Is this too quick?

This topic contains 8 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by Beebu1980 9 years, 9 months ago.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

JCGull

10:26 pm
5 Feb 15
Permalink

I’m a 42 year old guy and have led a fairly unhealthy lifestyle for a long time! After Christmas I decided I needed to do something about it and my wife, 3 kids and the dog all predicted I’d last about a week and then go back to my old ways!! But I’ve been doing 5:2 strictly for about a month and am staggered by my weight loss, my starting weight was 16st 12lbs and I’m 5 ft 11 inches and aiming to ultimately be 12st 12lbs which would put me in the healthy BMI ‘zone’.
So, week 1 lost 9lbs, week 2 lost 6lbs, week 3 lost 6lbs, week 4 lost 4 lbs – about 24lbs in a month. Now, whilst I’m delighted and hope to see 14st something at the weekend everybody is telling me I’m losing the weight too quickly and it isn’t ‘safe’. I appreciate the a) initial losses are mostly water/ beer ! and b) the rate of loss will slow down but what do other 5:2ers think about the safety of losing at this rate?? Love the forums, a great source of inspiration.

simcoeluv

10:40 pm
5 Feb 15
Permalink

Hi JC and welcome:

Isn’t it interesting that you are being warned off a diet because it is working too well?

The average weight loss over time on 5:2 is about a pound a week. Your losses are already slowing down and within a month or two I suspect you will be complaining that you are no longer losing weight very fast, if at all. That is the way your ‘average’ will ‘revert to the mean’. Hopefully you will not quit the diet because of the slow down.

In the meantime, I am not aware of any dangers from losing weight as long as you are continuing to eat – that is you are not long term water fasting without medical supervision. Here are some tips that might help: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

JCGull

11:38 am
6 Feb 15
Permalink

Hi Simcoeluv
Thanks for the welcome, your reasoning makes perfect sense, I hope to continue to drop the lbs although a business trip (for a beer brand) to Italy next week is really going to test my resolve!! I guess if I can at least maintain next week and fast the day before I go and the day I get back I might minimise the probable outcome!!

Sezbabyweight

11:49 am
6 Feb 15
Permalink

I’m on a very similar path initial weight loss wise. I started 3rd January after messing around for 17 months post pregnancy. I started 5:2, 2nd week increased to 4:3 and now I mostly do alternate days. It’s 5 weeks tomorrow and I have lost 27lbs. I plan to continue alternate days until I hit my goal (another 18lbs) then will do 5:2 or 6:1 long term to maintain. I think a diet that has sustainability allows treat days and shows big rewards has to only be a positive thing. Anyone being negative is probably just a bit jealous 🙂

JCGull

12:06 pm
6 Feb 15
Permalink

Hi Sezbabyweight
Absolutely!! I think jealousy is definitely the reason for the comments. And anyway, I don’t care if people are jealous, I feel great and clearly others are noticing that I’ve changed a bit! Good luck with your 18lbs, you’ve done amazingly well so far! How are you finding the alternate days?? I’m always under my TDE but not sure I want to commit to more fasting days, maybe 4:3 when I hit a plateau!

jo-jo123

7:18 pm
8 Feb 15
Permalink

Hi!
I think both of you have done incredibly well…give yourselves a massive pat on the back! 🙂

Today is day 1 for me down here in NZ, thankfully I have got today off work, so will just keep busy out in the garden I think – there is always plenty to do!

Feel free to fling any advice down this way….I have heard that people quite often get headaches when they are starting out, so will see how that pans out….

Have a great day, talk soon 🙂

Jo-jo

JCGull

8:50 am
21 Feb 15
Permalink

So, as Simcoeluv predicted, the loss rate has started to slow down!, 2lbs last week and 2lb more at today’s weigh in. So that’s 30lbs since the beginning of the year which is over half way to my target weight. I’ve purchased a couple of extra 5:2 recipe books to keep the household menu interesting!

Jo-jo123 no headaches but I do get very cold hands and bizarrely shoulders on fast days!

Sezbabyweight

11:41 am
23 Feb 15
Permalink

The only time I get headaches is if I don’t drink enough water. Never from hunger. I generally try to keep my calories for the evening as this is when it bothers me. I have a cup-a-soup mid afternoon (around 50kcals) then I have the remainder for dinner and a healthy pud. I eat a lot of fish as it’s so low but have also adapted some old favourites like shepherds pie and chilli to keep it interesting. Alternate days is great I really find it gets huge results and I don’t find it a struggle as I know tomorrow I can eat normally. I can honestly say I very rarely feel hungry and actually now have to force myself to eat lunch on my normal days. I also found that when the weight loss slowed down, it helped to eat more on normal days. Goes against everything I know diet wise but it works. I was trying to stick to 1200kcals on those days and my weight loss ground to a halt. Not calorie counting but trying to make sensible choices has seen the weight begin to melt away. I’m currently sat at 37lbs lost since 3rd January. It was 3lbs more but I have just returned from a hen weekend lol! I’m back on my fast today and will do 3 days this week as I have a wedding this weekend. I love that I can totally adapt this to fit in with my lifestyle. Good luck to everyone…..

Beebu1980

2:51 pm
23 Feb 15
Permalink

Hi JC,
I think people associate fast weight loss with “bad weightloss” because it is traditionally the result of either fad diets (where its very easy to lose a lot of weight in a month but then impossible to maintain as a lifestyle so the weight goes back on) or of illness (the body finds ways of encouraging you to eat to compensate once you are better).
You are probably losing weight very quickly because your body is keen to get rid of it! Once you have less weight to lose then weight loss will of course slow down. The only way to avoid the 5:2 becoming an unsuccessful “fad/bad” diet is to maintain weight loss. I believe once your ideal weight is reached they suggest fasting just one day a week.
Assuming you aren’t collapsing all over the place then your weight loss is very healthy indeed!