UK day 36, lovely sunny day spent gardening and having family over. Non fd today and sadly overindulged, im not realky sure what happened because looking back on today i ghink i was more hungry than thirsty but i jyst had aneed to nibble and that i did!!! Yogurts, hot cross buns and pizza…..small amounts if each which is a massive improvement but still now i am paying for it and as lots of you have experienced too, i now feel quite ill and dont want to see food for a while! I am making tomorrow a fd to cleanse my system with salad, fruit and lots of water.

ABC1 i love the sound of the cake and curry, could you share the recipe please. I am vegetarian but am slowly transitioning to vegan. I have switched to nut based milk and yogurts so far and am planning on dropping dairy cheese and chocolate as my next step which should also aid my 5:2!

I weigh once a week and take measurements every 2 weeks, i find the charts on my profile here very helpful and love watching my figures drop! This week ive lost 3lbs and inches from waist and hips which is great. I am still unable to get into my big but slightly smaller clothes but am hoping after another half a stone that will change….i can get them on but the sight is not fit for public just yet!!! I find i too have to leave time between taking figures or i use the little movement as a sign to give up.

I love this thread and have learnt so much. My other half said he didnt think i could do it but im not 21lbs down and feel so much better for it. He now doesnt make comments like this and just congratulates my losses. He too has a few extra pounds but at present prefers to pig out rather than healthy eat! I envy him whilst he’s eatibg and i stay strong but when he gets the aftermath i do chuckle and am pleased with my resolve!!!! Everyday postibg is sometimes difficult but it keeps me motivated. Exercise element would be welcome and i like the full month idea so its 31 days. Im looking forward to trying it alone but then im not truely alone as my friend is doing weight watchers and we havd agreed to meetfor a celebratory cuppa after every stone lost 😀 which hopefully wont be far off with only another 7lbs to go for a 2 stone loss 😀

hello to all 36 days of the challenge in Brazil

The weekend ended, it was lots of good food, but not all carbohydrates, had a wine too!

I gained a lot of beautiful clothes of a friend, but all small, I have to lose weight to take advantage

Tomorrow serious and responsible fasting, I have a long way to go.

USA 36 of 42
Can’t believe this is the last week!
Lets all work really hard this week!

Good Morning from South Australia Day 37

I am feeling stressed so hope I can manage my FD today. Someone has hacked into our credit card and used it a lot and I have to go to the bank and try to sort it out. I am feeling very apprehensive.

Coda how big is your wrist? What about onwardsanddownwards?

For my personal challenge I am going to try and lose another 700 grams during our 3 weeks off. I am also going to update my forum profile.

The weather here is dry and sunny as usual but we get lots of cover about what is happening on the East coast and I hope you are all managing.

Off to the bank. Best wishes to everyone for today
Onwards and downwards

Cizzy2– your bracelet sounds perfect!
I hope it catches your eye, gives you a moment to pause & brings you “strength” whenever you need it!
Fantastic find. ((Hugs))

Québec, day 36

Easy fast day. Rain, rain, rain and wind. I looked at the dog and said ” let’s go for a nap ” . That was my afrernoon. Not to exhausting.

It’s still pouring rain and now is my great challenge Not to eat after dinner. But now I know better and I won’t fail. Thanks to all of you who helped me hold on and find solutions.

I might fast again tomorrow. I find it easy and I want to reach my goal of 133 pounds ( more or less 1).

I really understand now that loosing weight must be undertaken as a long term endavour. I often tried but stopped being carefull on my food because I felt it took to long to see encouraging results. But this time the support of the group really made the difference. Thank you so much Coda and all of you in our international forum. I am gratefull and ready to hop in another challenge with you. I think that the daily report must stay because it keeps us on the tip of our toes.

Bye bye for tonight.

NL day 37
FD
After a few days of terrible rain showers we now have a few days of sunshine. I woke up this morning to fabulous blue skies.
Hoping I can end this challenge at 70kg. Nearly there….might just make it!
Have a great day!

Extra post – here’s a link to an article from Dr Moseley which appeared in an Australian paper today. http://www.smh.com.au/comment/im-proof-that-eating-fat-can-be-good-for-you-20160525-gp3f0d.html

U.K. Day 37 fast day today

Extra post – apologies for manny earlier. I am ashamed of myself. I have had a liquid only FD and walked for an hour and have my motivation back. Gotta love this group!

US SE Day 37 FD
I think I’m going to do three FD’s again this week. My daughter has decided to give it a try too (which makes me happy) so I will have company. Like others, my husband is supportive and happy for me that I’ve lost weight but would not fast in a million years :-).

37 Day Challenge,

Good fast and happiness to all

A hug from Brazil

Day 37, Wisconsin, USA. I’m treating this week as the home stretch; as if I need to be at my fighting weight for the big competition on Saturday, June 11th. I might add a FD this week in preparation for this important occasion. My FD’s will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On my NFD’s I’m going to be extra mindful, and apply all my nutritional knowledge to what I’m eating. All this is in good fun, because for some reason I definitely find some fun (along with aggravation) in challenging myself. I would imagine many in this group are this way.

Let’s be proud that we’re all still here. We made mistakes; we got off course. But, we came back. We are fighters and we don’t give up. Cheers to us! I’m raising my glass…of bone broth…to you all.

Day 37 FD USA- Illinois

Will do mostly gardening and stuff around the house today. I need to go back and read some posts that I missed. I loved the article about Dr. Moseley and how fats are not all bad. YEAH for that! (I love fat. Cheese, meat, butter.)

Hang in there everyone. This has been a very good group and a terrific challenge. Thank you Coda!

Hi,

California, day #37, NFD today. Tomorrow is going to be a FD so I need to prepare to be ready. Only a few more days and this challenge is over. I’ll continue with 5:2 diet, I like it and is going well. I had some difficulties the last 2 weeks but now I recovered. I would like to fast on Thursday and again on Saturday this week. Hopefully I’ll get rid of another 2 lbs until June 12.

“I am the master of this body, I am losing weight”.

Have a great week!

Day 37 Los Angeles — Monday FD. Not happy that I’m up nearly 3 lbs from my very good “weight score” three days ago. I have been sticking to it, so this is just one of those times when the scale is out of sync with me. Oh well. I will be good today, nothing but water and tea until my (less than 500 cal) dinner. Car is being repaired so ill walk a couple of miles etc. Wishing strength and serenity to us all!

Edzeko, thank you. We were always closer to her than my real aunts.

back2thefuture, the MELT workshop was very interesting. 90 minutes long and we didn’t complete the series. It’s really a form of massage that you do yourself with props. I can see its value. Whether I would do it frequently enough is the question. I’m hoping there’s a second workshop soon

France Day 37
FD
Well done Meli and your weight and inches loss!
I copy below the vegan cake recipe, which is pretty damn good. I have been on fast today, but I shall have a slice tonight.

Did you want the cauliflower curry too? That one is my own and I will write it for you if you like.
I have been teaching all day and I am whacked.

I felt decidedly dizzy and nauseous of the Past continuous verbs. I am so glad I can eat in a minute.
The student is on his phone in an important meeting so I have to wait to eat. It is a vegan chilly from the freezer, that I made earlier. If he doesn’t get a move on I will start without him!

Fabulous weather today.

Chocolate cake with courgettes.

Ingredients
Makes: 1 (23cm) cake
250g plain flour
350g caster sugar
85g cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
300ml almond milk
125ml vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
250g grated courgettes
Icing
75g dairy free butter
4 1/2 tablespoons boiling water
375g icing sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Method
Prep:35min  ›  Cook:30min  ›  Extra time:20min setting  ›  Ready in:1hr25min 
1 Pre-heat the oven to 180 C / Gas 4.
2 Grease two 23cm (9 in) non-stick springform cake tins. Line bottoms of tins with parchment.
3 In a large bowl, sieve together plain flour, caster sugar, 85g cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
4 Add almond milk, vanilla extract and vegetable oil. Mix well. Add grated courgettes and mix until all is well combined. Divide the mixture evenly between the two cake tins.
5 Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until an inserted cake skewer comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool for 5 minutes in their tins then carefully remove sides of the springform cake tins. Run a palette or rounded knife on the inside edge of the cake tins first to make sure the cake comes out neatly. Cool completely.
6 Once you are ready to ice the cake, prepare the chocolate icing. In a bowl, melt 75g of dairy free butter with the boiling water. In a separate bowl, mix together the icing sugar with sieved cocoa powder. Add the melted butter to the sugar mixture. Blend well until you have a smooth icing.
7 Assemble the cake by placing one cake on a serving plate. Spread some chocolate icing over the first cake then top with the other cake. Ice the cake all over with the chocolate icing with a palette knife. So it does not get too messy you can place some long strips of baking sheet around the edges of the cake while you ice it. Leave to icing to set (around 20 minutes)

UK day 37 sorry to hear that some of you are having a hard time at the moment in whatever form it has taken xxx also congrats to those posting their successes so far!

I am doing an 800 cal day today to prepare for our last week and some serious healthy eating and fasting!!! Thanks ABC1 for the cake recipe, i would love the curry one too please 😀

Aussie day 38 supposed to be FD yesterday now i know what you meant by feeling cold on FD’s I was shivering wrapped up in my doona with the worst hunger so i ate then i thought well might as well have pizza for dinner, now this morning i have read these posts and I don’t feel so mad at myself. Love that I am not the only one that eats chocolates and hides the wrappers LOL, Qsue i hope you sorted things out at the bank. i am going to read that link about eating fat. Well must do that FD today and work of that pizza. last few days good luck everyone.

Day 37 Scotland. Another deliciously warm and sunny day up north.
Spent the day running around after getting cars repaired, dropped off, collected. Ended up in St Andrews for lunch, and then remembered we were fasting today, duhhhhh! We both did well and just had a cup tea, then did some shopping. Very tempted in a lovely dress shop, but told myself off for gaining so much weight on holiday,and decided I won’t buy anything new till I’m back to target. That’s me well and truly reprimanded.
Broke out the garden furniture and bar b que later today, and cooked a steak with two different salads followed by fresh berries and Greek yogurt. It was great sitting outside again to eat. Missed having a glass of wine with it but glad I didn’t. Calories came in just below 500, so hoping the scales will smile at me tomorrow.
Sorry to hear of the various trials and tribulations and sadness happening to you lovely people around the globe. Reading your posts helps me to practice gratitude for what I have, and the fact that we have our health, mostly thanks to this WOL. Great work everyone for sticking with it. Rest assured you will get all sorts of benefits from it, even though it may seem hopeless sometimes. All you have to do is keep doing it
Keep well everyone. Love the posts, I shall keep checking in here till the start of the next challenge, mainly habit, but love being in touch with the rest of the world. TTL

Australia, day 38, nonFD,

Only a few days to go now to the end of the challenge. Congratulations to all who have stayed the course. As someone said, many things have happened, up and down emotionally as well as the usual everyday life patterns.

K-Lo. Sending you a hug. It is so wonderful to have lifelong friends, and such a challenge coming to the end that time. I pray that her passing is peaceful and that you will be able to celebrate her life with your family.

Sorry, not remembering who is having the credit card hack. Be assured that this happens to quite a lot of people, and the bank has responsibilities as well. It will work out.

Yesterday was not a great day for our family, though I’m not at liberty to go over any details, I did go a little over 500cals on my FD. I am glad I’m doing just 2 FDs per week as I think it is more sustainable for me. I think it’s also more sustainable for me to not do b2b fasts or total no food fasts on FDs. I know there are are a number of people who do those, and that’s fine, but this challenge time has made it clear to me that it’s better for me if I stick to the basic 5:2 guidelines, and only add 16:8 on nonFDs. I went down 400gms, just under lb, after FD, and I do 16:8 on my nonFDs. Today, probably because of a bit of stress, I’m hungry from the get go, whereas I’m usually not hungry at all till about 11am. Will have a hot cup of peppermint tea before I do anything else.

Best wishes for your exam Coda

Onwards and downwards,
Merry

Best wishes Merryme – hope everything works out okay.

Pacific NW USA: Day 37 NFD

I took a walk at work during lunch and then came back to my lunch box packed with last night’s leftovers. It seemed like too little when I made the lunch this morning but seemed like too much when I started eating. The food was still delicious but I’m sort of amazed how 5:2 has changed how I eat the day after a FD. Or how maybe, cross all fingers and toes, my body has learned how to burn fat and so I don’t feel as needy!

Micky42 – regarding your last weigh-in – it seems like the scales on my weekly weigh-ins reflect a bit of what I was doing the days right before I stepped on the scale (if it’s after a FD, how much salt/carbs, etc.) but I’ve wondered if it also reflected more what I was doing the week before this one. At least that was always one of my frustrations that I could be really “good” but the scale didn’t show it till the next week. Anyone have thoughts?

K-Lo – I’ll see if MELT is something I can find locally. My PT told me when you have injured or constricted fascia in one part of your body it’s like pulling on the edge of a knit sweater and if also affects other parts.

ABC1 – we’ll all be vegans if you keep sharing your delicious recipes!

Qsue – our research scientist! Please tell us what you learn about those ubiquitous fat cells,

Day 37 California USA. Today is a FD. I gave done ok so far. I had miso soup and broccoli slaw for lunch, and another staff member commented that it must be my fast day. Tomorrow we are having a baby shower potluck at work, Mexican food theme. Glad it’s a NFD. I went to the Mexican deli and purchased rice, beans, carnitas, and tortillas that were still warm in the bag. I had to shred up the meat and couldn’t resist a fresh corn tortilla with a small amount of carnitas, cilantro, and onion. I kept it to one then put everything away. That’s it! Done eating for the day. Now I am going shopping for a baby present. It will be time to go to bed when I return thus avoiding the kitchen this evening. Yay!

I am going to try and fit two more FD in this week, if possible.
There have been so many ups and downs but together we have strength. Thank you, Coda for putting this thread together and keeping track of everyone. I am looking forward to the next challenge.