Tough going

Calahonda1984

Hello everyone,

This is my third week of doing the 5:2 diet and I find the fast days great - I'm not eating until around 6pm when I have my 500 calories. I prefer it this way, saving it all up for a meal, as I found I was getting really hungry in the daytime if I had a little snack.

On my non fast days I'm also being good and eating healthy meals (mainly) and not going over my TDEE. I'm also exercising - doing a fair bit of walking and aerobics sessions.

The problem is - I'm not losing weight, in fact I'm putting weight on! What could I be doing wrong or does this just not work for everyone? Maybe I should try doing 4:3?

It's really disheartening getting on those scales and seeing I have put on a few more lbs, I just don't get it!

I'd really appreciate some support and advice please.

Thanks 5:2ers!

Jo x

flumi_f

Any changes in your workouts? New workouts can lead to water retention at the beginning.

Or hormonal cycle? I always had two weeks with good losses and then two very hard weeks. This coincided with my cycle.

Calahonda1984

Not really, just the usual routines. As for hormonal - it's not that ( I won't go into it here but it can't be).

Do you think it's worth doing an extra fast day to see if that helps?

Jo x

flumi_f

Yes, I do. Give it some more time. If you have not overeaten, you are retaining water for some reason. Eat some potatos, spinach, bananas.....anything high in potassium, stay away from processed foods with lots of sodium and see what that does. If it's water, you'll get rid of it that way.

orlcam

Calahonda1984 wrote: »

... On my non fast days I'm also being good and eating healthy meals (mainly) and not going over my TDEE. I'm also exercising - doing a fair bit of walking and aerobics sessions. ...

Sounds like your fast days are fine (the rules are simple)...but you may want to examine your regular days more closely. These days are actually more complicated...here are a few things you should look for:

Logging: it has to be done...at least at the beginning until you are confident in your estimations. Be truthful and accurate.

TDEE: is it accurate? Do you have your activity level correct? Is your BMR right? These values can vary (sometimes wildly) from person to person and depending on the methodology used. Again, be honest and accurate (as possible)...if you are using a "moderate" activity setting, but that's really just on 1 or 2 days a week, then choose "sedentary" and log any and all activity/exercise you do above that. In my own scenario I use sedentary but actually am less than that (I work from home), so MFP's standard calculation is high on my TDEE by about 15%. To get an idea on what all goes in to calculating an accurate TDEE (and why this value is so speculative) you can take a look at a calculator I wrote a couple of months ago (http://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/). Be sure to click on the help icons around the page, they explain each of the values in detail.

Activity/Exercise: Have you done an accurate assessment of this...logged and detailed everything you are doing? Let's say your "true" TDEE is 2000 cal and you are doing ~1000 each day in exercise/activities...if you are eating just 2000 cal a day then your body is slowly moving into starvation mode (if it isn't already there). The idea is to keep your metabolism cranking...this is hard for people to grasp at first because they are so used to eating less they don't realize that it can actually work against them. If your body detects that it has plenty of fuel (feast mode) then it will burn calories normally, then when you fast the body actually kicks it up a notch and starts to burn up the fuel reserves (fat) at a higher rate (increases metabolism). It's not until the body gets into famine mode (don't worry it would take 90+ hours of fasting to even get close to this) that it starts burning up muscle and slowing down your metabolism. The problem arises when you reduce calories daily over a period of weeks...this can also result in your body detecting "famine", resulting in a reduced metabolism.

My suggestion is to go with your gut...if you feel you are starving then try finding a more accurate TDEE and be sure to eat back your calories burned from exercise/activity on non-fasting days. If you're feeling stuffed/sated then start reducing your daily caloric intake (by ~100 a day...a week at a time) on non-fasting days until you start seeing changes, but remember you still need to eat back those burned calories.

I always say this (others in the group have heard it many times), but I still consider myself new to fasting. I'm much better informed than when I started but still expect I have much to learn, plus I'm very large (started at over 500 lbs) which means my MFP TDEE is probably about double yours...so their's that grain of salt (our body types/lives couldn't be much different).

This may all seem a bit daunting now, but you're going to be surprised at how "in-tune" you'll get with your body (if you aren't already)...the more fasts you get under your belt the easier it will be to detect/understand how certain choices/actions affect you.

Good Luck

feisty_bucket

1. what's your bodyfat doing? That's most useful metric.
2. I'd suggest not re-eating exercise calories. They're notoriously inaccurate and that's a really easy way to eat above TDEE on regular days.

Calahonda1984

Thank you Flumi, Orlcam and feisty for your help. It's good to just talk it through on here.

Flumi - I have read with interest your posts on this group and I have to say that you have done such an amazing job with losing the weight. You must feel so proud of yourself and no doubt your confidence has sky rocketed! This is what I need to do... hopefully I'll get there.

Orlcam - I worked out my TDEE on the actual 5:2 website and it came out at 1,760, my BMR is 1,467. I said that I was 'sedentary' as I work from home on the computer at the moment.
Before I started this I was eating around 1,200 cals a day as that's what MFP suggested - I was then told that is what most people are told to aim towards on MFP and that it was wrong so I upped my calories to 1,400. Maybe it's the switching around of how many calories I have been eating then and my body just needs time to adjust to me upping the calories?

Feisty - How do I know what my body fat is doing? Is there a way of checking this out? I'm very new to all of this and absolutely clueless! Before I moved out to Spain I was working in a very VERY physical job in the UK so I didn't worry too much about calorie intake as I was burning so many each day!

Do you think that the 5:2 diet just doesn't work for some people or is it just a case of sticking with it for a few months to get your body used to it? Have you met anyone who it wasn't working for?

I'm determined to keep doing it, I would just love to see my scales telling me good news to keep me going. I lost a little bit but then by the time my next fast day comes around I seem to have put the weight back on and sometimes more.

Jo x

snaps27

@calahonda1984 I stalled like you about 5 weeks into fasting ( gained ) and @orlcam gave me similar and very useful advise. In my experience I have eaten higher on my non-fast days (eating back exercse/activity) and that really seemed to help I am now 12 plus weeks in and I have now continued to go down. I would say stick with it, play arond with your numbers and don't get to strit witth yourself pr hard on yourself. And play around with 4:3 and see what seems to kick you into gear. We are all here to give you a helpful ear and share what we have been through, but know that with a bit of time you will find what is right for you.

Also with 5:2 fluctuations can be huge so don't get discouraged, but keep going, it will go down.

jknight001

Seems like stalling if very common with 5:2 and these are some great answers to that issue. @Orlcam & @Melaniecheeks - seems to me this would be a great post to add to the announcements or turn into a FAQ?

Calahonda1984

Snaps - thanks, it's so good to hear from other people who had problems with it in the beginning. I have been thinking there must be something wrong with me as what I have read so far online and on here makes it sound like people are losing weight really easily and right from the word go. I have seen projected weight loss articles saying most people lose about 3lbs in each of the first weeks and then it slows down. This is why I was thinking I'm doing something wrong or it just doesn't work for me. My mind is being put at rest so thank you all very much.

Jo x

jknight001

@Calahonda1984 - I am wondering if it has to do also how much one has to lose. I think the more you have to lose the faster the scale drops. For me I am trying to lose 20 lbs. A great week for me is 1/2 pound. So pretty much a turtle and one week I gained a pound for no particular reason.

@flumi_f - I have been wondering if as you have been doing 5:2, have you found your weekly weight loss become more stable as time went on or has it been erratic the whole 18 months?

Foamroller

I took a quick look in your diary. It looks fairly ok, but there are stuff here and there that you could tighten up a little bit, to get a better estimate. You're not logging any oils. Easily 200 kcal if you don't measure it. I doubt a 4 slice pizza is only 760 kcal, just to give a couple of examples.

When in doubt, estimate kcal upwards not down. If you end up with 50-100 under your target. no harm done.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

Do you know your real TDEE or BMR? That is a very useful number.

You'll get there, just give it time to adjust properly. You can do it:)

flumi_f

Here you go Jknight. My weekly losses and gains since May 2013 ;-) A bit of a bumpy ride. When I had more to lose, one good weekly loss was often followed by two slower weeks. In the beginning I was losing an average of 1-2lb/week, then 1lb, then 0.5lb, etc. Losses got slower as my TDEE sank due to my lower weight. I've been maintaining on about 1800-2000 netcals per day on non fast days and 2 fasts per week. Which is actually alot of cals for a 5'1 and 57-58kg woman. If I were more strict on the input side on non fast days, I would probably be able to lose those last 3kg

And this is with my daily weighins.....Fluctuations are normal

jknight001

Thanks flumi_f. It is very helpful to know that it will be normal to sometimes gain or have small losses.

feisty_bucket

Here, this is pretty crucial to understand, IMO. Your weight can stay the same while your BF% is dropping, which is actually ideal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage

Assuming your calories are where they should be, then yes, something is happening in your body when you fast for a day.

angela233Z

Here's my experience - maybe it will help you
- I am 50, 5 feet tall and sedentary so my TDEE is only around 1500. I can lose .5 pounds a week if I do 2 strict 500 calorie days and 5 1500 calorie days. However it is very easy to go over the 1500 on a given day and if I do, no loose (lose??) for the week.

Are you logging accurately, weighing your food? are you sure of your activity level? i use a fitbit and burn about 1400 calories when i go to the office an work on my computer. 1500 if I go the office and go for a few walks - but only about 1300 when I work from home (who knew getting dressed, walking to car etc was such a help?)

I hope this helps

Calahonda1984

Thanks everyone for your comments.

I have a little electronic weigh scales in my kitchen and I use it ALL the time so that I know what I'm logging is correct. I put myself in the 'sedentary' bracket when working out my TDEE (1,760) but I do go for walks each week - it's hard working from home as I'm stuck in front of the computer all day. I try to get out for a wander though when possible!

As for not logging oils - that's because I don't use them. If I'm 'frying' or having something 'sauteed' then I tend to just put some water int he bottom of the pan with some herbs - works well! I was using oils and butter for things and I always logged them but I haven't used them for a while as I'd rather have the calories as food.

Great to see your charts Flumi! What magazine is it you're going to be in? x

flumi_f

Stadtanzeiger Wintherthur....but I'll post the link, when it get's printed. I think, it should be next Tuesday ;-)

Calahonda1984

Great, I look forward to seeing it! x

Foamroller

Calahonda1984 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your comments.

I have a little electronic weigh scales in my kitchen and I use it ALL the time so that I know what I'm logging is correct. I put myself in the 'sedentary' bracket when working out my TDEE (1,760) but I do go for walks each week - it's hard working from home as I'm stuck in front of the computer all day. I try to get out for a wander though when possible!

As for not logging oils - that's because I don't use them. If I'm 'frying' or having something 'sauteed' then I tend to just put some water int he bottom of the pan with some herbs - works well! I was using oils and butter for things and I always logged them but I haven't used them for a while as I'd rather have the calories as food.

Great to see your charts Flumi! What magazine is it you're going to be in? x

Sorry, didn't mean to pick on you, hehe. I really couldn't even imagine it was possible to fry stuff without it sticking too much (plus the taste is lovely). Now I learnt a new thing!

If you think your logging is airtight, then maybe your TDEE is off. 5:2 is just another (more pleasureable) way to create deficit. Or you have hormonal imbalance or you eat too much carbs on TDEE-days. Just some suggestions. Play with your variables and find a solution that works for you.

Calahonda1984

Ha ha, that's ok, easy mistake to make! Yeah, you should try the water and herbs thing - I think it's yummy! Or sometimes a squirt of sweet chilli in water adds lovely flavour to stir fry veg

My logging probably isn't 100% airtight - I do love my carbs and I probably do eat too big a portion of them on non fast days - I will rectify this!

I'm going to try doing 4:3 this week, just to give me a kick up the bum and hopefully see some results on the scales to keep me going!

I have thought recently that I may have a hormonal imbalance due to different things going on... got a docs appointment to have a check out! Hopefully it's just my carb addiction though! x