That’s a common reaction. Hadnt seen some friends in quite a few months and he looked genuinely worried and said, You haven’t got the big C have you?
This topic contains 842 replies, has 80 voices, and was last updated by penguin 4 years, 7 months ago.
If you want to stop a conversation dead in its tracks say “yes”. I had been losing steadily for a couple years before I had 12 inches of my interior removed in surgery for colon cancer in January. Then I put on weight – the post surgery recommended diet seems to consist of all of the things 5:2 suggests you should not eat. I’m fine now but I have an extra 10 lb to lose.
Hi everyone, I thought I would join this thread because I’m a bloke and all the other threads seem to be mainly women. I’m 50 years old, 5ft 10in tall and weigh 21st 9lbs. I started the fast diet on Saturday weighing 21st 11lbs, my TDEE is just over 3000 calories because I do a bit of exercise every day and on my fast day (Monday, because my neighbour and myself have a big Sunday lunch in a local pub every week) I don’t eat anything, just drink water. I’m going to stick to the 6:1 for the time being and limit my calories to 2500 per day as don’t want to overdo it and put myself off. My ultimate goal is 14st but I’m going to aim for 20st in three months to start.
Hello NSJim. Just wondering how your first week went? This thread’s been very quiet recently. I’m roughly the same age, height as you; but didn’t have anywhere near as much weight to lose. It’s still taken me almost 6 months to reach my goal though. And that was through doing 5:2 & sometimes 4:3 + exercise. Doing 6:1 it’ll take you forever. Just bite the bullet & try 5:2. It really does get easier. But welcome to the forum, & I wish you all the best reaching your goal.
This thread has been very quiet recently so it is good to hear some new voices. Welcome. The question of 6:1, 5:2, 4:3. has been debated a lot over the last couple of years, with some throwing in the belief that confining your eating to limited hours works. There are also those who believe in a TDEE of zero on fasting days. Whatever works for you. Let us know how it goes.
Merryme. My wife is doing it as well, but doesn’t go on the forum! Not that she ever had as much to lose as me but she is very pleased with the results and a total convert. However, I haven’t entirely persuaded her that low fat and semi-skimmed milk is not the way to go. She was for some years a follower of Rosemary Conley whose low-fat system took weight off but didn’t keep it off. My own belief is that 600 calories of anything on a fasting day will work and there are roughly the same calories in a small whisky as there are in a hard boiled egg, although I do accept that the egg is probably healthier.
hi there for a while there I though I was the only man on this site, been doing this started at a weight of 134.5 kgs about six weeks ago now and now done to 124.8 kgs I am 193 cm and would be happy with a goal weight of around 100kgs, I put all my weight on when I stopped working as a construction worker, but continued to eat like one and never stopped for twenty years, been fasting 3 days a weeks and watching what I eat really carefully, found my taste buds have changed a lot went to have a sausage roll and a piece of deep fired fish the other day took one bite of each and throw them away as they tasted horrible
Been really scared of portion control, so have been eating frozen dinners on may fasting day and packaged soup on my fasting day how do other count your calories ?
Have a lot more energy so that all good and the wife is happier with my reducing belly she is trying it too but she is a lot skinner than I am
Starting to have issue with my worked clothes the girls are starting to call me the best dressed hobo as even my formely skinny shirts are now swimming on me
Well that me rugby for the kids today south Island school final for my second son
Hi Hagar and welcome:
Congratulations on your success so far! Now the hard work comes – staying with it until you get to your goal.
I don’t count calories on my fast days because I fast – don’t eat anything. It is easy because I don’t have to count calories, I lose weight faster because I’m cutting more calories out of my diet, and I don’t get hungry.
Here are some tips: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/
Good Luck!
Used to be lots of us chatting regularly but I guess people either hit their targets or gave up. Taste changes happen to all of us – there are quite a few things I liked when I started that i don’t go for now, and the other way – I have taught myself to enjoy the occasional salad. On my fasting days I eat mostly fruit, sometimes eggs and I like Norwegian style pickled herring. It is easy to work out the calories in those and I aim to be well under 600 cal. I no longer feel hungry if I keep down to 350 cal for two consecutive days. The other five days I have no trouble keeping to my TDEE because I like to cook which means I have total control over what goes into my food. My weaknesses are whisky and ginger nuts. I’m fine as long as there isn’t any of either in the house.
I think you are right. There are hundreds of threads for the girls but before jpplov started this one a couple of years ago I wasn’t aware of one for the guys. There are now a couple of others. I also follow “Does anyone here exercise?” A lot of the female ones seem to have become on line friendships rather than info exchanges. It could also be that women are more aware of the need to keep their weight under control.
I just started 3 weeks ago and have lost about 2 lbs. (somewhat disappointing). I’m a Yank, 69 years old, 6 ft. Tall and ballooned to 220 lbs. after 2 back operations last year. I like how I feel after a fast day and think I need to exercise more control over calories on the non fast days. My aim is to avoid diabetes, heart disease, joint replacement and to hit the golf ball 50 more yards, as all my golf magazines promise, issue after issue! I’m glad that we have a guy’s blog – very different than the ladies. Hope you all stay with the program and give us all hope for a healthier life.
2 lbs is still a start. We all lose at different rates. Even if the weight loss is slow, that feeling after fasting is worth it. I have had my kids, grandchildren and their dogs for the weekend – too much eating by all of us and I feel heavy and sluggish. Tomorrow is day one of my Mon/Tues fast and I am looking forward to it. Mid-week I’ll shoot some clays and because I will feel sharper i’ll shoot better.
Denn,
About a pound per week is average. Need a lot more details before I can actually say anything about how its going for you. Are you doing two days per week? Are you doing a water fast or just trying to eat 1/4 TDEE? Describe what a typical days food intake is. If you want to take this seriously then you will need to eliminate sugar. Sugar in any form is toxic to the system. Cut out simple carbs that are grain based. No bread, pasta, pizza rice etc. No potatoes, fries etc. No fruit juice!!! Fruit juice isn’t healthy for you. You want fruit, eat a whole piece of fruit. Stick to the berry type fruits. No bananas, too much sugar content. Eat fruit in moderation. Get most of your carbs from veggies. Protein from some chicken, tuna, tofu. Some red meat in moderation. Limit alcohol consumption to a few glasses per week. Alcohol is 7 cal per gram must be processed by the liver and stored as fat. Every glass you drink is going to fat storage.
Im 5’10” was 202 lbs, down to 156 pounds over the course of one year. Been in maintenance mode since March this year. It works. How well it works is up to you.
OK, I admit it, I am a woman but I jump on here sometimes because my husband does 5/2 and lost masses of weight last year on it. What he does is the same as me. Eats protein mainly on fast days. Boiled egg at lunch and eye fillet and basic boring salad at dinner plus the odd other thing as he gets more calories than me.
The rest of the time he will have a glass of wine at night and eat normally but definitely cut back on carbs on NF days. Carbs, much as he loves them, makes us more hungry and also seems to slow the weight loss.
Most people find that fasting decreases the appetite on other days. You are dead right Big Booty in your advice.
We are trying to have alcohol only on weekends and social occasions now. The problem is that many people’s idea of normal eating actually isn’t. You have to eat like the time before we had takeaway, alcohol as an everyday thing, and giant portions. Remember when treats were treats?
My husband will sometimes take a 100gms of almonds to work as a snack.
Good luck.
Way to go uptight even if you’ve been pretending to be a man. Just keep doing what your doing. Dieting franchises must hate this 5:2 lifestyle because anyone can do it and you don’t need to buy anything. In fact you tend to buy a lot less food. How on earth can any of those dieting franchises make any money out of this concept?
Yes the super size me concept has a lot to answer for. And a treat that you have every day isn’t a treat!! Its a food staple. Funny how people have confused that concept.
Sorry bigbooty – on fasting days I eat:
Breakfast: Half a grapefruit, half an orange. My wife, who is also fasting, has the other halves.
Lunch: Apple and banana or sometimes a few lettuce leaves with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Evening: More fruit. Occasionally a few pieces of pickled herring (Norwegian style) or a hard boiled egg and a small piece of bread or a crisp bread. I may permit myself a small whisky.
I do this because I like fruit and because I believe that when fasting the number of calories is more important than what they are. The other five days I eat whole oat porridge with a spoonful of honey for breakfast and fruit for lunch. My main meal is nearer your style – I grow most of my own veg, eat more fish than red meat and in spite off the odd whisky on fasting days, my alcohol consumption is moderate. I stopped using sugar 40 years ago and no longer like the taste. I do the cooking, no bought in packets – everything from scratch, and make my own bread, so I have total control over what goes into my meals. I totally agree about fruit juice – I used to make my own until I realised that one glass had about five apples in it, with no fibre and all that sugar!
I am down over 40 lbs so far, 10 lbs more would be good.
Penguin,
Your doing pretty good. If youre still losing weight then just keep doing what youre doing. If you want to tweak it some more then perhaps try the following. Bananas have a lot of sugar 12-14%. Try swapping it for strawberries 5% or avocadoes <1% or cranberries 4%. Fruit not surprisingly contains fructose. Fructose is unable to be utilised by the body as an energy substrate. It is sent to the liver and stored as fat. Here is a website that has a good list of fruits and their sugar content.
http://thepaleodiet.com/fruits-and-sugars/
Not sure if I fully agree with what you are saying about the number of calories being more important than what they are. If I had to eat 500 cals on my fast day Id be happy eating 500 cal of cheese. Not sure Id be happy eating 500 cal of chocolates. Id prefer to eat whatever food caused the least blood glucose spike.
Porridge (most grains) are already being broken down into simple sugars in your mouth before you’ve even had a chance to swallow. I personally don’t like grains but cant say I never have any. I do however try my best to limit them to an absolute minimum. I think the medicinal value of honey has been over spruiked. Its just basically glucose and fructose plus a little bit of water and minerals. I do think it can help with supressing allergies but only if the honey is sourced from where you live as it will contain the allergens you are reacting to.
Down 40 pounds is fantastic. I got to 45/46 and called it quits. Really don’t want to lose any more. Well done and keep going!!
I couldn’t do 500 cal of chocolate either, in fact I seem to have totally lost interest in it. Porridge generally and packaged breakfast cereals I don’t go for, I eat the rolled/whole grain variety. There is some evidence that it is good for your cholesterol level (although the weight loss has radically reduced all my adverse readings). Honey because I like it in small amounts and the local honey seems to be good for hay fever. My wife, who gets arthritis, swears by Manuka honey, and a particular brand at that. I’m not convinced we are not talking placebo, but placebos work. I like fruit, grow my own apples, pears, gooseberries, raspberries, loganberries and figs, but banana is my only really sugary one. I also eat rice, usually brown, but not more than once a week. Lentils, beans, split peas are useful. The bread I make has wholemeal flour in it. I like natural fibres in my food.
I had surgery for colon cancer in January and the food I could eat for the first few weeks post-op was horrendous – white bread, white rice, mashed potato – anything bland, easily digested and unchallenging. I put on 10 lbs, which is why I still have 10 to lose.
I have been following the forum for a few years and the variety of opinions on the best food is interesting and usually sensible – unlike the TV which seems to haves a new superfood every week and the women’s magazines which are still talking detox. If I had to confine myself to one regime, I would go for the Mediterranean diet – plenty of variety, tasty and generally agreed to be very healthy.
Well done on your 45-46 lbs, that is an excellent result.
Hello gents, this has been a major year for travel for me so I haven’t been on line much. I’m glad to see the regulars an some new folks on here. I haven’t been doing to well with eating and exercise and my weight is up 15lbs to 185. I feel pretty good but I know I’ll feel much better when the extra fat comes off.
So I’m starting 4:3 today ever though I’m off to Mykonos and Prague in two weeks I’m going to stick with it.
I find that empty carbs like cereal and bread make me hungry and really slow down fat loss. I eat lots of veggies and some berries and cherries but unlike most here my major source of calories is from fat. Eggs, avocados, sardines, grass fed meats & butter, olive oil, coconut oil etc. I fee great when I eat this way and my vitals & blood chems are outstanding.
Hi August and welcome:
Here are some tips that might help: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/
Good Luck!
First week of 4:3 with an 8 hour compressed eating schedule in the books. Results: – 6 lbs, – 1.6% BF and -3/4″ off waist. Exercise was: 2 HIIT spins, 2 whole body weight workouts averaged 14K steps a day. Results are: – 6 lbs, – 1.6% BF and -3/4″ off waist. Week two will be more challenging as I will be traveling again.
Well I thought I’d add another man to the post. I started the diet 3 weeks ago.
I’m actually nearly the same build and age as M Moseley before he started his diet – 5′ 11″, 84,9Kg, waistline 102cm and a BMI of 26.8. So a little overweight. It’s starting to feel unconfortable and be noticed. A bit of cholesterol but blood sugar fine.
Discovered this diet this summer while at my sister’s where I leafed through the book and I’m into the 3rd week now. Summer is when I really pile the weight on and after 3 weeks of good food and beer this vacation, something had to be done.
Results so far are good. I’ve been strict and to be honest I haven’t felt hungry at all. Sleeping better too. The last 2 weekends have been pretty boozy but I’ve really kept my eye on what I eat. No chocolate. No cake. No biscuits. Little meat and loads of veg and salad.
It’s the portion sizes that have amazed me. I didn’t realize just how much I had been eating. Double sized cereal in the morning for example. 2 slabs of chocolate with my coffee or 3/4 biscuits.
Anyway already down to 82.2kg this morning – that’s 2.7kg less but BMI still over 25.. Lost 3cm on waistline too.
Target is 78kg. I’m sure I’ve just lost the beer fat from the summer and that it will now get harder.
Also started cycling again. May need some advice on that. How to keep energy to do sport while fasting.
I’m doing this with my wife who has 10kg to lose. She’s not losing it as fast as I am. But doing it together is much easier. She can’t go totally without lunch on fast days whereas I just work through.
We’ll see how long we can keep it up. I’m not sure I can make this a life choice but it beats the cabbage diet hands down so far.
Takes about a month before your liver starts working well and is able to access stored fats and convert them into ketones and de novo gluconeogenesis at a fast enough rate. I bike ride as well. If your prepared to ride at about 80% of what you normally ride at then it shouldn’t be a problem. Using stored fats as your fuel source, the conversion process is slower than using glucose and glycogen. With training you can push this up to 90% or higher. Chris Froome trains in a ketotic state to give him an edge. Not comparing him to me, just saying its possible.
Re : cycling, I wonder if I should cycle the same day that I fast – using energy from the day’s previous food (if it works like that) or cycle the day after the fast – where I might be a little tired.
The aim of the cycling is general aerobic fitness although if you have a cyclemeter you can’t help trying to beat the last time.
I haven’t looked at HIT yet altough I have added 2O sec sprints every other lap.
I can’t do more than that. It kills me.
I’m not too sure whether I should still eat the energy tubes I carry for longer rides. I’m guessing that the 1000cal I burn in an hour cycling will eliminate the cals from the tubes but I will have benefitted from the carbs.
And I’ve added a carrot. A replica Team GB olympic cycling jersey ONLY to be worn when stomach is gone and under 8Okg.
Frankly I’ve never been interested in nutrition but it’s a fascinating subject to discover.
If you have depleted your glycogen stores from the previous day then they will be topped up while you sleep by the liver accessing stored fats. The catch is that they will never be topped up 100%. Maybe 80% full. The remaining top up comes from carbs. That said if you cycle less than one hour then you should have enough glycogen stores to last the one hour even on a fast day. If you do eventually run out before the end of your ride be prepared to hit the wall and bonk. You’ll know when it happens as you will fall of the energy cliff. It would be completely self defeating having an energy/glucose drink on your fast day as it would stop dead your fat burning. Best to just ride at 80%.
Home from a 6 day mini holiday at a friend’s cottage. Ate with abandon after starting off remaining on track…found myself consuming what food was available at irregular times. Very hard to keep a separate “kitchen” life when at someone else’s residence; NFD eating fell apart,I missed a FD, and ate comfort food I usually do not have in my home. Weight bounced from 85.5 to 87.2 kilos, would have been higher but helping build a new dock burned some calories.
Summer is really over!
Well August2024, I know how it feels. You just have to resist although 6 days is a while.
I was taking photos for a conference wednesday night in a top hotel. Champagne, wine, terrine, foie gras, spanish ham, you name it and then the desert tray arrived and was breathtaking !
I stayed away from that and “just” succombed to 2 glasses of wine and a few slices of spanish ham. Before I would have stuffed myself. But then it was just one night of temptation.
Courage ! Get back in there !
Thanks David V, I can relate to your comments; in a prior corporate life I traveled extensively internationally staying at top Hotels, sometimes “in residence” for extended periods and overindulging but it started catching up with me. I think I was saved from total ruin by periods in various parts of Asia where I gradually adopted a more veg based diet.
86.1 kilos today after a FD yesterday. My goal today is <TDEE while my September month end goal is a sustainable <85.
Today is Saturday and weekends are usually a challenge but I hope to eat mindfully and not indulgently or emotionally.Stayed <TDEE yesterday, BF % down slightly. Plan is to stay at or <TDEE today. Next scheduled FD is Monday. I am focusing on this not being a diet but a life style change. Exercise component is still not established aside from increased walking.
Agree weekends are difficult. After a really good week wife and I had a long planned meal with friends in a moraccan resto last (friday) night. I knew I would regret it. Too much, too rich. We should have just changed the venue. I feel it has wiped out this whole week.
I stayed off the wine to reduce rhe damage. Cycling tomorrow though !
LOL at “edible”
Very quiet NFD spent mostly indoors yesterday pretending to be productive; ate at TDEE level or just above, consequently scale reading up slightly at first thing in the am. My “Vampire Eating”, after dark, of oil popped salted popcorn with olive oil most likely the reason. It was quite literally a “dark and stormy” night so I gave into a comfort snack as I mindlessly watched TV.
On the plus side, I did do light upper body weight sets as per a schedule I set for exercise.
If I may make a comment : I think you’re weighing yourself too often.
Your weight will go up and down during the week.
As this is a long term goal, I would weigh yourself only once a week.
Say you fast monday and thursday, weigh yourself friday morning.
It’s cheating a bit because it will probably be the lowest weight of the week.
But everyone needs cheering on…
If you weigh yourself monday after a social weekend, you know what’ll happen.
And as for social, it’s always going to be difficult. I don’t think you can do snacks AND booze – or not too often. If a good scotch has the same calorie count as 2 cookies and a handfull of peanuts, then I know where my choice lies.
Yes you may;all good points that are appreciated. As a newbie I may be a bit over cautious (zealous maybe) as new habits are established, plus a bit excited as I see some tangible results. Once a week weigh sounds like a good idea as I am in for the long haul with sustainable changes.
Hope you enjoyed your bike ride on the weekend.
There are two schools of thought (probably more) on the question of how often to weigh yourself. One of those universities who study things like this did some research which indicated that those who weigh themselves most often are more likely to succeed. However, David V’s view seems to be the consensus on this forum. When I started I weighed myself so often that I know that weight varies during the day and at what time of day I will be heaviest. So whichever view you take, I suggest that you adopt a standard time for the scales. For me it is first thing in the morning, because I will be 3 lbs heavier at night!
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Michael is touring Australia this September! Here's a link to dates and tickets. Hope to see you there.
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10 Jun 16