Hi & welcome to all the Newbies, great reading all the posts this morning.

Congrats on the PBs Thin, and JJ will done on approaching the next milestone 75.

Interesting to read the Blood Pressure items. No issue for me, but my Dad who’s been doing 5:2 for about 3 weeks is on pills, so will be interesting to see how all that goes.

All the slimy / fishy talk about those noodles has left me quite relieved I never found them as I can’t be doing anything along like that 🙂

After a week of no fruit teas, my teeth are feeling a whole lot better – so thanks for the advice to switch to herb teas!!

A FD for me, but going out for a Long Service dinner tonight. Apparently this hotel with their alternate drop main meals, make them so small, people think they resemble an entree size…. so even with pudding I am hoping to come PDC to my 500 cals for the day. I also volunteered to drive, so no temptation to drink.

Our “wog” (walk/jog) on the hill last night was the first time I’ve ever seen thick frost on the hill in the evening, and it brought on a tight /choking feeling in my throat, so don’t feel like I gave it my best effort ever.

Am just hoping I can keep everything under control tonight and get a good result with weigh in tomorrow.

Thanks PVE,

That was very helpful. You have reminded me that I am wanting to lose weight not maintain weight.

that’s a bit down the track for me :))
so it’s definitely going to be more limiting of the carbs for a while.

re: eggs. When I was on the Dukan programme (I lost 15kg), I had 2 eggs for breakfast every day. I had my cholesterol tested when I started and had regular checks throughout because I had heard all the cholesterol stories too. Mine went down and actually was stable throughout. Love my eggs :)).

I will be hopeful my BP goes down as we’ll and that eventually I can get off meds (fingers crossed),
have fun everyone,

Coast or Coastcat [or whatever :)]
signing off from the Gold Coast

Being the nosey person I am, I went to your Japan website JJulie hoping to find a photo of you more than anything else. So, is that you outside the cafe in Dohtonbori? If that’s the ‘before’ photo, you’re going to look amazing.

Coastcat, well done for starting on this journey to a healthier you. Small goals can be set and revised when reached – celebrated as mini victories. As PVE says, we do need to learn to eat to sustain the weight we want to be, not the weight we are now. I took a slightly different approach and didn’t change my NFD intake until I hit the plateaus – until then the weight was coming off and it was something I felt I could maintain long-term without feeling deprived.

Purple, I interpreted your Japanese to read, “My name is Ricky Sh*t”. As you’ll appreciate, I only know about 5 Japanese words.

CharlieG. So true. All the anecdotes, evidence and research is out there but no-one wants to offend the powerful liquor industry. Sorry for your loss and you too Hilary4.

JJulie, I have a 19 y/o daughter at home. Quite a fussy eater too but not as bad as her friends she tells me. She lives on pasta & noodle dishes and midnight study breaks of raisin toast. Can’t get any fish in her which is annoying as we’d like to eat more but I don’t want to cook multiple meals. It’s got a lot better since she turned 18 and I explained that we don’t actually have any obligation to feed her now!

Thanks NikT and good luck tonight. You can do it.

A small request to newbies. If you feel you wish to share, it’s great to have the ‘profile’ above completed. There have been quite a few new additions in the past week or so and, at my age, it’s hard remembering everything. You can add as much or as little as you feel comfortable sharing but I find it’s great to know where everyone lives, their approx age, starting weight and their goals.

Afternoon all. I hope everyones fast day is going by swimmingly. Mine is doing well so far as have been busy. Although I was invited this morning to go to morning tea and have a bake off at a friends house in the afternoon. I declined both. I’m not that strong.

However, the family still need to be fed and I have just pulled out a pie I made for the toddlers lunch and it does smell delish. But none for me.

I weighed in at 66.6 this morning. Not entirely comfortable with that number combination so hopefully it will shift by tomorrow (downwards). I haven’t been able to hit the 65 mark yet and would really like to see that in the morning.

All the best fellow fasters and I will check in tomorrow with hopefully a good number.

Profile updated Thin! To save you clicking I’m Kate. I’m a primary school teacher living in rangiora which is just out of Christchurch. In the past year I’ve lost 16 kg but the last few months I’ve just lost and gained the same kg so needed to change things up. I watched the BBC programme the perfect diet for you and found out I’m what they call a constant craver. For this type of eater the best diet is supposed to be intermittent fasting so here I am! Oh and I’m getting married in October!

Just eating less and moving more. I lost 25kg a few years ago but put a lot of it back on after the earthquakes here

Wow! That’s awesome! Well done you. You must feel great?

Thanks for the prompt re profile Thin – mines done and here’s me – I’m Amanda from sunny Sydney Aus. I’ve only got about 5kgs to loose and am looking at the 5:2 more to stop the impending spread that comes with approaching 50 as well as for general health benefits. I’m a Kiwi by birth and manage administration and events for the industry body for Cruising in Aus/NZ.

Great CK, thanks, bossy aren’t I? Welcome to you also oneadecade and pleased you’ve decided to show yourself after weeks of lurking! Well done with your loss so far, that’s terrific. Similar to you, I declared I was at ‘maintenance’ recently (it was a plateau really) but I’m too scared to move to 6:1. Instead I’m sticking with 5:2 for now which allows me to go to a restaurant or go off the rails now and then – like tonight when I have some Connoisseur ice cream planned for dessert (third time in a year). Strangely, I still seem to be losing a few hundred gms here and there which, as you say, gives me some wiggle room.

Thanks EA, I hid it under the containers of frozen cauliflower soup and only I know it’s there. I’m throwing caution to the wind and having a third of a glass of red wine too. Dinner is a salmon steak, after realising that teen can’t call all the shots. CM and I aren’t actually glamorous; we’re just part of a mutual admiration society of which you will soon be part. You sound as though you miss blighty – have you lived in Oz long?

Evening SH,

Julia, you are doing so well too. Love all your Japanese info. I discovered konjac noodles when I was doing the Dukan programme. I am used to the initial smell when opening the packet. I think once you expect it, it doesn’t surprise you anymore and it becomes ok. Worth giving it a try if it is just the smell putting you off.

Thanks Thinatlast, I will have a think about what approach to take. I love reading about you guys who have reached and maintained their weight loss.

Kia ora AngelBob2 well done: getting through that FD 🙂 congrats on your past loss and also on impeding wedding. that’s motivation :)) you will do it!!

Go EA, continue being strong and you’ll get there.

and lots of positive vibes to all,
Coast

JJ.. Fabulous FB site and yes I liked it. I grew up in Hong Kong so very comfy in Asia but Japan has always been a mystery.

Thin… not bossy at all… Just overlooked that bit when signing up and I have nothing at all to hide and everything to gain. Hope your red wine was as nice as my white!

Still in awe and curious about you strong folks that religiously count calories on NFDs. I don’t think I can do that. Admit I don’t have mega kilos to loose but after reading the book and Dr Google research I’m
Looking at this as a sustainable approach to healthy ageing. Actually went and let the vampires in the Path Lab draw litres of blood today. Time to get everything checked for a benchmark as to how this works. Plus been too scardie cat to have it done for five years.

So my question as still a curious newbie is… If I may be so bold… Who’s following this plan for weight lose
Or who sees weight lose as a side effect to possible long term health benefits?

Hilary4 and CM – so sorry to read about your respective losses. I wish each of you and your maid of honours healing and comfort at this time of sorry. Or, as I think my old boss (he is Jewish) would say, “I wish you long life” (which somehow I think is so comforting at a time of loss, just a personal view!).

Thin – profile updated. Oneadecade – , as I’ve only been here a few days, haha, but welcome from me anyway! 🙂 Anyway, off to cook dinner for the OH and kids, they’re having chicken burritos but it’s tuna salad with low cal lime and coriander salad dressing for me… Lovely reading all today’s posts and wishing the Friday fasters a super-easy FD tomorrow.

Take care all, from Claire. (aka Avent).

Good morning to all…

CruisingKiwi – My doctor told me to loose weight for health reasons,he also told me that this diet works and he has a few of his patients on it. So it is 50/50 for me. Weight loss was needed for my health. I knew I needed to loose those kgs as I am not very tall and about 27 kgs had been put on over the 27 years I have been married. I want to loose the weight not only so I can wear those nice clothes I used to wear but also because the bonus side is the health benefits that will come with it. Also thanks for liking my page. As I said, it is still a work in progress.

I have to go and take teenagers to school now but I will be back later

Ja mata…..

Thank you for my lovely welcomes 🙂 Cruisingkiwi – hands up, I started this WOL purely for weight loss, but I have had a pretty high cholesterol reading in the past, and I’m interested to see if this comes down. All of my family seems to have this though, so I’m pretty sure it’s not due to our diets. I’m feeling hopeful that the health benefits in fasting may impact on my cholesterol. I just need to get up the nerve to go and have the blood test done. It doesn’t hurt and it’s over with really quickly, but ugh….I’m such a wuss about it.
I am one of those who likes to count calories on NFDs, otherwise I could go berserk on coffee alone. I log all my food on myfitnesspal every day and it helps to keep me aware. Of course, I have had some days over the past 8 months when I’ll get to lunchtime and then adopt an ostrich policy! I’m a work in progress.

Cruising kiwi – my weight was going up and I was eating lots and lots so I heard someone who I follow on you tube in England talk about it, got the book and started right away. So weight loss for me, controlling my eating habits and getting in tune with my old way of eating when I was a runner bean and hopefully holding off diseases that seem the norm now. Being a nurse, I didn’t want to have happen to me what has happened with some of my patients. And although we cannot control everything and may live a super healthy life and still get sick, I want to do what I can to stay healthy into old age.

Having said that, I jumped on the scales today full of hope and wonderment and stayed exactly the same 66.6. I really hate that number!! So I attempted the good ole shower trick which works for some of you. Nah, nothing. However, my body fat according to the scales is 29% so I was happy with that as below 30. (But of course I want it much lower in time.)

My brain is screaming out to me “exercise, exercise, exercise”. History and common sense tells me that I will shift this fat quicker if I do. It’s just getting into it. I haven’t really read much about the HIT. Has Dr M. written a specific book on it? I think I may need to give it a go, especially after reading Avent’s success this morning.

Hilary – that is great news about your daughter (and you of course). I am so pleased she found the 5:2 and it has given her the results she wanted. Good on y’both.

Well, I shall try and move my butt more today and will watch what I eat. It’s time to get serious.

Any more advise/personal experiences about HIT please?
Cheers. EA xxxx

EA, I sometimes incorporate HIT into my daily 5km walk. Dr M has written a book, ‘Fast Exercise’. You can read a sample chapter here:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/fast-exercise/id762282516?mt=11

Under the picture of the book, click on ‘View in ibooks’. You have to agree to launch an application. When you get there, you click on ‘Read Sample’ under the ‘buy’ button.

Don’t worry, I found there’s no rhyme or reason to the pattern of loss. Sometimes it comes two days after the FD. Be strong today.

Forgot to say Thin – I like what you said about being around for your daughter and one day enjoying watching her in her career and with a family. It’s so true. We owe it to ourselves and our children to remain healthy for them and so we can enjoy them. I’ve just had the toddler make me bounce up and down to a song on playschool who naturally expects me to be able to do these things, just like my teenager did when I was in my 20’s. Some of my school friends became grandparents before I had the toddler! For me, I want age just to be a number, not a barrier. xxxx

A very big welcome to all the newbies, a wave to my compatriots, and many thanks to
our wise Yodas, those on maintenace who stay on here to help us all along the way. It is like family here as we share this road with people from the SH and now SA. So good!

Some people remember who said what or can keep track, but I tend to forget after a few messages, so for whoever asked: weight loss and health is my goal. My health has been compromised long term after winning the unknown-but-pretty-bad-virus lottery at 47, leaving me with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), or it’s common (and very badly named ) name Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It’s a complex, multi system neurological condition. People with ME/CFS either go very thin or put on weight. You know which way I went. We also can’t exercise as cardio exercise is contra indicated, and non-cardio can only be sustained for very short periods, i.e. forget repeats. So currently, after 17 yrs, I’m quite strong, for about 10 seconds, can walk at a measured pace for about 1 km on the flat. That gives me a life that simulates ‘normal’ , and I do think I have a good life. I live in a country where I can look after my health, and that is a gift not everyone gets.

Why am I telling you all this? Because it’s why I’m here. I put on 30ish kgs. I got 10kg off over a couple of years using all I knew or could find out, then had no other way to get off the rest. I would love to do HIT and exercise but can’t. I have a brilliant exercise physiologist who helps me rehabilitate tiny bit by tiny bit. My OH(other half) saw Dr Mosely’s documentary, and I had been hearing about 5:2 for a few weeks. We bought the book the day after the doco, read it in a day and started the next. OH has a cardiac history, heart attack at 36, credited to his having Familial Hypocholesterolaemia, a genetic condition which causes high cholesterol not related to diet.

I have lost 12.5 kgs since end of September 14. Now at 70.5kgs with 8 to go.
My BP medication has halved.
I walk a little faster and with a slightly longer stride.
I do a little more in my sessions with the Ex Phsyio.
I go another step up my home stairs before I do the get-the-heart-rate-down stop halfway.
Gone from a 16 to 14 in clothes.
Bought new undies a size smaller. Yay!
Taken in a hole on my watch.
The facein the mirror looks like me now.
I can spend a longer time with my little grandchildren.
I don’t need to rest quite as often.
My GP is very happy, Ex Physio is very happy, my Cardiologist said, you’re better than last year, and I don’t need to go each year now.

Intermittant Fasting, and for me the 5:2 version, has worked brilliantly for me when I had no other way of getting my weight down. It is sustainable. I enjoy fast days. I eat other things as life throws up birthdays and holidays etc. and it’s still sustainable. I i tend to stay on it for life.

Getting off my soapbox now.
Cheers,
Merry

So much for the short posts.

EA, likewise a lot of our friends had children in uni when ours was born. There are advantages and disadvantages, as of course you know having children at both ends. Yes, you can incorporate the HIT into your walks with toddler – I set my phone for 60 second bursts and walk to my absolute capacity, probably look ridiculous, and do that about 8-10 times during the course of a 5km walk. It’s not a FD for you, so enjoy your evening. I’d do what you’re planning – go without today while you can control it, give yourself a talking to before you go out, and just do your best at selecting the healthiest choices. It’s all a learning process.

Oneadecade, I admire you counting cals on NFDs. I can see that in itself would mean a much lower intake just to avoid the hassle. I did work out my breakfast and it seems rather high at 450 cals probably as I still have grains which I think I must be addicted to – but it is breakfast, it’s low GI, keeps me going through until dinner and doesn’t seem to be preventing me from maintaining my weight and even losing a little.

All very heart warming. We all approach this differently and for different reasons, but everybody comes with such a positive attitude. I can see the smiles on your faces 😆
Thin, tell your OH that Mr P IS a scientist. He records everything and there is no doubt in his mind that fasting is the reason for his continued success with diabetes reversal. He understands that to remain healthy he must do 1 or 2 fasts a week. It is the famine and feast theory at work! Thank goodness we found such a simple approach to such an appalling condition. One that any of us can develop.
Off for a walk to the shops in this gorgeous late winter sunshine. Great to be alive and healthy. Cheers P 🙂

Hi Gang. Not feeling great today, so I’ll also try a short post. Lovely, sunny & warm day here in Perth…with a touch of spring in the air. Just love those incredible blue skies of winter.

Welcome to all our “newer” newbies and congrats to all those amazing losers and PB’ers! Well done everyone.

Merry, you are an absolute inspiration! No matter what is/has been thrown at you, there’s always that positive attitude. You are going so well, and will continue to do so, because this is working for you, when nothing else was. Go Girl.

There’s no way I can catch up with all of your posts. So suffice to say, it has been really interesting reading about everyone’s motives for starting this WOL. I believe that many people initially look at 5:2 for weight loss, but soon discover that the health benefits take over, as we continue to feel different in our own skins. I’ve only been going since mid-Feb, but as of today I’m down 8.8 kg to 62.2. Never in a million years would I have believed anyone who told me 6 months ago that I would be this weight. I assumed those people who spoke about “fat & fifty” were speaking the truth….well bollocks to that! We’ve proven them wrong, with so many success stories on this thread alone. Thank you Dr M and “Shites”! You made me a Believer!

That’s it for me today. Not such a short post, but hey, I tried. Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Onwards & downwards, to our good health. CM xx

Avent – I could live in Japan too. Unfortunately it is not possible, so I visit a couple of times a year to sate that Japanese hunger passion I have for the country and it’s history. I love the food, watching sumo wrestling (even stream it when I am home) visiting castles (My bucket list involves visiting the top 100 castles in Japan) visiting museums, visiting the many Japanese friends I have, learning about the culture, religion and traditions.

Purple = i was interested to read that you started 5:2 in April 2013 and then in April 2014 you reached your healthy goal weight. I was really under the belief that it would take me forever to get this weight off, but after reading that you could do it in a year has given me new hope that I will get there. When I look at it from my end, I have almost completed 4 weeks doing this, so I only have another eleven blocks of 4 weeks to go before a year is up. I have a goal of not only what weight I would like to be but also a time limit that I want to have lost a significant amount before that time is here. Yes my next trip to Japan in December, I would love to be able to get into my old ski pants seeing we will be visiting some of the mountain areas in winter. Thank you Purple for your inspiration!!

Oneadecade – I too love to count calories even on NFD. I still try to keep my intake to a minimum so I dont undo the hard work on FD’s. For example yesterday being a NFD my total calorie intake was 902 and I think that was just a little too high, but I did have a rather large rump steak that took the calories up to that level. Usually my NFD calorie count is no more than 700. I have high BP but my cholesterol has never been a problem.

Coast – this seems to easily become part of your lifestyle so maintaining your ideal weight should not be a problem in the future.

Hilary – I would like to send love and best wishes to your daughter and you. She must feel heaps better about herself with such a great weight loss and you are such a wonderful mum to do the journey with her. I wish you both huge losses on the scales.

EA – sorry the shower trick didnt work for you. I only try that if I am not happy with a non weight loss when I know I should have had one. This morning I weighed in at 77.6 and left it at that!!

Thin – looks like we are still twins……I am too a late life mother. My first child born when I was 32 and my second when I was 41 almost 42!! My husband on the other hand is 7 years younger than me and for me to become healthier by weight loss and eating I hope that I can too live a longer life so we can be together in retirement and also see our children grow up. My eldest is 25 and still no signs of becoming a mother herself just yet as she has her career, but her day will come and I am hoping that I am still here to enjoy the grandkids. And I agree there seems no rhyme or reason for the weight loss sometimes. This mornings loss of .6 was unexpected seeing I felt that I ate more than I should have yesterday’s NFD.

EA – loved your post about age being just a number not a barrier. Well said!!

Merry – thank you for sharing. I am so glad you have found 5:2 and it has changed your life. Reading about you reminded me a little of myself and brought a tear to my eyes. I dont have ME or any other problems like heart problems etc. I have High BP that I control with medication at this time and I have degenerative disc disease which just means I breaking down with age!! I am positive my back aches etc will disappear once I loose this extra person I am carrying around with me and my spine will keep me upright for quite a few more years to come.

So that comes to the end of the messages I have read up to I started typing….I am sure there is more that I can not see at this time.

But I am a happy chappy at the moment as I am getting further and further away from that 80kg mark and closer to that 75kg first goal!! I have to say that I think this has changed me already as I am now constantly aware of what I am eating!! Thanks to everyone again for all the support you give.

catch up later JJxxx

Thanks, EA.

Purple – I said when I first started posting here, only a few weeks ago, that I was going to celebrate when I got to 75kg and have a wine. Honestly, I am not sure that I want to have that wine now, I think I would rather have something nice to eat that I wouldnt usually have every day. I dont mean something really bad for me but more a treat. Like going to a restaurant and not having to cook for a change. Maybe I could go to a Japanese restaurant and order something nice but healthy at the same time!!!!