Hi smarte, and welcome. You did well to resist the popcorn, good on you! We have had some awful hot days here too, but as I said above, much more pleasant today. Nature is a weird best isn’t she? Look at what’s happening in the northern hemisphere recent days.

Hi, Perth is lovely and cool today, gearing up for a very hot weekend. My husband and I completed our first three fasts fairly easily. I lost .6 he took off 2.6!! We ate the the same food etc. Men seem to lose weight easier than women. I have yo yo dieted all my life so expect my body has gone into starvation mode, does that happen in the beginning?
I am grateful for my loss as at least it is going down. I have such a sweet tooth, need to have my chocolate fix.
Does anyone find it tedious working out the calories, what is the best way of doing it?

@ dayna05, hang in there…
I used to be the same re non fast days, but once I settled into a pattern, found that I could not eat more on a non fast day and it’s becoming more of a habit to actually eat less!

Perhaps 2 days is enough and easier to cope with?
Slowly, slowly 🙂

In answer to mikayla, I found this calorie counter online and find it fairly comprehensive: http://www.virtualmedicalcentre.com/caloriecounter.asp . You don’t have to fill in the information section. You just click on the food-group icons to see the calories. By the way, to convert kilojoules to calories, you just divide by 4. I found my weight loss was fairly slow in the first 3 weeks of intermittent fasting. After losing 1.9 kg in the first week, I lost 0.1 kg the next week and nothing in the week after that. Then the next week I lost 1.3 kg. In the 5th week I lost 0.9 kg and in the 6th, 1.2 kg. After that came Christmas and New year, with a small loss (0.6 kg) and a small gain (0.3 kg). Now that I’m in my 10th week on this IF eating plan, I won’t be weighing myself until this Saturday. I’ve found I get a better indication of my progress (or lack thereof) by waiting until the two fast days are over for the week. I, too, have a sweet tooth and always want something sweet after dinner. I allow myself some chocolate of a night, from Fri to Sun, and just have fruit (a small amount of watermelon, or cherries, or paw paw on other nights, including fast nights).

My 26-year-old daughter joined me on my daily walk yesterday. She has the Lorna Jane app on her i-Phone (not available yet on Androids like mine), which calculates the distance you’ve walked, calories burned and time it took, plus a map of your route. We walked 3 kms, burned about 230 calories and took 38 minutes. When the weather gets cooler, I’d better add about 15 more minutes to my usual walk route. It has been effective for me up until now, as far as improved fitness goes, but I expect I’ll need to ramp things up before too long. I don’t think the weight-loss benefits of intermittent fasting will continue at my present levels of exercise.

I had a few panic moments today….my stored log in had dropped out and no matter how many times I keyed in my password, it kept saying Invalid. Turned out I just couldn’t read my own writing in the notebook where I stored the information. I discovered I had also stored in a word doc and that was when I noticed my error…mistaking my handwritten l and t as a capital H *doh* All’s good now and I have my support system back again *yay*

@jaybee68 and @gomarg – thank you kindly for pointing me in the right direction.
I’m doing the Mon and Thurs fast. Today I had to switch lunch and dinner – I really love the flexibility. I’ve lost 0.4kg (I had a sneaky-peak today – I couldn’t help it!) Thrilled already.

Thanks to Gomarg for the calorie counting thread. Thanks to Dayna05 for the encouragement, did a fast today so hopefully I will see a result later in the week. I am going to do the every other day diet for a bit of a kick start, will see how that goes.

That’s great Dayna! I have gained and then lost, like a yoyo since Tuesday’s weight loss, but I’m re-weighing tomorrow to see if there is going to be an extra loss like I experienced two weeks ago. I’m still happy to be 76.5 kg and 79cm around my waist.

So onward, ever onward! I’m guessing it will take another 12 months to get down to 65kg at this rate! Ha ha! As ever, slow and steady wins the race- says my inner tortoise.

Dayna and Ihaveawaist…well done!

Vicki, I have not seen side zipped pants in decades and hate the elastic waists, but I do what I have to…for now 🙂

Weigh day for me tomorrow, but I have a pair of “much darted” shorts which are constantly drooping, so I’m hoping to have a good loss!

Keep the good vibes coming:)

Gomarg, Thanks for the info. However I have not set my options to receive email notifications, I just go to my profile where I have set up as favourites the forums I frequent :). When I could not log in, I could still view this forum but couldn’t post in it. Anyways it’s all good now and I have written out my password more clearly for off computer storage:)

I had a bit of a disaster with Fast day today, hubby jeopardised me (unbeknownst to him because I am doing this privately…well in real life privacy 😀 ) BUT the good thing is I can just switch it to tomorrow!!! I had weigh in this morning and the scales were good to me showing a 1.3kg loss (which means I have lost .3 since Christmas…why do I do it to myself???). Anyway Christmas gains have gone and I am back on the downward track again!!

Hi Jaybee, this is an interesting area, which I needed to work out. I would love to know the link for the graph you use.

I initially started recording in a notebook and a calander as backup, but got tired of not being able to see the whole picture, so I made myself some homemade graph paper ( not being able to find any in my local news agents ) and have since had a wonderful time colouring in the weeks, dates, and weights, to show me how I’m tracking, at a single glance. I have added the big things like the six, nine and twelve month marks, the five kilo losses and my waist measurement, so I can see what’s changing and what’s not.

As an asiside issue, I was wondering if anyone has found a big difference between their TTDE, BMR measurements used on this site and other sites. Mine seems to be dramatically different, and I was thinking that I’ll have to dramatically change my calorie intake on my regular days, or seriously up my exercise, if the TTDE on this site is correct.

Hi ihavawaist! Re the differences between BMR/TDEE on this site and others: as I understand it, there are two different formulas used for calculating BMR and TDEE – the Harris-Benedict formula, and the Katch-McArdle (or is it the Mifflin-St jeor?) formula. As usual, scientists can never quite agree, and one comes out lower than the other. I think this site is using the lower one (although I can’t remember which it is.), so that would be why it is different from some other sites.

My fast day today was a bit of a challenge – I’ve been marking university assignments, and that’s really hard to get absorbed in! So I was battling the distractions of hunger most of the afternoon. However, I’ve got through the day with just 508 calories… unless I give in and have a piece of chocolate (believe me, marking the current assignment deserves chocolate!) But I’m trying to be good!

@ Jaybee and Charlie, I use the Easy Diet Diary app (free for iPhone and Android) to keep track of daily calories. For recording weight and measurements, I also use an Excel spreadsheet. I enter my weight each morning and the simple formulas calculate weight lost and BMI. I also record body measurements every week or two. It’s good to see them all gradually going down.

Charlie, I too am looking at this as a long-term goal. I started at 101 kilos in November with a BMI <gulp> of 42. I’m only 155cm (5’1″) so I’m aiming for 70 kilos by my next birthday in October. I’ll still be overweight then according to the BMI (which I don’t entirely believe in…) but if I get there I can celebrate, and aim for 60 if I wish. I’ve said goodbye to 6 kilos in 2 months, so I’m on my way…

Hi Ihavea waist…I am not sure if I am permitted to link another 5:2 website here and I dont think this one has the option to send you a private message, if it has, I havent found it yet. You might find it with a Google search for 5:2 Fast Diet Progress Tracker though. I love that you have made yourown graph and are enjoying colouring in again 🙂 I am such a slacker :(. Re TDEE etc: Yes, I have found different calculators to give different results. To save confusion (imperative at my age :D) I will stick with the one on this site.

CharlieG…I am very impressed with your Xcel expertise…wish I was clever enough to do that!!

Fasting day for me today after a bit of a disaster yesterday. After my hubby so nicely brought home a lovely treat for me, I really went off the rails and reverted to my “old” diet mentality of “Oh well, Ive blown it now so might as well go whole hog for the rest of the day”. Previously that would have been the end of THAT diet for me but today, I am back on track. Yay!

Have a great day everyone!

Oh, you clever Excel ladies!
My weights are on a whiteboard, and my other stats on a piece of paper.

I believe it better to stick to one set of scales/figures etc, after my daughter telling me that the digital scales I use were wrong.
It may not be scientifically accurate, but consistent.
I asked the pharmacy if they had pay-as-you-weigh scales and she just laughed!

A good loss for me, after my Christmas indiscretions, as I’ve left 900gms somewhere 🙂
Good luck to Saturday weighers!

Sorry to hear about your constipation mikayla, I like to use a couple of very strong coffees as a hurry up, and if that doesn’t work see if you can find some aloe vera juice, it helps me a lot.

There are some other things like psyllium husks, which you can drink and even asking your nearest pharmasist for advise. Eating high fibre foods, even good, old fashioned prunes are really great at getting everything moving.

Good luck and I hope that at least helps!

So yesterday was my first Fast Day here in sunny Ballarat, Victoria. I first heard of the 5:2 Fast on ABC. Over the past week I have read Michaels’s FAST Exercise book and then began reading his Fast Diet book and I couldn’t wait to try it. I chose yesterday as my first fast day as I knew I would be busy and wouldn’t have much time to think about food. I found the first day not too bad really. I also found that because it was so warm yesterday that I wanted to drink more water rather than eat, so it will be interesting to see how I will feel on a Fast day when it’s a cold day here in Ballart.

@doublehappy…no wonder you are “doublehappy” setting off to a party looking gorgeous. Good on you!! When I think of the money I have spent on diet club memberships, meal replacements, Jenny Craig, others I can’t even remember the name of, I wonder what else I could have spent that money on….an overseas trip??? Easily 😀 Like I said earlier, yesterday I had a hiccup, today I am rectifying that and it is going well…althoug at 4.15pm my tummy is gurgling somewhat.

Aussienow, I wish I was one of those clever Excel ladies. After reading the posts here, I went onto the internet to see what I could find. There are some interesting templates available for Excel for free but you have to sign up or register and I am a bit anxious about that.

mikayla, I saw where you guys are going to cop 44 degrees today and 42 tomorrow, then down to 29 the next day…how weird. Across bottom of Aus will be getting it after you…hope it doesnt reach as high as us, one day of 45 degrees was too much for me!! hope no bushfires break out over there, I read where lots of the national parks are closed…as a precaution I expect.

I havent had the constipation problem thankfully but I have discovered in my reading that it is common. Hope you can get it sorted soon. Very uncomfortable.

Welcome marg and knightfit. Keep posting and let us know how you go. Where are you from marg? If you hover mouse over the usernames, it will tell you about that person…as much as they want to share anyway:)

I find that I eat a lot more fruit than I used too, particularly cherries, paw paw, apple slices and watermelon. Adding more fruit to your diet could help your constipation problems, mikayla. My husband also swears by Metamucil. In fact, I thought my fruit intake this week would cause a weight gain today, on my weigh-in day, but I was pleased to have lost 1.4 kg. That means I have now lost 7 kg in total since the first week in November. I also checked my measurements today, as it has been one month since I first took them. I have lost 2cm from my thighs, nothing from my calves (probably due to muscle build-up from walking 15 km a week), 6 cm from my hips, 7 cm from my waist, 4 cm from my bust and 4 cm from my neck. I am also down one dress-size (now an 18). I am so happy with the intermittent fast approach to eating. You can eat a little of anything you like on non-fast days and still lose weight and not feel deprived. If you are looking for fast-day meal ideas, marg. (another Margaret I see!), I added a link to one of my earlier posts to a great blog by an Australian lady of Italian descent (The Paddington Foodie), who is currently doing the 5:2 and has lots of interesting recipes on her site, with all the calories listed.

gomarg! I’m so, so impressed by your wonderful results! Congratulations!

Keep cool my dear fasting friends!

Thank you for all who have helped me with hints for constipation. Good news, I have been!!!! Hurrah, now have to take advice and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Double Happy, I like the idea of 2kiwi fruit and Metamucil. Smarte, I will try you drink when it cools down enough to leave the house.
The temperature has dropped 1deg, now 43, it is going to be a warm night, thankfully we are blessed with air conditioning.

Gomarg, you are a legend!

Well done – clap,clap,clap ..lol

Hi All,
Thanks Mikayla, will find the two books by Mimi and Harvie & Howell.
Jaybee thanks for the hover hint. Just about to set up an Excel chart to keep track.
Gomarg thanks for the recipe link, Aussie calorie counter and encouraging results. Not sure I walk 15km a week although I probably do a few at work.
Yes, Smarte ginger is excellent for tummys or drugs that can upset digestion.
Charlie G, congratulations.
Hubby has shopped for a few weeks of supplies, weighed and frozen portions too. The fridge has yummy strawberries and other delights!
Enjoying being home in Perth although our a/c is only in the bedroom.
Marg

Thanks for letting us know your happy ‘event’ Mikayla–we were all anticipating for you! hopefully you are all set now.
Jaybee–yes I had a great time at the party–and did lots more talking than eating. My daughter came and tightened my belt, said the back of my dress was hanging !!!! what a great compliment AND the bonus is with a tight belt you don’t eat so much. Had lots of compliments along the lines of you are looking great. What a spur on the keep it up (mmmm don’t want to give away my dress so maybe off to the dressmakers)
Ihaveawaist– what a lovely hubby he sounds like–how is this for an idea, I put my visitors treats in a tupperware container so I don’t see them every time I open the pantry–out of site out of mine (oops freudian slip but appropriate).

How about labelling it for him to fetch–then you need never touch it.

I learnt a great platter trick too for the party–made my double chocolate brownie (with apple sauce instead of butter) cut slices of all different sizes, so I could have a piece big or small whatever I fancied. Quite a few chose the small slice–but it’s so delicious I knew they would be back for more ! my triumph is I didnt eat all the bits left over when I cut it–The birds had a feast.