The FastDay Forum

Hi Maintainers, wondering what methods you use, have used etc? I did 5:2 as maintenance last time around, but ended up with fast fatigue and ultimately failed. This time around I am trying Krista Varady's maintenance of 3x1000 cal fasts. I am starting with 2x500 and 1x 1000, this or next week I'll go to 2x1000, 1x500 until I feel comfortable, then to 3x1000. I may experiment further, we shall see I know my problem is maintenance. I can always stay strong in getting to a goal, but when I reach it, there is no longer a thrill in getting to the goal AND I have a deeply hedonistic nature so I get the sh*ts with having to live in denial of hedonistic pleasures

Thoughtful plan, I'd be interested to see how this works out.

Maintenance is always a pain, EVERY diet ever invented works but it's when you stop that the problems set in. That is where IF is different, for me this isn't a diet its a do-it and I intend to do it for the rest of my life. You are right when you say that you will have to experiment but you will find the way that works for you. For me, I don't eat breakfast or nibble late in the evening, I have reduced my carbohydrates, increased my healthy, natural fats and maintained a moderate protein intake. I never count calories, no need, and I never think about it except when I'm pontificating on here so good luck and let us know how you get on

Ballerina x

I've just mentioned on another thread that I remain 4:3 in maintenance because I have such a low TDEE (related to my low muscle mass) that I prefer to keep 3 FDs so I can eat what feels like a more normal amount of food on other days.

I enjoy my food and 4:3 pattern is what works for me during maintenance.

ETA: I eat modified ketogenic (as it's known) to control migraine and that's a modest protein, lower carb WOE. I also wonder if this has managed to reduce my appetite so that I'm currently OK with eating these amounts of food. (Like other maintainers, I wonder if, at some point, my appetite will massively increase if my body attempts to regain the weight that I shed so I'm never wholly confident about this.)

I don't eat breakfast because I have found I don't miss it. Otherwise my key is daily weighing, I eat and drink what I want to without worrying- though I guess I eat less- but throw in a fast or 16:8 if I don't like what the scales say. I have only allowed myself a 2lb(1 kilo) range but still find I don't need many true fasts.
Maintenance is still a novelty, but the other incentive is that I can't afford another complete wardrobe so gaining is not an option.

@Azureblue I find 1000 cals easy to do, so long as I'm organised. I have gone from being a cooking lover, to can't be bothered, especially not eating much a few days a week. @Ballerina I certainly don't see fasting, as in 500 cals, as a way of life, to me it's a diet, however I can see that if u don't count calories that would be much easier, supposing you can eat what you like I don't want to go back to low GI carbs, which was my way of life b4 fasting (fasting was a blessing for me after watching carbs, tho I don't eat them 3x a week at the moment). I am not at all confident in my ability to maintain...my last method of weight loss was essentially giving up alcohol (Ballerina I just heard you gasp LOL), I kept the weight off for about 4 years, till a friend gave me 2 nice bottles of French red so I started drinking red wine again (I would often give up alcohol to lose weight, cos let's face it...it's BIG carbs ), slowly put on 8kg, about 2kg per year. However I know if I suddenly say 'screw it! I want to dance on the beach every night with a banquet and Champagne' when the dawn comes I can lose the weight quickly with 4:3

Hi @GMH

I understand your feelings totally. You may have read how I have a constant struggle with maintenance and I think it may be for similar reasons to you.

I have to fast - now liquid fast - at least twice a week to make up for overeating the rest of the time, but as I have mentioned on the monthly maintenance thread, even that isn't quite working, and my weight has been gradually increasing ever since I reached goal. Not a lot, but still...

I have thought about following the regime you propose, once I have shed the couple of kilos that I need to get back to goal. Though if I am unsuccessful in losing that weight, I may give it a go anyway. So I will be very interested in how it works for you.

I am interested in how others manage not to eat in the evenings, which is my "everyday" challenge ("the kitchen is closed" hasn't worked for me). My other challenge is having days where I eat double my TDEE (maybe because of the hedonistic pleasure of eating that you mention!).

So I know this isn't any help to you - I just wanted to offer my empathy and I also look forward to the responses of others!

Best wishes.

@Sassy1, very interesting post. My last weight loss was following Dr Phil's Ultimate Weight Solution. 1 small chapter on food, the rest of the book is about working out why you do what you do, why you were/are overweight. I still retain a lot of this knowledge. Knowing why u do something or why you can't do something, frees you up to find a way to change the behaviour. 1 of the things he says is replace what u do with a different behaviour...E.g. if u sit in front of the TV every night, scarfing bags of crisps, or listening to the wild mating call of the fridge get onto a treadmill instead. The crisps will miss ur mouth and the sound will drown out the fridge moans LOL . I am more inquisitive about whether this method will work (3x1000) than concerned about maintenance, this is my nature. I HATE doing without breakfast, but I can do without dinner. I can't eat much during my working day (walking mad dogs in a dog park, my food would be stolen, slobbered on. I would be kissed and harassed by said mad dogs), therefore eating before and after or a handheld meal is a necessity. I am hungry during my working day and not so much at home. Maybe if u find out why u overeat at night, u can either change it or eat later rather than earlier? Don't be disappointed with yourself, look at it as a challenge to find a solution. Good luck

I do what I did when I was losing. I thought I would need a longer eating window to maintain, but I am fairly stable after nearly 3 months, so I keep to 19/5 which I don't mind at all. The deal is, don't eat outside the 5 hours and do what you will during it. Hope it keeps working as I love the hedonism!

So @barbarita do u eat for only 5 hours a day 7 days a week??? What hours?

I kept doing what I did to lose. This is 5:2 but quite generous on the 2 lean days (probably about 800 calories - I don't count or measure but always eat the same things on those 2 days, I find it is the easiest way to stick to it) and whatever I want on the 5 normal days, which is generally less than I wanted to eat before I started 5:2 (particularly drink less alcohol).

I'm at goal after almost a year of maintaining, which sounds good, but I have used up all the buffer I had so actually I have had a small gain over the year - and if you look at my tracker, the trend line would definitely slope up a bit. So I can't claim to have it beat. Maintenance is definitely the challenge!

[carorees]

I was just reading the paper that MaryAnn posted this morning about adaptive thermogenesis (the reduction in TDEE with weight loss that exceeds the amount predicted by the change in weight). The paper mentioned that periodic refeeds (periods of excessive carbohydrate consumption to bring calories eaten above TDEE) which may increase TDEE, but overall that once you reach goal you should only increase calorie intake very slowly. So, keeping on fasting and only very slowly increasing the calories allowed on fast days seems like a good approach.

Dr Layne Norton (one of the authors on Mary-Ann's linked paper) has a website
Biolayne
and a series of video talks on the topic of metabolic adaptation and 'reverse dieting' (the latter is when you plan a very deliberate increase in your food intake in order to increase your BMR/TDEE after physique competitors tend to suppress it as a side-effect of very low carb, low fat, low cal diets to 'shred' before competition).

The video talks are a tad 'bro' but there are lots of good references to primary research material and an enjoyable discussion of the science. (Norton is a researcher in a very fine university research dept. that is a leader in protein metabolism.)

Thanks @GMH for your response and your thoughts. As would be expected, there is variation in the situations that pose challenges for us food-wise! This forum is very useful for finding out about these variations and how people deal with them. My maintenance challenge has been to do the very thing you suggest (and is part of my Christmas challenge) but maybe I am not trying very hard to address it??!! I should hunt up the book you mention...

Good luck to you in sorting out what will work for you into the future.

@gmh my default eating period is 2 - 7 but I can shunt it about, earliest is around 12.30 to 5.30 if meeting someone for lunch, or 3 to 8 for evening meals. And yes 7 days a week, but no calorie restricting. The idea is to be ruled by the appetite during the eating window. Sometimes I am naughty and eat a bit when I know I am full, though.