Just started and on a mission!

This topic contains 14 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by Pot-bellied Heron 9 years ago.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)

charles1

9:39 pm
24 Jan 14
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I started on Monday and now have just finished my fith fast day! I have decided to fast five days out of seven for two weeks. I lost 10 pounds in five days.
I don’t eat anything all day and then have a reasonable size evening meal, so at least I spend the evening feeling comfortable.
I feel strange during the day – light headed and I think my speech may be slightly slurred. My tummy rumbles all day long and I feel uncomfortable. But, I am energised and busy, busy, busy. It is like hunter gatherer is switched on and focused, needing to find the next meal soon!
Tomorrow morning I am going to have two slices of toast with butter and marmalade for breakfast. Joy, joy, joy…..

sylvestra

11:47 am
25 Jan 14
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@charles1 …sorry but that is a ‘crash diet’ and definitely not healthy. I’m sure you have lost a lot of weight but unless you have around 140 to lose then 10lbs in five days is just too much. You will put weight back on when you start eating at the end of two weeks then what will you do? Starve for another two weeks?

You say you feel strange – of course you do – you need more food.

Sorry to say this but if you keep this up you are heading the right way towards an eating disorder.

Try Alternate Day Fasting or 4:3 but fasting five days out of seven is just dangerous even if, as you say, it is only for two weeks.

Please don’t do this – it is just plain WRONG.

xx

Angie090465

11:53 am
25 Jan 14
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I agree with Sylvestra here, I must admit I had to re read it twice, 10 lobs in 5 days!!! its taking me almost 6 months to loose that much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Listen to the good advice Charles, 5.2 means just that, TWO fasting days, 5 is just too much 🙁

good luck!

arla

1:15 pm
25 Jan 14
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you’ve turned this into a crash diet – and it’s not good to fast that much without medical supervision. You’re going to get a rebound effect cos at some point you have to eat again. (Having done a medically supervised 5 day fast I know it happens).

What you’re doing isn’t sustainable and it isn’t necessary. This isn’t a race, it’s a lifestyle and weight lost slowly is much more likely to stay off.

Stef.

1:57 pm
25 Jan 14
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Charles, this will lead to your metabolic rate slowing down and it is unhealthy! The idea of 5:2 or 4:3 or ADF is to exactly avoid this by not getting your body into the famine situation.
Stef.

Speedy

3:05 pm
25 Jan 14
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Charles, I don’t totally agree with the other comments.
But you are changing the mechanism of this diet. I wonder how many calories you have in your evening meal and how many carbs are in it. With any diet, you lose a bit of water first so initial loss can be misleading and can cause others to be critical.
But I also do agree with some of what the others have said. 5:2 is not just about weightloss but it gives your boby a chance to leal and recouperate so allowing cholesterol, blood sugar etc to improve.
In fact I’d say you are currently not being strict enough in some ways!

If you think about people who have had a gastric band fitted they lose huge amounts in the first few week – because they eat very very very little! THen as what they can eat can and does increase slightly, they go on losing weight for months – it slows as they reach their targets (I think) not because their metabllism has slowed but they have less to lose. Fatter people (like me) have more lower hanging fruit!

You’ve made a great start and I’d say now, think about your mission in the long term – because it has to be long term, and move over to 5:2 or ADF. Maybe consider going low carb on your ‘feast’ days. It really, really helps. Maybe consider doing just a water fast on your fast days if that is do-able with any medical conditions you have.

But 5:2 is about health in the long term not quick weightloss – though I aim at at least 1 kilo a week (when it’s going well so not Christmas and January.)

Please listen to the videos of Dr Fung (Scarborough General Hospital, Canada) who advocates Alternate day (water) fasting. That might suit you.
Here is a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG89j432w-Y&list=UUoyL4iGArWn5Hu0V_sAhK2w
He often mentions diabetes – he treats diabetics but the same applies to many non-diabetic people. He says ADF is rather similar to a not invasive gastric band operation.
Don’t be put off! Keep going but think of the long term. See what Dr Fung says about metabolism with ADF.
Best wishes.

Speedy

4:12 pm
25 Jan 14
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PS. Sorry I should have written low ‘refined’ carbs.

charles1

9:10 pm
25 Jan 14
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I really appreciate your caring comments and you taking the time to write to me. It has been very informative. The thing is, I feel great about myself for my self discipline. I don’t need the high weight loss to continue, but I am so encouraged by my results that I can now ease off the throttle. I need to lose 32 pounds in total to be the perfect weight. A 6ft 2 male with a slimish build does not cut a dashing figure with a protruding tummy…..
I think that next week I am going to fast for three days and then subsequently cut down to two. If I am sensible on eating days I would guess that I would loose 4lbs next week and then level off at 2/3 pounds subsequently. If one eats like a pig on the eat days then there is probably no point to the whole exercise. Hopefully the self discipline of the fasting days can be carried over to the non fast days. Oh yea, the other thing I did was quit alcohol since Xmas. I will get back to that in Feb but JUST half a bottle on Friday evening and the other half on Saturday evening. A big improvement on a bottle every night……
Best wishes from Charles

sylvestra

11:42 pm
25 Jan 14
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@charles1 …I think you are getting there but you cannot dictate to your body how much you will lose in any one week. You can only hope it will happen. My goal is to lose 1 lb every week. This week I have lost 0.5 lbs but I’m not going to add in another fast day because of it. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon – as someone else on here put it.

The ideal is that you eat up to 500cals(F)/600cals(M) on fast days and ABOVE your BMR and UP TO your TDEE on non fast days. If you do this you will lose weight. As you go on you will find that you don’t want to ‘pig out’ on non fast days.

Your current result is very encouraging but remember you lost that huge amount by starving yourself so you may regain some of it.

Maybe add in some exercise to boost your weight loss rather than cutting out food and making yourself ill.

Good luck

xx

dlroseberry

12:10 am
26 Jan 14
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Interesting. I read somewhere that Longo, the guy on the Horizon show working at USC who was mainly interested in trying to reduce IGF1 for reducing rates of cancer, has been doing experiments with 5 day 500-600 calories modified fasts. The idea, I imagine, is to get the equivalent of the results he gets with 3.5 day total fasts. Reading around here, it seems that some at least are not getting IGF1 reductions with the 5:2 and most can’t get the test done at all. At any rate, it’s not unlikely that 5 days would work better when it comes to reducing IGF1, especially if you also restrict protein. But how often would you have to do it? Every 60 days, twice a year? So much guesswork.

I do believe that there is a danger of slowing your metabolism but you might be ok if you follow up with a number of feast days. There used to be the idea of anorexia, but I haven’t heard anyone here mention a problem yet. I’ve thought about trying 5 days, just for the anti-cancer potential. Report back, especially if you get any actual data or if you decide to do it regularly.

charles1

10:09 am
26 Jan 14
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Umm…interesting. What has surprised me is how energised I have felt, and also my mood has been consistently upbeat. Quite the opposit from the conventional thinking around under nourishment. Also I played golf better than I can remember – very focused. I am not sure that this would apply to a three set tennis match!
Instinctive on a fasting day I feel that the food that one does have needs to be very high quality. The best evening meal for me on my 5 day fast was low fat Greek Yogurt (not no fat), two table spoons of Oatmeal, Blueberries and pomegranate seeds. Then later that evening a few table spoons of Chilli (meat only). I’m not a nutritionionalist, but I felt that the balance was good and approx 600 calories.

newcomer59

12:00 pm
26 Jan 14
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I was considering doing the 4:3 to really get a good start, but even with ‘just’ the normal 5:2 i have lost over 1/2 a stone and over 2″ from my belly in just over two weeks. Also feeling really energised and its great to fit into clothes that were straining a little over recent months.

For me, feeling energised is crucial – have kept myself busy with decorating etc but now that is all done(!) i am at a loss as to what to do next…….being busy and achieivng something is much more appealing to me than gym exercise etc so i guess the garden will get a makeover when the rain stops…..

Any tips gratefully received – cheers!

arla

2:58 am
27 Jan 14
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charles1 – longer fasting isn’t all a downer – as those with anorexia know. (a friend’s 9yo daughter is in & out of hospitals for it).

If you’ve never tried to lose weight before, you may not be aware that your body will decide how much it will lose & when. I can’t wish you luck, because it doesn’t feel like you’re doing with this knowledge of fasting but more a if 2 days is good 5 days is better.

davidfitness46

1:03 am
6 Nov 15
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Hi, It’s not wrong! It reduces IGF-1 but about 50%, and that’s amazing. The body needs to slow down. You should try it, instead of knocking what you do not have an understanding of.

Thanks

Pot-bellied Heron

9:24 am
6 Nov 15
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I thoroughly enjoyed some of the frothing histrionics in reply to Charles1. If I understand correctly he is (or was) doing a 2:5 but is having a “reasonable size evening meal” on every fast day.
This is hardly “crash dieting” or “dangerous” or likely to lead to “eating disorders” or, my favourite, a “famine situation”.
I had nothing more than evening meals for over a year and I didn’t lose an ounce, not because of the mythical starvation mode but because I was getting plenty of calories.

Hopefully Charles1 reached his goals and is now maintaining a happy weight and shape. As a fellow tall, slim man with an unsightly protuberance I empathise. I only wish I had similar willpower. Alternate day water fasting will have to suffice.