Georgia/USA/Day 7?NFD: I had a good fast day yesterday. I waited and saved my cals for dinner last night. I had a tuna steak with soy sauce (130 cals), oven broiled brussel sprouts 2 servings (160 cals), & steamed chicken pot stickers (200 cals) for a total 490 cals. Well under my 600 cal goal. I was actually quite full after my meal. Its amazing what you can do with so few calories.

Hi All UK day 7 FD

I started to type a thread earlier but lost it as I didn’t realise I was not signed in DOH!

I haven’t read this pages yet so may be a bit behind.

@dykash ’10 days isn’t really long enough to put on much body fat’ really lol I could put on 7lbs in a week quite easily.

@adf – fast 2 of the days you don’t have the kids and turn around the thinking – you can have anything you want – you just don’t want them. Sometimes you need to scream or vent – that is what we are here for – we have all been there done that.

@and….exhale – I read that starvation mode is a myth either here or in the complete guide to fasting book. If I find it I will post it unless someone has already done so on this page.

@believeit – hello nice to hear from you again.

Welcome @fivetwofan and @elleinad

So yesterdays fast day morphed as I was sooooo cold I thought I could have something while I waiting for my dinner – so had crackers and cheese, then my dinner, then….. and you know the rest. Not too worried as I am not of the house until after 9pm so should be on course for a good fast day today.

I’ll catch up later on the posts above and any posted later.

BTW sorry to those in Sydney – the rain was brought over by my son but as we have plenty I guess you could do with some. As long as he brings back some sunshine when he comes home lol

also BTW @jojo enjoyed your post and it makes so much sense. Sometimes we get carried away with wanting the weight off and we want it off now we loose sight of the way of life that is easy to live with. We need to bring ourselves back to basics and not get carried away. Hope everyone took note!

Day 7 USA (Illinois) – FD

Went over TDEE yesterday with 3 significant meals, lunch and supper out with friends. Then after rehearsal last evening, I was so hungry I ate my apple and some caramel corn. But at least I slept soundly going to bed with food in my stomach. That is one of the major drawbacks of my FD’s, oh and being cold.

I’ve had some good laughs and joy this morning reading various posts. I love this group traveling our little path together.

@johnnyr your scale sounds amazing! Yes, it ought to talk to you!

@biddiev your wisdom about making this work for each of is was all so true. I’ve never tried a b2b fast since I started in March ’16 and even thought an all liquid FD was on the extreme side – only did a couple of those. Still I lost about a pound a week until going on maintenance in mid November.

Onward and downward!

Does anyone else start over thinking what they are doing for their diet, then get off track? It’s like my brain starts to scramble then I have to refocus and remember to take it one step at a time. I have not lost any for two weeks. A little discouraging, but haven’t gained any either so that makes me feel better. I will be 60 in a week. Live alone so I have time and space to change my life. I do not have anyone elses demands on me, except while at work, so when I hear of the busy lives of others on here I realize I have no excuse to not do as I need to do to get my life in balance. I do not like to exercise. At all! But this morning before work I went to YouTube and started learning Thai chi. It is slow movement so figure I could possible get into that. Lol. Anyway, peace and joy to all of you today. Keep up with your hard work and remember why you started this journey. Focus on your goal and don’t look in any direction but ahead.

Day 7 – NFD – Canada

I’m thinking this morning about what drew me to 5:2. Maybe remembering our motivations can be a proactive rededication for those who are struggling? For me it was:

– exasperation for having let go a commitment to gluten-free living which had done my body so much good and which made me feel good about myself

– being fed up with 20 lb weight gain from my very happy ‘low’ two years ago of 130 lbs.

– recognition that I was putting everyone else in my family first – from their food preferences to being their chauffeur

– staring stress in the face and recognizing that my health, my diet and my own attitude are the first things at my disposal to control not finances or the motivations or circumstances of other family members

– recognizing that I’d been far too sedentary (chauffeur)

– wanting to be here for my children, in good health, many years from now (my parents died at 36 and 63)

– and, importantly, my beloved first cousin being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at 50.

That combo of reasons has led to the most successful New Year’s commitment I’ve ever made, and I’ve made it for myself – which feels good. I am following the very basic 5:2 plan, eating my full 500 cals on FDs, trying to get 18 hour food-free buffers on either side of FD cals (ie. stop eating at 6pm Sunday, eat in noon-6pm window Monday FD, stop eating 6pm on Monday and start Tuesday NFD at noon). I’ve also started adding 2 sessions of HIT exercise along with 2 sessions of Yoga per week. Will take up walking again when weather improves. Am down to 141.2 today – nearly 9 lbs off after 5 weeks. And I feel buoyed!

Day 7 – SW WA USA – FD

2nd day of B2B along with the pocketeers – Debster, LynzM, Rocy65, Laddie10 & Mamacat.

I think I need to watch that I don’t develop a pattern of being to loosy-goosy (sp?) on my NFDs. I think when I do my 1st FD I’m undoing gain from NFDs and then the next day of the B2B drops things further. Somehow I want to be more mindful without feeling deprived.

JohnnyR – thanks for a morning laugh out loud chuckle as I read your post. I think humor or humour, gets us a lot further than crying about things.

Day 7| NFD |Bucks UK

@lynzm please can you add me in for day 3 FD… I think i got so engrossed in reading that I had forgotten to check in lol!

I got sad news yesterday that the free fitness class I had been going to for the past 3 weeks has been cancelled until summer due to the organisers unable to afford the venue.
People who know me well know that I detest exercise but as I was going with 3 friends with similar childcare commitments, I really enjoying it even though I was in agony the following day. So now I have the outfit, super-sized sports bra and fitness tracker I really need to fill that void.

Day 7, NFD, Rocky Mountains, US

Hi all,

How lovely to read all your posts. I love reading them and getting great ideas and encouragement.

FD was not easy as always but stayed within 500 cal. Drank a gallon of liquids.

Today is a NFD and I am doing 18:6.

Have a great day! Looking forward to all of your posts. I signed up to get them in my email and it helps reading throughout the day especially on my FDs.

Ciao and all the best!

Day 8 NFD Melbourne Australia

Weigh in day 57.2kg. Very happy.

My 5:2 journey
September 2014 – 74.3kg (starting weight BMI 29 – goal to reboot health.)
April 2015 – 59kg (goal)
July 2015 – 54.5 ( lowest weight, not quite sustainable)
March 2016 -56kg (happy weight)
January 2017 – 58.7kg (whoops)
Feb 2017 – 57.2kg (reboot – onwards and downwards)

I’m not a big fan of eating to TDEE on NFDs. Counting calories is too much like dieting and dieting made me fat. I did eat to TDEE for a week to see what it would be like but I used the TDEE calculator on the Mayo Clinic website which allowed 400 more calories than the one on the tracker. I want this to be sustainable and eating to TDEE on NFDs for the rest of my life brings no joy and would do my head and weight in. Although I’ve had a few whoops moments I have never gone above my goal weight 59 kg ( BMI 23.4).

Second post
Started fasting about 8pm Sunday, ate 560 kcal approx yesterday and liquid only to now. Breaking fast

@lilymartin most of us carry a tyre. Mine has got smaller and a bit wrinkled for sure but still there! It took a long time to get there so it isn’t going to go in a blink. In one of the photos of the super bowl, even Lady Gaga has a small bulge over her superwoman pants! Don’t give up or beat yours of up. You can do it

@and..exhale well done on your loss. Hopefully you’re close to that ‘whoosh’ moment soon!

@fatrabbit the scales tell porkies all the time (thanks Bert for that) it’s easy to become fixated with numbers. Ditch the battery! By the way, what is duo-lingo?

@rocy65 going well at this end. Will break fast in about an hour with a nice meal with OH. The scales were at their lowest ever on this diet (156lb) this morning, but I know that they’ll rise on NFDs. Feeling good and comfortably empty.😃

JohnnyR Are you a teacher? Your London bus/whale calculations seem like a maths challenge I would have given my year 6s! I hope that the scales treated you better than that! You made me laugh out loud.

@ajcaroline Amazon has kefir but don’t know if they deliver to France? There are other sources in the UK too, which I’m sure deliver there. I used it for a bit before and will go back to it. You can get milk and water kefir. I tried the milk one. It ferments on a daily basis. It’s a bit like strong yoghurt and is an acquired taste. Good luck.

SCS I’ve been doing b2b fasts for a few weeks now. I start on Sunday evening, fast (with 500 cals) on a Monday and don’t eat until dinner time on Tuesday. I then fast for 24 hours on Thursday. Iit’s working well for me at the moment, but will revert to just 2 days simple fast when it stops giving good results.

Blueninjamum great post and lots of food for thought. Do you go to a class for your HIT? I would love to try it but I have hip and knee problems and would have problems with some of the exercises.

I’ve finished ‘The case against Sugar’ and am moving on to r-read the 5:2 book again, just to firm up my resolve.
Fellow pocket fasters. I’m going to sign off this fast now. I can smell the onions my OH is cooking and I am salivating. If you are fasting on, stay strong.

Hi 2nd post UK

All caught up now on everyone @flourbaby had a laugh at the F ers!

@biddiev – good post and that’s good thinking now about maintenance as you are believing you are going to get there!

@lily – this is a WOL for life – those that put weight back on stopped the fast/feast bit and just feasted. Being kind doesn’t mean having what you want, beign kind means loving yourself enough to say no.

@jojo58 – what an inspiration to have you on this thread with us.

I like this saying someone posted a while ago – think of your body as the baggage you must carry though life. The more excess, the shorter the trip.

Day 8 FD NZ
I haven’t quite gone through all the posts yet, just a little pushed for time but I’ll back track tonight if I need a distraction from my FD evening.

One little thing I’ve changed this month on top of the 4:3 for Feb is to have added a FD to Friday.
As a thin person I counted calories….endlessly….for years!!! But I had what I now recognise as a very unhelpful mindset that Friday was a ‘cheat’ day.
Before anyone jumps up and down about that, I am now and probably was then, aware of all the pitfalls of this. But…and it was a tiny butt (tiny pun too) when I was so blimmin hungry all day every day from chronic calorie restriction, that one small beacon of blessed relief on Fridays got me through.
Starting 5:2 I was still stuck in the Friday treat/cheat mentality and couldn’t fathom a Friday night without a takeaway and some chocolate. It truely seemed impossible to do a FD on Friday, and to be totally honest, I was still in the habit of overindulgence on a Friday, that weird mental permission switch just rusted itself open.
It wasn’t until his month, 5 months into the new wol that I took a laid bare, no holds bared look at myself and decided, I’m not playing at this, I need this to be permanent and successful, but, I’m doing many of the same things I’ve done, that led me to this problem place, and…I’m expecting to see different results! insanity!!!
So whilst now acclimated enough to do 3 FD, I’m also aware that my excessive Fridays aren’t necessary. I’m not actually hungry all the time, I’m able to have a treat anywhere I want on a NFD if it fits my TDEE, and…with adapting to fasting, I don’t actually have the urge to eat all that crap!
So out goes the old Friday mentality and now it’s a FD.
I have slightly different foods at times on Saturday and Sunday as is typical of a normal population at weekends but it’s not an all out feast, and it’s not been a transfer of cheat days, I just don’t need that anymore.
Wonderful self revelation and sooo empowering to know I have created real change in my habits due to a change in my mindset. That’s all it took, no magic pill, no major investment just self reflection and desire to change.
Onwards with my FD, children are restless and I need to make lunches.

Day 7: NFD, USA
Has it been a week already? (or almost?!) Got on the scale, as it was the day after a FD, and down to 143 pounds, so loss of 4 since the Feb challenge started. Feeling motivated; I think this WOL makes me think about food much less, then a “diet” would; the FD I try and get food out of my mind (and mouth, lol). I took this thread’s advice and for me it DOES work to not have any food (not even a banana) until the evening meal and to stay busy, so whatever gets us through the day, right? You’re all beautiful just the way you are.

Day 8 NFD UK (Hol NZ)

No gain or loss today, no surprise as late meal last night. Fritto Misto and figs with cream. Delicious but far too much food with two side vegetarian shared side dishes, very filling, had to leave 1/3 rd and share a pudding. Friends Italian Restaurant so special guests. Fun evening.

Ciren2
I did 2 x Five day fasts last year on the basis of getting off a plateau. I did not find them hard and felt great. First one I lost 8 lbs and second 6 lbs. but each time I regained the weight quickly so they were a waste of time. Did learn self control so good for confidence. I am always game to switch it up but I want permanent results so long no cal fasts are not for me. Neither are liquid only fasts as the cause me to over eat on other days thereby negating fast days.

Caroline,
Kefir available from some good health food shops and on line. It might be worth getting your Thyroid checked too. Best eliminate all medical causes for not losing when following plan. Just so you know ‘I do believe you can stick to plan and not loose’ been there, done that, got the T Shirt. My daughter has exactly the same problems yet she has an iron will and never cheats, records everything. Only difference being is she loves exercise gym junky.

Swimming is great, can you change your stroke each length, time lengths? It will all help. I do 50 lengths using crawl 2/ breaststroke 1 alternate. In 2 years I have cut 15 minutes off my time for 50 lengths.

Really Good Luck
Just saying – try different foods and add more veg on non fast days. Stimulate your system with healthy food. Be positive, it aids your weight loss, you can do this!

Day 6 – Cumbria UK – NFD
Day 7 – NFD

Busy last couple of days so have had not time to catch up with all the posts

Day 6 – ate/drank well over TDEE I’m afraid – meal out with friends followed by a film – “LIon” great film we all enjoyed it – more drinks after the film……
Day 7 – no alcohol today and kept well below TDEE today – plus a yoga class this evening.

I noticed some have written feeling a bit despondent as not losing weight – I would advise that you:-
– Check you are eating to your correct TDEE – People have a tendency to overestimate the exercise they do, so if in doubt, choose the lower activity level!!!!!!!
– Work out your own calorie intake for your FD i.e. 1/4 of your TDEE!
– Check that you are not underestimating how many calories you are consuming on FD and NFD – keep a strict check for a week so that you learn how many calories you are actually consuming!!!!!!! Count everything that passes your lips including milk in your tea/coffee – Personally this was a huge learning curve for me – I massively underestimated exactly how much I was eating/drinking……………
– Exercise is not necessary to lose weight but it is great for your mental wellbeing – the feel good factor is huge and YES you can exercise on a FD even at a moderate activity level with no ill effects!
– You don’t need to do extreme fasting on your FD – just eat at or below your 1/4 TDEE calories

Start by following the basic rules and then once settled into this WOL and you have conquered the basics and are losing weight consistently you can experiment and you will find what works best for you.
This WOL does work if you ensure that you have your calorie count correct on your FD and NFD.

Since reaching my target weight of 55kg, I usually do water fasts for my FD just because I feel good doing this and enjoy them (and I’m trying them to gain the maximum long term health benefits of fasting) My FDs are usually around 40hrs e.g. from 2000hrs Monday night until Wednesday lunchtime (but sometimes I do a 400cal day!)
My NFDs are usually 16:8 days with 2 meals in the 8hr eating window – I have never been an early breakfast person so it suits me well to “break my fast” at around 1100/1200hrs.
This is a permanent lifestyle for me and my weight has stabilised to just below my target weight with the above system. I am convinced if I stop my FDs the weight will just creep back on – with this WOL I can enjoy a slice of cake once or twice a week and a glass or two of wine 3 or 4 times a week and still keep the weight off…..

“Losing Weight is a Mind Game. Change your Mind, Change your Body” The decision is yours to make and to reap the benefits – Good luck on your journey!

Day 8 – Tokyo, Japan – NFD – 78kg

Down 3kg in one fast day, a lot of water loss along with some fat burning. I did 3 more ketosis measurements and I think the first one I did was bogus. These are roughly four hours apart;

@22 hours – 1.5 mmol/l
@26 hours – 1.0 mmol/l
@30 hours – 1.3 mmol/l
@34 hours – 2.0 mmol/l

The measurements are approximate. There are some people here that will water fast two days in a row. The second day is probably worth 3 of the first days as far as fat burning goes. From experience though I know the second day is harder than the first.

Frankly I think eating 1/4 of TDEE on a fast day probably greatly reduces the amount of fat burned and makes 5:2 more of just a calorie restriction diet. I have three years of struggling with calorie restriction under my belt and know first had that is a difficult way to burn fat at some point.

If you need to eat then you should, no question about that. Water only fasting isn’t for everyone and it took me months to be able to do it consistently. I’m just inspired because on my trip many people commented by how much weight I had lost. My peak weight was 106kg. I was stuck around 100kg for years.

Day 6 Ireland NFD
Day 7 FD

Day 7…..Florida….. NFD

So, I had to read JohnnyR post, three times before it made sense. My first go around was, why did he stop mid report to tile his bathroom? That can’t be right? Reread…… huh? I wonder if he’s come retile mine? Then a 15 min wandering of the brain about work….. I work myself back to his post…….. Did I read this one? Oh, yeah….. maybe I read that wrong and he didn’t tile his bathroom to use his scale….. why would he stop writing to do that….. Something not right…..
a big laugh out load and a snort to boot…… I’m such a jackass….. He went into the bathroom with a tiled floor…… oh, my goodness…. that make much more sense….. DUH?!?
Oh my, this day has turned out to way too much!!!!
So, I left work early yesterday because I didn’t feel well…. the head ache didn’t go away its actually just a dull one, so, I walked in with tons of crap to do. I know that not here nor there but seems like I always sum my day up in my post.
One of our reps, brought in his famous bread….. OH MY this bread is soooo good.
I did have a piece but ended up feeling like an overstuffed walrus, when I had to walk to the warehouse and back…. So glad today was my NFD. I really have to get these days under my own control or maybe not in my own control….. I’m handing the NFD baton, over to Commander Tom, because I suck at them……
Thank Godness tomorrow is an FD, it seems like the only thing I can control…….

Well, my friends, I going to bed early tonight. If you could not tell, I’m a bit tired…… So off to finish my evening chores!

Cheerio!

Good evening!

Day 7 – NFD – 23/1

Hope everyone is doing well. First I wanted to say thank you for all your postings!!!

@blueninamum, @JohnnyR2 and @coda – thank you for your words! and Absolutely, I think I need to loosen up a bit on all the implementations. Baby steps!!! I will try to FD on Mon and Wed.

Today was much better. I was able to hold off eating until around 2:45pm and I ate whatever within 1.5 hour window. I did eat 5 slices of white bread but I was able to stop and resist the urge to not eat past my window. Over all I ate pretty good. Someone mentioned about food combination and it made me think of something i have been reading from Art and Science of Low Carb. They had advocate ketogentic type of diet but in one of their books, it did mention that eating fat and sugar or protein and sugar is not optimal. I don’t know that I want to put on additional burden of trying to keep different combination of foods but what I think I may try is eating low card for the week and giving by self one day to eat carb. it is so difficult to cut all carbs out and i think I shall try easing my way into cutting out the sugar.

I also slept so terribly after eating so much sugar before i went to bed ( I mean sugar in the form of bread). I noticed how much eating junk in the evening disrupts my sleep and thus putting me in that vicious cycle…

one final note of the evening: I finally figured out what WOL stands for Way of Life. Omg! I was having the hardest time with that one for the longest time. There are other. I wonder if there is list of acronym somewhere on the site??? LOL

Day 5, NZ, FD
Day 6, NZ, NFD
Day 7, NZ, NFD
Day 8, NZ, FD
Sorry have been away for Waitangi Day weekend, (NZ public holiday), so not able to catch up. Plugging away at this, but feeling optimistic that the weight will come off this time. Am training to do a 15.5 km run, which I don’t expect to run the whole distance, but need a challenge. Run is early March, would like to be a bit lighter before then

Day 7 – Canada – NFD

So many posts to catch up on. I hate to miss any of them.

Second post …

After a large breakfast ~1000 kc, and a hit workout that I thought would kill me I’m still in ketosis, nearly 2 mmol/l. Well it probably isn’t what a lot of people would consider ketosis but it kind goes against the eating throwing people out of ketosis theory. I realize it also depends on what you eat. My breakfast of oatmeal favored with some peanut butter and 4 servings of fruit doesn’t seem very ketogenic. I topped it off with several handfuls of nuts and black coffee with some milled flaxseed in it. (My own bulletproof coffee, high omega 3 fats and fiber to boot, plus coffee masks the taste of the flaxseed.)

@elektron, it took me 4 years to lose most of my weight. (Over 25kg) I started with the standard eat less and move more mantra which worked well for a few months. I basically stalled for a couple years when I was eating even less and moving even more. During those years I always felt like I was starving and I seem to slowly put on a little more fat. However I kept experimenting with my diet and workout. The magic for me was cutting way back on refined sugar and shorter but much more intense workouts. A that point I was losing fat and eating more and felt much better. Then I slowly moved towards fasting as it is more natural for me when I don’t feel so hungry. I really enjoy eating so much after a fasting day! I thought 5:2 sounded crazy but I actually really like it.

Day 7. Quebec. NFD

Day 7 USA FD with the pocketfasters!! First moment I’ve had to post today – hope everyone is doing well!!