The FastDay Forum

Thanks to this blog, I have learned maybe why I haven't been able to loose weight and have gained 2 lbs after 5 weeks of being on the 5:2 diet. I was eating 500 cal on my fasting days because that is what I understood from reading the book, but actually I am only suppose to have 350 according to the calculations. I am a small person, therefore, my body doesn't need very many calories at all to maintain. This has been my struggle all my life. I have to eat a very low 1400 cal just to maintain my weight and about 1150 cal to loose, which is not very much food. I normally do not eat high fat or sugary foods because I will gain weight so fast without question. So I thought this fast diet would be great because it would allow me to eat all those high fat and sugary foods sometimes when normally I am never able to. 5 weeks of fasting with 500 cal days and enjoying the foods I never get to eat normally on the other 5 days have been great. But, I have not lost any weight, but am slowly gaining. I figured the problem was because I was eating too much high calorie foods on non fasting days. Hopefully eating 350 cal on my fasting days for now on will hopefully fix my problem so I can also continue to enjoy great food. Does this sound like I am on the right track? I wish I would have realized this 3 weeks ago.

I follow your logic.

If 1400 is your maintenance that's 9800 per week.

Two days at 500 each would leave you with 8800 for 5 days or 1760 each feed day to maintain.

To lose 1 lb/week (3500 deficit) you need 6300 cals a week, with two days at 350 that leaves 5600 or 1120 per day on feed days for weight loss.

If you gained 2 pounds in 5 weeks that's about 200 cals a day too many on average you've been eating.

Can you increase your activity levels ? Adding 200 calories a day of extra effort should be achievable for most people as a minimum.

Thanks for that,Philt
I was going to ask you to do the calculation for me but the above pretty much answered my question.
I am short,middle aged and have very little to loose.i have been doing this for 6 weeks and lost nothing for 5 weeks then last week I lat just over a kilo but tis morning after a fast I have put on a bit.
My TDEE is around 1500 which means ,I think that I have to eat about 1200 on nonfast days.
I find it very hard to loose weight despite doing yoga or pilates every day .

Hi Lowcal, and welcome!

TDEEs are horrible. Oh how I hate being wee (short) - my TDEE is officially 1350ish and I think that's rotten low. Humph.

However, a perverse advantage of being a weird shape means that my actual TDEE seems to be significantly higher than my height theoretically allows for, but at some point (as I, hopefully, lose weight) I'm going to have to drop my calorie intake OR start to rack up my exercise to compensate for the excess!

Regardless of the delightful calories in - out debates (e.g. the nature of what is eaten, when, how, the phase of the moon and whether you're in the right spiritual state etc.), ultimately your body will have its own accounts and with too many 'in' calories vs. too few 'out' expended you will put on weight...

*ONLY* you can really determine what is right for you. All the best, FatDog.

I agree fatdog
My husband has been telling me for years that because I am short I have to eat less
Looks like he is right.for me to loose i probably have to,eat 1000 cals or less on nonfast days

Hi
This doesn't make sense to me at all. You say you will have to eat 350 cals in 2 fast days and 1000 or less in feed days. That is much worse than a regular diet. If this is the case why don't you do a regular diet of 1200 cals a day and add excercise. Most people even petits like you ( I know because I am too) will lose weight on such a diet. The whole idea of the 5:2 is the feast/ famine regime which I think you are missing here with this approach. This is correct for all the people in the forum who eat 1200, 1300 calories or less in feed days. Isn't this worse than Weight Watchers or any other typical diet?

Yes yes yes
It is starting to feel that way for me.
I see you bmi is low ,so is mine and yet you have lost weight
Do you just do 5.2?
I think I am going to go back to 5.2 and stop trying all the different things like16.8 low carbs and cutting my nonfast a so low.
Would love to hear from others you are small and only want to loose a bit

Hi Sarahg
I'm actually doing this for maintenance. For the last 8 years I maintained a weight loss of over 30 pounds on calorie restriction 1400-1500 a day and lots of excercise, so, I was thrilled though a bit skeptical when I heard about this WOL, and decided to give it a try since the idea of having 5 days of regular eating and no need to worry about eating out etc... Was appealing. At first I lost some weight without even meaning to do so, so i tried 6:1 and 6:1.5 (500:1000) but it stalled and I started gaining the weight I lost at the beginning, so for the last 4-5 weeks I've been doing 5:2 just for maintenance. On feed days I eat 1800-2000 cals and I excercise 6 times a week- jogging, elliptical (total of 180 min per week aerobic) and 1/2 hour twice a week of weight training. With this I have been able to maintain my weight so far, but not to lose weight. I think that at least for me this works better than calorie restriction all the time. However, restricting calories and fasting two days a week would be too much for me and I would rather go back to the regime of calorie restriction w/o the fasting which worked for me well since I was never hungry, the only problem was socializing around food. I do believe that calorie restriction does not work for most people for long periods, since many people tend to gain weight that they successfully lose on regular diets, so perhaps the 5:2 with calorie restriction may be used for a short term and than for the longer term mainanance people could eat more on feed days which would be sustainable. I hope this helps. Good luck.

Thanks for that
Yes ,calorie restriction all the time doesn't seem to work for me .i think partly cos its too hard to sustain for long periods and I also think the body goes into starvation mode
This 5.2 works for me because of the variability of the calories consumed each day.
I actually do two fasts and a sort of mini fast each week and then on on nonfast days I don't count calories but just eat a bit more and have a bit of chocolate.its actually quite easy.i don't get very hungry and am quite enjoying skipping breakfast
As I said I don't really have much to lose ,just want this to become a way of life

Good luck to you Sarahg. I hope you'll find the least painful way to reach your goal weight.