Weight Loss/Maintenance

(Wow ... sorry about the length .... I guess I have a lot to say about the subject)

But I have been using the 5:2 Fast Diet ...

I eat carbs in the morning, much less so after 4PM

The Fast Diet is a form of calorie control ... The thinking goes > If you want to maintain your weight; you can eat ANYTHING you want in a day, as long as the caloric content amounts to ≤ your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).

Of course, we all know that nobody would become overweight if everybody controlled their caloric intake, every day, day in and day out .... in a perfect world ... But it's obvious this is not a practical approach for most people.

However - There are a few tricks that help immensely ...

1) Eat Vegetarian/Vegan .... It's much easier to control your caloric intake if you focus on Fruit and Vegetables ... The bulk versus caloric content quotient is favorable to those who want to lose or maintain their weight.

2) Lose one meal ... replace it with a healthy snack ... An apple or banana for lunch, with a couple almonds or walnuts ... LESS than 100 cals ... MUCH more nutritious than those factory made 100 cal SnakBagz™

3) My TDEE is approx 2200 cals total per day. Eating less than 100 cals for one meal means I could eat 1050 cals per meal for breakfast and dinner, and stay under TDEE. That should be easy ... right ? ... for some people, it's hard ... But reducing one meal to a snack makes it easier to comply with the TDEE limit, and not gain weight.

4) In order to LOSE weight, one must reduce their caloric intake, as determined by their TDEE, by 3500 calories in order to lose one pound. .... It doesn't matter what span of days might transpire .... for instance:

If your TDEE is 2200 (mine is), and I want to remove 3500 calories from my diet in one week, and maintain a consistently even caloric intake on a daily basis, the math (for me) would be:

2200 (Daily TDEE) x 7 = 15400 (Weekly TDEE) ..... 15400 - 3500 = 11900 (Weekly caloric intake to lose 1 lb per week) .... 11900 / 7 = 1700 calories per day.

If I eat 1700 calories or less every day, I would lose 1 pound per week. It is implied that the food is accurately measured and accounted for.

5) I use a variant of step 4 - The 5:2 Fast Diet means '5 days eat normal (TDEE or less)' and '2 days eat 600 cals or less' ... every week'. The math for the 5:2 Fast Diet goes like this (in my case):

2200 * 5 = 11000 (5 normal days) .... 600 x 2 = 1200 (total caloric intake for two fast days) ... 11000 + 1200 = 12200 (weekly calorie total per 5:2 Fast Diet rules) ... 15400 (Weekly normal TDEE) - 12200 (Fast Diet Total) = 3200 calories subtracted per week.

3200/3500 = 0.91 lb lost per week.

When I was in my main losing phase, I calculated I lost 3.75 lbs per month approx. That factual weight loss jives with the numbers.

I am still fasting two days a week, but I have also been on a strength training regime for about nine months .. self imposed for health ... so my weight loss through fat reduction is being offset by gains in muscle growth ... I have gained 15-20 lbs in muscle, approx. I am still trending down, but more slowly and steadily ...

(BTW - 600 cals is NOT a hard fast ... I eat two main meals - breakfast approx 200 cals .. lunch less than 100 (more of a snack), and dinner around 300. I am never 'starving' .. I eat cuke slices or romaine lettuce slices for snacks ... berries and a single walnut make a decent snack that sticks with you, but amounts to very little caloric intake) ...

(Another BTW - from a weight loss perspective - It matters not whether you eat meat, veggies, bread, rice, pasta, carbs, tofu, fats, whatever combination - The numbers do not lie ... Exceed TDEE and you gain ... Undercut TDEE and you lose)

(Another BTW - Just to say that all that matters from a weight loss perspective is the simple math doesn't give the whole picture. There is ample reason to be selective in your nutrition choices, depending on other conditions you might be experiencing. Diabetics, for instance, already have limited menu items, so their choices are narrowed naturally ... Saturated Fat consumption is associated (rightly or wrongly) with vascular and heart disease, as well as other negative impacts in brain health. People should definitely consider removing or at least limiting consumption of those items .... Your choice ... Regarding carbs - Pasta, Rice, Bread, etc ... There are a wide array of beliefs regarding those items. My feelings have evolved over time. I now choose low GI foods, but I will eat oatmeal and cereals, and whole wheat bread ... but only small amounts ... Low GI carbs help improve your cholesterol numbers, so it's worth spending some of your 'carb budget' on whole grain oatmeal, cereal and breads. Small amounts are all you need.

I would also add that fasting is helpful in reducing liver impacts like abnormal cholesterol and triglyceride numbers ... I've had great improvements in those numbers ...

Check these two websites:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18a1b6_michael-mosley-eat-fast-live-longer_lifestyle

http://thefastdiet.co.uk/

Good luck ...