Hi :)

This topic contains 16 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by Nika 10 years, 5 months ago.

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gemma29

11:46 am
22 Nov 13
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Hey I’m Gemma, I’m 20 years old and I’ve been on the Fast Diet for about a week now.

Basically I was always overweight as a child and then I started yo-yo-ing from about the age of 14. When I was 18 I hit my highest weight of 196lbs and decided that I needed to start eating healthily and exercising more. I had a complete turn around and in that year dropped to around 151lbs. However in 2013 I have not lost any net weight, fluctuating between 151-156lbs.
I want to lose that last bit but seem to have hit an ultimate plateau. Then recently I’ve started seeing someone and we’ve been eating out a lot and that on top of other social situations meant that it became impossible for me to lose weight.
My co-worker introduced this diet to me. He said it’s relatively simple and provides greater health benefits than just losing weight. Always one to try and improve my health, I decided to give this diet a go and thus far have found it’s fitting in with my lifestyle quite well!

I’d appreciate any tips and support you could give 🙂

Thank you!

cc79

1:32 pm
22 Nov 13
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Hi Gemma and welcome!
I’m Claire, 34 years old and have been doing this for 8 weeks now. I don’t weigh in until Monday so in 7 weeks I lost 7 pounds. Not really a quick loss but steady and I’m in this for the long-haul!
Congratulations on your weight loss so far, that’s absolutely brilliant, I’m sure you’re really proud of yourself! You should think of this as a way of life now rather than a diet because you don’t want to undo your good work – I know I’ve been yo-yoing for years. The great thing is you can tailor the fast days around your lifestyle and still have a meal out on a non-fast day.. result 😉
You will find loads of advice and tips on these forums, nearly every query you will ever have has been discussed here and everyone is very positive and supportive – no trolls 🙂
My main advice would be to use the TDEE calculator on here to work out what cals you’re allowed on a normal day – you will find it if you hover over the “How?” tab at the top of the screen – and try to stick to eating a little less than what it says. How did you find your first fasts? It’s a little scary but once you’ve done it a few times it becomes less so – I used to panic eat on a night before a fast in case I would be too hungry in the morning! But guess what – I was hungry in the morning anyway lol

gemma29

1:55 pm
22 Nov 13
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Hi Claire 🙂

The first few fasts have been fine- I’m actually on a fast today and I’d say this has been the hardest one thus far!
It has definitely changed my appetite as well- I had some Haagen Dasz ice cream the other day and found I put the tub down a lot earlier than I would have before.
One thing I am struggling with is meeting my micronutrient requirements (especially as I’m a vegetarian) so was wondering if it might be worth investing in a multivitamin and mineral as I’m starting to feel a bit sluggish.

Congratulations on your 7lbs lost 🙂 Slow and steady leads to permanent changes! Have you noticed any other benefits other than weight loss?

I think this could definitely be a plan I follow for life 🙂

cc79

3:28 pm
22 Nov 13
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Hi Gemma, I’m no help re the vitamins but if you check through the health subjects on the forum you may find other vegetarians doing this who could tell you their experience.
You do get fast days that are harder than others. The first week it’s a bit of a novelty and then it gets harder but your body gets used to it. Before this I was quite a big eater and didn’t think I could limit myself as I hate being hungry. So if I can fast I really think anyone can! There are some on here who only eat once a day but I’d faint! I don’t have breakfast on fast-days and have a good thick soup for lunch which keeps me filled til dinner time, maybe an apple at 4pm to tide me over.
One benefit I’ve noticed is that my skin is much better – I would’ve been prone to spots but have only had one in the past 8 weeks 🙂 and it was a big one – but I put it down to hormonal reasons. I generally feel lighter and have more energy, I’m doing a pilates class once a week but need to step up the exercise a bit. I had a virus over the summer which left me washed out and I’ve done very little exercise since. I know if I ease myself in gently I’ll be fine and I’ll enhjoy it but I keep coming up with excuses not to…. Which is how I got into this mess in the first place haha! Happy fasting! Claire

cc79

4:18 pm
22 Nov 13
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Gemma, I just had another thought. You should measure yourself and keep a note of them somewhere. Bust, under bust, waist, hip, thigh, upper arm, some people do calf as well. You might already be doing this anyway because you have already lost weight. Some people on these forums have found that some weeks they don’t lose any weight but their waist might be a little slimmer so it’s a good motivation instead of feeling low about not losing any kilos. 😀

gemma29

6:37 pm
22 Nov 13
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Thanks for all the tips!
I think I will definitely have to start measuring.
Today was very hard- I ended up going over my cals but not too much.
My skin’s actually got worse this past week- but that could be anything- weather, hormones or it could be the lack of vitamins.
I will definitely have a look at the other posts- thank you 🙂

Nika

2:24 am
25 Nov 13
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“There are some on here who only eat once a day but I’d faint!”
Teehee, guilty! To the eating, not the fainting. Though I did that a lot as well. Anyway, digressing.

Hey Gemma! I think investing in a multi is not a bad thing at all. As a vegetarian it’s already hard to get all your B vitamins, so on fast days it must be extra hard! I take a multi as well, once a day, which gives me my daily amount of vitamins and some minerals as well. And I’m not even a vegetarian 😉 It’s mostly because I don’t eat fruit on fast days, so I thought it’d be good to supplement a bit. And I also don’t get to eat all vitamins and minerals that I need on non-fast days as well because my diet here in China is very limited by what I can buy and prepare…
Anyway. Sounds like you’re doing great so far, so keep up the good work!

gemma29

12:18 pm
25 Nov 13
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Hi Nika,

I’ve purchased some supplements and have started taking one a day, so hopefully that will help!
I’m a bit ill at the moment as well so I need all the help I can get!
Thanks for your reply 🙂

Nika

2:29 am
26 Nov 13
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Ugh being ill sucks… I’ve been ill here in China more often than the previous three years combined I think. Not only a culture shock, but also a bacteria – food – stuff shock I guess!

How’re your fast days going?

cc79

10:25 am
26 Nov 13
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Hi Gemma and Nika. There must be something in the air because I’ve got up this morning with a stinking cold 🙁
It was circulating at work a few weeks ago and my boys also had it and I started taking a multi-vitamin but too late I think!
So I’m feeling miserable at work but not really ill enough not to have come in today. This is a fast day so I’ve got a nice soup for lunch and I have tonight’s dinner sorted so I’m hoping I can keep up the fast today because by Thursday’s fast day I’ll have PMS cravings to cope with! The joys!
On a lighter note, I’m pleased to say in 8 weeks I’ve lost 8 pounds and more importantly 10 inches all over 🙂 Claire

gemma29

11:47 am
26 Nov 13
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Haha aww that’s too bad
Yeah my fasts are going quite well. I very rarely stick to dead under 500 cals, but as I exercise quite a bit as well, I just listen to my body and if I happen to go over by 100 cals so be it.
Also quick question: what day do you weigh yourself and do measurements in terms of fasting? As in: the day before a fast or..?

gemma29

11:51 am
26 Nov 13
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Hi Claire,

Sorry I didn’t see your post before. Sorry you’re ill! Hopefully you get well soon!
And congratulations on such amazing results 🙂

cc79

1:42 pm
26 Nov 13
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Hi Gemma, I wouldn’t worry about going a little over the cals, I regulary go a little over because I take milk in my tea and I refuse to include that in my 500! That could be why I’m only losing a pound a week so maybe don’t follow my example 😀
Everyone on here weighs differently, many do it every day, some once a week after a fast day. I have always weighed myself on a Monday and have continued to do that since starting 5:2. I fast on Tues and Thurs so Monday is probably my heaviest day so I figure if I can get that weight down I’ll be doing well so just pick a day that suits you and stick to it. I just take measurements every 4 weeks because I think the difference is more noticable than doing it every week.

gemma29

3:16 pm
26 Nov 13
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Thanks for the tip 🙂

To be honest I only use the scale as a general overview anyway because weight fluctuates so much.
I think my favourite way to measure progress is clothes being too big on me that weren’t before!

One thing I have noticed since I started losing weight and I don’t know if I’m being ridiculous, but I swear my feet have shrunk!!

I used to wear between size 6-7 and now sometimes 5 and 1/2 are too big!!

Nika

6:08 am
29 Nov 13
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Whenever you weigh, just do it on the same day every week. So whether it’s before or after your fast day.

I myself do it after my fast days because I’m lighter then 😛 And I was able to fasten my belt to a tighter notch recently. I don’t like measuring because you can never get the tape in the exact same place so it fluctuates too much with me.

Sorry to hear about everyone being ill, I just stayed home for two days… but that was also partly because I really, really didn’t want to go to work. Intern-ship sucks at the moment.

gemma29

10:57 pm
1 Dec 13
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Sorry to hear works not too good :/
Yeah the las time I weighed was just after a fast day, so I may try and stick with that!

How did you find your fasts this week?

Nika

3:20 am
2 Dec 13
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Mine are fine, I fast every day except Sunday (which is my off day). Did overindulge a bit yesterday, but that was a Sunday so oh well. Do have leftover fruit because I got nauseous after eating so much, which I’ll eat tonight – don’t really like the fact I’ll be eating carbs but don’t want them to spoil either.