Excited to begin and looking to lose 5 to 10 pounds

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dollycora

2:29 pm
26 Jun 17
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Hi all, I recently started the 5:2 diet 4 days ago and thought I would join this community for support and exchange of tips. A little bit about me: I just turned 33, female and looking to lose 10 pounds at most. I currently weigh 47 kgs or about 105 lbs. Might not seem like a lot, but I’m also 4’8 in height. Yes I’m super short, I’m Asian by the way. 🙂

I’m not super overweight yet, but the pounds have been coming gradually every year despite moderate exercise and what I deem to be “healthy” eating so I’m probably going there if I’m not careful. Physically, there’s also that feeling of discomfort from the few extra pounds. Not sure how to explain it, just that general feeling of heaviness as my clothes that used to fit well have started to feel snug, and I’ve developed this layer of fat around my belly that wasn’t there before. My sister is also diabetic and it sort of runs in the family so that’s a risk I also need to look out for.

Anyway, I’m really excited to start this diet. I’m actually coming from the South Beach Diet, which worked well for a couple of months but just wasn’t for me. I love carbs too much! Also, the recipes can get quite difficult and time-consuming. And I find the list of “Foods to Avoid” super restrictive! The biggest problem I’ve had with other diets before is the feeling of deprivation and that voice in my head saying “you’re not allowed to eat that”.

Some questions for you guys who have been fasting for a while:

– How do you guys make sure you correctly measure your food and calories? I use MyFitnessPal on my phone but there are rare times when a food I eat isn’t there. Do I just estimate? Also, do I need to invest in a kitchen scale for when I cook at home?

– Do you guys still have “cheat” days or meals? Is it still okay to have them as long as they’re under my non-fast calorie limit? I used to have them once a week where I would just gorge on McDonald’s or other sinful foods without counting calories. Looking back, that was obviously a mistake since I wasn’t eating well the rest of the week to begin with. :p

– Can I actually have a candy bar for a snack or a doughnut for breakfast if I wanted to, as long as it stays under my calorie limit? Sorry, it just sounds too good to be true, lol!

Looking forward to hearing back from you guys! Thanks in advance. 🙂

fasting_me

3:36 am
29 Jun 17
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Hi, Dollycora. Good for you for starting the Fasting Lifestyle before it is too late.
Here are my answers to your questions:

1. Since 2013 I have developed many recipes so that that foods we like can fit into Fasting calorie counts. So I started figuring out the calories, fat, fiber, protein, carbs, and Calcium in every ingredient for lots of meals. This has been fun for me. I’m odd like that. To know the food values, I go to http://www.calorieking.com which is very good. I used to plug all my food into the Fitbit app, but those were mostly restaurant foods and we love home cooking. Yes, we have a kitchen scale and I calculate food in ounces. Say a recipe calls for 1 zucchini. How large is it???!?!? 14 oz or 4 oz? For this reason, I quantify.

2. We don’t cheat on Fast Days. other days of the week we might sometimes go out for lunch or dinner, or cook some special splurgy meal at home for a special occasion. For me, once a week would break the calorie bank. When you add up all that gorging, you find that it isn’t worth it. On non-Fast Days [aka Slow Days in our house], we pretty much eat what we want. You will find that your appetite decreases over time.

3. Don’t know what your Slow Day calorie limit is going to be, but yes the occasional candy bar or doughnut shouldn’t be a problem. You have to be sensible in your food choices. I find that 1400 calories on Slow Days keeps me on track. If going out to dinner is in the plans, then I skip lunch.

It is a good diet and becomes a Lifestyle. Hope this helps.