Hi Fatcatsam and welcome:

Research has shown that exercise plays only a very small roll in weight loss. The diet is the main weight loss engine. So you exercise for better health, but diet for weight loss. https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/exercise-is-dangerous-for-your-diet/

Good Luck!

I am trying the 5:2 diet. I am losing weight. I am also a regular runner. I train three or four days a week. But due to a lack of sleep after fasting days and a general lack of energy my exercise routine is suffering. Also on fasting days and the following day I have been feeling drained and depressed. I have been getting some big dips in my mood.

I am thinking that perhaps I would prefer to lose weight by moving more and eating less seven days a week. I have decided to continue with the diet until the end of July and then switch to eating less over the whole week and being more active.

I don’t see it as a long term weight loss solution. I see it as just yet another fad diet to add to the list. I guess if everyone (myself included) just ate less high energy dense food such as cakes and biscuits and moved more, perhaps we wouldn’t need so many different diet plans in the first place!

Personally, I quit my long hours at the gym and now only do hiit workouts while fasting. It takes a while to feel the energy return from being in a fasted state.

It is true that exercise cannot overcome, and has little to do with, weight loss. It is said, and I am proof, that you control weight at the dinner table, and build muscle and body composition at the gym.

I have lost close to 30 lbs since mid April. I follow a 16:8 very low carb plan. It won’t work for everyone, but it works great for me.