Hi I am in I am from Australia and today is the first May so when are you starting .
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Hi I am in. I am from Australia and today is the first May so when are you starting . I wish to loose 50kg . When I lost my weight before I tracked evrything I ate and worked out what I was eating for the week. Got rind of all junk food and exercised by walking. I am not familar with this program but going to give my all. Can you let me know how many days till you start as today is the first here in Australia.
Hi EndTheCycle …. Just wanted to say that I don’t fell like tomorrow will be the last day of my life I will have the opportunity to eat.
I am being rather cool in all that, think it’s gonna be OK. I think that if I eat a lot of vegetables + proteins + water, I will be fine. I’ll tell you later how it really went :-))
I read a good trick on the 5:2 Internet page and even tested it. If you get a bit obcessed about eating, contract the muscles of your hands and forearms. It worked once for me !
Good luck everyone in this challenge.
I live in Australia so it is day 1 for me. The weather has turned and it is cold and blustery outside. Photo taken, 1 hour brisk walking completed, eating not quite on track (our grandchildren had a sleepover), weight within healthy BMI range but I’d like to trim 2kg. This evening I plan to weigh and measure my food so I can check my portion control. For those who are just starting, this is a fantastic way of eating. For me the health benefits are immeasurable.
Joining last, but only just found the thread as a but new to posting. Today is my fast day and since I started a few weeks ago I’ve been trying to do two days on the trot. Sundays always busy so find it fairly straightforward. Monday is MUCH harder! I’ll appreciate the encouragement to also eat sensibly in ‘normal’ days… and I like that it’s time-bound. Looking forward to seeing how we all do. Mx
Hello, First day of challange May 1!!! Started losing weight from December. Lost about 5kgs by March. Started 5:2 in March at 92.5kgs. Currently weigh 84kgs. So I have lost about 13.5kgs since December. I am hoping by the end of this challange to be under 80.. We shall see what we can do!
Challange starting weight: 84kgs
Waist – 103cm
Hip – 121cm
Bust – 107cm
Neck – 34cm
Water fasting today. Good luck to you all!
Hello, it is Sunday morning, so, let us get started! My starting weight is 68.9 kg, I plan to fast on Tuesdays and Fridays.I have noticed already that after the fasting days I overcompensate with food a litlle too much. Next time, I will try the arm muscle trick suggested by Quebecoise (tank you!). 🙂 Hopefully, I will add some physical exercises to the challenge, although the working days seem so running that it is hard to find time for that.
I am glad to be in such a nice international company of ladies.
Dear Liz (Dutch), yes, it looks that we are more or less looking forward the same goals. 🙂 Good luck to you and everyone!
Day 1,and I am planning the week ahead. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, which means I am out of my normal routine (I work full time and usually find it easier to fast on work days). Also I work one night shift a fortnight, not always the same night, and in the past I have used the dreaded sugar lizard to get me through the small hours, so I am having to rethink that. Night shift on Wednesday this week so my plan is to fast on Monday and Thursday. I currently weigh 99kg. I’m not setting myself a specific goal as for me this is about re-educating my eating patterns in the long term. The weight took a long time to creep on so I’m happy for it to disappear slowly and steadily. Thank you Coda for setting up this thread, I feel prepared!
Hi all, i woke up this morning not feeling well at all after a giant binge eat last night. I decided i needed to change and happened upon this thread while looking into the 5:2. If its not too late i would very much like to join and start afresh from now. Reading your comments has really inspired me and im already sifting through web articles and books on the diet!!! I am 25, from the UK and a proud new mummy but i am now the heaviest i have ever been and in need of some support on my journey…..look forward to hearing back 😀
Hi Coda, Hi everyone – good morning from Switzerland!
I’ve just logged on for the first time in an age, and the 42-day challenge is exactly what I need – please may I join too??
I’m 42, started 5:2 in Aug 2015 at BMI 33 (103kgs), my heaviest ever. I found the plan really worked for me, and I got down to 89 kgs in three months. Then around the beginning of November, I sort of lost all my motivation. I managed to maintain for 2-3 months, then gradually began to gain, due to over-eating on NFDs.
Anyway, I’ve pulled my socks up, started to log EVERYTHING on MFP and am restarting at BMI 28.5 (89.5kgs). Happy to log in every day and share what works for me. Fast days for me are Mondays and Thursdays with additional Saturdays when I feel like it. Will update my profile now!
Onwards and downwards!
Surfing the net a while ago I came across a breathing exercise that should help you fall asleep faster. It also claims to work when you’re craving for [food] something. By the time you’ve completed the exercise the cravings’ gone. It’s a technique that is soooo simple and you can find it on youtube. Type in: breathing 4 7 8 or dr. Andrew Weil
I tried it for sleeping and sure enough….rolled over and was off. It won’t work for everybody…….or will it?!
Dear Rita and all others..we’re going to succeed! Thank you TTL – traded bread for yoghurt this morning leaving me just a few extra cals for the other meals.
Wow Coda, what a lovely response. Glad you are heading this challenge up, not me. However, will help all I can.
Took my measurements today. Surprised to see I had lost 1/2″ each from Calves and thighs, but added 1″ back onto my waist. Mystified at that.
Just to let the newbies know some of my potted history. On holiday in Swaziland last year I visited a Kinesiologist. After many months of not feeling well (even though I had lost weight on 5:2) she diagnosed that I had Leaky Gut Syndrome. I have since spent a long time researching what that means and how to cure it by the foods I eat (I am not one for putting drugs into my body).
However to cut a long story short, I was recently browsing in a bookshop killing time, when I came across a book called EAT DIRT by Dr Josh Axe. This book, in a week, has changed my whole outlook to food, and what we put into our bodies. I don’t want to start preaching about the various health properties etc. etc. but this book answers so many questions as to why we are overweight, in poor health, unable to function without prescription drugs. If you do nothing else for yourselves, please go online and check out http://www.draxe.com – there are so many answers there, and could help incredibly with all the weight issues we have, running alongside the 5:2 regime. For instance I have just discovered that whilst I know I had leaky gut syndrome, It has been narrowed down to Candida Gut being the cause. I thought I had refined my eating habits to repair my gut, but still have felt as though I had been only 80% well. This book has opened my eyes even more. Sugar, Dairy, Grains, Antibiotics, Stress, are the worst offenders. I could go on and on, but I would only encourage you to check this out for your healths sake.
Back to 5:2 – I will be fasting Mondays and Thursdays, as always, and in-between will be sticking to my 1200 calories per day. The difference being I have substituted cows milk for goats milk (There is virtually no difference except for the Casein content.) and will be eating Goats or sheeps cheese from now on.
Thanks Simcouluv for explaining the calorie count thing. Perhaps you could check out the above mentioned website and see what you think, I’m sure Dr M would be interested in this revelation too!
I will add the recipe for the Chocolate coconut bar in another post – think I’ve rabbited on long enough here. Have a great Sunday all, wherever in the world you are. TTL
I saw this forum when googling for the 5:2 diet and like the looks of this challenge. So I have just registered for this website, May 1 is already over for me in Australia so I will be starting on May 2. I hope to lose approximately 15-18 pounds overall and have decided that the time is now (I have my first University placement this week so am hoping that being in the classroom most of the day distracts me from being hungry). Lets do this!
Good morning everyone, from a very stormy South Carolina 🙂 I will be fasting on Mondays and Thursdays. I have a couple of weeks in already so feel pretty confident that I can do the fast days. I try to keep the bulk of my calories for my evening meal but find that if I have an apple in the late morning (11ish) and something around 3 (normally some chicken or turkey), then the rest of the day is a breeze. I linked my fitbit to myfitnesspal and am registering every bite I eat. I try to stay at 1200 cal a day on non fast days, but often go over using exercise calories but still stay way below TDEE.
If you can, log your food on non fast days. In the many diets I have done over the years the most successful have been when I logged what I eat. Even if you eat more than you should, log it anyway. It is a great tool to make you accountable. This time I hope to keep at it and not stop. Once I stop logging, then those Dove bars have a habit of sneaking back into my diet 🙂 Good luck everyone. I love reading the posts… they get me past the hard moments.
1st day checking in and checking in–planning today for fast days Mon and Thurs. goal is to stay below my TDEE today. I use MFP to log food and exercise as well as Fitbit. for those of you who use MFP, how do you log homemade meals? Do you put each ingredient in individually? I find that somewhat cumbersome, just curious if anyone has shortcuts for logging recipes that have lots of ingredients. This is my 3rd week of 5:2 and am having some successes already 🙂 ……off to cardio class soon. good luck all!
Good morning from California! I am just starting my day. I plan to stay under my TDEE today and fast tomorrow. Today is a work day for me and plan for a walk this evening. I am enjoying reading the posts. They are encouraging. I did overeat a little last night — pizza. I am ready to get back on track today.
Starting weight is 82.5 kg. Wishing everyone a successful day 1.
Good Morning from the Midwestern United States. Day 1 checking in with you all. Starting my third week of 5:2.
In what I read/watch, much is made of the ease of this plan, because you can eat normally 5 days of the week. But, like so many others have said on this forum, that notion is a bit deceiving for some of us.
I have fantastic skills. I can plow through 2000 calories with lightening speed. Really, it’s no trouble at all for me. Really special that way.
I was hoping the 5 “normal” days would be a mental break, but I’m finding that I still must concentrate on eating less than I’d like on those 5 days.
On a positive note, 2000 calories is nicer than 1200 – 1500 7 days a week. So, I’m all in now.
In 42 days, I hope to have developed some habits that make managing fitness and a busy life easier, and take up less of my mental space. We’ll see.
Day 1 – feeling motivated! Headed out for a walk in the rain and did 30 mins of yoga (after we got back, not in the rain!). I’m vaguely aiming for 10,000 steps a day, and have managed 6,000 so not a bad start.
rlw66 – have you found the ‘Add from the Web’ function in ‘Add Recipe’ in MFP? It’s really handy for home cooked meals. I use the BBC Good Food site a lot, and it imports the ingredients directly from the recipe. The only problem is when it goes wrong, it goes REALLY wrong, so you have to check the ingredients thoroughly. Some websites don’t work as well ( 🙁 Jamie Oliver). Also, you have to attribute the number of servings to the recipe (i.e. serves 6) and it will log one serving – but there is no way of noting how many servings each recipe covers for future use. If I was really organised, I would keep a note separately but in reality I just end up looking up the recipe again.
Next FD is tomorrow. Hope it stops raining!
One of the goal of this challenge for me to learn right portions on non-fast days, and to stay under my TDEE. Since it is really hard for me to calculate all the calories i eat, I decided to buy frozen food for my non-fast days to learn how 300 or 400 calories look like. I am surprised how little there is in a 9 oz frozen food package, but 320 cal. Also, I was surprised that a can of soup is actually 2 servings, and some of them 2.5 servings. Excuse me, this can you can fit in a normal plate, how come there is 2.5 servings?! Oh, my. I guess I will eat a lot of miso soup…Counting calories is hard reality!!! :-G
Hi all,
Day #1, fast day today. I decided to try to fast this week every other day. I’m having a smoothie now, it’s not even 9:00 AM here in Southern California. I’ll eat some nuts for lunch and have a huge salad around 4:00 PM. After I’m done with the smoothie I’ll go for a hike. It’s a beautiful day here and I’m also planing to go for a walk in the afternoon. I took a before picture yesterday and I’ll print it and post it on the fridge. 🙂
Day 1: Hello from not-so-sunny Gloucestershire! I am 62, 2-stone overweight (maybe a bit more….!) My plan is to have fast days on Mondays and Thursdays. I have been reading “The IF Diet 2016” by Robert Skinner for motivation, having read the original Fast Diet book twice in the past. I needed something fresh.
I will weigh and measure first thing in the morning. Bank holiday, so out of my working routine, but this is the challenge to go with.
By the way, all these initials people keep using….what is TDEE, for instance?
Day 1 reporting in.
I am almost at my goal but accepted the challenge to get me over the finish line and into maintenance.
I weighed in at 122.4 this morning (5′ 1″) which translates to about 56 kgs and 8.75 stone. My goal is 117 – 118 and a D cup (from a DD). I think most of my weight is in my bra. Sigh….
I too wonder how to calculate calories from home cooking. I just made a sweet potato coconut curry soup for Sunday lunch. The recipe has calorie, carb, etc. calculations but I never follow the recipe exactly.
Breakfast was a small corn tortilla with half a mashed avocado and coffee with milk, and half an apple. Then off to the gym for 30 minutes of Pilates. Lunch was a cup of the soup topped with chickpeas, and a handful of mixed nuts. Now I will sit down in an empty house and KNIT. I must finish a sweater for my sister’s grandson.
I will watch TV while I knit, more and more aware of the number of commercials for useless things that are allegedly “food”.
K-Lo (another Karen), age 60, from just outside New York City.
Hello again all you lovely people.
Looks as if some of you are struggling on non fast days with the amount of calories you are eating.
Something I did at the beginning (apart from the fact I had to ditch gluten/wheat) was to go on to MFP and put in a 100 gram serving of things that I loved, mashed potatoes, approx. 100 cals Spaghetti, 158 cals, Rice – 1 cup 199 cals, etc. etc. I then decided that if I didn’t eat these calorie loaded foods, it meant I could have more of the meat sauce I had with it, and a big side salad. It always looked a lot more than my usual meal, but much healthier, and just as filling. As time goes on I have gradually cut down on the amount of meat sauce too, and loaded up more steamed vegetables, or salad, again, much healthier, and really not that difficult to do. At first I thought I couldn’t live without the starches to soak up gravy, etc. but now I just use a spoon!!! TTL
Hi Ciren and welcome:
This explains TDEE: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/tdee-for-the-curious-or-why-dont-i-lose-weight-faster/
Good Luck!
I have completed my first fast day. It was not as difficult as I thought but what surprised me is how much I must use food to alleviate boredom. I also went for a 30 minute walk in the morning and a 30 minute swim after work (I’m in the UAE so it’s the first day of the working week today).
Good luck to everyone fasting tomorrow.
Weight 137 this morning. I anm extermely proud of myself : last night, saturday night, my husband ate natchos and I was able to resist ( my problem when I eat one is that I can’t control myself and take them in without even tasting) My problem …. And I succeeded last night ! Youppi for me !
Tomorrow, Monday, will be my first FD. Today, i’m writting a list of things I would feel comfortable eating without to much calories.
I’ll also try to find stars to put on my calendar, like Coda recommended.
I’ll go on giving reports on my situation. Have a nice day everyone !
May 1 – after a terrible night struggling with stomach trouble I woke up 1+ lb lighter than expected. Not a nice way to do it, but I guess that’s a silver lining. Planning to eat a bit under my TDEE today. Will do 500 calories or less on Monday and Thursday, as usual. Everyone is so determined here — let’s keep it that way!
Hi Third:
Nothing on the site you suggested caught my eye. If you are interested in more information on ‘gut leakage’ you might check this video starting around minute 42: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOBa_hfbRE
Good Luck!
First day being conscious of what I’m actually eating for a long time, feeling positive about the week ahead, i have planned for my fasting days to be Tuesday and Thursday but am unsure wether to graze my 500cals or save them for having a main meal about 4pm. Is it just trial and error for what works personally? Starting weight of 10st 5
Just found this thread so joining in last minute as 6 weeks determination could really help. 142 lb and lost 35lb. I had lost a bit more but put a few back again.
Day started off badly for a NFD but had nothing since ‘brunch’ so finishing in 1000 calories. Just going to have something light for supper.
Also did 90 min hot yoga class and 10k steps.
10 lbs in 6 weeks would be nice
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