6 weeks: cranky, cold, zero weight change

This topic contains 8 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by Cinque 7 years, 9 months ago.

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bouncey

5:27 pm
8 Jul 16
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(First post here for me!)

My wife and I have been doing standard 5:2 for 6 weeks. I’m age 42, 6 ft tall, about 220 lb. Trying to get back down to 190 so I can wear my favorite clothes again. Even if my weight is stable, I’m actually much more interested in avoiding the usual diseases of civilization. As I told my doctor: “I have a family history of EVERYTHING!” Don’t know how much my wife weighs or what her goal might be, but I’m sure she’s heavier than I am. Our exercise is mostly just taking walks.

My weight dropped by about 9 pounds, of which maybe 4 can be accounted for by not having much food in my digestive tract. I like how clear my mind is while fasting and how it relieves a general feeling of bloating. I also like how it moderates my appetite somewhat on the next (feed) day. It’s good training for emergencies too: if I miss a few meals, I can remain calm and know that I’m not going to starve immediately. My weight loss seems to have leveled off fairly quickly, so I might have to change something. Maybe do 4:3, cut fasting day calories further, and/or tighten up on junk food and snacking during the rest of the week.

My wife, on the other hand: She followed the 5:2 plan to the letter for 6 weeks and had ZERO change in weight the whole time. On fast days she’s reliably sad, cranky, and freezing cold in the middle of summer. I know she’s on thyroid meds, but her dosage was updated just a few months ago. On feed days she doesn’t go off the rails at all. Reasonable portion sizes. But no weight loss, not even half a pound. Obviously she is not happy about this.

Any suggestions for either of us? I’m going to keep doing some version of this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she gives up completely on fasting. This might not be the ideal plan for her.

bouncey

5:39 pm
8 Jul 16
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Addendum: I was rounding to nice convenient numbers. My starting weight was 227 coming off a week of travel with an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. Now it’s down to 218 after fast days, spiking up consistently to 222 after a feed day. All of the weight loss happened in the first 3 weeks.

ChetSinger

6:22 pm
8 Jul 16
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Hmm, perhaps she’s eating more than her TDEE on non-fast days, or overestimating her TDEE. As designed, her calorie deficit should be about 3000 per week, which is about 1 lb of loss.

Is she active? Might the thyroid condition be reducing her TDEE?

I’ve been doing the diet (modified a bit for myself) since March and have been losing between 1 and 2 lbs per week since then. Those results include walking about 3 miles a day. So the diet works, but I also count calories with zeal so I know exactly how much I’m ingesting.

So I’m thinking perhaps one of these apply:
1. She’s eating more than her TDEE on non-fast days.
2. There are calories hiding in her diet that are unaccounted for.
3. Her thyroid condition or medication are lowering her metabolic rate.

Amazon

7:16 pm
8 Jul 16
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Hi,
The main reason for not losing weight is over eating on non fast days. The best thing to do is count calories every day for two weeks to give yourselves an idea of how your TDEE looks on a plate.
Cut out snacks, you don’t need them and try to keep process carbs and sugar consumption to a minimum.

Good luck to both of you 🙂

bouncey

7:43 pm
8 Jul 16
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I hear ya on TDEE. I’m sure my midnight “snacks” (imagine Cookie Monster) are the reason my weight loss stalled. Easy solution, go to bed earlier and stop buying the giant bags of Doritos.

But my wife… I’ve been observing her eating habits for 20 years. If she’s eating at or above her TDEE, it’s because her metabolism has slowed down, not due to any personal moral failure. She actually eats reasonable quantities and always has. Any kind of “diet” makes her lean towards emotional distress, and something about going down to 500 calories makes it even worse than usual. Blood sugar? Starvation mode? The good news is, with 5:2 the misery is concentrated on 2 days, and not every day for the foreseeable future.

I’ll try adjusting my snacking level and see how it goes for me. I actually feel okay on fasting days.

Edited to add: funny thing is, yesterday was a fasting day, and today I got to noon without eating anything except a couple cups of lightly sweetened coffee. At 12:30 I thought “oh yeah, I really ought to eat something…” Maybe I should try 2-day fasting sometime. It helps that I’m on methylphenidate for ADHD though. Appetite suppressant side effects.

Amazon

8:51 pm
8 Jul 16
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I’m not suggesting your wife is doing anything wrong but if she is not losing weight she is eating more than her body needs. It can be quite tricky to get the balance for someone taking thyroid medication, and her progress may be slower than most but once she works it out the weight will start to come off and maybe she won’t be cranky on FDs because she knows it is working.

If you look in the Medical Conditions section of the forum you’ll probably find some tips from 5:2ers on thyroid meds.

bigbooty

12:23 am
9 Jul 16
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Hi Bouncy,

People throw around the “starvation” concept a bit too much. You enter starvation mode when your body has exhausted all other energy sources. That is you are down to 2-3% body fat and no caloric intake is happening, the body is then forced to start breaking down protein (muscle) to survive. I doubt you are at that stage yet.

Ok now onto the problem at hand. 5:2 and eating whatever you like will work reasonably well for a lot of people but not all. Calories in + calories out is too simplistic. (Calories in + calories out + calories to storage) is close to what happens. The fact that your wife is complaining she is cold is a VERY big give away. Her body has realised there is a net caloric deficit happening but it is STILL sending calories to fat storage. You still have to obey the laws of physics and so her body has reduced energy expenditure related to body temperature. She is cold as her body has worked out that is where she can “cheat” and save energy. Rather that tap into her fat reserves for energy her body finds it easier to run the thermostat colder.

What to do? You are really left with little option but to alter the foods you eat as well as doing 5:2. I HIGHLY recommend that you buy a glucose meter from a diabetics shop or even online on ebay. They are very cheap. I use an Freestyle Optium Neo but there are many to choose from. You need to monitor your blood glucose once in the morning after just getting up. Record this for say a week to see what it is on average. You now need to change your diet as well as the quantity you eat. You then need to record you BG levels and make sure they are coming down. Eating certain foods will force the BG levels to come down. OK onto what to eat.

Eliminate ALL sugar and simple carbs like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes as these spike your BG levels. Basically you have to eliminate all grain based foods. By lowering your BG you will lower your insulin levels. Insulin controls your weight. I suspect that you insulin is high right now so that is the body’s message to store everything you eat as fat. To compensate your wife is “saving” energy by being cold. By lowering her insulin levels her body will use the stored fat to make up the energy deficit from being on 5:2. Her body temperature will go up to normal as she will have access to stored fats for energy.

There really is no “easy solution”. Get rid of the cheap carbs, get your carbs from veggies. Don’t be scared of eating fats from cheese, almonds, walnuts, avocados and high fat low sugar yogurt. Don’t you over your TDEE though!!

When my BG is 4.5mmol/L I lose weight. When it is 5.5-6.0mmol/L I gain weight. When its low 5’s I maintain my weight. Get the Obesity Code by Jason Fung. It explains this very well.

Hope that helps.

bigbooty

12:39 am
9 Jul 16
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Ok I forgot to mention. Don’t drink any fruit juice!! Its pure crap and you may as well just eat sugar. If you must have fruit make sure it is whole fruits and go for the berry type fruits. Avoid bananas, there’s a reason why they taste so sweet!! So never juice and never dried fruits. Have fruits in moderation. Avoid “health” cereals like the plague. Pure crap.

Cinque

1:13 am
9 Jul 16
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Hi Bouncey, Welcome here.

My commiserations to your wife, it must be so frustrating. Perhaps reading Simco’s trousers story will give her some pleasure: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/really-no-weight-loss/

The information here might be useful too: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

I have been doing 5:2 for a year, and without exercise as I have a chronic illness that makes exercising problematic. I don’t bother with scales but my mirror and my wardrobe (down about 4 sizes) show me I am pretty well at my natural healthy weight.

I do know that a lot of medications make losing weight difficult, and maybe at least your wife can celebrate that she hasn’t put on weight.
If she is cold on fast days, a hot bath can be the best thing (speaking from experience), and hopefully she can really concentrate on looking after herself: dressing warmly and doing non eating special things.

I find I need to just hunker down and get through fast days, if they are not easy ones. On Non Fast Days I can really work at eating well: normal portions, healthy food, and most days having no snacks.

Best wishes to both of you!