If you have already ‘reviewed’ it, you must already know what it is.
Good Luck!
This topic contains 72 replies, has 21 voices, and was last updated by stevelyn12 10 years, 6 months ago.
I agree fully with Simcoeluv on all points, but I also believe that we all need to find our own ways how to lose weight successfully.
I would go a step further and say while a calorie is indeed a calorie, not every calorie results in the same reaction in our body. In other words, I believe it does matter a lot WHAT you eat. 100 cal in form of sugar will trigger a different reaction in your body than 100 cal of protein. Some calories are easier for the body to use than others.
This might not be so important when you start your diet, but in the long run paying attention to macros and micros pays off when trying to maintain your weight.
Ihateveg, congrats on making it work! I personally do a mix of calorie restriction (like you) for a couple of weeks, than 5:2; 4:3, ADF, depending on my needs. I get easily bored and love to shake things up.
Stef.
ihateveg:
When I started 5:2 I did not lose any weight for 3 weeks. In the 4th week, I lost 3 pounds. I suggest some of your 9 pound weight loss came from 5:2.
From a numbers standpoint, you really can’t have lost 2 pounds a week of fat (as you seem to have done, given your measurements), given the ‘numbers’ you have shared. To lose 2 pounds a week you have to eat 7000 calories a week below your TDEE. Assuming your TDEE is around 1500, and given the number of calories you are eating, you are actually cutting around 3500 calories a week from your diet – surprise, about a pound a week. Since you are eating the same number of calories now as with 5:2, you should have lost around 8 pounds in your first 8 weeks, and you did (water weight varies both up and down).
So I will stick with my statement that you would have lost the same on 5:2 as you have on your new diet. If you think of it, you really can’t have the same calorie restriction and get radically different results. And weight loss is not consistent – it goes down in fits and starts.
PS. I agree with Stef that different foods can lead to some different results, but it sounds like you have been eating similar foods for the entire time.
Good morning all.
Very interesting discussions above and well done ihateveg – good to find something working for you at last.
Not wishing to appear ‘to pump up my tyres’ as we say in Oz, but during biochemistry research, I understood that on severe calorie restriction, the body’s tendency was to digest muscle before fat stores because that is metabolically easier. The way to circumvent this is to stay physically active, thereby building muscle and forcing fat digestion instead.
Just my 2 cents’ worth.
One thing that has not been mentioned at all in this interesting thread,is the value of strength training. As we get older, we face a continual struggle to hold onto muscle mass. Google “rate of muscle loss with age” and you will find many reputable references to the sad fact that in our fourth decade of life (i.e 30’s!) we are liable to start losing muscle. Strength training can help to retain muscle and muscles require more energy than fat tissue to function. If someone is having trouble losing weight on any diet, I would suggest adding some strength training to your workouts. Walking the dog isn’t going to do it for you (although its better than nothing!) Just my opinion
Accordingly, your fast day diet should be 500 for women and 600 for men, but some of you are not doing that. Why? I think Michael came up with the 500-600 calories fast calorie amounts for those days was so you would get enough nutrients in order to sustain your vital body functions. The low 85-87 or just under 100 calories, IMHO, is dangerous and it seems your body is fighting to sustain whatever fat reserves you have in your body.
Remember in the initial documentary, Michael tried sustaining from food for 4 days and was miserable. He lost weight, but decided that it would be a strain on him if he continued on that particular plan of eating, so he did additional investigation and met with the female scientist in Chicago and modified her plan. The Chicago Dr.’s plan is an alternative day fast, but Michael’s is two non-consecutive days of 500-600 calorie days.
Well, I’ve reached my limit with this program. Either (probably)I’m not doing something correctly and it’s no longer working or I am doing it correctly, but my body, after a year, will only lose 14 lbs. and I want to lose 46.2 more pounds. I’m 5’6″ and weigh 181.2 lbs. My goal weight is 135 lbs. I am 58 years old, but I work out and try to eat healthy meals daily, and people say I look 10 years younger and I really like that and I could look even better at a smaller size.
I hate wearing a size 10-12 when all of my clothes are size 6-8 and still hanging in my closet…bored.
Enough is enough, so I’m quitting this program and going back to my 6 week body makeover program. I lost 46 lbs. in 6 weeks with it and I felt great. My weight gain started when I met my fab hubby and he wined and dined me and I love it. That was 9 years ago and this time, he’s joining me.
So, that said, good luck to everyone on this program. I tried it for over a year and it only allowed me to lose 14 lbs., but I need to call in the BIG GUNS.
TAKE CARE EVERYONE, GOOD LUCK, AND HAPPY LOSING.
Good luck with it. I am off the opinion everybody needs to do what works best for them. Perhaps once you have succeeded with your new program you come back and share your experiences?
I, too, have adapted the program to my needs and it does not look at all like the 5:2 that I originally started with. I am close to maintenance and for re-sculpturing my muscles I need to eat differently.
I also do a lot of cardio, which I find very beneficial for my health. Anyhow, best of luck and please come back and let us know how it goes?
Stef.
I will definitely come back and share. I used that program a few years ago and missed the excluded foods like dairy, wine, and salt, but if I had just transitioned to their Maintenance program, I wouldn’t tried 5:2 at all. No worries, live and learn.
The Maintenance portion of that program allows one day a week to eat whatever you like.
Thank you for your well wishes, and I truly wish you good luck. Will chime in after 2 weeks.
I had been on a ketogenic diet for three months solid, I started at 19st 12 and the diet consisted of 4 shakes a day , 600 calories, 70 gm of carbs and lost 4 stone , I then went onto the fast diet 5-2 nearly three weeks ago, mainly because I did not want to put all the weight back on, I find the 5-2diet is a susstainable diet and one that I could odopt for the rest of my life, I’ve only lost another 4.5 pounds since starting the diet but I eat 2500 calories a day then the two 600 calorie fasting days, I do think its a miscoception to think you can eat what and as much as you like on non fasting days, and I think its this that people fall down with it
Stuart
Hi biker:
You cannot eat as much as what you want on non diet days on 5:2 and be successful. You seem to be starting out very well.
Doing 5:2 correctly means going to bed, getting up, eating 500/600 calories while you are awake, going to bed, getting up and eating normally – twice a week. ‘Normally’ means eating your TDEE or less. Here is what you need to know about TDEE: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/tdee-for-the-curious-or-why-dont-i-lose-weight-faster/. And here are some general tips for those just starting: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/warnings-to-newbies/.
Good Luck!
I started the 5:2 diet a year ago and lost weight. Then stopped for 6 months because of stress and family issues. But I restarted 3 weeks ago. I have read this thread with great interested and have now noted my BMR and my TDER and will ensure I eat between these on my fast days. I know there is a lot of argument about whether to eat exercise cals back or not, and normally I don’t (I have on other diets because they said to). But I’m wondering if my BMR is 1300 cals and I burn 500 cals exercising, do I eat 1800 cals?
Hi Monde68, if your aim is to lose weight then anything you can do to help yourself in that goal is what you do until you get down to where you want to be. It’s up to you what you do but if you have been truthful about your exercise level when calculating your TDEE and BMR then any ‘expended’ calories have already been taken into consideration by that calculation and your numbers are your numbers. DEFINITELY don’t take any extra exercise into consideration (unless you’re in imminent danger of fainting) on your fastdays and you shouldn’t be on your non-fastdays either but it’s up to you, depends how fast/consistently you want to lose.
Hi and welcome:
I am always interested in someone that wants to lose weight wanting to eat as many calories as they think possible under whatever diet they think they want to follow. It would seem they would want to eat less.
But, if you really want to eat calories you think you have expended in exercise (even though they are already included in your TDEE and BMR) please remember that if your calorie expenditure chart or fit bit says you expended, say, 400 calories doing whatever exercise you are doing, you should subtract the number of calories you would have used if you had not exercised. For instance, if your TDEE is 2400 (for easy math), and you think you have used 400 calories in exercise, subtract 100 from the 400 to get the actual number of additional calories your exercise has used (300).
As an aside, there is no need to eat between your BMR and TDEE unless you like to count calories for the heck of it. The fewer calories you eat, the more weight you lose. But as you want to eat calories to compensate for your exercise, I’m not sure that is your goal.
Good Luck!
Thanks for speedy replies. I put into the calculator that I am sedentary so that it would underestimate my TDER and bmr (I read somewhere that someone had suggested that) but I am in fact very active. Simcoeluv you seem to be assuming I want to sneak more calories in. It’s the complete opposite. I’m just trying to work out if I’m eating ENOUGH calories. On a feast day I eat around 1200-1300 cals and I burn 500 cals at the gym. So if my bmr is 1362, am I eating enough?
Hi Monde68, I think I’d recommend, from my own experience, that you just use the TDEE calculator a bit more accurately. You want to count any activities in the week that gets your heartrate right up there for 30-60 minutes as being really active.
For instance I swim the crawl for about 1 hour a session, 5 days a week but I don’t class myself in the top level of activity because despite all my efforts to make it harder on myself I’m just used to that level of activity and it doesn’t make my heart race like it would if I wasn’t quite as fit as I am in the pool.
So, use the calculator but be honest about how ‘hardcore’ your activity really is and only count it if it gets you sweating and lasts more than 30 minutes.
Best of luck Monde68, I hope you find the level that works for you.
Bikerstu, I think that misstep about being able to eat anything on non-fast days, began when Michael Moseley stated on national television that “you can eat whatever you want on non-fast days”. I’m quoting him because I heard it in his documentary and heard it again on various U.S. television talk shows. I wish he’d said that on non-fast days people should eat the calorie count associated with the goal weight, as if it had already been reached. People need guidelines and attainable goals.
Maybe that “eat whatever you want on non-fast days” is geared for the Alternate Day Fasting Programs, where you fast on Monday, feast on Tuesday, etc. That group lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off, and the doctor behind it in Chicago stated that her groups don’t even consume as much food as they thought they would and they have added health bonuses.
Amy, I understand you completely and applaud you for acknowledging that hunger recognition for some is quite difficult. They say when you feel hungry, drink some water and now my goal is to consume at least 1 gal of water throughout the course of a day. I’m going to workout today for an hour with my extreme hip hop abs program; it’s like Insanity.
I think water is a key ingredient in any weight loss program because of its cleansing and satiation properties.
Good luck
Hi Guys & Gals!
I’m very happy to report, that I’m down to 154.6! (Started a few weeks ago at 159.) I’m eating around 1650cal on my non-fast days (my TDEE for my goal weight) and making a concerted effort to be more active. I even bought an UP by Jawbone. I’m feeling very inspired and optimistic. Hopefully, things will continue down this positive road, but I now understand that it’s all up to me to be vigilant overindulge in my non-fast days. 🙂
Evelyn
stevelyn12, congratulations 🙂 it sounds like you are well on your way. It feels slow sometimes, but it can work — I’ve lost 39 pounds since last August 17 — some weeks more, some weeks not at all, but I keep on keeping on, and it works 🙂 I think wearing a pedometer has really helped me increase my daily activity level, I average about 10,000 steps/day now, in the beginning it was more like 5,000. And my son commented on how much faster I walk now 🙂 I used to feel like I was hauling my body around, now I can really *move*!
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