Hello Southern Hemispherites!!

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  • You can do it EA 🙂 Just have black tea or coffee. Enjoy the conversation. Morning tea doesn’t have to involve food. Plan carefully what and when you’ll eat tomorrow and stick to it. There’s always Tuesday 🙂 P

    Thanks PVE. xxxx

    Good Morning All,

    New week, new weight today, 71.5kg, and another drop on the weekly graph, this time 400gms. Am learning how to be happy with smaller weekly drops as the all add up!

    Happy FD to all the Monday Fasters. Keep busy, drink extra water/ tea, you can have it tomorrow self talk.
    Cheers,
    Merry

    Wow, I’m getting food envy reading all these posts! Roast dinners, ramen, risotto!? (Although I’m sorry to hear about your apparent gain as a result of the rice, @thinatlast… Possibly in part a natural fluctuation?).

    My own first week wasn’t too bad (I managed to get through the two fast days!), although I definitely don’t think I’ve lost weight… Eating and drinking too much on the in between days, particularly in social settings. Also, I have heard many people say they do not wake up hungry the day after a fast, however, I found the opposite to be true, I was ravenous! Perhaps my body is just taking a little time to adjust, so my aim for this week, starting now, is more moderation!

    The other difficulty I had is one that I have heard others talk about – terrible insomnia! I am prone to insomnia and get it occasionally, but it was quite extreme on the fast days, probably getting only 2-3 hours sleep each night. The second FD I had to get up to eat porridge at 4 am as I was going a bit nuts, so that day I totalled about 570 calls instead of 500. Hmm. I still ate most of my calories around dinner time and had low cal hot chocolate before bed, so don’t know how to tackle it! I might just try to eat later this week… 9 pm instead of 7 pm? Has anyone else had this problem?

    @englishaussie, good luck with getting back into the groove this week, hope your morning tea goes well, let us know how you go!
    I’ll be doing my best tonight with dinner and a drink with a friend.. If I don’t go crazy i might just lose weight after Tuesday’s fast day. Fingers crossed!

    Glad you’re feeling well enough to get back to it EA. I’d be feeling nervous under those circumstances too – it’s challenging to be put in front of plates of forbidden food on a FD. Can you switch your FDs to Tues/Weds so you can have your cake and eat it too? On the other hand, if you pull this off, you’ll have my utmost respect.

    It’s doing the thing with revealing posts only after I post again, so there were four more after I posted – one half an hour ago. Doesn’t matter, just wanted to say well done Merry, you are on some kind of a roll. I’d be happy with 400gm, it’s a downward trend, so yay!

    Gatsby, congratulations on making it though your first week and sorry to hear it wasn’t plain sailing. When I started fasting, I was asleep by 8.30pm, just exhausted and slept really well so I can’t help you there except to say try and make sure you have some protein or low GI food before bed (assuming you can’t sleep because you’re hungry – you mentioned the porridge). As for over-indulging on the NFDs, don’t worry, this is a common mistake that I think we’ve all made. Over time, your body will re-set itself and you’ll find you want smaller portion sizes and you’ll make healthier choices. As you’ve already identified this as a problem, you can also make a conscious effort to reduce your NFD intake. I’m one that doesn’t feel hungry after a FD but my OH would make a run for the kitchen and make the hugest fry up the day after fasting. Your body is adjusting and this is different for everyone so give it time, you’ll work out what works best for you – and it does work.

    @thinatlast thanks for your positive words, it makes me feel a little better! I think I just need to discover strategies that work for me which will obviously take time!

    @merryme, congrats on another loss, you must be chuffed! 😀

    You’ll be fine Gatsby, keep sharing your progress with us. Enjoy that dinner and drink with a friend tonight, we’re doing 5:2 so we can enjoy life as well as learn to eat to maintain a healthy weight. Start thinking about your TDEE if you haven’t already (it can be calculated here on this site), and measure everything because it may be that you lose cms when you’re not losing kgs. What I’ve learned about hunger is that it doesn’t build and build, but rather comes in waves and can disappear with distraction, activity, water and with just small amounts of food. Plan ahead for what you’ll have the morning after a FD – and when you think you’re ravenous, stick to the plan and see if that satiates you. We’re with you.

    Forgot to report in Purple, I made it until 5.15pm before having anything to eat yesterday. The ramen soup was tasty and there was lots of it. I was hungry again by 8pm so had the obligatory egg and was in bed by 9.30pm. Total cals 302 within a 3 hour ‘eating window’ if there is such a thing (plus the 22 cals for milk in coffee earlier). Just enjoying a freshly ground Columbian coffee while waiting for it to warm up enough to take the dog we’re looking after for a walk.

    Good morning all

    Hi Merry – hey a drop is a drop so it’s all good.

    Thanks Gatsby. Unfortunately I can’t help with the insomnia either as I find I sleep really deep when I fast. However, I remember other posters saying that it helped with their insomnia so keep going and it will hopefully be better. Yes, if you could hold out until 9pm to eat that might help you if the insomnia is linked to hunger. Worth a try.

    Thanks Thin. I am just having my first hot water with lemon and feeling okay.

    Since my break, my impulse eating went up. My PB during this WOL was 66.2. I weighed myself this morning and I am 68.1. Wow!! It just goes to show that this is not a diet but a way of life. I am not going to beat myself up though because what I went through was bad enough. Got to be kind to ourselves but that’s behind me and it’s onwards and downwards. I will walk to my friends house this morning and feel grateful.

    Good day to all your fasters. EA xxxx

    EA, you can really see how easily the weight creeps on if left unchecked, can’t you? Same thing I noticed with that risotto, these things are fine once in a while as long as we have our FDs to pull our bodies back into line. Now you have the tools to know what to do, that 2kgs shouldn’t take too long to come back off. Enjoy your friends! MK88, Freya and CM, where are you guys?

    Thanks Thin. Yes it is really quite scary! I’m hoping to power walk some off this morning!

    Morning to all, well what can I say!!! weighed myself this morning and am back up to 80.5. I really believe it was the wine on Saturday night!!!!! My roast dinner last night was not a problem as I followed advice from you and had only meat and vegies, cauli, broccoli, peas and carrots. NO gravey, NO cheese sauce and NO potato!! total calories for yesterday NFD was 772! I kept it low all day so I could have that potato and then decided that I was better off without it.
    Fast day today so am doing it strictly!! So far it is 11.20am and all I have had is coffee. (coffee for me has been black no sugar for 30 years) I am seeing if I can go all day on just liquids and then have the soup for dinner. So far so good!

    Hi folks
    Just remember. There are 120 cals in a glass of white wine. 250 in half a packet of chips. At least 250 in a cup cake. A whole bottle of wine is 560 cals.;) Beer, cider and sweet fizzy drinks have a much worse effect on blood sugar spikes, which is what we are trying to avoid.
    There are 169 cals in 1/4 cup cooked white rice and massive blood sugar spiking.
    I guess it’s a case of choosing the cals you get the greatest enjoyment from with the least damage 🙂 We both had a glass of wine, five nights a week, while we were losing weight. Mr P’s blood sugar results (he tests daily) were not effected by it. One glass of beer or cider and a very different story 🙁
    By keeping BS steady, we are all healthier and don’t experience the hunger you get from spikes and falls caused by some foods.

    Well done on the potato avoidance J! All the best today…I’m doing the same.

    Happy fasting Monday everyone. P 🙂

    Morning All (whoops, its already afternoon)
    I’m here Thin!! Had a really really busy weekend, with house guests (the judge) and dog retrieving trials all weekend, held out in the sticks in freezing drizzly windy weather…..we’re all absolutely nuts!! Had to be up at 5am just to drive the 4 hours there & back each day. Just dropped the judge at the airport & I think I’ll collapse with a magazine for the rest of the day. At least its sunny and warm.

    Thin, I just can’t do risotto any more, even though I love it, as the following day I’m way up on the scales. Maybe once I’m at goal I can enjoy it again.

    Everyone sounds like they’re doing really well. Good to hear you’re back with us EA. Looking forward to hearing about the pond-scum, Merry…very daring!! Gatsby, even if I go to bed feeling hungry, it doesn’t keep me awake & I used to have a bit of insomnia too, however 5:2 seems to have helped with that.

    Purple, at 560 cals, does that mean I can have almost a whole bottle of wine (well 88.2%) on my FDs?? Just kidding, of course…..

    I did have a PB last Friday, but didn’t get the chance to check-in – 63.1! I’m certain that’s all gone out the window by now…oh well,back to a FD today, even though I’m feeling a little seedy & weary after the big weekend. Feeling uninspired today, so will have some miso soup with chicken, vegies & slendier for dinner…hope that’s japanesey enough.

    Have a great FD everyone. CM xx

    PS….Feeling very happy as my Ballarat friend finally found his lost pooch yesterday. She is smelly, thin & traumatised but otherwise healthy and back home now.

    Great news about the pooch CM, and your PB too. Good for you! I think you’re right, risotto has to be consigned to the same place as pizza, leek & potato soup and a few of my other favourite things.

    Well done on the PB, CM. And, yes, I’ve often told people, who ask me what to eat on fast days, that they COULD choose to drink most of a bottle of wine and nothing else, but they would probably not feel very satiated. 🙂 It IS an example of choosing your fast day food wisely (or not) 😉
    Ah, the joys of being on the east coast. 3 hours to eat time. P

    Another successful FD completed. I plan to jog just once a week on a FD, so that was tonight and pushed myself a little more and did a full 30mins (I am the world’s slowest runner as don’t want to damage knees etc while I’m a bit heavier than I ought to be).

    Such a good feeling knowing I just burnt 345 calories, and my meal tonight won’t come close to 500, so a very positive day. My big thing I’m working on this week is portion control, having a very obvious his/hers plate – it didn’t work over the weekend, but tonight it should!!

    Well done Merry on your loss! and the PB CM – must be such a great feeling.

    Big news today that my workplace will stay open for another few years… and was trying to think of a way to celebrate, which doesn’t involve eating / drinking / giving up exercise…. but am stumped. Will just have to enjoy the moment!

    I hope you all have a successful week.

    Thanks Thin, Purple & Nik. Nik, one of my favourite treats (particularly in this weather) is a warm bath, essential oils, dim lights/candles & some relaxation music…..no kids, OH or dog in the vicinity either! That’d do me…. Well done too on your extra good day today…..you’ll see the difference on the scales. Cm xx

    Well done Nik and CM, that’s a fabulous image you’ve conjured up for a no-cal treat. You’ve given me an idea because when I was 21kgs heavier, getting out of the bath was a real challenge so I stopped getting in. I must try that again now that I can actually kneel.

    Another reward for me is a deep massage, not the “$120 p/h day spa pamper foo foo, can’t even feel your hands, giggle, fluffy slippers, tell me all your problems with your boyfriend and how late you stayed out last night” style but my local hole in the wall young Asian lad “get well stuck in, no small talk and I’ll let you know if I can’t handle the pressure” type. Yes, all new PBs deserve that now, must book ($55 p/h).

    Other good no-cal treats: clothes in a new size. Trip to the hairdresser.

    Yes, a bath is a great non-food treat! I could also add to the list things like a night out at the movies, etc. or buying something small I’ve been wanting such as books, clothes/cosmetics or a new plant (I love houseplants haha).

    Well done CM on your PB. You have reminded me Thin to book in a massage. Well, I didn’t get to walk to my friends as was running late but avoided all the yummy homemade cakes (the toddler had two so more than made up for me not eating). All I have had are two hot waters with lemon and one black coffee and I am really struggling right now. I so want to eat. Another two hours until dinner. Must stay strong…

    Very, very impressed EA. It’s nearly 4pm so you’re nearly there! Well done. Is this a B2B fast today & tomorrow?

    Haha oops, our comments almost doubled up there @thinatlast re. new clothes etc.
    Great minds? 😉

    Thanks Thin. It’s a good job I don’t have any crisps in the house at the moment because they would be gone!! I can’t wait for dinner – veggie soup with chicken on the side. I won’t fast tomorrow – probably Wednesday. I don’t do back to back fasts. I’m normally much “cooler” than this lol but I think the break from the 5:2 and falling back into mindless eating has made today harder. Nearly there.

    That hour and a half before dinner is the killer EA.
    You CAN eat dinner early on fast days, you know. It is still an effective fast as long as you don’t go over with cals.
    I had a Miso soup at 6 while preparing our fast dinner as Mr P is running late. Better than all the things I MIGHT have eaten.
    Proud of you mate. P 🙂

    Yeah Gatsby, great minds. Sorry EA, was getting your FD routine mixed up with JJ’s. Yours is the ‘nothing all day’ fast. Joining with PVE to say well done. What’s for dinner PVE?

    Thanks PVE and Thin. Dinners almost cooked – hooray! I must say it has really helped still checking in on you guys when I was having my break. It made me feel that I was still a part of the 5:2 wol (even if I did get a bit slack on the snacking). Thanks for your support guys.

    So……I survived all day on coffee and water until about 5.30 then had an early dinner of udon soup base, mushrooms, spinach and konnyaku noodles instead of the normal udon noodle. Made two serves at a total calories of 68. Had both serves in the end because it was so low in calories. Now having a Swedish herbal tea.
    I will do it all again tomorrow!!
    I AM GOING TO BEAT THIS FAT BODY!!!!! I WILL BE SLIM!!!!! I CAN DO IT!!!!!

    It was great to read what everyone else has been up to with their FD’s and weekends.

    Purple – I quite often eat earlier on FD’s and might have a mandarin later for dessert.

    Thin – you have also given me an idea with the massage. One of our Japanese friends owns a massage salon and they specialise in Japanese massage (dont know what the difference is really) anyhow that could be another treat for myself instead of the wine which I think I have gone off of now!!

    I think I should take up walking again. So tomorrow will take my young dog for a training walk. It might not be a long walk but it is a beginning.

    hope everyone has a great night ……JJxxx

    What kind of dog do you have JJ? I like the sound of the Jap massage. One down, one to go! Of course you can do it Julie. We all have faith in you. You too EA.

    Do we all get the same SBS programmes nationwide? Not sure but just watched “Sugar vs. Fat”. Binge twins make a meal of it, another Horizon programme for those not in Oz. Very interesting and worth a look on SBS On Demand. EA, you’ll be so pleased that you avoided those cakes at morning tea when you see this show.

    JJ. Yes I walk my mutt every morning & most afternoons. My doctor said the best way to kick-start your metabolism for the day is to jump out of bed, drink a big glass of water & head straight out the door for your walk. I do feel much better when I keep to this routine……& yes, you CAN & WILL do this!!

    Thanks EA & your first FD back is almost done & dusted. Well done & welcome back.

    Thanks Thin, oh & I need to get his name! $55 per hour is great & particularly if you don’t get the yaking as an unwanted added extra! Feeling the need to treat myself! CM xx

    Qi reflexology & massage, South Perth. I’ll email you the details in the morning CM.

    Well, I’ve been awol for ages and here I am at 4am catching up with your posts and having a cup of tea in bed. I think my virus and work drama really shook me up. Im getting back to myself though. Last Friday was the last of my series of annual leave Friday’s, so I will have to do a full week at work- quel horreur! I did celebrate with a fantastic meal with a dear family friend at a small Italian restaurant in East freo with the most delicious food. And had half a bottle of divine Tempranillo red. The bliss! And creme caramel! Lovely but in fact too sweet !! Cost? Up two kilos!! I’m hoping it was mainly water weight as all the sugar hung onto water. Time will tell next Saturday. Thin and cm, it was one of the women at the other table when we met at book cafe. Pam was a young teacher in the next door family who’d take me to school in grade 1 while mum was caring for my younger sister. And here we were 51 years later ….
    I’ve only done a couple of 24 hour fasts and some 16:8 days since my virus. Building up to a more regular routine of fasting. It’s a head space thing as much as anything. I think that’s why you’re apprehensive about your travel, thin. There’s nothing as lovely as the wind in your hair freedom of a holiday but I think that if you eat plenty of healthy food and aren’t hungry then making good choices with occasional treats should keep you safe!
    Cm couldn’t be happier at the news of the cocker spaniel. Big sigh of relief in Ballarat!
    Cheerio for now. X

    Sorry to hear you’ve been ill and up posting at 2am Freya. Get better soon.

    Well done on your fasting yesterday EA. Be aware that you are developing long term habits. B2B fasts, and then 5 days of eating, is not as effective as 2 separate fasts… less total fast hours and you lose the benefit of two resets during the week. A half fast on each day after a fast is possibly more sustainable. …18/6 eating and strictly TDEE or less.

    Thin, we watched the Sugar vs Fat program too. They had some pretty strange results, but the concept of the appeal of 50/50 fat/sugar is interesting. Is creme caramel in that group too? 😉 P

    Thin – We have two dogs. My daughter’s dog is 6 years old and is a black Poodle x Maltese x Chihuahua. She is quite small and wont walk too far. Happy to stay at home and sleep. My dog is only 16 months old and is a Cavalier x Japanese Spitz. Colour is white and apricot. She is a bundle of energy and hard work to train. I am taking her to training every Saturday morning and I can see a big improvement in her attitude already. Thanks also for the encouragement.

    Purple – I read with interest that you dont recommend B2B fast days. The main reason I do that is because I saw a doco on TV early this year where Dr Michael Mosley was introducing the 5:2 diet. He spoke about his father’s death and how he himself was heading in the same direction as he had high Cholesterol and was at the sugar level that made him diabetic, and he realised he needed to change his eating habits. He had the interviewer do a B2B two day fast and took him riding on his daily exercise. The interviewer lost heaps in just those two days. He explained that the body benefited from the two day fast and that it was better than fasting for just one day. This was the first time we had heard of this diet and it was after that TV program that we decided to find out more about it and hence my starting the diet. From what we got out of the program we believed that the B2B two day fasting was much better in the terms of weight loss and body rejuvenation. The program said that while fasting for two days straight it allowed the body to heal so much quicker as it was not using energy digesting foods and hence concentrating on it’s own healing. So that is why I have done the B2B fast days. Now I am confused as to which is the best. I like to do both fast days together as it gets them done and over with for the week especially Monday and Tuesday for me.
    So when I look at what I had yesterday and added up my calories for the day it was 158. I am allowed 500 calories. My weight this morning was 80.2.
    I am finding that on a normal day I can not seem to eat anymore that about 750 calories out of the 1200 I allow myself with the choices I am making in food (apart from last Saturday when I had wine) so I am strictly sticking to the plan and not going over.
    Should I try and change my fast days to say Monday and Wednesday? Do you think it will make any difference? Has anyone else been doing the B2B fast days?

    JJulie, my understanding of fasting is that the longer the fast, the more health benefits your body will derive. This certainly seems to be the case when applied to breast cancer which is where I first read about fasting a few years ago. Dr Mosley’s 5:2 programme was developed to make fasting more palatable and sustainable for people to actually stick to long-term because a 14 day fast just isn’t practical and most people simply wouldn’t entertain the idea.

    I think a lot of people see weight loss as the primary benefit of fasting rather than its associated long-term health benefits which is why we see so many enthusiastically starting 5:2 on these pages and then we don’t hear from them again. You strike me as someone in this for the long-term. You have to consider what you can reasonably handle over time. I’d probably do B2B fasts if I thought I could handle it but, like PVE, I enjoy having a second chance to re-set my body within any given week. Also I can more easily comprehend the feast or famine concept within this context. And as Purple says, if you don’t eat after a FD until late morning, then you have effectively extended the fast considerably longer.

    What I understood from seeing the programme you mention and reading Mosley’s literature is that we’re all very different and this programme is completely flexible. It’s also in its infancy in the scheme of things. I think you should do whatever works for you if you’re getting the results you wanted. Will comment on the pooches next time as I have to go out now.

    YesterdayFD weight 71.5. Today 70.8. Happy with that

    I think my challenge is keeping my weight down on the nonFDs. Not being able to exercise is yuk, and I know that if I was exercising then it would help regulate appetite as well as use up calories. Such is life. The time I get the hungriest is at night, a bit after dinner. Trying to stick to 16:8, but when I do give in it’s always in the later evening. I have come to terms with the fact that I don’t have rigid iron control over me and food, and my strength is in staying the course and not giving up long term. Fall off the horse, get back on.

    Strategies for not eating after dinner – glass of water, cup of decaf coffee, repeat. I used to misread thirst as hunger. Am I now misreading tiredness as hunger? Or maybe it’s anxiety.

    I know I can be an emotional eater, and I’m starting to get a little anxious about going overseas again. 5 weeks till we leave, then 5 weeks away. It’s a big effort for me to do a trip. For weeks before I go all my discretionary time is taken up with preparing for it. For weeks after I come back I’m sort of recovering and my discretionary time is taken catching up with the stuff not done while we’re away. When you only have about 6 hrs of usable time in a day, and you have to use it slower than normal, travelling is a big ask. NZ was easy because they speak English and few differences. Different languages, different customs and lifestyles bring other challenges re pacing my energy expenditure.

    Good part, yesterday my Petit Mignon travel scales arrived. Will weigh myself every morning on the trip. Thanks for the info on these Purple.

    Watched the Fat v Sugar doco last night also. The cheesecake factor made me laugh. Interesting how sugar and fat together 50/50 are pretty much addictive. OH is partial to a piece of cheesecake, though it’s very rare for any to pass his lips these days. It explains ice cream too!

    Japanese-wise, I put king oyster mushrooms in our vegie soup. I think I like them more than the usual mushrooms. Mushrooms and asian vegies are much cheaper when bought from Asian supermarkets too. Lots of fresh greens on Fridays.

    Julie, I agree with Thin’s answer. It’s early days for 5:2 and can be very individualised.

    My suggestion would be to try Monday and Wednesday FDs for a few weeks and see how you react. There are other Mon/Wed fasters on this thread. I also prefer the twice a week reset. My goals are both health and weight loss. I put on weight with ill health and no way to get it off, unable to exercise. In 10 months 5:2 has taken 12 kgs off, My BP medication is halved, my cardiologist says I’m better than last year, my GP is very happy, and I am even happier. 5:2 works. It’s how we work it that we work out individually, and Many thanks to this forum for giving us the support of each other and sharing of experience as we learn how 5:2 works and how we work best with it. You can do it, and I’m sure you will!
    Merry

    well, I tried the cauliflower soup last night, and I must have the ingredients wrong. Neither OH or I could eat it. Just so much pepper for the quantity of soup. Have I got it right – 1/2 tsp pepper and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper? Putting it in it just seemed so much. I’m not a great pepper lover anyway. I used groung mixed pepper. What do you guys use?

    Merry

    Morning all from chilly Sydney. I’m a newbie and have been reading all your wonderful supportive posts. I did dabble with this earlier in the year and managed 3 weeks of 5:2 but then work/life/excuses got in the way and reverted to my “old normal” ways.

    This time I feel like my head is in a better place and it’s always my head not my belly that’s got in the way of following any form of routine. That and my unreasonable enjoyment of white wine and G&T’s! I’ve also roped in a colleague at work to join me fasting on Mondays and Wednesdays. Given he’s normally the one waving the wine bottle at me at 5.30pm I figured that was one less temptation.

    I’m a small boned 5ft2 and at 45 yrs old I’ve been watching my weight creep up over the last 3-4 years from my comfortably sustainable weight of 55kgs to flip flopping around the 60kg mark. Not huge I know but if I don’t nip it in the bud now… yikes!

    Yesterday was my first fast day and negotiated it without any bumps in the road. I had my normal green smoothie ready for breaky this morning and really didn’t feel like it so just didn’t bother. 11.30am and now I’m thinking about lunch.

    It’s been wonderful reading all your posts over the last week and look forward to sharing the journey with you all.

    Merry – I am just in awe of you. To lose 12kgs in 10 months without exercise is such an amazing achievement. And it is all down to you and your dedication. You have proved to yourself and others that you a strong woman who does not focus on what you cannot do, but focuses and works with what you can do. It saddens me that you are becoming anxious about your holiday. You are a woman of strength. Keep focusing on what you can do in the lead up to your holiday, during your holiday and afterwards. Travelling can tire out the healthiest of people but stay realistic about what you can do and try to relax and enjoy your own experience of what this holiday can bring. Much love. EA xxxx

    Well done JJ on your fast day yesterday. I think you just need to work out what feels right for you. I usually fast Monday and Wednesdays (but am flexible depending on what I have planned). I save my calories for one evening meal but don’t feel I can do B2B’s. I like a break in between.

    Welcome back Freya and I hope you get over that nasty virus soon.

    I only caught the tail end of that programme last night but have seen it before. I did hear them say that sugar is not so bad on its own but my own personal belief on what I have seen and read tells me that sugar isn’t great with or without fat. I still eat sugar but have dropped it considerably. But I love good fat and will happily tuck into biodynamic organic grass fed butter and grass fed full fat milk with the cream on top yummy. But yes Thin, I am very pleased I skipped the cakes yesterday.

    In fact, I couldn’t believe my eyes this morning when looking at the scales. 66.9 kilos from 68.1 kilos yesterday morning. Woo hoo. I have totally skipped the 67’s and back into the 66’s where I was before I had to have my break from 5:2. I am very happy as it has given me the boost I needed. I feel back on track now to be mindful even on “feast”days. It was certainly worth the struggle I had pre-dinner where I felt like I could have eaten my own arm!!

    Welcome CruisingKiwi. Very wise to nip it in the bud I think. I should be sitting in the 50’s but my weight crept up into the early 70’s (and I was always the skinny kid who got teased at school). I still struggle with my brain thinking I don’t put weight on when my body is telling me, oh yes you do now!!!

    All the best to anybody fasting today.

    EA, Very well said. I totally agree, so don’t stress Merry, it will be an amazing trip. You’ll be well taken care of on your coach, so just sit back & enjoy the ride. Let the organisers do all the hard work. You’ll find that most of your travelling companions speak English too. Have a ball! CM xxx

    CM – I like what your doctor told you about drinking water and getting out for a walk first thing in the morning. I’ve been telling myself that I can’t as got too much to do getting the family ready for the day blah blah blah but I do have a treadmill so could easily get up a little bit earlier and walk on the treadmill for half an hour in my pj’s! Thanks for the tip – it’s giving me a kick. Now just to drag myself out of bed half an hour earlier…

    I’ve been out most of the day. Sorry quick skim…
    Absolutely agree with the others, Julie. This woe is totally what works for the individual. I guess that’s why we all love it. Nothing is set in stone. We are all reinventing it weekly and even daily. The main point is, if it works for you and is doable for the long term, maintaining a healthy weight, go for it 🙂 P

    Thoroughly enjoyed all the conversation this morning. Great news from you EA, you’re already back on track. I do an hour on the treadmill sometimes but only if the weather’s too hot or too wet. To pass the time, I arm myself with cryptic crosswords and sudoku puzzles – there you go Merry, something else Japanese. I used to listen to talkback radio but I found doing so often counteracted any positive results on the BP monitor.

    Merry, you’re also screaming ahead with your losses. I hope your holiday does for you exactly what a holiday is designed to do. Actually, I think that pepper quantity in the soup might depend on the potency of the cayenne. There’s also something called sweet cayenne so perhaps you’ve got the real mccoy and the rest of us need to update our spice cupboards. Sorry about that – don’t chuck it out, just make another batch without any pepper and then freeze the lot together in 2 cup batches (one serve).

    Freya, too bad that Friday thing has come to an end before we even got our second coffee date in. We’ll have to work out another time. Hope it goes alright for you this week and look forward to seeing you soon.

    Welcome cruisingkiwi, you’ve come to the right place. Let us know how you get on.

    Fat vs. sugar: PVE, Merry et al, yes their results were unexpected but then it was a sample of two. They did acknowledge that. They ignored the fact that the presence of certain nutrients helps others to be properly absorbed so omitting whole food groups in the diet was a bit unscientific in my thinking. But it was just an experiment, not a wide scale study and I thought it was interesting because it does show us how we have been manipulated into wanting (craving, even) these items by food manufacturers. Walking down the food aisles today, I was very proud that there are several that I don’t even walk down. Lanes and lanes of sticky drinks, cakes, biscuits, muesli bars, chips, horrible cereals for children……..not to mention aisles of frozen, deep fried looking things. So much processed food.

    Happy fasting to all the Tuesday losers.

    Wow – lots of you are really in the “zone”. I’m fasting today because yesterday a group of us were treated by our Board to dinner out as a reward for great performance – we went to a Japanese restaurant and it was really yummy.

    I’m home from work now and the fire is on, but hasn’t really heated the room yet. I’m sooo cold. I’ve had a cup of soup (50 cals)and a bowl of carrot sticks and cauliflower florets (53 cals) and have 175 of my allocation remaining. I was sitting here knitting and reading and my fingers are struggling with the stitches because of the cold – and I read the magic word – bath!! So I’m going to make a cup of tea and take it to the bath for an hour while OH is out to a dinner meeting. I will probably scramble an egg with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese when I head to bed.

    Good luck to other fasters – I have high hopes for tomorrow as I have peed like a horse today! Sorry for the visual image but it was the most apt description. I was also wearing a pencil skirt – and it was a pain each time! So there has to be a positive spin-off!

    So I’m off to the bath, followed by pjs and fluffy dressing gown.

    Interesting Hilary…I can judge how much I’ve had on a fast day by how often I pee, too. I see it as fat dissolving 🙂
    Also wore a pencil skirt out today…SO tedious in public loos. 🙁

    Thin, I’ve just been up to the shops and decided to have a coffee in a sunny cafe. They had delicious looking lemon tarts, and then a voice told me I was being manipulated by the 50/50 fat/sugar combo, so I had a healthier nut bar. It was still a treat, and much smaller.
    I also avoid whole sections of Coles’ aisles and because I’d just eaten, not tempted by anything.
    I only ground some pepper into my soup…very poor at reading instructions! Cheers P

    Onya Hilary!! Enjoy….

    Was so interesting reading all the posts tonight. and thanks for the ideas yest, with how to treat myself – lots of good ones!

    I’ve experimented today, just as a one off to see if I could do it. Did B2B fasts, (Mon & Tues) and just had a cup of milo for tea tonight, so won’t have eaten at all today. I just wanted to see what a longer fast would be like and to see if I had the will power. I did a fast exercise session on the Cross trainer too. I feel like I’ll sleep well tonight and tomorrow everything is back to normal with food as I do my hill run after work, so want lots of energy back to make sure I give it my all. How liberating it is to not be driven by food.

    Merry – I did not put the pepper in at all and only just added a little to my taste in the bowl.

    congratulations on the weight loss. well done! to EVERYONE!!!!

    Thanks to everyone for the info on the fast days. I think I shall stick to Monday and Tuesday for another few weeks as this is still early days for me. If it seems too hard or if it is not working for me in any way I will change to Monday and Wednesday and give that a go. I will revert with more info in the future.

    Hilary – sounds like you were into Cherry Blossom season with your meal at the Japanese Restaurant!

    Hilary and PVE – I always seem to pee a lot on fast days even if I dont seem to be intaking much water, but drink Japanese green tea and coffee……that brings me to another question. Do we have to drink decaf coffee?

    Welcome CruisingKiwi….I am quite new here too (only a couple of weeks if that, I think) and I have learnt so much from asking questions here. I am sure many of the questions have been asked before but no-one seems to mind going over them again and supporting the new fasters that join this forum. Everyone here has been very supportive to me and I have learnt heaps. I can tell from all the posts that it is like a family here and all the support helps everyone keep going and it is always great to be congratulated!

    So I have survived my 6th fast day (not that Im counting!!) After yesterday’s very liquid day I was surprised that the scales this morning had still not changed so had a hot shower and guess what????? It works!!!!! Although i am not back to 79.5 like I was last friday before my wine, I was 79.9 …….back under that terrible 80 mark that has haunted me for months now! My calorie intake for today has been 202 and I am full from my miso mushroom soup tonight.

    Tomorrow I am aiming to make Japanese Nabe. I went into the local Japanese grocery shop this morning and got a huge supply of konnyaku (and yes I bought the pond slime one as well) Talking to the owner of the shop and we talked about the benefits of konnyaku and I asked if he had kelp noodles. Unfortunately he doesnt but he told me that he was getting tofu noodles in soon. They have some calories to them so I am waiting to find out exactly how many when he gets his supply in. We also talked about agar agar noodles and I bought some to try.

    Thanks for all the good reading today and catch up with everyone tomorrow. ……xxxJJ

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