Hello Rara…..maybe if your weight is good for your height then it may take longer than most to lose weight. I am about 4.6kg overweight but have only lost about 2kg despite fasting for more than 2 days a week. Slightly disappointed but onwards and hopefully downwards!

Keep the faith!

Hi Rara,

I’m 5ft7, and weighed 72.4kg when I began 5:2 (back in January 2014), so at the top end of normal BMI. But I was flabby at that! I reached my goal of 63kg in April 2014, but then carried on losing while I sorted out how to stop losing. By the start of June I was 60kg, and I have been at or below 60kg since then.

I’m afraid I have to challenge the belief that it is harder to lose weight if you don’t have much to lose. That is certainly not true for me. I can still lose up to 1kg a week if I fast. I mostly don’t anymore! At 58kg and size 8 I think I’m thin enough.

If you are sticking to 500 calories on a fast day and not losing weight then, unless you have an underlying medical condition or take drugs that inhibit weight loss, it seems likely that you are overeating on your non-fast days. Have you counted calories on non-fast days to see if you are eating over TDEE?

I don’t know what you are currently eating, but some people find it beneficial to cut down on highly processed carbs (white bread, pasta and rice) and sugar, and I certainly think that (together with reduced portion sizes) is probably why weight loss continues to be easy for me.

Good luck!

Hi Smumoo

That is rather annoying as you put all your faith in a new way of eating, which on the face of it looks very exciting and the results are disappointing. However, don’t lose faith as there are other very good health benefits and you probably know and you probably just need to slightly alter your non fast day intake and see how it goes. Only wish I would listen to my own advice!

Good luck

Maybe try taking your measurements. You sound like you work out hard, and you may be losing fat and inches but your weight could be becoming more comprised of muscle from that.

I’m wondering about folks’ experience with perhaps not eating enough on non-fast days and having that slow weight loss? I use a fitness tracker (body bugg, a precursor to the new Jawbone up 3) and in the last month I have consistently eaten an average of 700-1000 cals less than I’ve burned and last week I GAINED 1.2 lbs. I’m meticulous about measuring my food portions and recording all I eat, and my exercise/steps are recorded on the body bugg website. Studies have shown the ‘bugg’ to be 92% accurate so I’m fairly confident in it. I’ve been keeping nonfast day calories at 2000, and only eat 500 on fast days. Getting a bit discouraged, but I’m definitely not gonna quit.

Hi Rara!

I think that because you’re already normal weight, you’re just finding it harder to shift the stubborn pounds. I have found that closer I get to my goal, the harder it is getting to loose weight. You seem very active with all your fitness so you must be burning of loads of calories through that so I wouldn’t be worried about your TDEE as long as you eat sensibly. Would you consider adding an extra fast day to the week? Doing 4+3? Even doing it intermittently that one week 5+2 and 4+3 following week. I lost 1 1/2 stones and hit a plateau for months. Then decided to re-start on 4+3 and the pounds have been coming of slowly, about 1 lb per week. It is amazing how much difference that one extra day of fasting has made.

CC

This is my second week on the 5:2 plan and I thought I had seen a loss last Friday, but am back up again today. I’m 5’7″ and weigh 142 (today). I am looking to get to 136 as that’s always been a steady weight for me until the last two years. I’m 45 and have noticed a little gaining in the last two years. I workout very vigorously almost daily and the TDEE calculator says just over 2000 calories a day for me. I know from experience that is too high so I try to stick to 16-1700 on non fast days. I have seen the same struggles as Rara trying to lose any weight. It seems nearly impossible. I’m considering going to a 4:3 week (I like the idea of alternating it with a 5:2), but want to get a little more established with the 5:2 program first. I eat extremely “clean”, but my big weakness is wine on the weekend. I have given it up during the week and usually only have it on Fri and Sat, with the occasional Sunday. I, like Rara, am glad to have the health benefits, but am hoping for an added one of weight loss. Cheers.

so you cut your TDEE in half, meaning you only eat 1000 cals on a nonfast day? That seems low to me, so maybe I’m confused.

Maybe because I am older, WHAT I eat affects me as much as how much I eat.

Peanut butter (or any nut, it seems), honey, some fruits, even whole wheat bread, makes me gain. As soon as I drop those, I start dropping pounds. And when they go, the calories also go, hence my low tdee.Whatever, it works for me.

I’m 5ft5, 26yo, and 69Kg. At 18yo I was comfortably at 50Kg and quite active (climbing, hillwalking), but at this stage I’ll be happy to get back to 60Kg.

I’ve been fasting on and off since last autumn and strictly 2-3 times a week since mid Feb and I’ve seen NO CHANGE, except a SLIGHT reduction in my hip measurement. I run 3-5 times a week, cycle to work (8 miles a day), weight train, I’m a gardener so it’s physical all day, calorie count on the feast days and ALWAYS eat below my resting metabolic rate (1400). What is going wrong?

I fasted for 5 days last week, I didn’t even feel hungry so I thought I was doing great. I lost a grand total of 200g, which have come straight back on. “Despair” doesn’t quite cut it! I don’t want to lose the faith, but…

Can anyone think why this isn’t working?

Agree with above. What you eat has a lot to do with it. Also (and some will disagree) when you eat, or more specifically, when you stop eating for the day.

Also, as active as you are, you could be building so much muscle and inflammation that it offsets any fat loss.

I STOPPED working out, except for 3-4 days of 15 minute hiit sessions. And lost 3, 1, 3, and 1.8 lbs each of the 4 weeks I have been at it. Also started 4:3. Stopped eating anything with fructose or wheat, bad carbs, etc. (The Leptin diet).

So tell us about a day in your eating life.

I think you’re doing everything right when it comes to your fast day eating but I honestly think you need to eat more during your normal eating days.

I think there’s so much controversy about starvation mode and Michael has said it doesn’t exist. I don’t believe in starvation mode in itself but I do believe that if you are constantly eating too little calories (around 1000 per day) your body gets used to that and your metabolism gets slower. Basically your body gets used to what ever you’re doing long term and I think that’s one of the benefits of 5+2. It sorts of shocks your body to burning fat because you’re constantly doing different things, one day eating 2000 calories and the next day 500. Even if you’re eating a low carb diet, it’s sometimes beneficial to eat a carb filled meal just to shock your body and get things going again.

I think reading about how much exercise you do, I don’t understand how your body has enough fuel. Basically your daily intake is probably around 1000 calories but at the same time you’re burning so much through your physical job and exercise that there probably isn’t anything left. I do envy your extremely healthy lifestyle and diet lol and I wish that was my problem as well. I’m not telling you to pig out but maybe try and increase your daily intake so that when you do have a fast, it is a noticeable fast day because at the moment you’re almost fasting every day. The other thing is that you are eating very little carbs considering again how much you exercise, there are some options available that don’t upset your stomach as much. My mum has been doing low carb diet for ages because she suffers from same problems as you do but she has got a certain bread (for people suffering from celiac) that suits her. I have also fallen in love with almond milk and mix it in my Nutriblast since I don’t like to drink milk either. It is very soft tasting and low calorie.

Hope this helps. Like I said before, I’m no expert and can only speak from my own limited experience. But generally when you hit a wall, it’s always good to mix things up a bit and try different things because in the end you’ve got nothing to loose

CC

Aah thank you! I hope trying different things works out, keep us posted 🙂