Experience Needed!

This topic contains 11 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by StephB 11 years, 2 months ago.

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Miss Yoyo

12:52 pm
3 Sep 13
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Hi Everyone!

This is my third week of the 5:2 regime and so far am impressed. however, I want to know if what I am currently doing will help or hinder my progress. I would really appreciate some advice or personal experiences.

ME

Gender: Female
Weight: (as of this morning 134lb)
Goal: 120lb
Height: 5ft 2in
Active: Sedentary (Desk job)

I stick to the allotted 500 cals on two days a week (usually Tuesday and Thursday) and keep under 1500 the rest of the time.

I also run/jog 4/5 times a week. nothing to amazing just maybe 2km a time. sometimes more sometimes less.

I rarely reach 1500 cals a day on my non fast days it usually gets to about 1200. Will this affect loss in a bad way? as in slow the loss down?

I love my sleep and am usually in bed by about 10pm. I usually eat about 7-8pm is this too late?

I also very rarely eat breakfast. So I routinely don’t eat a thing until 1pm on a non fast day. Am I messing up the goodness of fasting by doing this?

Finally can I have opinions on my fast day diet.

I allow myself 450 cals of food. I enter in 150 mls of skimmed milk for cups of tea (there’s no way I use this much but better o be safe that sorry!) so that automatically takes away 50 cals.

lunch: Melon – 200g (60 cals ish)

Dinner: Soup (I love new Covent garden) 260 cals (ish – never more than 300)

Snack – depends on what cals I have left but maybe some turkey ham 50g (50 cals) or some prunes 50g (70 cals) or other fruit.

negative (not too harsh I have feelings :))and positive comments welcome!

thank you all !!

DrLL

1:33 pm
3 Sep 13
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You seem to have your ducks lined up, but the best guide is “if it works it works”. Post us back in a month and tell us if your plan worked for you.

We are many on this forum and we are doing 5:2 in many different ways. I’m doing 6pm-6pm without counting calories (before 6pm I eat nothing – after 6pm I eat what I am also serving my family). Very easy, very flexible, weight loss is now slowing down but is approaching the lowest in 20 years (my goal).

Annie Somerset

1:48 pm
3 Sep 13
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Hi Miss Yoyo, all sounds good to me. I agree with DrLL, the beauty of the plan is customising it for what works.

All I wanted to add (8 months down and with similar stats to yourself) was to manage expectations – this is slow, steady progress (for me at any rate). It’s not a quick fix, it’s a lifestyle change. It works long term, and that’s the point.

Wishing you well with discovering what works for you, your body and your lifestyle.

anssies

2:12 pm
3 Sep 13
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Hi Miss Yoyo,

The only thing I have to add, is maybe your not eating enough on your normal days, if you are onder 1500 calories, you could put your body in to starvation mode, and that would be a pitty. The easiest way to burst op you calories a bit, is by starting te eat (or drink) a small breakfast. I didn’t eat breakfast for almost ten years, but when I started to do, I lost almost 10 kilo’s and they stayed of. I wasn’t aware of 5:2 then, this is about 8 years ago. I started eating breakfast with just a glass of milk in the morning, when I noticed that I was losing weight, I made my breakfast a little bit bigger and bigger. Í eat for breakfast a bowl of porridge now, not a very large one, but I do.
So I hope this experience will help! Its not that I saying you should, but maybe this will work for you too! Keep up with getting healtier (thats probaly not the correct spelling, I’m dutch so sorry for that, but I think you will understan me)And with the weight loss!! Wish you the best!!

Old Faster

8:45 pm
3 Sep 13
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Hi Miss Yo yo

I am finding a few things helpful and I am achieving results but as Annie Somerset says it’s slow and steady rather than a quick fix:
-I don’t eat before noon on a fast day
-As I have a sweet tooth I try to save enough calories for a 50 calorie meringue nest and a sugar free jelly (10 calories) each fast day
-I max out the flavour with lots of garlic/black pepper/onion
-I purchase pre-packed salads for work (eg Co-op £1 for 40 calories) to avoid the risk of over doing it
-similarly I use pre-packed frozen vegetables for the same reason
-I use a lot of Quorn-from frozen and only 45 calories for a decent fillet
-I promise myself something naughty for each immediate post-fast day!

TracyJ

10:48 am
4 Sep 13
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Hi Miss Yoyo, your plan looks good to me and if it’s working for you then that’s the main thing. You need to be able to keep up whatever you’re doing forever so make it easy on yourself. I would say that 1500 calories on non-fast days is probably fine if you really want to shift weight a bit quicker but I wouldn’t go as low as 1200. You need to be eating (on non-fastdays) a diet that you WANT to eat forever. If you like chocolate build a chocolate quota into your non-fastdays, if you like crisps or chips then do the same with them.

I also save something I really miss (since I never have breakfast anymore) for fastdays and have all of my 500 calories in a bowl of bran flakes with a cuppa and a piece of fruit. This means I actually look forward to fastdays and have a yummy (to me) carrot to keep me going throughout the day at work.

Miss Yoyo

4:55 pm
5 Sep 13
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Thank you all for your replies!! All very very helpful. I will start having breakfasts at work that way I can’t say I didn’t have time before I left!

I would normally weigh myself tomorrow (friday) but I think I’ll give it a miss this week and try again next!

DrLL – that’s great that you are near your goal! How long did it take for you to find the system that worked for you?

Annie – thank you for the encouragement! Slow and steady wins the race !

Anssies – thanks for the tip! Your English is brilliant I understood you perfectly. I wouldn’t know where to start if I had to reply in Dutch.

Old faster – I love quorn! At the moment my boyfriend (who is veggy – I cheekily say I am 90% of the time) and I are mad keen on cauldron Cumberland sausages at the moment.

Tracy – I too would find a big bowl of all bran / bran flakes heaven so I might try it your way one day next week!

Next question! Now, how do you all manage the near obsessive need weigh yourself every 30 seconds or is that just me 🙂 ?

P.s apologies for the typing this is being typed on my phone on the way home from work – I hope you can get the gist

DrLL

6:53 pm
5 Sep 13
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Miss Yoyo. It took me 4 weeks. Then I went on holidays and found it easier to fast during the day and enjoy the evening meals with my family. After that it has been 24 hours fast without counting calories. Easy, flexible, effective (for me at least).

How is your fasting working out? Hungry? Well I guess so, but maybe you also feel ‘light’, ‘healthy’, ‘enthusiastic’? Best of luck

Miss Yoyo

8:01 pm
5 Sep 13
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Oh I find fasting easy peasy, so easy I actually feel guilty for eating the next day. I’m just finding it pretty hard to believe it works, you know?

I only really eat in the evenings even on a non fast day so I think this is where I may be going wrong. Ill get home at 6 and have only eaten 400/500 cals during the day and then I simply cannot justify eating 900/1000 for dinner so usually end up around the 900 mark total. The only problem is I know I can’t sustain it. My weight Yoyo’s every year by about 20lb! Between 117lb and 137lb. Hence miss yoyo! I just want this diet/lifestyle to help my regulate even if I stay as I am. Which i won’t be thrilled at but it’s gonna be better than going up and down constantly.

TracyJ

10:04 am
6 Sep 13
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I also only usually eat in the evenings now. I don’t usually have any problems reaching at least 1500 on non-fast days, as I’m a chocoholic and have to have sugar and soya milk in tea, so my supper on its own will total 600-700 calories.

My diet is probably a lot more ‘carby’ than many people are trying to be on this plan but I like naan, I like bread occasionally, I like chips occasionally, I like pasta & rice etc. etc. No point cutting out stuff you like, or you won’t stick with the programme I think. It’s still working for me, it’s just probably a bit slower than it could be. That’s fine, I’m in no rush.

Miss Yoyo

5:47 pm
13 Sep 13
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I lost 4lb this week!!!! Thank you all for your suggestions :)! They clearly worked incredibly.

It’s been a good week. Hope you all have had good weeks as well.

StephB

5:52 pm
13 Sep 13
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Well done Miss Yoyo – what a great feeling to carry you into the weekend!