This topic contains 828 replies, has 79 voices, and was last updated by penguin 5 days, 23 hours ago.
Welcome Desert Fox. Age and weakening will power sound familiar. I am just back from three days away and all of the weight I lost fasting last week has found me again! But today is the first fast day (I do two in a row) and in 48 hours it will be gone.
This system works. It won’t take you three years to lose that 25lb. – 2 lbs a week seems to be our collective norm, so it could be less than three months.
It was a pretty heavy weekend of eating, today is an ‘it is easier not to eat’ fast day for me. Just drinking water today until breakfast tomorrow.
For exercise I do pull-ups/chin-ups every week day in addition to walking briskly about 45 minutes (part of my weekday commute). I’d like to do more but I can’t find the time.
For those in the US, happy Memorial Day!
Q: In terms of how you lost the weight, was it all diet? We’re you also exercising more as well?
I’m doing cardio but I’ll tell you what, the more I’ve learned is – and I think it comes with age too – is it’s 90 percent diet. It’s 90 percent amount and then what you’re eating because right now I’m not losing any more weight if I burn 1,500 calories, two hours of cardio in an afternoon, or if I don’t. It doesn’t matter. It’s a matter of how much I eat or how little I eat.
matthew-mcconaughey-reveals-how-he-lost-38-pounds
Phil is right on about the combination of exercise and diet is best but diet is the fat loss king. I’m also firmly convinced that doing a lot of cardio is counter productive for long term fat loss. In fact a lot of cardio actually trains your body to be more efficient at using calories and over time you have to exercise more or eat less to maintain the same weight. It does not build muscle and in fact may cause muscle wasting. Short intense HIIT style training is much more effective. Add weights and you have the long term best way to exercise.
I’ve lost 70 lbs of fat and kept it off for 20 years. I’ve never done more than 30 minutes of HIIT style cardio 2x a week. I also lift weights for 40 min 2x a week
I put that out there as just as a point of interest not an argument one way or the other. McConaughey was a surprised as anyone that it was all diet and more specifically amount of food to drop that 40lbs for his movie. An injury forced him to quit exercising yet he continued to lose the exact same amount with zero exercise.
DF, no disagreement that diet alone can be very effective at losing weight. But if you don’t want to lose muscle at the same time you need to exercise. Actually you need to do resistance exercise or some sport that stresses the muscles and bones.
It’s 100% true that you can’t out exercise your mouth! LOL If you eat too many calories you will not lose no matter how much you exercise.
I find that I eat a lot less when I exercise regularly.
Working out at the gym actually suppresses my appetite to the point that I can go there hungry but come home with no hunger pangs and just eat a normal meal.
It also depends on the time of day. Last Tuesday I went out after work (2:30pm) and did 101 miles on the bike, eating only around 600 calories while on the ride. I got home at 8pm and didn’t even bother eating dinner, just went to bed around 9:30.
On the other hand, I did 54 miles today, getting home at 10:30am, ate a 200cal meal bar, and by the time we went to lunch at 1pm I was ravenous. I stuck to two slices of pizza, but I could have eaten four 🙂
It’s very interesting to hear how you guys incorporate fasting into your lives. I just started this 13 days ago and completed my 5th fast day. I fast on days I don’t do intense exercise and eat only one meal around ~2:00 PM. I am active doing a very easy bike ride in the AM and usually dancing in the PM. On intense WO days I’m in the weight room or HIIT on the spin bike. I always eat before and after exercise with the majority of my high glycemic carbs after WO. On NFD’s I try to limit the time frame for eating to ~10hrs
Gentlemen,
The recent posts on the subject of exercise and weight loss have caused me to re-assess my own position. After some years of 5:2, on and off, my weight is down considerably. However, for the last year I have not been getting enough exercise and my muscle mass and general fitness levels are also down. I was aware of this – getting the canoe on top of the car seemed to be harder – but I settled for the weight loss. So my priorities must change. I still have fat to lose but the muscle I intend to regain will be denser. Measuring progress is going to be interesting, it will become more complicated than “I lost x pounds last week”. If I make any interesting discoveries I will report back.
Penguin, I’ve always used a tape measure, BF calipers and or a BF% scale to track my progress. Of course I like the scale weight to trend downward but I’m most concerned with the BF%. My training is focused around weights done in a circuit / HIIT style. The workouts take 30 minutes and really elevate my heart rate so I get cardio benefit as well.
One benefit of hard weight training I really enjoy is maintenance of testosterone levels. At 64 my sex life is better than ever!
Mamican, thanks for sharing your info. I’ve seen several studies that show the 16/8 pattern works well.
Interesting. Monday and Tuesday are my low cal days. So two days of 600 cal. Also two gym sessions – mostly strength and core. Hard enough so that my abs, shoulders and arms know they have worked. The result – I am down 6 pounds.
Diverdog, At 71yrs I am 7 years older than you. I like to think I am 45, but my passport and a body that has had a hard life make that a difficult lie to sustain. (also my son is 47). There is a guy at our gym who wears a T shirt that says “The older I get, the better I used to be”. I know that temptation.
Penguin, kudos for working hard @ 71 YO. I live in a very large 55 & over community and it’s sad to see how few mature folks use the amazing workout and sports facilities we have. There are however a couple of people in their 80’s that are super fit and healthy. They are a huge inspiration to me. I hope that IM fasting will help me maintain a healthy mind and body well into my 80’s
I’m a recent widower (2 years) and as I’ve started to date it’s very discouraging how few women my age are active and healthy. When I go to the singles club here there are many more women than men but I feel like I’m with my mom! LOL I usually end up dating women 20 years younger than me.
Diverdog I know what you mean – too many of our contemporaries seem to have given up, but fortunately not all – I am a member of a canoeing club in which I am far from the oldest, and I have to work hard to keep up! The real problem I find with age is that the injuries take longer to mend – I wrecked my rotator cuff last August in a series of capsizes whilst white water kayaking and it still hasn’t totally recovered.
The week was going well. Two fasting days and three gym visits, TDEE respected, weight lost, feeling really good. But l think I am going to regret today. As a good Brit I normally drink single malt Scotch, but I admit to a strange liking for a particular, and expensive, Kentucky straight bourbon. This morning I discovered that our local supermarket were selling it at 25 % off. Disaster has struck.
Penguin, I feel for you. Those big discounts can sometimes hit us in the gut, so to speak.
It hasn’t been a terrific week for me, eating more on both fast days than I had intended, but I still under-ate what I would normally have done and have stayed at the same weight all week.
This weekend isn’t looking too bad in terms of over consumption opportunities, fortunately.
Reading about all of you in your 50’s, 60’s and 70’s is reassuring. I’m turning 42 in a couple of weeks. The whole reason why I am doing 5:2 is to have a healthy 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.
Yes, reminds me of snapping up 3 cases of Abelour Single Malt from Bargain Booze when reduced from £30 to £19.99 per bottle. However that was during my delusional stage when I thought my weight of 92kg was just normal. It’s been hidden away so it’s not winking at me all the time
My policy now is to generally not bring temptations to house. If they aren’t there, no risk of having them. And any journey to get them gives you sufficient thinking time to change you’re mind
A strange week, I’ve plateau’d at 83kg and can’t get below it. I’ve done nothing different either
Need to contemplate a different regime as I want to break through the 80kg barrier. I’m already on the brink of having to buy new trousers!
Hi McPop:
Probably 2, maybe 3 in this post might help explain your plateau: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/
Good Luck!
Phil, I can report that life at 64 is better than ever. I got my wake up call at 44 with a heart attack scare that prompted me to lose 70 lbs of fat. Robust health and fitness including the best ever sex is there for the taking.
McPop, removing temptation is a key point in my strategy for long term success. My pantry is free of junk food and full of tasty healthy options. If I want a treat I have to go out and get it.
In my 20 year experience of loosing fat and maintaining body composition I’ve come to the conclusion that a plateau is almost always do to nutrition. I don’t consider one week a plateau though. There is no guarantee that your body is going to respond exactly the same way every week. But I’d say you may need to tighten up on NFD calories to accelerate the process a bit.
Gentlemen, thank you for your support.
I think we are agreed about temptation – if there is whisky in the house I will drink it, and having drunk it I will then eat the other things that should not be in the house. Moderation and self control are lovely theories, but lack of opportunity to lapse works better.
Phil, there is nothing you can do about the passage of time but you have a lot of control over what it does to you. 42 is a good age -stay there as long as you can.
Ah temptation! I have just had a week in Lisbon, during which were the Portuguese National Day and the feast day of the patron Saint of Lisbon. The week was festive, leading up to a carnival on which the one in Rio is based, Brazil being a former Portuguese colony. The carnival coincided with my birthday. Pure luck, I didn’t know until I got there. No prizes for guessing who put on weight. Fortunately I walked miles very day so it was only 4 lb.
+1 to the 5/2 regime.
I’m 50, and started out at 118 kg and been bouncing around for the last 5 years.. got down to 97 then back up to 112, then down to 97 again but crept up to 102kg which is my starting weight for this. My goal is 85 kg which is somewhere I haven’t been since I was in my 20s.
I work on a 28/28 rotation on a camp with little control of what food is prepared, I just have to make the best choices I can from what is available, so I have decided to do ADF while I’m away at work and back to 5/2 when I’m home with the family.
I’m just starting my second week, and the fasts haven’t been too bad so far, I’m managing to get pretty close to 600 a day, as far as I can guess. Hunger hasn’t been too much of a problem on the fast day and I seem to feel hungrier on my feed days. I’m down from 102.5 to 101.4 so far.
Tracking my daily calories on Myfitnesspal so I don’t blow out on my feed days or fast days.
It will be interesting to see what happens when I get home and go to 5/2 with the temptation of a glass of wine and a beer.
Penguin, I’m planning a trip to Portugal and Spain in the fall. The food there is amazing and I’m sure I’m going to come home carrying a few extra lbs!
Andy, welcome to the crew. I allow myself a small glass of wine on NFD’s and it hasn’t seemed to screw things up. Fasting has really helped me get a handle on understanding when I’m really hungry and not just wanting to stuff my face. I’m much better on portion control and slowing down to savor my food.
Handyandy9x. Welcome.
jpplov. Well done! A BMI of 25 is what we are all aiming for. Haven’t heard from you for a while, glad it is going well.
Diverdog. Both great countries. It was my first time in Lisbon but I spend 5-6 weeks a year in Portugal and I always put on weight. It is those little custard tarts that turn up for breakfast (and the beer). Not the easiest language for a northern European to learn, but I’m making progress.
Gents, hope all is going well
I’m happy to report that after my ‘stall’ week of weight not moving I’m now back on the downward trajectory and have reached the milestone of 82.2kg. This represents a big bad weight loss of 10 kilos since I started after Easter. I’m going to repeat that for myself: 10 Kilos
I’m looking to break through the 80 barrier by end of month
Can’t honestly remember my weight being as low as this in 15 years or so
Definitely a changed attitude to food with a ‘everything has a price which enters my mouth’ type mentality. I’m even managing to sneak a few Single Malt night caps in despite that last sentence so not overly strict
Gent’s today is one month on 5:2 for me. My goal is to loose 17 lbs of fat in 3 months.
I’m 64 YO 5′ 10″ Starting weight 182.2 lbs, waist 37.5. Today 173.8 lbs waist 36.25.
Loss 8.4 lbs 1.25″. Clothes are feeling looser and I’m very pleased. I wonder if I can hit my goal in just 2 months?
BTW I tried 2 FD in a row because I was overly generous on a couple of NFDs. It wasn’t too hard to manage. The first one was a HIIT exercise day and I didn’t have any issues with exercise and fasting
Ok just joined the site and have been doing pretty much just 18:6 eating after midday and lost 16kg in 16 weeks after being 114kg now 98kg & 185cm tall/51yrs old. I haven’t been strict all week and sometimes have breakfast on weekends but the weight loss has started to slow to about 0.7-0.8kg a week so maybe I’ll try the 600 or less calories twice a week?
jpplov. Well done. that is a serious milestone. That is the sort of news that keeps us all going.
dogsrus. Welcome. 16kg in 16 weeks is impressive. The loss is bound to slow down after that. 600 cal twice a week may speed you up again but if not, many would find a consistent 0.8kg a week to be acceptable.
Just checking in, I’ve begun my Thursday fast which is usually an ‘it is easier to simply not eat’ day. From here on in (Thursday night, haven’t eaten since 18h30) it’ll just be water until breakfast Friday morning at 6h30. That’s a good 36 hours that will bring me some ketosis and autophagy. The former I am less concerned about as I am just a pound or two from my destination weight; it is for the latter that I am doing this so I can have a healthier older age.
Turned 42 last week and went to the Rush concert to celebrate my birthday. Was a great trip back memory lane.
Hi guys, new to the forum but been on 5:2 since Jan 2014
Started off to support my wife, but found it quite easy to follow – never really considered myself as overweight but being relatively small – 5ft 7 – found that I didn’t carry the extra lbs well and probably peaked at around 12 stone +.
Over the last 18 months I’ve lost well over a stone and now weigh just under 11 stone – so pretty much at a cross roads as my motivation for staying on the plan isn’t there and I find it easier to cheat on fast days.
Doing a 6:1 feels like cheating but doing two fast days is getting harder not easier !
Some questions that I would love your responses / thoughts to
. How long do you realistically think you can stick to the diet
. What is the best way to distract yourself when you are ready to cheat ( I work in a City and quite often the lure of a lunch & a couple of beers with friends is difficult to resist )
. Is there any way of finding what your ideal weight should be
There are some great stories on here and to some extent has motivated me to carry on – it may be the kick up the arse I needed
Hi Sparky,
I’ve been doing 5:2 since April of this year and have lost 10lbs, and like you, I’m not overweight and relatively small – 5ft 8. I’ve dropped from 152 lbs to 142lbs, both of which gave me a pretty good BMI.
The key for me to keep doing this, is, as I understand it, there are two processes happening within us when we fast, one is ketosis and the other is autophagy. The ketosis is what helps us lose weight, while the autophagy is what can help us be healthier, especially into our older years. The fasting/autophagy part hasn’t been thoroughly examined scientifically in people, however in mice it was found to extend their life span significantly.
As there is Alzheimers in my family, I’m following the 5:2 to try to counter that. Given this, my plan is to stick to the diet perpetually, though I may flip to 6:1 or 16:8 and if I find my weight is creeping up again, go back to 5:2 for a little while.
My experience with temptation often is related to how much sleep I’ve had. If I’ve had a good night of sleep the night that begins my fast day, usually I can stave off the temptation fairly easily simply by reminding myself that it is a fast day, so there is to be no eating. If I have had insufficient sleep, and it is especially bad if I have had insufficient sleep for a few days in a row, that is when I find it is harder. On those days I mostly do not resist the temptation but do my very best to make food decisions that are lower calorie.
As for ideal weight, I know that between the ages of 17 and 35 I weighed 140lbs with very little variability. Between the ages of 35 and 41 I gained the 12 lbs gradually. Given this, my goal is to get back to 140 lbs and try to stay there.
My guess is that as a general rule, any weight that is within your ‘Normal BMI Range’ should be fine, and if you want to have a way to pick an exact weight, find the middle point of BMI for Normal Weight and aim for that. For example, the normal weight BMI value is from 18.5 to 24.9 and the midpoint of that is 21.7. Given this you could aim for about 9st 13lbs.
Sparky. I have been doing 5:2 on and off since the first TV programme. I am 6ft 5in tall and have lost 35 lbs. Another 7 lbs will give me my target. After that it will be a matter of maintaining that weight. I get fat very easily, so I suspect I will be doing 5:2 for ever, which is fine because I feel good doing it.
Here is a variable that I have never seen discussed. My body tells me when it thinks I am too heavy. There has always been a weight threshold at which my body hurts. Over the last 20 years that threshold has reduced. It is now about 21 lbs less than it was. Perhaps that doesn’t need a comment; I’m just 20 years older and the body is wearing out!
I’ve just started this diet, im 40 187cm tall and three years ago hit 16 stone the heaviest ive ever been. I started a lot more exercising and eating fairly ok and managed to get that down to 14 Stone but since about a year ago i just yoyo between 14 and 14 1/2 stone. Im still exercising so trying to address my eating using this plan. Started Tuesday 23rd and this is my first fast day so far had one banana and one slice of brown toast and a lot of water which i need to train myself to drink even on non fast days
Just stuck my nose into this thread. My OH is on this WOL, he being the main reason I am on this regime. He has lost just over 6 kg in 4 months. Can’t remember him ever being under 90 kg since he started putting on weight 30 years ago.Slowly yes but we are in this for the long haul. He does not want to diet 7 days a week so he ” sucks it up ” for 2 . We both just eat one evening meal around 500 cals. The other 5 days we eat healthy, but he also enjoys a beer or 2 and a few snacks. We don’t keep tabs on things the other 5. Losing weight by default is how we look at this WOL. I am the lightest I have been in 26 years I besides the 2 day fasting am eating heaps. Therefore starting 6:1 as I have lost 4 kgs, 2kg of which I didn’t really need to, but is a nice buffer.
We will just keep at this till whenever and as I am readjusting his goal to maybe 85kgs. Will take months but who cares we are loving this for versatility, ease and doable for the long haul.
Wraggy, welcome. I agree with Diverdog about the need for some protein, especially if you are exercising. Today is a fast day and my evening meal will be grilled kipper (Smoked herring to those not familiar). However, breakfast was half a grapefruit and half an orange. Lunch was an apple and a small banana. With the kipper that will be about 450 calories total, which leaves enough for a single malt before I eat. Diverdog is right – some foods are better than others but I take whatever I fancy. I work on the theory that if I have less than 600 cal I will lose weight regardless of what those 600 cals are. I’m down 35 lbs so far and nearing my target. Whatever works for you.
jpplov. No gain is the thing, a very slight decrease is still a decrease. We have time for this.
Secret Poster. We have had a female company before, feel free. Your approach sounds fine – this is not a short term diet, it is a life style and it has to be something we can live with.
So far so good for me today, first fast day of the week, second to be on Wednesday.
This past weekend we (my wife, kids and I) went to a BBQ and I over ate and yet the next morning I weighed a little less than I had the previous day. The day to day weights are sometimes a little funny, but when I told her that my weight was a bit lower she didn’t really appreciate that too much.
I’ve tried to talk to her about doing the 5.2 with me, but she doesn’t feel she can do the fasting – she says she likes food too much. I suppose I can occasionally drop a hint that she should try this.
Phil. I get weighed every day and the results are sometimes weird. There can be a time lag – yesterday’s overeating won’t show until tomorrow. If I was careful the day before, I can show a loss after over-eating. The main advantage of weighing daily is that on non-fast days it reminds me of what I am trying to do. The occasional fluctuations average out.
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5:30 am
24 May 15