The FastDay Forum

I decided to try 16:8. I've been doing it strictly M-F, and then not so strictly Sat/Sun. Everything I've read said you don't need to do it every day for it to work. M-F, I've been eating healthy and keeping my calories to 1200 or less. I've tried to have one day that's around 700-800. I've tried to cut the window to 7 hours when possible. I get at least 8000 steps in a day and on the weekends, I swim for 45 minutes one day, and walk/run for an hour the other day. I've increased my water intake. But in 6 weeks my trend weight is only down 1.6 lbs (actual weight is down 1.1). I don't know why this isn't working any better for me. I tell myself, I will just keep at it and eventually it will kick in. But, I'm using Libra and when I weigh in every day and it goes back up, I get frustrated (like today!) Maybe I should go back to weighing once a week? Or do I just keep plugging along and hope it all kicks in eventually??
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!

I feel for you @cblasz, truly I do. Let me preface my suggestion by saying I KNOW NOTHING, AND I only wish I had your self-discipline.
You are working the program very strictly, maybe if you loosened the reins a bit for a short period, see what happens. Try a spa day some weekend and maybe no calorie concerns, or if you are eating high-fat paleo, try vegan for example. Shake it up, see if it breaks the jam, then go back to a WOE/exercise that has to leave you with some major self-esteem points.
Hang in there. We care.

Great ideas from ravingkiko. I think she is right in that you just need to shake it up a little bit. Maybe make 1 of your 16:8 days a 500 cal day. Or make it a one meal day. I was struck by Moogie's info on the ADF complete fasts (which is related to food windows, I think) with mice and rats. Their feeding window/alternate days are like 5 or 10 human days. So I think our expectations should be more reasonable. Watch your carbs--they are insidious. Make some of your exercise high intensity. Weigh once a week, or just on those days when you wake up feeling light . Then, average your weight for the week and make that your metric. It helps to keep in perspective those hormonal water and digestive tract variations. Play at it. Meditate or color or whatever to keep your frustration (and stress hormones) at bay. You are closing in on your goal--much healthier and more sustainable than parachuting in on it. Make this something you can live with forever.

I'm not surprised you are frustrated by your progress, you are working really hard at this.
I have finally got myself up to 30 minutes of running at a time, and found that once I hit about 28 minutes of continuous running (which took me months and months to achieve) I started losing again. I'm more or less maintaining on three runs per week and two fast days, (and eating more).
So this may happen to you too?
Finally 1.6 pounds may not sound alot, but pick up a bottle of water with 725ml in, and you can feel it!
Hang in there, I know it is dispiriting, but these plateaus seem to happen.

cblasz wrote: I decided to try 16:8. I've been doing it strictly M-F, and then not so strictly Sat/Sun. Everything I've read said you don't need to do it every day for it to work. M-F, I've been eating healthy and keeping my calories to 1200 or less. I've tried to have one day that's around 700-800. I've tried to cut the window to 7 hours when possible. I get at least 8000 steps in a day and on the weekends, I swim for 45 minutes one day, and walk/run for an hour the other day. I've increased my water intake. But in 6 weeks my trend weight is only down 1.6 lbs (actual weight is down 1.1). I don't know why this isn't working any better for me. I tell myself, I will just keep at it and eventually it will kick in. But, I'm using Libra and when I weigh in every day and it goes back up, I get frustrated (like today!) Maybe I should go back to weighing once a week? Or do I just keep plugging along and hope it all kicks in eventually??
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!

I have a thought (also, haven't read thru other responses, sorry if it's a repeat thought):

I have heard that IF is supposed to help with losing fat instead of muscle. You do a lot of exercise (awesome!).
Is it possible that your body composition is changing and you ARE getting smaller, but it won't show as much on a scale?

(The idea that a pound of fat is much 'fluffier' and larger than a pound of muscle....So you could be losing fat, gaining muscle, and so your weight stays about the same but your body is much leaner.)

Hi Cblasz,
You really are so much more disciplined than most.....I'm not surprised you're frustrated! I have been doing 5:2 since 1st Jan with a clear 24 hours of no/very few calories after a 400-500 calories low carb meal the night before, and I have lost the impressive amount of 2 whole pounds. However, I have now lost 4" round my waist, and although I haven't measured my thighs are definitely slimmer. I took off a pair of UK size 10 jeans without undoing them the other day (don't worry, I'm not completely deluded, I know that current size 10 could be anything up to size 16 in "old money" 1970s patterns).Have you lost any inches anywhere? As others have commented you might be losing fat and putting on some muscle.

Thank you all so much for your wonderful support! I do think for some reason (I guess years of losing weight and gaining it back perhaps) my body is resistant to losing weight. I do think my clothes fit a little better, but I don't think I've really lost many inches. I've decided to just keep plugging along, trying to keep my eating windows to 7 hours and trying to stick with the window on weekends too. This week I will be adding in 2 evenings of walking/running in training for a 5K, so maybe that will help push things along! I may have to take a break from the Libra app as well and go back to weighing myself once a week for now.

OK... going to put forth a different perspective... take it or leave it.

Maybe you are being TOO disciplined. This is one of the issues I have with naturally normal-weight people saying, "Just eat less and exercise more; you're fat because you're a pig and you're lazy!" Huh...not necessarily! Many of us on this forum can attest to eating less, more healthily, and exercising more than someone who's thin...calling the whole "a calorie is a calorie" edict into question.

In addition, being so restrictive every day might be backfiring on you. I understand that given you aren't losing with this very disciplined regimen, you're terrified if you relax at all (such as eating more normally on normal, non-fast days), you'll gain weight and undo all your hard work. But I think that's what you need to do: Figure your TDEE and eat at least that much every normal day. Probably good to eat more healthy fats (i.e., avocados, coconut oil, etc) than a bunch of carbs... Not that I normally restrict carbs (just on light days, they make me hungry on light days).

When I first started 5.2, I weighed once a week--huge for me, I hardly ever weighed myself before! Then I moved to once a month, but found my weight crept back up a bit not watching it weekly. So I'm back to weekly weighing (though some weeks I forget); I weigh the same time/place every week, to minimize fluctuations (being postmenopausal, I no longer have to worry about the hormonal roller coaster): Friday morning, naked, the day after my second light day of the week.

ferretgal wrote: OK... going to put forth a different perspective... take it or leave it.

Maybe you are being TOO disciplined. This is one of the issues I have with naturally normal-weight people saying, "Just eat less and exercise more; you're fat because you're a pig and you're lazy!" Huh...not necessarily! Many of us on this forum can attest to eating less, more healthily, and exercising more than someone who's thin...calling the whole "a calorie is a calorie" edict into question.

In addition, being so restrictive every day might be backfiring on you. I understand that given you aren't losing with this very disciplined regimen, you're terrified if you relax at all (such as eating more normally on normal, non-fast days), you'll gain weight and undo all your hard work. But I think that's what you need to do: Figure your TDEE and eat at least that much every normal day. Probably good to eat more healthy fats (i.e., avocados, coconut oil, etc) than a bunch of carbs... Not that I normally restrict carbs (just on light days, they make me hungry on light days).

When I first started 5.2, I weighed once a week--huge for me, I hardly ever weighed myself before! Then I moved to once a month, but found my weight crept back up a bit not watching it weekly. So I'm back to weekly weighing (though some weeks I forget); I weigh the same time/place every week, to minimize fluctuations (being postmenopausal, I no longer have to worry about the hormonal roller coaster): Friday morning, naked, the day after my second light day of the week.

Thank you! I've thought of that, but I do splurge on the weekends, so I don't think that is it. And on occasion I do even go over the 1200 calories a bit as long as I stay in my eating window. I really appreciate the feedback though!

@cblasz you are doing all the right things so maybe the others are right and you just need to relax and go with the journey. I had a look at your tracker and see that in 2015 you were lighter than you are now. What were you doing then that is different to now? I have had some success in losing weight recently but only by being very vigilant at the weekends for the past few weeks. Week days are generally fine for me but I tend to take my foot off the pedal on Saturdays and Sundays and undo my good work. I have been having a late breakfast, skipping lunch (or just having an apple mid-afternoon if I am hungry) and then having a fairly normal dinner (with wine) on Saturday and Sunday nights. My husband loves a chip and dip so I have been having veggie sticks and home made hummus rather than our normal crackers and shop bought dips.
Stick with it you will get the results you deserve eventually.

cblasz wrote: ...
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!

I'm about 2/3rds of the way through the new book The Obesity Code. I can't summarize it completely yet but will relate two important points already gleaned from it.

First, enough day-to-day variation needs to be maintained to keep our bodies from fixating into being able to handle only one state. From this thought, it could be that the calorie counts between your feast days and fast days just aren't different enough to keep your body guessing.

Second, he makes the point that the body's homeostatic processes will counter what are detected as a situation of unrelenting stresses. It does this completely outside of conscious control by modifying how we operate internally.

So while we might admirably use our willpower to combine strenuous exercise with calorie reduction (for a much desired double-whammy effect) our bodies will almost as quickly countermand those stressful efforts by quietly indicating that we really should be eating more and/or be doing much less. If we don't, it intervenes.

For changes to be successful, they must be incorporated slowly enough for the body to adapt to them physically without seeing a reason to panic about it.

The body always wins in these arguments because it has the leverage to guarantee that we are always the one that gets tired first. It forces its solution when it sees something as a threat to keeping us alive.

Clue 1: Are you hungrier now than you were after a similarly hard workout in the past? More muscle-sore than at other times, even after two days?

Clue 2: Are you crashing onto the couch when you get home or WORSE, skipping something fun that you absolutely would've done if you weren't so tired?


From personal experience, I've had the best success adding an unscheduled rest day or at least reducing intensity using my reactions as a guide. I might then consider a change in fasting schedule if my energy level didn't return within a few days. I definitely would not put the scale away because I don't want to miss a chance to learn what happens as my body adapts.

Pilchards wrote: @cblasz you are doing all the right things so maybe the others are right and you just need to relax and go with the journey. I had a look at your tracker and see that in 2015 you were lighter than you are now. What were you doing then that is different to now? I have had some success in losing weight recently but only by being very vigilant at the weekends for the past few weeks. Week days are generally fine for me but I tend to take my foot off the pedal on Saturdays and Sundays and undo my good work. I have been having a late breakfast, skipping lunch (or just having an apple mid-afternoon if I am hungry) and then having a fairly normal dinner (with wine) on Saturday and Sunday nights. My husband loves a chip and dip so I have been having veggie sticks and home made hummus rather than our normal crackers and shop bought dips.
Stick with it you will get the results you deserve eventually.

Thanks @Pilchards - Unfortunately, the reason I was lighter in 2015 is due to what I call the "death in the family" diet. I had 4 very stressful months (for a number of reasons), which culminated in the death of my brother. I just wasn't to able to eat very much for about 5 months and I lost 20 lbs. Unfortunately, I slowly gained it back. So, while that was a very effective diet, it's not one I can easily (or want to) repeat! But, that's kinda why I don't really buy the "you aren't eating enough" theory. Because I lost it by eating very little.

@ADFnFuel - Thank you for the information, it certainly makes sense. I am not depriving myself nor am I working out that hard. I get my 8500 steps mostly from work, and then a couple of 10-15 minute walks to round it out throughout the day. On weekends, my swimming and walking/jogging are not THAT intense. I AM tired during the week, but that's because I'm a teacher and it's an exhausting job and I have another job as well! I definitely mix things up on the weekend and while I feel hungry waiting for it to be 12 pm so I can end my fast, I am not hungry once I've eaten. I get plenty of food for my 1200 calories!

I really think I just need to focus on weekends now too, as Pilchards recommended and keep trying to see if my body reacts finally. I will be doing C25K 2 nights a week now, which is not super intense, just 1/2 hour of intermittent jogging to get me up to a 5K. Maybe that will shake things up a bit.

@cblasz, this cheered me up no end, even though I don't look like the "after" picture, I am not " before" either, and it sounds as if you well into the transition, so http://everydaypaleo.com/attention-scale-addicts-part-2

Cblasz, I have been reading these posts with interest and don't really have much to add. I did 5-2 a few years ago and I remember,bet that nothing happened for a long time ,over 6 weeks and then I lost weight so maybe just hang in there . However I gave it all up and slowly put it all on so here I am trying again. I am not weighing this time ,just measuring and expect it to be weeks before anything happens. Good luck