This topic contains 27,907 replies, has 831 voices, and was last updated by thinatlast 1 day, 17 hours ago.
Hi All
It was a fast day today. I ate/drank about 800 cals. I had an impromptu dinner with a friend so that’s still pretty good.
I find it hard now not to do more of a 2:5. I get so excited about being ABLE(!) to restrict my daily caloric intake. Does anyone know if that would cause problems for me i.e. Slow my metabolism down?
Hi ChicitaGatita, For memory, the book/documentary did mention the slow metabolism concerns. The alternate day fasting trial didn’t show any metabolism slowing, and they thought it was because of the regular feast days, rather than continuous energy restriction. One of the beauties of this system is that you don’t have to deprive your body all day every day. I’m not sure what you’re planning, but I would suggest you have no more calorie restricted days than 4:3 or ADF, and that you eat to your TDEE on feast days if you are worried about slowing your metabolism.
Personally, I’m happy with 5:2 as I know I can sustain it in the long term.
Hope that helps. 🙂
Hi all, can anyone remember the saying if its” Starve a fever and feed a cold ” or the other way around?.
Either way I have lost 2+ kgs in 5 days due to being laid up with the flu etc. Now nearly 3 kgs below my target weight. I am not trying to lose weight but just don’t feel hungary .
With a FD tomorrow feel I will give it a miss.
Veg soup to the rescue.
Tim.
Did you really have the flu? The flu is extremely dangerous and can kill you. Most people refer to a cold as the flu. Most people have colds, not the flu.
Here’s how to distinguish if its one or the other.
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/flu-cold-symptoms?page=2
The saying is feed a cold starve a fever. The idea is that not eating while you have a high fever will help get your temperature down.
If you have a flu you should see a doctor.
You shouldn’t take antibiotics unless you have a bacterial condition.
I find panadol helps, bed rest and water.
Good morning fast buddies. It’s been a week since I last posted my success and thanks Pattience for responding and egging me on (so to speak). And what a lot of posts since, can’t possibly read them all but welcome all newbies, lovely to see such a vibrant group of fasters.
Ecstatic to report that I sailed through my two fast days this week hardly noticing them and, at the end of week three, I am 2.8kg lighter!
OH has committed to doing this with me for 4 weeks. Problem is, he does not need to lose weight. To enjoy the health benefits and not lose weight, I see people go to 6:1 for maintenance. Could you please explain why he would not lose weight doing that, given that he’d be 1500 cals down each week? I’m re-reading ‘the bible’ right now so, apologies if it’s explained in there.
Good morning SH mates.
Two really easy FDs passed with only 830C consumed overall (Mon-Tues). Went to my Corporate Cup walk yesterday morning and improved my time by nearly 4 minutes on the previous run. Also weight training after work so didn’t weigh myself this morning because heavy weights sessions always make me heavier, due I understand to the extra water in the muscles for repair – sounds good to me 😉
Pattience, I live in the Adelaide Hills.
Well done everyone on weight loss and thanks also for information. This sort of shared knowledge helps each of us make more informed decisions.
Keep up the good work everyone.
Thin at last, all he has to do is eat more on his non-fast days.
I noticed there is an error in the so-called bible. Ha that’s not unusual
I read Mimi talked about Algerian or tunisian fasters for Ramadan. Ha ha What sort of person does not know that a ramadan fast is nothing like fasting for a diet. Muslims eat a huge feast every evening of their month long fast and no doubt breakfast as well. I have actually had dinner with a Palestinian family and seen and partaken of the wonderful spread of food. So i hardly think that these athletes make a relevant comparison to any of us who want to do exercise on a fast day.
Hi slightedge and welcome!
I’m not usually very hungry the day after a fast. My apetite increases daily, though, until my next fast. That’s why I fast Mon/Thurs. By Sunday I’m usually eating well over my TDEE. Tues and Wed are usually below. I did try back-to-back fast days once, and it was much easier than anticipated, but then I ate too much over the rest of the week.
We all find our own way of doing 5:2.
Thanks Pattience, good thinking! Will feed hubby up on the other 6 days.
Ramadan is basically switching day time eating to the night. They fast from sun up to sun down. Unless they live in the arctic, then there’s a special dispensation. In my experience of living in the middle east, many having slept all day, then have a massive feast and stay up half the night eating with friends and family, which I don’t think is its intention. In theory, it’s a spiritual thing like some Indian and other religions.
After my first fast day, I seemed to be ‘making up for it’ but now, I have learned from that and my portions are smaller, I am not eating as soon as I wake on the day after fasting, and generally eat less. On the other hand, I have stopped obsessing over food and just had TWO scones, jam and cream at my neighbour’s house. I would never had touched a scone and jam before starting this.
What a WONDERFUL new way of eating. I love it. And what I see on the scales makes me very happy.
Hi Peeps!
Today is a fast day. So far I’ve had about 200 cals. Dinner will be about 400.
I bought a pedometer today. It’s the Fitbit Flex. It shows a little light for every 2000 steps you take. I went for a walk and after an hour no light was showing so I walked for a further 40 minutes. And still no light! That’s when I decided I mustn’t have activated it properly or something. Lo & behold I just didn’t know that I had to tap gently twice on the band to SEE the lights! LOL. So I actually walked over 9200 steps & burned 1400 cals. I’m actually glad I stuffed up how to use it because it spurred me to keep walking when I thought I hadn’t even hit the 2000 step mark.
Well done ihaw, that’s really inspiring to read!
My friend who’s been doing it for a year hasn’t had any blood tests, but is doing it for health reasons, not to lose weight, so I can’t understand not getting the effects checked (and am already looking forward to my biannual checkup in 6 months and hoping to see some improvement too!).
My weight’s stagnating after a rapid drop. 2kg in 2 weeks is good enough!
Like you, I see this as a way of life and am also thrilled to have found a way to control my own health and weight. It’s empowering, isn’t it?
I know it’s only early days for me, but hearing of everybody’s success (big picture, of course there’ll be fluctuations and bad days) is really motivating and adds to my conviction that I have to stick with it, so thank you.
5th fast day today, so far so good 😉
Will catch up on all the other posts now.
Hope you’re all doing well,
Sue
I just had dinner and I’m STUFFED!!!! I had salmon & heaps of veggies. And it was only 350 calories. It amazes me.
Pattience – I found it hilarious. It was also really good because I really enjoyed the long walk. Admittedly it was by the sea so it was beautiful, and it was mostly flat.
Slightedge – 12000 steps is AMAZING! Did you go for a long walk today? What strategies do you use to keep hitting your goal?
Suetee – don’t worry about the stagnation. My experience has been that I’ll stagnate or even seem to go up but then I’ll get a big drop. I weigh myself 4-6 times a day and can notice a 1.5kg difference in a day! (Which of course is not fat). As long as each week I’m trending downwards I’m happy.
ChicitaGatita – yes! And while I was eating those scones with jam with my neighbour, I discovered from a throwaway remark that she’s also on 5:2 and started exactly when I did. Brilliant discovery because I don’t really like talking about it outside this forum – the word ‘diet’ conjures up eating plans that are doomed to failure. I wish they’d called it something else. ‘Fasting 5 and 2’ would have been a good title IMHO!
Pattience – I must have been one page behind you in ‘the bible’ because I just read the Ramadan reference right after you commented above.
Chicita I walked for about an hour by the beach, then walked my two dogs this afternoon for about 20 mins. The strategy so far has been the dogs needing a walk and the competition with friends cureently I am leading but the competition is fierce!
I find that I only charge once a week but word of warning if you loose your charger (like I did) order it online it only cost me $6.49 from China as opposed to much more from Aussie online retailers.
Well, finally caught up with my reading
Pattience you’re a font of knowledge, thank you for all your links and tips and yummy recipe ideas.
You sound like you’ve come such a long way, you can really be proud of yourself. I can understand it must have been discouraging to see no change on the scales after fasting for over 2 days. Hope you have seen a downwards trend after all.
PVE I envy you your travels, and well done for sticking with the fasting despite being underway, though it doesn’t sound as hard as I imagined it would be. Where is home?
Thanks for the encouragement Chichita Gatita (does that have a meaning?). As I wrote, reading all your posts is really motivating.
Hope you’re better Tim.
Spring in Canberra is colder than it was last week- that darned wind! 🙁
It’s really nteresting to read about all the different methods and experiences…
A couple of questions:
What is HIIT?
Where do you buy the shiritaki noodles? I haven’t seen them in Asian shops Thanks all and keep up the good work,
Sue
If I’ve done my maths correctly I think I’ll have lost almost 1/2 kilo of fat today. My TDEE is about 1800. I ate 600. So I “burned” 1200. Then I burned an extra 1500 cals in walking today and prob another 200 in housework. (My TDEE was based on being sedentary). So I think I burned 2900 cals today!!!
I get anxious about Feed days. I still struggle to get my head around not “dieting” every day. I’ve organised to go for an hour walk tomorrow and that’s reduced my anxiety a bit. I enjoy making healthy choices on my Feed days when I have the willpower. I also enjoy being able to relax and enjoy food and socialising. But it’s still kind of scary cause it’s such a radically different (to me) approach to weight loss.
ThinAL – That is so FABULOUS that you and your neighbour are on the same journey and that you can be there for each other (in real life)! Envious 😉
SlightEdge – Wow! 80 minutes of walking each day. You go girl! And thanks for the heads up re the charger. I’ll order one now so I have a back up.
SueTee – ChicitaGatita means little kitten in Spanish. My DH’s nickname for me ;). I get dried Shitake mushrooms in the asiam section of Woolies. HIIT means (I think) High Intensity Interval Training. I don’t do it. I prefer to walk briskly (or slowly if I’m having a “just can’t be fagged day” LOL)
ChicitaGatita – On the feed days, keep in mind what Mosley says, “Fasting doesn’t own you”. It’s just so cool to be able to have whatever you want.
And that is one, long nickname! We’ve been looking after a gorgeous little toy poodle called Chico for the past 5 weeks. Little man, I think the owner said. Or shall we call him Chicito Perro?
Hi everyone
Suetee, you can get shiritaki (aka Miracle) noodles from Woolworths and (probably) Coles but we don’t have one nearby. The brand I bought is called ‘Slendier’ and they are just on the shelf as they don’t need refrigerating, coming in little sealed pouches of a watery liquid. I’ve tried them and not so keen, like eating bits of flavourless rubbery plastic so decided on FDs I’d forego noodles in pasta sauces (carrot ribbons instead) and stir fries (nothing substituted). Others on here and other threads swear by them and they certainly fill you up on virtually zero calories.
I also use a Fitbit Flex and only charge it about every 4-5 days by plugging it into my computer either at work or home.
As I said yesterday I did my Corporate Cup walk and that plus general running around at work and then 10min warmup on the treadmill before my weights session came in at nearly 16K steps. I try for an average of 10K steps/day. I used to have a Fitbit One which also records stairs climbed but it’s not waterproof and the battery died within 6 months due, I suspect to getting sweaty. The FB Flex was my choice for warranty replacement.
Chicita Gatita, you’re right, HIIT or HIT refers to High Intensity (Interval) Training, which Dr M deals with at length in ‘Fast Exercise’. There are hundreds of references on the WWW and an almost infinite number of ways to do it, even something as simple as running up and down stairs or skipping.
Sleep well everyone.
Good morning peeps! I broke into the 65.x!!!! Ok, it was 65.9 but it was still under 66.0 😉
By the way I’m from SA.
Just call me CG on here. ChicitaGatita is WAY too hard to have to type x
My DH doesn’t say “ChicitaGatita” it’s just the username I use on forums. He generally calls me “Little Kitten” or “LK”.
ThinAtLast – Thanks for the reassurance about Feed days. I don’t speak Spanish but my DH is from Argentina. Adding “ito” (or “ita” to a girl) means little in a way. If a Spanish person heard “Chicita Gatita” or “Chicito Perro” they’d know it was a nickname rather than correct Spanish.
Suetee – Silly me. I thought you were misspelling Shitake!
NickyF – Well done on the corporate cup & 16000 steps. That’s FABULOUS! x
Atamad – Welcome. Post on here as often as you need to throughout your fast days and read, read, read this thread to stay motivated. I found the following helps me on fast days: reading about fasting, reading forums about fasting, drinking lots of coffee with a splash of skinny milk, water with lemon, licorice tea (tastes sweet not aniseed-y), not eating at all until 3:00 and then eating dinner at 5ish (but I’m generally asleep by 9:30pm.
Have a great day peeps x
CG I led you astray I don’t normally do 80 minutes of walking everyday just yesterday. I aim for 10,000 steps and find that the afternoon is the perfect time to get them if I have been sedentary throughout the day.
Today is fast day 2 for the week. Last fast I found it easier to not eat any calories at all during the day until I ate my 500 for dinner.Does anyone else find this? Previous week I had a cup of home made bone broth to keep me going but it kinda made me want more food. So today I will wait until about 5pm to eat then have an early night.
I have forgotten how to count calories! I just guestimate my dinner of pork chop with greens as being under 500cals. Does everyone count?
Morning dearies,
It’s lovely to hear everyone doing so well, keep up the great work and well done!
This morning I’m now officially 20.2 kg light than when I started 72 weeks ago, so much closer to my 65 kilo goal, at 67.8! Yay!
My new size 12 jeans are now loose! So that’s something else to cheer about!! (Used to be nearly size 18) Also when I’m working with massaging back to back clients, I never have time to eat, let alone feel any hunger.
So keeping occupied and busy will serve as a wonderful distraction on fast days. If you haven’t got something to do, make yourself feel distracted with putting on some favourite music and dancing around the living room. (Don’t worry about what you look like, just enjoy the feelings of moving to the beat!) It’s a sure tire way to forget any sensations of hunger or unconscious habits of mindless, comfort-eating.
Well that all from me for now. Here’s wishes of peace, love and compassion for you all, but especially and most importantly for yourself!
Hi all – great to see so many keeping to their new 5:2 lifestyle and reaping the benefits. My week up at the Hamilton Island Race week went well on two fronts – we got placings in two races in the Performance Division with an equal third overall and I was able to stick to my 5:2 with no problems, despite an excess of food and alcohol being available. Only problem was trying to find belts to keep my now size too big sailing shorts and trousers up – spent more on belts than booze! Now back down in wintery Sydney and replacing shorts and T’s for jackets and umbrellas.
GrahamE: Excellent! You might have to change your username to ihaveawaist2.
IHAW: wow, how motivating it is to read your post. I’d also like to get to 65 kgs. I have a whole wardrobe of clothes waiting for me when I do (from a previous weight loss of 16kg which wasn’t sustainable. I’ve never been on a ‘diet’ in my life but have only ever lost weight through starvation funnily enough (i.e. going without virtually everything I loved to eat).
Sadly my scales said no to the scones I ate yesterday (up .700gm) but I’m not worried, having noted large fluctuations over the past three weeks, I feel confident will end-of-week weight will be well down again.
CQ: that’s sweet. I don’t think my OH has ever had a nickname for me. Well nothing I could repeat here anyway!
Good morning all.
CG, also from SA! That makes 3 of us at last count as CarolannFD (sp?) is from Adelaide as well.
Lovely sunny non-FD for me so planning to get out into garden after I have vacuumed the seriously neglected living room carpet 🙁 (I hate housework!)
Happy Friday and well done all the ‘losers’ 🙂
Nicky xxx
Well I survived my 6th fast day yesterday, it does seem to be getting easier. However my danger time is after dinner. After I get the kids into bed I want to relax and have a snack on something. Thankfully the other thing I have noticed is that I get tired earlier on a fast day, so early nights are the go! I have already lost 1.5 kilos since starting 3 weeks ago, the scales seem to go up and down a bit, but there is a steady downward trend. My waistline has also significantly decreased. In fact this morning I grabbed my belt to put it on and realised that I couldn’t wear it because the last hole wasn’t tight enough. Woo hoo!!
HB
Hello All you chatty people. Welcome newbies.
Thank you Suetee.
Atadmad, at first i thought you must be a muslim, until i messed about a bit more with the pronunciation. lol.
Well done to all the losers out there. Isn’t it fun to say that? And know its a positive thing.
Today i’m cooking a tart with tomato and pesto and looking for something to do with salmon.
Last night i made a gorgeous salad which i want to share with you. I’ll give you serving for one but just double it or quadruple as you need. I altered it slightly from the original.
So 2 celery stalks, cut into shorter pieces and then julienned
1 small carrot, as above
1 Red apple grated.
Mix altogether
Dressing:
1tsp of good mayonnaise like S&W whole egg
1/4 tsp of dijon mustard
lemon juice – plenty but not enough to make it sour. I used a bush lemon and think i added about 3 tbsp but these lemons are sweeter than shop lemons.
So this is a nice sweet and fresh salad but with no sugar. Lovely.
I adapted it from a french recipe called Celery Remoulade which doesn’t have any carrot in it and has less apple for serve.
Their recipe is basically 1 whole celery bulb and 1 apple plus 70g of mayonnaise or creme fraiche, and 15g of mustard and juice of 1 lemon. So you could try both and compare.
I was going to fast this weekend but i’ve decided to try doing it on my busy days and see if its easy. So i’m putting it off until…. oh no, that’s not going to work… I just remembered I”m supposed to eat cake on Monday…And as i’m making it, i had hoped to eat some. Hmmm. I shall have to rethink this.
Good morning, welcome to the weekend dearest fasters!
I just had to share with you all that I have just sewn in two darts on the waist-band of my brand new work pants! This is hilarious and shows me that my waist is smaller than I thought. It also allows my pants to stay up, rather than showing my undies every time I move or bend! Haha!
Have a lovely day… It’s time for me to show up and move gracefully like a tai chi master….all the while keeping my massage clients smiling, rather than laughing their heads off, while watching my pants fall down!
Cheers my dears!
Hi all,
thanks for the tip re shiitake mushrooms CG ;-), and the translation.
Thanks Nicki for the info re shiritaki noodles, now I at least know what I’m looking for and where to look…but it doesn’t surprise me that they don’t taste any good. All the good things have calories, the best have lots, as we all know!
Well done IHAW, GrahamE and HB, welcome atadmad (thanks Pattience, I get it now too!). How did you go in the end atadmad?
As a beginner I do count calories, though only approximately. Do you experienced fasters? (An approximation would be great with your recipes, Pattience, if you have any idea.)
I bought Mimi Spencer’s latest Fast Diet recipe book, which is slightly more expensive (at $20) than some of the others out there, but has a great range of meals, also 500 & 600 cal ones for those of you just eating one meal or for you guys…anyway, I promptly altered the first recipe I tried, as I am wont to do, so the calories changed too…
Today is my 6th FD. I have done all but one on work days, will have to try it on a day off, but am a bit scared it will be a lot harder, particularly as I often arrange to meet people on those days…
Have a great weekend, fellow fasters,
Sue
Go IHAW….you won’t even have a waist soon…it will have wasted away.
Such fun when the pants fall down!
Mine are now held up with boney hip bones, so can’t get any smaller. Just the tum to work on.
Sunny day in southern WA. Still a few whales around and lots of very strange wildflowers.
The boys caught fish for dinner. Very suitable for fasters!
Have a great weekend all, P 🙂
IHAW you’ll be going shopping soon. I can tell! Well done.
Suetee, i’m not sure what you mean about an approximation. Were you asking me for an approximation? I’ll have to look it up later i’m going out in a minute.
Yesterday i lost the plot. In addition to the lovely salad i made, i also made a tart. OMG, it was so yummy i ended up eating half of it. Note to self: no more cheesy tarts!
The pastry had parmesan cheese in it was pretty yummy enough and then the filling had pistou, tomato, mozzarella and feta on top. I tried hard not to eat more than an 1/8th but failed. Oh well. At least it wasn’t a fast day.
And because of that i am fasting today anyway.
One of the women on another thread revealed that she fasts every 3rd day! And eats no calories. She says she finds it easier because once she starts eating, she can’t stop herself. Well what a tower of strength. Water fasting is really tough. But fancy doing it this often?
On the other hand, she should be able to have a good ole stuff yourself silly on the mono-fast days.
Well its a lovely day outside and i need to go off to pottery now. Keep up the good work all of you.
Hi fasters and feasters. I switched from Sunday to Saturday (d/t it seemed a bit mean to starve OH on Father’s Day). Anyway, turned out OH was sick yesterday and ate nothing all day so he proclaimed that as his fast day. Fair enough. I’d have done the same.
Today, I’m struggling with a fast day for the first time (my 7th fast day so, as you see, I’m highly experienced at all this!) Not sure if it’s because I was a bit hungry when I went to bed last night or the blah weather or because it’s my first time doing it alone. Not that hubby is eating much today either but there will be a roast tonight and that might be tough to take…….then again, there’s always tomorrow for the roast, right?
I had Turka Dahl for lunch, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed that, what there was of it. I’ve had a peppermint tea, a ginger tea and I have a pommegranate/cranberry to go. 15 cals – I hope – for all based on using the tea bag twice.
After Wednesday’s fast, we might switch to Mon/Th so we can be in the ‘in crowd’. I’ve only skim read the posts above because there is a LOT of food mentioned and I am hungry……SueTee, I might get that book you mention. Can’t deal with counting calories so I like recipes for meals where someone’s done all the hard work for me.
Off to do the ironing, vacuuming, whatever…..
As we all know its fathers day tomorrow, poor sods. 🙂 Tell you what. I bet theres not going to be too much ” fasting ” going on.
It really tees me off all the commercial special days. If the Kids wanted to give their mother a present, they either saved for it or made it. I would not let them give me a present on that day.
It totally P…ed the OH off that her friends all got presents but hers were meagre offerings. 🙂 $ wise but given with love. Yes I weakened as I would take them all out for dinner.
Diet wise an interesting week as I lost 4.4 kgs without trying, due to the Flu. Being run down there was conflict between the 5 different cholesterol meds I need. So they dumped me in our great little Bello Hospital for a short stay. Drips by the gallons! and lots of loverly TLC. The casualty dept is brand new and has everything.The difference between our sad old ED and the new is comforting. Sugar levels went high for me and the BP readings where like a seismograph the lowest was 80/40. Not a happy fellow.
GrahamE . Good to have you back on board so to speak.
Cheers,
Tim.
Wow Tim, sounds like you’ve been in the wars!
I hope everything comes back to normal soon and you get rid of the bug that’s been giving you such tricky problems. I’m glad to hear the hospital staff gave you heaps of tender love and care, it’s only because you deserve the best!
Get better really soon! We need your witty repartee and interesting humour.
Cheers!
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2 Sep 14