The FastDay Forum

http://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_ ... eek_button

I saw this one last week & found it quite disheartening. Then I came back here & read the year end success stories & looked at the progress tracker stats & felt much better!
Thanks to all those who make this forum such a safe haven.

It is interesting what she says about 'set points', given people's experience on here, and the discussions about it. And I think it does show how much of weight is controlled by that part of us which is unconscious. Not to say that there aren't ways round this but it further defines what we're up against, and how we shouldn't feel too bad or beat ourselves up too much - this is a very complicated business, and at a very deep and primal level!

It it is a bit disheartening, but does make sense! And I agree with Silverdarling we need to be easier on ourselves.

I also think it really highlights the idea that the best thing for young people is to try not to gain weight to begin with. I wish I'd been more careful in my 20s!

[Betsysgr8]

She makes some interesting points but I think that all is NOT "hopeless" regarding set-points. I am hoping that when I get back to my goal (a weight that I had acheived 10+ years ago) I will have conquered the set-point since I eat when hungry and not between "meal-times", ie: I eat breakfast but am often not hungry at lunch and skip it and next "time" to eat is dinner which I am ready to eat. The problem with "diets" is that most are not sustainable and at worst don't teach you proper eating and thus maintenance. I think the difference with fasting is that you really do learn hunger and how to cope with that hunger.

I liked the talk. I think that's why plateaus might be a good thing, gives the brain and body a chance to catch up with reality.

I think we expect too much of ourselves, we expect a quick linear weight loss when that isn't how we put the weight on.

I do say to the girls in the gym when they're moaning that I wish someone had told me to appreciate my body at 10, 20 etc...

I do think the reason this WOE works, is because we are not limiting ourselves on fast days and therefore not entirely dieting. And I think by fasting we are learning better when we are really hungry and when we are just bored, sad, or programmed to eat at a certain time. I think if we apply this mindful eating on non-fast days, we can be successful!

I think by fasting we are learning better when we are really hungry and when we are just bored, sad, or programmed to eat at a certain time. I think if we apply this mindful eating on non-fast days, we can be successful!

Yes -- this is what I think the strength of 5:2 is as well: it teaches you what real hunger feels like, and also teaches you better how to stop eating when you are no longer hungry, rather than eating until you are full or even stuffed.

The caloric distance between "no longer hungry" and "full" and "stuffed" is quite a bit!

[carorees]

Have you seen this thread that is stickied at the top of the 5:2 lab: the-5-2-lab-f10/topic395.html

I mention some ways in which fasting might be different from other weight loss diets in terms of the pressure to regain the weight.

Just listened to the talk and I think it is not disheartening at all!
She talks about dieting as 'the consistent application of willpower' and indicates that we have limited willpower (which is correct) and thus diets will fail in the long run. However, the outstandig feature of 5:2 is that it concentrates willpower in two days and gives us all 5 recovery days in which we are on a pretty long lasting willpower holiday. This is exactly why it is much more feasable to do 5:2 for a longer period of time and why it is much more sustainable in maintenance: once on maintenance you can relax willpower even more and can find fewer/shorter periods of fasting (6:1, 13:1, 16:8) to stick to the appropriate weight. And in case you do gain some weight: you do not face the agony of longlasting use of willpower again (the dreadful thing preventing users of other diets to take up their former diet), but you can just return to your 'good old' short periods of willpower you had under 5:2.

So far, this is only on the psychology of dieting. Additionally, some of the mechanisms indicated in the thread above could also be working.
Perhaps it's time to produce some TED talks ourserves, several of us could have an interesting story to tell!

I'm now about 2 stone under my set point too so I feel super thin. I couldn't understand why people thinner than me felt too large so that's a helpful notion.

I agree I don't think it's disheartening, it's good to understand what we can and can't control, then we can think of ways around it.

[quote="P-JK"] And in case you do gain some weight: you do not face the agony of longlasting use of willpower again (the dreadful thing preventing users of other diets to take up their former diet), but you can just return to your 'good old' short periods of willpower you had under 5:2.

I love this idea of the "longlasting use of willpower", which is indeed "dreadful," contrasted with the "'good old" short bursts of willpower you had under 5:2I." I think that is what makes the psychological side of this WOE/L so, well, livable for me. All I have to think about and deal with is today. If it's a fast day, I eat this way. If it's a non-fast day, I eat another way. If I overeat on my fast day, tomorrow is always a new day, in a good way. On my fast day, it is almost a relief to just eat in that controlled, defined framework. But, if I had to eat that way (or even a lot more food, but structured) full-time, no way could I do that!
Also, what I learn on my fast days informs how I eat on my non-fast days. So, while I think the TED talk points are valid, I don't think it is necessarily valid for me.