Great idea double happy! You’ll laugh when I tell you, that I shared all of the stuff that I’d written about him this morning and he suggested that he “would be happy to hide the treats if that made it easier”….. for me! Seems like great minds think alike!

I love the sound of your fab double-choc brownies, using applesauce. Next time I do some baking I might try it. Do you substitute sugar too? I’ve been hearing about the newer sweeteners like stevia and the like, but haven’t tried them. Do you know if they act the same as sugar when you bake with them?

Hope everyone has a cool Sunday!

Hi ihaveawaist here is my recipe it is from the healthy food magazine–which has a web–healthyfood.co.nz
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 c cocao
3/4 c self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 c sugar (but I use 1/3 c demerra sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c dark chocolate chips (or more…)
3/4 c walnuts ( I get top grade fresh as walnuts and keep them in the freezer.
25-30 min in 175 c oven. makes 15 at 128 calories.
Reckon that boney hubby of yours will be begging you to make them today.
So good chips on the lawn–it’s actually really powerful to say I am worth more than eating the leftovers !!!!

Hi double happy, thanks also for the recipe. I have to bake sometime today as hubby is working away this week again. Don’t enjoy fast days when he is away as he is so good at keeping me on track. Ihaveawaist, I usually just reduce the sugar content by a third to a half in most of my recipes, but if I am cooking something that is for my Mum I use Sweetaddin instead of sugar, as she has been diabetic for forty plus years, and the cakes and puddings all come out fine, you just need to follow the quanities on the packet. Not even 10am here and already well into the thirties, house all closed up and drapes pulled to keep the heat out. Hope we keep getting nights in the low twenties. Cheers for now. Charlie

Double happy, thanks for the recipe, sounds wonderful, don’t know if I can trust myself not to eat too many as yet, maybe later.
In Perth we are having a 41deg day today after a hot night, a cool change is promised for this afternoon,yippee. Now feel for the eastern states as the heat travels there. Keep cool you guys.
I will be changing my fast days this week as I have some medical appointments and need to be at my best mentally, fasting at this early stage makes me tired. So good to have the flexibility.

Morning All,

Start of another week. Getting too close to the end of school hols for my liking. My daughter will start kinder and I will be back at work Mon-Thurs. Should make fasting easier really cause I will be at work for my 2 fast days.

I agree Mikayla, I can’t even keep ‘healthy’ treats in the house as I have a habit of over indulging!

Does anyone else find that the cleaner they eat on a regular basis the harder you fall when you do go off the wagon? I feel gross the day after! Smarter, sounds like you suffer something similar.

Keep up the good effort everyone, the climate can really play havoc with our food and exercise!

Dayna

Crazy weather! A few days ago I reported here that there was snow on the Tasmanian central highlands and now we have 30 plus degrees Celsius forecast for several days. Oh well, at least it will ripen the apricots.

Wow – huge cruise ship just came into view in the Derwent. Amazing. I hope the people aboard are enjoying their view as much as I enjoy seeing their ship.

I am fasting today so jumped on the forum for a bit of reinforcement. I am reminding myself I do actually have to fast, and not just talk about fasting. No cheating. No picking. Except for picking the peas in the garden and popping them straight in my gob. That doens’t count.

Good morning fasters. Hope you are all going well. What horrible hot weather we are experiencing from one side of Aus to the other. It will reach us today with 35 moving upwards to the 40s at the weekend…I will feel really sorry for all those festival visitors pouring into the town trying to keep cool in the tiny little tents scattered around the place. I guess they will be out and about in airconditioned venues for most of their time though.

@Double happy: Thanks for the recipe, I have saved it for future attention…do not trust myself to stop at one, sadly 😀

@dayna: I certainly feel gross after a “lapse”, not only physically, but mentally as well. Why do I do it when I know I feel so much better about myself by sticking to the plan?

@roba: The weather is indeed weird! I am glad there is the silver lining of ripened apricots though :D. What a wonderful sight watching a beautiful ship sailing by.

@des: Yay you!!!Have a good fast day today.

Another linedancing day for me today. 2 to 3 days a week I go to a class. it is the only exercise I do because I am such a slacker. So for as long as my feet, knees, hips can stand it, I will be doing it!!

Have a great day everyone!

Hello Southerners!
It’s been a while for me! I have read the occasional post in my emails but this is my first visit to the forum since I went traveling on the 13th December (last year!! Hehe). Looking forward to getting to know everyone whomhas started during that time, and catching up with where the familiar usernames are at. I think there was a request for locations: to introduce myself, I’m from Auckland, NZ, living in Madrid for now, and hopefully moving to Perth when I finish up the Europe leg of my OE. I am currently around 66.7 kg, and would like to get down to 62kg and then I will reevaluate.

Hmm, I just had a thought, please excuse the crowd sourcing!! My boyfriend will be going to Perth before me, he’s a mechanical / pipe stress engineer with 5/6 years experience in the oil and gas industry. If anyone hears of any opportunities, or knows anyone recruiting for that industry, any help / contacts would be appreciated!

Cheers everyone!!
Xx

Hi all fasters! First post for awhile nothing to report. Started in early Dec and lost. 2kg but nothing much since! Think my feast days are just toooo feasty. I think for me at least, thjs WOE will need to be a constant calorie count. Not a pleasant thought. I am not too overweight, just want to lose about 5kg. BUT, I am 73 and unable to exercise much due to lower back and knee issues, which doesn’t help the cause (not too much walking). But, we press on regardless. Today is fast day and it is 11.30am and not hungry yet. I am in southern Adelaide suburbs and we have a forecast heatwave here this week, so perhaps this will help negate too many thoughts of food. Chilled water sounds appealing. Made sourdough ww bread yesterday, and drat can’t taste till tomorrow! Know sourdough bread (homemade at least) is lower GI but perhaps not today, eh?

Happy and successful fasting day for those Mon fasters.

Hi there. I am based in Melbourne and new to the forums but have been doing 5:2 for the past 6/7 months with my equal half :). We had our first 3 weeks off fasting while away over Christmas and this is our second week back onto our normal WOE. For anyone wondering if it is worth continuing I lost 13 kilos in the first 26 weeks and hubby dropped 16. It is no longer a diet for us but a preferred way of eating. Our bodies get a rest from excessive food for 2 days a week and we feel better for it every time. We do not kilojoule/calorie count on our non-fast days but found that we were very quickly making different food choices when confronted with change. I am more likely to crave the crunch of a fresh vegetable or fruit than something bread based. We have also found that we recognise when our stomachs are full and we are more inclined to leave food (although we both have a bit of a fight with our upbringing with that one). We are still working on initially ordering more than we actually need and often find sharing while out helps with the concept that if you really need more then you simply order it. The biggest challenge remaining is habit vs need and I often find I think I want something and it is invariably disappointing. When things get tough on a fast day I simply remind myself I can have whatever I am craving tomorrow. More often than not I don’t want it the next day anyway.

Hi. First post since introducing myself a few weeks ago. Just reading Blessedgeek’s post and nodded my head all the way through. I really do enjoy giving my body a break 1-2 days a week (after 8 months on this WOE I slip in and out of maintenance as I’m weight I want to be but want health benefits).

I agree that changing the habits of a lifetime can be hard especially when eating out… having paid for something and not wanting to offend chef and hating waste!! The other day I ‘d ordered a lovely smoked salmon omelette and found I was struggling to finish at the half way point. I battled on until it was two thirds eaten then thought ‘this is ridiculous listen to your body’. When the waitress came to take my plate I launched into the ‘gettysburg address’ explaining I loved the omelette, hated waste but am trying to exercise self restraint and portion control. She seemed to understand but I wonder how others here deal with such a situation. Not always the sort of meal that suits a ‘doggy bag’.

Anyway today is my first ‘strict’ fast day after the Xmas break. Happy that I stayed within my 1kg buffer zone but want to make sure that I maintain the pattern I’d established since staring in April as it is so relatively pain free (literally, as I also have not had pain in my ankle since starting this that required an occasional anti-inflammatory for last few years!)

Hi all. Has anyone found a good bar scanner app that has Aussie foods included?

Good news Alimax! I’m happy to find the Southern Hemispheres forum … are you still going strong? I’m from Sydney. I’m only a newbie, started last week … any words of encouragement would be great.

I’m reluctant to weigh myself every week, experience tells me it’s too depressing and sends me straight to the fridge. But I measured myself today and found 1 cm gone from bust and waist, and about 4 cm from the abdomen measure.

Not sure how I’ll manage the fasting because by 4pm I’m gettin woozy, mentally confused and tired, despite what the book says … got any suggestions?

Gomarg, I want to say a BIG THANK YOU for the link you posted for CalorieKing.com.au – it is wonderful and has been a great help to me today during my fast day. I can’t thank you enough. Thank you!

Arla, I noticed you also posted a link to it. Thanks it really is a great help.

Hi downunders
I hope you are all having a great day today It is fast day for me and also linedance class.
Very hot here already and heading for high 30s today. We need rain desperately too.

Welcome to the new posters…Waewick, HumanFemale, blessedgeek, Beach Baby, Arla, penaub and any others I may have missed….the forum moves quickly!! Welcome back those who havent posted in a while.
Some great results being posted by many…well done to you!!

Hi Charlie, I’m only 158cm, 50 and want to lose 20kg (and another 10-15 if at all possible). I don’t mind if it’s slow cos that’s better than the relentless slow gain of the past 25 years (i got really sick and my weight ballooned about half my excess and just crept up). It was nice to have a specialist say I’d been judged all my life for something beyond my control.

HI Jools,

INterested in your comments about food choices. The first week I ate everthing – icecream, shortbreads etc etc and by Sunday I was chronically depressed … by the end of my fast Monday I was cheerful again, plus a chronic coldsore had completely cleared up … it’s becoming clear that what I eat affects my moods, which to me is almost more important than the weight I’d like to lose ….

Hi everyone, Another newbie checking in to relay my story.

I’m a 45 year old male based in Melbourne and heard about the 5:2 Diet from my folks in the UK after they saw the documentary on TV. To be honest I’m not a diety person and am generally accepting that my weight fluctuates depending on the time of year and that I am statistically overweight for most of it.
I love my food and generally comfortable in my body. I am what I am as they say!

However, having watched the TV documentary there was something about the explanations and the science behind the experiments that stuck with me so in June last year I decided to give it a go and fast for 2 days per week (breakfast to breakfast)with the sole objetive not to gain any additional weight during the long winter months.

After about 3 months I weighed myself and was pleasantly surprised to find that I had actually LOST weight – around 6kg to be exact. I was amazed as the intention was never to lose weight – just not add any additional kilos which is what I always do.

I thought it must have been a mistake so decided to continue on for another couple of months. At the end of November I calculated I had lost a total of 10kg which is not bad considering there was very little exercise content incorporated during these non-summer months.

My weight at the end of November had dropped from 114kg to 104kg – and now for the first time in years I have this impending urge to continue and to get below 100kg – into the double digit numbers.
I have not weighed myself since November as I presume my weight will fluctuate over the Xmas and New Year period and I dont like to report in weekly increments – so I have set myself a target of Valentines Day for my next official weigh in.

To be truthful I really cant believe that I am so bothered and incentivised by this target. It is just not me. Yet I have lost this weight in my eyes without really trying. Usually a diet involves eating food you dont enjoy or excluding foods you do enjoy – yet this diet is so simple and makes very few unreasonable demands. It is also surprising that since the New Year so many people have returned to work knowing so much more about 5:2 and giving it a go.

For the record my usual fast days are Monday and Thursdays. Monday because its usually a busy day at work (occupied) and its great day to recover from any excesses over the weekend, and Thursday so that I am free to enjoy the weekend!!

I usually find that keeping my mind occupied is the key to my success. When I’m bored I open up cupboard doors in the kitchen looking for snacks.
So during the winter months I would catch up with some acclaimed TV series box sets which kept me occupied and did the trick. Time would pass by and I would not think about food at all. One of the other benefits I have found is that I usually have a more deeper and satisfying sleep on a fast day. Thats probably because I’m more weaker and knackered by the time I go to bed!

Overall I cant help but feel a fraud. I’ve lost this weight and feel great – Yet I dont feel as if I have tried.
Dont get me wrong I have serious hunger pangs but keeping your mind occupied is the way to go. It certainly gets easier as time goes on.

I just wonder how much weight I would have lost if I had incorporated an element of exercise during this time as well. I dont really do excerise though.

I wish everyone the best of luck with the 5:2 diet and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a favourable weigh-in result on Valentines Day!

That was a wonderful story harveywrold, fabulous results you are getting and feeling you can do it your way. I particuarly like the breakfast-to-breakfast fasting you have working for you, I might try it for myself.

Gomarg you are doing wonderfully, did you tell your doc how well the 5/2 diet and exercise is getting you these great health benefits? It might be time for doctors around the world to start sitting up and taking more notice of this international movement, if gals like you and I can do it, then anyone can!

I hope this extreme heat isn’t affecting people too badly, make yourselves some yummy, icy treats to cool down. I’m hoping to post fri/sat with my new numbers, fingers crossed that my weight plateau has been shattered and I’m on the way down the other side!

Hi everyone, I’m Kate and I live in Perth. I’m nearly 26, 5 feet, 6 and a half inches tall (170 cms? not sure) and 85.8 kgs. I’m looking to lose about 26 kgs.

I’ve long been a follower of Dr Mosley, I really enjoy his presenting style. I first saw the doco about a year ago. I’ve been playing around with the idea of starting this WOE for a good while, although I got rather disheartened by the negativity some people close to me had about it. I’ve decided that it’s none of their business and am not going to talk to them about it, so I’ve come here to talk to you guys 😀

I just completed my first fast day, and I found it quite difficult when I was at work, I wound up consuming 676 cals instead of 500, but I think it is still a decent start. This forum is excellent, you guys are all really helpful, I spent the whole morning reading from the beginning. Thanks for taking the time to help us newbies out. 🙂

– Kate

Hi to those who have got inspired to start this WOE, make yourself a priority and what you think counts, rather than listen to the naysayers who haven’t tried it and don’t want you to change cause it makes them feel uneasy when you do. I didn’t tell anyone for the first six kilos either, and then I told my hubby who had no idea until then. Being inspired and then actually doing it, rather than just endlessly thinking about it, gave me a lot of self confidence and a sense of mastery. No longer was I going to be a mindless, hopeless slave to my boredom and comfort eating…I was taking charge and what’s more, feeling and seeing the difference!

Choosing to do this is powerful, not just for your body, but your psyche and sense of self!

Arla, I’ll be very keen to hear if your range of health issues change, POCS, allergies and gallbladder are a big bunch of chronic and difficult to treat issues. Reading other forums, many people report a positive change with inflammatory conditions, of which allergies are related. POCS is a metabolic and hormonal issue, and many sufferes of underactive thyroid have found that their meds need to be adjusted down after going on this WOE, so maybe you’ll have a similar positive result too. I’m really hoping that if you stick with it that many of these things ease off and stop being such a problem for you.

All the best with the crazy heat and fire threats, I’m thinking of you all and praying for a nice cool change, some rain wouldn’t hurt either!

Thanks, ihaveawaist. My gallbladder is fixed – it’s no longer part of me 😀 Best think ever. I still want to do a happy-dance about that. The improvement to inflammatory conditions and PCOS is my main concern as I’ve long accepted that I may not lose much weight.

The PCOS is part of a genetic disorder and my endocrinologist is pretty happy with how I am now compared to 18 months ago. So am I … if only I’d been diagnosed 35 (or even 25) years ago. My flatmate was, but she had a more androgenic body type than me. Anyway if wishes were possible I wish I didn’t have it in the first place 😉

I hope everyone’s got help to deal with the heatwave. This weekend I’ll be in Canberra and it’ll about 10 degrees hotter than Sydney

Blessed geek, you said it so well, I fully understand, this is an exciting new way to live and eat. I find it exciting at my age(69) when I have dieted so much I had almost decided to die fat!!?? I saw this concept on TV and here I am, have had a couple of false starts due to medical tests but now I am fasting today and back on track. I have lots of weight to lose. Two months ago I had my shoulder completely replaced, learn this week I need a hip replacement, rather a lot to take in. All the more reason to drop some weight.
Just love this forum, so encouraging. Feel so much for the people who have lost their homes in our bush fires. I once lost my home so know how shocked and devasted they feel. We are going to have a hot weekend so fingers crossed, no more fires.

Hi, and welcome to all the newbies.
I am a newbie again, after travelling with my kids and hubby around the world for the last 6 weeks and putting on 6 kilos..which had taken 7 mths to lose in the first place!!!

But I had lost a few of them with not eating sugar for 3 mths, then decided to try the 5:2 and lost a few more, then left for Japan, Europe, England , America and Fiji….hey, what can you do!
I use to live in Sydney, but now live near the bay of islands in nz.
I’m 5 FT 8 and now weigh…88.1 kilo, yay me!
I would like to lose whatever the 5:2 feels I should be.
I was only on it for about 5 weeks before I left but had good results, so bring on 5 mths.

I have nothing in the house fresh, but there is some frozen chook I had left over from last nov, and some frozen veg, and vermicelli so will do a large stir fry and might do that egg and cumin and tomato dish in the recipe book, or a lentil thing as I have that, till I sort out the food situation at home today.

I was thinking of waiting ‘ till I had salad stuff’ but hey….I think my body NEEDS to start today after living off carbs and fries for 6 weeks.
It obviously hasn’t appreciated all that junk…cos it stayed in my trunk.

Will start a new thread up, so I can keep track but wanted to say, well done to those who Did so well over Christmas…brilliant.

I thought of you as I tucked into the tin of quality street hourly….and the large doner kebab ( that wasn’t as good as I had remembered but none the less, was eaten)
I knew that there was a way of life that I could sustain once I got home, so that was a nice ‘ hope’

Well, off to pay off this horrendous mortgage that we now have, but the memories will last forever, unlike this 88.1 kilo.
it’s goodbye to that from today.

I was a mainlander till just before the earthquake when we sold our home to build up here…then boom, house got destroyed in the second earthquake.
( near qe2)
So sad what happened….never look at pics, cos in my mind everything is still fantastic.

Yep, just made 2 out of the 4 ways with Dahl from the recipe book.
Do you know if you can freeze the portions? Otherwise I will be eating all 4 portions!

Feel very righteous cooking up lentils…

My body will love them!!!
Thanks for your kind words.

Back on the truck.