One month into the journey

This topic contains 13 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by  Colleen_J 10 years, 2 months ago.

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  • Hello everyone,

    I have just passed the one month mark doing the 5:2 diet and I am very pleased with the results and how easy it has been to adopt this new life style.

    I am using the MyFitnessPal App to track calories and exercise and have noted that my weigh loss has plateaued this past week and I am wondering if this is because my exercise has increased, (3 gym visits per week and some walking) and I am only eating my allocated TDEE?

    Any advice on ‘eating’ the additional calories earned by exercise would be much appreciated.

    Your calories for exercise should already be factored into your TDEE.

    Exercise always seems to confound things. But its probably not a plateau. Keep going. A plateau is said to be about four weeks and then if it doesn’t move you should lower your calories a little bit.

    Reassess your TDEE if you think you need to. Are you using the calculator on this site. The ones on MFP seem to give lots of people problems. Look under HOW above to find them.

    I think three gym visits makes it about moderate exercise but if you find it doesn’t give you weightloss, then factor it in as light exercise instead.

    If you have a lot to lose, i would suggest lowering your calories a little below your TDEE anyway.

    Thanks for the input and advice Pattience.

    I have used the calculators on this website for my TDEE and have used the light exercise option as some of the gym visits are for pilates/ body balance clases rather than cardio.

    This week I have lost 200g bringing my total loss to 3.3kg over a 4 week period. My goal is to lose 10 kg in total which I acknowledge is not a large amount. I have lost about 3 centimeters from my waist so I am looking to measurements as well as the scales for feedback.

    Suffering from a little impatience at the moment, however this has not altered my commitment to this way of eating.

    Thank you again for your thoughts.

    Wonder if you guys can help me with TDEE. I’m 5feet and 159 pounds. I usually use my fitness pal which allocated me 1200 cals per day. But on here My TDEE comes up as 1600/1700 cals. I cannot get my head round eating that amount daily. I’ve been doing 1200 for so long although on days when I drink I can easily hit 1700! I exercise twice a week at a gym and swim every day at the moment, I live in Spain and it’s way too hot to do any walking or cycling. From Oct onwards I’ll be back to power walking an hour Mon- Fri. I’m looking to lose 2 stone.
    Any advice???

    Hi and welcome Titch:

    While the TDEE calculators are not accurate, they are usually in the ballpark. I didn’t know your age, but came up with about 1700 for a TDEE. If you have been eating 1200, you should be losing weight and if you are not, then you are probably eating more calories than you think you are. I would count calories for a couple of days (especially when you are drinking – find out the number of calories in the drinks you are having) to see where the problem is.

    Here are some tips for newbies: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

    Good Luck!

    Thank you. I’m 53.
    I think it’s the lack of consistency with my diet ie usually a couple of days a week I go over always with wine!!!! I tend to maintain rather than lose anything.
    Thank you so much I’ll look at the link.

    If MFP sets your daily calories to 1200 then you set your goal to lose 2 lbs per week on MFP. MFP is geared towards a daily calorific deficit, it does not understand intermittent fasting.
    You need to change your goal to maintaining weight and it will give you your TDEE as a daily calorie goal.

    Titch, furthermore, the mfp calculator is not TDEE – total daily energy expenditure. It is your base calories for the day on top of which you should put calories that you will burn for your exercise.

    100ml glass of wine is only about 100 calories. Try adding some ice cubes to your 100 ml glass of wine, and try drinking a glass of water between each glass of wine.

    You may put on a little weight at first but do not despair. Its mainly water weight and its temporary. Also i think you should read a book called The Don’t Go Hungry Dietn by Dr Amanda Sainsbury Salis. This will show you why 1200 calories is not ideal for you and how to cope with the transition to eating more calories.

    Then it will also give you a strategy for how to eat and not put on weight on your non-fasting days and all without counting calories.

    The concepts in this book are fundamental. They are so important and so little understood by the dieting public and practically everyone. But the author is a scientist who worked on the stuff she is talking about. And yet she does not speak in the language of science but in perfectly normal english.

    You can either order it from her website or amazon.

    Thanks Pattience. I’ll have a look at that.
    Ifrom Monday this week I’ve lost 3lbs so that’s really encouraging.
    I’ve stayed at the same weight (within a couple of pounds) for so long
    It’s nice to see a shift.

    Chiming back in 🙂

    I have been reading about fasting 3 days a week and wondered if any would like to. Share their knowledge and experience with adding an additional fasting day to the week.

    Nah, two is plenty for me. But BigChocolateCake, fasts every 3rd day.

    Any specific areas of the forum that might address the 4:3 approach?

    Thanks

    Hi Colleen:

    There is nothing special about 4:3 – it is just one more diet day. This will explain how much more weight you might expect to lose with 4:3 over 5:2: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/tdee-for-the-curious-or-why-dont-i-lose-weight-faster/

    Good Luck!

    Hi simcoeluv,

    Thank you for the weblink, additional information and encouragement.

    Completed my first Back to Back fasting Monday/Tuesday this week and will fast again Thursday. Just wanted to mix it up a bit and and do 4:3 for a few weeks to see how it suits my needs and lifestyle.

    The journey continues!

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