What am I doing wrong? about to give up

This topic contains 10 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by ccco 6 years, 9 months ago.

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

katieyscott

10:22 pm
1 Feb 18
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I am a 59 year old female who did blood work and body fat testing before embarking on this diet. I journal my food for all fasting days and have been on this diet since mid November. Two of those weeks over the holidays, I only fasted one day a week. I was a regular exerciser but since back surgery (March 2017) and broken wrist, do physical therapy and now yoga which is less than I was previously able to do. While I have gone up and down 2-3 pounds since starting, I have lost no weight and am quite discouraged. Please give me any helpful advise you can. Thank you.

BigViking

10:43 pm
1 Feb 18
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Have you calculated your TDEE for the weight you are aiming at? It is easy to over-estimate excercise level, so if in doubt, pick the lower level for the calculation. How does your calorie consumption on non fasting das compare to this?

You say you journal your FDs. Does the consumptin stay below a quarter of the TDEE?

katieyscott

11:16 pm
1 Feb 18
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So my TDEE is around 1700 so if I understand you correctly, you are suggesting that I use this as my limit on non-fasting days and I reduce my fasting day calories ( now 500 to 425 or 1/4 of my TDEE). I am trying to go up on exercise but had finally worked out a band and core regime with physcial therapy only to break my wrist and have to again try to figure out alternatives all of which seem so lame compared to what I could do pre-surgery (in a past-life I was an aerobic instructor and until back surgery, did a weight lift regime of 1-2 hours 5 days a week). In fact, the injury necessitating surgery occurred at the gym where I had increased my regime due to frustration over never seeming to lose weight. anyway, thanks for the suggestions- I’ll do this and see what happens and I’ll also quit whining.

ccco

11:32 pm
1 Feb 18
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Katleyscott, hi! I sympathize with you! I began this diet in mid-January. I lost two pounds the first two weeks by doing a 24 hour fast three times a week. I wasn’t hungry at all on my fasting days. Then all of sudden I was ravenous when I ate my first meal when breaking the fast and completely overate. I couldn’t stop for several fast days. I gained the two pounds back. I decided to change what I am doing. I determined what my TDEE is and subtracted 500 calories from that. That will be my caloric intact for nonfast days. I also decided to do the Mediterranean diet. Delicious! I carefully measure everything to make sure I don’t go over my calorie requirement. The type of foods I am eating are very filling and I am now not feeling ravenous when I go off the fast. I prepare my break fasting meal ahead of time, so if I do become ravenous, I already have in front of me my caloric quota. I’ve been doing this only for a short time but it seems to be working. Counting calories is keeping me accountable. I also exercise with a trainer 5 days a week and do yoga twice a week. Californians think that everything can be fixed with yoga and a beach! LOL Good luck.

simcoeluv

11:32 pm
1 Feb 18
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Hi Katie:

Big’s suggestions are very good. Don’t worry about exercise, because it has very little to do with weight loss. I just lost 12 pounds in five days of a water fast without lifting a finger (of course, much of that was water weight and food in transit weight loss that will come back soon). Just focus on doing your diet days correctly and not overeating on your non-diet days and you should be fine.

Good Luck!

Cinque

11:48 pm
1 Feb 18
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Hi Katieyscott,
Very frustrating!
My first tip is to read this: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/really-no-weight-loss/
(The first post)
At least you will know you are not alone!

When I began 5:2 I knew I wanted it to be a longterm eating style change so I didn’t worry about weighing my self and TDEE’s and counting calories (except at first to check what my fast day foods were adding up to). I made my fast days as fasty as I could, and my non fast days to be as normal healthy food and portion size as I could.

I have a chronic illness (ME/CFS) that means I am very sedentary, but luckily exercise doesn’t make much difference for losing that excess weight (although it is so good if you can do it, for all its health benefits).

I concentrated on making 5:2 a sustainable way of life and once a month I measured my waist, otherwise I checked how I was going by my clothes and how I felt.

Luckily, I knew from the first day that this way of eating suits me. Often I find fast days hard, but it is only one day. I lost about 15kg over 15 months and now I am at the lower end of my healthy weight range (my doctor weighed me 😉 ). It feels really good and I keep doing 5:2 because it sustains my healthy weight.

That’s how it suited me, but what I have learnt here is that everyone has to work out how it fits best into their lifestyle. Daily weighing and journal keeping suit some, and rigid fast days suit some. Falling off the 5:2 horse and getting back on again later is reality for others. Some people find 5:2 just doesn’t suit them. For many people, joining one of the big threads here, where people post often and become a bit of a community, makes a big difference. The one I am in is the Southern Hemispherites’ and you would be welcome there, even if you live in the Northern hemisphere. Or it might suit you to join the February Challenge.

Whatever you decide, best wishes and all good things.

LJoyce

2:36 am
2 Feb 18
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katiey,
I would also agree with the suggestion that you workout the TDEE for your goal weight (rather than current weight) and be conservative with exercise level – as the uplift factor for exercise is quite generous in the calculator on this site. I would also recommend that you journal your normal eating days too. I found this helped me identify where I was eating a little too much on those days – which had me sitting on a plateau for some time.

Vsdainton

5:29 am
2 Feb 18
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I’m feeling the same way. I disagree that working out doesn’t help with anything. Being healthy and having muscle tone is a good thing, esp as your age. But diet is 80% of weight loss.

I’ve trained and exercised for over 20 years now, but got more regular within the last 5 years. HIIT 4x a week, Piloxing 2x, yoga or Peleton a few more + my KungFu practice. Partly I’m sure is muscle gain, but I have put on an extra 10 lbs in the last few years (I’m 43 5’0) that I can’t seem to shake off. Haven’t had my body fat measured with calipers in awhile, but my scale says 23% BF at 122 lbs and 4 yrs ago my ideal weight I hit was 14% BF 106 lbs. I cannot get the numbers down!

I’m on week 2 of IF and I weigh in tomorrow AM (1x/wk). Week 1 I gained a lb!!!! So that was disenchanting.

Keep you posted, but I’m right there with you.

I wonder if I need to maybe add another day?? Lower my FD call to 400? I just feel like my level of activity will suffer if I eat less.

ccco

6:56 pm
2 Feb 18
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Don’t give up, Vsdainton! I understand your qualms. I am pretty new to this program myself. I am in my third week. In the first two, I lost 2 lbs. Then I put them back on again. I exercise, too. I have a personal trainer 5 days a week and do yoga twice a week. I am a lot older than you are but I did figure out what my problem is. The biggest one is that as soon as I eat coming off my fast, I am ravenous and eat too much. I also realized that I have to count my calories on NFD. I figured out my TDEE and subtracted 500 calories from eat for those days and pre-make my coming off fast dinner, so I will not inadvertently eat too much. That helped! This week, my third week, I lost a pound and am very happy. I am only 5’3″ and have ten pounds to lose. If I do this right and keep myself accountable, I think I can do this. I fast on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for 24 hours. When I lose the weight I won’t fast as much but this works for me. I am on a fast day today and already exercised. I think we need to be patient. You do a lot of exercise, so you may be hungrier than you realize and be eating more than you think. Try counting your calories to see where you are. Good luck! 🙂

Vsdainton

4:23 am
3 Feb 18
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ccco, thanks for your encouragement. I do put my food into MyFitnessPal, but I have not been on it on NF days last week. I ‘weighed in’ again yesterday and found that I gained another pound and another %age of body fat (according to my scale). 🙁 Really disappointed…BUT, I just read your post, and I’m going to try a 4:3 like you and be more accountable for every calorie on both NF & F days. Sigh. This is much harder than I thought it would be, but I’m determined to fit in my pants, darn it. I figured out my TDEE as well and did that calculation, but still.

I ultimately want to adopt this diet as a lifestyle for the health benefits that I’ve read about, but …sigh…

OK, I’ll give a few more weeks with accuracy.

Thanks for the encouragement, again.

ccco

4:43 am
3 Feb 18
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Visdainton, I am glad you will keep trying. I think we have to keep readjusting what we do on this plan until we get what we need for what our particular needs are. Everyone is not the same! I came off my FD today and suddenly found that I can’t eat as much as I did before. Unless, I emotionally eat, this should be good for my purposes and I will incorporate it into my plan. Onward we go! 🙂