Best approach for long-term weight loss?

This topic contains 3 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by CarlosCont 9 years, 11 months ago.

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

atlas

6:58 pm
1 Jul 13
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Hello!

I’m new to posting in the forum, but have read many posts before to get some inspiration to kick-start my 5:2 experience.

I’ve gained around one stone in just over two months. My BMI has gone from 21 to 26.6 (as of today) and this, of course, is not a healthy pattern.

I am really trying to get into the diet to get back into shape and most importantly stay in a healthy weight range. My impression is that the fast diet is an effective and healthy way of losing the extra weight and maintaining that loss.

My question, though, is what do you find to be the best routine for your calorie intake? As I am serious about losing weight, I am considering using a little bit more rigorous approach: fast days twice a week, as per the official diet; two ‘feast’ days a week; and the remaining three days on a ‘semi-feast’ approach, restricting calorific intake to between 1000 and 1200 calories a day and being sensible with what I eat (avoiding heavy carbs and unnecessary fats). Do you think this is an effective and more importantly safe diet to follow? Like I said, I want to lose weight and keep it off but I don’t want to bounce.

Do you have any tips for tailoring your diet to your circumstances? Many thanks.

jojo58

2:52 pm
6 Mar 14
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Hello,
I have been on the diet since January and lost one stone, previously I was with weight watchers and working on my own with a maximum of 1200 calories. It took me a year to lose one stone on that combination. So I am quite pleased with Fasting. However you cannot necessarily work out what is working for you unless you monitor it very carefully. Officially as I come under the category of active because I do sport (badminton, swim, dance or gym) or walking(dogs)for a minimum of two hours 4 to 5 times per week I should be able to eat over 2000 calories on non fast days. If I eat over 1000 I do not lose weight, I weigh daily as I am looking into food tolerances. My slow weight loss considering I am so active is probably because I have been a long term dieter on a healthy diet so I am not making major changes to my lifestyle. I lose one pound per week or maintain, it’s sad but true, it will be a long journey with almost 6 stones to loose. Make sure you are not food intolerant, one of my staples, salmon was causing me to hold on to weight, I switched to sea bream, no issue now. Good luck!

TracyJ

3:15 pm
6 Mar 14
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Hi Atlas, There’s really no need to be overly restrictive on any non-fastday and if you want to stick with this longterm, rather than get fed-up with it and ‘fall off the waggon’ because it’s too draconian, then that’s probably not the best approach.

Don’t look for a ‘quick fix’ – this is NOT that for most people – it’s a lifestyle. Also, don’t think of non-fastdays as ‘feast’ days – they are not. You can eat WHATEVER you like on this lifestyle but not as MUCH as you like without there being consequences.

The important thing is to find a way that works for you and that you are happy and comfortable to follow long-term.

Work out your BMR & TDEE (‘How’ Tab above), eat your fastday calorie allowance, spread out however will best work for you, 2 days a week. On the non-fastdays make sure you eat comfortably somewhere between your BMR and your TDEE if you want to lose weight. You don’t need to obsessively calorie count, as long as you know you’re comfortably somewhere in between those 2 numbers.

You might not see weight loss right away, so don’t freak out if that’s the case. Some do, some don’t – everyone reacts differently and the main thing is to settle into the lifestyle and worry about weight loss later. The health benefits are worth doing 5:2 just for themselves.

Auriga

5:43 pm
7 Jun 14
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Well I have been on 4:3 (5:2 didn’t work for me, being 63yrs of age my metabolism was slow) for nine months now and lost weight steadily (1 pound a week) until I reached my target at the end of February. I would recommend this way of eating very highly and I am still maintaining my new lower weight easily!
This is a very safe and effective ‘diet’ with many health benefits.

franfit

6:17 pm
7 Jun 14
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Auriga, that ‘coaching’ post looks like spam to me 😉

CarlosCont

5:47 am
9 Jun 14
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You can help stop overeating and maintain blood sugar levels by eating a little about every three hours. Getting too hungry will backfire on your planning on eating healthy and diet control.