Alternate Day Fasting for 6 months (yet I've hit a slight snag)

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Ferris

9:42 am
2 Nov 15
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Hello all,

I haven’t posted here for 6 months I’m sorry. Very soon after my initial posts in May my PC broke and then I also became all sorts of busy. Despite that I thought I’d just write in here about my progress.

In the end, I didn’t really take to 5:2 as I expected. I appreciate that it works for some people, but I quickly (within two weeks in fact) worked out I needed something more…”rigid” if that’s the right word. I felt great on fast days and managed them easily, but after the first non-fast day I just wanted to fast again. So technically I tried 5:2 for one week back in may, 4:3 the following week and then fell into alternate day fasting from there.

All in all, alternate day fasting has been a god send. I found I didn’t have almost any IBS-related flare-ups over the summer, and since then have lost 39 ibs (I weighed 182 ibs at the start of May. Now I weigh 143 ibs, and I feel I have just 10 or possibly 20 ibs to go until I’m done.

Now, I also have joined MyFitnessPal recently, but purely to log. I have a look through some of the posts, and didn’t find the site welcoming to new posters at all. That’s all I really want to say on the matter.

Well…going back to my snag. Since May I found I fairly reliably (give or take a ib or so) lost approx. half a stone a month, which was great. I don’t think the losses were too quick, as ADF reports even people within a healthy BMI (on that note mine is currently 23.1-ish. I’m 32 and 5’6) losing that amount. My issue is about mid October the losses just stopped and stalled there. I’ve been 143 ibs for almost three weeks now.

I have been logging and weighing everything on MFP. I have got in touch with a few people I haven’t met in years, had a couple of meals out and perhaps had more sodium than I should have – I kept it within my calories all the while. It is my TotM (urgh!), but I’m concerned as to not losing for a while before then.

I get that weight fluctuates, and there is a good chance it’s water weight as I have done more walking and have been enjoying it more as well. I guess I’m curious about those who have done ADF, and how much your weight loss slowed down when it came to the last 10-15-20 ibs (not sure how much I still want to lose). I lost 4 ibs last month, which I’m happy with, but I guess I’m curious what to expect now.

Pot-bellied Heron

9:55 am
2 Nov 15
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At last, a fellow traveller! I’ve posted plenty about ADF but rarely received any responses.
I’ve been on it about a month now but I haven’t weighed myself at all. Visually, I’m very pleased so far!

Amazon

12:20 pm
2 Nov 15
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Hi Ferris,

Weight loss does slow down when there is less to lose and I expect that is why you lost less last month. Plateaus happen from time to time, sometimes it is because people have slipped and are eating more than their TDEE and other times there is no reason for it whatsoever. It happened to me and I didn’t lose an ounce for a month and then got on the scales to find 4lbs had disappeared overnight and everything was fine after that.
If you are positive you aren’t eating more calories than you need for your current weight then you need to be patient. You could try calculating your TDEE using your goal weight and sticking to that.

Ferris

1:26 pm
2 Nov 15
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@ Heron – hi there. Admittedly I’ve not seen many people following ADF on forums but then I haven’t been looking very hard lol. I guess it’s not for everyone but it’s close enough to 5:2 anyway. Mainly I just went for ADF as it suited me better and felt more pleasant to do than pick 2 arbitrary days.

Anyway, best off luck. Even without the issue of weight loss I’ve found ADF has done wonders for my health and mental state, and don’t plan on stopping any time soon (even if I’ll probably need to re-evaluate my calories to maintain when I still intend to fast every two days)

@ Amazon – thank you.

You’re right, and I didn’t really expect to keep losing half a stone a month for much longer (even if it would have been nice!). I’ve especially meticulous at logging all calories on MFP and weigh all I can, so to my best knowledge I don’t think I overate. On the times I did eat out, I deliberately over-estimated my calories to give myself a buffer. I’d assume its a mix of weight loss slowing down, sodium and other good things like hormones. I’ll weigh myself again when TotM is over – for all I know it’s due to that.

Anyway, thanks. It’s not like I’d give up my eating habits or I haven’t lost anything, I was just curious if any ADF’ers could comment on their weight loss slowing down (as Heron said, I don’t think many do ADF. Most fasting forums seem to focus more on 5:2 but as I said 5:2 was something I couldn’t get my head around).

I’ve always re-calculated my TDEE, BMR and have a FitBit so I guess it’s just waiting now. Thanks; and I know, bodies do what they want to do. Good luck everyone and thanks for your help.

Pot-bellied Heron

1:28 pm
2 Nov 15
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I forgot to say: 6 months on ADF? Bravo! I’m impressed.
My target is 2 months and then 5:2.

Amazon

2:05 pm
2 Nov 15
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This is a 5:2 forum so it is no surprise that there aren’t too many ADF discussions. I’m sure if you take time to look at some of the threads you’ll find numerous people who are following it. I’ve done 5:2, 4:3, 3:4 and ADF at various stages. I like the discipline of ADF but life gets in the way too often and I found that every so often I needed two consecutive days without fasting so I aim for 4:3.

Pot-bellied Heron

4:04 pm
2 Nov 15
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True, but I presumed that as 5:2 is really ADF lite then there would be more people trying it, if only for the quicker returns.

Amazon

5:29 pm
2 Nov 15
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People are usually attracted to 5:2 as a weight loss method because they can eat normally for five days a week and have often tried many other diets that involve daily calorie restriction and failed because it is difficult to maintain. ADF requires a lot of discipline and can be difficult for many to maintain due to their lifestyle, so while there are people doing it the majority stick with 5:2 and go to 4:3 if they feel the need to step things up. I get the impression that the majority do not want to be fasting at the weekend which is understandable and they like 5:2 because it doesn’t feel like a diet whereas ADF would.

Pot-bellied Heron

5:41 pm
2 Nov 15
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Horses for courses. If people’s desire to lose weight outweighs their desire to eat, then they’ll lose weight. If not, they won’t and all manner of excuses (to themselves) will come thick and fast.

Ferris

6:38 pm
2 Nov 15
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Mainly I just couldn’t stick with 5:2 as along with avoiding bread, pasta etc. my body just really, really benefits from fasting every other day. Each to their own, but I could have laughed when I figured out not eating every other day helped my health in a way doctors and their medication never could. Whilst the weight loss is great (even if I know it’s slowing down), I’m on ADF for the long haul just for the sake of it’s great not waking up to the sensation of terrible stomach aches/ cramps every morning.

I have actually looked here for people on ADF – post posts are out of date or didn’t contain the information I needed. There’s another fasting forum I checked – again focusing on 5:2 but not what I needed. There’s also various groups on intermittant fasting on MFP, a lot are inactive, and those that aren’t are again more focused on 5:2. It’s not the biggest deal as I count 5:2, 4:3 and ADF as similar enough, but ADF I’ve noticed don’t seem to have people stick to it exclusively or for months at a time.

Each to their own. I couldn’t do 5:2 any more than some people could do ADF :p

Amazon

7:08 pm
2 Nov 15
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It is a great way to deal with IBS as it helps you eliminate foods that trigger it and gives your gut a chance to heal. I used to suffer from it so I know what it’s like.
Once you reach your goal weight you’ll be able to eat a bit more on alternate days in order to maintain. There is a lot of really good gluten free stuff out there that you can try and indulge in if you like it.