5:2 Fasting Diet Update Week 6
Yesterday was my 11th fasting day. My weight loss has noticeably slowed down now, and I have only dropped about 0.4 kg (less than a pound) in two weeks. My current weight is 77.8kg (171 pounds). I had hoped that just sticking to the 5:2 plan would be enough to bring my weight down to where I want it, but it is obvious now that more effort is required. It won’t be the end of the world if my weight stabilizes where it is, but I would prefer to get it below 75kg. I now look a bit lumpy rather than obviously fat.
Further Action to Bring My Weight Down
If I want to get my weight down further I will need to be more careful on my non fasting days. I don’t go too wild but the problem areas would include:
– I love the vegetarian burgers that my wife makes, and I’ll eat these up to three times a week. The problem isn’t so much the burgers, but the fact that I eat them with 6 slices of white bread.
– Most of the Thai food that I eat is fried.
– I tend to stuff myself with fruit just before going to bed. I spoke to a sports nutritionist last year, and he reckoned that eating excessive carbohydrates prior to bedtime is one of the worst things you can do. If I’m going to eat before bed I should stick to protein foods.
– I haven’t been exercising enough.
If I want to bring my weight down further I will need to be a bit stricter in regards to these problem areas. I must admit that I’m a tiny bit disappointed. I had hoped that once I reached my target I’d be able to drop to 1 fasting day a week. At the moment it seems that I need almost the full two fasting days just to keep my weight stabilized.
My Other Posts on 5:2 Intermittent Fasting
Ten weeks of 5:2 Intermittent Fasting
Second Week of 5:2 Fasting Diet
Week Three of the 5:2 Intermittent Fasting Diet
Changes to My 5:2 Intermittent Fasting Plan
Intermittent Fasting as a Spiritual Exercise
Hi Paul,
The human body is highly adaptive. Evolutionarily, it doesn’t want to lose weight. While you can force it (through deprivation, essentially), it will try and adapt. I’m sure you know this, but I think a standard withdrawal of food on only part of a schedule will send the body into adaptive mode and it will attain its nutritional requirements to maintain balance on the other days.
The trick is to not give it a chance to adapt, by changing the pattern at a faster rate than the adaption sets in. This becomes a bit more extreme regarding fasting (which I personally think is not a good strategy, too much stress on the body).
More Muay Thai, fighter! ;D
Sincerely,
Jeff
Thanks Jeff, I do need to put more effort into exercise. My punch bag now has cobwebs. I do like fasting for other reasons as well as weight control so I’ll continue with it at least until the end of the 10 weeks I set as my goal.
Hi Paul,
From watching the Horizon documentary I got the impression that the goal was more about healthy longevity than it was about weight loss. The idea that this is a “diet” seems slightly misleading, and anyone undertaking it should be more focused on other benchmarks such as lowering blood glucose and IGF-1 levels (hard to see in the mirror, I know!).
I’m on my fourth week of the 5:2 experiment, and I’ll keep going for as long as I feel able. There was a 3kg weight loss initially but I think this was more to do with increased exercise than the programme itself.
Try to focus on the long term benefits rather than what you see in the mirror, and stick with it! Good luck mate!
Thanks David, I suspect you’re right. I should have had had my bloods done before beginning the 10 week fast. It is hard to know if it is having any benefit.
Hi Paul,
I’ve been doing this now for 3 months. I did both for the better ‘bloods’ but also because I couldn’t help noticing that Michael Moseley lost 5 kilos while doing it over 5 weeks.
I also neglected to get my bloods checked before starting – something I regret.
I really like this regime. I feel better and much sharper mentally on my fast days and actually the bit of hunger around on those days. I also have a general feeling of cleanness on those day. A good result is that on fast days my customary evening comfort/boredom fridge-raiding is an unequivocal no-no and I simply dismiss any temptation from my mind instantly and easily.
I’ve lost 8 kilos in that time (down from 88kg) but that’s slowing right down and I don’t expect it to stabilise at anything better than about 77 or 78kg at best. But even at 80kg I’m pleased.
This is well worth sticking with – for life I believe.
Dan
Thanks Dan, I’m feeling a bit envious. I haven’t abandoned 5:2 fasting completely, but I’m definitely AWOL. I’m planning on doing a long juice fast this month (maybe 10 days) so that I can get back on track. I might try returning to two day fasts in the New Year.
I’m a couple of months in now and I have to say it’s quickly become a way of life. My weight hasn’t really changed (give or take a couple of kilos) but I’ve started to notice my body fat percentage dropping, especially the hard to reach abdominal area.
I’ve been going to the gym consistently for 3 years now, as well as making changes to my diet, and while I’ve been able to put on muscle I’ve never been able to alter my body fat percentage. I’m even thinking about changing to 3 fast days per week instead of 2 as it seems to be becoming easier to manage each week.
Thanks David, I get too obsessed with body weight, but it sounds like you have the right idea. Wow, three fast days a week would be impressive for sure. I doubt that I could do that for any length of time.
Hello Paul,
I really wish you would have kept going for the rest of us if not for yourself.
You have chosen to allow the big food and drug corp’s. to dictate your behavior with the promise that their ‘dope’ will make you feel better, instantly at that.
You and most of us know well that it is a false promise; we feel worse after partaking of their processed garbage which is chemically designed to keep us feeling hungry.
In many ways, they could be viewed as uglier criminals than the tobacco companies.
You and we can fight them by not succombing to their ploys at poisoning our bodies and poisoning our minds for monetary gain and physical and psychological control.
M
Hi Mitchell, you could be right, but it is not something that worries me too much at the moment. I live in Thailand, so the “big food and drug corp’s” might be less of an issue – I don’t know. I can understand your concerns though, and I agree that it does make sense to think more about what we are shoving down our throats.