I have just had my first gym session since November – life gets in the way. Feeling better already. On the subject of exercise I am with PedroG – for years I have believed that exercise both burns calories and raises the metabolic rate and it worked for me. If I today I ate the number of calories I used to eat in a military ration pack my weight would rocket, but then it didn’t! The difficulty is getting in enough exercise. I try for a mix – 5:2 augmented by exercise. If that gives me more muscle and therefore the scales are less impressive I am content – I need muscle to paddle my canoe. It is fat I am trying to lose.

I am off now to buy some new boots, my old ones have expired and Pen y Fan calls.

Hi Pedro, I didn’t say that exercise was not “good” and I did say that I like exercise. I said that exercise does not help us to lose weight and that some types of exercise e.g. weight training to build muscle can actually result in us putting on weight. Our bodies use up far more energy just keeping us alive and functioning than we can ever hope to achieve by exercise.
Having said that, losing weight should not be our only goal. Keeping/getting fit is an important aim too. But it sometimes has the effect of making us put on weight.
Also what getting fit means varies from person to person. It depends on what we want to do with our bodies.

Hi bc:

While ‘resting’, fat burns about 2 cal. per hour and muscle burns about 6 cal. per hour. http://www.livestrong.com/article/256919-how-many-calories-does-muscle-burn-compared-to-fat/; http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/84/3/475.full

That means if you go on a muscle building campaign and gain 5 pounds of muscle (a very large amount), you will burn about 20 more calories a day than if you had done nothing.

So as long as you don’t take an extra bite of an apple, you should lose an extra pound every 6 months or so.

This thread covers exercise as it relates to weight loss, and much more: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

This isn’t scientific, but I still feel better and more lively after this morning’s exercise. I know from experience that feeling will last until mid-day tomorrow. Daily exercise will keep it going.
My TDEE is about 2500 cal, that is for a 6’5″ male who exercises gently to moderately. The temperate zone ration pack has 4000 cal. I ate those, a lot of chocolate and everything else I could get hold of and drank beer. I lost 28 lbs in the first three months. Yes I was a lot younger, but the body was working hard The arctic packs, which I have not eaten, have 5,500 cals and you don’t see many fat Royal Marines. I won’t attempt to argue with simcoeluv about resting energy consumption, but if you do enough exercise you will burn the calories. The point is that no one who subscribes to this site is doing enough exercise to achieve serious weight loss, so it is a balance – 5:2 and some exercise. However, any exercise is good – witness the current National Health Service project to get us all eating a healthy diet and taking more exercise.

” I won’t attempt to argue with simcoeluv about resting energy consumption, but if you do enough exercise you will burn the calories. ” You are right, penguin. When I was running marathons I could eat fish and chips and have mars bars for pudding and I still didn’t get fat. I’m not running marathons any more and that’s the problem. You need to be slim to run a marathon anyway, otherwise you can’t schlepp all that fat round for 26 miles.

Well first weigh-in after the festive season. I shut my eyes but it’s not too bad considering the amount of extra sweet and fat foods I eaten. Family, friends and I’ve been away too. Alcohol. Far too much wine and spirits. Less sport with the rink shut over Christmas.

Gained only 1kg ! I could feel it coming on.

So new years resolutions :
• stay on the 5:2 for another 3 months
• get down to a new weight target – just a couple of kgs to lose – nothing radical.
• try out HIT as an extra exercice method
• keep cycling – but the weather is super cold at the moment
• I bought new jeans. 2 inches less on the waist than before from 34″ to 32″ – so the idea is to keep being able to put them on !

Good luck with your FDs.

@david V: Congrats on the minimal holiday gain.
@penquin: I understand the Slim Fit shirt “encouragement”.
My holiday gain was 2.5-3 kg over my first week in Dec readings, and I had not reached my short term or long term weight or body fat goals.
I have 10 kg to optimum weight, 5-6 kg to a comfort level; body fat composition remains my main concern. Resolutions seems all the more challenging on a -11C morning.

That is nearly twice what I have lost in the three years or so I have been on and off the 5:2. Impressive

Not feeling great, may have been exposed to the flu; the strain that is making people ill is reportedly not covered in this year’s flu shot.
As 2017 gets going I seem to be able to stick to the <600 on FDS but can not avoid the pitfall of going over TDEE on NFDs. Ideally, my goals remain: dropping 10 kg overall and about 8% body fat while building more lean body mass over the next 4-6 months. Knowing I am not the only man on this path makes a big difference; I enjoy reading all your posts, the success stories are encouraging.
Now if I can just diminish the impact of this virus!

welcome teamy. Always good to have a new voice. Let us know how it goes.

@mark Mywordz “My BMI is exactly 25 at 12stone7. One more pound and I would be “obese””
No – you would be just entering “overweight”. No way near obese.
I had a BMI of 26,8 before this diet in september at 85kg – not that far off your weight. It took less than a month to get under 25. It’s down to 23,5 now.

“I’d be interested to know what other guys have done (or plan to do) after reaching their goal weight and with what success. Apparently 5 out of 6 dieters revert to their unhealthy weight a year after reaching the goal.”

I would also like to know. I really hope that the 5 out of 6 stat is way wrong.
I am at that stage now. I have also put on 1kg since reaching my goal in december but hope that it was just the festive period that was to blame and not a trend to gain the lost kilos.
I admit I am finding it a little more difficult to stay focussed so I’m back on the 5:2 again. A little too much cheese, wine, whisky, pringles etc has crept back on to the table.
It does seem that this has to be a real life change more than just a diet. But then I guess all diets lean in this direction.

If you search simcoeluv’s posts a few pages back you can see the stats on the Every Other Day diet. It doesn’t seem to really be more efficient for the sacrificies needed.
Time will do it if you stay on the 5:2. I’m convinced.

@teamy: welcome and best of wishes to reach your goals
@mark Mywords :Thanks I may give the every other day a try once I feel human again.
@david V: Good words always. BTW are you back to hockey in the New Year?
@priderj: Depths of winter here in the “Frozen North” so I envy(and jealous of) your Aussi qualification;Parka’s, Scarfs, Touques (knit hats) and Mitts are our reality right now!
@penquin: I think you may have the most seniority, and success, in making 5:2 a way of sustainable living.
To accelerate my program I have been thinking keeping at or under my BMR on the NFDs may be a course of action. In 2013-2014 I was very successful at dropping from 92 kg to below 82 kg by the use of a food diary with my daily goal of <1600 cals which is around my current BMR. Of course as you drop weight the BMR reduces and you have to adjust downward, being on the 5: 2 does that by it’s nature.
Best of luck to all

Way to go @david V; From the winter chill, holiday over indulgence, a virus, and every other excuse I can think of, I am still 2 kg over Dec start; oh well no longer 3.5 kg over! One day at a time in many, if not all, things.

My 5cts here – and I’m not a nutritionist so take with a pinch of salt…
Well food has 2 main fonctions.
It’s a fuel that keeps your body working. So you could probably eat 2500 cals of bland tasting gruel everyday if it had all the proper doses of proteins, carbs etc in it.
But then there’s taste and pleasure and that unlocks loads more doors in your body. I’m sure someone will chip in as to the scientific reasons of the role of pleasure in eating. I’m sure there are sugars that wake up your senses and your palette and cry out for more. So I’m aware of them and stay away from them.

I’ve always found that water cuts my appetite so maybe that explains why you don’t feel hungry. Fill your stomach up with a pint of water that will make you fell physically full anyway for a while. Coffee does too for me and I also associate it with the end of a meal rather than the beginning. It’s not an appetizer for me.
If you’re craving something to chew, eat an apple. A really big apple will keep you going for 5 minutes. For 70 cals. A fruit or muesli bar can be up to 500 cals.

I realised this morning at breakfast that I’m never really hungry. I eat more out of convention that any other reason. Because I can and the food is there.
If I have a coffee or lunch break I might be tempted eating biscuits or cake because they’re usually there. So now I don’t buy the biscuits and cake.

So did you really wake up hungry or maybe you think you were hungry because you usually eat at that time. I find that this diet has made me question many of my needs and habits. Not a bad thing.

Makes me sound like a sad joe but I party too sometimes !

Hi David and Simco
. . . thank you for the replies. There is some ‘food’ for thought there. I actually decided to do my own experiment and have a 17 calorie teaspoon of Bovril in hot water. Disaster!! It certainly woke up my taste buds as lass than an hour later I was craving food!
So from my point of view if I don’t feel hungry I won’t indulge but drink plenty of water.
Good luck and cheers.

I have decided to add HIT to my life. Just 7/8 minutes maybe every other day to start with. I read the Fast Exercice book and I’m intrigued. Also I have lost a lot of upper body mass after losing 11kgs and could do with firming up my chest and my stomach’s a bit loose after losing 9cm around the waist.

So started saturday. So surprised to find it harder than I thought ! I mean 30 secs is not long to do anything really – or so I thought.
The squats killed me ! I managed 25 pressups in 30 secs but Dr Mosely says he can do 35! Wow! And the sit-ups. Don’t even talk about it.
I’m also finding the 10sec pause between exercises difficult. I can hardly get my breath back.

Anyone else adding this to their diet ? And has seen a difference.

Here’s my 5 month review.
Weight from 84,9kg to 74,2kg
Fat mass from 27,1% to 18,6%
BMI from 26,4 to 23,4

I’ve sort of stopped losing weight and I’m yoyoing around the 74kg mark. Lowest was 73,4kg.
Given that my target was originally 75kg I should be happy but I’m a bit pissed I can’t move another 2kg to reach 72kg.
@august – feel the drive has put it’s brakes on. Eating more potatoes, cheese and bread. And beers with the hockey boys. A bad influence but essential social moments.

Saw my doc this week for an annual checkup and blood test.
I do these every year since 2009.
Without boring you with details, my Triglycerides have plummetted from last year ! Totally ! I dug out an old test from 2009 when I was 50 and 82kg. Triglycerides down from 2,03 g/l to 0,78 g/l.
The other marker that has also plummetted is the PSA count. I’m no way near any dangerous level but it’s down from 1,21 ng/ml to 0,58. Never been that low.

All due the diet I guess. Triglycerides I can figure but the PSA count ?

I thought the cholesterol levels would drop a lot more than they have.

All in all it’s good news. Hope it’s stil be that good in a year’s time !

I’ve done HIT twice this week with an aim to keep it up but indoor exercices bore me stiff. Roll on springtime.

Hi,

Just thought I’d say say that I went on the 5:2 lifestyle change in September 2012. I have maintained it since then apart from holidays and parties and dropped 7 stone and maintain a healthy weight but massively improved health from aches and pains disappearing, asthma not needing medication, etc.

It is now what I have done and will do going forward.

Good luck to those changing how they live, the 5:2 has fundamentally changed my life and that of others that have decided to give it a go including my wife.

I did no exercise whilst concentrating on losing weight then when at an ideal weight I have used HIIT and heavy weight training which has been hard work and by all account it will always be hard work 🙂

Thank you men for the ongoing inspiration,especially through these dark days of winter.
My “guys Weekend” away and Super Bowl “grazing” are behind me now; I exercised restraint compared to most, everything is relative,but I will avoid the scale until later in the week. I now take the stairs again where ever possible but establishing every other day HIIT as a habit is still in the works.

Hello Gent’s, it’s been a while since I checked in here and unfortunately I’ve been pretty out of control with eating. I just got back from a two week cruise and I managed to pack on an addition 5 lbs on top of the 12 I gained over the holidays. I’m the heaviest I’ve been in 5 years (190.6 lbs at 5’9″)

I’ve been working out consistently for the last month and I’m quite a bit stronger but it is so true that you just can’t out workout your mouth! Started 5:2 with a fast day today.

Diver, I agree with you and others that exercise alone will not take off weight, at least not significantly. During my weight gains and losses, I kept up a pretty constant level of exercise.

For me, the culprits are beer, wine and the occasional martini. Eliminating these twice a week, in addition to less food, make a big impact.

I’m a guy and just started the fast diet January 1st. My wife is also doing it so that helps us to encourage each other. I started at 89kg. I’m 185.5cm tall. Over the month I’m now at 84.5kg, My goal is 83kg or 185lbs.( I’m from Florida, USA). I’m retired and have time to go to the gym twice a week and yoga 3 times a week. That really helps with changing fat to muscle. I’ve found that if I east a larger meal in the late morning and a smaller meal (oatmeal etc.) in the early evening I have more energy while going through the day. This may be helpful since you are working. I’ve also found myself more aware of what I’m eating throughout the week, not eating crap that contains lots of calories and sugar, saving those calories for my favorite foods. Good Luck It gets easier from week to week.

Mid-month is past and my February “results” reflect giving into personal caloric sabotage and winter sloth! The Sun is out today; maybe a dose of solar power will inspire me to take better action.

@diverdog: congrats on the positive results and resolve!

Welcome SD09. I usually do HIIT on a spin bike the morning of my fast day. No issues with weakness or light head that way. I like to burn off stored glycogen early and then eat ~ 400 calories in the evening.