My first ever diet

This topic contains 54 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by fasting_me 5 years, 9 months ago.

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Cheeselets

7:53 am
8 Mar 18
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Hi everyone, first let me introduce myself, Cheeselets, 30yo Belgian woman happily living in England with my british partner.

I am 155cm tall (sorry I only know the metric system) started at 59kg, and although is still a healthy bmi, I recently started to feel pretty unhappy with my weight and look. I slowly but steadily gained 10kg since I moved to England 5 years ago, which for a petite girl makes quite a significant difference (from size 6-8 to size 12). This slow weight gain is I think mainly due to starting an office job (and also maybe has something to do with my unconditional love for cheese and Belgian chocolate).

My first ever attempt at somewhat controlling my food intake was when I first introduced a “flexitarian” diet in our home a few years back. Don’t get me wrong, I love meat but I do think our health and the planet (and the animals!) can beneficiate from a smaller meat consumption. This worked out well for me, unfortunately my boyfriend is one of those really tall, really skinny kind of person (we look adorable together in a Laurel & Hardy kind of way 😀 ), and he actually started loosing weight with our meat-free-at-home diet. We re-introduced mainly chicken to our home diet, and found our balance, or so I thought. I recently purchased my first sized 12 trousers, and decided I just wasn’t happy. I initially considered starting Keto-diet, but the restriction seemed just too difficult for me to achieve on a day to day basis. And that’s how I stumbled on stories about the 5:2 diet!

Long story short (sorry mine is unnecessarily long :-)), here I am, 4 weeks in, starting fast day 8 as I speak, and already at 57.3kg on the scale. I’m amazed at how easy it all is, and I am looking forward to discovering more about the diet, reading amazingly inspiring stories and hearing more about the numerous health benefits from 5:2! I will try and keep up my thread on a weekly basis as a journal, as so far I haven’t really logged any of my weight loss/fast days, so I hope this will help me keeping this up for a long time!

I’d love to hear where everyone is from as I have a serious travel bug 😊

fasting_me

1:30 am
9 Mar 18
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Great going, Cheeselets! Good determination and good weight loss.
I’m from New Hampshire, USA and have been Fasting with my husband for 4+ years. Good results here, which is why we still are doing it. We eat a wonderful variety of foods and cuisines, and maintain our losses by Fasting 2 days/week. I had set a target weight, reached it, then re-set it lower and reached it to stay.
good luck and keep posting your story.

Cheeselets

10:37 am
9 Mar 18
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Thank you fasting_me, that’s very kind!

Wow 4+ years is wonderful, I love to read inspiring stories like yours, I hope to be able to keep 5:2 or at least 6:1 as a way of life.

fasting_me

12:23 am
10 Mar 18
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Let me know if you need recipes — I’ve got lots!

RosieJ

1:47 pm
12 Mar 18
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Hi Cheeselets, I’m from Cheshire in the UK. I also don’t have too much weight to lose, but I found my weight was creeping up, so I thought I would give the 5:2 diet a go to lose some for Spring! I had gone up to 11 stone, which is the highest weight I’ve ever been. 🙁 I have done 3 fast days (today is my 4th) and so far I am 3lbs down, and I do feel better. I am writing this because I’m finding it a bit difficult today, you know when some days you are just really hungry!! I’m trying to take my mind off food by keeping busy.
As a family, we have also cut down a lot on meat. We had a veggie february, and although I didn’t lose weight from it, I feel better. I am also doing it for environmental reasons really, and health. I think it has changed the way we eat, and we eat veggie during the week, but have a bit of chicken etc at the weekend.
Good luck with your weight loss, it sounds like you’ve had a good start. 🙂

Cheeselets

1:56 pm
12 Mar 18
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New recipes would be lovely! On my fast days I tend to just eat home made vegetable soup and raw veggies like radishes, tomatoes etc. A bit of variety would be very helpful on the long run!

Cheeselets

2:13 pm
12 Mar 18
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Hi RosieJ, lovely to hear from you! I’m on a fast day too, they are not always easy. I find that concentrating on the end result is key, usually I feel really well when I wake up after a fast day so I try to concentrate on that feeling, it helps when I feel a pang of hunger! Breathing exercises seem to help too. Basically, anything to empty my mind.

The meat free meals didn’t really get me to loose weight either, but certainly shifted my opinion on what a healthy meal should look like. Also, grocery shopping is much cheaper without the meat which is an added bonus! 🙂

Good luck, hope it will get easier for you today!

RosieJ

2:23 pm
12 Mar 18
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Hi again, thank you for your reply. Yes, you are right, I do feel very good the day after a fast, and usually I’m not even too hungry. I found the first 2 fasts easy, so I’m hoping if I just get through today it will start to get easier.
Yeah, we have found we are eating more veg, and we actually prefer veggie sausages etc to meat ones. It is a bit cheaper too which is a bonus.
Thanks for the encouragement, hope you have a good day too. 🙂

Cheeselets

7:30 am
15 Mar 18
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Good morning!
Week 5 for me, and already 10 fasts in. This week I had to do my fast days on Monday and Wednesday instead of Thursday, because of some work event which includes a big meal at a fancy London restaurant. Not gonna say no to that 😄 so I fasted yesterday.

This morning the scale showed a lovely 56.7kg, which is about a pound lighter than last week. I weighed myself on a completely empty stomach so although I’m happy with the result, I know it is not really accurate compared to last week (last week I weight myself the morning after two non-fast days).

Now I have this work event tonight, then 3 days of family gathering, which means that there will be a lot of food in the next 4 days, so I am not too hopeful for next week’s weight in, but we’ll see. I love to know that even if there will probably be a bit too much food in the next few days, I have my fast day Monday to balance it out, it makes me feel less guilty, and I’m kinda looking forward to it.

Hope everyone is doing well, have a great week and see you next Thursday 😊

cardinal_tetra

8:52 am
15 Mar 18
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Its really good to see people fitting this diet into a normal lifestyle, shows you really can do both!

Cheeselets

7:19 am
22 Mar 18
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Hi everyone!
Week 6 and 12 fast days in. As expected after a few days of rich food and parties, this morning the scale showed 57.8kg, which is slightly more than last week. Not too phased about this, because I know I really indulged over the weekend, so I saw it coming.

I have however decided to try 4:3 this week, and after my fast day Monday and Wednesday, I’ll have a fast day on Friday too, which I hope will help balance out the excess of the past few days. I’ll also go back to the gym which I haven’t been able to go to for a couple of weeks, so I know it will help.

I do feel great and very positive about it so onwards and upwards, looking forward to next week’s weight in. Have a nice rest of the week everyone

RosieJ

10:51 am
22 Mar 18
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Hi there,
Glad you are feeling positive Cheeselets, it is good to be able to work around events and things, and know that you can get back to it!
I was doing well, and had lost about 4lbs altogether after 3 weeks of fasting, but then I had my birthday last week, and a good friend of mine made me this amazing Birthday cake!! So I had a couple of meals out, wine and lots of cake! It was very nice, but not good for the weight loss! I was almost back to my start weight. 🙁 I’m back down a couple of pounds now, but finding it a bit hard to get back into it. I’ve got myself a fast diet book with lots of recipe ideas, and also with the calories in lots of every day foods, so I’m hoping that will get me back into it again.

Cheeselets

11:09 am
22 Mar 18
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Hi RosieJ! Happy belated birthday 🙂

It is pretty upsetting when we think we are doing well and the scale doesn’t agree…
But it is also encouraging to know that we can indulge and that the “damages” are kept under control. Imagine if we had all those lovely meals and cakes and drinks, without the fast days! I’m glad you got to enjoy yourself!

How are you coping with the fast days? I find them much easier than the first few I did, which is why I want to start doing 4:3 (maybe not every week, just every time I feel like I indulged a bit too much on non-fast days.)

Cheeselets

11:11 am
22 Mar 18
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Just realised I mistakenly wrote 57.8kg, it was actually 56.8kg.

fasting_me

1:00 pm
22 Mar 18
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Hi again, Cheeselets. You have such a good attitude. You will succeed at this. two weeks ago I said I’d share some recipes with you. What foods do you like or not like? I have breakfasts [mostly with eggs but some without] and dinners [with meat/poultry or with seafood, some without either]. If you want to see all of them, click on my ‘handle’ and go to my profile. There you will see the name of my blog where I share recipes with other Fasters.

RosieJ, I know what you mean about the Birthday Cake! When my FitBit graphs my weight, I can see two huge weight spikes which coincide with my birthday cake and my husband’s birthday cake. We ended up putting the other half of his cake in the freezer for some later date!

Are we Fasting today? At our house, we had Asparagus-Parmesan Omelette this morning. Tonight we will have an Old New England meal of beans, corn, and corned beef hash with polenta. My weight today is where I want it to be and the Fasting should drive it lower so I’ll have wiggle room for lunch out with my husband tomorrow.

RosieJ

1:11 pm
22 Mar 18
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Thank you both for your replies. 🙂 I found the first couple of fast days really easy and I was quite determined, but the last couple of weeks I have struggled. I think if you see the weight going down on the scales, it really spurs you on, but because of cake etc I struggled. I know I feel much better when I’ve had a good fast, so I am determined to get back on with it, especially as it is supposedly spring now! I’m going to have a good look at my 5:2 book for recipe ideas.

fasting_me

1:46 pm
22 Mar 18
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Rosie, we used the recipes in Michael & Mimi’s Fast Diet book for the first few weeks, then I began to adapt and invent recipes. I’ve really gotten into that. Some of the 5:2 recipe books seem to have a lot of carbs in the foods, which we curb on Fast days. We eat lots of eggs, lean meat, and seafood, along with our veggies and fruit. Yum-yum!

RosieJ

9:03 am
23 Mar 18
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Thanks fasting_me, yeah I think I need to have a few recipes that I know & like, and that are low in carbs. Eggs deffo, we make a veg tortilla sometimes with salad which is nice. I am still trying to be mostly veggie, but still having some fish and seafood, which is also low fat.
Well, I weighed myself this morning, and I’m back to my pre-birthday cake weight, so happy about that. This means I’ve lost 4lbs in a month (with birthday week off) so not too bad. Hope everyone had a good day yesterday.

fasting_me

1:16 pm
23 Mar 18
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RosieJ [and anyone else!] try this:

Salmon Roasted with Tomatoes: 288 calories 14.5 g fat 2.9 g fiber 27.6 g protein 7.9 g carbs 268 mg Calcium PB GF One of the earliest meals we made when starting the Fast Diet, this recipe hails from the Fast Diet book in a slightly altered form. Still a favorite. Quick and delicious.
4 oz salmon 10 cherry tomatoes [5 oz] 1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated ½ cup green beans or 2 oz sugar snap peas seasonings to taste
Spritz a small oven-proof pan with olive oil or non-stick spray. Put the salmon in the pan and sprinkle with seasonings of your choice. Arrange the tomatoes on/around the salmon. Sprinkle with parmesan. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Meanwhile steam the green vegetables. So easy. So yummy.

Senegal Tuna-Avocado Salad: 264 calories 14.6 g fat 6.4 g fiber 13.2 g protein 18 g carbs 29.8 mg Calcium PB GF This is my version of a meal which I enjoyed at Bissap Baobab, https://bissapbaobaboakland.eat24hour.com/menu, an excellent Senegalese restaurant in Oakland, CA.
2-1/2 oz white/Albacore tuna 2 Tbsp celery, minced pinch or 2 ground ginger ½ tsp lime juice Sriracha sauce ¾ oz apple, diced 2 oz avocado 2 Tbsp radish or alfalfa sprouts 4 oz cherry tomatoes ¼ oz [½ cup] baby spinach leaves 1.5 tsp mayonnaise made with olive oil
Lightly combine the tuna with the celery, ginger, dash of Sriracha, lime juice, apple, and ½ tsp mayonnaise. Arrange the spinach leaves in the center of the plate and mound the tuna on top. Slice the avocado and layer on top of the tuna. Mix remaining mayonnaise with Sriracha to taste and drizzle over the avocado. If the cherry tomatoes are not bite-sized, cut in half. Place tomatoes around the edge of the plate and sprinkle with sprouts. A fine meal when you want a taste of lands where the sun shines brightly.

These have appeared in my blog where I put recipes to encourage other Fasters.

Yesterday was a great Fast — good losses for husband and me to put our weight where we want it going into a weekend. Have a good one.

Cheeselets

7:53 pm
23 Mar 18
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Thank you for the recipes, it looks delicious! So motivating to see we can have a great meal while fasting!

fasting_me

8:09 pm
25 Mar 18
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I have more recipes where those came from.
Hope you had a good weekend.

Cheeselets

7:38 am
29 Mar 18
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Hi everyone! Time for my weekly update! Week 7 and 14 fast days in

Last week I decided to try 4:3, unfortunately my body decided otherwise. On Friday I woke up with a really nasty cold, so I decided not to fast, and get my body all the strength it needed. I didn’t really feel like calorie counting my strepsils and hot toddy intake!

But this week, I was back on it, and completed my two fast days. This morning, the scale showed 56.6kg, which is slightly better than last week. I feel like it isn’t going as quickly as it could because a) I don’t go to the gym enough (about twice a week) and b) I tend to indulge a bit on non-fast days. I do count my calories and usually don’t go over 2000cal, but I realised that 2000cal is quite a lot for me! Which gives me the feeling that yep, I can have that chocolate croissant for breakfast every non-fast day, or grab a bag of crisps and a dessert with my lunch. I’d say fast days are not a problem for me, but the challenge is to find my balance on non-fast days.

Next week will possibly be non-fast all the way because I am going to Paris for 7 days, and it will be immensely difficult to resist the deliciousness of French food! I can already say there will be a bit too much cheese and wine for sure. Add to that Easter weekend and a planned avalanche of chocolate, this coming week might take me back a little, but I am ready for that and do not plan of feeling guilty!

Hope everyone is having a lovely week 😊

fasting_me

4:09 pm
30 Mar 18
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Don’t feel that you have to eat up to 2000 calories — that number is a myth. Use the RESOURCES button at top of the page to calculate your BMI and your TDEE [how many calories to eat on Slow Days if you want to get to the weight you want] Each of us reacts to food differently, so how many calories you should ingest daily is probably NOT the 2000 average of the SAD[ standard American diet].

Have a great time in my favorite city, Paris! If you eat like a Parsienne, you will not gain weight. Yes, croissants for breakfast then lots of walking along the river, then a long leisurely lunch and a tiny dinner [or no dinner, depending on how long lunch lasted]. I usually weigh less when I return from France!

Amusez-vous bien!

Cheeselets

8:27 am
6 Apr 18
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Merci @fasting_me! I’m having a great time and as expected, probably too much food and drinks… I am here for work, so every lunch and dinner is a meal out at a nice restaurant, and I know for sure I have exploded my allowances with many three course meals and alcoholic drinks. But oh well, “on ne vit qu’une fois” as we say here 🙂 I will not get on the scale until next week after a couple of fast days and my return to the gym.

Have a lovely rest of the week everyone

Cheeselets

fasting_me

1:59 pm
6 Apr 18
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Did you ever hear of the book “French Women Don’t Get Fat”? Written by the woman who is the marketing rep for Veuve Cliquot champagne. She relates her ‘Freshman 30’ weight gain and how she lost it and kept it off. Some good recipes, too. But she dines out with clients daily AND must drink champagne at those meals — yet she still stays slim. Fun to read.
Long walks in Paris are much better than a trip to the gym!

Cheeselets

7:34 am
12 Apr 18
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Hi all!

Week 9 and 15 fast days in. Weight this morning is 56.6kg, so it’s been stable since my last weight in.

Paris was of course wonderful, and altough I indulged fully in delicious French food without fast days, it seems like it hasn’t affected my weight. I have fasted again on Tuesday, and the fast itself went as usual, but when I woke up on Wednesday I felt pretty weak and famished. Lucky I didn’t get to do a grocery shop since I came back so I couldn’t raid my fridge, but it is the first time I felt so “unwell” after a fast day. I have a theory on why, but I will give it another month of observation before I draw conclusions.

Today is fast number 16 and I plan on going to the gym tomorrow, it’s been a long time. I am eager to make progress, and can’t wait to reach the 55kg mark on the scale!

@fasting_me that book sounds fun, I’ll try to get a copy! Thanks again for your kind words of encouragement 😊

fasting_me

6:41 pm
12 Apr 18
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Fasting today: Curried Tomato Scramble in a.m. Pheasant Casserole for evening meal. That’s a new one

Cheeselets

1:41 pm
19 Apr 18
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Checking in for week 10 and 18 fast days in!
Very happy with today’s weigh in, the scale showed 55.2kg, which is almost 4kg (around 9lbs) off my original weight, and almost halfway to my target weight! So happy with the result, most of the trousers I bought in the past year are already pretty loose.

I actually have a new fun reason to keep up the good work with 5:2 as my boyfriend and I got engaged a couple of weeks ago (yep, in Paris :)) We plan on getting married in early 2019, so this will certainly motivate me to watch my weight closely in the next 12 months!

I plan on introducing a little bit more sports to my weekly routine. I currently do a yoga class and a spin class once a week each, but would like to add some swimming and weight lifting. I’ve never really liked exercising for exercise’s sake, but I am motivated to take this opportunity to not only get lighter but also fitter and stronger. I say this now, and may not feel that way the next time I hit the gym 😀

Food wise I am doing well, although I keep reaching for chocolate whenever I get the chance. Chocolate could definitely be my downfall! But otherwise, I think I indulge less on non fast days than I did a couple of months ago after my first few fast days. I also did something I felt comfortable doing, but I might regret it: I stopped counting calories altogether. I do the approximate maths in my head on fast days, but otherwise I stopped using the calorie counting app I started using when I started 5:2 (which was of great help). I hope I am not sabotaging myself, but I just feel pretty relaxed and confident now.

Anyway, enough chatter for today! I hope everyone is well and get to enjoy the wonderful weather!

@fasting_me that pheasant casserole sounds delicious, could you share the recipe please? 🙂

Cheeselets

5:20 pm
29 May 18
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I thought I’d do a little update as I haven’t done one in more than a month! I’ve kept going and I am happy I did. I’m currently on a fast day, and had a small pot of chicken & corn soup and some raspberries for lunch. Tonight I plan on having a bowl of homemade marrow soup and maybe a hard boiled egg to feel a bit more full. Feeling pretty hungry, thinking about food makes me salivate!

Anyway, the weight loss is still going, slowly but surely! When I weight myself last week, I was on 54.8kg so that’s another 400gr off since my last update on here. It seems very laborious and slow at times, but the results just speak for themselves. I eat so much food that I love, go out for lovely meals at least a couple of times a week, eat lots of chocolate, I exercise the bare minimum, sit at a desk 10 hours a day and yet still managed to loose almost 5kg in the past 4 months! I absolutely would have hit an unhealthy BMI at this point, if I hadn’t started 5:2. Now I’m down to 22.6.

So I guess, things are going great!

fasting_me

1:18 am
30 May 18
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Excellent, Cheeselets — so glad things are going well for you, including your engagement! Wow!

Here’s the recipe for the Pheasant Casserole:
Pheasant Casserole: 250 calories 9.5 g fat 5.4 g fiber 22.5 g protein 21.6 g carbs [19 Complex] 86 mg Calcium PB This recipe is based on one from English Provincial Cooking by Elisabeth Ayrton and it dates back to the 18th century. Whole partridges were stewed with onion, carrot, and cabbage for 2.5 hours and served on thick slices of bread. Well, this is a modified version and it is delicious. This uses left over cooked pheasant meat and works well.
2-1/2 oz cabbage, sliced 1-1.5” thick 1.5 oz baby carrots, cut in half lengthwise ¼ oz onion rings [which I forgot to put on the top] 2 Tbsp chicken or pheasant gravy 2 oz pheasant meat, cooked and taken off the bone ½ Arnold Multi-Grain Sandwich Thin [that’s 50 calories]
Prepare the carrots, cabbage, and onion and steam them for 25 minutes until the carrots are tender. If the cabbage is not yet done, leave it in the steamer with the lid on but off the heat until needed. Warm the pheasant in the gravy + 2 tsp of the water from the steaming liquid. Warm the Arnold Thin in the toaster oven. Plate the bread. Spoon a tablespoon of gravy on top. Place the meat atop the bread. Stir the warm vegetables into the warm gravy and plate them. Put the onion rings on top and pour any remaining gravy over the meat.

Cheeselets

7:14 am
7 Jun 18
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Thank you for the encouragement @fasting_me!

4 months in, I stopped counting fast days and weeks, but all I can say is that the fast diet works! Today’s weight in results: 53.8kg! That’s a whole kg less than last week, which is pretty incredible and the biggest loss so far. My start weight was 59kg. If I reach 50kg by the end of August I would be over the moon!

I now work from home a few times a week which gives me plenty of time to cook delicious meals, and skip the convenient but usually unhealthy lunch. I can also go to the gym a lot more, which is probably why this week I lost a whole kilo without having changed much to my diet. Yesterday on my fast day, I actually walked 10k steps and also ran 3.5km on the threadmill. I plan on doing this at least twice a week, added to my yoga session and some light swimming, let’s see where it all takes me! Overall, I’m feeling fantastic and energised, which I hadn’t been in years!

Greendaisy

1:05 pm
7 Jun 18
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I was browsing the forums for inspiration as my hubby and I will be starting the fast diet on Monday. Cheeslets I take over from you as a ‘newbie’. The diet is mostly for my husband who is about three or four stone overwieght, I am probably about a stone over. Hubby has sjorgrens and I hope that he will be helped with that as well. He has had to buy two larger suits recently, maybe he will get into smaller ones!
I have planned our meals for the fast days and oddly am looking forward to starting. Wish us luck!!

Cheeselets

4:04 pm
7 Jun 18
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Hi @greendaisy welcome to the fast diet forum! The two of you working on this together is great for motivation, and it will certainly make it easier. You can encourage each other and look out for each other, that’s really nice. As I mentioned in an earlier message, my partner is very tall and skinny, he can eat so much food and still lose weight, fast days are pretty hard in the evening when he gets to eat a huge plate of food while I slowly sip my bowl of soup 🙂

It is a fairly slow process and at times it may seem like it doesn’t work at all, but I promise you that by sticking to it you will see great results. It’s a long term project to work on one day at a time. Good luck, you will do great!

fasting_me

5:31 pm
7 Jun 18
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Great achievements so far, Cheeselets! You are well on your way to your goal. That is wonderful.

Greendaisy, glad to hear that you and your hubby will be in this together. As Cheeslets says, you can do it too.

Fasting today: Salt Cod-Garlic Omelette this morning. “Philly Cheesesteak Casserole” for dinner. Both are new recipes for us but should work out OK.

Greendaisy

6:36 pm
7 Jun 18
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Fastingme
Casserole sounds yummy, any advice for recipe sources? I have the fast diet book which I will use for the first few weeks, hopefully by then I will be more confident in counting the calories myself.

fasting_me

3:09 pm
8 Jun 18
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Greendaisy, if you click my ‘handle’ you will find my profile. There you will see the URL for my blog where I post recipes to help Fasters like you. I do all the counting for you, as you can see in the recipe for Pheasant Casserole above, 30 May 2018. Since beginning 5 years ago, I have discovered that I really enjoy developing recipes for Fast Days.

Cheeselets

7:07 am
14 Jun 18
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Today’s weight in showed 53.9kg, which is 100gr more than last week, it’s fair to say I am not phased by this as last week’s was exceptionally low.

I had a weird fast day on Monday, started off well with a prawn sandwich at lunch time, and got sidetracked mid-afternoon with an unexpected Mayo Chicken from MacDonald (which my colleague bought for me). Both didn’t exceed my calories intake for the day, but I really didn’t feel well after that! Starving in the evening and just no energy at all in the morning. Basically I wouldn’t recommend anything from McDonald on a fast day, or ever for that matter 🙂 yesterday’s fast day was much better, with lots of berries, cooked spinach, homemade broccoli soup and a salad to finish the day. And of course this morning I feel much better!

Since last Thursday I’ve also upped my exercise game, with a couple of 4.5km runs, a bit of rowing at the gym, swimming, and lots of walking. I will try to keep this up, but this weekend I’m headed to my Brussels home, so there probably will be a bit too much food, it’s impossible to avoid! And I can’t wait 😊

Shanice Saaiman

10:02 am
14 Jun 18
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Hi All! This is my first post… Exciting right?! I’m a 25y/o female from Cape Town, South Africa. So 2 weeks ago I made the decision to start 5:2, and I’m quite happy to say that I won’t be looking back. I started out at 67kg (172cm tall) and have gotten down to 65kg without much hassle, with my goal weight being 60kg. What I love most about this way of eating is how light I feel, I don’t feel weighed down and heavy all the time. I never even knew it was possible to feel this good. Another thing, I’ve been having problems with my health for the last few years and didn’t think that the way I was eating could be a contributing factor. Well, the bloating has minimized so much that I don’t look pregnant anymore and I have finally started ovulating again, after more than 2 YEARS! I’m happy to be joining you guys!

Cheeselets

10:50 am
14 Jun 18
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Welcome @Shanice Saaiman
Sounds very exciting, it really is amazing to discover all the great, unexpected results of the 5:2 diet.

I’ve been having very teenagy acne on my back and jawline since I changed contraception a year ago, and I don’t know if it is related to the fast diet, but it seems to have gone down significantly in the past couple of months. I know hormones are affected by what we eat (and don’t eat!), so I hope it’ll only get better thanks to 5:2!

Love Cape Town btw, I spent my 30th birthday in your beautiful city this January and I hope to go back soon 🙂

fasting_me

11:57 pm
14 Jun 18
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Good job, Shanice! Glad this program is working so well for you and making you feel healthier.
Good job with the increased exercise, Cheeselets. When you go back to Bruxelles, go heavy on the moules and light on the frites!

Fasting today: Tomato/Cheese Omelette with mango for breakfast. Chicken Quesadillas with small salad for dinner. Yummy.

Greendaisy

5:20 pm
18 Jun 18
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This is my second week of fasting and my first day this week, today has been easy as I was at the dentist having a fitting for a 👑, tummy rumble but I still don’t fancy eating! After one week my husband lost six pounds, which I couldn’t believe (I lost two)and his ‘beer belly has noticeably shrunk. I think a result like that will encourage him to stay with it.We have decided to have the same breakfast Each fast day as it seems easier. My biggest problem is living in the country I do all my shop once a week when I go to town so it is difficult to keep things like strawberries fresh for a week.my schedule means that I am shopping on our second fast day, not a problem hungerwise as I go after breakfast.

fasting_me

3:48 pm
19 Jun 18
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Greendaisy, if you want some Fast recipes, all counted out and everything, click on my ‘handle.’ In my profile you’ll find the address for my blog where I post recipes and encouragement for Fasters.
Good job on the weight loss for you and husband.

Cheeselets

7:12 am
21 Jun 18
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Weight in this morning after only one fast this week, due to my weekend spent at my mum’s home, it’s virtually impossible to fast or even calorie count when mum’s around 😄

So I only fasted yesterday, with a tomato soup and some strawberries at lunch time, and a olive oil, spinach and 2 eggs omelet for dinner. This morning, the scale showed 52.7kg! I am amazed and a bit incredulous, as that is another 1.1kg (2lbs!) less than my lightest 2 weeks ago. I’ll try to do my second fast day tomorrow.

Greendaisy sounds like you two are smashing this! I agree that it is easier to have a “set menu” on fast days, for me eggs and home made soup are my go to “fast” food.
Regarding the freshness of veggies and fruits, I tend to prep and freeze them before they’re about to go bad. You can just let them defrost in the fridge the day you plan on eating them, they’re as fresh and nutritious (and delicious). Frozen veg and fruits have saved my diet many times!

Greendaisy

7:36 am
21 Jun 18
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Thanks for the tip Cheeslets. We have done two weeks now and I can’t believe the difference in my husband , he is noticeably slimmer and seems quite happy to fast for two days. I think he is surprised by the amount of food on his dinner plate, of course it’s mostly veggies. I haven’t dared give him a completely veggie supper yet as he is a commited carnivore!

bigbooty

11:02 am
21 Jun 18
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@ Saifullah. You made me laugh so hard I nearly hurt myself. 45 pounds in 1 month. Thank god you didn’t do the diet for 3 months, that would have been dangerous. Why not try 5:2 its free.

fasting_me

1:44 pm
21 Jun 18
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Saifullah, ditto to what bigbooty said. Start investing in good health now, despite how busy your life is now. Life won’t get any easier, and your health won’t get any better. Fasting is deceptively easy AND costs no money, but the benefits are huge.

Munchie

1:34 pm
26 Jun 18
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Hi everyone,

I’m normally to be found on the Personal Stories forum (hi Fasting_me!) but decided to venture over here. What great inspirational stories from everyone.

I am gleaning that it is probably more motivating and accurate to look back at a month of weight loss rather than weekly. My body has always held firmly to it’s fat for the first 2/3 weeks of a food change (I’m not going to call 5 2 a diet here!) and I have virtually no loss and then a ‘chunk’ will come off at once. I’m only three weeks in and did over-indulge on my non FD’s at first but I think I am aware that I can’t do that now and hope to see a little chunk of fat disappear next weigh in!

I just wanted to add a couple of little nuggets of info to help.

Re spots on face- if it is around the mouth, chin area this normally always indicates hormone imbalance in us lucky ladies. Might be worth thinking about which contraception you use if it starts to bother you. I have heard fasting can help with hormones/ blood sugar levels in some people which might be why it is improving for you.

Veggies- I am so happy to see so many people cutting back or cutting out meat. I am a vegetarian of 26 years now and it all started after seeing a video in school of what happens in factory farms and in slaughter houses. I LOVE animals and I just cannot contribute towards their suffering so I quit eating meat. My family and most people around me were horrified at the time that a 15 year old girl no longer eats meat! I was frequently asked, ‘but what do you eat?’ Ummm, well, everything except meat!

There is also the environmental issues to consider when eating meat, particularly beef. I have never forced my beliefs on anyone and in fact have bought my kids up eating meat so they can make their own choice when and if they want to be veggie at some point. However, i will ‘debate’ with anyone who starts to question me. Vegetarians are much more common now so I get less people ‘on my case’ about it thankfully! I just wanted to say well done to all those out there choosing to cut back on behalf of all the animals living miserable lives so we can eat a bit of flesh everyday.
And, as a side note, there are so many veggies/ fruits with hardly any kcals that you can eat like a King on your FDs! Celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumber, kale, raspberries, blueberries…..

fasting_me

1:56 pm
26 Jun 18
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Hi, Munchie, glad you chimed in.
Shanice, how has it gone in the past 12 days?
Greendaisy, glad your husband is getting some results of Fasting — always a boost to continue.
Cheesletes, back on track after the visit to your mum?

We enjoyed this for dinner last night:
Feta-Tuna-Bean Salad: 306 calories 14.6 g fat 5.3 g fiber 19.3 g protein 24 g carbs [23 g Complex] 230 mg Calcium PB GF This salad has a lot going for it. Perfect for a hot summer evening
1 oz canned tuna, drained 1/4 cup white beans, drained and rinsed 1 oz feta cheese, crumbled 2 oz tomatoes, cubed 1.5 oz red bell pepper, cut as large dice 2 pitted ripe olives, sliced 1/2 hardboiled egg, chopped 1-1/2 cups baby greens 1 tsp olive oil + 1 tsp lemon juice + lots of herbes de Province + pinch garlic powder
Prepare the vegetables as described above. Whisk the oil, lemon juice, herbs and garlic in a 2-cup bowl. Add the greens and toss gently but thoroughly. Place the greens in the serving bowl and nestle the tuna in the center. Arrange all the other ingredients on top in a manner that pleases you.

Cheeselets

11:57 am
27 Jun 18
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Hi @munchie! Yes I think the weekly weight ins are a good indicator but can certainly also be frustrating as weight tends to go down and back up and back down again… If you have the patience to wait and do a monthly weight in, the results will definitely be good news!

Regarding the acne, yes it’s definitely related to my contraception, or lack thereof as it started when I got off the pill… I’m just being patient and doing what I can to manage it, and a good, healthy diet helps for sure.

And I completely get you on the vegetarian front, I am trying to reduce my consumption to the minimum, and hope to one day be able to take the leap and become vegetarian. It does feel pretty hard as I love meat! But I see it as a treat now, and I currently haven’t had any for at least two weeks now that I think of it.

@fasting_me I got back on track last week, however this week has been harder than usual. I started my fast pretty well on Monday, with a hard boiled egg with some salmon and spinash in the morning, radishes and rasberries for lunch but during the afternoon I started to feel more and more faint, so for dinner I had another boiled egg, a bowl of soup and a toast with butter and dark chocolate spread because I just felt so dizzy. This never happened before, so I am keeping track on this! Again, feeling like it may have something to do with hormones and cycle (I track my menstrual cycle with an app which gives me a good understanding of how my body works!). Ah the joys of being a woman!

Today is my second fast of the week and started off pretty well, it’s almost lunch time and I managed to go for a 30 min run and haven’t had any food yet. I plan on having some steamed broccoli and asparagus with dijon vinaigrette and cheddar cheese, and some strawberries for desert. Tonight will be home made soup with an egg or two. And your recipe of the day sounds lovely, you had me at feta cheese!! I could just live on a cheese diet 🙂

ayurvedaindia

8:43 am
28 Jun 18
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Skip foods high on carbs after lunch

The first kind of calories your body burns are those coming from carbohydrates. Fat gets used last. Make your body go through its carbs reserve early so fot the rest of the day it uses calories from fat as energy.