This topic contains 74 replies, has 40 voices, and was last updated by coldpizza 8 years, 7 months ago.
Definitely! At the beginning it was exciting and that empty and starving feeling on fast days felt bearable and even exhilarating (can see how it could be fairly easy to slip into an eating disorder if you’re that way inclined) especially helped by seeing the weight go down after most fast days. But exactly the same time period as you and four months down the line I started to find that I just gave up on a few fast days. I did reach my target weight but decided I wanted to lose a couple of kilos more. Instead I’ve gained nearly two kilos (been nibbling rather a lot!) and finding it awfully hard to get back into the mindset needed for those fasting days. Maybe the weather doesn’t help? But the good thing with the Fast Diet is that it’s not the end of the world if you take a break now and then.
Been there, done that and got the tee shirt. My goal was 1lb a week and now that I am on week 18, should be 18lb rather than 16lb.But one fast day, life had been full on with family, splitting headache and the next thing I knew….a 200g bar of chocolate had disappeared! When I idly perused the calories, I was appalled to discover that I had scoffed 1000 calories!!!!!!!!!! When I picked myself up off the floor i decided that hindsight was a wonderful thing and I wouldn’t make that mistake again,but neither did I beat myself up and go mad either. As a lover of ice cream and chocolate I had decided that a choc ice is the way forward for me at 125 calories.
I also think that it’s really important to have a clear, achievable and tangible goal that you can get to in baby steps. I have 2 that help keep me on the straight ish path. One is my sons graduation in early July and the other is a check up at my GP’s also in July,as my blood pressure was rather high.Be kind to yourself, and reward yourself with little things that are not food.
Been through that as well. But I did not give in and eat.
I could not even drink coffee or tea one day when I was hungry and had headaches.
But the good thing is nothing is lost. Since you can continue IF the next week or whenever you feel ok.
Have you seen any weight loss from your fasting so far?
All the best.
Been there too. On a fast day went to a soup & salad bar with the family. Thought this was the one place I’d not have to worry about temptations. Thought I would load up on the salad bar with lots of lettuce and fresh raw veggies. Did that and all was fine, even when my daughter brought over a serving of mac and cheese from the bar I stayed strong and wasn’t tempted.
It was when she brought back a piece of red velvet lava cake that I caved! I love cake. I justified my actions by reasoning that I had been doing so well and lost so much weight that a little indulgence didn’t matter. Only it wasn’t a little. After giving in and eating all the bad stuff from the bar (including the lava cake) I felt horrible. I felt sick from my binge and really disappointed that I’d managed a whole day fasting only to be ruined by extremely short term pleasure.
I learned that it’s ok to indulge once in a while but in moderation. That the great part about this diet is that you can start over the next day. I did and lost a pound. That if I want the health that I seek I have to make choices everyday and I am the only one that can make those choices for me. I’m over 40, I don’t have one of those amazing metabolisms that burns everything off I eat, my dad died from heart disease and my mother recovered from breast cancer. My family is supportive but they aren’t the ones putting the food in my mouth. So it’s up to me to take care of me.
Most fast days I’m fine but occasionally I’m tempted to stray. I think about that day at the soup & salad bar and how I blew my priority for cheese and sugar! It wasn’t worth it and that keeps me on my path. I try to find low cal alternatives to some of my old food nemesis. Surprisingly there is a lot out there! I have found that setting a goal, determining your priorities, and finding healthy food substitutes or smaller portions of those calorie rich foods on non fast days helps to make me feel not restricted and determined to stay on my path.
I do! All the time. Actually, one of the reasons I really like this diet is that it’s so easy to stop and start – for some reason I don’t feel as guilty about it.
@princessjayjay, 4 months doing it without fail is super impressive. I don’t think one break in there is a failure in the least. 🙂
I’ve given up on fast days a few times. Normally due to onset of migraine or more commonly just a bad headache.
I find eating something usually fixes any issues and the headache goes.
I don’t feel guilty, I can always try again tomorrow. If not then one days fasting in the week is better than none, right?
Started in Jan 2013, 99kg, currently 92kg and 2 inches from waistline. That includes an entire month ‘off’ the diet, it was my Honeymoon.
All the time – all it takes is for someone in the office to bring in a cake or a friend to invite me out for a drink and the whole thing goes out the window, but one of the good things about this diet is that you can get away with saying “oh well, I’ll start again tomorrow”. Don’t beat yourself up about it, as that is when it becomes a chore – far better to make it work around you and your needs.
I’ve been doing the fast for 8 weeks, and throughout that about three of those weeks it really did go to pot, but I’d just start again the following week and I’ve lost half a stone so far. Just keep going! @nickis83 is right, there is always tomorrow if today goes wrong!
Hi PrincesJayJay. Today is my Fast Day as it has been since Feb this year give or take the odd switch around.
Together with my son in law, today I went to Slaley Hall, a hotel in Northumbria to play golf.
It was a miserable day, raining non stop and cold to boot. I was miserable, wet and cold as well.
We finished our game, dried ourselves off and made our way home down the A1 M/way.
We stopped off at Burger King on the Western Bypass (I dislike those places) and enjoyed a Whopper and fries together with a diet coke!!!.
Back on the programme tomorrow.
By the way iloverags dont worry, just carry on and do not live for weight loss on a day to day basis. Like christmas it will happen.
Good luck all.
I didn’t weight myself for about 5 weeks! But I’d say the sensible thing is to weigh yourself once a week, same day and time, so as you can keep track – maybe two days after a fast so as you can filter out dramatic results after a fast. That way week on week you can keep track better as opposed to three steps forward and two back?
I started out this morning feeling great and on path to fasting. My partner was cooking lunch and unintentionally put rotten eggs in spoiling the meal. I didn’t mind we had other food to eat, I tried to help him with it but we ended up have a huge argument. I left the room and ended up buying lunch – turkey roll which I inhaled. I know it’s over 500 calories and feel bad that I emotionally ate and annoyed that I was on track to completing another fast day. This is the first one I have missed since I started 3 weeks ago.
Nicely done Beta, as said, if it didn’t work one day there is always the next! Don’t beat yourself up and just pick up where you left off. I had an off week last week, had a few days of chocolate and other unhealthy stuff and went to Hong Kong this weekend where I didn’t want to worry about the diet too much – but this week I’m back in full swing! Part of me is worried that I will fail again and maybe skip a workout of stuff like that… but it’s useless to think that way. You can always influence the future (well, in this case you can) but you can’t change the past. So focus on the future instead!
“You can always influence the future (well, in this case you can) but you can’t change the past. So focus on the future instead!”
I like that Nika – words to live by.
betalean – so pleased you were able to draw a line through the incident and move on, good for you and your partner 🙂 I’ve been doing this since 1st week of August 2012 (the week the documentary aired here). I’ve evolved my method throughout the time but haven’t missed a week (well not completely anyway – I may have only managed 1 true fastday during a couple of holiday weeks like Xmas & a foreign holiday but 1 good fastday and an extra one in the following week isn’t really cheating I think).
I’ve never been able to slim down with exercise and no diet has ever really worked or been sustainable for me so this is a bit of a godsend. I’m almost 3 and a half stone down so far and probably have another 1 and a half to go before I’m in my ‘ideal’ range. I’d be more than happy with that, never having been anything like ideal weight since before puberty. 😀
Aaaah they’re making my fast day very, very difficult here at work right now!
Every Wednesday the food truck comes by (that’s what I call it at least). I’m not sure why, but the Chinese here have a lot of snacks at work which they can grab whenever they want. It’s like having a large cookie / snack jar at work which is refilled on company costs every Wednesday.
Thing is, they’re being really friendly and just gave me a mini snickers (the 20g one) and some sort of pudding cup? It’s tiny and really cute but aaaaah the sweet smells are everywhere now. And it’s a fast day.
So yeah, I feel like giving up… but I’m going to take them home with me, pop them in the fridge and have them tomorrow as a treat for sticking to my fast day. There. Puh.
Does anyone have any motivating words?!! I am really struggling today. Weather is cold and miserable, housemates are annoying me, I woke up at 5.30am for third time this week (normally 7.30am) so am starving now in work. I want to cave bad, but don’t have another day to fast this week as have foodie things on the rest of the week. Help?!
Thanks Nika, your right I think it is a good way to see things as me against my stressy bod. I will make it learn!
TracyJ just read your msg from earlier in the thread, that is motivating words enough for me, Welldone! Its so good to hear about 5:2 long term success, I would love to hear more of those.
Hi monkeyslim, I’m all for listening to your body and doing what’s right for it – you are the expert on your own body after all.
However, I do think that the physical body is all about short term benefits and this is where your mind kicks in – think long term.
On the topic of giving up on a fast day, at the risk of sounding smug, I never have (I make it to midnight at least). The reason I’m sharing that is, particularly for people starting out, I found that if you never make it a habit to give up, then it’s easier to stick with it on the difficult days.
All the best
Annie x
Yeah, I think I’ve only ‘caved’ on a fastday twice in total and both were not a problem because I was able to fast the next day anyway. It’s just annoying when you’ve already set yourself up for a fastday and got halfway through the day and then forgotten that it’s a coworker’s birthday and you’re having a potluck or cake or something and it’s rude not to join in. I’m usually pretty good at planning for that stuff though.
My colleagues also often randomly bring in cake/cookies etc. which can be a pain on a fastday, especially if it looks/smells amazing and you know it’ll all be gone by tomorrow but I’ve started just taking a slice home and putting it to the back of the fridge until tomorrow night. I thought that would be hard but it actually wasn’t and gave me something really nice to look forward to the next day too. 😀
I find if today is my last opportunity to fast for the week then I can just bully my body through any tantrums with the old “you can have that tomorrow!” promise.
Nika – Nope, I’m not the longest standing one I’ve come across on here, there was a chap on an old thread who beat me by a few days (I watched the doc on catch-up TV later in the week). Also, not on here but I think a lot of folk on Schrokit’s Corner (blog site) started immediately after the doc too.
I think Fastforlife and a few others are veterans of 2012 too 😉
monkeyslim – Check out the success threads if you ever need encouragement. Certainly there are some amazing stories on some of the older threads.
haha – if it makes you feel any better off you can think of me. I last ate at about 8:30 lastnight and won’t get home (and therefore won’t eat, or drink anything but water) until about 8:30 tonight when I shall scoff my 500 calories, veg in front of the telly for a bit & then slope off to bed 😉 Happy Wednesday!
I’ve cancelled a fast when: supreme stress needed feeding; an excuse for a few-beer-treat after a very long walk (try not to let the bad habitual excuse take over these days); sight and smell under extreme duress from yumminess.
My son has just heated up some bangers, mash and gravy in the microwave – I’m not sure how I’ve stopped myself from raiding him like some sort of caveman – it is a delicious torture.
Hahaha snedger I just imagined some very raggedy long-haired creep with a club running at a terrified kid with a plate of food in his hands. Thanks for that laugh!
I recognise the feeling though, some days here at work they bring in KFC or other lovely smelling snacks… the most recent torture being a bag of oven baked cheese crisps right next to me on another desk. Thank god it’s closed for now, or I’d have KO’d her and taken them up to the roof, screaming at everybody who came too close.
Being in China with all those small restaurants everywhere on the street can be a real torture… Luckily I don’t speak the language so 99% of them I can’t order any food anyway!
Hi All,
Failed my first fast day ever yesterday :-/
First fail since I started in June.Bound to happen sometime.
Too many people wanting me to do too much in too many different places all at once. Headache set in, stress, work is absolutely the pits at the moment so once I got home and had a 5 hour childminding session with a tired 4 year old grandson who wouldnt eat that lovely, big, ripe, expensive, not to be wasted banana – i chucked it in and ate the banana myself!
Take THAT Fast diet!!
haha.
So, I am on maintenance this week. No biggie, just frustrating. Work may well be sorted in a week. That will help.
Meanwhile I will just continue with my yoga and watching that I dont over eat till I can fast again on Monday.
It suits me not to have a goal that needs immediate attention.
If I did I would be real mad. I have been hovering at the same weight for weeks and weeks!
Haha @nika was a big nana!
Massive Fail for me yesterday!! I was feeling so good as I left work, spemding my day trying to get inspired by all the positive stories on here thinking pffff I can do this.
I thought I know Ill go to the cinema good way to distract myself. I invite a friend and she is up for it, then she say as we meet “lets go get some food at the amazing burger place?” I explain 5 2 she doesn’t really care because she is hungry, and so I sit in the resturant and watch her eat a whole burger and triple cooked chips (my favourite food). Ok I think I can make it through. Go to the cinema just have my popcorn, good, good, good get to 9pm… 9pm! I come out of the cinema to head home and she says oh I have invited our friend Dan for a drink. I feel bad as its been a long time so I stay, and unknowingly I am bought a vodka and soda by Dan. Dam. 60cals over already. Then 1 turns to 2, 2 turns to 3.
Gutted. But not defeated. I guess maintenance for me this week too. Just so fustrating yesterday was not my day…
Nika,
” raggedy long-haired creep ” – are you hacking my webcam 😉
In the past when I’ve tried weekday constant calorie controlled diets and have felt miserable, every day, getting past Friday was sometimes too difficult.
But, on AFD/5:2 – you’re never far away from a relaxed feed day – we can all not eat/limited eat for a day – but, sadly, not every time we try it. I just make sure that fast cancellations do not happen consecutively – could be the clever greedy part of the brain tricking me again to take the easy route.
But I do wish that there was a way to cancel the hunger madness just for getting a whiff of some lovely food – ‘cos before the whiff wafted, there was no desire to eat at all!
There is a way – wait 30 minutes – but it is not a pleasant time.
Glugging a couple of pints of water helps, but makes me quite uncomfortable.
Thanks for your support Nika and Tracy. I liked your quote Tracy and put it into practice and was able to complete 2 fast days. I am doing another one today as I had work function last night and I know I went over my TDEE limit with all the drinks and food. But not beating myself up, have been fasting since last night, and just made a big bacon egg salad. I hope your week is going well.
Hey Betalean, good you’re not beating yourself up, there’s absolutely no need. I’m one who’d rather have a fun night with friends and add another fast day! I guess a work function doesn’t qualify (but maybe your work is awesome and it turns out the same way).
My week went OK, lost the amount I gained the week before and a little more!
Nice one Betalean – good for you. I have a feeling today’s works potluck (on my normal fastday) is going to mess up my equilibrium this week but I fully intend to be harsh with myself tomorrow and hopefully I’ll get through it.
I will probably be eating an entire weeks worth of calories in one go this lunchtime though – Oh well! These things are sent to try us.
Yeah – what Nathalie said. It’s an American thing. I’d never heard of it before I started work where I am either (lots of Yanks about round here). I did eat about a weeks worth of calories in one go by the way. It was a Thanksgiving themed potluck. I brought Pican Pie (well actually a Nigella variation) which everyone seemed to really like, although they said it wasn’t as sweet as an American Pecan Pie – It was by FAR the sweetest thing I’ve ever made, it’s basically a sugar pie with some nuts and a couple of eggs in it.
Even the side dishes for the turkey were pretty sweet. Someone made sweetpotato mash but it had a crust on it which was basically caramilised sugar (by the taste of it) and the sweet potatos themselves were like a really creamy sweet pudding (I realise they’re called sweet potatos for a reason but this was just silly).
No wonder half of America’s got weight issues. It’s not just the fast food – it’s the home cooked food too!!!
Potluck is also very common in NZ – it’s a great way to have social gatherings without one person shouldering all the work. And you get to try lots of different dishes which is always fun 🙂 I’ve been to themed ones like a vegan night, but when I organise them I generally ask people specifically to bring a side / main / starters or dessert so we don’t end up with 5 puddings and nothing before. Although maybe that wouldn’t be so bad!!! Hehe.
We (Brits) do have ‘potlucks’ too, we just don’t call them that really. The concept’s the same though: “We’re having a get together on X day, can team so & so bring ABC and team such & such bring XYZ – we’ll provide the rest.” that kind of thing.
BTW – I’ve just discovered that the sweet potato thing did indeed have caramelised brown sugar on top. Crazy!
Hi Tracy – I had something similar when spending Thanksgiving in San Fransisco a few years ago with friends. On that occasion the host and myself were the only Brits (he lived out there) and we couldn’t figure out a dish someone brought. In fact it turned out to be creamed sweet potato with toasted marshmallows on top.
I don’t have a sweet tooth anyway, but this was off the scale and my friend thought it was hilarious to dish me up a large portion, which I then had to pretend to like for fear of causing offence.
Recently I asked my manager at work who is American if this was normal and she said absolutely. Just weird!
lol- yes, things have gotten out of hand… but there’s savory food there, too, and by the time we’ve eaten that, not too many are going for the rich deserts. The first Thanksgiving was about people who were glad to have not starved to death and maybe had enough put by to survive winter. It used to be a much harder world.
Eighteen for dinner on Thursday. One pecan pie! There will also be homemade rolls, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy- which is what will really kill us! It’s once a year- don’t really cook like that for everyday.
Xmas/birthday office food blowouts used to be easily ignored – but not when fasting.
I got so annoyed last xmas with meat, cheese and garlic/spicy aromas in the office all day that I sent an email to everyone pointing out that the office temperature was 25 Celsius and having food out all day was not a healthy option. Completely ignored – but I did not get a stomach reaction 🙂
IMHO – if you want to have office food fun, then have it in an enclosed office/room – either make the air con go madly cold, or restrict time to two hours and then bin the food.
I didn’t think that missing xmas office food would be an advantage for being out of work – but I nearly smiled just now. I’m alright really 🙂
snedger – goodness I’d be on to a right losing argument if I tried to curtail my food obsessed colleagues. They’re always cooking something in the microwave (that’s 2 metres from my desk and is my own fault because I donated it to the office), or someone’s baked something and decided to share, or someone’s brought foreign sweets back from a holiday etc. etc. And even if the place does miraculously happen to be food free for a day, they’ll just talk about food all day instead. Half of them are on some stupid diet or other (some of the time) or falling off the waggon and the other half are gluttonous skinny people who can’t stop talking about last night’s dinner, or what they’re planning to have tonight or at the weekend.
It’s a baptism of fire I guess but I don’t mind it and I often even join in the discussion, even on a fast day. I don’t know if it’s some masachistic instinct or just me living vicariously through others but it’s never really put me off a fastday – that battle is all in my head – so live & let live 😀
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