Lovely to see all the chatter on here, it used to be quite lonely on a Sunday! Good that you’ve found that food balance Gatsby; isn’t 5:2 wonderful?

I’m doing OK today thanks EA but it’s very cold outside, isn’t it? – 14C. That’s an impressive list of junk food you’ve confessed to for yesterday. My walking buddy loves her hot chocolate drinks like you do, she has a free machine at work and drinks several a day. Did you watch that Fat vs. Sugar documentary last week? Interesting about the donuts. Now that I’ve seen that show, I think I will view foods like donuts, ice cream, cheesecakes, etc (50% fat/50% sugar) as some sort of conspiracy! Catch it on SBS On Demand.

Cairns was lovely, Julie. We went from 28 – 29 degrees to 12 back home! Enduring another cold spell, highs of 8 for the next few days, snow to 400m (fortunately we are at 300m, and Wellington is sheltered from some of the southerly blasts by the top of the SI.

Bad news about the rugby last night, but at least we regained some honour with the netball 🙂 🙂

It will be fun, Gatsby. OH put on another 2 kg over the last few months, so is very ready to re-start 5:2. Will keep you all posted on his progress.

After playing with 5:2 a few months ago I start my first serious stab at it tomorrow. Is anyone else following a Mediterranean style food plan on their NFD and if so, how successful has this been? My naturopath strongly supports the Mediterranean diet and I am impressed by the health improvements on both 5:2 and Mediterranean so hope to combine them both.

Thanks Freya, I’m going to copy and paste that recipe. Cauliflower is my new best friend. It’s amazing what you can do with it. You’ve conjured up images of a wonderfully nurturing place to spend a Sunday afternoon at your house. Good that you’re losing some cms and I’m sure the kilos will suddenly start falling off again soon – especially with those marathon fasts of yours.

Morning all! Just spent the last half hour catching up on all your posts after a feral Friday at work then a busy social weekend. I’m a night owl so it’s a nice way to wind down and refocus for my third fast day tomorrow.

My word you are all doing splendidly!! And nice to see other newbies just like me starting the journey.
Got the jitters for the morning as I’ve decided it’s time to get on the scales. Resisted the urge all week but figure it’s time to take a peek. I actually feel a wee bit looser around the waist so hope the figures add up.

Went for a big walk yesterday and came across a Japanese supermarket I didn’t know existed!! JJ you’ve opened a whole new chapter here. I grew up in Hong Kong so am all over the Chinese food thing… But never experimented with Japan. Excited now!

Monday FD planned with hot ‘n sour mushroom broth for lunch and steamed salmon & veg for dinner. Shall let you know what the scales say… Accountability etc

Hi Kate – my only tip is something I’ve worked out for me.

I find as soon as a tiny bit of food passes my lips, I just get the desire to eat for the rest of the day, whereas if I just have water / hot tea etc thru the day, I can go till tea time no worries at all, no tummy rumbles etc – have just recently experimented with skipping tea that evening and manage to get to the next day all ok. You just tell your brain you’re not eating till tea time and get on with it!!

So I would suggest if you find it too hard having tiny little meals, to have one day where you experiment with no food until the end of the day, as I’m guessing it’s different for everyone…..

“dairy” NOT diary!!!!!! LOL…..

Hi Newbies,

Read The Fast Diet book by Dr Michael Mosely and Mimi Spencer.

Put ‘simcoeluv’ in the search box above. Simcoeluv has written excellent info for beginners.

Merry

First day for me today after a very social weekend – hang over day yesterday resulted in overindulgence of ‘comfort food’ & feeling just awful. So woke up this morning & thought right this is it! I have done my homework on the 5:2 & really just needed my mojo to kick in.
Starting with a full FD & so far so good.
I will weigh & measure this evening & post to you guys so I have accountability.
Wish me luck 🙂

Happy Monday everyone. Oh boy, you lot had a good yak over the weekend….someone to keep you company on your Sunday FD, Thin! Cold, wet and windy here.

JJ, thanks for those recipes, they sound great & will try this week. Interesting to see if starving your cold works too. Take good care.

CharlieG – Promise I won’t let Thin come & shoot you! Get well soon. Cute little chickies!

Angel & Sarah, welcome and good luck. Stick with it.. ..this really works.

EA – Cough….you did WHAT??? HC…AND doughnuts! OMG.

Freya, lucky I didn’t read your post til this morning or Thin & I would’ve gate-crashed your kitchen…sounded so yummy, warm & cosy.

Gatsby, didn’t we mention you’d start looking forward to FDs?? Particularly after an indulgent weekend. See, we can still live a little and stick to 5:2…isn’t it great??

Barata , go get OH a wide-mouth thermos. You can fill it up with hot soups, casseroles, etc….I’ve even put in reheated left-over stirfries! He can eat out of it with a spoon/fork. Good in summer too for non-lettuce salad, etc. Oh, and what bad news in the rugby was that??? Never mind….sure you’ll beat us in NZ!

Thin, the turmeric experiment is on hold. Made up the golden paste, but it didn’t agree with me…..a bit windy…OK maybe a lot windy!! Didn’t have any yesterday & I was OK. This problem affects 25% of users, so will have to investigate more to resolve. Might start on turmeric milk first and ease my system into it.

Another busy weekend over! Tree loppers here this morning & making a hell of a racket! I’ve been hungry from the moment I got out of bed this morning….not a good sign. Just having a cinnamon & orange tea – smells better than it tastes! So need to go and get myself occupied. Thinking I’ll go buy some pond-scum, cauliflower and ponzu. Thank should keep me out of trouble for a while! Have a great day!! CM xx

I know CM, I know. I was very naughty. I’m a bit pekish this morning as well. We need to stay strong and keep warm and busy. All the best. xxxx

Lol, thanks CM. You are right. I soon remembered what I had eaten this weekend and thought better of it. I’ve just discovered that leek has less calories than onion so am well excited as I have enough points for an egg and 1 rasher of nitrite free bacon to go with my chicken tonight. Yummy. Can’t wait.

Just been out to water the veggie patch. The sun is warm but there is a chill in the air. The house is cold though, even with the fire going. Time for some vigorous housework and ironing, me thinks.

We’re almost half way through the day CM – keep going strong.

Great work CruisingK. We knew you could do it!
Welcome Carmz. Stay on the forum it will be incredibly helpful for you. Good luck.
CM xx

Now, Angel, what’s the problem…tell Auntie CM?? Are you hungry or have headaches?? What time is it where you are? How far off is dinner and what do you have planned?

Thanks aunty cm. Just really hungry and feel a bit sick. Have had 2 litres of water plus green tea and a protein shake. Tea is stir fired veggies

Angel, have something else with your vegies. Make an egg into a flat omelette and slice it into strips or maybe add some chicken, tofu or mince beef. Some of the “Wise Ones” on here often add chillis, herbs, ginger, lime, lemon, etc, to amp up the flavour. Even have a lo-cal soup before your stir-fry. Go to an asian grocer tomorrow and get some konnyaku noodles – they’re only 10 cals to bulk up your stir-fries. There are lots of tricks out there! Stick with it. You sound like you’re way under 500cals if that’s all you’ve had today. Be kind to yourself at the beginning…you can tweak 5:2 soon enough to suit your lifestyle. Also at the beginning, when I felt a bit off, I’d put a tiny pinch of salt on my tongue, it often helps. Have a look at this link if your’e not feeling well, ie. headaches, nausea, upset tummy, brain fog or just plain tired. It might be your body starting to burn fat instead of sugar. Lots of great recipes around for 5:2 as well. https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/do-you-have-the-ketosis-flu/ Hope this helps. CM xx

Thanks for the link cm. That sounds exactly like my day today. Is good to know that it will pass, definitely makes me more determined to persevere

Sounds delish Merry. Heading out myself just now for the pond-scum and planning to have something similar, together with miso soup, vegies and some chicken chunks with lots of chilli to warm me up. It’s always so filling and tasty. Also making some curried pumpkin soup to freeze for my other FDs.

Good on you Angel. It’s always tough doing something, anything, new. But that’s the beauty of our forum….we’ve been where you are now, and come out the other side. We also know how to extract maximum bang for our buck from 500 cals!! Stick with us, we’ll teach you and our other newbies, the tricks of the trade!! Another FD almost over. CM xx

Hi fellow fasters, all good here for me so far. Getting easier, actually.

My brother has started up today too. Not sure if he’ll come on the forum.

I have a few questions but (embarrassingly) I haven’t got around to buying, downloading and reading the book yet, so i’ll wait till then, heh?

Off home now to enjoy my one meal for the day.

Don’t worry Thin – I’m not going anywhere. I just had a couldn’t be bothered moment this morning lol. But strangely, I do look forward to my dinners in the evening on fast days and really excited about tonights little offering. So far so good in that nobody in the house has had the urge to bake any more double choc chip cookies but there is still time…

What are ‘flecks’ and pond scum’?

I think we should rename naughties with gross names – good idea Thin. Although, not hot chocolate. My love for that remains.

About another half and hour or so until dinner is ready and another fast done. Yay.

My Japanese soup was yummy! OH mentioned using chili on FD’s for that flavour punch that seems to give more satiety, but really the soup had quite a lot of flavour. Our guest can’t eat really spicy food so we’ll try it next time when we’re on our own.. Didn’t work out calories. Got a skype call from a sick grandchild while cooking so did that instead of weighing, portioning etc . Next time. I also added a small packet of chinese fish balls, which are very similar to the texture of Japanese sliced fish balls. The Dashi miso paste worked well as a soup base. It has added bonito extract and added kelp extract which gave the miso a better flavour, and made a good seafood soup base.

EA, there’s 2 types of konyakku/ konjac products, white and a murky greeny brown colour with little flecks in it. You can guess which one we on this thread have started calling pond scum! The murky colour and flecks are powdered seaweed.

I cut ‘pond scum’ konyaku into small cubes and it was quite pleasant in the soup, but I don’t think it added anything to it other than some bulk.

I’ve been in 2 minds about this product. Yes it gives us a noodle that we can use without adding more cals than about 10, but for me I quite like the fact that I eat smaller meals / tummy ‘shrunk’ now. For me, think I’ll keep a little a packet in the cupboard for when OH wants spag bol on a non fast day NFD, but I may not use them otherwise.

CM, there really doesn’t seem to be any difference in the white or pond scum varieties, just colour.

Will be reading the list through the week. Enjoy your progress everyone.
Bye for now,
Merry

Glad you’re still with us BigCol & you have enlisted more help with your brother joining you too. Well done. The more people you have around to support you in the process the better.

You’re sounding better CharlieG. That’s great.

Well, I had the konnyaku (with black bits) tonight. Umm..well, it smelled a bit fishy when I opened the pack – a little off putting. Certainly much stronger than Slendier. So I cut it up & dumped it into hot water while I got the dashi miso soup base ready. When soup had come up to heat I threw it in & by the time I’d added all the different veg & chilli, ginger etc, I couldn’t taste it. Perfect! Really enjoyed the meal, very filling & I ate it all. Does the white variety pong the same way?? It won’t stop me using it again, but I’m just not a fan of smelly-fishy aromas! I was hungry tonight & it did the trick without adding excess cals. Bonus! Early night for me tonight & another FD over. Nite all. CM xx

CM – As of this morning my head cold has gone!!! So I am thinking the fast really did help. The cough is still there but not as bad.

Merry – the “pond scum” is really tasteless so because of the low calorie count it is used really just to bulk up the dish as you said. I find it often takes on the flavour of the liquid it is in, so if you have a stronger flavour base it will take on more of that flavour.

CM – I am not much of a fish lover in the first place, so the smell on Konnyaku does put me off every time I use it. That is why when I first used the Slendier noodles I recognised the smell and did my research. But I love the firm jelly texture of it in the dishes. I just rinse under fresh water then cut up thinly to add to the dish. It is ok to run under hot water if that is what you prefer. The white one smells the same. Not everyone will like these types of foods.
I find the konnyaku that is white and like noodles has the least smell and great flavour. Good for stir frys.

Hilary – congratulations on your weight loss. Wow 15kgs in 27 weeks!! You should be so proud of yourself and I am really very happy for you.

So I found this recipe that sounded really good. I did not check out the calories in the dish but just thought to share seeing it is still Cherry Blossom Season!!
http://www.petuna.com.au/recipes/japanese-trout-with-soba-noodles/

Soba noodles are just another Japanese type noodle.

Have to go now and take kids to school……..will check in again later.

…….JJxxx

Coast – I too sometimes get the munchies after dinner on a FD. From what you have said you munched on it does not sound too bad. Carrot, strawberries and mushrooms. I have been keeping away from crackers and bread etc but if you did not go over the 500 calories you still did ok.

I have also read that most people get a better weight loss result after the second FD for the week, so Thursday morning might give a different story to you.

Yesterday was a FD for me too so I had coffee in the morning, green tea for morning tea (cuppa with a friend) packet miso soup (20 calories) for lunch, 2 egg omelette with mushrooms and tomato for dinner. Then 2 mardarins for a snack/dessert. Green tea before bed. All up calories for the day were 321.

No weight loss for me but am still under 80kg….(this was a big turning point for me mentally) I am hoping because today is another FD that I will have a nice weight loss at tomorrows weigh in.

Now that brings me to another question…..I was reading somewhere that if you have a 2 egg omelette for dinner on one day, you can not have eggs the next day at all. Has any one else read anything about this?? (I read it in an article not related to 5:2)

Hi Col,

If you’re not feeling hungry, you’ll be better off to skip breakfast on the day after the FD which will extend your ‘fasting window’. If you can exercise during that time (walk to work for example), so much the better as there are health benefits associated with exercising in the fasted state.

Along the way, many of us have identified foods we are unable to eat without gaining weight – or which prevent us from losing weight – mainly white, processed carbs. As your body re-sets itself with the fast days, you will probably come to find that you no longer want certain foods and your portion sizes will become smaller naturally. As you have told us that you have a lot of weight to shift, my advice would be to stick rigidly to 600 cals or below on the FDs and to keep within your TDEE on the ‘feast’ days for now. You want this to be sustainable long-term and so you don’t want to set too many goals that make you feel like this is like any other old diet with lots of restrictions.

In terms of the interesting lifestyle equation you have proposed, in theory and in terms of overall weight loss, yes that makes sense. But the items you’ve mentioned are unlikely to be foods that will help you maintain a healthy weight so, in time, you’ll have to be looking at those. My guess is 5:2 will help you to stop wanting those types of foods as you progress with your journey.

While you are focussing on these changes, you can begin to work out what your TDEE would be for the weight you want to be – not the weight you are now. In time, you will need to learn to eat to sustain that goal weight. Have a good read of the book, you can easily digest it in a day or two and it will help you understand the science.

You’re currently able to lose weight with just the two FDs and I’d stick to that for now. This is because you have quite a lot of weight to lose. As you get closer to goal weight, the weight will not shift so easily and you’ll have to make other changes to the NFDs.

Congratulations on your success so far. I hope your brother and colleague are enjoying similar losses and you can keep each motivated.