Happy New Year everyone – I’ve enjoyed catching up on the last page worth of posts and seeing people with same thoughts as mine re excesses of foods etc – hello Cinque, Nap, Coast, Thin, Intesha, Merry & Christine

I kept my FD’s all thru the holiday period (with working thru was easy – but it made me realise how much I struggle when I’m at home) and relaxed my eating/drinking 100% and just enjoyed our weekends away, so in 2 weeks I increased 3.2kgs but I am back with full force this week.

Christine – When I started off, I just weighed once a week, but after a suggestion on here, started weighing daily, and its good because I know what is normal and what is not, so don’t get worried about fluctuations so badly.

Merry – Your 16:8 description was enjoyable.

Am back to hobbling after getting mostly better, and enjoying a brisk walk up Queenstown Hill and a slow jog down on NY’s day, so that has put me back to square one. Last night I got out my old boxing gloves and frantically punched a towel hanging on the line, to try and get my heart-rate up, and today I can feel muscles I didn’t know I had, so I think that is something I can do without moving my lower half, until things improve.

I was down to somewhere in the 74’s before xmas and maxed at 78.1 – so am hoping to follow the easy on / easy off principle (is there such a thing??!)and not take too long to get back to where I was.

We have a couple of uneventfull weeks planned, before my big eating in-laws descend again, so hopefully that’s enough time to get things under control.

bye for now
N

Hi Nik, posts passed in the ether! So sorry you are hobbling again, hooray you are finding ways to exercise still. All power to you. 💫💫💫💫

Hi Nap,
The good thing about feeling you are doing badly now is that, hopefully, when you get back to your pre Christmas eating pattern you won’t be so hard on yourself. You will remember Christmas and feel really good that you are managing so much better!

Have a lovely birthday shop today and I hope you find something really lovely and special to eat with your OH.
Cheesecake is something I really miss now that I don’t have sugar. I loved the baked ricotta type. Oh yum!
Totally agree that a homemade one is not only healthier, but also a hundred times more delicious than a bought one! If you are going to eat cheesecake, you want the very best!

I think the food journal is a good idea. Not only does it give you data, it makes time in your day to think about how things are going and how you can look after yourself in the best possible way.

I bet you find that your regular fasts, and Christmas fading into the background, and next week your birthday will be done and dusted, and so you will be back into the rhythm of better, more natural eating and will quickly feel so much better.

I’m fasting today. Forgot to take the chicken for my miso soup out of the freezer (and I cleverly packaged it up in portions). It is thawing on the kitchen sink now though. I did remember to get the dashi out. It made a nice one this time!

Off to do other things for three hours or so, and then I will have my miso soup!

Hope everyone is having a good day. It is lovely weather in Melbourne! How is it where you are?

HI SH,

After the festive break approx 4kgs snuck back on but after 2 FDs this week 1.25 kg is gone already.

Hi NikT, those physical challenges are so annoying on top of our weight challenges, but aren’t we all great just getting on with life and finding ways to overcome. Good thinking re: the boxing gloves. Sounds like something I could try as well. Thanks for the idea 🙂 Good luck with getting a handle on the WOL again before the rellies arrive.

Hi Nap, I hear you – that’s exactly how I felt. I love that you now appreciate how well you were doing before Christmas – we all believed in you 🙂 The way I am looking at it is that the festive season covered a 2 week period, and it may take that Iong to get back into the swing of the 5+2 WOL – but before we know it we will be on track again and have the wonderful memory of an enjoyed holiday period.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! for Sunday and I hope your cheesecake works out beautifully. Enjoy every mindful mouthful 🙂
Did the shopping go well?

I love that visual aids suggestion, Cinque – I have pebbles and I’ll find a couple of jars immediately tomorrow morning. It will definitely help me keep positive.

I agree about the food journal Nap and Cinque. I find I always lapse if I don’t keep a journal. I have been doing so for many years when I have been successfully losing weight. I am thinking that I need to keep writing even when I am maintaining and that might be part of thje secret to keeping the weight off – for me at least.

Hope you had a good FD everyone,

signing off,
Coast

Hi IHAW

Great to hear from you. I was on the road and skim reading posts at the time. Well done on your third year. I am maintaining with the usual seasonal ups and downs. My second anniversary is on 25 January and I’m aiming to equal my previous low weight point. Hope to catch up with you one day. Are you still pummelling people? 😉😉

Cheers, Bay

Hi Bay, long time no see!

Good to hear you are still doing 5:2, and getting back after the silly season.
I’m still massaging, but decided to give up working in the resort on all of the tourists and guests….all were lovely people, but I was getting emotionally exhausted and missing out enjoying fun stuff on the weekends.

So now I work from home, and am having time to go to local markets, garden and lots of stuff I haven’t done for 2 years. I’m also looking at studying nutrition this year, perhaps an online course? As well as checking out the recent info coming out about FODMAP foods from Australian researchers. Which I’m finding very close to finding the source of me originally developing IBS. I understand the sugar, flour craving effect they seem to trigger once you let them past your lips. Frustrating, isn’t it?

Hope you have a great weekend everybody,
Cheers!

Hi All

I did a 2nd night of my “shadow boxing” and then had a day off as was surprisingly (good) tender and I only spent probably 3-4mins at a time, so will aim to go home tonight and do again before cooking my planned gourmet tea. Coast – let me know if you end up hitting anything in the name of fitness 🙂

Have never cooked tuna steaks before, so have planned Thai Tuna Steaks and a Cold Peanut noodle salad (my husband hides the peanut butter at my request) but have just discovered I can use my new Magic Bullet to make my own, so will be doing that for my salad, so that’s a bit more exciting for me!!

Happy B’day for Sunday Nap – enjoy that cheesecake! for all of us!!

Hey Cinque – lovely to catch up with your cheery self again! HNY!

My theory of easy on / easy off worked. Have done 2 liquid only days and 2 FDs this week and got back to 74.9kg – A big effort, but just didn’t want the quick gain to hang around and decide to settle. So now it’s back to the real hard slog of making new ground. My next reward is at 74.0 and it’s been very elusive all thru Dec, so here’s hoping in the next week or two I will crack open my bottle of Astrolabe Sauv.

Have a great weekend one and all!

It is so great to see so many posters back!
Cinque, oh, I am a huge New York Baked Cheesecake gal – I haven’t had a baked ricotta one before. I am l forward to making this one tomorrow, and plan to enjoy it. With the cals being so much lower, I feel I can truly enjoy it and not have to feel too guilty.

I think you are right, Bay, I think carbs throw me a bit, and I see a pattern of eating carbs and me wanting to pick all the next day. I feel like I am starting to get a wee bit more control over it all – I hope the couple of birthday meals out doesn’t ruin it all. I have to have two meals, and am trying to work out where to go that won’t blow it all up.

Nik, how did your tuna steaks go? I would love to hear about your Peanut salad, it sounds yummy! Wow, I can’t imagine doing two liquid days and two fast days!

Thanks for all the nice birthday wishes. Shopping went well, I made great choices for lunch, and was really stoked with how I handled it. And I didn’t feel deprived at all. 🙂

A good fast day today. I had a couple of cups of tea, but actually didn’t eat until dinner. I drank my water and kept it at that for the day. Hopefully tomorrows weigh in won’t be too dreadful after a big effort today.

I like the idea of glass jars with pebbles in them. If I did the jar from when I started my original weight loss (not just the 5:2) that would look so awesome! It would definitely spur me on.

My first post of the new year, wishing everyone a great 2016 – may most of your dreams come true (got to keep us honest, can’t have everything 🙂 )

Well done, Nap. Sometimes our bodies are doing things out of sync with our actions in surprising ways.

Thinking of those in WA.

Oops Barata, How did I miss saying hello to you and Happy New Year!
It is daunting to think of the people facing the WA fires.
Glad to hear it has slowed at the moment.

🙂 🙂

Hello………………..ello………….llo……..lo………o…………
That’s an echo in the blank space……

Hi everyone,
Anyone else out there? Concerned about our 5:2 community who may be caught up in the WA fires, as residents, firies, and a certain pilot. Hoping you are all OK.

Checking in, yesterday recorded my weekly weigh in down 0.4kg for the week. Now at 68.2 kg. Doing yesterday’s FD today instead, as special meal out with someone midday. Funny thing about mentally catching up with my new physical image. I see the scale numbers as 60 something, but when I think the numbers I very often invert them – so 68 will be 86, 67 will be 76 etc. it’s like my mind has yet to catch up with the physical; is so used to being overweight it automatically flips the numbers to put me there. Was looking through photos on my OH’s camera from Christmas, and didn’t recognise the normal sized person in the shorts as me at first. Got a bit of a shock when I realized it was me. It was a random shot of Christmas morning and I’m side on with my face turned partially away. I guess in a year or so my brain will catch up LOL.

Hope you all have good FDs this week as we get back to normailty…well January normality 🙂
Cheers,
Merry

The house is returning to normal after our son returned to USA. Got caught out in the car in a halestorm on the highway yesterday returning from the airport. Fortunately, no damage to the car. We parked during the worst of the weather front, along with many others trying to get some shelter from overhaning trees. Fortunately no car damage. Cooler day today.

Hope you are OK Cinque. Just read back you were feeling unwell….

Well done Nap! Fantastic result from a dedicated week.

Hi SH

(this is a post I started on the 9th as I was/am trying to limit my posts to once a week, after my FDs).

My FD went a bit pear-shaped yesterday as there was a lot of food preparation for the week for the friend I share with, so there was too much food for the fridge and I had to rethink what I was eating – so I went with the flow. Consequently, no downward trend yesterday. It will be better on Wednesday and I might throw in Friday for good measure. Lull day for me today too, Cinque.

It’s a beautiful day here on the Coast – a lot cooler than yesterday with a lovely cool breeze.

So thrilled for you Nap 🙂 what a great start to the year. Start trusting that this WOL is great. Even if we go off track, we now know {even you 🙂 ] exactly what we need to do to reign in the excess. A tweak here and a tweak there, and the body and mind react positively. It’s all about awareness, mindfulness and planning, although sometimes it does feel chaotically out of control :).
I am sorting my glass pebbles today, are you?

NicT, did you enjoy your tuna steaks and your cold peanut noodle salad? Sounds interesting. Would you post the recipe to share? thanks. My operated shoulder is playing up again since just before Christmas and I am seeing the surgeon on Monday. As soon as it is under control I will be out there ‘boxing those shadows’ 🙂

Good luck with the rehab, Merry.
Yes, I too am concerned for our WA forum – how are the rest of you in WA?
Glad that there was no damage from the hail – one less thing to stress about.

HNY too Barata.

Cinque, I am so impressed by all the interesting things you make for yourself. I can’t bake. Even though breads can be part of my downfall for weightloss, when I eat it bread I should know exactly what is in it and try to have healthy quality choices. My ‘go to’ is Burgen Soy-Lin slices which I keep in the freezer for my occasional carb portion. I would love to learn an easy healthy recipe. Could you share A RECIPE, IF YOU HAVE AN EASY ONE, please? oops, caps lock, sorry.

I am impressed with how little weight some of you put on over the festive season even though you were having fun and enjoying yourselves. My jump sounds pretty hefty even though I was fairly mindful all the way through. I think that’s just how my body reacts to carbs, daily wine etc. so I know to limit those while I am in losing mode.

inning off,

Coast

Hey Coast, Merry, Cinque.

My tuna was devine!! I just wish it was something we could find in our shops more than once every 40 years or so!

Here are links to the 2 recipes that I based my dish on (leaving out and substituting what I had to hand)

http://www.food.com/recipe/cold-peanut-noodles-225645
http://www.food.com/recipe/grilled-tuna-with-thai-marinade-223367

and Merry, I do exactly the same thing with transversing digits. I’m so used to being in the 80’s and 90’s, my OH might ask my weight on weigh in day, and I’ll not bat an eye lid and tell him something in the 80’s, and get myself in quite a muddle when he questions, as my head struggles to get around the new starting figures.

I did a liquid only day yest, and was back-to backing it with a FD but a birthday morning tea at worked proved to be my undoing, so I am enjoying a rare normal eat day.

I do hope the Perth based members aren’t finding it all a bit toasty, or have family / friends caught up with the partially destroyed town.

and RIP David Bowie!!

Well, hello to all – I hope you are all managing to stay cool and safe.

Thanks for all the congrats. It is so nice to have support. My birthday went well, although I ate too much. Oh, and I made my cheesecake which was yummy – then OH came home with a bought cheesecake! Ah well, thank goodness it is only once a year!

Cinque, I’m glad you posted the bread recipe. I used to make bread, but know that I eat the vast majority of a loaf, so I don’t make it now. But I want to give yours a try, as it is a healthier version by the look of it.

I used to use whey a lot in my cooking, especially breads and cakes. I make my own yogurt, and sometimes drain off the whey to make quark (a German cream cheese apparently). It adds an extra something, don’t you think?

Yes, deprivation and guilt are horrible things. And they are definitely a huge part of my emotional eating, too.

Nik, what is your easy on/ easy off theory? I like the word ‘easy’ – so I am intrigued ;-). Thanks for posting the peanut salad recipe – another one to check out!

Coast, yes I think I am learning more about this way of life, and treating it as such. We were going out to dinner last night with my son, and so I fasted for the day. I like the fact you can do that, as well as juggling fasting days around.

Due to the birthday, today is fast day. Only had water /diet cordial today, plus just had a coffee. With the heat, I find it much easier to not eat for most of the day and just have water. Salad for dinner, with a piece of steamed fish, I think.

Hi all and belated Happy New Year. I have been lurking and reading all the posts but as I am temporarily AWOL from 5:2 didn’t have much to contribute.

Well done to you all for the results and just keeping the forum going. I think Thin is due back sometime this week so the forum will be very lively again I’m sure.

I have been trying to stick to 16:8 and even though I might manage 14/15 it’s the eating hours that I become undone. Too much temptation and I’m not good at denial !!!!!

I don’t feel as if I have put toooooo much on and my clothes are still comfortable. As Scarlett O’Hara says “I’ll worry about it tomorrow”…….

Having an unexpected trip this weekend, going to Bruge in Belgium, oh oh, chocolate. Driving and then getting the car train, a first for me and I am really excited. Sorry 5:2 just close your eyes.

Will catch up next week and let you know how bad I was.

Take care everyone and so devasted to hear about the crazy weather over there. Not much better here but at least they don’t have bushfires.

Bye for now.

Thanks Merry, I will certainly give the information to my daughter and it is two grandchildren, a girl 6 and boy nearly 3.

Thanks also for the uplifting encouragement. I know that I have put on some kgs but I certainly don’t feel like the Michelin man so I think in the scheme of things I have not pigged out too much. I certainly will be honest on my return as I know somewhere along the line it will help someone struggling.

I already hate Thin as she has been unbelievable in what she has achieved but then again we have both had very different holidays.

Thanks for the hug😀

Hi Barata
caught some of the tribute from RNZ. Amazing guy with so much depth. Think he has left a great legacy. RIP David Bowie.
Wish I could fast forward 6 months to try on my clothes Cinque 🙂

Hi Intesha

Don’t worry about the weight while you’re enjoying your holiday. Time to take it off when you get home. I always put on 2-3 kg on a European holiday.

Just so you know, the only people I’m aware of that have holidays in Europe and have not put on weight are Purple and Mr P and Thin. Kudos to them. They are legends. 🎉🎉🎉

On the other hand, we had a fully catered tour through rural China for 3 weeks in which I didn’t gain any weight. Difference, no bread or sugar or baked items or dairy of any kind.

Cheers, Bay ☀️☀️☀️

Mmmmm.. Wet cat ! Best of luck with that, Cinque. I’m with you, can’t see a recipe that can’t be tweaked.

Loved Bruges – enjoy 🙂

Hi everyone. I am back from the Iberian Peninsula. I’ve just tried to read through the most recent posts but there is so much news to catch up with from each of my lovely fast friends that I just don’t know where to begin. I’ve checked in a few times over the past 8 weeks and even tried to make an entry once or twice. I am so behind on all your news. Are you all well and happy?

As many of you know, I was very nervous about this trip and whether I would be able to maintain my weight, could I fast while overseas, would I lose control outside my own kitchen, or suddenly wake up one day 5kgs heavier. So, drum roll …….. I returned 800 gms lighter than when I left.

I set out to fast once a week and eat mindfully all the time but still enjoy sampling everything on offer. I fasted for the first three Sundays buoyed by finding huge cauliflowers in the markets, a stick blender at the various accommodations and learning that caldo is the word for stock in Spanish. Give me a cauliflower soup and I’m halfway through a fast day.

My travel scales told me I was losing weight and I got down to 58kgs before Christmas so, after consulting my supportive mates on the MC thread, decided to stop fasting unless I reached 60kgs. I haven’t fasted since but tomorrow is Sunday so I am thinking about what to do. We were very active on this holiday sometimes walking 10-15 kms in hilly terrain and I know it would be so easy to pack on those extra kgs if I’m not vigilant. This is a life commitment and I’m never going back to where I was. Perhaps a partial fast as I am still under 60kgs …… then again, there are no hills in Perth; will I lose the will to fast if I don’t keep it up?

Meanwhile, I am so grateful to 5:2 for helping me change a lifetime of bad eating habits. Although I sampled all sorts of ‘forbidden’ foods like pastels in Porto, paella in Pampaneira, I never felt the urge to overeat and rejected a lot of foods that before I would’ve eaten without even thinking because they just aren’t appealing any more. We even had one ‘all you can eat’ buffet meal and the difference between my colourful plate of food and the OFMs’ deep fried selection made me very proud. They both left feeling sick and I was just full. It was also great to avoid all that Christmas over-indulgence that I read a lot of you chatting about on these pages. Why do we do it to ourselves?

Looking forward to getting back into the conversation and finding out how you’re all getting along. Hope the newbies are reaping the rewards of this great WOL.

Good morning everyone!
Hi Thin, Welcome home!
If you decide to fast today, then hello fellow faster! I am fasting too.
I might go coffee free too since I accidentally put my empty coffee pot back on the flame yesterday (my new stove burns so cleanly I sometimes don’t see the flame). I managed to get the melted gasket off after soaking, but I need to buy a new one now. I’m pretty sure the shop won’t be open today. (A better solution than roasted soy beans? The melted gasket method!)

I wonder what page I joined in this thread? I might go searching back and find out.

Ooo Thin, finding lovely clothes in Portuguese shops! What a treat.
It sounds like such a wonderful holiday and a gorgeous way to make it into 2016.

AND you have to start saying ‘my adult daughter’!!!!! Isn’t it amazing.
Wow, I’d like to try reversing photos and seeing what I look like.

Hello everyone else! I hope today is a good day for you.

PS The people next door (along the road) have a new baby called Etta. I got to hold her yesterday. Totally adorable!

Hi Thin,
Yes, poor coffee pot. I am holding up well without it, although I might have had 6 cups of tea so far today!

I’ve just got my miso soup on cooking. I have finished the last miso I bought. I worked out that it wasn’t traditional miso with all the wonderful micro organisms living in it so I was glad to finish it up, and I headed down to Friends of The Earth Shop where they had the proper stuff.
They had some very rough looking locally made stuff, but I decided to stick to what I knew.
So I had two choices, mugi miso, made with barley as well as soybeans, and genmai miso, made with brown rice as well as soybeans. Although they aren’t the sweet white one, they are still quite mild and sweet. I bought a bit of each. Shocking price because I am not a co op member. I hope they are worth it.

Today I am using the genmai miso. I’ve picked 8 chard leaves and chopped them up and cooked them in my dashi, I’ve turned it off and added the cut up tender chicken which is cooking in the heat of the broth, and in a minute I will add the miso and eat it up! I feel very nice and traditional today! Although I bought some fine cut nori to add in and forgot it. Next time!

So that is my miso adventures. I’m having it as I write and it is lovely.

I did jump on my neighbour’s scales more than a month ago, and hers were as dodgy as my daughter’s but vaguely the same. I’ve still got a bit of belly to lose and upper arm fat and a couple of inches off my boobs etc, so I am not worrying about getting too skinny yet. But I am wearing things that were too tight even then.

I wonder if you are ending up fasting. I am depending on you to get maintenance sorted before I get there! You’ve got a few more months I think. 🙂

Oo just worked out it is 6 months since the week I started with 5:2. What a good 6 months it has been for my body shape!

Hiya everyone
I’m really enjoying reading all the posts and so feel very positive about doing 5:2. Hoping to travel later this year so good to see some stories about how it can work with FDs. Thanks to all.

Just had a great weekend at home after being away for work. On my fast days while away I found that if I didn’t eat then I wasn’t hungry which goes against all the diet advice of a lifetime! I am interested to see if it works when I am home and others are eating around me. Fasting tomorrow and Wednesday this week 😊. Can’t wait to weigh in and measure on Thursday.