Intermittent fasting

yvrsth9768

just started fasting. My first time. I’m limiting to 600 calories twice a week. I have also dropped my daily calorie limit to 1600. Lost 3 lbs in first week. Any thoughts on combining both approaches?

Strudders67

Why have you dropped your calories to 1600 AND doing a 2 day fast of 600 calories? One or the other, not both. Losing 3lb in a week is probably water weight and definitely not sustainable, or not safey anyway, and you shouldn't expect it to be.

Did you put your info into the Guided Set Up tool? Did you select a sensible rate of weight loss? (slower is better). Did you get an allocation of calories per day? That's how MFP works. You can choose to eat that number of calories any way you like. If a 5:2 fast works for you such that you eat at Maintenance on 5 days and a reduced number of calories on 2 days (which is what the 5:2 is), your goal should be to eat the number of calories that MFP assigns over the course of a week.

You need to eat less than you're burning to lose weight. But if you try to go too hard / too fast, you're likely to give up. If you don't, you may find that you're impacting your health. I read a comment on here, a long time ago, that the biggest winner is the person who can eat the most and still lose weight.

Read the Useful Posts at the top of the Forum page and remember that sustainable weight loss takes time.

yvrsth9768

on the question Why, well,I’m Impatient. But you are right. Thanks.

WestCoastGirl_1

What @yvrsth9768 is doing is a 5:2 intermittent fasting plan. You limit your calories to 500 if your a women and 600 calories if you are a man on two nonconsecutive days and eat a regular healthy diet on the other days. My doctor is an MD and mentioned intermittent fasting. We didn't get into details. But I see him again in a couple of weeks.

We really can be healthy without eating so much as long as you make healthy choices for the meals that you do eat. I lost 30+ pounds in a four month period. I was usually only eating two meals a day. And I didn't eat my first meal until 9 or 10 am and was done eating dinner by 6 pm. I felt and looked great. My meals included chia seeds, Greek yogurt, blueberries, avocados, walnuts, EVOO, quite a bit of fish (salmon, rockfish, shrimp, etc) and other lean proteins, broccoli, brussels sprouts, salads. I guess it's what you consider a LCHF diet (somewhat low carb and lots of healthy fats). BTW, eating healthy fats makes your skin and hair feel soft and smooth. You know…they give you a good coat 😀 Anyways, I'm trying to get back on track right now. I've been lazy for a while and have been eating pizzas and other processed foods. My weight has increased and my hair and skin feel dry. I hope to be back on track real soon!

PS…there's nothing wrong with losing some water weight. It gets rid of the puffiness and bloat. After a while, the fat will start falling off too.

Strudders67

WestCoastGirl, I understand what 5:2 is, but the OP is doing 5:2 AND has dropped calories to a deficit. That's not eating at Maintenance on two (non consecutive) days, that's cutting on top of a deficit and is likely not sensible in the long term.

@yvrsth9768 I strongly suggest that you put your stats into the Guided Set Up page and select a sustainable rate of weight loss (I can't remember if the usual suggestion is 1% or 0.5% of your current weight, per week). That'll give you a daily number of calories. Multiply it by 7 to get your weekly figure, deduct the 1200 for your two days of fasting and then divide the remainder by 5 to know how much to eat on the other days. Track your intake for a 4 to 6 weeks and then see if you're losing at your expected rate. If not, adjust as necessary. If you start to find that you're struggling with two days of fasting, eat the amount that MFP suggests, per day. In the app, there's a way of seeing your weekly average and whether you're on track and that's what quite a few of us look at - some days will be over and some days will be under.

I get being impatient - you're not the first and you won't be the last - but sustainable weight loss takes time and is usually healthier in the long run. During that time, learn what foods are better use of your calorie allowance, reduce portion sizes on some things / substitute others etc, figure out what foods make you feel fuller for longer and strategise for how you're going to maintain your weight once you're down to your goal figure. Otherwise, you find yourself hoping "to be back on track real soon". If you learn lessons along the way you'll soon be like those of us that got to our target weight and have been maintaining for years.

One additional point to note - if you exercise, you should be eating at least some (75% is good) of your exercise calories.

ddsb1111

Your plan is an excellent way to get so hungry you eventually binge then develop disordered eating patterns of fasting and binging. Typically this causes more weight gain than weight loss. You know the recommended 5/2 plan, why not just do that?

rms62003

I understand the idea of being impatient, we all wish we could just lose the weight and be done with it. But, please, remember your body's health and sustainability are the most important! And, don't be too happy about your initial weight loss - what you are seeing is water weight and body shock. This will slow down.

I HIGHLY do not recommend doing a severe calorie deficit on top of a 5:2 intermittent fasting. On your fasting days you are likely not getting the nutrition your body needs - just can't do that with 600 calories. If you cut your calories on nonfasting days too much you will run into macro and micro nutrient deficiencies. Also, if you cut too many calories in a week, you will start to feel miserable - your body doesn't have the fuel you will need to function.

Your metabolism will also crap out and this can damage it in the long run - look at what happen to the contestants on the Bigger Loser. They were pushed to be impatient too, and ended up with a 300-500 permanent decrease in their metabolism! Most of them ended up gaining back, and exceeding, their starting weight.

I urge you to be patient. I know it's tough, I've been working on my weight now for 13 months and do admit am getting fatigued by the slow process. But, being patient, making small life style changes, will not only be better for your body but also allow you to keep the weight loss long term.