Alternate Day Fast?

x3na1401

Hi. Is anyone doing the ADF diet? You eat 500 cal one day then 1500+ the next? Apparently it was on tv as the next big thing. Well I have been doing it for one month with three "fast" days and 4 "normal" per week.
Let me explain the quotation marks: on fast days I am eating 500 cals of food at lunch and dinner so not a true fast. One normal days I am aware of the diet still and have limited my intake to 1200
Calories for 3 of the days and a blow out on Sunday of around 1500.

I have not lost any weight for 7 days so I have today increased my normal intake to 1600 and did body revolution in a bid to get of this plateau. I only have a small amount of weight to lose but my partner has more.

Any ideas or experience?

I should say that initially I lost 8 lb in 3 weeks with no additional exercise. My bmi is 21 currently and I was not over weight before. The ADF diet does work for some people, but I suspect I am not eating enough for my metabolism

x3na1401

No one else heard of this??? I'm surprised.

tricksee

never heard of it.

x3na1401

It was on a program on the bbc. It's also called the 5:2 diet if you only fast 2 days a week

TavistockToad

It was on a program on the bbc. It's also called the 5:2 diet if you only fast 2 days a week

the 5:2 diet was on a programme, i havent heard of an alternate fast one.

if you have a BMI of 21 you do not need to lose weight! eat at maintenance and lift heavy things for a bit of 'toning' and fat loss.

baxendengreen

I've been following this diet since the beginning of the year and have so far lost 24lbs. I've combined this way of eating with eating more healthily and exercising.

Perhaps the issue is the non-fasting day? My thought process has been that in order to ensure your body does not react badly to the fasting is to ensure you are getting enough calories on the non-fasting day. As your BMI is pretty good I would ensure you are eating no less than 2000 calories - particularly if you are exercising.

Good luck!

x3na1401

Yeah I want to be around 9 stone 10. So not far to go but my partner has more weight to lose and I am head cook n bottle washer in our house so I am in charge of planning and preparing food.
Like me, my partner has plateaud and I have been reading today about rmr and eating back exercise calories. This makes sense to me at my weight but should a heavier person do this or should they follow a 1500 c diet on normal days?
I am looking to get strong and know I will soon be calorie increasing.
I was interested to know if any larger people had had success with a variant of a fasting diet

Alexfit12

The idea of fasting is that your insulin levels have a chance to go down and you have a lot of added benefits, like the secretion of growth hormone. If you eat 500 calories, this does not happen. A fast is only a fast if you don't ingest any calories for a period longer than 12-16 hours (depending on your metabolism).

Sure, eating 500 calories one day is easier than eating nothing, but honestly, it's only benefits is that your reduce total number of calories (and most probably deprive your body of enough protein on the so called "fast day").

Research for 20 minutes eat-stop-eat and you'll understand what i meant.

Alexfit12

*its only benefit (excuse the typo)

Mokey41

You do realize that you're only losing weight because you're living on less than 1,000 calories a day if you even it out? The miracle isn't in the "fasting" it's in the extremely low calorie intake that you're following much like all the other fads. You've plateaued because you are very close to being the weight you should be and your body is rebelling at not getting the nutrition that it needs.

x3na1401

Yes. I have upped my calorie intake and will continue to do so as I am near the weight I sang to be

But my partner isn't.

That's why I was asking really. The 5:2 diet is in essence what we are doing, but 4:3. The idea was to kick start my part era weight loss as she finds loosing weight impossible and this way seems like a good way of dieting without being on a diet. 4 days a week we get normal food. This appeals to her.

I am thinking though that we both should have been eating more calories on off days. I am giving that a go this week and increasing exercise. We shall see.

It's a bit of an experiment for us. I obviously want her to do well and will support her in the fast days.
We only eat dinner on fast days so we actually fast from 6 pm night before to 6pm. That's long enough !


My partner did the Cambridge diet but it was too hard for her to stick to. There's no way I would do that diet. She put all the weight and more back on.
When reading about rmr today I see why.

So, what calorie deficit is enough??

Mokey41

Just use MFP the way it's meant to be used. Put your numbers in, log your calories and eat them. If you only have a little to lose then choose the 1 or .5 lb level, if you have a lot to lose use the 2 lb level, in between go with 1.5. That's the purpose of this site. Forget about fasting and very low calories. It isn't sustainable or healthy.

psuLemon

Yes. I have upped my calorie intake and will continue to do so as I am near the weight I sang to be

But my partner isn't.

That's why I was asking really. The 5:2 diet is in essence what we are doing, but 4:3. The idea was to kick start my part era weight loss as she finds loosing weight impossible and this way seems like a good way of dieting without being on a diet. 4 days a week we get normal food. This appeals to her.

I am thinking though that we both should have been eating more calories on off days. I am giving that a go this week and increasing exercise. We shall see.

It's a bit of an experiment for us. I obviously want her to do well and will support her in the fast days.
We only eat dinner on fast days so we actually fast from 6 pm night before to 6pm. That's long enough !


My partner did the Cambridge diet but it was too hard for her to stick to. There's no way I would do that diet. She put all the weight and more back on.
When reading about rmr today I see why.

So, what calorie deficit is enough??

Based on your ticker, you should be aiming to lose 1/2 - 1 lb per week. So if you only eat 500 calories 2x a week, your other 5 days should be like 2000+. Ideally, your deficit should be between 1750-3500 calories a week. Otherwise, muscle loss will be more prevalent.

There really is no benefit to IF over conventional in terms of fat loss or muscle retention. It's more of a lifestyle issue. But the biggest issue is ensure you are eating a ton of calories on non fasting days.

psuLemon

For example, my TDEE is around 3000 calories (based on the fact I eat 2500 calories a day and lose 1 lb per week). Over a week, I generally consume 17,500 calories. If I eat 500 calories two days a week, I would have to then eat 3,300 calories 5 days a week.


So my plan would be

Sunday - 3,300
Monday - 500
Tuesday - 3,300
Wednesday - 3,300
Thursday - 500
Friday - 3,300
Saturday - 3,300


Or I just eat 2,500 calories a day, either way, it's still 1 lb per week.