Learned my lesson

This topic contains 2 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by TracyJ 10 years, 6 months ago.

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ashleys4

2:39 pm
28 Oct 13
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Hi,

I am a 25 year old female. I am very athletic and just under 5’6. After my two year old was born, I got into great shape…best I have ever been. However, after getting lazy with my eating habits I have realized I put on ten pounds and I feel terrible! I feel like I have been trying to lose it for about 2 months and nothing is working. But I also know I have a problem of having binge days where I tell myself I have been good so I can eat whatever I want.

So this is my third week of 5’2. I have not lost any weight, feel no different and have even been doing 4:3 instead of 5:2. But I have a few good non fast days and I just feel like I can binge the other days cause I have been so good. Well that is not the case and I have learned my lesson as I see the scale not moving and my clothes not getting any looser.

I work out about 4-6 days of the week burning anywhere between 250-500 calories, either strength training or cardio.

Do you think if I count my calories and stay at a good number on feast days as well as continue to work out that I can start to see success with this?

We are going to Mexico after Christmas and I really want to put my bikini and short shorts back on!!! Thanks.

Ashley

ashleys4

2:41 pm
28 Oct 13
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I should say I feel no different body wise, but I do love how I feel on fast days, it is amazing how liberating it is not to be controlled by food!

TracyJ

4:15 pm
28 Oct 13
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Hi Ashley, Glad you’ve learned your lesson by yourself there. A lot of people assume with 5:2 that eating ‘whatever you like’ on non-fastdays means ‘however much you like’. It doesn’t. This lifestyle works because it is based on calorie control but you only have to restrict yourself on ‘what’ you eat on 2 days. 500 calories of candy floss would be a terrible idea on your fast day, so you really do have to think about what’s going to get you through on those days. However, on a non-fastday you just need to stay roughly under your personal TDEE. By doing this you will reduce your average weekly calorie intake by enough to lose a lb or 2 a week, depending how big you were to start with etc. It doesn’t mean you should just eat ’empty calories’ on those days too, making up for your restricted days. With this there should be no need to ‘make up for’ your 500 calorie days. You just eat a normal balanced diet, with whatever treats you can budget for yourself out of your TDEE and you should be good.

Also bear in mind that you may not lose weight right away anyway if you are doing a lot of exercise. One of the benefits of the fasting aspect is that it burns fat and builds lean muscle, which weighs more than the fat it replaces. This is why many people report no actual weight loss but start to notice their clothes getting baggy after a while.

Basically, if you’re getting along well with the lifestyle and feel able to start getting a bit more sensible with your non-fastdays and reducing the overeating, then I’d recommend you just stick with the lifestyle. It could take a few weeks for you to notice the fat-to-muscle conversion in your clothes, so don’t despair just yet and don’t fret about weight in the meantime. Just concentrate on cracking the lifestyle and getting into a good routine with it and the rest will follow.