The FastDay Forum

I keep reading posts of people saying they are now on maintenance - just thought it would be nice to know:

EG

How long it took from starting 5:2 to reaching your maintenance goal?
How long have you been maintaining?
Maintenance techniques
Have you gone over your maintenance goal since you reached it and if so have you lost the weight since?
How do you feel compared to before you started 5:2?

Three months
Six months
16:8, once or twice a week
Only by a fraction, if you use the Libra trend weight as I do, and losing again now (we're only talking ounces here...)
Feel good, except for hip pain which is due to arthritis and which would be worse if I was a stone heavier. Managed to run well in June and July during a purple period, climbing is easier now that gravity is not such a pest...

Still get out of bed more tired than I got into it, despite changing diet and taking supplements

Took me about 5 months to lose 9kg. Been on 'maintenance' for 4 months. Find that fasting is OK for me to lose weight, but feels like dieting with no results for maintenance...put on 2.5 kg experimenting and now doing 4:3 to drop some of that. I can't see myself doing 5:2 for maintenance in the long term as I don't like being hungry all day. I feel the same, I eat worse than b4 fasting as I found I could lose weihht while eating cakes For me 4:3 is an excellent tool for losing weight, but I need to find myself a better maintenance model. I am also sceptical about health benefits of Mosley's fasting model.

[carorees]

Re health benefits, I came across a study comparing people who do religious fasting at least 1 day a month (and had been for years) with a similar group who did not fast. The fasting group had lower rates of diabetes and heart disease.

I'm not at my computer just now so can't check full details...I'll try to remember to do so later.

3 months to reach target (see progress tracker). Started maintenance on 6:1, still losing some weight, so now on 13:1. Feel excellent, both during 5:2 and in maintenance. See signature info also. In case of weight gain I will just throw in a few fasts again (if needed on consecutive days, the strategy I used to lose weight)

I lost my weight using normal calorie controlled eating. It took me 5 months to lose 22 pounds

I started maintenece 24 Nov, using a 5:2 method just to give it a try. It's too early to tell how Im doing but I know I don't like feeling hungry (having sleepless nights after a fast day), plus I find myself binging the day after, today I ate my entire TDEE by 3pm!

Still the jury is out, I'm hoping the famine/feast cycle will settle down a bit and I will get used to feeling hungry and controlling portions on feed days. I'm giving it to the end of Dec to see how it works. If I'm still binging, then I will switch to 16:8 and try that.

Jen

I am also sceptical about health benefits of Mosley's fasting model.

can you elaborate here

How long it took from starting 5:2 to reaching your maintenance goal?

3-4 months, from BMI 25 to BMI 20, body fat from 20 % to 13.

How long have you been maintaining?

1-2 months

Maintenance techniques

Same protocol as during weight loss, just eating a bit more

Have you gone over your maintenance goal since you reached it and if so have you lost the weight since?

No, pretty much stable, some trouble with loosing too much weight. My appetite and habits have changed a lot.

How do you feel compared to before you started 5:2?

I felt OK before, now I feel great. Just came back from a night of salsa dancing, 14 kg lost really does make a difference, my body feels so much more agile and responsive without that extra padding.

The biggest difference to me is my sleep quality, I've stopped snoring and get by just fine on 5-6 hours instead of 8-9. Not tired as I used to be.

Another mainteneer here!
See my progress tracker.
How long it took from starting 5:2 to reaching your maintenance goal?
6.5 months, but actually less than that, but I moved the goalposts lower because it was going well.

How long have you been maintaining?
1.5 months

Maintenance techniques
Only do one fast day a week, but the same as before- I have no breakfast or lunch, (but now prob go a bit over 500 cals overall.) Also, on 'normal' days, I miss breakfast if I'm planning on coffee out so that I can have a bit of tiffin or something (eg today cos I'm going Christmas shopping, bleugh, I'll deserve cake!)

Have you gone over your maintenance goal since you reached it and if so have you lost the weight since?
Early days... Hovering around my goal at the moment.

How do you feel compared to before you started 5:2?
I know I wasn't very overweight, but I feel happier, more self confident I suppose. I now need to work on fitness. Surprisingly, I can't tell the difference (in general moving about) that I'm no longer carrying an extra 1.5 stone. I'd certainly notice carrying a bag weighing 21lbs!

[carorees]

Re health benefits, I came across a study comparing people who do religious fasting at least 1 day a month (and had been for years) with a similar group who did not fast. The fasting group had lower rates of diabetes and heart disease.

I'm not at my computer just now so can't check full details...I'll try to remember to do so later.

Here's the study(s) I was thinking about:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18805103
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22425331

These researchers looked at members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) who habitually fast one day (24 hour fast) per month from early youth (often starting as young as 8 years). They compared the fasters (132 people) with a group (326 people) who do not fast. The average age of the subjects was 64 years. They found that 12% of fasters compared with 20% of non-fasters had diabetes. Looking at all the risk factors for coronary artery disease in these subjects, the fasters had a lower estimated risk of coronary artery disease than the non-fasters (64% risk vs 76%). However, there were many more smokers in the non-fasting group, as well as greater consumption of tea, coffee and alcohol, while the fasters tended to be more active. Naturally, the lower diabetes figures might have been due to these rather than the fasting, so the researchers corrected their analysis to take account of these differences, they found that fasting was still associated with a reduced risk for coronary artery disease. The authors then did a second study adding more patients' data to their analysis. They again found less diabetes in fasters - 10.3% of patients who fasted routinely and 22.0% of those who do not fast and less coronary artery disease - found in 63.2% of fasting and 75.0% of non-fasting patients.

This suggests that even once a month fasting may bring health benefits.

Kind of similar to Michael. I intended to stick to 5:2 forever, but lost too much weight so now do 6:1 and maybe skip breakfast and/or lunch on a Wednesday. Still feel good. Been doing this for a couple of months so will go for tests after Christmas some time to see if the 6:1 regime is as beneficial to my bloods and stats as 5:2 was after around 16 weeks.

I started 5.2 last Jan with about 12 lbs to lose. Had it lost by May ( I found 5.2 v. slow)Trying to maintain on 6.1 but I need to do 5.2 to maintain my weight. It's annoying because I don't mind 1 day but I hate doing 2. I look much better have gone down a dress size and my body shape has changed despite not losing much weight. I like fasting on a Monday, I think it's good discipline.

I lost 47lbs from May 11th to October 7th. I've previously been a yo-yo dieter but this year I did things differently by changing my eating habits and taking up running so I've really gone down the "healthy" route. I've been maintaining now for nearly 8 weeks and I am SO proud of myself as this is something of a first for me - in previous times I would have given up and be re-gaining by now. I've been 16:8'ing twice a week and still counting calories and logging my food on MFP as I have had compulsive over-eating tendencies in the past so I need to see my weight daily and watch what I'm eating. I've stayed under on exactly on my target weight but this week I went a pound over so I decided to re-commence 5:2 in the run up to Christmas, with a view to losing a little more weight so that I can enjoy eating a few goodies over the festive period.

I was looking to lose 14lbs but ended up losing 25.
I found 5:2 easy and kept going to see how low I could go without looking haggard. It took 6 months but that included holidays and eating out regularly.
I've been maintaining since the end of July, mainly doing 16:8 although there are days when I do have breakfast, usually eggs cooked in coconut oil.
Not had any trouble keeping at maintenance weight (I do run and exercise) but if it does creep upwards, I have the tools to get back to where I want to be.
I am a daily weigher but that's just out of interest and habit - not a panic-type thing. I feel good and am happier with how my clothes fit now.

How long it took from starting 5:2 to reaching your maintenance goal?

With ADF: 25 weeks to lose 47 pounds (21.36 kg), 9" (~23 cm) less around the waist. 1.5" (~4cm) less around the neck, waist to height ratio is now .49. I've replaced most of my clothes. From XL down to a Medium.

For me, my original goal weight has become unnecessary the closer I get to it. It comes down to my being unable to answer "What is my ideal weight?". Success isn't hitting some vague idealistically- established target. It's realizing that your body says that you've already reached it by accident. (Thx, carieoates.)

How long have you been maintaining?

6-7 weeks.

Maintenance techniques
Have you gone over your maintenance goal since you reached it and if so have you lost the weight since?

My weight has stayed within a pound or two of what has unexpectedly become my unplanned target; exactly 10 pounds (4.5kg) heavier than my original target. For me the process of maintaining is an incomplete experiment. Like at least one other member here, existing habits are comfortable and I am hesitant to move to fewer fast days even though, for me anyway, skipping fast days for as much as a week has had little effect.

How do you feel compared to before you started 5:2?

Excellent. I would not trade where I'm at for where I was for anything.