If you KNOW yourself and understand yourself, the why of “why I’m overweight” becomes pretty much obvious. I’m overweight because I just don’t stop eating. I’d lost that connection with food as nourishment and eating was just something I did and I really didn’t think about it. I didn’t plan, anticipate, enjoy the buy, the preparation, the cooking or even particularly the consumption.

Fasting has changed my relationship with my food. My food quality is better, better prepared, enjoy the experience of cooking, I’m not just throwing stuff together, I anticipate how it will taste, it does tastes better, it is more nutritious and I do eat less and I am spending less on food.

The whole dynamic of my energy intake has changed. I feel better. I have more energy. I sleep better. I have much better interactions with those around me. My health is so much better I couldn’t begin to describe it.

It all starts with knowing you. Caring about you. Loving yourself. There has to be the ME in you. It’s not a selfish thing. It’s a KNOWING you and being more than alright with that. So much springs from that single point.

Quietone, thank you for everything you do on these forums!

Bill.

Hi everyone. Would it be ok if I join the Feb challenge just now? I’m just starting out on 5:2 (this being my first week). Fasting Tue and Thurs. I will commit to 8 fasts at least and I really want to loose 8lbs this month. This is my first goal. As well as fasting I hope to start jogging on a much more regular basis than I have ever done before. (I am not a runner but I would like to build up to possibly doing a race in the future). I will also be a bit more careful about my sugar intake.

Good luck everyone.

Hi CODA: great words of encouragement from you again. Your reference to making excuses reminded me of a very simple teaching about excuses, blame and denial traits that many of us slip into without sometimes realising it. Here’s a very simple explanation of the “Above the Line” mentality and way of living that will relate to our 5:2 lifestyles:

http://pascaletherainmaker.com/2/post/2013/09/living-below-the-line-vs-living-above-the-line.html

How often when we might miss a planned fast day or exceed our TDEE any day do we “make excuses” or “blame” some external influence for causing it to happen, rather than take personal responsibility for our actions and most importantly learn from the experience and make sure it doesn’t happen again from the same circumstances. The worst trait of below the line living is being in Denial that there is actually a problem.

Now most of us in this Forum wouldn’t be here if “denial” was part of our lives because simply by embrassing the 5:2 lifestyle we have taken Responsibility to improve our lives and this Forum is a way to keep ourselves Accountable for our actions. Ownership of actions completes the total picture and keeps us Above the Line.

We do need to be careful however when those little slip ups happen, make sure we don’t “blame” an external influence like a social lunch or an afternoon tea at the bakery down the road. Above the line living says you take Ownership for your actions and not Blame someone or something.

One good way of changing our personal traits is to print the little image above and stick it somewhere where it’s a reminder every time we see it (the old fridge door works well for many). One client I had once stuck them all over his house (even a laminated copy in his shower) so he was constantly reminded of his Above The Line lifestyle. It was amazing to see the change over a few weeks/months that transpired with this guy and his business success took off just because he stopped making excuses and blaming others for his own short comings.

So folks, Live Above The Line at all times and you’ll be amazed how your view on life becomes so different. Remember it takes 3 or 4 weeks to break an old habit so keep consciously working on it and you’ll be amazed at your results. Cheers, Mike

I Eat a a high fat/low carb diet after discovering I had an intolerance to wheat back in May. At 67 years old I had no idea that what I was suffering from was related to wheat/gluten. I decided to cut out all grains. I bought the book called THE REAL MEAL REVOLUTION by Prof. Tim Noakes and Jonno Proudfoot. (South African). What an eye opener! Whilst they advise cutting out root vegetables and fruit, which produce too much sugar , I haven’t cut them out as they are the foods I love. But having taken most carbs out of my diet, I have slowly but surely reduced in weight, and most of the time don’t get the symptoms that made me feel like sludge in a bucket! I can now eat the lovely cheese/full fat dairy products that I love without guilt (and in moderation) and have lost my cravings for the cakes/pastries that were always on the menu. I use this book along with Mimi Spencer’s Fast Diet Cookbook for a variety of recipes and have some great dishes to eat on a fast day, without feeling deprived. I do have the occasional slip, but immediately remember why I gave up carbs in the first place. Hope this information is helpful. Another book I know, but this one doesn’t just sit on the shelf. I just keep re-reading it and find something new every time. TTL

TTL, High fat diets certainly work for many – evidenced by traditional Arctic peoples. As my SIL says, a craving for bacon will never be satisfied by carrots, no matter how many carrots you eat! And thanks, I’ll look for the Real Meal Revolution book. I have the original FD book, with its meal plans. Just wondering, many of the FD recipes specify, for example, low-fat cottage cheese or non-fat yogurt. Do you substitute the full fat versions and make caloric adjustments elsewhere?

Last summer I had a first time experience of cooking for a friend with celiac disease. The first thing I did when I learned she was coming for dinner was to empty and scrub the kitchen top to bottom. I adore her and her husband, who thankfully is a retired nurse, but it was nerve-wracking to realize that if I goofed, the evening could end with a call for emergency services! Fortunately everything went fine. Just like sugar has been sneaked into our foodstuffs, I was startled to learn where gluten lurks. You have a tall order TTL!

Nutrition is still a very new science, and our food production systems are changing so fast, it’s hard for researchers to keep up. I’m curious about future findings regarding the influence of environments and genetics, as thousands of years ago, diet was largely determined by where people lived. Its exciting that we still have lots to learn. ST55

Visitors all gone – until the next lot arrive in 3 days, so it was a welcome fast day today. More events have cropped up in the coming weeks so it will be a challenge. Am keeping the good advice from the wise heads in this forum.

I have been away from home for the last week. I went to help my son shift as the house was left dirty. Just got back last night. I will put in 9 fast days till the end of the month as I feel really awful and this will get my system back into order again. The only other objectives is to get under 60kgs and especially WH ratio under 50%.

Yuck check in. 3 fasts completed. 5 to go. Have a great week😀😀

Meant to say. Have completed my first two fasts. They went pretty well I think. Didn’t find then too hard but as I said this is normal for me in week 1-2 then things become more difficult so I’m very weary at this point. This is why I thought joining a forum might help a little with accountability – I hope.

I also went for two jogs (wanted to do three but better than nothing which is what is normal for me).

I have reduced my sugar intake a lot by Avoiding cakes/biscuits/chocolate which was all on offer this week and which I would normally go for.

Oops I just noticed my typo in my first post, how embarrassing and I can’t seem to change it now.

Treenser you sound a bit like me I go all out healthy or all out unhealthy, I can’t seem to find a good middle ground. I’m really trying to change my relationship with food this time around and also get in a good routine of exercise. Starting out with jogging 3x a week. I’m just ending my 3rd week of eating better and still feeling strong but am mindful that awful crash may try and take over at some point.

I’ve already done 2 fast days this week and my goal is 8+ this month, I wasn’t necessarily going to attempt 3 a week when I started 5:2 but Im going to see how today goes and maybe squeeze in a 3rd for the week. I think this week has gone really well so far, I’m starting to see a difference in my body and I think I’m down over a kg this week, but tomorrow’s weigh in will tell for sure.

Hi Treenser (and Jojo). Good to have you join us on Little Voices. This is my experience of 5:2.
First, buy Dr M’s book and read it, and read it again, and again! and read it often through your fasting experience. It’s amazing how things begin to stick in your mind. I also bought Mimi Spencers cookbook. Its full of great ideas for FD meals. I have never felt hungry after her meals.
Second – stick to what’s recommended in the book to start with. so choose two days a week I do Mondays and Thursdays as they are busy days for me and I don’t think about food too much. If you keep yourself busy time passes quickly.
Third – Start to take out just one thing at a time from your diet that is full of calories (ie: crisps, fizzy drinks, biscuits) and let your body get used to not having these things for a week. If you absolutely, positively have to have them, make them a treat once a week. You will soon find that they don’t taste quite as good as you remember.
Fourth – Weigh yourself regularly – I weigh every morning after teeth and toilet, but just note my weight on a chart the morning after a fast day. When you start to see the numbers going down regularly, it will give you the incentive to stick to it.
Fifth – accept that this is a long term, for life, way of eating, not just an effort to lose a lot of weight and then go back to the way you were eating before starting. If you stick to the two days a week then it becomes as normal as getting up in the morning.
Sixth – download the Myfitnesspal app. this will help you track calories. You will be amazed at what seems like a very small portion of Rice, or potatoes for instance rack up the calories. I started by not having potatoes, and filled up my plate with steamed vegetables. If you physically weigh out a portion of a food, and check the calories, it will stop you estimating what is on your plate. (Usually way over what you think) If your kids are leaving food on their plates that you eat, it could be their portions are too big too. (That won’t help them in future years) If they are still hungry after a meal, let them have a piece of fruit. That way you will not be hovering up their leftovers, and if you eat fruit with them, it will become the norm. (Sorry, don’t mean to preach)
Seventh – don’t beat yourself up if you go off the rails, but be determined to do your two days a week. You will find that as time goes by, your stomach will shrink, so you won’t want to eat so much. Then you will have to make a concerted effort not to cook so much. I too can’t bear food waste, but it took me a while to reduce the amount of food I was cooking, (and buying)
Eighth – Work out your TDEE on the tracker for 5:2 and try to stick to it on non fast days. I found that filling in Myfitnesspal BEFORE I ate the food, helped me to take out the foods that were high in calories, ie pasta, and replace it with vegetables, or salads. My plate was full, and often I couldn’t finish what I had, so OH would finish it off. (He’s doing 5;2 too)
Eighth- try to do some exercise. Again I bought Dr M’s book Fast Exercise as a guide. Four minutes a day, and a hour of Pilates a week sorts that out for me. I hate exercise!!!
Gosh, I could go on and on. But these are tips that helped me along the way. Be kind to yourself, and just do what Dr M suggests. You don’t have to do back to back, or water fasts, or hours and hours of exercise for the weight to disappear. and all the time your body is getting healthier and healthier. Try to remember that this is a journey for life, not a flash in the pan. But if you look at it just one day at a time, and not the journey as a whole, you will stick with it.
Sorry if I come over as preaching. Just saying how I dealt with it. I am now 67. Reduced by nearly 2 stone in just over a year. Down from size 16 to size 10/12 Am fitter than I have ever been. Don’t take medication of any kind. More aware of what I am putting in my body and what it is doing to me.
I live in Dundee, so know how the pies and scones and fish suppers can take over your life. Just be with the flow. Good luck and just for today you can do this!!! TTL

Checking in for week one. Only one fast day. I have been ill.

1.6kg down this morning, very happy. I’ve been avoiding running the morning after a fast day as I thought my energy would be too low, but I just came back from a run after a fast day yesterday and it wasn’t really any difference to after a NFD. I think my body is adapting to the fasts already and the couple weeks of wholefoods, no junk in the weeks before has really helped too.

Not sure if I’ll do 2 or 3 fasts this week, have two planned for Tuesday and Thursday and will see how the weekend pans out. 🙂

Hi all. what lovely posts to catch up on. TTL – will be re-reading this one a few times as loads of nuggets of wisdom there – thanks. Here goes for my weekly check-in: stuck to my fast days easily but had a serious case of the munchies on Sat where I could have eaten the entire contents of the fridge in record time. Need to analyse MFP diary to find the trigger at some point (I suspect sugar). Did manage to catch myself and stop before too much damage done. Haven’t been like that for a while and thankfully appears not to have done too much damage. Scales say another 3lb gone 🙂 Will be trying stevia this week in my hot drinks. I’ve persevered for weeks without any sugar or sweetener in the past but just couldn’t get used to it so this is a compromise as I love my cuppa

Today is my 3rd fast for February and I’m cold, oxo drink for me now.
We had a last minute trip to Paris Friday……now don’t go thinking it was a romantic trip, far from it. We left work at 6pm Thursday night caught the ferry from Portsmouth arrived in Le Harvre 8am Friday morning to attend a Retro Car Show in Paris. Back in Portsmouth by 7am Saturday morning.

Ate lots of rubbish but on the plus side walked flipping miles, I really ought to get a pedometer.

Checking in for 1st week. 4 fast days last week, and down another 3 lbs.

Finally past that plateau of 146 that I could NEVER seem to break! I was there, right on the brink, several times last year, but could never get over the line. But I did it, and then some! Now I am charging the finish line, and can stay this way for life!

One thing that is especially nice (besides skinnier skinny jeans!) is going to the Dr. office and as they do the tests (bp, heart rate, blood work as it comes back, and this time, CT scan) all come back NORMAL. For a 53 year old whose all female relatives had diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and their first heart attacks before 50, after having lived pristine lives, mind you, and I have dodged every bullet.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Fast day 4 of 13 checkin:

Hey folks,
Yesterday was a challenge with the Super Bowl – was at a friends house surrounded by all sorts of snacks and foods. Pretty proud of myself because on these occasions, typically, my self control is non existent. Yesterday, was a small victory in the grand scheme. So starting off this week, happy, super motivated and exited.

Be kind to yourself.

Bill.

Hi All, I survived Super Bowl party too without indulging. Weekends are always a little loser in terms of food, but I generally stay within TDEE. I so love the fact that I can still eat and have a couple of drinks without feeling deprived. So happy to be back on Monday fast.

Very thoughtful CODA – I do know that all sugar is the same, be it honey, raw, brown, refined, – it’s all sugar. It does make things taste good and so we eat more of it. I have never been a sweet freak – except maybe for dark chocolate – so it’s never been too much of an issue. However hidden sugar is – it pops up in all sorts of unusual places and that’s the problem for us “healthy” eaters. I was very surprised to see , I think it was BILLY, say he had no idea how much sugar he was consuming in soda (or soft drink as we call it here). I’ve never drunk the stuff for that reason (aside from tonic in my gin!!) so I guess for lots of people, until you stop and think about it, it’s just there as part of your diet. Well done to BILLY – or it may have been QUIET – for giving it up. Be proud. And CODA, I don’t think your teaspoon of honey now and then is too much of a problem, really I don’t.

Hi Annette,
great information as always from you! It was interesting reading that you cook from scratch. Coincidentally, last Saturday I signed up for a cooking class – its a 14 week class and runs Saturday morning 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The whole reason for doing this was to help me in this new life style, essentially improving the quality of the food that I put in my body – with an eye on reducing sugar to healthy levels. I’m so looking forward to it. (starts 1st week of march).

Guess I’m copying you “)

Best Regards,

Bill.

Hi there, logging in with my results of last week, sorry Im late but have been busy doing the doing! Three fast days, 68,000 steps, 60 minutes on weights. No weight loss as yet, that will follow later, but feeling lighter. My tde’s were good except one on Sunday when I used left overs and made a trifle, it was sooo good, but paid for it yesterday! New salad recipe tried, juliened beetroot and carrot with dressing, which looked really colourfull on the plate and tasted good. A good tip from a TV programme on weight loss, fill half your plate with salad or vegies first instead of just putting them around the edges, and then add protein and complex carbs. It works for me. I couldnt find the pickling vinager in the supermarkets, so have yet to try the cabbage salad, will keep looking, maybe its a seasonal thing. I think I saw a recipe on how to make spiced vinager, so will have to ask Mrs Google!! As to living above the line, I think I must live too high over the top, as anything that goes wrong in our lives, I blame myself. If theres guilt to be had, its mine! We were programmed that way as children by our over dominant mother, and its a very difficult habit to break.
On natural sugars – I read somewhere that the body handles natural sugars i.e. honey, fruit, etc, in a different way than processed sugar. Too much processed sugars can cause inflammation, a precursor for many autoimmune diseases, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, the list goes on and on.
After years of living on “healthy”low fat products and continuing to put on even more weight, I am of the mind that its better to eat small amounts of high fat e.g butter instead of marg, full fat yoghurt, coconut oils, it makes me feel fuller and enhances the taste of food and it lubricates my joints. When I grab a frozen manufactured low calorie meal I usually put on a kilo or two, as it contains so much salt my poor kidneys cant handle it and need to hold on to water just to dilute the high sodium in the blood. This is one of the benefits in weighing daily, I can usually pinpoint the food culprit when I feel sluggish or my weight shoots up. Hope this helps. I am enjoying my ME time, and like exercise, trying to make it a top priority for the day. I have finished one jigsaw, and have started the second one.

Looks like I have some really interesting readings to catch up on here – everyone looks to be doing great. I have completed 2 fast days do far in Feb (fell off the wagon for a bit last week and was eating way too many carbs and over my TDEE) but am going to get back in the groove and should still make my goal with 4:3 for the next couple of weeks!