Day 2 of my fast, not a full water fast, just no breakfasts followed by low cal days. Yesterday morning I went to the gym – usual workout ending on the treadmill. No problems. This morning I went again. No problem with the weights or the core workout but on the treadmill I ran out of enthusiasm very quickly. I am not a great fan of the treadmill. compared to running outside I find it boring, but this was unusual. It was at the end of a hard session, which may be the reason, I don’t feel that I am lacking energy.

diverdog. I think we have all been there. I have been too casual myself recently and am 7 pounds heavier than I was. However, from past experience we know that we can fix this!

My post yesterday was more of an estimate than a precise measure. I have been away from home this last week. This morning I weighed myself. There is a silly game played with cards by English kids – you call “Snap” when you match the last card. So “snap”, I am also 14 pounds up from my lowest point. Still well down from where I started but up enough to feel sluggish and unhealthy. This is day one of my water fast.

BMI is a ripoff! I just calculated that even if my body fat was down to 0% my BMI would still be over 21! 😮 Also I would be dead.

I realize the BMI is too simple and the data it is based on somewhat bogus. I know that a lot of people make claims that they are big boned or heavily muscled. I’m not heavily muscled but I do have some muscle. I was just a bit surprised that at least for me the BMI range seems to be off a fair amount.

I am 6ft 5 in tall. During my military service when I was at my fittest, running 6 miles every weekday and longer at the weekend, playing sport and working out in the gym my BMI said I was overweight. Like many things concerned with health and fitness, it can be a useful guide if you fit the parameters. I wouldn’t put it more strongly than that.

Oops? That should have read waist/height ratio. E.g. if you’re 180cm tall, your waist should ideally be 90cm or less. So I guess a ratio of 2:1. Works with inches the same way.

Some of us old guys still wear our belts up there. That is where the moleskins I currently have on are sitting. Although with jeans they have to be lower – nobody makes them like that anymore. Fashion was never my thing.

Time for another check in. The scales this morning show me under the 12 stone mark for the first time at 11 st 13.75 lbs, so happy that another interim target has been met. I have set my next mimi target at 11st 10lbs and can hopefully reach it by the end of this month, as I’m going on a 5 night mini cruise to the Norwegian fjords which is “all inclusive “ and most probably will throw a spanner in the works! I am not however as pleased with my waistline reduction as it seems very reluctant to drop below 35 inches – seems to have been hovering between 35 and 35.5 for weeks now. Anyway from the start of the year I am down from 13 st 2lb ish to 11 st 13 lb ish and my waist as measured round the belly button is down from 38in to 35in. Need to get below 34 in for the all important waist/height ratio to hit the top of the healthy range at 0.5.

I was away in Scotland Sunday to Friday last week and Sunday and Thursday are my fasting days – I’m more than happy to see the scales tell me I put on 0.1kg which means nothing as a measurement but tells me I didn’t put on anything like the extra weight i was fearing I would – I didn’t eat badly anyway – just different things – a few cappuccinos from coffee houses while out and about and sandwiches and cereal bars which I don’t normally tend to eat these days since starting 5:2 but when you’re out for a days walking you have to take something other than an apple – I think I did fine with my eating but we also did a lot of exercise so that, I think, must have offset any extra calories – we did over 30 miles of walking so not much time doing anything that wasn’t energetic. We were in Pitlochry and it’s our first visit to Scotland and, I have to admit – it is as beautiful as the Scots always claim – we can’t wait to get back there. The roads are less congested than England and there are less people on the walks compare to places like the Lake District – far less. My wife has been impressed I think, with the results I’ve had with 5:2 and is giving it a go – I made a very definite point of NOT trying to encourage her or suggesting she try it – I think she’ll find it hard as she is a creature of habit. I’ve known her since I was 11 (been going out with her since 11 in fact) and she has always (i.e. every single day) had a bowl of porridge for breakfast – with a spoon of syrup and some sultanas – so it’s hard for her to imagine a day not doing that – she’s trying though (without the syrup and sultanas) but her porridge (I calculated on the amounts we use) still amounts to 350 cals. So all-in-all – the holiday with plenty of walking worked out really well – I do like to weigh myself to help keep my eye on the prize as it were – I missed having the scales around but I know my wife would think I was a bit obsessive if I tried to take them – maybe it was a good thing.

I’ve gone from 90.1 to 81.1 – 9kg in 4 months and what has surprised me and frustrated me is that the one bit of flab I was really only interested in shifting has only now just started to disappear – it’s the bit of flab at the side above my hip – if you put the palms of your hands on your head and bend sideways you can see that fat bulge above the hip – maybe there’s something else I should have been doing to help this – I have some weights my daughter bought me for xmas but my shoulder injury (from swimming) really has put a big restriction on what I can do with them. Why is that bit of fat so damn hard to remove!? It’s not just me though is it? Is it?

I had another 5:2 day yesterday and TBH I’ve been finding it a bit harder and less enjoyable than before – maybe motivation failing a bit as I have gone through my first goal of 84kg and am not a million miles off getting down to 79kg – I think I got better at doing the 5:2 fasts recently and feel I do well at getting through the days when I really don’t fancy doing it – maybe it’s just a phase or something to do with the change in the weather – it’s brightened up (in the UK) – I’m taking the plastic off my polytunnel on my allotment and putting the netting on as I don’t think we’re due any frosts for a while. So – is there a seasonal difference anyone has noticed – is it harder in the summer to stick at it, do it, stay motivated for it than, say, the winter – or easier – any opinions? Hope you are all managing to stick at it and get the results you want – yesterday was not that enjoyable – the absence of food when you’re not in the mood for it makes life seems a lot less enjoyable – BUT – I feel good about having toughed it out yesterday and to see the scales go from 81.5 to 81.1 after 3 or 4 consecutive readings all at 81.5 – so I’d encourage anyone to just hand in there on the days 5:2 is not feeling much like fun – today I can pretty much eat what I want but of course, even with that freedom I’m not going to go mad anyway but that thought, yesterday, about having the freedom today, was a good thought yesterday.

Also…
I had another 5:2 day yesterday and TBH I’ve been finding it a bit harder and less enjoyable than before – maybe motivation failing a bit as I have gone through my first goal of 84kg and am not a million miles off getting down to 79kg – I think I got better at doing the 5:2 fasts recently and feel I do well at getting through the days when I really don’t fancy doing it – maybe it’s just a phase or something to do with the change in the weather – it’s brightened up (in the UK) – I’m taking the plastic off my polytunnel on my allotment and putting the netting on as I don’t think we’re due any frosts for a while. So – is there a seasonal difference anyone has noticed – is it harder in the summer to stick at it, do it, stay motivated for it than, say, the winter – or easier – any opinions? Hope you are all managing to stick at it and get the results you want – yesterday was not that enjoyable – the absence of food when you’re not in the mood for it makes life seems a lot less enjoyable – BUT – I feel good about having toughed it out yesterday and to see the scales go from 81.5 to 81.1 after 3 or 4 consecutive readings all at 81.5 – so I’d encourage anyone to just hand in there on the days 5:2 is not feeling much like fun – today I can pretty much eat what I want but of course, even with that freedom I’m not going to go mad anyway but that thought, yesterday, about having the freedom today, was a good thought yesterday.

Lemonstar, congrats on hitting 80.8! I think you might be onto something with seasonal eating. Perhaps longer days program us to eat more since food was more available and we needed to fatten up for the winter.

I’m still struggling to get back on a steady program. I’m currently on day 6 of a “fasting mimicking” diet and resting from intense exercise. I’m very happy that the OH has joined me and her compliance has been very good. My shoulder and elbow are complaining a bit so I’m going to stay off heavy weights for a while and experiment with blood flow restriction training.

Hi mate,

Im a bloke and Ive been doing it for about a year. Very solid way to lose weight. Good luck with it pal

Hello gentlemen, with best wishes for the holiday season and 2019.
I have not been active on this site for almost a year for two reasons. First I was intimidated/discouraged by the extreme fast practices some posters reported and their continued “yo-yo” results in the real world. Second as a Type II diabetic I found my results were not sustainable in the long run. I realize that results and dedication are personal and one’s experience may not be the same for others especially given differences in lifestyle and resource availability.
After further consulting my GP and an endocrinologist I have refocused on a daily reduced daily calorie goal of about 1500 to 1600 and an increased exercise profile. My weight is down and better still I am close to “normal” range for my hA1C metric…the primary Diabetes indicator for those lucky to not have it on their mind. My goals include a steady but sustainable decrease in weight, body fat and negative blood work results to manageable long term levels.
Best wishes to all, especially Mr.Penguin and Mr. Diverdog.

Penguin, the “fasting mimicking” went well, but I decided just doing a water fast is better. I just finished another 5 1/2 day and my wife does “fasting mimicking” at the same time. I’ve been posting to the alternate ways to fast forum here.

Happy and healthy new years to all of the men trying to improve their health and fitness here!

Penguin, I’m with you on the fitness. This last year has been about building muscle and being as healthy as possible. I’ve been very successful at both. I’ve built 10lbs of muscle, my RMR went up 22% and my blood chems are the best ever. I do want to get leaner but the 5 1/2 days of fasting is all about cell apoptosis and stem cell regeneration for me.

I’m going to continue on the same path, 12 weeks of no fasting with a 10 hour TRE window. But I’m going to cut down on my calorie consumption a bit.

I’ll be pumping iron and doing HIIT on a spin bike

Just hopping on to say that my husband (and I) did the Fast 800 from MM and it is excellent. He is at his goal weight after a couple of months. We did the rapid weight loss part which you can do for up to 12 weeks, and now maintain. He does the Time Restricted Eating. We were recently overseas for a month visiting 2 continents for work for my husband which included plenty of alcohol and only 2 home cooked meals in a whole month. He just did the TRE and forgot about calories. Only came back a few kilos heavier. We have been back for 2 weeks and he is at his lowest ever without counting calories. He does the TRE and I serve healthy mediterranean low carb dinners. He also has a smoothie for lunch which is frozen banana, a handful of spinach leaves, protein powder, a cup of almond milk and a tonne of ice. We now drink only on weekends. We weren’t big drinkers but used to have a big glass of red every night. Hope this helps someone.

August/Uptight. Good to hear from you both. In some ways this has been an excellent year, but for the last month I have been negligent, so I have a few pounds to lose. The reason for the gain is probably that several years of 5:2 have persuaded me that losing weight is not difficult, so I got too casual. Time to start again!

Well I’ve been having a problem staying on track boys.
I started this 5-2 end of 2016 and did get down from 86k to 74k in 3 months – thanks to your encouragement – but it has been a struggle to stay low over the last 3 years.
I realized too that I had lost a little too much weight and it would be impossible to stay there.
So 3 years on I was up to 84k this summer. So that’s 10k back on over 3 years. I guess not too bad but I’ve started the 5-2 again seriously to get back on track.
Down to 82k after 2 weeks and aiming at 76/78k – and to stay there. I’m thinking 2 months. Already feeling better about myself.
Back on HIT, cycling and my hockey season will start next week so there is hope. But I’ve just turned 60 (OMG) and can clearly feel how much more difficult it is to stay in shape.
Nice to see that August, Diverdog and Penguin are still around.

August, that’s the great thing about this plan. It’s not a constant nag to deny yourself the pleasures of life. Just fast a couple of days a week.

Your summer sounds as if it was lovely. Good luck getting back in those breeches!

David,

The 5/2 diet that this site is based on is intermittent fasting.

I suggest this Michael Mosley book. I listen to it a long drive. It has changed my life.

https://www.amazon.com/FastDiet-Revised-Updated-Healthy-Intermittent/dp/150110201X

Kevin

David, the correct name for what you are referring to is Time Restricted Eating. It works very well but isn’t really fasting. The big difference is there is no calorie restriction is required. The biggest eating window for any benefit is 12 hours with 8-10 hours being optimal. There is no additional benefit from less than 8 hours.

Hi guys. Good to hear from you all. Diverdog I like your results.

I have been too casual this summer and am now ten pounds above my lightest. That is still a long way down from my starting point but it cannot be allowed to continue. So from today I am back to the old regime. For me that is restricted time eating every day – confining my eating to an eight hour period – and a minimum of two consecutive fast days every week. That will be two 600 cal days with a zero cal three day fast once a month. The one good thing about the summer is that I have kept up the physical exercise, with regular gym (weight and HIT) and Pilates workouts. Previous experience suggests that it will not take long to get back to the old level.