I’m doing this as I am at very high risk of developing diabetes and want to avoid it at all costs. So I’m very motivated approaching the end of week 2 of the Fast 800. Really pleased with how well I’ve planned, shopped and cooked, drunk litres of water and resisted all other temptations so the food side of things is absolutely there and on plan.

Week 1 was great with an 8lb loss. Now approaching end of week 2 and looking like a 2lb loss if I’m lucky. Now I’m not complaining that much as 10lb in two weeks is great and better than I’ve ever managed before, but my question for forum members is….how essential is the exercise (upping your daily steps) element?

Hi Kate,

I’m in the middle of week 3 and I’ve just started feeling well enough to do some gentle cardio at the gym. The first day doing it I got a bit overexcited, did 45 minutes and felt great until about 14:30 when I could barely keep my eyes open. I’ve cut it back to 30 minutes and used some of my lunch calories for a small mid afternoon snack instead and that has helped a bit. Bear in mind though that I’m a 6″2′ man, so you may well be able to get away with doing more.

Thanks Michael, I like the idea of saving some calories for a snack. I guess I’m wondering whether diet alone is enough or whether at my age (50) I need to do the exercise as well. My job is quite sedentary, I sit at a desk for most of the day but I’m trying an alarm to make me get up and move every 30 minutes and I guess I need to increase my steps from the average 5000 per day!

Hi Kate,

I’m coming to the end of 12 weeks and because of knee surgery I haven’t been able to exercise beyond some walking for almost the whole time. I also have a sedentary job and I’m 52. As of this morning I have shifted 49lbs (just over 22kilos) in the 12 weeks and dropped my blood sugar levels massively. I know that it is easier for men (unfairly but biologically!) to shift weight, but you should get good results on this regime, even without the exercise, though that does speed things up (and adds other benefits too, of course). You’ll also see from posts in other forums on here that lots of people hit some sort of temporary plateau in one of the earlier weeks, especially after such a big loss in week 1 – continue to keep your eye on the big picture, as you clearly are doing, and it’ll all come good.
Very best of luck.
Rob

Hi Kate ….. Rob is right, weight loss often slows for a while in weeks two/three and sometimes even stalls or plateaus for awhile, so don’t panic about it. I’m 61 and don’t exercise much at all – the odd walk, a bit of pilates and that’s about it – way less than I should do for sure. However, I have lost over two stone now and am 1.8lb off my target weight – actually, before going away for an extended vacation, I had actually hit target weight, but gained 4lb while away, so now I’m back to it.

So, although exercise obviously helps with general fitness and wellbeing, it is not essential for losing weight on the BSD. Think it might speed things up a little, but not exercising won’t stop the pounds from dropping if you stick with the programme. Keep going and those pounds will soon disappear.

my experience over the years is that I over egg the amount of calories I think I have lost when excercising and the excercise stimulates my appetite , there is a NY journalist , Gary Taube I think, whose article I read from a link on one of the forums which asks how you would go about preparing for a lovely meal in the evening, you would cut back on what you eat and do a little excercise to stimulate your appetite- hmm sound familiar.
Excersie is good for your health, bone, heart and lungs and often mood so is important but I don’t use it to help me lose weight I use calorie counting for that.
I personally dislike gyms- the trauma of the female changing room, the skinnie Minnie’s in thongs , the side glance as you wiggle your body to edge up your snug Lycra pants , the fact they all seem no older than 25-Yuck. Then there’s the muscled blokes in the weight area doing weird movements with kettle bells which meant I never quite ventured into that area, I feared I might grow a beard as I absorbed the fug of testosterone. Sadly the menopause has got me there anyway despite by protestations.
I do a Zumba class in a church hall with no mirrors with a group of overweight mums and ladies of a certain age, it is funny, feels like you are dancing and only costs a fiver. I then do a High intensity training , HIT, DVD , Davina , if you are interested , in my front room. The dog sometimes joins in as does my five year old nephew , I could only do a bit of it at first but over time have really seen by muscle definition change. MM recommends HIT and it has worked for me , apparently it stimulates your mitochondria.

Thanks Rob for the reassurance and I hope that over the longer term and as I move into week 3 I can start to emulate your amazing loss. Well done you 🙂 I read in the book that average weight loss over 8 weeks was 44kg or 52 lbs, so as that’s an average I’ve managed my expectations somewhat and am aiming for around 40lbs which will be a significant chunk of my overall goal. I started a daily 20 minute brisk walk this morning as mornings are when I have more energy so that will now be part of my routine.

SunnyB…I have seen your posts on these forums and you are a great motivator, thanks for the response and reading all of your experiences and the other posters’ stories is just making me more determined to carry on with this. Oh, and also because I’m enjoying it! I’m eating things I haven’t tried before, or I haven’t eaten in years and my plan for week 3 includes smoked haddock with poached egg which I am ridiculously excited about 🙂

Nervousnellie…I totally know what you mean about gyms and changing rooms! Zumba sounds fun but I have almost zero coordination and don’t you have to do things with your legs and arms at the same time?? Not sure I could cope with that either but am sure there will be something out these that floats my boat. For now I’ll get into the walking routine and check out the Davina DVD, thanks for the recommendation.

Thanks all for taking the time to reply to my post x

My mouth is watering at the thought of smoked haddock and poached egg!!!

I’ll let you know just how gorgeous it is!

Hi Kate, I imagine your quote of the book saying ‘average weight loss over 8 weeks was 44kg or 52 lbs’ are typos. Just in case can I say 44kgs would be 96-97 lbs and 52 lbs in 8 weeks would be at the higher end of losses, as that is 3 stone 8 lbs or 23 kgs. Sometimes we can get dis-spirited with aiming for losses beyond the usual or possible in 8 weeks. Good luck with whatever you achieve but try to celebrate what happens for you on this journey.

Thanks Jenni from the Block. I have no idea where in the book I have “remembered” those numbers from. I have revised my expectations and am aiming for 10-15% of my starting weight, realistically 10% so around 26lbs. I’m glad you read and explained or I’d have been one very frustrated and disappointed person! Thanks again.

I’d really concentrate on sticking to the diet and your blood sugar measurements rather than the number on the scale Kate. If there is a mean weight loss, it is unlikely to be particularly useful as an indicator of anything as the distribution of weight lost will almost certainly be bipolar as male and female weight losses will be very different if both are eating 800 calories. If you stick with the diet and some light exercise, good things will happen for you. Don’t be disheartend by big fat blokes like me losing more weight. According to MyFitnessPal, I need to eat around 3000 calories a day for a projected 2lb a week loss!

That’s good advice Michael, thank you. I’m really enjoying the diet so it should be no hardship to take your advice. I have ordered the recipe book from Amazon and looking forward to trying some new things! I have a lot to lose to reach a healthy weight but one day at a time 🙂