5:2 thread 101: Fasting as quick as HH is whizzing down the ski slopes! (Not very fast, with many bumps and wine stops along the way!)

[harriethoyle]

Welcome to the continuing thread for those following 5:2 or other forms of IF (Intermittent Fasting) such as 4:3, ADF, etc.

Basically it is 2 very low cal days ("fasts") per week - which need not be consecutive - and eat "normally" to maintain on the other 5 days.

For those who have dieted or maybe overeaten for years, eating "normally"
means roughly the number of calories your body needs to maintain - NOT reduce - its weight (see TDEE calculator below).

IMPORTANT
If you have had past diagnosed Eating Disorders or serious MH problems you should NOT do 5:2 or any other kind of fasting

JARGON alert

16:8 is a different type of fasting, which can be combined with 5:2.
Daily zero-cal fast for 16 hours and eat within an 8 hour window. To lose weight, this needs a weekly calorie deficit as well

b2b (optional) back-to-back / consecutive fast days, each with an increased allowance of 650 calories instead of 500

BMI (Body Mass Index) healthy range is 18.5 - 24.9 for Caucasians. Upper limit may be 22 for some of Asian origin.

FD = single Fast Day: aim for 500 calories (600 for men or 25% TDEE whichever is higher) or 1000 cals for BF
No alcohol or junk on FDs
Even if you exercise strenuously, do NOT increase FD cals to allow for exercise

MFP = My Fitness Pal, a useful App or website to track food & drink calories

miniFD = MiniFD, 850-1000 calories, no alcohol or junk

NFD = Non-Fast Day, averages around TDEE

NSV / LSV = Non Scale Victory / LifeStyle (change) Victory, e.g. compliment, smaller waist, clothes size

SV = Scale Victory

TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure, the average number of calories you burn in a day, is calculated from your current weight, height, age, activity level.
Aim to average about this for NFDs.

WOE / WOL = Way Of Eating / Way Of Life. We say this instead of "diet", to emphasise that we must make a permanent change in how we eat, to maintain our new healthy weight long term.

Jump in and say hello!

@OohMrDarcy Good luck with fasting today.

will be fasting tomorrow with work to distract me.

Fasting today gone fine 🎉

Kitchen closed on 503 and a nighttime tea later

Am out travelling all day tomorrow so planning ahead to make sure I don't screw up any success too much!

Good luck for tomorrow @strangerInStrangeLand

fast day today!! so far so good - black coffees and teas as I m doing water fast.

Still going strong, I think I can call today a success.
went for a walk 5k steps, first on a water fast. Will probably do 3k steps more. Want to slowly build up to doing a yoga class on fasting.

See you all around of Thursday for day 2.

continuing fast today - 500/650 calories. Not feeling too hungry so decided to continue.

oh and no weightloss after yesterday fast 68.3->68.5. hope to see some loss after day 2. would be nice to see beginings of 67

Why is it so quite over here!! 592 so far. Just planned another watery coffee with coffee mate for the day and then done. I will be able to keep it at 650.

Hey @strangerInStrangeLand I think lots of posters are away for half term.

Well done on b2b fasting!

I'm checking in for my FD today. Got an event filled weekend so it needs to be a good one! Having a stir fry for my dinner for something different today

Good luck @OohMrDarcy You are so consistent and smashing the fasts week after week!! well done ! It is so inspiring!!

Weighed in at 68.2 100gms less than last week! Oh well, Last week was only one day fasting and atleast its less than last week I will take it

after 7 weeks I m used to one day fast a week but the second day is still hard. I m liking doing it back to back and being done with it, but its much harder than monday thursday.

@strangerInStrangeLand - remember I have a lot of weight to lose so it comes off much easier at the moment... unless you're incredibly short you can't be far from target so it can slow right down... I would look at your NFDs and see if you can rein anything in there without feeling like you're depriving yourself as may be just slightly overdoing it and therefore slowing the loss. a pure water fast followed by a normal FD must be incredibly difficult, I couldn't do it

I am 5 3, so about 4-5 kg so 10-12 pounds away from top edge of my healthy range. I have been 68/69 for lot of years so my body thinks it is the normal weight and hence the slow down. Grrr.
NFDs - I started calorie counting recently - especially for the junk food and nuts. so useful . even handful of nuts easily 200 calories. so I can rein this in a bit
I need to add more workout to my routine. some 30 mins of light cardio and hot yoga 4 times a week is my plan.

sounds like a good plan Stranger!

Kitchen closed on 504 today.

Got a wedding tomorrow and a concert Saturday so fingers crossed I am able to be sensible and still achieve a small lost (or worst case STS)

I’m using my Fitbit to log my weight everyday, and using the weekly average to track loss. So far just under a lb down from last week (but still have the weekend to go, so who knows!)

Also, has anyone tried the MeThreeSixty app?(sure there are other similar ones).
Free app where you scan your body, and it creates you as a figure which you can compare side by side to previous scans.

Scanned myself last week and again today, is quite motivating to see that my belly seems to have gone down loads, even if scales are showing less than a lb. So might do that weekly going forward, so I can see how I compare weekly, and since I started, because I know weight loss can be a temperamental (especially around my period)!

Morning all

Weighed in today at 103.5kg meaning a loss of 1.1kg this week - I'm over the moon with that as had a wedding on Friday, a concert Saturday and was exhausted and went for a (calorific) pub lunch yesterday! All the dancing must have helped!

Back on it with a Monday FD today and having a Cesar salad for dinner tonight - yum

Not used that app @PaperSky , you might find it more encouraging to do every fortnight or monthly though so more chance of visible changes each time?

Kitchen closed on 552. Would have been sub 500 but was knackered so had a vanilla latte sachet to get me through work!

NFD in the office tomorrow and all meals planned

Well done with fasting @OohMrDarcy and great weight loss!
I m fasting today tomorrow. Aiming 650 per day. Not able to do water fast after adding workout last week :-)
lots of veggies and some rice and eggs at night. 650 is generous.

Decided to get back on 5:2 proper as opposed to 16:8 - I need to get more of a grip on things! Aiming for 800 cals as I think this is the new version of 5:2 (Fast 800?) but obviously if I can come in under that I will. My usual 5:2 tactic is to skip breakfast and lunch and then have a normal-ish dinner, but I have found I get too hungry on this and then start eating everything in sight at about 5pm, so today I had a banana for "lunch" and a few sugar-free Polos just now - not feeling especially ravenous so hopefully this lasts until bedtime!

Yesterday was Epic fail ! Adding workout and periods being 3 days away , I went on a binge, around 1600 calories. I have to increase my food intake week days to compensate workout if I have to fast I guess. Also I decided to give up black coffee - which really helps with fasting

Today last ditch effort attempting 500 calories , feeling good after yesterdays binge. looks like it was needed.

On holiday Thursday - sunday. Will be active so not worried but dont have lot of hopes with weight loss on monday. lets see.

@SydneyCarton Hope you had a better fast day than me :-)

so far so good today.

Glad today is going better @strangerInStrangeLand ! Sometimes its just not the right day - and that is ok! Enjoy your break this weekend

How did your FD go @SydneyCarton ?

Pretty well thanks @OohMrDarcy and @strangerInStrangeLand - came in at just over 700 cals. Doing a b2b today and aiming again for max.800 cals. Water and a banana so far and chicken stir fry planned for dinner which MFP estimates at 670 in total, which gives me a bit in hand if necessary.

I don't think 1600 seems too bad stranger, especially if you're working out as well. I usually do FDs when I'm in the office and not exercising, and WFH days when I have time for a run are NFDs because I need the fuel. I've tried running fasted when I did 16:8 and I just couldn't maintain any decent pace.

Well done @SydneyCarton I m still going strong I may as well do a water fast today.

@strangerInStrangeLand Go for it!

No fasting or tracking tomorrow as it's my birthday - I won't go mad but I'm going to have nice food! Plan is to track Friday, 16:8 Saturday (going out for birthday dinner) and then day off on Sunday.