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Progress report
@penguin: Mine had that comment as well; plus “does not pay attention.” In this environment attention has not been made to portion size; Good news: not any heavier, Bad news: not any lighter. It would all be fine if my muscle mass was increasing and my body fat decreasing but, alas, all remain static over the last week. My food diary does support the scale’s evidence.
I posted some frustrations here a while ago with my lack of movement on 5:2.
I’m happy to report things seem to have improved. I’m now down about 4-5kg, which is about what I’d been led to expect after 4 months of the diet; the difference being that the entirety of the change has taken place in the last 6-8 weeks.
I know peeps will say “you must have changed something” but I said I’d soldier on as before for a while before making any changes, and I have. Any differences in my regime are subconscious. I eat a fairly strict one-meal 600 kcal on Monday and Friday, with no formal restrictions elsewhere beyond a general, wishy-washy “have a bit less rice & pasta” approach.
I’m perfectly happy with this weight loss – it’s about halfway to my notional “target” – and in all honesty the fasting has become such an easy part of my life that I’ll probably keep it up for some time. I still haven’t nailed down whatever it was that I was doing “wrong” in those first two months, though – top guess is that my scales were mis-reading (or I was mis-reading them) at the start! 🙂
@august2024 Indeed. If I can lose another 4kg by October I’ll be cock-a-hoop – then we’ll see how easy it is to maintain, I guess.
I’m grateful for the advice and support I received on here. If anyone else is in the situation I was – following the plan but seeing no change – I hope that this will inspire them to a little extra patience.
Hi gents, it’s been a tough 10 days for me. My younger brother passed away and I had to travel to the east coast, clean out his apartment and take care of the funeral arrangements. To complicate things I injured my back lifting. I didn’t fast but managed to avoid gaining any weight. I’m down 6.6 lbs in the month since I started (173.8) and it was all in the first 2.5 weeks. I’m more determined than ever to lose an additional 8 lbs to hit my goal. Fortunately my back injury is just muscle strains so I’ll be rehabbing and gently ramping up my workouts. Fast day tomorrow.
Diverdog – sorry to hear of your loss. Get well and take care.
Update on myself – have been sitting at 160 +/- for a week or 2 (started at ~185 last Oct), BMI 22.5. Have shifted to maintenance. Despite my “desire” to trim belly flab, the last 4-5 lbs dropped have simply added definition to my shoulders, chest. Had a bioelectric impedance scan done on Saturday (gym had a promo on with local clinic). 11.75% body fat – these types of scans can be off by up to 3% (typically) and often overread but I’ll take it!
Technician said that in his opinion my belly “flab” is primarily excess skin & water (scan showed I was carrying an extra KG of water). Head home in a week – see what the spouse has to say (haven’t seen her since end March).
@diverdog: Please accept my sincere condolences; I lost my brother (only sibling) in the fall of 2015. Please take care of your back, especially when you are grieving and vulnerable.
@bcjmmac: Impressed by your results and maintenance, I need some of your self discipline and drive!
Best to all on a crystal clear blue sky Toronto morning. Next Saturday Canada turns 150 so big celebrations planned all week.
PS: A new US report by Harvard Public Health confronts the obesity epidemic, it may be preaching to “our choir” here but still interesting.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/magazine/magazine_article/obesity/
Thanks all of you for the kind words. My brother was 8 years younger than me and his death was sudden. He was is very bad physical shape, 100 lbs overweight and a big drinker. He was also very resistant to seeking medical care. I tried to influence him to live a healthier lifestyle but he was set in his ways. I still feel very guilty that I should have tried harder to help him.
However, I am more committed than ever to live a healthy life and to be grateful for every beautiful day I am privileged to enjoy.
bcjmmac, congratulations on your stellar effort and results!
I’m doing a modified water fast today, black coffee till noon and water for the rest of the day. It’s 8:00 PM and I still don’t have any physical hunger but I really miss the ritual food preparation, sitting down and eating. I mentally want to smell and taste food too. Powerful habits!
Time to have a glass of water! Bon appetite! LOL
@diverdog: I applaud your restraint and discipline.Hang in there.
@penquin: I envy you your trip, while knowing only too well the roller coaster ride of weight change; if your clothes still fit after a vacation, count it as a win!
Rob, I would tend to agree with Simon’s advice.
Don’t take the “a calorie is a calorie” advice that is often bandied about too literally. I know that in my case I gain weight when I eat simple carbs and lose weight when I avoid them. I’m a lot heavier than you though, my BMI is 33 and my TDEE is supposed to be around 3200 calories. I’m a little older as well (52).
Gent’s, I had an interesting week. It’s restaurant week in Vegas and I ate three gourmet meals at new places I hadn’t tried before. They offer fixed price menus with a portion of the proceeds going to the local food bank. I also did 2 water fast days and did follow my 9 hour eating window. Results were -4.4 lbs. Down to 169.4 lbs.
My back is improving slowly but I’m still not able to exercise hard.
I still have another 5-6 lbs of lard to remove and I think it will be harder to get off but I’m really motivated and I know I will do it!
Hello gents, just wanted to check in and see how you all are doing. I’m hanging in there with exercise and have been eating a bit more. Fasting only one day a week. Weight is steady at ~170 lbs.
I’m heading to a Bill Phillips fitness training weekend next week and will have a DEXA scan and blood work done.This will give me a baseline to plan my next 12 weeks.
I’m quite pleased with my results over the last 10 weeks but I know I still need to trim another 5-7 lbs of lard.
Looking at the weights some of you guys are talking about, I was really happy. Thinking I was in good company. Then I realized you were talking about pounds, not kilos.
I’m currently at about 131. Kilos. At a height of 6’6.5″, or about 200 cm. So my BMI is just under 33.
First major milestone will be 120 kilos. At that point my wife will start to complain that I am too skinny. So far she has been very supportive.
Gent’s, as usual I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on extending my healthspan. I did an inventory of my diet and realized that I was not getting enough fiber and vegetable micro nutrients.
I’ve decided to start each NFD with a vegetable smoothie consisting of kale, spinach, chard, avocado, apple, carrot, blueberries and some collagen protein powder. I started a couple of days ago and although the taste is not stellar it is palatable. Man is it filling! Keeping me very regular too! LOL
I’m also eating a bunch of broccoli sprouts too. I’m convinced that the sulforaphane in them is strongly anti cancer. Info here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz4YVJ4aRfg
Enjoy and appreciate all the recent posts by @diverdog, @penquin and @big_bill. Personally I have lost motivation and drive as I strive for better health; walking more and doing some weight work but I seem to have fallen off the nutrition and calorie wagon with a large “thunk!”
I hope to get back on the beam.
Best wishes to all
August, it is tough to get both exercise and diet in line at the same. I typically find it easier to maintain an exercise habit that eat to plan.
I find if I’m having trouble, posting a simple goal like tomorrow I’m going to fast and then reporting on how I did is very helpful. Accountability and group support is a powerful tool.
August, we all fall off from time to time. I lapsed badly on Saturday and put on 4 lbs. If I had been consistent I would have hit my weight target 18 months ago! The main thing is to start again and not to go on a guilt trip. This is the rest of our lives we are working on, not some short term diet.
Thanks @penguin, @diverdog, @august2024,
I’m doing well so far, I got back into low carb about 3 months ago and then started incorporating intermittent fasting after that. Many of my non-fasting days have involved me falling off the wagon with a very large thunk, but the good thing is that I can go to bed resolving to fast again the next day, make sure I’ve got a good low-calorie lunch packed to take to work, and the disastrous NFD is history.
I’m currently at 129, down from 144 kilos about 3 months ago. When I started doing low-carb about 2 years ago I’m not sure exactly how much I weighed, but I’m pretty sure it was somewhere north of 150.
Saw the Doc & got my blood test results. Still sitting at 160 lbs (down about 25 lbs over last year/last blood test). 5/2 sine Oct 2016. BMI 22.3
Fasting blood sugar much improved – now 4.5 (mid normal) vice 5.8 (high) year ago so very happy as that is one of my goals as T2D runs in family.
Everything else good except cholesterol – lot higher than last year. Total cholesterol/HDL still good at 3.6 but total cholesterol climbed to 7.1 from 5.1! TG vgood @.59 (low normal). Doesn’t make sense so will have cholesterol retested in a few months. Only possible cause, other than just a bad lab run, is that I did the blood work 1 week after moving back to Canada from Aus.
See what happens next time. Anyone else ever experience something like this?
@bcjmmac
Just chipping in here. After losing 12 kgs last year with the 5:2 I did my yearly blood test in february. Blood sugar was way down, PSI barely existant, all other pointers down except cholesterol. It had stayed about the same – I’m at the top of the “acceptable” curve. I have no explanations but, like you, was dissappointed.
Final check in for this 54 day cycle. Weighed 169.0 today.
My goal was to lose 12 lb and I lost 11.4. I’m quite happy considering the family issues and the back injury.
I go for a DEXA scan tomorrow and get the accurate view of how much more fat I need to lose to be <15%. I’m betting it will be 7-9 more Lbs.
Carboholic Defined, very glad they did not include my picture!
Covers my situation when I fall off the food wagon.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/well/eat/are-you-a-carboholic-why-cutting-carbs-is-so-tough.html
August2024, great article.
I clicked through to this article which was also very revealing:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/opinion/sunday/big-sugars-secret-ally-nutritionists.html
My first inkling that carbs could be addictive was when I read “The Carbohydrate Addicts Diet” book about 17 years ago. I lost about 16 kilos by following that diet, which was probably the second easiest and most effective long-term diet I’ve tried (after 5:2).
Checking in. Two fasting days completed. Weight down to one pound above target. The target was set about 5 years ago,before I discovered 5:2 and seemed ambitious then. I am about to re-set it 7 lbs lower and I’ll have a re-think when I achieve that.
Recently I have been eating on a restricted time basis and over the last week or so I have developed an interest in the gut biome. I have bought Tim Spector’s book “The diet myth” and am working through that. He accepts that 5:2 is about the only diet which works and is sustainable but reckons re-creating a healthy gut population is the long term solution to weight and general health problems.
Healthy gut population sounds good but it is something hard to actually measure. The other issue is that as our gut changes there are side effects that probably aren’t socially acceptable. (Gas production can go way up.) Still I’m trying, must mostly by increasing the amount and variety of fruits and vegetables in my diet.
Gut health is indeed a foundation of good health and weight management. First of all avoiding inflammatory foods to stop leaky gut and then getting plenty of pre and pro boitics aka soluble and non soluble fiber and foods containing active cultures.
Most of us eat foods that inflame the gut. It is really worth getting a food intolerance test to determine which foods you are sensitive to. For me it is dairy proteins AKA casein. Cutting them out of my diet resulted in less joint pain, reduced cravings and better sleep.
Hello all; you may find this article of interest, although in many ways I think it may be preaching “to the Choir”
http://harvardmagazine.com/2017/09/anti-aging-breakthrough
1. Thank you August. Interesting. I’m not sure I buy the throw away line that fasting equals decreased reproduction. The Horn of Africa has been living with famine for the last 30 years and the population has doubled.
2 A while since I checked in. So the update goes: Still just below target weight, eating a lot of fermented foods and making my own kefir, which I drink daily. Working hard at a healthy gut flora and feeling better for it. Dykask if you want to scientifically measure your gut biome, there is an organisation in the US that will do it, and in the UK we have a link to it. Google either American Gut or British Gut.
Hello @penquin, very happy to see your message. Being a Type II Diabetic I found the 5:2 hard to stick with so I have reverted to simple calorie reduction on a daily basis utilizing http://www.myfitnesspalcom as a log and the Reddit “loseit” site for some motivation. Restarted as of the 7th and seen some positive changes with a gradual 2.4 kilo loss. I want sustainable changes I can work with in real life.
@august @penguin – I’m back into the battle too. After losing 12kg last year, I’m now 4/5 kgs up. Maybe 12 was a little too much anyway.
That’s what happens when you go to Italy for the holidays…OK I can’t blame it just on that trip.
I know what I’m doing wrong but it’s a bit discouraging.
Not sure I have the willpower to be a strict as last year. Still, hockey season is on again so I should shed a few pounds. And I’m still cycling too.
The full realization of a “lifestyle change” is slowly sinking in.
Gent’s, I just completed 6 days of mimicking the “fasting mimicking diet”. I ate about 600 calories a day, evenly split between fat and carbs with the least amount of protein possible. The only protein came from the very small amount in veggies. No exercise other than walking. It was pretty easy to do. I lost 6 lbs (170.8 lbs)and ~ 2% body fat. I reintroduced protein and worked out today. My gut is not real happy, as I have farted more today than the rest of the year! LOL I don’t feel bad just gassy as hell. I guess my microbiome has to adjust. Tomorrow I’m going to switch to a ketogenic diet and try to stick with it long enough to fully adapt to being a more efficient fat burner.
@diverdog: I am impressed and a little intimidated!
@penguin: Great rebound; thank you for the inspiration and motivation. Not giving up, or in, may be my “Motto of the Day”; the bungee cord impact of not being totally diligent over the weekend is a reality. “Good sore” today from light Upper Body resistance workout yesterday.
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