The FastDay Forum

OK, I should not be satisfied with just one reading after a fast day but I have just hit my target weight (for the first time since August)

I started on 3rd February after buying & reading the book the previous day. I chose my target weight because I was happy to be 144 lbs last summer and felt very fit. It was also my weight when I was in the 6th form at school 45 years ago!

The dark months before & over Xmas conspired to see me peak at 151 lbs - I had started doing the opposite of 5:2, staying constantly full by snacking & eating huge meals, so I knew 5:2 would work but I am surprised how quick it has been - 17 days to lose 6 lbs. And relatively painless...

I did diet quite hard in 2004, again just after Xmas, to go from 165 lbs to 150 in 3 months whils also training for a half-marathon, which went much better than expected, and this was done by calorie restriction & ignoring hunger pangs so again I suspected 5:2 was on the right lines!

Watching the Horizon program last night, however, the calorie-restricted chap who is about my size weighed only 132 lbs. I had been intending to drop to 6:1 for weight maintenance (and to fit in with my OH) as soon as I hit my target - but should I be more adventurous? I have been doing press-ups & pull-ups as well as walking/cycling/climbing to ensure my muscles don't start getting eaten (not got that many to start with anyway) and I reckon there are still fatty deposits to be attended to - should I aim for a BMI < 20? This would mean being less than 10 stone, which I only used to see when dehydrated at the end of a summer 12 mile run...

I am currently thinking to stay on 5:2, Sunday & Tuesday, but to up my evening meal to perhaps 800 - 900 calories (or fill up with wine?) to reduce the rate of weight loss.

I am using parkrun statistics to check my fitness going forward - parkrun is a national treasure which I would recommend to anybody & everybody, offering the chance to run/jog/walk/hobble a 5km course in a nearby park, for free, and have your time recorded and published on the internet, every Saturday morning at 09:00. All you need to do is register and obtain a printed barcode which is scanned at the finish line to identify you to the timing system. Age & gender are taken into account to produce a percentage figure which you can use to compare historical performances (nice graph) & man/wife performances on an equal footing.
After just my first week of 5:2 I ran my best performance for 9 months and was really surprised how well I felt. Last week was not quite so good but I think that was due to going too fast at the start, again because I felt good.
Maybe by watching the stats week on week I can find an optimum weight somewhere around 140 lbs? I know RachelB has done a parkrun, has anybody else on this forum?

Enough for now - mission accomplished, but new mission just started!

Update 23 Feb: maintained original target weight despite 3 feast days and still did a decent park run this morning so I have just dropped my target to 140 lbs, an experimental value which I will test by parkrun times & general wellness feelings once achieved, being ready to revert to 144 lbs if this is a step too far.
I love the current light feeling and the old aches & pains are under control so I want to keep the fasting going but will up the fasting calories a bit- maybe 800 - to slow down the next stage of weight loss.

Update 27 Feb: Another week, 2 more fasts but with enhanced calories, another 2 pounds lost. Feel great, performed better than usual on the climbing wall last night and managed 20 press-ups. Due to run this afternoon. Just had a square of chocolate for the first time this month as a treat!

Update 7 March: A total of 10 fasts now and 142lbs - but I think the next couple of pounds are going to be much harder than the previous 8. Is it possible that recent fat is more available for consumption when fasting but ancient fat is much more difficult? Or have found my ideal weight and just need to stay here?
We shall see...
Just been for a blood test (inflammation markers related to hip pains, but managed to blag basic cholesterol etc as well) which should be interesting but my BP reading is scary - 150/85 - and has never been so high Systolic. This will be checked again in a couple of weeks, I am currently putting it down to being stuck with needles but it could also be due to using my right arm for the cuff, which has not been done before. I think there was talk about right-left differential BP being an indicator for arterial condition, I must do some research...

[carorees]

Well done CreakyPete! You must be v pleased. As regards the future, my OH who has always been underweight has been fasting twice a week along with me but after 24 hours while I have a 500 cal meal he has whatever he wants. This was working well but last week he felt extremely hungry on the non-fast days so I think his body was saying "enough is enough" so he is going to give 6:1 a go. He wants the health benefits of fasting particularly as he has memory problems. So, I would say that if you carry on with 5:2 be open to what your body is saying about whether further weight loss is good or not. It seems that it will tell you when you are overdoing it! I think the 24 hour complete fast only (i.e. eat what you like at the end of the fast) is very sustainable as no calorie counting is needed and will probably be around the 800-900 cals you suggest.

Congratulations on your success and good luck with your new mission!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

Congrats!!

Saw my 10 stone new target hit this morning (fast yesterday so might be fleeting)... Not feeling very energetic at this new weight, ran badly on Saturday, but blood test results were very good according to my doctor. Cholesterol ratio excellent, tiny amount of inflammation, most likely due to a cold the few days before testing, no sign not rheumatoid arthritis. Hips have been painful recently so it is off to the physio for the next stage of investigation... Will try to maintain this weight through the Easter holidays and see if it is viable long-term or whether I am better off at 10-4, which I know will work...

Easter holiday has come and gone (boo!) and things did not quite go as expected... Flew to Tenerife on a fast day (Tues 26th) so planned nothing to eat until arrival at hotel around 20:00, which was working OK until I started feeling cold on the plane - RyanAir - which I fixed with 232 cals of 90% Lindt chocolate emergency rations. Normal eating in the hotel, as I only have to maintain now. Sensible eating with eggs and fish, and morning jogging, followed until Good Friday where things took a turn for the worse - spent all night/Sat morning with the toilet for company being horribly ill. Felt very empty when it finally all stopped, did not enjoy sunbathing as much as usual that day, had no food at all until Sunday morning and that was only 2 squares of chocolate, a kiwi and a banana - with lots of tea to rehydrate. Felt well enough to walk for an hour or so that evening so started eating again - but just chips and cheese with sachet tomato ketchup. Back to the toilet with diarrhoea that night... On top of that, wife starts the sequence of poo/vomit alternately, but at a lesser level and for less total time (she had not been such a pig with the buffet as me). So an unintended fast for her as well. By Tuesday we felt well enough to jog a couple of miles before breakfast, very weakly, and we had no further troubles before we flew home yesterday (4th.) Weighed ourselves this morning, I was 138.4 lbs. God knows how light I would have been immediately after the illness, although most of the loss would have been water... Anyway, to return from holiday under target does take a bit of pressure off the next couple of fasts!

Congrats - but a hard way of doing it!!

[carorees]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! What a 'holiday'! Still at least you were used to going without food I suppose!

Indeed - I had the confidence to know that just by keeping hydrated and being patient I could cope without food - and TDEE must have been very low due to most of the days being flat on my back under the blazing sun! It will be interesting to see what I officially weigh tomorrow, and how parkrun goes in the morning ...

Sorry about your holiday, Pete! Good luck with the park run this weekend!

Thanks Susan - parkrun went better than expected for me and Deb got a PB by over a minute - now lighter at 125 lbs than she can remember. Really unexpected given how lazy we became after the sickness! It was still a good holiday, blue skies and 24 degrees most days so can't complain too much! I'm chasing you on the BMI front now - below 20 for the first time...

I'm chasing you on the BMI front now - below 20 for the first time...

LOL, how low are you going to go? I'm not planning on going any lower although I think 18.5 is attainable and I wouldn't look ill. But I need to work on muscle tone more than anything.

Maintenance update: Basically I am failing to maintain! The idea was to keep the fast periods per 5:2 but allow the calories to increase on fast days (but without eating rubbish/snacking). The last two fast days were modified to include some food mid-afternoon post-exercise as this makes sense from a muscle-repair standpoint (nuts & 90% chocolate - fat & protein) but non-fast days like yesterday leave me feeling full after breakfast and only eating a sensible dinner. I lost nearly another pound after this feast day which included wine so I am now around 19.5 BMI - not a problem yet but where will it all end? No point in eating desserts/snacks just to replace old fat with new, surely? Maybe start eating bananas again!
PS yesterdays bike ride was a pb by nearly 3 minutes - it is not like my body is shutting down for lack of food - just need to replicate this at parkrun on Saturday...