Hi Folks, sounds like everyone is in control and feeling good with what they’re doing.

Apricot, I’ve just been looking at the Diet Doctor site about low carb. I had brown rice for dinner, with steamed sea bass and peppers and celery. I’ve not been able to locate yet the part you referred to where it talks about the balance of proteins, carbs etc. I’ll have a look tomorrow.

Well done Teeshabell on staying in control. Good luck with the weigh in tomorrow. Have you got good things to do over half term?

I have just rewarded myself with a glass of amaretto, and a couple of almond biscuits with my coffee. I’ve decided that on non fast days, and especially at weekends, I need to give myself little treats, looked forward to and counted.

Well done tramcaur. I think I’m actually spending more time preparing and cooking, but I’m on a bit of a Chinese kick at the moment. Fresh ginger, yum.

Hi rachH76

I too want to lose a couple of stone which has crept on over the past two years. I’m 49 on Monday and want to be at target well before I’m 50! I started the diet 4 weeks ago and have lost 6lbs which I am happy with. I go to gym or swimming twice a week, after work, usually on fast days as this keeps me busy and away from the fridge!

On fast days I eat nothing until my evening meal which will be 500 calories. I find this works best for me as if I eat during the day it makes me want to eat more, whereas if I don’t eat anything I keep myself motivated by knowing that my evening meal will be a decent one. Im an ‘all or nothing’ person!

I don’t track calories on non fast days but I find that I naturally don’t want to overeat as a) I feel that would undo the hard work of the day before and b) it takes less to fill me up. That said, if I feel like just 1 or even 2 biscuits with morning coffee on a non fast day, I’ll have them, no guilt, which is what I love about this diet. Weekends are also quite relaxed.

Looking forward to hearing how you get on.

Teeshabell, Hope the weigh in goes well!

I’m feeling full of cold, not slept and generally bleugh. Hope everyone has a good weekend, I’m about to meal plan & order my shopping for Monday so that I’m ready for fasting on Monday.

Hi sounds like people are getting really good results. It’s a good idea to get support because the fasting days can be long. I have been on the 5/2 for three weeks on Monday and doing amazingly well. Lost 6 pounds and given I don’t have much more to lose am delighted. I tend to keep the fast days simple. I have a fried egg using spraylite and a bacon medallion 110 cals and dinner chicken or fish with loads of salad with salad cream. I find its best for me to keep busy drink loads of water, diet tonic and coffee. Always remember that tomorrow you can have that cake or drink if you want. I have found the fast days get easier as weeks go by. I hope I can keep this up but feel determined. Good luck.

Congrats Teeshabell on your weigh in & your other half too!

Plainy, I’m a binger and started 5:2 last Monday, I binge’d the Sunday before. I would say just start on Monday and see how you go, I have only done 2 days so still working things out for myself. On the Monday though, I got up and sorted the kids out, got them to school, went to the gym, came home, had a constant cup of peppermint tea in my hand, and kept busy at home and went through to 5pm to eat my one meal and then ate again on after the gym on the Tuesday morning around 10.30am. Its a case of trial and error I think, wishing you all the best for your first day.

Hi Folks

Apricot, I took note and for dinner tonight we had: chicken stir fried with lots of vegetables and a small amount of noodles. Fabulous. Counting everything, including oil, under 450. I think that because I’ve got the time, I’m enjoying looking at the recipe books, adapting and putting it together.

Reflecting on what Poppy and Trancaur said, I am the same. If I start eating in the morning, I want to eat all day. However, I did have a brunch today and then was distracted by playing Bridge for several hours and then cooked the above dinner. I’m also agreeing with Poppy, Cimmie and Georgie that unless you can have some treats on non fast days then the fast days don’t really mean anything. I’m looking for a reasonably healthy way of life which I can sustain into the long term.

Lizzie, really sorry to hear you’re not feeling well, and I hope you make a quick recovery. Are your children on half term holiday next week? Here in our part of Scotland, it’s just a long weekend. They had Friday off and they’ve got Monday off. We’ve had a lovely day today, but very cold and it’s raining now.

Teeshabell, very well done. Have a great half term R&R. I hope you and your fiancé have kept photos of ‘now’, because I’ll want to see the photos of the wedding in August!

Plainy, I know just where you are at the moment. I was like this just before I stopped smoking after 40 years. Desperate to succeed and terrified that I would ‘let myself, and everybody, down’. What made the difference for me was the support I got through the GP referral to a Smoking Cessation Adviser. My Adviser was wonderful and we had several meetings before ‘Stop Day’.

After I had ‘stopped’ successfully and was no longer dependent on ‘patches’ and weekly meetings we discussed weight loss. He said the process is exactly the same. Psyching yourself up for ‘first day’, knowing what strategies you’re going to use to distract yourself, planning your days so that you can cope etc etc. And then, there is the ongoing support of the adviser.

Now, I know that stopping smoking and managing healthy eating are very different. Smoking is bad for you and is condemned by wider society. But, everyone needs to eat. Smoking is very addictive, but then we seem to be seeing more and more evidence that sugar is addictive…

I would say to you, before Monday, get onto YouTube and watch Dr Robert Lustig and what he’s got to say about sugar. Search for Annette 52, on this site, she’s really helpful about this stuff.

Check our what your NHS can offer in terms of weight loss and see if there’s anything you can access there. Keep us posted. We’re all on your side.

Georgie, I think your advice about keep a glass or water beside you at all times is a good one. My water comes from the River Spey. Lots of good whisky on Speyside, but I’m drinking Rioja at the mo.. Better get back to the Green Tea before I undo all the good work I did earlier…

Before anyone subjects their bodies to the “research” done by Robert Lustig or others like him, please do your own research into the validity of the claims that are being made.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lustig

I am re-reading the 5:2 book for the third time, just to set in my own mind exactly what is being said, how the research was carried out and how much the doctor and his assistant tried it on themselves before they published the book.

People on the internet and in lectures can more or less say what they like and they don’t have to back up their claims with scientific proven facts, so if you are going to experiment with different forms of eating, or abstaining, all I am suggesting is that you research these claims yourself and then make up your own mind about their validity.

This is a forum about the 5:2 diet, yet an awful lot of what I am reading is about abstinence from foods that are not mentioned in the 5:2 book.
I do feel that if these foods were as harmful as all that, they would be in the book and well known to those organisation who are researching the problems being overweight causes.

Anything outside the parameters of the 5:2 Fast Diet Book would need some in depth research coupled with a discussion with my doctor before I undertook any experiments with it.

However, each to his/her own and what works for some will not necessarily work for others.

Hello Tramcaur

Truce. I sounded snappy last night. Apologies. I’ll avoid processed food as much as possible and stop preaching. Each to their own.

Hi I currently live in Kansas City, MO and I’m one week into the 5:2 lifestyle. I don’t like the word diet and have never really been a dieter however due to being raised by a junk food loving, obese gourmet cook I have been compulsive over food and exercise my entire life. I’ve been vegan 6 years & very focused on clean eating most of my life however I’m kind of a carb whore if I’m not careful! I’m skinny fat these days and just need to loose 7 more pounds. I’m 45 now and have never had such a difficult time loosing weight! I found last week, my 1st fasting week, much easier than expected. I’m fasting Monday’s and Wednesday’s. Last week I added Friday. There was the compulsiveness entering! That was not planned and I got on the scale 3 times, ugh. I don’t normally weigh myself and have never owned a scale due to my compulsive nature. After that madness, loosing gaining the same damn pound all week, I decided to stay off that thing for a while. It taunts me at the gym though. I’m going to have my body fat measured Tuesday and go by that instead. I did loose 1/2 inch off my hips and an inch off my waist.

My weakness is sugar and pastries and chocolate. LOVE IT ALL! It is hard not to treat myself on non fast days and I don’t want to count every calorie I eat but I see myself beginning to do that and I’m not sure what to do about all of that. I just want to be healthy and fit into my jeans again! Anybody else compulsive here? How do you not go insane counting all these calories?!

I’m happy I found this forum and the support and I hope nobody is offended by my small struggle to loose a few pounds. It’s the same for me, I relate to everyone’s struggles. And well I’ve watched my mom struggle with weight my whole life and outside of choosing a healthier lifestyle I AM my mother’s daughter! I work in health and wellness and I hope this will be something great to share with people even for non weight losing issues.

Anyone from KC? Happy Valentines Day and good luck and happy fasting tomorrow for the Monday Fasters. ~ peace

I’m happy to find so many fellow fasters and even though I’m doing longer fasts than just a couple days a week, I’m happy to finally find a forum with so many supporting people.

I am getting started tomorrow. Hard to start on Valentines Day after all. I actually enjoy exercising but unfortunately I enjoy eating more. I would like to lose about 40 or so pounds. I’m am a retired civil servant and will soon(very soon) be 58.

Fed up with myself – am back to what I was a week ago. We did go out last night to friends where delicious food and wine was taken but is that just an excuse? On non-fasting days I seem to have the urge to snack all day so I am wondering whether to try having 3 fasting days. A lot of snow here so my walks out with the dog are going to be a bit restricted. Just can’t seem to get motivated.

Morning everyone I have started!!! weighed in at 19st 10lbs or 276lbs! Started my First fast Day today been on a 2.5 mile walk and on my 2nd litre of water! Good luck to everyone whether fasting or eating! The journey begins….

Go for it Plainy! And thank you Joan. You’re absolutely right. I took the dog out and he absolutely loves the snow so it was quite uplifting to see him charging about with a snow covered muzzle. Ended up having a good walk and the colours of the sky are beautiful – different shades of turquoise and grey with the sun shining brightly. Good to be alive. Came back, put the laundry on and changed all the bedding so feeling virtuous. Have to take one of my cats to the vet as he seems to have flu. So that’s the morning taken care of. Was about to have a boiled egg but realised that I wasn’t starving hungry so am delaying eating.
Welcome yogahippie and good luck. I’m not fixated on sweet things – I just tend to snack even if I’m not hungry.

Good morning, weighed myself at 8am have lost 2lbs, I am pleased with this loss if I keep going will reach my target. I know only two weeks in and I understand that things may not always go so well. I seem to be ok with my 2 fast days eating the same things and feel that if it is working why change it, its only two days a week! Hope everyone has a great and succesful week!

2myhealth, Today is the start of week 2 for me also.

Being out of routine has made things tougher today but I have stuck to my fast and only eaten at 4:30 (was 5pm last week but I felt like I needed it a bit earlier tonight) My meal was a chicken breast with cabbage, carrots, cauliflower & broccoli. Also a banana to take me up to nearly 500 calories.
My next fast day should be Wednesday but hubby will be off work with me & the kids then so I know I’d find it very difficult to stick to it. I could maybe do it again tomorrow….. hmm will ponder that one whilst taking kids to karate tonight.

Hope everyone elses fast day’s have gone well.

There’s something about radishes. I just love them. Only One Calorie per large radish and the crunchy pepperiness of them…need some celery because my tongue is on now on fire. Housework this morning. I don’t enjoy it, but I feel good when I’ve done it. Played Bridge this afternoon. Just need to keep myself occupied now till tomorrow.

Hi all. Hope you don’t mind me butting into your group. You all seem to be doing amazingly well!
I’ve been doing the 16:8 since Jan 1st and have lost 17lbs. It seems to have reset my hunger response as I now seldom think of food unless I am ravenous.
I’ve struggled with the 5:2 in the past and given up. Today was my first day back to it. I’m going with a total fast. It’s been my successful fast so far. I’ve not been tempted to break fast and I’m off to bed soon so I’m feeling pleased.
I’ve lots of weight to lose and am anxious to see health benefits to this way of life. It’s a long journey but I’ve taken my first steps…

Well done everyone on your losses and comitment to fasting. 2nd week of 5:2 for me today. Am really struggling today very very hungry. Can’t wait to go to bed! Last week split my calories into 2 meals 1st at 11ish then 2nd around 6pm but realised probably not long enough between meals to be effective? Today ate breakfast of boiled eggs at 08.30 then salmon and stir fried veg at 18.30. Couldn’t wait any longer but still feel ravenous! May try on wed just having one meal. Can’t drink anymore water.More low calorie veggies next time I think. Roll on tomorrow!

Nice to know I’m not alone Lizzie and teeshabell. Simcoeluv, thanks for the link. Just had a good read and grateful to know I can eat my calories at whatever time I like. Just trial and erroro I suppose to find what works best for you.