Hit a plateau for 3 or 4 months now and I know why – need help!

This topic contains 5 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by Merryme 8 years, 6 months ago.

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kiwidieter

2:57 am
9 Oct 15
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Hi there everyone!

So far I have had a great journey on this diet and have seen great results! I initially did the 4:3 diet and lost about a kilo a week or slightly less, but then have now moved back to 5:2 because I found myself craving too much food on the 4:3. I started at 95.5kg and have dropped down to 88.5kg so have overall had a total weight loss of 7kg. Although I know this sounds great, I started this diet 6 months ago or so and have been a a plateau for a very long time! I KNOW that this is because I consume too many calories on my non fast days because I have always done this. I need help on how to kick this plateau so I can stop feeling so frumpy and go back to feeling fab again! I miss the compliments I was getting when i was losing weight every week and I can’t even tell that i’ve lost weight now so feels so horrible. I do exercise but have been super slack lately only going to the gym once or so a week (too busy with study) but am going to try harder coming up to summer!!! PLEASE HELP WITH ANY TIPS YOU HAVE! Also, I am going on a 3 week road trip with an american friend and am worried about the weight I will gain during that period…

Cinque

7:05 am
9 Oct 15
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My tips are:
– Not to eat anything after 8:30 at night. I promise myself I can eat what I want in the morning.
– Go for quality not quantity: ie instead of buying a pack of chocolate, or even chocolate biscuits, make a time to go to the best chocolate shop you can get to, and buy the three chocolates you want most. Enjoy every skerrick of them. Keep telling yourself you deserve the best quality.
– Give yourself a window between eating. ie after your eat, make yourself wait 3 hours before you eat again. Plan something nice to eat when the three hours is up.
– Avoid high and medium sugar foods. Make them a once a week treat.

Amazon

8:25 am
9 Oct 15
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Hi,

Sorry to hear you are struggling. If I’ve learnt one thing from my own experiences it is that no-one can give you the willpower to stop over eating. You have written a post full of all the reasons why you want to continue to lose weight. Write them down and read them every morning and whenever you feel the urge to over indulge.

I agree with Cinque in that you need to keep away from sugary foods, and as with the chocolate suggestion, don’t eat packets of biscuits, or muffins or cake, go to a patisserie and buy one really good slice or cake and enjoy it, and remember these foods should be an occasional treat not a daily staple.
Make a sustained effort to eat more vegetables, some fresh fruit, lean protein and healthy fats such as yoghurt, and I don’t mean those sugar laden low fat efforts full of additives.

Taking an hour or two away from your studies a couple of times a week in order to exercise would be an excellent idea as you can return to them afterwards feeling refreshed from giving your brain a rest and your body a workout.
It is all about discipline and mindset and you need to find a way to get back into losing weight. If you feel fat and fed up exercise is the way to go.

You can do it!

Em T

10:48 am
9 Oct 15
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Hi I am fairly new to 5:2 but one of the reasons it made sense to me when I read about it was that I realised why I had been losing weight without trying for the last couple of years (it has been slow but steady). It is because I have 2 young children & as my husband is almost never home for dinner time anyway (and is often travelling) I eat with the kids at 5pm. So for the last little while I have been doing mini fasts without even realising it. Now for any normal person 5pm is way to early to have the final meal of the day, but I concur with Cinque that not eating anything after 8:30pm (or earlier if you can manage it) might help – you can do mini fasts in your sleep!!!! 😉

Johnboy2

6:37 pm
17 Oct 15
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Hi Hit a Plateau,
I’ m70 and have been on 5&2 for about a month . Do not buy cakes or biscuits or chocolate you do not need them. For exercise do not walk normal to the gym, speed walk or run.
Your problem is a mental one and can be beaten. Be very strong and I can almost see you reaching your goal. I started this diet at 89 Kls and am now moving towards 82 kls.
This will take the weight and pressure of my back injured in 1983 and my left knee injured in 1994.
I am determined to get down to 76 kls. Following the same mental strength I used to give up smoking. No problems whatsoever.
Follow this diet like a born again Christian and be strong for yourself and all of us strivers.
To top all this. I do not want take up two seats on an aircraft. I do not want to take blood pressure pills or pills for chloresterol. I am taking the drugs for pressure and cholesterol and I do not want to.
Please stick with it and remember we all want to feel better

Merryme

11:38 pm
17 Oct 15
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Hi Kiwidieter,

First of all, know that you can do this because you already have!

2. Don’t give up. This is a retrainng for eating healthier all your life and feeling really well while you’re doing it.

By the way I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so cannot exercise to help lose weight. I lost 15 kgs in a year and now starting the next year. Even though this is slower than most people’s weight loss, it doesn’t matter. I can’t really explain how big a difference getting that 15 kgs off has made. I have had to work through what is the easiest and best way for me to lose the weight. Before 5:2 there was no way to lose weight for me. I was already doing everything I could.

Here’s what works for me, and yes, I phave pkayeaued for 3 months along the way

1. 2 FDs a week, Monday and Thursday, stick to the same days each week, so it gecomes habit, routine.

2. Eat in a smaller time window. I eat in an 8hr window between 12noon and 8pm. Sort of gives little daily minifasts.

3. No starchy carbs at all. That means no grains (I’m grain intolerant anyway), and no starchy vegetables e.g. Potato, pumpkin, sweet potato.

4. Use foods that have a low glycaemic index (GI).

5. In each food group worked out the lowest calorie foods, and ate from tjis group of foods.e.g
Proteins – prawns, calamari/squid, white fish like basa; kangaroo meat, next came lean chicken breast; then lean pork.

6. Combine low GI with low calories and use these the most e.g. Vegies – mmushrooms, tomatoes, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots

7. Change dressings and sauces. i go without if I can. If not, I squeeze lemon or lime on salads and veggies, a small amount of low cal salad dressing, tiny amount of gravy

8. Drink no cal fluids – water, sparkling water, weak black Earl Grey tea, peppermint tea. Sonetimes hot water with sluce of lemon or orange in it.

9. Make food tast – by adding spices, and herbs, garlic, chilli. Makes my tastebuds know I’ve eaten!

10. If hungry, have a glass of water 1st. If tired, have a glass of water 1st.

11. Tiredness = hunger. Don’t get too tired.

12. Have usual birthday/ holiday treats, but have smaller quantities.
13. Don’t give up. If you fall off the horse get back on it.
14. Repeat no 13.
15. No sugar, a little stevia occasionally, 1 coffe made on skim milk/week.

Check in again kiwi dieter, and let us know how you’re going.
PS I have just got gack from travelling. I took mini travel scales, weight 500 gms, and continued my FD’s, didn’t eat breakfast, and so on. I set the goal to come back at the same weight I left. In US keep portion sizes down. Share a dish between 2, keep away from the chips, fill up on salad before having anything else in a meale, give the salad dressings, especially mayo and ranch dressing a miss, have small portions or share things lije ribs. If having nuts or crisps etc, just have a few, not a packet each.

Good luck!,
You can do this. Remember, just get back on the horse.

PS some people find they can’t lose weight if they eat any grains at all.