Hi! Thanks for the invite to join you all countrygirl! It is my first fast day today and have already gained many helpful hints by reading your posts.

I have started out by sleeping in! Then green tea til lunchtime, small can of tuna for lunch and planning to stick to water till dinner, maybe salad and steamed veg?
I am 68, 5ft 2 and also have at least 20 kilos to lose, hopefully more, since I am 90 kgs at present! Have a back injury which finally forced me to retire from active nursing service, so walking exercise is not on the table for me. Though I do what I can, the computer draws me to a chair most days. I’m spreading at an alarming rate, recently diagnosed with type two diabetes, though only diet controlled at present. It requires radical change of my …sob… bad habits! Love fat and my rum and coke!

Am hoping 5:2 is my answer. Mostly, I am glad to have a focal point, as I have been researching the best way to go (and have tried and failed quite a few). Finally heard about 5:2 from my former colleagues. It has taken off like wildfire in the staff population of my old Hospital, ha, ha, though as usual we (the health providers) are ‘not allowed’ to advise/treat our patients with anything not proven by evidence based research. But they report their individual success is astounding. I wondered if it would work without the addition of galloping around the wards, etc. I am considering making my journey a research project, or at least helping collect stats for my still working mates! Will enjoy looking in on you DETERMINED AUSSIES from time to time. Your support value is great. Keep up the good work and Happy New Year to all!

Hi everyone
I too know what pinking shears are and just the other day I learned how to sharpen them at home. Fold aluminium foil four or five times and then cut through it until the shears are sharp enough to cut through fabric.
Today is a fast day and I’ve found drinking water continuously helps a lot with the hunger pangs.
Unfortunately, the tape measure is still showing the same numbers.
I’m not keen on weighing myself because I hate the disappointment. I don’t own any scales so occasionally I pop into my doctor’s surgery and jump on their scales. When I notice a change in the tape measure I’ll zoom up to the doc’s and see if the scales have moved.
Marelda, your dream is so funny. Tricky, tricky brain.
I agree that ‘champignons’ are usually only named that when the tin says so.
It’s great to see everyone’s stories and how each of us is maneuvering our ways through the fasting program.

Yay, it worked! Now to figure out all the rest of the emoticons. I tried copying the animated ones from the website – perhaps I have to post for it to work? Here’s trying…
[url=http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php][img]http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-basic/smile.gif[/img][/url]

Welcome Gypsybell, hope you find this WOL/WOE very doable as most of us. All the best for your starting efforts.
Yay Barata, you smileys are working now.
If you want to paste the smileys from other emoticon type of websites. Just copy and post the html code here and it should work… Hope you will have fun trying!!!

Hello everyone….miss one day and geez what a of of posts! Is great to see so much activity on here, and more new members welcome!

had a lovely evening with my son, his girlfriend is absolutely lovely! I am a lucky mum 🙂 They are out sight seeing, then we are going to movies…..have been fasting all day but will break this at dinner time….but all up I’ve worked out will still be under 1000 cals….so not too bad..

Hopped on scales this morning and am down 700 grams after a non-fast day? Hope it is for real……74.4 this morning

Well done CG on breaking through the 83 kg! 😀

Hi all, welcome to all the newcomers to this supportive corner of the interweb. Fast day for me today. Just my bog-standard fast day food and drink routine. Currently enjoying peppermint tea. Weigh-in tomorrow.

Hey Catherine and GG1, so glad that today’s fast is over…..finished at 430 cals. Normal eating tomorrow. Yay to all of us and Andrew, i didn’t know that you were also fasting today. You are a champ at routine. My fast day food diary is all over the place… Lol.
Off to bed now…. Gd Night all!!!

Hi all, weighed in this morning at 88.4 so no real loss (from 88.5 Tuesday morning) but no gain either.

All the best to those fasting today. Keep those fluids up even if the weather is cooler.

Hi all, it’s post fast day (week 6)and the tape measure remains the same. Calorie diary for the last three days shows that one day I was over and one day well below so my preliminary thinking is that I’m eating within my range on non-fast days but I’ll continue to record my intake for a week and check the findings then.
I’m struggling to keep motivated when nothing is happening. Especially during a fast day when I’m so hungry. I can’t understand how others don’t feel hungry on fast days. Drinking water worked for the first half of yesterday but by the evening I was nearly demented with hunger.

Hi everyone, thanks for welcoming me to your chat. I only decided on Tuesday that I would try this. Yesterday was my first fast day and it didn’t go well. Something happened when I got home and I was very stressed so I turned to my old favourite – cheese. Grrr, I was so angry with myself. I’m not sure if I will get a chance to fast again this week, but whether or not I do I am planning to make Mondays and Thursdays my fast days. My starting weight on Monday was 83kg, I’m hoping to get to 79kg before my daughter turns 1 next month. I also need to get back to exercising.

A question for everyone, does anyone on here just eat absolutely nothing on their fasting days? Or maybe just a salad for dinner? This is what I am thinking of doing.

@flemishcurves, I have been to Liege, Brussels and Bruges from memory. All very nice. I will let you know if I find any Luke Danes serving coffee in Connecticut.

Fasting today, weigh in tomorrow. Starting from a new low point this morning, (100grams!) so this bodes well for good news for the official weigh in!

Hi all, Happy fast day to those fasting today. Meeeee, knitomat, Andrew, Catherine and FB, another one bites the dust. Finished on 504 cals yesterday and for the first time I wasn’t hungry (day 38).

I weigh nearly every day first thing in the morning; no change in weight this morning; slight disappointment. I seem to assume I should weigh less after a fast day. Oh well, just more incentive to be careful today – I’m doing alternate days.

FlemishCurves I used to get light-headed occasionally when getting up from bending over. It must have been a blood-pressure thing because I haven’t had it since my doc put me on blood pressure tablets. I’m hoping to come off them again once I get a bit lighter.

Well I’m off to work. Keep your AUSSIE DETERMINATION.

Good Morning All
Meeeee hang on it gets easier with time, give yourself couple of weeks to settle into routine.
Rocksy, you have an amazingly correct attitude towards this. Makes things easier with right attitude for ourselves. I am still in the process of achieving the right attitude as yours. Well, One day…….. 🙂
Knitomat, are you weighing yourself. Most of us felt that tape measures did not change for us for couple of weeks while we dropped some weight as per scales and clothes start to git better as well. How about your clothes? Are you fitting any better in them. There is another member in this thread who reported no weight loss for 5 weeks and suddenly weight dropped. All of us are made up of different compositions and may show changes differently. Stick with it and you will see a change for sure, especially when you are eating right during your non fast days too.
Are you exercising or walking? I mean try and add some walks if you can and if you are exercising, maybe stop for a week and see if you notice any change. All the best……

Also, I know that having a diet drink is not very healthy, but as CG said until you get into the habit, try having a can of coke zero or pepsi max to beat those hunger pangs. Really helps. Like CG, I also rely on coke zero for lunch time hunger pangs and it works like a magic for me too. Just a suggestion….

Hi all

A few people are struggling with fasts hang in there it does get easier by about week three I found.

Fasting today woke up with headache and hungry may be a long long today, was hot overnight I was sweating when I woke up, now in air conditioned comfort feel much better. A black coffee down. Will make up some strawberry water and sip. Planning boiled egg about 11am then a cup of soup then onto chicken tenders and veg for dinner and a frothy coffee jarrah as a fast day treat before bed. Still on holidays go back to work next week.

I have only 1kg to loose of my 3.5kg I put on over Christmas. So amazing this program.

Everyone have a lovely fast day. Check in weigh in day Friday.

Hi CG, thanks for your advice but I don’t like soft drinks of any kind. I find the bubbles hurt my throat when they come back and I feel bloated after I drink them. And as for ‘diet’ drinks, there’s plenty of science that says they are really bad for the body. I don’t have a problem drinking water. I love it! I have a bottle with a filter in it and the water is delicious.

Second fast day today, week 1 of my new life! Seems to be going really well, not actually feeling that hungry and now that I’ve already done one day I know it’s completely doable. I thought I would massively splurge out the next day but strangely I didn’t, maybe just the fact that I had done the hard work made me not want to put it all back on straight away! Great to hear all the success stories!

Good morning everyone, lots of interesting posts and comments and tips on here this morning…..we really are a wonderful group….it’s great to see that everyone are individuals and are working out what works best for them in their foods choices and eating times…..for new members who may be experiencing some trouble adapting to the fast day, and hunger…..just keep experimenting to find out what works best for you….there are no failures on here, just trial and error….you will work it out 🙂

My fast day yesterday ended up being around 1200 cals….but I did fast until lunch time and walked my dog as usual….it has paid off because I am another 300 grams down and can say I’m the lightest I’ve been in about 10 years! 74.1 kg woo hooo

Probably won’t weigh in tomorrow as usual as have a few busy days lined up….have a great fast day everyone fasting and good luck for everyone who are weighing in tomorrow 😀

Off to the Valley of the Giants today and lunch in Denmark…..WA that is FC! lol

@allyatsea, I felt that the reason I didn’t binge on the days after, was because I think my stomach had already shrunk after one day of fasting. I think our stomachs just start shrinking back to the girth they should be and the transition happens very quickly. I think that’s one of the biggest perks of IF: with other calorie restrictive routines, people often have to teach their stomachs very slowly what a normal amount of food is and they’re often hungry for weeks/months before the stompach resets. With IF, it happens immediately and you don’t feel deprived while your stomach is reducing in size.

CG, I drank 33Oml to 500ml of Lipton Ice Tea Zero Sugar for the first year of 5:2 because I felt more comfortable knowing I could have something sweet and bubbly. I’ve since stopped (I don’t actively remember when, I just forgot to buy them as I didn’t crave them anymore) but I don’t regret my decision to drink them one little bit. They got me through the FD and they were only 15kcal per 500ml bottle. Are they the healthiest drinks? Hell no. Does it really matter that much? I think not.
I also ate banana/vanilla-flavoured rice cakes at 38kcal/cake. Rice cakes are highly processed and these had chemical flavourings added to them but I enjoyed them, they filled me up and they were nice and sweet and kept me under my 500 kcal. No regrets. I still eat corn thins I buy in Spain especially because they don’t sell them anywhere else. They are absolutely delicious and only 30kcal but processed and high in salt. Don’t really care. Everything else I eat is fresh/cooked from scratch. I wouldn’t worry about the diet pop too much if it helps you get healthier overall. Just my 2 cents.

I have reading posts about alcohol and diet soft drink and coffee white.

My opinion is you can have what you like to get you through your fast days.

If you want white coffee have it, you want diet soda have it you want alcohol have it just account for it.

this is because everyone is different and have different needs wants etc.

I wouldn’t have alcohol, that was my undoing over Christmas and I plan to stay off it till March but if you want it have it

Hi All
I too am doing a fast day today. Catherine- I never get up in the night but after my fast day I do have to go to the toilet. Foxy- I just went to the Valley of Giants and Denmark in the holidays (Im from Melbourne)Such lovely places!! I have a diet soft drink when I feel like I need to have something sweet on my fast days

Thanks FlemishCurves, that makes complete sense! just hope it keeps working now… Just one general question to everyone on here: Do you get cold on your fast days? I mean maybe it’s just me or maybe the air conditioning is on too strong in this office, but I tend to get really cold and shivery. Wondering if I’m alone?

Hi knitomat, yep, the allyatsea login actually did come from when I lived on a boat! It was years ago mind but I got used to it and use it for everything now. Ok, good to know about the coldness. I feel a bit silly here with a blanket on my legs when it’s 25 degrees outside. Will check previous posts to see what others were experiencing