How to explain 'fast diet' to the general population?

This topic contains 8 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by arla 10 years, 9 months ago.

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javaman

11:18 pm
12 Feb 14
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Now that I have lost a lot of weight (12kg or 26 pounds), I must have looked very different.
http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/my-43-if-tracking/#post-28022

In got a lot of queries from people (mostly not so slim ladies) what I did which I normally answer and try to explain straightforward: fasting.

This generally (amusingly) followed up by what I could only describe as giving a pity of the hardship that I must have endured, and often followed up by something like giving *me* an alternative option “have you considered atkins, no carb, etc. diet” …

Up to the point where I don’t like or feel comfortable explaining my fast diet!

Nowadays I simply replied ‘calorie planning’ or 2000-500 calorie eating etc. which seems to not envoke the said judgement.

Please share what do you normally do when asked ???

Cheers,

sylvestra

11:34 pm
12 Feb 14
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@javaman I usually answer ‘I just don’t eat so much and I exercise more’.

That’s enough for most people but if they are genuinely interested I will explain 5:2 in broad terms. I say ‘I eat normally on 5 days and eat a lot less on the other 2’.

There are of course the questioners who tell me that they ‘can’t’ lose weight and proceed to list the 1001 excuses why not. That’s when I smile politely and change the subject.

xx

vicki

3:13 am
13 Feb 14
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Hi javaman and sylvestra

I really haven’t had that problem.

I’ve been on this since January 2013 and gone from 90.8 to 70.3 kg (43 lb loss) and have become quite evangelical about it. I explain to anyone who asks and have had several converts. My shoulder had a bit of a collapse in July (possibly from excessive swimming) and I went back to a “muscular-skeletal therapist” who had fixed my neck years ago. After we both exclaimed about how we had changed (I had lost about 13kg at that time and he was plumper than ever). I lent him the book and explained – he now fasts and has gone from 108kg to 88!

I agree that if anyone goes into the “starvation is bad for you” mode there is not much point persevering, but 5:2 has had pretty wide coverage here in Australia (I’m in Hobart) and most people seem open to the idea

RoBa

5:38 am
13 Feb 14
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I explained it to my dentist this morning, and recommended it strongly to her young assistant who was over weight. That was hard to do with a probe and mirror in my mouth.

My opening gambit is “you are overweight and you ought to do something about it you big fatty-boom-ba”. That is just to get the conversation started.

Carm

7:21 am
13 Feb 14
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Not one to suffer fools, if they pull the “not one of those fad diets” faces, I say: look at the science of it, then make a judgement.

It is just eating less really though, and changing our own relationship with food, and ignoring our culture to associate eating with everything! We sit down to watch tv, and eat. Meet up with a friend, and eat. Come in from the cold, and eat. Get bored, and eat. Sit in the sun, and eat. We associate food with comfort, stress, depression and celebration.

Now I need to go and eat…. hehe

arla

9:08 am
13 Feb 14
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@roba, open with that line to me and I’d tell you what I thought of you in very unflattering terms. I believe in treating outrageously rude behaviour with equally rude behaviour.

One of my friends looked shockingly larger when she first had her kidney transplant, but it was a side effect of the anti-rejection medication and better than being dead. How would you know just by looking.

javaman

10:05 am
13 Feb 14
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I really like the “I eat less” answer from sylvestra above. It is factual and at the same time points to the general problem in our (developed) world.

I will try that one next time, thanks!

Unfortunately I cannot claim the ‘I exercise more’ part 🙂

RoBa

11:09 pm
15 Feb 14
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Oops – must remember not to crack jokes, irony doesn’t work in comments. Sorry. In truth what I tell people is to do the math. Many overweight people are in denial about the number of calories they consume, and the amount of exercise they get. So, keep a food diary and add up every single calorie over a week – divide by 7 for a daily average, and compare that with the TDEE on this site. Wear a pedometer for a week and see what your average daily movement. To lose weight simply adopt a 5:2 WOE and aim to get the pedometer count above 7000 per day average over a week. You will lose weight. You will be healthier.

arla

4:46 am
16 Feb 14
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Yes a joke isn’t obvious from the words written. And I’ve had people say things similar to that to me @roba – people who were doing nothing about their own weight and who weren’t joking.

If I can eat VLCD for 5 months due to health problems and only lose 3kg and that was towards the 4 month mark, then I think it’s safe to say that I’m not deluding myself and that weight issues aren’t always as simple as you like to think. Yes for most people they are, but on appearance you can’t tell who is and who is a simple case.