The FastDay Forum

I have weighed on a Sunday morning for years and recorded it on a home-made spreadsheet (before that it was a notebook)! I use the Tracker on here to record weekly, on a Sunday, too. I get on the scales every morning to see how my weight is doing and throw in a fast or two if it's bad news! However, I am not obsessive about small gains and am quite relaxed about the whole weight thing! Mind you, I've been doing this a long time and am in maintenance!

Last year, after I reached and maintained my target for a while, I stopped weighing , stopped coming on the forum and, for three months, was far too relaxed about my eating. I gained just under a stone (thirteen and a half pounds!) and learned my lesson. This time around the scales are my friend and a reminder to eat mindfully. I'm now in maintenance, more or less, for eight months and it's the scales that are keeping me on the straight and narrow. I have learned that I must monitor my weight!

I'm obsessed with checking daily...every morning when I am home I weigh. Then I write it on my calendar so I can understand how my body responds to fasting.

I use the Fast Day tracker sometimes but when I bought a new scale the original numbers were off and I couldn't fix the problem without assistance. Mostly I use the trackers at Spark People and the Atkins site since I eat low carb.

I fast on MWF so I make sure my official weight is on Monday morning before my fast. It also helps me focus on eating right on the weekends. I need all the motivation I can get!

I use the tracker here most Saturdays and I use MyFitnessPal to track calories and weight most days (though none of this properly for most of 2914 till recently, hence the weight creeping up).

@Wendy Darling and @Ssure
I lost 24lbs over the whole of 2013 (began 5:2 in the January). I've lost nothing this year despite doing 5:2 the whole time (except for a couple of weeks on holiday). I am maintaining and any weight I put on e.g. when away on hols comes off pretty easily, it seems like I have reached an equilibrium at this weight where 5:2 is concerned which would be fantastic if I were at my goal weight but sadly this is 1 1/2 stone higher than I want. I think it's because I'm tiny (4' 10", 9 1/2 stone) with a big appetite!
I've joined the Christmas challenge but I'm not happy to cut carbs or count calories so I've increased to 4:3 and generally trying to be a bit more careful on my feed days. I've seen a new low on the scales but the total weight loss is only 1.6 lbs in a whole month of 4:3 (which has actually been ADF for some of this time) so not great really.

@jennyh10 if I'm reading your post right, then you are still losing, albeit slowly? I lost my weight at a snails pace but that was ok, this is not a quick fix, it's a long term woe, so slow loss is ok, you just have to be patient. You can still have a big appetite but eat the right sort of things. Sadly, in my experience, calorie counting and carb lowering is a necessity but if you really don't want to do that, how about tracking your normal caloric intake on MFP just for a week or so to see if that gives an indication of what's happening. Don't forget too that you have to lower your TDEE the smaller you get. It's really easy to under guesstimate caloric intake and if you're not tracking, how do you know what that is and whether you are eating to your TDEE or not? I never thought that I wanted to track calories nor low carb, too much of a pain, but MFP makes it really easy. Good luck, let us know how you get on

I've lost nothing this year despite doing 5:2 the whole time ...
I've joined the Christmas challenge but I'm not happy to cut carbs or count calories so I've increased to 4:3 and generally trying to be a bit more careful on my feed days. I've seen a new low on the scales but the total weight loss is only 1.6 lbs in a whole month of 4:3 (which has actually been ADF for some of this time) so not great really.

Hello @JennyH10, As per @Wendy Darling, you've lost nothing until quite recently and now it's happening albeit more gradually than you'd like, given the amount of effort you're putting into it (i.e., the 4:3/ADF)?

Sadly, in my experience, calorie counting and carb lowering is a necessity but if you really don't want to do that, how about tracking your normal caloric intake on MFP just for a week or so to see if that gives an indication of what's happening.

My experience of fasting since 2011 plus observation of people's results on various fora would agree with WD's suggestion that it's helpful to track a baseline period of calorie intake and to start thinking of what you might need to modify if you need the morale boost of a faster weight change than the one you're experiencing (I still think measuring your waist etc. might be a good idea).

If you can bring yourself to track your intake to establish a baseline this might be helpful for a number of reasons - it might highlight whether you need to request a couple of medical tests? I regret that I didn't realise much earlier that my losses were so bone-achingly slow that I'd have benefited from spending the money on a body composition evaluation (my TDEE is much lower than any estimates but that is an odd set of circumstances).

I track every other day and use Withings and Myfitnesspal linked. Not that I seem to be actually losing any weight and only getting depressed about it

@jennyh10 if I'm reading your post right, then you are still losing, albeit slowly? I lost my weight at a snails pace but that was ok, this is not a quick fix, it's a long term woe, so slow loss is ok, you just have to be patient. You can still have a big appetite but eat the right sort of things. Sadly, in my experience, calorie counting and carb lowering is a necessity but if you really don't want to do that, how about tracking your normal caloric intake on MFP just for a week or so to see if that gives an indication of what's happening. Don't forget too that you have to lower your TDEE the smaller you get. It's really easy to under guesstimate caloric intake and if you're not tracking, how do you know what that is and whether you are eating to your TDEE or not? I never thought that I wanted to track calories nor low carb, too much of a pain, but MFP makes it really easy. Good luck, let us know how you get on

Thanks Wendy! I have only really lost weight over the last month, for the whole year I have been hovering up and down within a 2lb margin (apart from hols but I lost that fairly easily)
I know my TDEE is between 1600-1800 calories but I can't be bothered tracking everything eat! I have used MFP as a calorie counting guide before I started 5:2 and a little bit after to track fast days but I find it really irritating and time consuming putting all my recipes in it because I cook from scratch a lot. I actually think every recipe in every cookbook should have a complete nutritional analysis on it so we can easily track our carbs/sodium/protein/iron/fat intake.
I don't think I could do low carb. I have bread every feed day, it's my downfall always has been.

I've lost nothing this year despite doing 5:2 the whole time ...
I've joined the Christmas challenge but I'm not happy to cut carbs or count calories so I've increased to 4:3 and generally trying to be a bit more careful on my feed days. I've seen a new low on the scales but the total weight loss is only 1.6 lbs in a whole month of 4:3 (which has actually been ADF for some of this time) so not great really.

Hello @JennyH10, As per @Wendy Darling, you've lost nothing until quite recently and now it's happening albeit more gradually than you'd like, given the amount of effort you're putting into it (i.e., the 4:3/ADF)?

Sadly, in my experience, calorie counting and carb lowering is a necessity but if you really don't want to do that, how about tracking your normal caloric intake on MFP just for a week or so to see if that gives an indication of what's happening.

My experience of fasting since 2011 plus observation of people's results on various fora would agree with WD's suggestion that it's helpful to track a baseline period of calorie intake and to start thinking of what you might need to modify if you need the morale boost of a faster weight change than the one you're experiencing (I still think measuring your waist etc. might be a good idea).

If you can bring yourself to track your intake to establish a baseline this might be helpful for a number of reasons - it might highlight whether you need to request a couple of medical tests? I regret that I didn't realise much earlier that my losses were so bone-achingly slow that I'd have benefited from spending the money on a body composition evaluation (my TDEE is much lower than any estimates but that is an odd set of circumstances).

Yeah I think getting a new baseline of what my eating habits on a feed day are might help me to identify where I can cut down. MFP bugs me but it might be doable for a week maybe. I do hate calorie counting and obsessing over everything that goes in my mouth though, it's why 5:2 always appealed to me more than calorie restricted diets!
I don't know of any medical issues that I might have that could have an effect. My thyroid was checked a couple of years ago when I was having blood tests for anaemia and it was fine. Although I do have a mirena coil and I've heard some complaints about women gaining/ really struggling to lose weight with theirs...

I use an app quicklog.me, it's just a totally simple weight log. I weigh daily and log daily. I've been maintaning for well over a year now & am still at target weight but I know that I wouldn't be if I didn't remain highly aware of my weight.
I used the forum tracker whilst I was losing weight & really appreciated it, but stopped when I moved onto maintenance as it was drastically skewing my average weight loss!!!!

I use my fitness pal to track all including weight as well as this site.
In the past I have also trialled withings app and tactio health app.

Myfitnesspal is the best because of its all in one benefit with food, exercise (with scanning) and weight tracking.

I now weigh every day and use fast day tracker and also MFP. Maybe I'm a titch obsessive !! But I've found this gives me motivation and allows me to get straight back on track if the trend line starts going up. I found I wasn't trending down on just 5:2 so upped the ante to Every Other Day, cut the carbs and upped the good fat. Still a struggle in a way but the tracker keeps me on track !!

Yeah I think getting a new baseline of what my eating habits on a feed day are might help me to identify where I can cut down. MFP bugs me but it might be doable for a week maybe. I do hate calorie counting and obsessing over everything that goes in my mouth though, it's why 5:2 always appealed to me more than calorie restricted diets!

Good - having the baseline will be useful for a number of reasons and make it more straightforward for you to assess your TDEE and to see if there's a suggestive response to particular foodstuffs/food groups. Good Luck, @JennyH10!

Hi

I use the fastday tracker and the app "Track my fast". Can't remember whether is was free or paid for. Like the app as it's uncomplicated and doesn't bother me with updates or any other messages.

These days, with the new scales, I never lose any weight, so there's no point in weighing. When and if I feel a difference in my clothes, I will weigh. So I did plot my weight on the forum tracker, but I haven't entered anything for months because of above.