Every Day. I don't worry about the little ups and downs, but I also find myself gaining when I go into denial "oh I'm fine" mode. Have to hold myself accountable every day.

I typically weigh everyday but taking a break from it sometimes helps me to really listen to my body..

I had a touch of stomach flu a couple days ago and the only thing that would settle my stomach was saltine crackers. I counted them and put them in the tracker and it wasn't pretty carb wise. Even tho I didn't eat very many calories that day I figured my weight would be up which it was. Yesterday was better with the nausea. I upped my fat intake and tried to keep the calories up. Today my weight dropped again which was wonderful!!

In the past this would be the point where I would give up and say "hello carbs and weight gain" but now with more information thanks to this site I am just getting up dusting myself off and going forward. Thanks for all the advice!!

That's awesome. Stay strong and believe in yourself!you owe it to yourself to treat your body with kindness.

Anyone ever try a 36 hr fast?

Sure, but not on a regular basis. If you fast for a day it ends up being nearly that long because you add sleep before and after.

I've done a 3 day fast and a five day fast. I used to do single day fasts pretty frequently.

I listened to that show the other day and the research they talked about made me decide to give this a try again. I could not do the JUUDDD plan of fasting every other day - I found it too deprivational and found myself going off on a wild binge when I tried it. But 5:2 seems perfectly doable.

Like Diane Rehm I think I will choose Monday and Thursday as my 500-calorie days. In fact I started last Thursday and came in at only 330 calories - black coffee and two poached eggs for one meal, and the second meal was some grilled chicken with steamed cabbage, miracle rice, and a bit of seasoning, mustard and soy sauce.

Did a modified fast over the weekend too - eating nothing from 7 PM Saturday until 1 PM Sunday. On the non-fast days I'm trying to stay moderately low carb, but not strict like an Atkins Induction. We'll see how it goes. I've been LC for 8 years now - lost roughly 100 pounds over the first four years - but then stalled though I still had another 100 I wanted to lose. For four years now I've been basically stalled - weight swinging up and down a bit over about a 20-pound range, but still more or less keeping the 100 pounds off - but not losing about ounce.

Same thing happened to me the first time I went low carb back in the late '90s. Over 14 months I dropped 75-85 pounds and then stalled at about the same weight I am now, and after stalling for 2 1/2 years I gave up and fell face down in the carbs. This time I've hung on, so kept the weight mostly off, and now the stall has lasted 4 years so far this time.

And at the time I'm on the *high end* of the stall swing (mid 280s) so I'd really like to see some changes.

Whether in that show or elsewhere I read a suggestion you only weigh yourself after the fasting days but I can't do it .I HAVE to weigh myself every day and I think that is the main thing that has helped keep the weight off for 4 years - in the previous LC incarnation, where I ended up regaining after a 2 1/2 years stall (and in fact every other diet in my life that I failed on) the first signal that the weight rebound was coming was when I stopped weighing myself on a daily basis. That was always the beginning of the end.

I've been studying the people who are very successful with JUDDD (on other boards) and have found that nearly all of them

1) combine it with low carb AND
2) eat about 700-800 calories on a down day rather than the 500 kcal that Dr. Johnson proposes. There's a big difference in satiety between 500 calories and 700 calories.

The people who do JUDDD as it's written usually don't lose much and/or go crazy with bingeing on the up days.

I've seen a lot of people who've lost well over 100 lbs by combining lc with JUDDD and eating 700+ calories on the down days.

Very interesting, Bike. I can definitely see where low carb could make it easier (no cravings).

I'm curious is there any difference in how calories are distributed, i.e, All calories eaten within a short time frame vs 2 or more small meals?

I assume you refer to down days (fast days, as Varady calls them). In Dr, Johnson's version of the diet anything goes. In Dr. Krista Varady's research she has found compliance (ie, not quitting) higher among people who eat the down day calories as a single meal, but she doesn't require it.

I did a four hour eating window for the first time yesterday and found it more satisfying because I had a little protein before church and then a real, substantial lunch a few hours later. It was more satisfying than little bits of low calorie foods throughout the day. I've worked up to being able to do that for the first couple weeks of the month; I don't know how I would have felt about it had I started from day 1. I think I'll stick with it now.

As for what works for JUDDD followers on the boards, most skip breakfast and try to hold out for as long as possible before eating. Many swear by bullet proof coffee to stave off hunger. Most don't limit their food to a single meal, though.

There are some who eat only 200-400 calories on down days but those tend to be the people who are eating higher carbs and they always sound miserable and frustrated. The people doing 700 kcal on a down day seem content to keep going and going, which of course is the real trick to losing and maintaining losses.

On up days, most people are skipping breakfast but it's not part of either Dr. Johnson's or Dr. Varady's plans. I am not skipping breakfast on the up days. Maybe I'll go there if my losses slow.

Most important, IF takes getting used to over a few weeks, you can't expect yourself to go to an extreme from the start. Besides, you want to leave room for adjustments when your losses slow down, IMO.

I just did two down days in a row on the weekend. I did 500 calories Saturday, 700 Sunday. I guess I took 5/2 too literally.

Something I've been chasing for a while--a combination of heavy exercise, monkeying around with niacin, and a low protein day brought my blood sugar down to the 60s a few months ago, the lowest measurement I'd ever had. It was still there the next morning--and I had an awesome workout. I think maybe lower than usual insulin levels made it easier for me to dig into muscle glycogen, or something like that.

So I started eating lower protein--that seemed to help with a binging problem I'd been having. And I think it improved my general mood, but it had so-so effects on exercise. And then I experimented with up/down protein days. That didn't work. Finally this weekend, I did the two low calorie days--and that did it, better than usual workouts yesterday and today.

I tolerate more moderate calorie restriction (anything under 2000 calories) horribly. Saturday was easy. Sunday was harder. I think I'll probably go to every other day.

May I ask how you spread the calories on the given days. One big meal or several small snacks?

I had more or less normal dinners, but with more protein. I usually do most of my eating earlier in the day.

Sorry if did not word the question properly. I meant to ask how you spaced out the 500 and 700 calories on the Saturday and Sunday?

No problem. Both days I ate the days calories at a single meal. 500 calories at dinner Saturday, 700 calories at dinner Sunday.