Has anyone experienced weight gain?

This topic contains 1 reply, has 3 voices, and was last updated by NorthGeorgia 4 years, 4 months ago.

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RyeMiller

8:45 am
18 Jul 20
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Hi all,

My wife and her sister have been practicing the 5-2 for a while now, mainly to maintain. They’re both in great shape so I’ve seen first hand how this diet can work. I only just read into the various health benefits of this diet, alongside the ability to lose/maintain weight so I wanted to give it a go.

For a bit of background;

Over several months, I’ve went from 20st 11lbs (I certainly let myself go!) down to 17st3 (on Tuesday 14th July). This has been a combination of a fairly strict calorie intake (roughly 2,200 a day seemed to be my sweet spot for success – 20/25% fat, 35-40% carbs and protein, logged via MyPlate), and various exercises.

I’m doing a mix of Shaun T’s T25 (Just finished week 10, without missing a day), weight&resistance training, and simple low impact cardio (walking mainly). The weight loss has slowed down in recent weeks, but that’s to be expected.

According to my FitBit, I burn on average 5,000 calories a day – I know this has to be taken with a substantial pinch of salt, it has a tolerance range of at least 20%. So let’s just say 3,500 calories max – this seems to tie in with BMR calculations for my profile.

I tried a fast day (500 calories I stuck to, basically a salad and some chicken) on Monday the 13th, the day itself went well. Since then I switched back to my calorie counting diet and haven’t “cheated” as it were, eating exactly as I have been for the past several months. However every subsequent day since then I’ve gained 1lb in body weight – as of this morning I’m 4lbs heavier and showing the weight I was two weeks ago.

Has anyone else experienced this? I’m feeling a tad demoralised to be honest, at face value it’s put me back two weeks.

Thanks,
Ry

Mr Data

9:45 pm
19 Jul 20
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Hi Ry,

I’ve been 5:2ing for almost 7.5 years and in that time I’ve certainly had weight gains. During the first 6 months when I went from 94.3 kg down to 77.6 kg I had a dispiriting day 10 when having been 93.4 or lower since starting I went back up to 93.9 kg – almost back to where I’d started. However the next day I’d lost 1.2 kg. I had at least two other occasions later on where I plateaued for a while and I certainly have many days when my weight is higher than the day before. Weight does seem to vary a lot from day to day in both directions. Hopefully if you stick with it then in a little while you’ll see the weight dropping off steadily.

Best of luck.

RyeMiller

1:55 pm
20 Jul 20
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Understood, thanks for sharing your experience. It’s always difficult seeing the weight go back up but as you say, it’s realistically inevitable. I’ll simply remain consistent and it’ll hopefully work itself our!

NorthGeorgia

5:36 pm
20 Jul 20
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I’ve only been on the 5:2 for a little over two months, but I’ve noticed the weight loss seems to have slowed a bit this month. There were a couple of weeks this month where I gained two or three pounds back after the last fasting day and before next week’s fasting days! I think my body is trying to hold on to more water since it has gotten really hot around here. I, too, feel frustrated when I see I hit a massive low of 255 lbs. on July 2, only to be right back at 255 lbs. today!

However, if I analyze week by week, my weight does seem to be heading downward. I wonder if the weight training in your case is adding muscle mass, which weighs heavier?

I had tried the restricted daily calorie method, and I would have some success for a few months, but was never able to stick with it long term. I would start inexplicably gaining weight rapidly without really changing my eating habits. I’m sure that demoralized me and I started caring less and less each time about my diet, until my weight would skyrocket again. If it works for you, that’s really good — maybe wait another week and see if this is a temporary fluctuation due to gaining muscle mass, hot weather, etc?

I could never get it to work for me long-term; following the 5:2 on the 500 calorie limit fast days seems to be the only thing that has worked for me. I always use the sedentary TDEE, no matter my exercise pattern. Maybe if you’re not seeing results by next week you could try doing 5:2 exclusively for a couple of weeks to see if there’s a difference?