Hi everyone, hope we’re all doing well!

I’m back from Rome now, today was supposed to be my first fast day back but it seems I’m struggling to exit holiday mode now I’ve entered it – eeek!

@j-ray – Yep I’m from England 🙂

@willworkforhealth – Thank you! Glad to hear you’ve had a chat with your hubby, maybe if you make sure he knows on a weekly basis which days you’re fasting, he’ll know those days are non-food-love kind of days? Do you guys have a calendar on your fridge or similar? Maybe mark your fast days on there so he can check out your schedule 🙂

Update for me:

Dec 7: NFD
Dec 8: NFD
Dec 9: NFD
Dec 10: NFD
Dec 11: NFD
Dec 12: NFD

Nearly a whole week off.. oops.. back on the wagon on the 14th I promise!

Day 10 & 11 NFD – really over TDEE
Day 12 FD 250cals
Day 13 NFD will aim for much better self control-silly season is taking its toll on my willpower/wontpower on the NFDs but FD was still well under control and feeling good

Day 9: FD
Days 10 – 12: NFDs.

Too many treats at the weekend. Will be working on it this week though! Not long to go until all the festivities, would ideally like to keep cool about the nice food. Can’t wait for a zumba bootcamp (7th of Jan).

Day 13, nfd
Day 14, nfd

Today was going to be a FD but I received potentially poor results from my son’s medical tests last week and promptly ate three chocolate chip cookies. Argh. Part of what I am trying to do with fasting is getting out of the habit of eating my feelings. Working through them now. Worrying never added a day to anyone’s life.

Second post
I’ve had a big struggle today-I’ve completed my fast with less than 1/4 TDEE but have barely manage to claw my way through it…and for the first time in a very very long time I have chosen to do no exercise at all on a week day????!!!! Just couldn’t find the energy, which honestly never happens, even when I’m shattered I just don’t give myself permission to do nothing. I have no idea what happened to me today????
At least 4 times today I’ve almost caved and eaten the mass of baking and treats in the staff room at work, the only thing that stopped me was knowing I’ve never failed a fast day and I’m too scared to allow myself to fail one now in case it becomes a pattern and I feel some sort of mental permission to break my planned fasts going forwards.
I’m seeing great progress in my clothes and that helps motivate me too…plus I’ve splurged on NFDs recently and I know the next two weeks won’t be any better.
I’m taking heart in having two rigorous fasts still every week hoping that the excesses on NFDs will be somewhat mitigated.
It’s likely this month will be a maintenance month in terms of loss…. I hope, but I’m almost sure it won’t be a real decrease in size or weight.
The one accomplishment I feel so far is I’m not anxious about Christmas treats, previously I’ve had some funny feelings about food and lots of guilt attached to eating. If nothing else this months 5:2 wol has given me a feeling of better control and less self loathing.

Day 16 17 18 all NFD
Quick check in for the weekend – don’t know if I’ll make 1.4kg loss this month as I wanted to but I am down 0.4kg as of today so that’s a lovely reward after my struggle with yesterday’s fast.
Have a lovely weekend everyone, I’m away to a Christmas picnic tomorrow – probably hard for you Northern Hemisphere folk to imagine but Christmas is picnic and BBQ season for me.

Day 14 = NFD
Day 15 = FD
Day 16 = NFD

Still stuck on and yo-going around, my plateau. Very very frustrating, since it’s been like this for nearly 6 weeks. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Day 15, fd
Day 16, nfd

Test results came back stable! My son has a chronic disease we have to monitor, so thankful for nothing getting worse or needing additional testing. What a difficult three days it’s been, WHEW!

Days 17-20: NFDs.

Have a great week everyone.

@tanchora I feel the same way about 5:2, it feels so sustainable! I really like how it’s set up in a 7 day framework, miss a day, there’s always next week, as opposed to sticking to something super restrictive 24:7.

@xamos I often don’t resist the deliciousness that nfd allows, at least this month. Holiday parties everywhere!

@lany36 good for you with being so good sticking to it .. this is responding to last week but my energy level was way down too and I exercised a lot less, and this weekend just didn’t get the chance to. Then today I ran my fastest 4.5 mile run ever, sometimes, our bodies just need to rest and repair. It’s actually a core tenet of the 5:2! I signed up for a tough muddle next April, I’m looking forward to starting training now so I can build slowly and take the necessary rest when my body needs it.

@wwfh oh no croup is the worst and SO scary! So glad baby is better! Man we could have cheers’d each other with milk and cookies and gratitude. Sick kids, especially when it seems something could be really wrong, is so stressful.
ONE thing is that even though my second fast day last week was a bit busted (wine at the company Xmas party), Friday, Saturday and Sunday I ate no breakfast, very light lunch, snacked little and just enjoyed a good dinner. And alcohol. I feel a lot more control over the seasonal uptake in calories, really nice! I think this will be a month, no loss, maybe a slight gain over last month.
Day 17, 18 nfd
Day 19, FD, a good hard run, and feeling great (finally)!

Day 20: NFD.
Day 21: FD.
Day 22: NFD.

Quick update..

Dec 21: NFD
Dec 22: FD

My sister is back today so I’m hoping I can maintain my fast days while she’s visiting.. lets see how it goes. Fast Day yesterday was really successful, nice and busy so went by smoothly.

Day 24 = NFD
Christmas Eve in our house; hoping to make it through without too many treats. Sending holiday wishes to all here.

Day24 25 26 nfd
Day 27 fd
Will break fast at about 38hours today. Really needed it after three very relaxed nfd which is the way Christmas should be but it’s time to get back on track now.
Can’t decide yet if tomorrow or Friday will be my second FD this week, all I know is it has to happen during the week, weekends just aren’t an option and I’m fully committed to maintaining my 5:2.
2017 is on the way and I’m determined to lose the rest of what I gained in 2016, it won’t be gone before the year is over but I feel really certain i have to stick to the wol even in the silly season to make sure I reach my goal

Hi all – Merry Christmas!

I decided to sacrifice my fast days in favour of having a good Christmas with my family, unsure if I’ll get another fast day in before the New Year but I’m looking forward to starting 2017 equipped with the knowledge that I can fast and once I get into the swing of things I enjoy it.

@willworkforhealth – will you be doing this group again next month?

I’ll also be training for a half marathon so habits will be formed in 2017.

Dec 23-28: NFD’s

Many thanks for everyone’s support during this month 🙂 looking forward to completing January with you too!

Day 28 NFD
Day 29 FD
Day 30 & 31 NFD
Hi mystic
Willworkforhealth has been the host of this group for the last couple months, we are limited to 12 people but quite a few seem to have dropped off so if she is continuing to manage the spreadsheet i suspect there will be space for you.
If she decided she needs a break then one of us may step up to do it for a month as we all seem to get great support from each other.

Hi all,

I’m not sure if @willworkforhealth is doing this group again for January. I work a lot with google docs anyway so it wouldn’t be a problem for me to update the spreadsheet, I’ve just created practically a carbon-copy of this months spreadsheet which you can find here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CdCQODvRCLBPJEuMo_ZVoX81g0DrpRY9TVQmmzkGdlQ/edit?usp=sharing

I’m noticing a lot of activity on other threads with newcomers looking to kick-start the New Year. However I don’t want to step on @willworkforhealth‘s toes! If she comes back in a day or two I would be more than happy to step down. What do we all think? Would it be okay for me to start a new thread?

Hey @lany36 I think we’ve been looking at the same thread and you’re right it’s massive.. way too many people to keep up with. I’d be glad to carry on as like you say this group is a great support.

That’s fantastic news, I wish you the best of luck. I used to experiment with longer duration water fasts but it’s been a while since I’ve completed one, I used to have steely motivation for that kind of thing but it’s since dwindled somewhat. Do let us know how you get on and how you feel during/afterwards 🙂 I’d love to hear.

I’ve made a new thread and put you and @mystic onto the spreadsheet. Was Jan 1st your first FD?

See you over in the other thread 🙂

Hey @willworkforhealth, no problem at all, I hope you’re good!

Thank you, see you soon and Happy New Year 🙂