The FastDay Forum

Hi all

Although my first post I have been doing 5:2 for the last 5 weeks and looking at this board for advice and help! I think I am getting close to giving up as I have actually put on weight!

I am 5ft and when I started weighed 48 kg I now weigh 49.3kg I know I am already quite small but my 'happy' weight is 47.5kg which is what I want to be for the summer! I haven't lost any inches anywhere either! I do work out a lot and have continued to do so on this diet.

Before starting the diet I was a calorie counter and kept to bout 1100 a day somwtimes eating back exercise calories but not often. With the 5:2 I have been doing 2 days at 500 and then 5 days at 1200-1400.

So can anyone shed any light on this? Is it just not right for me?

Thanks all for any help and advise!

Hi Dulcie

Sorry to hear you are not losing weight yet. I had a guestimate at your TDEE (total daily calorie expenditure) and based on you doing light exercise, you seem to be right to reckon on allowing 1400 cals on feast days because you are not very tall. Unfortunately, by having 500 on fast days, the actual amount of calories cut from your diet over the week is fairly small so I would not expect to see much weight loss, maybe half a pound a week. However, the theory of the diet is that on fast days you eat a quarter of your TDEE so that would be 380 cals. This would give you a bit more weight loss.

It may be that your metabolism has slowed a bit due to the previous calorie counting so the TDEE calculation may be wrong. I don't think you should cut more calories on feed days as this could make the metabolism slow down worse. I would suggest adding another fast day so you would have 4 days on 1400 cals and 3 on 400 cals. This would give you a theoretical calorie deficit of 3000 cals which is the same as an average woman with a TDEE of 2000 doing 5:2 with 500 on fast days. This should give you about a 1lb per week weight loss, especially if you are exercising.

I'm sorry about this, but being 5ft is rather a disadvantage for you

Your TDEE is actually in the ball-mark of 1700 if you're lightly active.

You were seriously under-eating prior to 5:2 and even more so while on 5:2. With the info you provided it looks like you consume an average of about 1000-1100 kcals a week, which is not good, considering the minimum calorie intake requirement for healthy weight-loss for a sedentary female is 1200.


Given that you only have about 5lbs or so you want to lose, I would suggest you eat 1600 on your feed days and stick to 500 on your feast days. This would allow for a more stable rate of weight loss (hopefully) of about 1/2 lb a week. At this point if you would like to increase your weekly deficits, you should look into exercising more rather than cutting your calories so drastically. You do not want to jeopardize your health for the sake of a few pounds

Also try to weigh yourself less often and take to measuring yourself. Small losses can easily be hidden by factors such as water retention, PMS, sodium etc.

PS. I'm 5'2 so I certainly know how it feels to be a shorty tryna loose lol

Good luck!

Water weight in your muscles from the weight lifting. As unlikely as it is to actually be fat, it is even less likely to be muscle gain since you are (I assume) maintaining a deficit of calories.

Welcome Paul!

Also start some regular exercise along with your diet plan to lose your unnecessary body weight and maintain a healthy weight.
Daily spend at least 30 minutes on cardio exercise for the effective weight control.

Harrison wrote: Also start some regular exercise along with your diet plan to lose your unnecessary body weight and maintain a healthy weight.
Daily spend at least 30 minutes on cardio exercise for the effective weight control.

Exercise has a negligible effect on weight loss see the link to the review of HIIT I posted recently...

Harrison wrote: Also start some regular exercise along with your diet plan to lose your unnecessary body weight and maintain a healthy weight.
Daily spend at least 30 minutes on cardio exercise for the effective weight control.

Welcome @harrison!

Exercise by itself may not contribute much to weight loss but it does release endorphins to give you a natural high, makes you feel better about yourself and boosts your self confidence as it helps you tone up and take care of your body so worthwhile doing IMO.

I have the same problem, I have been doing this since last April and I too have not lost any weight and i have gained 3 pounds and then I lose 3 pounds, I keep losing the same pounds over and over. I am frustrated as I too don't know if I should continue to do this or not. I exercise 3-5 times a week so I thought for sure I would lose. I am going through menopause which I don't know if that is the issue or not. Hang in there, there's more if us out there with the same problem.

There's no scientific evidence that water helps digestion. Lemon and honey just adds sugar to your system and makes you hungry. Keep on with your fasting but be mindful of your carb intake is the best way to reduce insulin levels and promote fat burning. If you can add plenty of standing up and walking that will help too.

Lucas,
What evidence do you have that would form any basis for why I should trust your word, an unevidenced " it surely works", over Carorees, a scientist who holds a PhD and has a track record of good research?

Can you point us to the scientific evidence for this please?

Yeah, I think the spammer needs to go bye-bye. Nothing to see here!

Some curious replies there!

The OP has already said that she exercises regularly, so the 'do some exercise' reply isn't terribly helpful is it?

Surely the honey/lemon/water idea is at odds with the idea of fasting, which is to cut out sugar on fast days? I imagine that the link to some product or other in the person's signature can give us a clue to their reason for replying? LOL

Isn't the internet a fascinating place? !!