Hi

Thank you both for your frank and honest thoughts on what to eat on non-fast days. I too have >5 stones to lose. I am doing 4:3 to try and lose the weight.

Langas50 – I agree totally with your comments. I expect my “eating normally” is probably closer to 3000 calories per day. Like you, I thought that not having to obsess about food on a non-fasting day was most appealing. However, we’re all agreed that if we ate “normally”, we wouldn’t be obese in the first place! The advice from Amazon is extremely helpful and encouraging. I think monitoring my calorie intake on non-fast days is the way forward. I would be interested to hear how you get on over the next few weeks.

Hello all, I started out at about 15 stone (definitely a few lb over but not sure exactly) and my ‘ideal’ is supposed to be 9st3lb (yeah whatever – I’ll be happy with 10). I got down to 11st4 at about this time last year and it’s only my weird (and pre-existing) reaction to increasing exercise levels that’s kept me from losing any more in the past year.

I’ve actually put on a few more pounds in the past year but don’t go thinking I’ve dropped off the wagon or that the same thing will happen to you – extra exercise is just like that with me. More exercise = more muscle mass = more weight. I’m looking pretty damn good on it and I am FINALLY starting back on a downward trajectory, so hopefully I’ve finally reached the fat/muscle tipping point.

Anyway, I was pretty lucky to start with because I hadn’t actually piled on the pounds because I ate particularly unhealthily anyway. I put most of the weight on in my teens (too much bread/coke/chocolate/crisps etc.etc.) and just added a pound or two per year for the next 20 years. So when I started 5:2 I dropped a stone in 2 months without even realizing it. I dropped the next 3 stone in the following 18months or so, with the losses gradually slowing to a crawl.

You really DO need to address WHAT you eat, as well as how much at some point but when you’re still 3+ stone from anything resembling a ‘good’ BMI then I’d say it’s still the quantity that you’re struggling with. Portion sizing is key. Look at all of the foods that you really enjoy and work out what portion sizes you can get away with on a normal day and still come in under 2000kcal for the entire day.

Some people will work out what their ‘actual’ personal TDEE is and say that they’ll stick to that instead of 2000kcal but that’s not the point. Unless you are the size of a genuine house and your personal TDEE is SO far above 2000 that it’s not even visible from 2000 calories then 2000 should be your aim. It may even be too high for the calorie level you end up on at your ‘end state’ but for now it will be a benchmark and help you stick to a calorie level that is more healthy for Ms. Average and get you ready for the kind of calorie level you’ll be on for the rest of your life. By sticking to a calorie intake that is rough but definitely under 2000kcal you will be able to really concentrate on what you can have for your allowance long-term, rather than fixating on short-term goals and calorie allowances.

I must’ve spent most of my first year on 5:2 eating WAAAAAAY less than my ‘actual’ TDEE on non-fastdays, as I didn’t have a clue what a TDEE was until I found this website. I was just doing a 2000kcal:500kcal ratio. That’s why I dropped weight like it was going out of fashion for the first few months and it gradually ground to a drizzle. My weekly calorie deficit must’ve been well over 6000kcal, compared to the ‘maintaining’ diet I’d been on before. But it wasn’t tough to eat 2000kcal. I had to be a bit more aware of portions and I found just eating 2 meals a day (rather that bothering with a breakfast I didn’t really want) helped but I didn’t make any significant changes to WHAT I ate until very recently.

Thank you all very much for your helpful tips. I can go without breakfast on a fast day, but really looking forward to breakfast after a fast day. I managed to gobble down two soft boiled eggs this morning as soon as I had shelled them! Boy, they were good!

Stappss – your advice is very encouraging. I don’t feel quite so stressed about having to stick to my TDEE (I also didn’t know what it was until I joined the forum.)

Jonno – I’m afraid my exercise is pretty non-existent. With two replaced hips and painful, arthritic knees, I find it difficult to exercise. I’m lucky if I manage to walk 4,000 some days. Of course, any weight loss will help with my mobility. So, onwards and downwards hopefully! I’m off to make some veggie soup now for tomorrow’s fast day. Thanks again

Susie, Jono79 is indeed correct, there are exercises you can do even with the problems you stated, especially swimming and recumbent bike. There are certain types of very serious arthritis pathologies that will prevent virtually all forms of exercise e.g. rheumatoid arthritis. My best friend has a terrible case of that and can barely walk, lucky for him he doesn’t have a weight problem along with it.

Something in your diet is likely contributing to tissue inflammation; inflammation has been linked to proteins found in animal products, therefor, one vegetarian day a week might help reduce your inflammation and in turn reduce inflammation, thus, reducing arthritis discomfort. I’m a former behavioral research scientist. One of the keys to the success of any lifestyle change is sustainability; it is this factor that causes the vast majority of people to not be able to stay on diets that restrict calorie intake too much or cut out certain foods entirely. For example, telling someone they have to give up bread for life is ridiculous and unsustainable for life for over 90% of dieters.

Once you find a way to workout that doesn’t hurt “too much” do the following. On fast days, before you eat anything go to the gym and burn off 250-500 calories. Virtually the entire time you work out on that fast day you will be burning fat and only fat. On non-fasting days after consuming food high in carbohydrates it takes approximately 90 minutes (the amount of time it takes to burn off the carbohydrates) before your body starts tapping into your fat reserves.

Losing weight is all about the math; you must burn more calories than you put in your body (overall). Thus you absolutely must COUNT CALORIES (myfitnespal) is a great way to do that. I have two close friends that are experts in nutrition and health; they train professional athletes and ordinary people and confirm what I said above. When you count calories it makes you aware of what you eat and your food choices naturally begin to change e.g. “I can have this 1100 calorie piece of cake now and only have 900 calories for the rest of the day or I can eat an apple with less than 100 calories and somewhat satisfy my urge for sweets and be able to eat a whole lot more that day”. 5:2 is all about living a closer to normal life, with respect to eating. It is entirely sustainable for life. I started at 6.8 stone from my initial goal weight; now after beginning on 2/06/2015 I am 5 stone away from my goal 3/20/2015.

Finally, get a food scale and weigh everything that you can’t calculate by other methods, you can eat too many veggies and put yourself over the limit of fast days. You absolutely must not pass the calorie limit on fast days because fast days are what cause fat to burn. As you lose weight you will notice a lot of metabolic changes e.g. systolic blood pressure reducing and resting heart rate improving if you exercise. You should start out exercising 2 days a week (the fast days) and then eventually work up to five days a week-giving yourself the weekend off. Exercise should not exceed 1 hour and 15 minutes and when you first begin not more than 45 minutes. On your non-fasting days do weight training only, light weights with 5 sets on each muscle group you are working that day. Your reps should be between 6-15 for each set. Your body will tell you what you can do and when you are doing too much. Good luck and remember your body continues to burn calories for hours after weight baring exercise; muscle mass in and of itself causes calories to continue burning. So start with the bike and swimming and then add as you go along.

TopsyT

Non fasting days are not feast days they are normal eating days. Thinking of them as feast days is counter intuitive.