Hello everyone!!

KTucke7-->>
I have just started to follow fast 5 and I am wondering if you have any tips for me to lose the weight I want to lose and also to maintain afterwards.

Thanx

I am not Ktucke7 but I would suggest you read the first IF support group thread. If you're lazy, like me, than I would simply tell you this:

Calories matter. IF does nothing to change the equation of energy.

@esmi134 Like John said, you still have to watch the calories on Fast 5. It is just easier for me to do when I'm only eating for 5 hours. A lot easier! Personally, I count my calories on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis. That gives me some to play with for weekends, a special dinner, or when I just have an overdo day.

With fast 5, make sure you eat enough to carry you through the fasting period. I'm a night eater, so this isn't really a problem for me. I eat, go to bed, then have no trouble at all getting to my eating window without hunger management problems. Like I've mentioned before, I tend to be the "once the first bite crosses my lips I want to keep going" type. That's why fast 5 works well for me. I find that I can manage my calories a lot better if I can eat something relatively substantial instead of trying to spread a skimpy calorie allowance over 16 hours... That's why it works great for my maintenance. I don't feel deprived.

I've found my maintenance is around 1700 calories a day. When you are maintaining or losing, it's important to know what your maintenance is. While there are lots of calculators that give an estimate, most find that it is a really individual thing. Use a calculator as a starting point then you'll have to determine your true maintenance by trial and error. At 1700 a day x 7 days, I have 11,900 calories a week to distribute. I eat about 1400 calories a day Monday through Thursday, which leaves me (11,900-(1400 x 4)) 6,300 calories for Friday through Sunday, when we tend to eat out and do things involving food. If I wanted to lose, I'd drop my weekly down to around 9800 which would put me at losing about 1/2 pound a week. You can cut more or exercise more if you want to lose faster.

I've been at the weight loss/maintenance game since 1995 when I lost 100 pounds. I find logging calories to be invaluable when losing and during the first years of maintenance. I use fitday.com (free version). After awhile, it becomes second nature to understand the calorie content of what you are eating, believe it or not.

When losing, watch your body's response. You don't have a lot to lose so you may not notice this as much, but as your weight drops so does the number of calories you burn every day. Every pound burns calories even when it is just sitting there, so your requirements change. They also change with age. I'm 54 now, and I've found that even though I still lift weights and exercise, my maintenance calories dropped after age 50. Anyway, if you stop making progress (while losing) or start gaining (while maintaining) you will have to adjust your calories.

Finally, while I know it makes no sense and shouldn't be possible, I've found that my maintenance is about 100 calories a day higher when I do fast 5. It was 1600 a day before and now it is 1700. Bonus! Not sure what the mechanism is there, but I know it is true for me.

Another tip I'd give you is to eat plenty of protein. A lot of people don't get enough and it's important. It's your body's fuel of choice and it digests differently than carbs, so it keeps you full longer (in simplistic terms).

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions or I can help in any way, just let me know! Good luck to you and know that if I can do it, anyone can...

Thank you guys!

JohnP, where can I find the first IF support group thread? I am interested in reading it.

KTucke7, I appreciate all the info, I am very excited because I have already noticed a difference and want to keep going.

I'm reading this thread with interest.

I did a version of this when I was in my early 20's and lost 50lbs pretty effortlessly. I would eat a small yogurt cup in the morning, then I would fast until about 3pm when I got home from work, then I would have a very large meal (or meals) in the evening (which is my worst trigger time). I would say it was about 1400-1500 calories total but because it was in a short amount of time I felt like I could eat unrestricted.

However, so many people drummed it into me that it was SO unhealthy and SO damaging to my body and such a *wrong* way to do things that I abandoned it and gained it all back -- despite the fact that I did in fact lose weight.

Anyway, I'm going back to eating in the evenings ( a controlled calorie amount) and eating very little during the day/fasting. Thanks for the inspiration. I'll be reading this thread with interest!

@35x35 Welcome and good luck!

Hi everyone,

I came across this forum after doing a lot of research into IF and this seems like the most active and supportive forum to be a part of!

I have always been petite but at my heaviest I was 165lb(ish) after being on the contraceptive injection, eating crap and doing no exercise. I came off the injection and lost 35lbs in 8months about 6 years ago (without trying...I put it down to being a poor student) and I have been going to the gym and running since the weight loss for about 4 years now and have managed to tone up.

However, I cannot seem to shift these last 10lbs or so to get down to my ideal weight even with a good mix of strength training and cardio 4/5 days a week.
My big problem is of course my diet. I do not put weight on, I just maintain. I have been this weight for years now! I don't eat unhealthily, I just eat a lot!! I love eating! And as soon as I eat breakfast in the morning a few hours later I am hungry again.

This is my 6th day of doing variations of IF.
Sat/Sun/Mon/Wed and today/Fri I am doing 16/8 and on Tuesday I did 24 hours from 7pm-7pm. Though it was more like 23!

It has confirmed what I thought, if I don't begin to eat, the hunger is much more manageable. It is easier to flat out resist any food at all, than to resist snacks/treats when already eating. It seems more clear cut and I am finding this works for me.

I have been drinking lots of water and green tea, which I do anyway so it hasn't been too difficult to not eat until 1pm/2pm. On the 24 hr fast I drank pepsi max too.

Funnily enough when I was a student and I lost 35lbs without even trying I was only eating one meal a day. And sometimes at weekends I wouldn't eat for 24+ hours due to partying....makes sense now, I was doing IF without realising. So it definitely does work!

I look forward to being part of your support group!

@Rosey85 Good going and glad you joined us. I'm past the one year mark on Fast 5 and I love this way of eating! I sure wish I had discovered it years ago. It is great for anyone with "hunger management" issues in my opinion. It works like a charm for maintenance too, which is a struggle for anyone who has lost weight. Nice to see you are almost there!

hi! I started IF today. I'll need support for sure because this time it seems it is more difficult not to eat and manage my hunger...

KTucke7, thanks a lot for sharing your exp.

@Princess Sophia Welcome! Hunger management gets easier after a few days. Hang in there!

@KTucke7 thanks for the warm welcome I agree that your body does not take long to adjust, after only 6 days I am finding hunger management significantly easier, even at work sitting at a desk in a boring job.
Just keep drinking plenty. I find switching between hot green tea, water and pepsi max good because of the different temperatures and sensations of them.

@Rosey85 I drink hot green tea and diet pepsi. I also sit at a desk all day. If nothing else, the green tea helps keep us awake!

hello everybody, glad to see some activity
I also have a desk job and thats when its easiest for me to follow IF, its being home that is challenging, i work part time for now. But I drink coffee, make different flavors (no sugar or cream or anything else) and water, sometimes flavored as well.

thank you a lot for your support. I completed successfully. Will repeat it next week (Tuesday or Wednesday)

@esmi134 It is a real challenge when at home instead of at work! Makes me realize how much boredom eating I did...