Well done Aikhme. It’s so satisfying to get your 1st Fast Day done. Congratulations! The hunger dragon can be tamed. Most people experiment a little over time to work out the way a fast day goes best for them. You’ve discovered the morning after FD surprise – we’re not really hungry. Who would’ve thought that would happen, but it does. Great hey :-). Best wishes for Friday.
Merry

Good news Aikhme, I’m pleased you reported in! Perhaps you could see how long you can go before eating on Friday (or whenever you decide to do it again). It’s easier to be hungry thinking about what you still have to come, rather than being hungry having already eaten it – if you see what I mean.

I only have coffee or water until 2pm. Many others go much longer than that. Whatever works for the individual is what works. At 2pm, I usually have my trusty cauliflower soup – it’s on that recipe thread Cinque gave you – but I realise you might not exactly feel like soup on a 40C day. I’m only having it because I have lots already frozen. Whatever you decide to have, planning ahead is a good idea I have found. When I first started, I planned 4 weeks in advance, so I had eight FDs on a spreadsheet which could later be mixed and matched.

After the soup, I’m always so full and it’s only 3 hours until I have my ‘dinner’. Around 8pm I might have an egg or a banana so I don’t go to bed hungry. Like you and many others, the next morning I often don’t eat until mid-morning, despite having spent most of the previous afternoon thinking about it. Looking forward to hearing how you get on.

Hi 50hereigo, have a good fast day(FD) and welcome 🙂

FD for me today, and weight 68.3 this morning. Home again and looking forward to regular 2FDs a week from now on. Next minigoal is 66.9kg. The .9 is because I want to get back under 67. Totally over being 67 and 68 which I’ve been bouncing around in since my trip overseas, then the crappy Life stuff, Christmas, New Year, more crappy Life stuff, visit to family. Lovely having time to spend with my daughter and grandchildren. It was hot and humid but I handled it mych better with a BMI of 23.6 than I did with a BMI of 30+ and the 29.1 at the beginning of my 5:2 journey.

Have just read the forum thread I found under Active Topics called I’ve been on 5:2 for 23 weeks but new to the forum. Mr Data began his journey in 2013, checked in in Feb 2015, and now 2016. An inspirational quick read, especially for our new guys.

Hi Cinque, good to be back on the thread and now settling in for a good run on 5:2 again to get to my final goal weight of 62kgs. Not far now. Life is so much easier on 5:2 and with most of the weight gone! My highest weight ever was 93kg, 83 when I started 5:2. It works, it works, it works!

I’m staying on this for life. That comment appears in so many posts in so many threads on the forum. We have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 5:2 resets our thinking about food,mour habits, portion size, understanding what’s healthy for us individually and fits all our different lifestyles. We know now what short term hunger feels like and it’s not what we feared. I even look forward to FDs. Having a celebration, trip away, long term little yoyoing? Now it’s not such a hassle or a worry, because I know I can enjoy whatever’s happening, or get through whatever’s happening and 5:2 is there to help me, to be relied upon. Fall off the horse, just get back on. No worries. Love it 🙂

Nap – not long ago there was a documentary on fat and sugar combined. A number of us saw it. Revelation – when you eat something with equal quantities of sugar and fat it’s addictive. The junk food industry knows this and puts out food designed this way deliberately. Glazed donuts, cheesecake and others I don’t remember fit the bill exactly. Other experiments have been interesting. Plate size affects the size of portions we see as ‘normal’. People subconsciously put more food on bigger plates. Try a smaller plate. Maybe on weekends, if there’s an option, choose a smaller plate to put food on. If you have bread or bread roll put it on the same plate not a separate one. People also put less food on black plates than on white. More spiced foods, stronger flavours, seem to satisfy more. Plenty of people swear by using chili on a FD. If you trial different strategies you’ll find what works best for you.

Happy FD to the Thursday fasters,
Onwards and downwards,
Merry

Hi there 50hereigo. I’m from Noarlunga and just happened to visit Milang last weekend. A nice part of the world!
Glad to hear that you’re starting your journey today. I started January last year and have seen great results with weight loss. You may find it a bit hard to get used to fasting for a few weeks, but stick with it. I’m sure you’ll see the benefits, and it will gradually just become your normal lifestyle. I fast on Mondays and Thursdays, and this seems a common strategy for many 5-2ers
Good luck!

Welcome home Intesha, It will be lovely to be back in the zone, and hopefully you will soon be back under 72!
Best wishes for a really lovely night’s sleep in your own bed!

Hello here 50hereigo! Hooray for another Southern Hemispherite! How is your fast day going?

And hi Snaps01! Happy 5:2 anniversary! How is life after a year of 5:2?

Thin, I completely agree with planning the fast day foods in advance. I am not one for making the best decisions on the run: especially if I am hungry!

I’m just about to go shopping. My mouse/keyboard needs new batteries, it is doing terrible things to my typing!
I’m having that day-after-fasting delight of ‘Oo I can have lunch! Whoopee!”

Best wishes everyone!

Welcome back Intesha and that’s great to hear how well you did while enjoying yourself so much. Lots of inspiration for the newbies to our thread.

35C again today and it’s as if we’re in training for the 41C to come.

Weigh in this morning 73kg and I haven’t started any FD’s yet. Went to the gym for the first time since 16th December. Did a weigh there and yes I have only put on just over 2kg in 7 weeks. I can hardly believe myself with what I ate and the alcohol I consumed but I think my body is metabolising better thanks to 5:2.

My daughter-in-law called in yesterday and said ‘Wow you look fantastic’ YEAH.

Will get back to my regular FD’s next week, Tuesday/Thursday.

Hope you are all having a good weekend so far.

Thank you all for your best wishes and kind words. And hello again to all you wonderful Southern Hemispherites and welcome to the new members.

I completed the second day and it was a bit easier. I took the advice from thinatlast and managed to go through half the day with a nice cup of coffee – it was Turkish Coffee so nice and strong and without sugar.

I had my first bites at about 4PM and later I actually had a reasonable meal of grilled fish, salad and some fruit.

Well, I think I am past the plateau stage (hopefully). It’s early stages, but my weight loss seems to have accelerated. Anyway, will nee to see if the loss is real loss or whether I will spike back up. This week. after 2 fast days + exercise, the scales have me about 1.1 kg lighter.

It seems that the fast diet might be achieving fast results. 🙂

Morning all from a hot and sunny Perth (40C today and forecast up to 42C over the next 4 days so no whinging about 29C Cinque please). I’ve been out early for a river walk and I’m just enjoying my first coffee while reading the posts. Everyone is doing well – I’m very pleased to read of your progress Aikhme.

Cinque, I had a similar experience the other evening when we took our kayaks out and I packed far too much food for a picnic. I ate bread and pasta salad for the first time in ages and it didn’t sit well. I also took a pre-cooked chicken which is something we haven’t bought in about 10 years and I was drinking gallons of water all night. I wonder how much salt they added. I won’t be doing that again. Looking forward to a good fast today.

Oh and if Stevia is not so good, should I stick to EXTRA?

Or is there another natural sweetener like Stevia without the adverse effects?

Good morning everyone,
Oh Thin! The heat in WA! You must be burnt to a crisp. You definitely get complaining rights!
I hope you had a good fast yesterday. I had a lovely one.

Aikhme, I have a stevia plant in my garden. I put a leaf in my cup of tea to add a little sweetening. It works well. It has a slightly bitter back taste that you notice mostly with the bigger, older leaves, (and with the processed powder they make out of those bigger older leaves I have heard).

That leaf in my cup of tea is the only time I use it. It is a plant that has been used for thousands of years (South American if I remember rightly) but I don’t know about using it in large quantities.
When I cut sugar out of my diet I decided not to worry about substitutes, but stick to savoury foods.

GL so good to hear from you! How frustrating that 2 kg is! And there you were doing a good deed! Not fair. But I bet it will drop off quickly. So glad you could help your son, and sweet of him to cook for you.
I hope you can get back to your own routine now.
So glad the garden is doing well, it will be glad you are home, too!
Mine is very happy. That good rain made a difference! I’ve finally got a few tomatoes coming, and I think I have a couple of pumpkins on the vine, that is trying to grow onto the driveway!

Hello everyone else! A new week, full of promise. 🌺🌻🌺🌻🌺

Well I don’t know what the magic formula is but weighed in this morning at 71.9 only 500gms more than when I went away, didn’t do any excercise while I was away.

I know it’s not for everyone but I mentioned previously about taking water kefir everyday, it was my daughter who got me onto it so obviously I had it the whole time I was away and even took a bottle with me to have while I was in Dubai. Maybe because this changes your gut bacteria it has helped me to keep the body functioning and cleansed. I have no other explanation for my weight and I haven’t started my FD’s yet.

Aiming to get back into my routine tomorrow and looking forward to that magical 69 on my scales sooner rather than later.

I have used Stevia for years only at breakfast and in my one coffee per day. I think you have to make sure it is the natural one as again my daughter the health nut read the labels and some have maltidextrose, not sure of the spelling, which is not good apparently. I still have a sweet tooth and I don’t think that is going to change anytime soon but my portion sizes are definitely smaller and I no longer have the urge to eat a whole block of chocolate LOL.

Yay Intesha!
I gather from others on this forum that there is some magic about quickly losing holiday weight gain. Whatever is the reason, it is great. 69kg, here you come!

I have remembered reading that food manufacturers (Coca Cola I think) worked out that stevia tastes best in a 50:50 combination with sugar. That might be why they add maltidextrose in some commercial brands.

Glad you had a good fast day, Thin. Have fun inside reading!

Good morning all, posters, readers and lurkers, yep, you too,

Aik, there is a short thread on stevia in the forum list. If you put stevia in the search box, you’ll find it easy.
I use a little sometimes in a cup of coffee, about 1/4 tsp, just to take the edge off the coffee. I try to not eat sugar, but do occasionally e.g. Special occasions such as anniversaries, birthdays. Other than that I do use diet jelly on a FD if I get the after 9pm ‘tired’ hunger. My OH invented a drink we have occasionally – diet ginger beer, about 2cm in a tall glass, lime slices, topped up with sparkling water (the bubbles make a difference) and ice. My philosophy on this is it’s better than sugar, at least while I get to goal weight. I don’t want to use a lot for a long time. That said, I did read that just the taste of sweetness in the mouth caused the body to expect sugar and it reacts with insulin. Like you, I’ve read varying articles. My suggestion would be to slowly adjust your diet away from sweet things, gradually decreasing. Some people go cold turkey off sugar, and others gradually decrease. It’s amazing how our tastes change. Over time what seemed right in sweetness can taste overly sweet. The amount of sweetness we like isn’t set in concrete. There’s a lot of habit in there. Our tastes adjust. When they do adjust you taste the food more.

While we’re discussing sweetness and sweeteners, they go often hand in hand with starchy carbohydrates – wheat, other grains, cous cous, rice, potatoes, white sweet potatoes, and sugar. Someone on the thread alerted me to this info i.e.that some people do not effectively lose weight while including starchy carbs and sugar. There are a group of people on 5:2 who have discovered that they are like this. Despite keeping to 500/600cals on FDs and their TDEE on nonFDs, they lose very little or none. I don’t know the biological mechanism, but take the starchy carbs out and the weight comes off. I’m in this group too. For me it’s a bit of a no brainer as I’m intolerant to most grains, gluten, and find sugar addictive. However, even using non gluten non-grain flours e.g. Potato, soy, chickpea etc cause the weight loss to stop with me. When I 1st started 5:2 I initially lost and then plateaud. It turned out to be the non-gluten, non grain starchy carbs I was including on nonFDs. Without them the weight came off again.

Aik I hope there’s something in that that’s useful for you. You are rightly concerned about the diabetic tendency in your family.
Merry

Hi Merry, I’m with you, mini goals are the way to go especially with the weight that has already been lost.

I read somewhere that you should always have your fruit before meals as it digests quicker as it sits on top of a meal and ferments as it is so acidic. Not good for the digestion apparently.

While I was in the UK I watched a 4 part series by Dr Moseley, Trust me I’m a Dr, it had some very good segments, and did a study on various diets. They also found that women should always excercise after they have eaten. Not sure if it has aired here as I don’t have Foxtel or anything but it was bbc.co.uk/trustmeimadr
Something like that. I’m sure if you google it it will come up. Also what oils you should be using and that olive oil as we know is number one and we should be taking 20ml per day. Very interesting

Hi Merry

Yes, I’ve been lurking. I agree with all that you wrote about starchy carbs and sugars and stevia. They are absolute no-nos for me if I want to lose weight and keep it off. Congrats to all the losers and newbies for choosing this way of life.

Cheers, Bay 🌺🌺

Hello, how lovely to read through all the interesting posts.

Welcome Teacup, ☕️ what an excellent user name. Congratulations on your first week of 5:2.
If you can just keep on keeping on with it I am sure you will not only have the fat brake on, but you will gradually get back to your old pair of jeans. Sensible not to expect too much too fast though!

The huge relief for me is that these simple light fasts are all I needed to control that ballooning weight! Along with me being another one who cut sugar out of my diet…. Well mostly!

Re the sugar in everything, I am finding it hard to buy something savoury that isn’t sweet! Today I was at the shops at lunch time and treated myself to a meat pide at the Turkish place. It was absolutely delicious, but the bread clearly was made with added sugar, and I suspect the spiced mince had added sugar too.

Merry I am so sorry to hear that things are only getting worse for your FIL. I so hope they find a cure before I get it ( it is rampant in our family).

Good luck everyone with your mini goals.

🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒

I have no problem cutting out grains just trying to think of something else to eat for breakfast as I have eaten cereal all my life. For me once I eliminated sugar and cereal the weight has been falling off. For family occassions I will eat what is on the table as it is to much trouble as they don’t understand the eating program. Two SIL’s going on about having to make extra meals etc. It is just not worth the aggravation. If I have a little bit there is usually no problem but over extended days then it takes a few days to get back to normal. I am now unoffically lost one of the two kilos already. I have my weigh in day on Saturday.

I do worry Thin. I get two really bad effects from eating sugar. One is that I feel poisoned, in a hungover kind of way. I was feeling so poisoned I could die, when I connected it to eating a lot of sweet stuff.
So I researched and got this list:

Grams of sugar per 100g

100g – 37.5g Very High Sugar

Sugar, honey, dates, maple syrup, raisins, dried apples, dried apricots, dried figs, dried tomatoes

37.4g – 18.6g

Rhubarb cooked with sugar, hoisin sauce, prunes, plums

18.6g – 10.5g Medium Sugar

Grapes, mangoes, canned apple pie filling, cherries, bananas, croissants(!), apple juice, canned apricots, tangerines, milo drink

10.4g – 6.6g

Canned tomatoes, apples, plums, oranges, apricots, grapefruit juice, baked sweet potato, orange juice, peaches, beets, nectarines, melons, pistachios, sweet wine(!), yoghurt, grapefruit, nashis, eclair with custard filling and chocolate icing (!)

6.5g – 4.1g Low Sugar

Coconut meat, watermelon, miso, bread, paw paw, boiled sweet potato, canned beets(!), milk, cashews, potato chips, parsnips, strawberries, peanuts, peas, yoghurt, carrots, onions, blackeyed beans, raspberries, canned tomatoes, red peppers, macadamias,

4.1g – 2.6g

Feta, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, white corn, pecans, tomatillo, cabbage, cornchips, pine nuts, yellow corn, green peppers, eggplant, soybeans, turnips,

2.6g – 0g
Fresh tomatoes, walnuts, buckwheat flour, zucchini, lemon, avocadoes, onions, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, radishes, scones, brussel sprouts, chives, cottage cheese, mushrooms, broccoli, potatoes, cauliflower, cucumber, lima beans, swiss cheese, asparagus, pita bread, beans, lettuce, eggs, pumpkin, garlic, unsweetened chocolate for baking(!), tofu, seaweed, mozzarella, beet greens, cheddar, oats, chicken, coffee, cornstarch, fish, ham, butter, oil, rice, salt, tea.

I used it as a guide for eating only from the lowest groups.
After a few days I felt SO much better, and then I realised the second thing: that sugar caused those intolerable, insatiable brain signals making me crave something to eat.

That was five years ago. And anytime I ate something too sweet I would get the intolerable cravings, and the horrible poisoned feeling. It kept me on the straight and narrow!

But just recently when I have accidentally eaten something sweet (like today) I haven’t had the reactions. I have my fingers crossed that time without sugar, and plenty of 5:2, have cured whatever it was. Maybe if I don’t overdo it I can put some fruit back into my diet! I hope so, but I am going cautiously!

GL we have such a history of grains for breakfast, but, ofcourse, we can eat anything we want. A lot of Asian cultures have soup for breakfast, in Egypt it is ful medames (fava bean stew with boiled eggs). An omelette could be a good choice. Sometimes I love left overs such as a plate of stew.
I hope you find something that suits you!

PS I have a feeling your gardening might count as exercise!

From when I cut out sugar, I have also lost 30kg. It is transformative!
Cheers for us and 5:2!

Hi GL

Well done on your weight loss journey. 🌺🌺

In my 30s and 40s I would have strongly resisted if someone told me that grains were my problem, and that I couldnt have my lovely home made muesli for breakfast. However, for the last 5 years for breakfast, i have been eating egg and vegetables such as spinach leaves, or asparagus, or avocado, or broccolini. Sometimes as a treat I have half a small bacon rasher or some smoked salmon. I rarely eat any bread, and never eat cereals. If I’m in a hurry I eat full fat Greek yogurt and chia seeds and a few blueberries for breakfast.

Or I wait until brunch and have some antipasto and avocado and spinach leaves.

Have you read the new Michael Mosley book The 8-week blood sugar diet? He sets it all out and provides the research notes to support the case. There are recipes in the book.

Cheers, Bay 🌺🌺🌺

Thin, I am sure you will note some eyebrow raising things in that list, after all different tomatoes can have widely different amounts of sugar, and the site I got the info from (US Department of Agriculture) didn’t clarify if there was added sugar in tins of things etc. But it was the best I could find, and I have found it very useful.

End of day. Going to watch some telly! 🙂
See you everyone!

Excellent Intesha!

Thin, is your airconditioner still working?

Lovely and cool morning in Melbourne (don’t mean to rub it in!)
My daughter will complain of the cold when she arrives for a visit in a few days!

I wonder if some of our different needs are related to ancestral genetics. 5:2 works so well for me that I think I must be programmed to eat this way. Those who can’t deal easily with grains, or even those who hate salads: it fits with this research: http://www.macleans.ca/society/health/eat-like-your-grandma-why-you-should-skip-the-kale-salad/

Bay, wishing you all the best in your SFC starting today. You’re a star. One day, I’ll have the strength to join you. Instead I’ve had the full grease breakfast this morning. Although, I shared mine with DD so it was only one of everything. And I should qualify it by saying we paddled for about 3 hours so I feel I earned it in a way. I do keep meaning to read the latest Mosley book.

Cinque, air-con’s working well thanks! It’s only 40C today and we’re on the downhill slide…..phew! I like the ‘eat what your grandma ate’ articles so I’m going there next.

Intesha, so essentially an 800gm gain on that holiday. I’m betting you’ll be 60 kgs sometime this year.

First: Apologies! I am shocking at numbers. I haven’t lost 30kg. Heading towards 25 I think. Sorry.

So Thin, only 40! Well, I bet you were out having a picnic lunch then!!!! 😉

Intesha, Superduper! And you’re a mentor to your mentor!

Lovely evening here! Fast day tomorrow!