After a few months…

This topic contains 8 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by twelveoclock 10 years, 10 months ago.

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ml_g9

1:40 pm
24 Jun 13
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I have been following this plan for a few months now and I still sometimes feel dreadful on the “fast days”. Headaches, light-headed, nauseous etc and wondered if this was normal? Monday is a fast day and it’s always the worst, Wednesday/Thursday is the other Fast Day – and I usually feel not bad then!

I am not seeing any real weight-loss from this. I eat 470 (25% of TDEE)caloriesx2 days per week. 1200×2 days per week and eat at TDEE for the remaining three! I am losing some inches from my waist and for sure I have more energy and exercising most days of the week but I have only dropped 1.5pounds at the very most!!!

How is everyone else feeling on this “fast” way of life?

twelveoclock

4:26 pm
25 Jun 13
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Hi. Sorry to hear you feel bad on the fast days. If Monday fast days are always the worst, maybe you could try switching your days around e.g. fast on Tuesdays and Thursdays? It could be a psychological “Monday” thing (Mondays are horrible days anyway without a fast, for a lot of people) or it could be a physical thing, related to your eating/activity patterns.

I sometimes find that what I eat the day before a fast day – and especially the evening before – affects how well I can cope with the fast. A big carb-heavy meal the evening before makes me wake up hungry already, but equally you don’t want to go hungry the evening before. So perhaps you could try spreading your calories more evenly throughout the day, the day before fasting? Have a moderate lunch and evening meal. You could see if that makes you feel better. Also make sure you drink plenty, it’s easy to become dehydrated on fast days and that would definitely contribute to feeling headachey and nauseous, so you need to make an extra effort to stay hydrated. Drinking can also help to fend off hunger to an extent.

In terms of weight loss, remember that weight is not a perfect indication of body fat. If your waist size is dropping that’s brilliant! Losing weight from your stomach is great because fat around the tummy is unhealthy. I’ve heard that hip to waist ratio is a better indicator of long term health than weight or BMI. Elsewhere on this site it says that if you really desperately want to speed-up the weight loss, you can try fasting on alternate days. So if you really want to lose more weight you could try that.

I’ve been going for about two months and I have only lost 1kg (approx 2 pounds). My husband has lost 9kg in the same time. I am substantially more active than him (I walk 5 miles a day, he is sedentary) and I consume approx half the number of calories that he does on non-fast days. I think there are just individual differences that affect the rate of weight loss. Anecdotally, based purely on the experience of my friends, people who have more weight to lose seem to lose it faster. I don’t know if that is more widely true or if there is a reason behind it but my thinking is that I was always active and never really over-ate before, so the fasting way of life is not such a drastic change for me compared with my husband, who was fairly clueless about calories before he started this.

For me, I’m happy anyway. I have a healthy BMI and I think intermittent fasting is good for me even if I’m not losing weight. I really started it to support my husband but I actually quite like it and I think there are some long-term health benefits beyond weight loss. One of the best things for me is that I am enjoying food more than before, which is a great feeling. For you, if you have more energy, your waist is slimming, and you’re able to exercise… it sounds like that’s a pretty good outcome?

Jeanius

5:37 pm
25 Jun 13
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Hello, ml_g9 – To my mind, all of twelveoclock’s suggestions and comments sound really intelligent and appropriate here. It’s great to hear someone being relaxed and sensible about the benefits they are experiencing, un-phased by a seeming lack of weight-loss according to the scales.
From the figures you give, I gather you are only eating your recommended daily intake of roughly 1900cals (rounding up your TDEE of 1880cals) for three days a week and you are having a substantially reduced intake on the remainig 4 out of 7 days every week. I assume you believe that two days at only 1200cals, in addition two fast days at 470cals, will boost your rate of weight-loss but I wonder if this is a mistake and could be where the problem lies?
In effect, you are doing a 3:4 scheme, rather than 5:2, and, as I understand it, consistently under-eating leads to the body deliberately slowing its metabolism down, specifically to prevent further weight-loss, as it protects itself in the famine it is experiencing. Substantially reduced intake only 2 days a week seems to be OK but 4 might be just that little bit too much every week. Have you considered a 4:3 scheme: four non-fast days and three fast days in a week?
Even if you did ADF (Alternate Day Fasting) you would be feeding your body the full TDEE figure every other day, which would, presumably, be enough prevent this reaction to ‘famine’. ADF would be a 7:7 system – seven, non-fast days, alternating with seven separate fast days over a fourteen day period. I wish you well in making progress ahead.

ml_g9

8:39 am
26 Jun 13
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Hi there both for your comments. I know psychologically Monday isn’t a good day, but I quite like getting one fast day out of the way. I only reduced my two other days during the week to 1200 after a money and a half of eating 5:2 (with 5 @TDEE) and putting weight on like this. I ended up putting quite a bit of weight on! I am quite active as well and run about 15miles per week and cycle about 10miles per week. I drink lots and lots and everyday I have a minimum of 2litres of sparkling water. Fast days, I can upto 3litres as well as many cups of green tea – hope this is ok! Definitely feeling the benefits from waist inch loss as clothes fit so much better and exercise is so much easier. Never thought I would be someone who “liked” going out for a run and I am now! I am in the healthy BMI bracket – but JUST!!!!

I may try increasing my 2 days @ 1200 even upto 1500 to see if that is ok. I just dont want to end up putting lots of weight on again!

Thank you both for all your advice. Sounds very much like you are enjoying the way of life! Well done to you both!

a read

8:46 am
26 Jun 13
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Hello All

I have been on the diet for about 3 weeks now. I am really struggling, I have not lost anything! I do tend to have a alcoholic drink on my Non-fast days, I was thinking that i would try this week without a drink except on Friday night! (Had A glass of wine last night!) Do you think this will help me at all? I generally would have a large glass of red wine. Has anyone got any ideas how i could lose weight a bit quicker? I did a Fast-Day on Monday, doing one today, and i might do another on tomorrow.

I would really appreciate it if someone come give me some advice

Thanks

ml_g9

8:58 am
26 Jun 13
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Hi A-read. I have tried both as well, I would say i have a drink some weeks and then go some months without any and it doesn’t make a slight bit of difference on weight-loss! It is a bit dis-heartening not losing weight but then I am losing inches and feel so much better and fitter, which makes up for it! Are you losing inches instead of weight?

a read

9:07 am
26 Jun 13
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Hello ml-g9

I haven’t actually measured myself, But my clothes aren’t any looser!! I do feel that i have bit more energy than normal.

Do you think it won’t make a difference if i don’t have a drink? ( thought of doing without today & tomorrow, and one on Friday) Does that make sense?
Also, do you think it will help if i did another Fast-Day tomorrow? (I am doing one today)

I would appreciate it if you could give me some advice what to do!

Thanks

ml_g9

9:22 am
26 Jun 13
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I am just feeling my way with this lifestyle just now as well but personally I would leave a day in-betwen your fast days as you will maybe end up not able to continue like this. If you enjoy a glass of red on your non-fast days, then I would continue with it. This is meant to be a lifestyle change and not a short-term thing, so I would continue to eat/drink the things you enjoy (in moderation) as depriving yourself will just make it worse. Perhaps, weigh yourself once a week, and take all your body measurements, waist, arms, thighs, hips etc! And monitor this for a month or so. Patience is hard I know but the more you deprive yourself, the more you will want it and therefore not continue with the 5:2. I am in the same boat really, everyone going on about weight-loss and not seeing anything bar a couple of pounds in months!! Do you count up every single calorie you eat/drink on something like MyFitnessPal? Sometimes there are sneaky calories that seem to get missed! Apart from that I am not sure. Good luck though!

twelveoclock

12:26 pm
26 Jun 13
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I agree with ml_g9… one of the great things about intermittent fasting is that you don’t have to totally give up anything you enjoy and that is key to enabling people to maintain it longer term. If you were drinking heavily that would be different, but a glass of wine on non-fast days, and a few glasses of wine on special occasions, does not sound like a terrible thing. I know several other people on the fast diet and none of us have given up alcohol! Do take it into account though as alcohol has a fair few calories and you need to make sure you’re not going overboard on non-fast days. If you are looking to stick to your TDEE (the number of calories you should aim to consume on non-fast days) then you should count the calories from the wine. Some alcoholic drinks have a LOT more calories than others, too, so it is always worth checking how many calories are in your drinks. My husband drinks beer (on non-fast days) and discovered that some bottles of the same size have twice the calories of others!

Also ml_g9 I meant to say that if you are active, then the scales not moving could be because you are building up leaner muscle mass. Muscle is quite dense so if you are losing inches then it seems likely your body fat is reducing while muscle is increasing? Definitely the tape measure is a good objective reference. Better than the scales in my opinion! Most people dream of losing even a tiny bit from the stomach measurement, so well done for getting so far and good luck in continuing 🙂