Hello fatrabbit and Amazon, and thank you for your replies.

Yes, I agree, it makes sense to set an interim goal and then take things from there. Especially as I feel sure it will get harder to lose, the closer I get to my ‘target’ weight. So my target for now is 68kg, or 10st 10lb, the weight I was when I got married. That feels realistic and achievable, even if it takes me the whole of this year to get there.

Fat(or not!)rabbit, I have read your account of your journey, and it has been truly inspirational! Well done to you! It is interesting that you reached a point you were happy with, then lost some more. I have actually slightly exceeded my initial target, which was 10lb by Christmas. I think this was because I was focusing more on completing the fast days than on the weight loss per se. I have been enjoying the benefits of improved mood, greater motivation and more energy. Just delighted with the results so far!

I’m writing this post as a letter to myself, to read in the future, should I ever lose hope or the will to carry on with this WOE. I hope it will inspire and encourage me, if – when? – the going gets tough. If it does the same for anyone who cares to read this, then I shall be delighted that I have served a useful purpose in my brief time on this planet!

A few days ago, I wrote about my quest to try to understand WHY this WOE works so well for me (Day 19, February Challenge thread). This need, I think, is driven primarily by a fear of failure. From that fear comes the desire to find something different, dare I say magical, about short-term fasting, in terms of ‘other health benefits’ – whatever those may be. Some part of me feels the need to hang on to something, like a drowning person clings to a life raft, that will save me from the failure I’ve experienced with previous diets. I know, there is no magic formula, but it’s hard for me to accept that success with this WOE will, ultimately, come down to continued perseverance and discipline. Perhaps I’m subconsciously looking for the quick fix when there isn’t one!

Why the fear of failure? At this point in time, I’m following the programme to the letter and continuing to lose about 1-2 lb per week, so what on earth am I so worried about? I fear that I will lose motivation, if – when? – I hit that dreaded plateau. I fear that I will get distracted if – when? – life takes over, a crisis hits, and my plans and newly-acquired good habits get derailed. This comes from my previous experiences. For example, about 12 years ago, I followed the GI diet programme for about 9 months, and lost about 3 stone in weight over that time period – a similar loss rate to that which I am currently experiencing. I learned then that I could cope with feeling hungry for short periods of time. After a few weeks, I also learned that I didn’t need so much of the simple carb foods to get that feeling of satiety, and I especially didn’t need, or even desire, refined sugar. At my lowest point weight – wise, I was a slim 153 pounds and was getting many compliments. I had completed a 10k run for charity, a new achievement for me.

Then, I changed jobs. My new job didn’t work out for me, for various reasons. I stopped focusing on eating well. I stopped weighing myself regularly. I allowed the sugary treats to slip in to my daily diet. The inevitable happened, and within 3 years, I had regained most of the lost weight. At that point, I decided upon a radical change of career, and trained to be a maths teacher, which was very tough. Even though I completed the course, I struggled to find a teaching job afterwards, and my confidence took a severe dent. Five years further on, I got involved in caring for my parents-in-law, who both developed dementia, together with some serious physical health issues, at the same time. That was an incredibly stressful time. The weight piled on and I reached a point where I was a stone heavier than I was some 12 years previously.

Clearly, life has been tough in the past few years, but that doesn’t of itself account for my past relapse. More to the point, life could become tough again, so what will I do differently if – when? – this happens again? Clearly there is no failsafe method, but I’m hoping that the following words of encouragement will help me to climb back on the 5:2 wagon if – when! – I fall off.

1. Look for support from the 5:2 forum. 12 years ago, this forum didn’t exist, nor was there anything like it on the internet. It’s so helpful to know that I have this to turn to. To all forum contributors: Thank you for all the help and encouragement you have given me so far, directly or indirectly. Your generous sharing of information, advice and experience is invaluable. Thank you.

2. Understand that this WOE is brilliantly simple and simply brilliant, but simple does NOT mean trivial! It works, quite simply, by restricting calories. For reasons described above, this feels strangely disappointing, but as @simcoeluv made clear in his thoroughly detailed post on Day 19 February 2018 Monthly Challenge, there is very little evidence to suggest other health benefits. In any case, weight loss is, in its own right, a worthwhile goal. If I focus on this, other health benefits – or avoidance of illnesses – will hopefully follow. There may be some benefits from short-term fasting with regards to lowering insulin resistance, but as I don’t have diabetes, it is not something I need to focus on right now. Having said that, I will continue to look out for new research stories on this topic, as they are published.

3. Remember that it is much easier for me to cut calories on 2 days and eat ‘normally’ on others, compared to restricting calorie intake every day, which (in my case) results in feeling constantly deprived. It is easier for me to cut complete meals over short periods of time, compared to estimating the number of calories in small portions of food every day. 5:2, if operated correctly, results in a 20% reduction in calories over the space of a week. Perfect for achieving that 1-2lb loss per week. Eating triggers my hunger hormones – this is why we have starters in restaurants. Understand that short periods of going without food will not harm me (this may not be true for you!). Realise that my ‘normal’ food intake for a NFD will need modification as my TDEE comes down. Remember that I have taken pride and joy in discovering new foods and new menus using healthier ingredients, and that there are more discoveries to be made. Acknowledge that this is a permanent change to my life.

4. Counting calories is not such a big deal, in any case. It is a lot easier these days with apps and clear labelling on food packaging. If I can’t be bothered to count, I can estimate. This is what I do currently. I try to estimate the calorific value of ingredients to the nearest 50 and plan my menus so that they come to about 100 calories under my TDEE, to allow for a safety margin. The amount of weight I’ve lost so far indicates I’m getting it about right!

5. Continue with this WOE for long enough to enable the better, newer habits to become ingrained. This will mean a maintenance programme of some kind, once I have reached my ideal weight. Most of our habits are learned over a long period of time. Currently I’m 3 months into my 5:2 journey, which is nowhere near long enough – I consider myself a novice still. From past experience, perhaps 9 months wasn’t long enough either, as I didn’t experience a significantly long enough period of time at my ideal weight. I’m guessing it may take at least 2 years of weight maintenance to become habituated.

6. Remember that I have already learned valuable skills – e.g. to manage without added sugar in my diet, to recognise hunger and satiety signals, and how to override the hunger ones. (In the past, I was probably over-eating due to overriding satiety signals). I’ll keep on with the short-term fasts so that I don’t forget these feelings of hunger and satiety. I’ll remember that the first meal after a fast day tastes great – and gives me something to look forward to!

7. Be aware that the 5:2 WOE may have some drawbacks. Longo (Loc 1784 ‘The Longevity Diet’) mentions that it may be difficult remain on the programme for years, plus it may trigger sleep disorders similar to jet lag. My experience so far is that the 5:2 WOE does require some planning and preparation, and some mental effort in the form of a conscious decision to ‘make this a fast day’. But this is not too onerous, and I hope will become easier in time as I become habituated to this WOE. I’m pleased to say that I’ve had no problems sleeping – in fact I sleep better nowadays! Longo also advises not to skip breakfast, as this has been associated with increased risk for age-related diseases (loc 880, ‘The Longevity Diet). For info, on fast days, my preference is to have no calories until lunchtime, and then just a very small snack at lunchtime, and a meal in the evening. That is a pattern that works well for me. On non-fast days, I eat breakfast. I’m trusting that not eating breakfast on 2 days a week will not materially increase my overall risk of age-related diseases!

8. Once I reach my target weight (and I WILL!) I shall set myself an upper weight limit. I will take action if I go above that limit. I will weigh myself regularly (but not necessarily daily). FWIW at the present time I weigh myself daily, but I do understand that the range of daily fluctuations can disguise smaller underlying losses. My view is that there aren’t so many tools available to check progress, so it seems sensible to use what is available, and just be aware of the limitations. “Scales are vanity; 5:2 is sanity”! I understand others may have all sorts of reasons for following 5:2 for reasons other than weight loss, but for me, I envisage continuing with it (or a version of it) simply to avoid re-gaining the lost weight. That is enough of an ambition for me. I may or may not be able to reduce FDs down to 6:1. I may or may not experiment with ‘proper’ fasting (as advocated by Longo), or the FMD. Those are exciting future possibilities, though!

9. I exercise regularly now, even though I’m not a natural athlete and I don’t really love it the way some people do. I do it because a) the feelgood hormones make me feel better b) I know it is good for me, even if I can’t immediately see any benefit c) I want to get value for money from my gym membership! That is enough to keep me keeping on. Perhaps, at last, my gym-going habit has become ingrained! I can adopt the same mindset with 5:2, if – when? – the ‘shine’ wears off and if I should fall out of love with it!

10. Understand that it is pretty much impossible to carry out meaningful studies on the effectiveness of 5:2 on health benefits, besides weight loss. In ‘The Fast Diet’, Dr M describes the 5:2 approach as a ‘synthesis’ of other approaches, so it has not been clinically tested (the work of Dr Michelle Harvie, Dr Krista Varady and others is acknowledged). Weight loss as an objective is enough by itself. There are very many health benefits to be derived from losing excess weight, and I don’t need to look for additional reasons why this WOE works. I accept that now, though it has taken a while to reach this point!

11. Public awareness of obesity is increasing all the time. This has got to be a good thing. The Daily Telegraph today reported that research by Cancer Research UK suggests that three quarters of millennials could become overweight or obese by the time they reach their 40s. Perhaps this greater awareness will result in more direct and indirect interventions, e.g. setting up face to face support groups, or cigarette-style warnings on food packets.

12. Above all else, keep on keeping on! I have nothing to lose except the excess weight!

Exercise routine

After much thought, and several re-readings of Dr MM and Peta Bee’s ‘Fast Exercise’ book, I’m now ready to commit to an improved exercise regime, alongside the 5:2 WOE. Woohoo!

What took me so long? Well, I actually found it quite tricky to identify a new exercise routine that would improve, in a sustainable way for me, my current routine. Unlike the 5:2 concept, which I ‘got’ straight away, initially I found it hard to ‘get’ which exercises I should do, at what levels of frequency and intensity. The book describes both fitness and strength exercises and explains several varieties of each type, but essentially they all have in common some element of disruption to one’s steady state. Rather like a car that is driven erratically will be less efficient and so will burn more fuel per km travelled, the same principle seems to apply to the human body. In essence, it’s all about burning surplus fat and building muscle strength through irregular bursts of activity. The required level of intensity and frequency, though, seems to be down to the individual reader’s levels of fitness and personal preferences, so there is clearly no single right answer here.

I also struggled to identify how I might best measure the results of my efforts, to assess any improvement to my fitness levels over time. As I mentioned before, I’m not a great lover of exercise, so I’m not especially keen to go further, faster, or stronger than any given target. That doesn’t mean that I don’t value the benefits of exercise – I really do! For me, the true benefit is about staying well, and keeping out of hospital in the long run. But how could I measure that? I’m not sure I could get reliable results from measuring blood glucose levels via a home test, or VO2 max readings, for example. I’m not sure I would have the courage to bother my GP for these tests when I’m basically healthy – he turned my husband away when he requested a PSA test, telling him not to waste his time.

That said, I have tried to get some idea of my baseline levels of fitness. My theoretical VO2 Max is somewhere around 36, which is “excellent”. Yet I can barely catch up with dog walkers when jogging uphill, let alone overtake them. Similarly, the number of modified press-ups I can do is around 26. At my age (57), this appears to be off-the-scale superior, but I can’t be sure I am doing them properly. Having been sedentary for most of my life, I just don’t trust these measurements! Then there is the complication of measuring certain outcomes, for example it would not be possible to distinguish between the effects of the 5:2 way of eating and effects of exercise on weight and waist measurements, when doing both at the same time. I have decided that I have to take on trust that my diet & exercise routine will be beneficial.

If I can’t easily measure the outcomes of my new exercise routine, I can at least measure inputs. For example, I know from using heart monitors on gym machines what working flat out for me feels like, and what around 80% of maximum effort feels like. From this, I can use the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale to assess how much effort to put in to my exercises.

So, after much deliberation and re-reading the book, this is my new commitment to myself:

1. To move about more. A lot more, every day. To reduce my sitting time to a bare minimum. If I have to sit for a long period of time, I will find an excuse to get up every half hour and move around. I was shocked to read just how bad sitting around is for us, and horrified by my own day to day sloth. This has to be my biggest priority and the simplest thing to improve. How will I achieve this? By sticking a stress ball in the seat of my pants! It works a treat – it’s soft enough not to cause an injury, yet I can feel it all the time I’m sitting here typing. It is reminding me every minute to get off my butt and MOVE! Which I will do imminently. Mind you, I need to be careful when nature calls, otherwise the stress ball can end up pinging into the pan!

2. To do 5x exercise sessions per week, each with 5x 80% intensity level bursts included (RPE level 8 minimum). Ideally this would include 2x gym sessions, focusing either on strength or fitness, 1x swim, a cycle ride, and a run (well, a jog with some running) in the woods. This is a bit more frequent than my current routine, but has quite a bit more intensity built into it. I tried running 5x bursts of 60 seconds in the woods today, at intensity level 8. It was quite hard to sustain that level for that length of time, and certainly a lot harder than the steady jogging I have been doing up until now.

3. When about to go on holiday or whenever my routine is disrupted (it often is), to have an alternative plan in place. Dr MM writes about exercises he does in hotel rooms and using staircases in tall buildings. I aim to follow his example, using the exercises in the book and packing a pair of running shoes in my suitcase.

This is how I intend to assess my progress:

1. By keeping a record of sessions completed in my daily diary, and accounting for these in the monthly challenges threads. As mentioned above, this is a measure of exercise inputs rather than outputs – but I understand and accept that exercise is beneficial for its own sake, so for me, for now, giving myself credit for completing the sessions is good enough.

2. Even though I struggle to find suitable output measures, I would expect to gain some measurable benefits in terms of increased ability to perform certain exercises. For example, at my current weight and fitness level, I can manage 5 minutes on a stair climbing machine at my gym at level 8. A few months ago, I could only manage level 7. It would be nice to see an increase to level 9 and maybe 10 over the next few months. I think I might need some help with measuring my press-up rate though!

3. For general interest, I will also keep a note of my heart rate in various states. Today, when in a relaxed state, my resting heart rate was 60 BPM. In my gym, using the heart monitors on the various machines, it seems the maximum heart rate I can reach is 150 BPM. It will be interesting to see if these measures change over time.

So, there we have it – a commitment to a more intense, slightly more frequent, and more varied exercise routine. I’m still not sure I’ve got it completely sorted in my head, but the important thing now is to give it a go, keep learning and keep improving.