The FastDay Forum

Good progress since I last posted, have lost over 2kg now, and am in my stride. There was so many interuptions to my fast days and excercise in Feb, I wasnt really doing it properly, although I was enthusiastic. Its all settled down now - I've reverted to a lowish carb WOE, and am doing one of my weekly gym sessions on the morning afer a fast, which I think is beneficial.

So I guess for some of us it really does take a while to work this into your life properly, and see results, but its well worth it. I'm still not sure about the appetite suppressing element, I think its effective, but I still have hungry days, when I feel really hungry, despite eating what I want.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Another small loss this morning - hurrah

Yesterday was a really easy fast, and I've just enjoyed a mushroom and tomato ommlette.

Now all I need is some milder weather, and getting my running going again, and I think I'll a great WOL to take me into a slimmer summer

Good day today. Started with seeing a new low for 2013 on the scales this morning, then off to the gym, which was tough, but I did 300 cals of aerobic stuff. Then broke my fast with a yummy bacon/mushroom/tomato/parmesan ommlette.

Buzzing now. Off to meet friends for coffee, then make a simnel cake for next weekend, then hubby arrives, and the weekend starts

Hurrah - another modest loss today. This seems to have settled into a very satisfactory pattern now.

Yesterdays fast was fine, not easy, but perfectly do-able. Feeding today, then fasting tomorrow, so I can have Maundy Thursday-Easter Monday as holidays.

Lots of veg to eat up, so I'll do some cooking today and include 500 cals of yumminess to heat up in the microwave tomorrow night after work.

I've decided to finally get round to working out my TDEE

1937 - http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/ ... lator.html

1934 - http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx

1814 - http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

So I'll go with 1875 as a compromise

So 1400 on Tues/Weds and 2200 on Fri/Sat/Sun plus fasting on Mon/Thurs should work out about right

Which rather explains where I'm going wrong

I've got massive munchies after yesterdays fast - cheese and tomato omlette, followed by a bacon sandwich - its fatal to have bread in the house, I dont usually, I'll freeze whats left.

Then cake this afternoon, and beer tonight, so not exactly low carb

Off to gym now - I know I should work on strength to keep muscle up, but its more satisfying to do the aerobic, as I can ease my calorie limit for today.

OK, thanks. I managed to do some of both, my muscle building is very gentle though, I dont think 20 reps twice at 10kg is likely to show on the scales !

Hi Minum,
It seems that you finally hit the start of weight loss, congratulations!
My conception about 5:2 is that people who were calorie-counting/were on diet before starting this WOL will probably struggle more to lose weight.
Going from doing nothing to 5:2 will probably work miracles but going from calorie restriction to 5:2 it probably needs much adjusting from both the body AND the mind.
I still feel guilty when I eat a pudding or ice cream, even though they are well within my TDEE or just a bit above it.

Did it ! Hurrah Hurrah Hurrah ! First run of 2013. Went back to wk 4 of Couch to 5K plan, and it was fine. Gorgeous sunshine, although v. cold breathing in.

I will be held hostage by this pesky weather no longer.

Thanks TML13 - I think you're probably right. I know I'm going over my TDEE too often, which is my downfall. I'm hoping the appetite suppressing effect of fasting will increase, and make eating "normally" easier.

Finally lost the weight I gained over Easter (took 4 fasts and some close calorie watching to do it), so hopefully back on the downward journey.

Yesterdays fast was very easy, as was Mondays, so I think I've adapted now.

Have planned the weekends meals on MFP - still find it hard to eat within TDEE (averaged over a week) if I'm having a busy weekend of going out and being very modest mid week. My lunch tomorrow (Indian before the rugby) comes in at almost my TDEE, and thats if I'm careful! But what I do know now is that I can skip the odd meal, or just have something v light, and still enjoy the day, which is a liberation.

Official weigh day today, so I can record that I have lost the Easter gain, and another 0.5kg - hurrah !

I have reaslised though that if my TDEE is 1800, and I eat 500 on 2 fast days, I am only cutting down by 2,600 a week, so its no surprise I'm losing less than a pound a week. I really wish there was a phone app that would do this counting for us.

Still pondering TDEE

Weekly cals worked out on TDEE + 2 fast days 1875*5 + 500 + 500 = 10,375
Weekly cals according to MFP 1260*7 = 8,820

Pretty substantial difference - which should I go with?

Hi there Minum (fellow slow boater ). I have looked at several sites that calculate TDEE and they vary quite a lot (Caroline has got a thread in the nerdy section which you may have looked at). I personally believe that the most accurate calculation is the Katch-McCardle one for which you need a body fat measurement. I didn't have this data myself until yesterday when I went to the gym and hopped on their machine. My body fat comes out at a fairly whopping 41.8%, which when you put it through the TDEE calculation comes out at a measly 1640 ave daily cal allowance. So it's not surprising that I've now been on a 5 week plateau! I've worked out that if I want to blow 2000 cals on Fri/Sat/Sun, then to lose 1lb per week I would have to fast Mon-Thurs (which ain't gonna happen). Looking at 1/2lb loss per week, I would have to do two fasts and two weekdays at around 1350 cals. Alternatively, I need to up my exercise considerably...Life is unfair isn't it?

Hi kencc, yes you're right. I'm still weighing daily and still keeping an excel chart. I haven't got a trend line on it but it's clear that my weight has gone absolutely nowhere of late, despite just skipping one fast in 13 weeks. I will post an update of the graph when things start moving down again but it won't be very inspirational to the slow losers at the moment, which was the point of it.

There's a possibility that the plateau may be due to upping my exercise since Easter (I'm not expecting muscle gain yet but I think there's a water retention connection?), so a few more weeks and let's see. I'm not eating more to compensate, so something's got to happen eventually.

Thanks for your advice anyway - and Minum, sorry for hijacking your thread!

and Minum, sorry for hijacking your thread!

You're welcome I think the monitoring tools are v. important

Another loss today - and I'm 27 something BMI now, which is a great mini milestone.

I think the secret this week is that I'm firmly back on my C25K program, 3 times a week. I've counted all my calories in MFP, and it came in at approx the recommended weekly level for losing 1lb a week. On my smart phone app, there's a neat bar chart showing the cals for each day of the week, and the amount remaining for the week - but that doesn't appear to be there on the web version - very odd.

Eating to TDEE, even if you mix the days up and balance it over the week, just wasn't a big enough deficit for me to lose anything really.