Hi everyone! I’m a chef for a private school in Northern California, though I’m still a Texan at heart. I’ve just started the 5:2 with my husband, currently on our second fast day of the week. So far it’s been great, a bit of a headache on our first day (Monday) but no real trouble today. I’m aiming for over 100 pounds weight loss and my husband about 40. After being on about 40 different diets in my life, I finally feel that I’ve found something that I can do and that will succeed, given time.

Someone mentioned the Biggest Loser and weight regain and I thought I’d mention that Krista Varady mentions this in her book, not specifically the BL but that there’s research done that someone who has lost weight will have a lower metabolism than someone who hasn’t been overweight. I haven’t had time to do much research yet but for those interested you may want to check it out.

Glad to have a thread with some fellow American’s because I still have no idea when the Brits start talking stones and kg. 🙂

Hi, Melocity! All the best on starting this way of eating! I head about the Biggest Losers regaining as well, and having lower metabolism. I did a little search and came up with some reading that research shows intermittent fasting lowers the levels of hormones identified to cause hunger and weight to increase. Kind of sad to think that maybe if those folks had only known they needed to fast (Maybe 6:1) it would have prevented the regain. I’m going down about .5 kg/week (about 1 lb), which is okay. My partner and I are doing alternate day fasting.

As far as apple cider vinegar – does anyone have links to legitimate scientific studies that shows this actually has any benefits? I’ve done a search in the past and found information pretty scarce. Not looking for anecdotal evidence, or animal studies. Many thanks!

Thank goodness today is a fast day. My feed days have been too out of control this week and the scale confirms it. Well this will be a blip on the screen as long as I persevere.
Good luck everyone.

Hey Cilantro,

I am fasting away my sins today as well.

I think I must be part bear preparing to hibernate – on my eating days I am packing in everything I can find. Though I think my stomach has shrunk a bit so I am not eating as much as before – still – hard to stop once I get started.

Have a great day – only way to fail is by quitting.

Hi, couscous – it was a good read. It did link back to the study, which (asI thought), turned out to be the one I found before. Just not much out there. Just not convinced that it would make enough difference to risk exposing my teeth to that every day, even though the risk is probably pretty small. With my luck, I’d try it, then brush my teeth with toothpaste make with baking soda and wind up foaming at the mouth and looking like I was rabid!

K-Lo, I was thinking that plus following with water and brushing my teeth after. Even with the small study results not sure (honestly) if I can be bothered.

uswoman, just a ps to my last comment re cider vinegar. My friend who took a daily does of cider vinegar. He had his own teeth until the day he died.
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Good morning coldpizza (6.32 am over here in England ). I totally agree with you and your comments. I believe the internet is much like newspapers, if it is in print then it must be true and many fall into this trap. I am all for gaining information from a wide variety of sources about anything of interest to me be it health, mental or physical or a lifestyle interest. It is then up to me as an individual to make decisions about it. The same is true for cider vinegar but one thought did occur to me about the acidic properties of this drink and that is will it affect the efficiency of any drugs an individual is taking?. I believe it is well documented that people taking certain drugs should avoid eating grapefruit due to its impact on said drugs. The type of drugs escapes me at the moment. A few years ago it was widely reported over here that pregnant women should avoid eating potatoes with green skin. I just do not know if this is sort of information, widely published is actually true or not, but they are examples of something akin to a “moral panic”. As you can see because I have made some suggestions and comments about certain foods are these true or not?. Ultimately it is up to the individual to make the decision.
Good Luck.

Couscous, The drugs that are affected by grapefruit are the statins, Lipitor, Zocor, etc, for lowering cholesterol. And it is a fact that grapefruit “precipitates” these drugs, which as you may know means less of the drug is metabolized and too much circulates in the system, to potentially dangerous levels. The same thing happens with for example with Xanax and alcohol, which is why small doses of some drugs can result in inadvertent overdose, it is the combination that is risky.
I totally agree with you that the Internet is a place of much mis-information! I don’t know abut the benefits of apple cider vinegar, but probably good to check with your doctor if there are concerns about a medication.
Cheers!

Move out day at my 20 year old son’s fraternity. Ate an entire toasted bagel with my egg for strength. I think I need a Bloody Mary chaser. FD tomorrow but today I will need calories and the patience of a saint.

I will have earned this Mother’s Day

Hi girls!

I’m here because I guess I qualify as an American! I live in the San Diego area. Does anyone else live on the West Coast?

I’ve been doing this 5:2 since late last summer with a goal of losing the last 10-15 lbs on my short 5’2″ bod. I just recently got to my goal of 120 (actually 120.6), but may want to try for 115 to give myself some “play” while on vacation this summer. It’s been very long, hard to get those last lbs. off.
I’ve had to incorporate very healthy eating and low-ish carbs to help me get it off. Just doing “whatever” on the non-fast days wasn’t working for me even though I still ate pretty good! In general I eat no sugar/gluten. While on another thread, I’ve noticed a lot of the people who are most successful combine the fasting with some other eating plan, be it low carb or no sugar, etc.

Maintaining has also been hard for me with past diets. I lose and then seem to gain it back over the course of 3-6 mo’s usually. I’ve been reading on another thread that one week of 5:2 and then a week of 6:1 works for many to keep it off…apparently just doing 6:1 wasn’t working enough for many to maintain. Then there’s the depressing recent revelation reported on the Biggest Loser winners who (all but 1) have gained weight back! 🙁

Anyhow, looking forward to getting to know you all and catching up on reading posts here! Hoping I can be of help in some way to you all too! 🙂

Hi and welcome Sherry– I am also on the west coast– Santa Cruz. Congrats on your weight loss-very inspiring!! I am similar to you and notfastenough- I am 5’2″ with 12-15 more lbs to go…. I have been doing ADF for 6 weeks and have lost around 8 lbs—just this week I am noticing a real shift in my body— clothes are looser, I am not very hungry on FD anymore and rarely have hunger pains on those days like I used to…. I think my body finally kicked into fat burning mode.
I also have noticed a real decrease in over eating on feed days.

I’m hoping this last bit of weight loss doesn’t take me forever but I’m committed to hang in there until I get there. This forum really helps keep me motivated. I love hearing from everyone what their experience is. Glad you found us– it’s a great site for ideas and encouragement.

Hi NorthernDawn, Just to let you know, the study was done by a very reputable scientist , Dr. Hall, an expert on metabolism at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health. The main takeaway was that for many of the participants, their metabolisms were severely damaged- however, Dr Hall is careful to say that they do not yet know why. I hope they continue their studies, as I for one do not want to end up heavier after a diet! It could be, as rlw66 suggested, that intermittent fasting protects Leptin from disappearing. But the scientists do not yet know- was it the prolonged exercise? Their slashed calories? I hope this is pursued and answered!

Hi NorthernDawn. I’ve been trying to put this information together in my head about the Biggest Losers and I’m having trouble with it, for sure. Mostly because I’ve worked three night shifts and have had horrible sleep – not enough and poor quality. Like trying to work this out after a few drinks, so pardon my rambling and if anyone would like to step in and clarify or expound on anything I write, feel free. Anyhow, I have read that the BL folks had next to no leptin swirling around at the end of the weight loss, and 6 months later, only 60% of their levels recovered. I can’t remember the information on ghrelin, but I believe they had constant high levels. I found high levels of ghrelin in one study that compared weight loss surgery people to those losing as the BL people did, and found that, even though the WLS people consumed far fewer calories, the same hormonal changes didn’t happen to the same extent. (I think the comparison had to do with losing a lot of weight rapidly.) I guess what it boils down to is that the Biggest Loser is really a show about how to be the Biggest Loser In The Long Run, when it comes to the Eat Less/Move More idea of weight loss. And somewhere along the line I did find a statement that intermittent fasting leads to normalization of these hormone levels. (One would think that ghrelin levels (the “feed me” hormone) would be very high during fasting, but apparently that is not the case.) And I guess that has something to do with the idea that appetite decreases the more you get into fasting. Not so unusual to find you aren’t starving on non-fasting days, and fasting becomes easier. Too bad the BL contestants weren’t intermittent fasting and eating LCHF diets. Even with the study results, you have to wonder if the shows “coaches” aren’t happy enough to stand by their ways of getting people to lose weight, and blame them for the regain. I did read they were just let go at the end of the show, told to exercise at least 9 hours per week and follow a very restrictive diet for the rest of their days to keep the weight off. But I guess a show with people NOT eating and doing exercise to become fit (instead of gruelling, painful, constant hard out exercise) wouldn’t draw many viewers. Imagine the excitement of the crowd when the scale is down a Kg in one week, and they walked 30 minutes a day!
I think the idea is there that some of what happens with BL contestants happens to dieters who do lose the weight over time, but to a lesser degree. Lucky us to have stumbled onto intermittent fasting! I really wonder if they have been fasting along the way or even after if the effects would have been the same. I also read somewhere along the line that the contestants agreed to be part of this study when they signed up for the show. While it may not be perfect it was a group of people who were under pretty tight scrutiny and dietary control for the entire time period. Well, that’s about it for my ramblings. If anything, this BL revelation should secure IF as a healthy weight to lose and maintain weight loss, and good for overall health and longevity.

Hey Cilantro…

I can relate – however: that is how this diet is so different. All you need to do is fast and you are back on track. One day from feeling awesome and accomplished again. Do not trust the stupid scale. That 5 pounds could be hormonal, water, muscles retaining water etc…

Do what you did to get started in the first place, resist those waves of hunger, water, water and more water. (I will be taking my own advice as well!)

Hi Pea:

16:8 means that the person eats all of their food in an 8 hour ‘eating window’ each day.

Hi everyone! I live on the west coast, and I would like to join you!

I bought Dr. Mosley’s new book, The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet, and I love it. I am doing his 5:2 version of 800 cals two days a week/Mediterranean (M) diet. I am vegan, so with a few adjustments to the eating plan, I’m good to go. I start tomorrow.

I also joined the 5:2 forum over on the 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet website, but it’s dead compared to this one!

Glad to meet you all!

Hi everyone,

Woo hoo! Down to 119.6 thus morn- broke the 120’s finally! Happy Mother’s Day to all the lovely moms out there!

For myself, I’m going to stop focusing on negatives like the BL weight gains over time results. It just doesn’t help and I have to stay focused & positive. I too feel in my bones that this way of losing weight may benefit our metabolisms in the long run. Just the habit of eating normal and then fasting once or twice a week has got to help maintain the weight loss I’d think.

Melinda, I agree with you-I like having a simple tool ( fasting) in my tool belt to utilize the day after I’ve not eaten so well! Btw, I also do a detox cleanse for 4-7 days every so often which is kind of like fasting in and of itself to change things up. I make chicken bone broth, and have that and lots of veggies, protein and berries.

Let’s all have a great, successful week next coming up! 😘

Welcome workinprogress! Another Californian, yay. I am still finding my balance with the feed days as well. It’s one reason I’m sticking to ADF, don’t trust myself with too many feed days in a week right now.

For those interest in more on the Biggest Loser, just noticed that Dr. Fung has a great write up talking about the data. The basic summary is fasting is the only way to keep your metabolic rate from tanking.

https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/biggest-loser-diet-explained/

Have a great fast or feed day everyone.
Was wimpering that I had gained 5 pounds back. Well dropped 3. Learning that I tolerate brown rice and oats but not wheat. Wheat equals weight gain for me.
Today is a fast day so hopefully will make progress on undoing the two pound gain.

Good morning from sunny NYC! I survived the Filthy Frat House…escaped a cleaning frenzy and have the manchild home. Happy Mother’s Day to me! I had a dinner party on Saturday night and guest arrived with … CHOCOLATE. Well, that just did me in. Controlled everything well until the box was opened. Oh well, I did well on Mother’s Day (and enjoyed all of the family compliments), and I’m back down again today.

Sherryann, I hope to follow you into the teens in a few weeks. 5′ 1″ and 122.8. 118 is my goal. Hoping for 120 by Memorial Day weekend.

Hi KBJD,
A fast day for me today as well. Looking forward to it. Will have oatmeal and berries this morning.

good luck! I hope to exercise this evening. Its amazing the time you find when you aren’t eating, or planning to, or regretting having done so 🙂

KBJD, your middle America line had me stiffling giggles in a meeting. I put radishes on my shopping list for tonight’s swordfish tacos. Do you like Japanese pickled radishes? mmmmmm.

Cape cod , ma here , my second fast day, coffee whole milk, mango black tea, and will have a portioned dinner later with hubby. Am planning my next fd on wed, I have to be careful , since I seem to be allowing myself too consume too much, on my non fd I feel is defeating , I’ve got 40 lbs to go , will get on scale on Friday , will be two weeks since I’ve weighed in. I seem to handle fd ok. A bit of headache, but does pass. I plan to walk weather cooperates on weekends.