Hi Guys,
I thought it was time the Brits had their own thread
This topic contains 35,804 replies, has 410 voices, and was last updated by symba7 2 hours, 57 minutes ago.
Hi, Jayegirl. I live in County Durham, nearly 52 and I’ve been doing 5:2 for about a year off and on. I don’t have much to lose but it takes ages to come off (originally wanted about half a stone by my holiday last June). I achieved the half stone but put most back on when on holiday then I’ve been up and down the same 3 or 4 lbs ever since! I’ve got another holiday in June and want to lose about 4 lbs by then so just plugging away slowly. I’m also a lady of ‘that age’ which is probably one of the reasons I struggle.
Karen x
Hi Jaye
As you know I am in Hampshire. About 7 stone to lose. May adjust this up depending on how I feel along the way. I remember once before getting down to nine and a half stone, hurt to sit down too honey so needed a cushion and had a size 8 skirt but was about a 10. Would like to be 12 to 14 but I shall also be really pleased to be size 18. I am happy to do things slowly.
Hi Milena and Karen
Karen how much have you lost in total up to now?
Ginette
Hi jaye
I am as you know 57, I live in Cheshire. I started 5 2 in January with 3 stone ish to lose I have now lost just over 1 stone. I am 5 ft 2 and now weigh 11st 6 lb I figure I need to be about 9 and half stone. I have looked on some of the weight graphs and they tell me my ideal weight would be 8 1/2 stone but I think that would be just too slim for me. I will be happy if I can get into a size 12 comfortably.
I stick to 500 call on fast days and the tdee for 9 stone on the other days as I figured I would have to get used to eating less when I eventually get to my ideal weight and it seems to work for me.
I understand for people with a lot of weight to lose this would probably not be possible but it works for me.
Audrey
Hi all,
like Ginette I’m a bit of a moveable feast (no pun intended), began on January 1st at 14st 5, with the idea of losing 3 or 4 stone, though Ive got it into my head that 6 would be nice as Im under 5′ 3″, taking small steps and will look over that wall when I get there and working with TDEE of 12 st for now. Half stone targets.
Got to just under 12st 12lb, but had a trip and put on about 6 lbs in a week, which at the time I thought was fine, lost 4lb again in ten days, I put it down to a lot of food suddenly in my system slowed down my gut.
Should be chuffed, but instead Ive felt really demotivated. Got a really bad cold and cough since I got back, Im finding fast days really hard, yet not eating much on non fast days. Will just have to give myself a talking to!
Karen, County Durham was once my sales patch, and before that I worked on the Durham post. My favourite city, love driving down the hill from the motorway, the view of the cathedral and castle is breathtaking. English castles are so much more beautiful than the rather plain Scottish castles.
Hi all, i live in Nottinghamshire, started 5 2 last August when i was 13 st 8, prior to this i was 13 st 12 for a long time, losing and gaining a few pounds constantly. I am now 12 st 1 and am hoping to get to my healthy bmi which would mean getting to 10 st 6 but i tend to work on half a stone at a time. Have found it amazing I can survive on 500ish calories, also tend to be fairly careful during the week but have a bit of a blow out on Saturdays.
Hi all
Muffin, thanks for sharing, and showing the 12,stone is doable, keep going!
Jayegirl, you are right, of course. I too visited Costa today, but decided to not fast so had a latte. First day out all week.
Read the calories on the site, 215 without sugar, for a small. Then read for the medium, 218. Something not right. So checked elsewhere, 138 including sugar, and I only have half a spoon.
Ended up coming home and did a chicken stir fry, so under 430, few frozen grapes and I’m done! Fast day after all!
I’ve decided to get more organized, will probably feel better when I restart walking next week. So please feel free to pester!!!!
Hi everybody. I was born in Yorkshire and have now retired to Cumbria, the two best hill walking counties in England. I started ADF two weeks ago at 20st 12, but found it too difficult and have therefore dropped down to 5:2. I don’t eat anything on my fast days because it just makes me feel hungrier and I don’t have that much willpower, so I survive on lots of decaff coffee. I am hoping to lose 9st eventually.
Graham.
Hi , I am in Northamptonshire and have been on this journey since mid January started at 12.6 and weighed in at 11 stone this morning really pleased with that as I have a food and wine full weekend coming up and have done 3 fasts this week to hopefully compensate ! I’m 5.8 so would like to shift another 5lb then keep it all off no more yo-yo diets for me. I usually back to back fast and only weigh once a week as I know any gain will depress me and my head will be straight in the fridge looking for some comfort food , good luck anyone fasting this weekend
welcome graham and twiglet.
Graham I have read many posts from people who have lost their weight and then maintained and the majority of them have done it by sticking to the original 5 2 way of fasting. I know it can seem like a very long road but I do not believe there are short cuts to be had, you are doing the best thing by sticking to 5 2 and remember to stick to your TDEE on non fast says and I really believe you will get there in the end.
Twiglet well done to you just 5 lb to go you must be feeling so pleased of yourself please let us know when you get there.
Audrey
Hi Jaye
I’ve lost about the same, going on holiday sometime in June too, though would love to be at least a stone lighter, anything under 12 stone would make me happy, and more comfortable, road trip in a little two seater sports, absolutely love it, but I’ve always felt a heifer in it. I Going to France and Italy, would love to wear dresses, I’ve water on the knees, really hoping 5:2 will sort this problem.
Twiglet, you’re a star. God luck with the next target.
Hi Graham and twiglet
Nice to see you posting here.
Graham
You will get there. There is a saying “inch by inch is a sinch, yard by yard is hard” so small targets and these will soon add up. You don’t want to lose this weight too quickly and get saggy skin. I know it is hard to be patient but we are both in it for the long haul.
Well done Twiglet on weight loss to date.
Jaye
Enjoy that wine tonight. You have earnt it.
Ginette
Thanks for the lovely comments as I thought a major pig out last night followed by a full English this morning but that’s it for me today and a fast tomorrow so hopefully I will counteract all that over indulgence
Enjoy the wine Ginette I did !
And Graham everybody is so right small steps mini goals and celebrate every one you can do it if I can anyone can
Hi guys, I’m in sunny South Wales.
I’m 52 and have met some of you on the ‘certain age’ forum too. I started after new year at 13st 4 and am now dead on 12st. The weight loss has really slowed down lately but I’m going to be very strict this week to get under that next big milestone, so wish me luck! (I’m also 5ft 2 and would like to be down around the 9st mark, or maybe just under.)
Speaking of milestones, I bought new scales in Jan and found they only measure in Kg. I was going to take them back, but have stuck with them and am really happy with them now as there are so many milestones when you weigh in KG!
Take care guys,
CC
Hi Jayegirl. Nearly gave up the fast diet on Sunday because I weighed myself in the morning and found that even though I had done seven water only fast days over the last two weeks, gone on three 5 mile walks and to the best of my ability kept as near as I could to my TDEE, I had gained three pounds. Felt so dispirited I went out, bought myself a lemon drizzle cake to compensate and ate it all.
So I have weighed myself again this morning and I am back to 20st 12lbs, so I shall start the 5:2 again (there is a group of us doing a month together on another thread) and see where I am on the 1st April.
I have also bought some new scales as my old ones have a wonky foot and won’t sit level on the floor. They got very good reviews on Amazon for being very accurate and not only does it tell you your weight in pounds to one decimal place, it also tells you what your weight was last time you stepped on it so you will know whether you have gone down (or up).
I’ve developed a really bad pain in my hip that stops me sleeping and it seems to have travelled down to my knee, which I think is due to my having to roll off the sofa onto my knees and then stand up from there because the sofa is too low to stand up from. I have therefore ordered on of those high seat wing chairs which will make standing up easier, it was either that or a zimmer frame which wouldn’t look good for someone in their fifties. Just have to get rid of the sofa now.
Hi Jaye
How awful from a nice weekend planned to have all of those after effects. I hope you are back to normal tomorrow and feeling better.
Chubby chops
Isn’t there a button at the back of the scale, sometimes it is a bit obscure. Does it show parts of Kgs? If Al least it is moving downwards that is a positive.
Ginette
Hi Jayegirl:
“But I do know that if you don’t eat enough food that your body goes into starvation mode, not repair mode which is what fasting does.”
As has been posted many places on this site, the ‘starvation mode’ is a myth. There is no such thing for an overweight person on a weight loss diet. See the FAQ at the top of this page, or this post by Dr. M.: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/food-thought-fast-day-starvation-mode/
Please do not give information that is simply incorrect as fact .
The less you eat, the more you lose.
Hi graham,
I have to say I agree with JayeGirl although I am not an expert in the 5 2 diet I do believe that it is possible to not eat enough. Try to stick with your tdee and fast for the 2 days that is recommended and see if your weight loss improves.
I am losing on average 1 – 2 lbs a week and I am doing 5 2 as it is written eating 500 calories on 2 fast days and eating Under my TDEE on the other 5.
JayeGirl sorry you had a rotten time at the weekend hope you are feeling better today
Audrey
Hi Guys!!!
Graham, cross posting but glad you took my advice, you will have a garden full of birds now – and you don’t have to go for a granny chair, anything with arms and where your knees are at 90% angle when you feet are flat to the floor will do – that will help the pain in your hips (sold chairs in another life!) So glad to see you are heading back down – best thing is to ignore any increases, think of them as your body taking a step back before a surge forward!
JayeGirl you may not be my weight then but you soon will be waaaaaay less – what a wonderful thought. And me too, I hope!!! And at least you’re a cheap date nowadays!!!!
Well done Audrey
Hi Jayegirl:
There are many people that believe in the ‘starvation mode’ for overweight people because they have read about it in a diet book or heard about it from their doctor or nurse or next door neighbor. But it simply does not exist. In fact, the research mentioned by Dr. M showed that even in ‘starvation mode’ (which only occurs when the body hits about 5% fat) weight loss continues. So even if you are on a weight loss diet and your BMI is less than 5 (unlikely?), you will still lose weight. The idea that if you have a higher BMI (like 30) you will stop losing weight if you eat too little food is simply wrong.
I am not supportive of people putting out incorrect information. I do, however, support people earnestly trying to improve their lives by losing weight. And therefore, I challenge incorrect information that will hinder their efforts. Eating more calories, by definition, hinders weight loss.
I wish you the best in your weight loss efforts.
Hi Simcoeluv
I have to agree with Jaye. Your comments have a negative tone about them. I am sure you mean to be helpful.
Speaking from personal experience I know that if I don’t eat enough I stop losing weight whatever mode that might be. This is MY personal experience. I also find that eating the correct foods makes me feel better.
We all need to find the best way we lose weight and keep ourselves positive this may mean indulging in a trat or two along the way. Some of us have a long way ahead and have only just started on this journey.
Please give some thought, as people on this forum might be in a vulnerable state and weight loss can often be affected by emotions. Negative comments no matter how helpfully meant does not encourage people. Have you got a meadical background?
Some people are having a very difficult journey. Hopefully the 5:2 and the forum has been helpful to them. There is a great deal of encouragement here.
Ginette
Hi fellow fasters,
Hope Monday is going well I didn’t weigh myself only once a week as I find the fluctuations in my weight depress me and like Graham I would be at the Lemmon drizzle to cheer myself up Graham try staying off the scales for a while and sticking to the 2 day fasts it works for me but I apreciate other people like to weigh more often. Great posts Jaye I too have made the alcohol mistake used to be able to drink my body weight in wine not anymore couple of glasses and I’m wobbly !
Omelette and salad for me tonight , I agree with most posts about the 1 meal a day as soon as I start eating the hunger monster is out .
Some interesting discussion re starvation modes or otherwise. Im pretty much of the opinion that if you have excess fat, your body will eventually use it when it needs it, and if you eat fewer calories than you need, your fat will be used.
Its too easy to get hung up on the whys and wherefores. We are using guidelines here, nothing set in stone, TDEE, for instance, MUST vary even between people of the same sex, age and height.
Reducing 3500 of calories will NOT result in the loss of exactly a pound of weight in each of us. Even if the maths says it will.
And try telling a group of people that they will lose a pound a week on average and not many will be prepared for being the one who loses an ounce or two a week.
But we are fat because we eat more than we need. Working out what we need is the really hard part. Because we have go start somewhere, TDEE is a great start, but it is still only a guideline.
Everyone gets excited about losing weight, but before we start losing, we have to stop gaining. We have to put the breaks on the juggernaut. Simple physics dictate that applying the breaks will NOT immediately stop the juggernaut. It takes time!!!! Immediate weight losss is surmised to be water, and some of us will simply have more efficient brakes than others.
Having come to a full stop, we then have to turn our bodies into reverse.
Then we are ready to lose weight.
BUT – how much and when comes into the equation, and Ill bet storing energy is a dam sight easier for our bodies than converting fat to energy.
And all the while our bodies are still getting on with the day to day business of keeping us alive, warm and healthy, building muscle repairing, growing, evacuating waste. Pretty incredible.
What Im trying to say is go easy – dont sweat the small stuff.
Worried about starvation mode? I am not convinced there is such a thing if you are not literally starving yourself to death, and your not.
If though it makes sense to you, if you see logic there, whether or not Im convinced is irrelevant and I respect you have a different belief.
I think its simply fewer calories equal weightloss. But if its not your way of thinking, it is equally valid.
As a layman, I respect all points of view, and see no negativity, merely different points of view.
We are here to support and help and suggest. No one actually has to take our suggestions. Actually I would never win gold stars for empathy, if someone comes to me with a problem Ill come up with a solution, then wonder why my solution isnt acted upon – straight away!! My solutions are great for me, but maybe not for everyone else. Nowadays I find listening is usually most of the way to solving a problem.
If there is more than one way to skin a cat – there must be loads and loads of strategies to make us thin!!!!!
Hi Jayegirl, you’ve really got me worried now with you mentioning about blood pressure tablets and statins etc. as I don’t take any medication at all, only multivitamins. Although I’m fat it’s not debilitating, I can still get out of bed without any problems and go for a 5 mile walk every couple of days. All I was saying was that my sofa is so low (the seat cushions are 12″ from the floor when I am sat on them) I have trouble getting up from it as I don’t have any armrests and have had to slide off onto my knees and get up from there. I am sorry if I have misled you in any way (the zimmer frame reference was irony; note to self, must use emoticons in future).
Regarding the three liquid only days, these are mentioned in the ‘Every Other Day Diet’ by Krista Varady, which I read after reading ‘The Fast Diet’. She says that you should eat nothing for 36 hours followed by another 24 ours in which you can eat anything you like even if it puts you over your TDEE and you will still lose weight. This would give you seven 36 hour fasts over 14 days but still enough food to provide adequate proteins and vitamins. Dr Mosley investigated this in his Horizon programme on The Fast Diet.
I’ve also read on the internet of other peoples experiences of liquid only fasts lasting between one and three weeks where they have lost over 20lbs of fat with no muscle loss, so I don’t believe starvation mode actually exists. It is possible to lower the metabolism (BMI) apparently, though I don’t know how long a fast one would have to do before this happened (Simcoeluv?).
Hi FatGraham:
Your “metabolism” goes down with decreased weight and/or exercise. It rises with increased weight and/or exercise. If you look at the TDEE calculator at the top of this page under ‘How It Works’, you will see the variables. You can’t change your age, sex or height. Your activity level and weight can change. (You will note that there are no variables for caloric intake or amount of muscle mass.)
The only ‘quick’ way to change your ‘metabolism’ is through adding or decreasing exercise, and it won’t be that ‘quick’. You can play around with the calculator to see what that might do for you – on paper. As I pointed out in another post, many people do not get nearly the caloric burn from exercise as calculators or fit bits might suggest: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/ – 13 Feb 15 post.
My advice is quite simple. Keep doing 5:2, or ADF if you choose – but it is much harder to maintain (Varady’s research is very good), don’t look for quick results (see number four in my post, above, for the ‘numbers’ on how much you might lose on 5:2 v. ADF, etc.), keep walking whenever you can for better health, but don’t expect the walking to quicken your weight loss, and don’t eat back your calories burned (number five in the post), and don’t decide whether or not to continue the diet based on any individual weigh in. Over time, the average weight loss on 5:2 is about a pound a week, and not really that much more on ADF, so to lose 50 pounds will probably take a year or more. But wouldn’t you feel quite good about yourself a year from now if you were 40 or 50 pounds lighter?
And if you want an entertaining, well researched and written account of fasting and longer term fasts, check out this article: http://charleycropley.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/FASTING-ART-Harpers.pdf. It contains a ton of information.
Good Luck!
Hi there!
I do have a thread where I chronicle my own journey, but thought I’d just pop in here and give a friendly wave to all m fellow Brits!
I used to be quite adamant – I am British….not English! …My background is a little diverse. My Mother is from Germany….. my Birth-Father from Northern Ireland and my Step-Father from Jamaica. Myself, I was born in Germany but raised all aver the place! …I am a Forces Brat. Mum moved 26 times in the first 20 years of married life. I grew up never knowing how long I would be in any one place – it varied, sometimes as little as 3 months – other times we spent as much as 18 months. (We did have one long posting – just over two years in Singapore…a dream posting!)
If you have seen my own thread you’ll know I have a few strikes against me weight-loss wise. I am in my 50s and disabled. Medication and lack of mobility make things super-difficult!
Some years ago I wasn’t sure of my weight – all I knew was that I was too heavy for ‘normal’ bathroom scales and they went to 21 stone!…GP weighed me and it was nearer 22 stone but I kind of blacked out the exact details! …I lost weight by various diets and kept hitting plateaus and getting really disheartened…Then I decided to have another serious attempt and went back on the 5:2 which I had tried earlier….I am determined to get there this time….and have just dropped under the 16 stone mark!
Weight loss can be a real battle for me at times but one I am determined to win!
So…..fellow Brits…keep up the good work! We CAN do this!
Hi all,
Just hopped onto my metric scales this morning and today they read 76.1kg… A quick Google search tells me this is 11st 13.7 pounds, so have finally broken through the 12st barrier!!!
My BMI is now down to 30.9 so not far from only overweight rather than obese! Well chuffed.
Interesting reading all the comments on here, and I thought the starvation mode info was very useful, so thanks all,
Take care
CHubby Chops
(Aka Gill) xxx
Well done buttonboots
I myself have arthritis in spine and hands as well as other skeletal problems and at times find it hard to move and it is very moving to hear from someone who is overcoming there own problems.
Well done chubby chops that’s a great barrier to break through you must be feeling so proud.
Keep on keeping on and I am sure we will all get there in the end.
JayeGirl,
glad to hear you are taking it easy, don’t know if I have told you but I now have a bmi of 29 so I am no longer obese ( flower)
Just overweight (petal?). Hehe
I am busy entertaining my 4 year old granddaughter today as she is off nursery. We have danced on the wii, baked some banana bread and are now having lunch,toasted hot x buns. I had fast day yesterday, roll on 4 o’clock when mummy comes back for her hehe. She seems to favour the shoop shoop song by Cher but I don’t think I can stand much more of it! But I must be burning calories
That’s better. Just received my new scales, put the batteries in, let it calibrate itself and then stood on it, checked it by waiting till it switched off then stepped on it again. Did this three times all with the same result. My weight is now 290.6lbs (20st 10.6lbs in old money), a drop from 292lbs on my old scales on Sunday. It’s possible that my old scales did not weigh correctly even though I stepped on them a couple of times and got the same reading. It was a fast day yesterday, so i’m calling it a victory anyway.
Hi Graham
So pleased about your scales. I haven’t tried my new ones out yet. I looked at some on Amazon ans saw the backlit reading is normally blue but changes to green if you have lost weight. They also came with a tape measure I think.
If these new ones don’t work well I shall take them back and order the other ones from Amazon. At least you will have a reliable weight.
Do your scales weigh in stones and lbs?
Ginette
Afternoon all!
I am interested in the comments about the Wii…..I have looked at them before and thought ‘I wonder if that would be any use?’…..I have always resisted – my dyspraxia is quite severe and this means little/no balance….but I keep getting tempted!
I am baking bread this afternoon….as Easter gifts….I must be strong and not eat it all myself!!!!!
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