Hi everyone
My story is the normal stuff about going from skinny to fat, trying every diet under the sun, lose some weight, put it back on, rinse and repeat…..

I stumbled upon Eat, Fast and Live Longer documentary and was fascinated. Not only for the weight loss possibility, but also for the health benefits. I’m a 51-year old woman and realize (like we all do at this age) how important being healthy is.

So, I decided to give 16:8 a try, started on 01/03 (a week ago). It was so easy and I loved it. I’ve decided to weigh only every two weeks, since I want to make it a way of life.

My excitement drove me to more research and I found 5:2, and I’ve decided to combine 5:2 with 16:8 for a couple of weeks – to give the weight loss a kick start.

Today is my first fast day – and so far so good. I think the week of 16:8 prepared my body for extended periods without food, and even though I’m hungry, I’m not too bothered by it.
(I’ve decided to use the hunger pains as indication of new brain cell growth stimulation and also that my body is ready to burn the fat, so that helps!)

Anyways, I’ve decided to post here after reading through several of the threads and feel like I found a home. I don’t live in the UK, I’m a South African living in the USA, but I figured you guys won’t mind be jumping in here.

My starting stats:
5″4 and 191lbs (yeah, I know, disgusting).

I’ll update every two weeks or maybe weekly if I can’t keep myself from weighing.

Good luck to me!

Thanks!
There is always some kind of initial excitement when starting something new (especially weight loss efforts), but this time I feel it’s different. This is easier. And it makes me excited to make it a way of life.

Having said that – yesterday I had my first fast day, all went well, I had my 500 (or maybe a little less) calories after 20 hours of fasting, and I actually didn’t want food as much as I thought I would.

Prior to joining here, I read a lot about intermittent fasting, the benefits and side effects. One of the things I’ve read, was that some people have sleep issues on fast days. I didn’t think it was gonna happen to me… went to bed at midnight last night, woke up refreshed and ready to go (at what I thought was 7am-ish, my normal waking time). Imagine my surprise when I looked at my phone and saw it was only 2:30 am. Well, it’s almost 7am now, I’ve been entertaining myself with games and more research on fasting – and I’m still alert and not tired.

I’ll add some melatonin to my evening routine next time, I’ve also ordered some magnesium to take to see if that helps. I’m curious to see how long this high will last and if I’m going to crash later today.

I asked my daughter to hide my scale until next week, lol – but I can’t wait to get on there to see what’s happening. I’m hoping for around 5lbs for the first two weeks (factoring in a lot of water weight thanks to NY weekend celebration in New York City).

No kidding on being alert on 2 – 3 hours of sleep, it’s unbelievable!! I can feel my body is tired, and I tried to go lay down to see if I can nap for a bit, but my mind was like ‘HECK, NO!’, so I got up and did another load of laundry before returning to my computer (I work from home a couple of days a week).

Glad to know it’s temporary, but you know, even if it lasts a couple of weeks, I’m ok with it. It’s been a while since I was able to wake up and well.. be awake. Usually I have to drag my sorry ass out of bed (even after 7 – 8 hours of sleep), but the last couple of days were truly so much different!! I woke up, opened my eyes and got out of bed. AWAKE.

Second fast day today – I’m already making a list of the things I need to do around the house if I can’t sleep again tonight!

Well, turns out my body didn’t like the threat of housecleaning I threw out yesterday, and I had no issue sleeping, lol!