (Lifting weights) and/or HIIT(High Intensity Interval Training) is what you should be doing to increase metabolism and keep from losing muscle along with fat. Dr M did another BBC documentary on this.

There are other benefits of Cardio, such as improving your heart etc, but it is not for Fat Loss.

I do Dr. Ms HIIT, which is only about 5 mintes a week and then walk my dog 3 times a week, and along with 4:3, losing about 2.5 lbs a week.

I do The HIIT training Dr M suggests

[janeg]

I've been told that weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise. When I was much younger (ahem) a week of exercise dropped me a dress size. Now, sadly, i can exercise like a demon and it really has very little effect. However, since starting 5:2 and having an extremely erratic exercise regime (going from couch potato to having a wee walk to shredding) it is fairly making a difference. Maybe look at what you are doing and being a wee bit easier on yourself?

Even if it is accepted that exercise doesn't have that much bearing on weight loss, it is still a good idea as regards keeping us fit.

To cut down on exercise just to see a better result on the scales just doesn't make sense.

Of course it's encouraging to see our weight go down, but being more active has so many benefits.

There are many slim people who have health problems that exercise could have helped to prevent.

There are also many who are heavier, but, because they keep very active, are actually healthier than those who are a "perfect" weight.

wallypot, if it's taken that long for you to put on the weight then it is unlikely to suddenly drop off, particularly if you ate healthily in the first place. 2 kg per month I think is fine. I've lost 7 lbs in 18 weeks - how about that? It seems to me that a lot of the overweight people on this forum who have lost weight more quickly are those that have made more of a 'step change' with their diet. For those of us who ate healthily in the first place and it is more a question of portion control, the results are less dramatic. My body fat is +40% as well so don't feel bad. I would also like to add that my blood pressure is normal, my cholesterol is on the lower end of normal and I am not that high risk apple shape; therefore I am effectively healthy - just too fat for society.