This topic contains 32 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by abitunGraceful 8 years, 6 months ago.
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14lbs in 4 1/2 months is very doable. Glad you set a realistic goal, I sometime wonder if I did as well??? I am quite a bit older (38) but wanted to offer my comments. I find that I think about food on fasting days but on non-fasting days I find myself making myself eat something.
I tried a diet a few years ago where I lost around 15lbs in 21 days but felt like crap because everyday was restricted to 500 calories. Also, any diet that discourages you from exercising couldn’t be good for you. After 21 days, I felt awful, my muscles were so tired I felt like I could barely lift them over my head to put on a shirt. Also, the worst part was that my heart beats became very unregularly – scary. Of course I immediately put the weight back on and higher than where I started.
This plan is easier on the body and mind and I never want to go back to something drastic. I feel hungry now but know its okay and look forward to my fasting days. I will finish week 4 Thursday and am seriously considering doing a modified fast tomorrow just because…well, I want too. 🙂
Hi there!
I’m 24 and this is my very first fast day… I thought I would be nervous but I’m mostly curious. A bit of history about me…
I’ve always been heavy for my height. My highest weight was 172 lbs and 5′ 0″. Using Weight Watchers and exercise I got down to 155 lbs in a year. I stayed that weight for 2 years, and then went back on Weight Watchers and got crazy about exercise and got down to 117 lbs over the course of a year and a half. But this was incredibly unsustainable because I was eating very few calories a day and going to the gym for 2+ hr, 7 days a week. Then I graduated college, and (as predicted) couldn’t maintain that lifestyle. I rebounded a while with binge eating. Over the course of the 3 years since then, I am back up to 155 lbs.
I’ve never tried anything like this so I’m really interested to see how it goes!
It was surprisingly easy! I’m kind of looking forward to my next one on Monday. I always go back and forth between wanting to be actively conscious of what and how I’m eating, but also I don’t want to have to think about food all the time! One of my life philosophies is that you can’t complain about something unless you’re working to improve it. And I’m not happy with my eating habits and the way it’s effecting my energy and fitness. So I think this is a good compromise!
Oh, also, I typically have terrible digestion… I’m lucky if I can use the bathroom twice a week. But between yesterday and today I’ve gone 3x! In two days! Basically unheard of for me. So obviously I need to keep doing this longer to know if it’s just a coincidence or not, but I’m really happy so far!
What are you doing your dissertation on? That’s always when I would want to snack too, sitting in them bratty doing problem sets and being like hmmm maybe if I just take a break and get some energy to my brain, this statistical mehanics will be easier… (Never was lol)
My next fast is tomorrow, but I woke up this morning and was super not hungry at all. I had some coffee and a teaspoon of coconut oil before I ran out the door, but that’s it. I kind of want to make today a fast day since it’s already noon and I’m not hungry, but I’m on my way to a birthday party and idk if that’s a good idea.
On the one hand, theres likely going to be a lot of yummy food I’ll want to eat. But on the other, I’m such an all or nothing person, I feel like if I declare it a fast day it will be SO much easier to just not eat any of it than to try to to just eat a reasonable amount and not overeat. It’s like “breaking the seal” for me…
BUT. If I decide to fast, get too hungry and change my mind and start eating, I’m prone to binging. Ugh. I don’t know. This is my life hahah.
Hope your fast is going well! It takes 3 weeks to break or make a habit, so this is the toughest part… Gotta stick with it.
Those are some serious issues, good for you. I wish more people were better educated about it. I got my undergrad in chemistry, no postgrad though.
I decided to just go for it and eat at the party. I had a lot of junk food, but only things I wanted. Not a big fan of cake, so I didn’t have any “just because I can” because I didn’t want it. I did have a bunch of puppy chow and chocolate covered pretzels though and that was delicious haha.
Gonna stick to Monday as my fast day for now. I have aerial class tomorrow morning and it that doesn’t leave me starving, I might switch to tomorrow. Gonna play it by ear… That seems to be the beauty of this system, the flexibility.
So where are you from?
Hmmm not sure if the “flexibility” of 5:2 is going to do you any favours with regards to success. When I started 5:2 I played around with the fast days and then after a few weeks settled on Mon/Tue. I then stuck to those days come hell or high water. After a few weeks Id gotten so used to it I wouldn’t even wake up hungry on those days. My body just knew it wasn’t going to get any food. Regardless of whether there was a social occasion or not, Mon/Tues was a fast day. People around me knew those where my days so wouldn’t get “upset” if I didn’t eat when in a social setting. Some of my friends with a wicked sense of humour would even go out of their way to eat “deserts” in front of me. We’d have a good laugh about that…but didn’t eat the chocolate donut or whatever it was they were having.
If you go in with the attitude that a social occasion just means you can do your fast day tomorrow instead of NOW, invariably tomorrow never comes. The number of posts I read on here where a social occasion gets in the way of their fast is quite high. Experiment, and find what days suit you and then stick to those days regardless of what’s happening around you. Otherwise the forum becomes a place for those seeking absolution for their “sins”.
Well since this is just a way of eating, I don’t consider it a “sin” to eat. Making exceptions for special events is the only way any kind of plan can be sustainable. Gotta be realistic, dear. Also, my fast day is supposed to be Monday anyways, and I was considering doing today just because.
It seems like the whole point of 5:2 is 5 days eating, 2 days fasting. There’s a lot of combinations of those days to be had. I’ve read a lot of people that alternate based on their work schedule or something.
I’m quite content with my decision, but I’m sure whatever you do is right for you. I believe the phrase “you do you” applies.
Hi to everyone
I have a different approach to Bigbooty which has worked for me over the past 6 months. Each week after my weekly weigh in I go through my diary for the next seven days and work out which two days will be my fast days. I look for days when I’m not going to a birthday dinner etc or super stressful days. Then I put the chosen days in my diary and they are my Fast days for the week and I stick to them as much as I can. I try to make Tuesday one of my fast days if possible as my weekly weigh in is on a Wednesday but if it is too social or super busy then I will choose another day for that week.
For me the discipline is picking the days and making sure I complete the two 36 hour fasts a week. Sometimes it is really easy to fast and other days are very slow and hard. Some days I eat all my 500 calories and still feel hungry while other days I eat very little and feel good all day. Some days unexpected things happen and it is really hard to stay on the fast whilst other days are stress free and a lot easier.
I lose about two pounds a month.
I hope this helps
Don’t get me wrong, you need to choose a pattern that works for you. The pattern I chose works for me. It might also work for you, or maybe not. However once you’ve chosen the pattern you need to stick with to it to give yourself the best chance of success. If you have trigger foods, don’t have those trigger foods. If you need to plan your fast days, then pick them, for me I found it the easiest to pick the same days every time. Develop a routine but then stick to it.
My food tastes a pretty simple so I don’t need to plan lots of recipes. I however know I have to avoid anything with sugar content which means nothing that comes in a box or bottle. You’ll be stunned at the sugar content in processed foods. Example, I used to have balsamic vinegar with my salads. Balsamic vinegar for salads can have up to 50% sugar content!! So I was having a healthy salad and topping it with a trigger food. Crazy stuff. So now I just use pure apple cider vinegar. Find what your trigger foods are and take steps to avoid them.
I think I just see things very differently, bigbooty. Food only has power over you if you give it power. I was in recovery for an orthorexia-like eating disorder for a while, and I have put a lot of time into getting that mindset out of my head. I appreciate the input, but it’s really just a different mindset than I am taking.
Good morning everyone!
I am just starting my second fast day. I have a cup of coffee with almond milk sitting next to me which I’ll have once I chug a few bottles of water… I woke up so thirsty this morning!
My plan is to go for a jog with a friend at lunchtime and have some broth when I come back. Then tonight will be cauliflower leek soup and some bread and butter.
How’s everyone else doing?
I’m struggling with it more this morning than I did last Thursday ><
I had my coffee, going on 48 oz of water, and also some herbal tea because my office is FREEZING. But I can totally feel the hunger pangs, which I didn’t last week. Hoping if I just keep myself occupied, they’ll subside. Just gotta remember how much better I felt the day after last week 🙂
Good luck getting through the day! I like having these forums as a distraction/motivation haha.
Hey everybody, I hope you will let me join your little group. I am 22 years old and have made several attempts on fasting in the past two years, none of them brought lasting success. I was astonished by your first post Kayla_Ren because we are almost the same age and have the same goal. I need to loose a stone until July/August this year and want to ideally loose another stone until some time between Christmas and February. Also just this morning I was diagnosed with gastritis as well. 😀 Not a funny condition to be in, but isn’t it weird how many similarities can be found there? How long did you pause until you started fasting again.
I found all the other posts under this threat very encouraging as well and I really hope I will find support here whenever I start my fast days in three or four days maybe.
You all keep up your great work! 🙂
Key Kaylo! Busy is good, school is way more important haha. My fast day went so well! My lunchtime workout was great and I never got hungry for more than a few minutes before it dissipated. I had only water, coffee, tea, and broth during the day and when I got home I had a big bowl of homemade curried lentils and a hunk of ciabatta with butter. I was going to steam some veggies to go with it, but I forgot. It was an incredibly satisfying meal, since 500 cal is about what my meals are usually.
I’m in the US (Cambridge, MA) but I can tell that a lot of people here are in the UK based on 1) the names of stores people cite and 2) the slight differences in phrasing/expressions.
I also just signed up for a 5k! It’s on the esplanade in Boston, which is this pretty park-type area on the water where they do events all summer.
Hope you’re doing well.
Moved my schedule around a bit because I was feeling like death Sunday/Monday thanks to my sick little one year old nephew who stuck his fingers in his germ-ridden mouth AND THEN INTO MY MOUTH at his birthday party…. he’s lucky he’s cute.
So today is my fast day. It’s only 11 and my stomach is grumbling! Gonna to my best to push through it with fluids… I’d really like to be able to have a satisfying meal tonight after the gym. Especially because I have these amazing sourdough rolls and fresh burratta from Trader Joe’s…. mmmm. Maybe I can use that as my motivation for a proper fast.
Hey abitungraceful,
I had my first fast day yesterday, finally found the motivation to start again!
Went quite well, although I was so busy in the evening that I could not start cooking my own food but had to eat some leftover pasta bake. But as I had only half a plate and the only thing I had eaten until then was a small apple, I think it worked out okay.
I’m proud of myself because I said no to the nice fingerfood, coke and free champagne at a work meeting in the evening.
How are you getting on? How many fast days have you managed so far? Can you see any results already? 🙂
That’s great that you’re motivated! I feel like a nice part of this way of eating is that it’s flexible. You don’t HAVE to make any fancy meals, you can make essentially anything fit into your fast day in the right portion.
I’m doing great! Yesterday was my 5th proper fast day, and it was a bit tough, but worth it! I have noticed really great results in terms of my digestion. It’s been awesome, usually I’m super constipated all the time. Also I feel so good on my fast days! Full of energy and just really feeling awesome. I’ve also lost 3.8 lbs.
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