Anyone else out there on maintenance?

This topic contains 2 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by Lilimar 5 years, 2 months ago.

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Lilimar

7:44 am
8 Mar 19
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My name is Lili,

I am 54, and started 5:2 14th September 2017.

I was 83 kilos, dress size 44 with a BMI of 25.5, so bordering on obese! I have always looked young for my age and all the weight had mostly piled on my belly area and people mistook me for a pregnant lady all the time! (I have been in menopause for several years now!) People would let me pass in front of them in the supermarket queue and give up their seat for me on the bus, or worse, ask me when the happy day was to be!

In the summer I had to wear shorts under my dresses to prevent my thighs rubbing together and I had no chin!

I looked awful and felt miserable being a fat lady after being thin all my life until I had my son at 38, and when I quit smoking a few years later, and with a sedentary job, the weight just piled on.

I lost my job in 2017 and felt even worse so I started the 5:2 in an effort to make myself fell better. My goal was to get down to 60 kilos for summer 2018, and I managed that, getting down to 58 kilos, a size 36!!!

I even managed to maintain that weight for a while, but since Christmas I have put on a bit and gone up to 62 kilos. This isn’t really a huge problem as I am 169.9 tall, small boned and still a size 36, but it’s gone straight on my belly and I have been feeling bloated and flabby. Summer is on the way and I have just bought a bikini and in order to wear it I need to get back down to 58 kilos, maybe even 56 kilos which was my average weight when I was younger.

I started back up again last Tuesday, not on 5:2 on a modified 16:8. My son is in boarding school during the week and my husband works away from home so I am on my own from Monday to Friday, so I have been doing a 20:4 and am already down to 60.8kilos! I will do 16:8 at the weekend when they are home though.

I have also started going swimming again, been twice this week and need to go again a 3rd time tomorrow and have started walking everywhere instead of taking the bus.

My new goal is to get back down to 56 kilos and STAY at 56 kilos!!! Or a least never go over 59!

I have scoured the forums here and haven’t really found one that is dedicated to a maintenance regime.

So, I was wondering if there is anyone else out there who is in a similar position, nearing their goal weight or maintaining their goal weight, who would like to accompany me? It’s all so much easier, and more fun, to be supported and boosted and to be able to chat about it! Also motivating, and I need that!

I am not very good at 5:2, I did it for a few months last year and never managed to stick to 500 calories, I was always around 800, not that that really mattered as I did lose weight steadily. I even just water fasted 2 days a week for about 2 months after I hit a plateau from Jan-March and my weight stuck at 72 kilos. That kick started the weight loss again but I am sorry to say that I absolutely hated being on a water fast for 2 days every week! It was torture for me and I admire all of you who do that!

Water fasting from 9 at night until around 5pm the next day suits me way better and it works for me, I save up all my 1500 calories and feast in the evening and have been doing that since Tuesday and lost 1.2 kilos already. And that after drinking quite a lot of wine yesterday evening in town with friends AND eating baked potatoes with butter cheese and salad when I got home after 9pm!

So? I am really hoping to hear from others out there who are entering into a “Thin for Life now” stage!

fasting_me

1:34 pm
13 Mar 19
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Hi, Lilimar, and welcome back to Fasting.
There is a Maintenance Chatbox. It is visited by several of us who have been maintaining for years now. We would welcome you and your questions and we would celebrate your success.
There is also a thread for Ladies of a Certain Age, which does the same thing.

My husband and I have been Fasting for almost 6 years and we do it with 600 total calories two days/week. As you know, Fasting does work. Plateaux are common, but just continue Fasting as usual while your body adjusts. I guess you’ve calculated your TDEE and it is 1500 calories. I find that certain foods, even if calorically OK, tend to make my weight go up when I eat them.

Glad you are losing weight again and that you have found a method that works with your lifestyle.
Good luck.

hedgehogs

6:43 pm
18 Mar 19
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Well done losing weight again! I lost 2 stone with 4:3, then another half stone with keto as well as fasting…put on half a stone over Christmas again, after being determined I’d not put weight back on again! 😢 I’m finding it hard to lose it again, even with 2 days of water/ black coffee fasts! Plus holidays are coming round again…hoped to have lost it by then! Great that you can get some exercise too, stick with it & hope you get into that bikini!

Cinque

9:16 pm
23 Mar 19
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Hi Lilimar,
Just saw your post.

Congratulations to you!

As Fasting_Me said, there is a big Maintenance Thread: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/thank-you-dr-m-for-my-success/

But there is always room for another one!

I have been maintaining for just over three years now. I got down to the lower end of my healthy weight range and I am staying there. I know that maintaining is just as important as losing the weight in the first place.

My maintenance regime is pretty similar to my ‘losing weight with 5:2’ regime. I still do two fast days a week, but I can give myself a bit more wriggle room.

I still have my old bad habits of eating around anxiety, or tiredness (insomnia), or binge eating. But I love how maintenance with 5:2 allows me to rest and reset on fast days and continually adjust my thinking and eating habits to be healthier.

How have you been going the last couple of weeks?

Lilimar

10:05 am
18 Sep 19
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I fell of the wagon again!!!

Here I am back again at exactly the point I was in in March! Went up to 64kg, back on 5.2 since End of August and now down to 60.6!

Am getting in as much exercise as I can, including workout daily with an app I downloaded.

I want to get down to 55 kg and then maintain it, so I have a bit of a journey to get through until I am ready to maintain, but preparing the way for a lifetime’s thinness is worth doing. I don’t want to go through all this to get these extra kilos off, only to put them back on again!!! So thinking about, and getting advice on maintenance is vitally important!

Thanks everyone for your advice. I’ll check out the threads you suggested, we are stronger together!!!

Have a great day