Hi everyone!
I was hungering after chips today, when I went past my favourite fish and chip shop. I was so hungry! I might have to visit it soon! Maybe in a couple of weeks when my daughter is down: she loves them too.
I eat so much less chips than I used to! I am very fussy too, won’t eat them unless they are cooked exactly as I like them.

Nik, well done being so close to your goal. Christmas festivity seems to have hit most people, and not running would set you back too.

If you hate calorie counting, it might lead you to undermining yourself.
Mind you, those huge portion sizes must undermine you a bit too. What makes you want to hold onto them? When you are at a normal portion size it tastes just as delicious, and you still get full.

Anyway, you will make the right decision for yourself. Have you got your outfit picked out for the wedding?

Well, it is the end of a fast day for me. I was hungry all day, but full now after my miso soup. Delighted that tomorrow is not a fast day for me…. but cheers to everyone for whom it is!

Evening Nap,
Similar weather here. So lovely to see everything wet.
It was cool enough for long sleeves today.

So glad you had a good fast day, and with yummy chicken too!

Isn’t this ‘tastes changing’ thing amazing. Come to think of it, my portion sizes went down in the same way.

Best wishes everyone.

Hi Intesha, so glad it was a lovely time with your daughter and grandchildren, although I guess the odds were in your favour!
Enjoy your flash room, and best wishes for a good trip home. What fun it will be to get settled and back into the swing of 5:2.
🌄

Good morning Southern Hemispherites!
It is a beautiful morning in Melbourne.

Welcome Maxinesbird. Congratulations on your fast!
I am fasting today too. Just one day though, I do my other one later in the week.

Woke up going “Oh No! I feel like breakfast!” But reminded myself it is just one day, and I am enjoying my morning cups of tea. (I prefer to leave eating something to the end of the day).

Miso the cat is eating breakfast in the kitchen, but luckily I am not tempted by dry cat food.

I am still sticking to the program and have shed the Christmas indulgences and am now at a new low 60.2kg. For my height I am still overweight. I am now concerned about getting my waist down to under 80cm as I am still inches away from this.

With the cooler weather I am now able to get back out into the garden and get some chores finished. I don’t like using chemical sprays but I have some weeds that can only be killed that way (couch that sends out 2 metre runner etc). I only do one sprayer at a time as it is hard on your back. Fortunately I have missed all the bad weather that everyone else has got. It has just started rain now but it is gentle. It took two hours last night to lay pavers to get to the rain gauge as it was into the garden all I had to do was level it. The first four took an hour and then the other eight went in quickly. I am quite proud of my first effort.

Well done, GL502

If you read Michael Mosleys book Blood Sugar Diet you will see the reasons for giving up carbs, and the effect it has on your waist. I found that when I ate no processed carbs, sugars and no grains, my waist finally got to the all important healthy height to waist ratio of 0.5. It’s just a suggestion to think about. He is talking about how to eliminate diabetes type 2 and to lose weight from around the middle.

Cheers, Bay

Hi Barata, great weather here also. Bay 🌞🌞

lol, you can see how closely I follow rugby. Infact, rugby union I learn from google. Ah well, I will let your lot win anyway. This time!

I think the cat was showing her disapproval of worm/flea treatment given last night. It is that stuff you squeeze onto her shoulders, but it still seems to make her queasy.

Glad it wasn’t the carpet. For once.

Hi, Aikhme and welcome. If you read the FAQs at the top of the page and some of the threads for newcomers you will find answers to most of your queries. If not, we have a wonderful group who is always happy to help. There is no limitation on activity on fast days, and the answer is no to the question about adding exercise calories to the daily allowance. 600 maximum intake 🙂

Morning all from an overcast Perth. It rained a lot yesterday which was fabulous. I’ve overslept which takes care of a couple of FD hours. OH came home yesterday and has been up since 4am fixing things, one of which is the microwave. We depend on these gadgets so much, don’t we? It took me a few moments to work out how I would heat my almond milk!

Nap, as a very rough guide when you have to do mental maths, just divide whatever is stated in Kjs by 4 to get the Kcals. It’s not accurate but it’s usually good enough to make me think twice. It would help if the nutritional labelling was in a much larger font size.

GL – snap, we’re the same weight this morning and congratulations on your new low. This represents a slow creep up for me all week as I haven’t been fasting on Wednesdays. We’ll see what happens on the scales tomorrow.

Cinque, did you fast yesterday and not today, Sunday? I get confused with the time stamps on here and with the 3 hour difference across our own continent.

Welcome maxinesbird, tell us a bit more about yourself in your profile if you like. Ask us anything. Hi Barata, how’s everything with you?

Bay, I haven’t read Blood Sugar Diet yet. Should I get it? Speaking of that, I got my blood results from last November when I saw my GP this week. I’d wanted to get it done before our holiday to determine the effects of all that fasting. Disappointing really. Everything is perfectly fine but there’s been no dramatic change since the year before. I’m wondering now if I’d over-fasted that day – I hadn’t eaten anything since 8pm the night before and then, as the blood test was on a FD anyway, I waited until later in the morning to go in so I could avoid the queue. Does anyone know anything about that?

Intesha, welcome home. If you’re like me, you’ll be a bit low when you come home from a long trip. But we’ll be here for a chat and to cheer you on shedding the excess kgs. Your parents will be so happy to see you and you have that possible new business venture to look forward to – you’ll have a great year I bet!

Have a great day fasters.

Thank you thin at last.

Yes you make great points about working out TDEE for the weight target I am trying to achieve. Also, do plan to grab a copy of these books.

But I have a question. I was under the impression that the FD of 600 calories are constant and do not change. Is that correct? Or does it vary with weight?

Good luck with your FD thinatlast.

I’m in WA too, and its not even midday and finding it a bit tougher than I anticipated. But I am still on the straight and narrow for now.

P.S. You can calculate your TDEE on this website under ‘resources’ above. Under the activity level, select the option below what you think your activity level is – most of us over-estimate this. Then do it again for your goal weight.

Welcome Aikhme,
Just popping into say that I bet you will lose that excess weight wonderfully with 5:2! It sounds like everyone has got you well set, so now you can have the fun of doing it!
Nice to have you here!

I am fasting today, Thin! It s halfway through the afternoon. Two and a half hours until chicken miso soup!
Interesting that there were no dramatic changes in those blood results, but perfectly fine is good!

Best wishes everyone!

Thank you Cinque.

I am certainly going to look at some of these interesting FD recipe ideas like Chicken Miso Soup. There are some interesting recipes and meal ideas around.

I am trying to find a low calorie FD snack food that I can nibble on throughout the day and looked at nuts. But I search the calories for these and they were high and so it would break the calorie budget.

Do you guys have any low calorie finger snack ideas?

So far, I have eaten 222 calories and it is just after midday.

Yeah I agree Cinque. Eating only awakens the hunger dragon in my experience. Nuts are quite satiating luckily as you could only have about five almonds without blowing the calorie budget! Aikhme, although you’ve asked for finger food snacks, would a sachet of miso soup at around 22 cals help? Just need a kettle or a microwave. Can anyone point Aikhme to coastcat’s FD recipe thread that we posted last year? Well it’s 2pm so time for my you-know-what.

Enjoy your chicken noodle cup of soup!

Here is the link to some good fast day recipes: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/southern-hemispherites-fd-recipes/

It gets easier, Aikhme, I promis. After two years I don’t feel hungry on fast days. However, tomorrow might prove me a liar 🙂 These days I only have an evening meal, a pile of salad with feta, avocado and a bit of cold meat. Fills me before bed.

Cinque, I lead you astray. Australia didn’t make the quarter finals, were winners of the plate in the competition (best of the non-quarter finalists). Next leg of the competition is in Australia next week.

Hello Everyone!

You’re welcome Thin, glad to play a small part in your wonderful dinner choice!
Lovely to hear good news from CM! I hope she posts again too!

Ha Barata, can I pretend I knew all along? And did the All Blacks do well?

Being a few hours ahead of you WA lot, I have had my evening chicken and miso soup. Very lovely.

Enjoy your evening meal when it (the time) gets to you.

A lovely fast day. Hooray. Thanks for the company!

Hi there

I’m Ben and this is my first day on the 5:2 way of life (as I want to call it). I’m looking to lose about 13-15kg to get to my goal weight. Monday and Wednesday will be my FD and I’m drinking lots of water and cordial (low cal). Lunch will be miso soup with spinach and dinner is chicken and veges. Really looking forward to what this will do for me.

Hello SH fasters.

It’s been some time since I posted on this thread – thanks for remembering me Thin.

I live in the Adelaide Hills and was skinny and active until I turned 50 when the dreaded menopause and serious osteoarthritis in my knees conspired in weight gain. I tried most weight loss eating regimes but all seemed like a life sentence to misery and I would eventually fall off the wagon, regaining all lost plus a bit more. With a BMI of near 35(!!!) I watched Dr Mosley’s program on SBS about 2 years ago and that was it.

I’m 70 in April, a botanist and work 3 days/week for the Botanic Gardens of SA. I practise Hatha yoga for flexibility and do weight training with a PT for strength and to keep my bones strong. I have had both dodgy knees replaced with metal ones and now can walk for miles without pain. In addition to feeling so much more in control of my life I have dropped two clothes sizes and my hypertension has disappeared so I don’t need the pills now.

What else have I learned in two years of fasting? Firstly, I know that I won’t pass out if I don’t have anything to eat for 24 hours and, secondly, what feels like hunger is more likely to be thirst, boredom, anger, unhappiness, … When I started I didn’t bother to monitor my eating on non-FDs but still painlessly lost 1kg/month on average. Over time I have reduced my portion sizes and try to limit between-meals snacking, not always successfully, especially when on leave. 😉

At this morning’s weigh-in I have an overall loss of 14.5kg – thought I had lost another 4.5kg but they were only mislaid and crept back in December and January. 🙂

It’s my first day back at work and on the fasting wagon with Monday and Wednesday FDs. So far so good, mountain of emails to deal with and at nearly noon only black tea and water. Have strawberries for a snack.

Up to last year my usual FD routine was nothing except water and black tea until 3pm when I ‘feasted’ on a hard-boiled egg and low-cal fruit like kiwifruit or berries to last until dinner of 1-egg mushroom and spring onion omelette with lots of salad.

While clearing out cupboards in January I came across a stash of meal substitute sachets from when I tried a program promoted by my health fund called Healthy Weight for Life. I didn’t continue because I found 5:2 instead. However, these things are 100C each and consist of flavoured whey protein supplemented with every imaginable vitamin and mineral needed by humans. Being a ‘waste not want not’ type, I am experimenting with using these up on FDs as I can keep a non-perishable stash in my desk drawer. Will also bear in mind if I’m flagging on non-FDs. I prefer ‘real’ food but we shall see how they go!

Quite enought from me! Take care all and keep up the good work.
Nicky

Aloha everyone… My name is Kelly and I have been fasting since 30th September 2015.

Like others on here I have read about – I was losing weight and then plateaued for 3wks. My parents had the book sitting on a shelf (never touched) and on 30th September 2015 – I decided this was for me. I had never read the book, knew nothing about the life style changes I would be making… Just jumped right in!

The first 4wks – I WAS HANGRY!!! You know that gorgeous hungry/angry feeling and demeanor! I also suffered MASSIVE headaches… Guess who’s body was craving sugar! But those feelings past, I started exercising also and we are now 18wks down the track.

I do a weigh in weekly and measurements every 5wks – in the first 15wks on 5:2 (never cheated – not once) I have lost 10.5kg and a total of 58cm!!! I have plenty to lose – but my change in lifestyle has been such a blessing.

I look forward to fasting days. In a world where I don’t feel in control (single mum, 2 kids, work full time) my fasting days help me to remain centered and focused on ME!

I actually fast for a period of 24hrs 7.30pm to 7.30pm the following day, eat dinner and then fast another 12hrs. I have learnt I don’t need to use some of my calories for breakfast or a small snack to see me through. This is what works for me. I also walk 6km, 4 days per wk, 1 boxing class and a game of netball.

I am more active now than ever before. I am more focused than I ever dreamed possible AND I am officially ‘lighter’ than I can ever remember being.

5:2 works for me and I am the first to tell someone when they ask how I am shrinking! WAY TO GO US!!!

Hi all – and welcome to so many new faces (Maxine, Ben, Aikhme & Kelly) – I hope you all feel empowered by the wonderful advice on this forum. I’ve been fasting 8 months and still feel so inspired and enthusiastic, I’m contemplating a full year in May, and finally starting to believe it’s possible that this really is a WOL. I usually last about 3 months with a new “diet” although WW I lasted 6 months – but this time is different.

I’ve not lost weight for Dec & Jan and have worked out my problem. Every weekend I put on 2.5kgs. While I was running, I would lose 3kg a week, so it seemed easy to be loosing. Now I can’t run and during the week, I fast hard and get rid of 2.5kgs…. so its just a repeating scenario each week that I can’t exercise.

After visiting Crank up Day (a celebration of traction engines ….. YAWN!) where there were stores galore of old fashioned baking – we stocked up on Melting Moments, Date Loaf, choc chip biscuits and shortbread, so despite good intentions, it’s been a weekend of indulging.

So next weekend, I will be trying to limit the damage (again).

KellyM – was good to read your story.

Thin – good to hear you caught up with CM.

Hey Barata – a pleasing result with the 7’s aye! by skin of teeth 🙂

Cinque – portions are just habit – dishing the same amount, so next time I eat I will try a smaller plate. Luckily I don’t have to worry about a wedding outfit as it’s a back yard wedding in New Plymouth, “tidy casual” – which works well with our road trip and light packing prior.

It’s an amazing evening in the South – the French doors are open, the sky is blue and there’s no wind – ahh this must be what summer is!!

G’evening everyone!!

Hi everyone, and a great welcome to all the Newbies! You’ll find your name shortened in true Aussie style, so hi to Benny, Kellie, Aik and Maxine.

I’m up on the north coast of NSW, visiting family, getting through the heat, and home again soon. Anyway, a special hi to Benny. I’m not far from you at the moment.

I’ve been on 5:2 for about 15 months now, and have lost 16kgs in the first year. Since then I’ve been static and up a bit over Christmas a various celebrations. I’m unable to exercise for health reasons, so my weight loss has been entirely by fasting. Before 5:2 I had done everything I could to healthily get my weight under control, and was still 22kgs overweight. So this year my goal is to get those last kgs off. 5:2 has changed my life. I am totally off blood pressure medication, and my medical team are all very happy with 5:2 and my progress on it. My cardiologist says my heart has improved a lot since last year and I no longer need to go for yearly tests. That is so cool!

My OH is also on 5:2, but hasn’t done it as religiously as I have. He’s lost about 7kgs, which is still great. In our time on 5:2 we’ve travelled overseas twice, been through 2 Christmases, weddings, and the usual family celebrations. 5:2 seems to reset our patterns of eating. It just works. Was a FD (FD) for me today with 2nd of the week on Thursday. I do the same 2 days each week.

I started eating at 11am on my FDs but after a couple of months I changed to eating all my calories in 1 meal at 6pm. I don’t really feel hungry on a FD till I eat something, whatever time it is. For me it awakens the Hunger Dragon, and so easier to just wait till later in the day. I started at 500cals and OH at 600cals. Now I do 400cals on a FD and OH still does 600. I weigh and check calories periodically. OH doesn’t. Other days of the week I don’t eat till after 12 noon, and finish eating at 8pm. I don’t drink calories – I drink water, tap, cold , hot even, weak Earl Grey tea black, sparkling water, peppermint tea. . Low cal snacks I use are cherry or grape tomatoes, strawberries, carrot sticks, 3or 4 nuts, a small apple or pear.

Oh Cinque, yes that was the Toccata in D:-)

Must go,
Onwards and Downwards,
Merry

Good morning SH fasters.

Did anyone watch the SBS program on sugar last night? We recorded it because we watched the 1st ep. of Dr M’s new ABC program instead, which followed Catalyst – always a must watch for us science nerds!

Monday’s FD went well and today is half over with no problems so far. MW fish with salad for dinner tonight so can lash out on the quantity and still be under 25% TDEE for the day. Had a bit of a pig-out yesterday as a lunchtime planning meeting had hot pizza! 🙁 🙁 Limited myself to two pieces, with nothing else until a small grilled steak and salad for dinner following a heavy weights session, so not all bad and the scales were still kind this morning.

Haven’t been doing non-b2b fasts long enough to know what to expect after the first non-FD yet. My real benchmark is Monday morning’s weigh-in and how it compares with the previous week’s, although like others I weigh daily.

OH is off on Sunday to WA for a week’s consulting so planning very light eating without the social/family meals responsibility and delaying eating each day for as long as possible. My OH is skinny as, and if he notices a few kgs creeping on he just gives up cake and biscuits for a week or two, lucky sod! Unfortunately for me that also means the house is full of things that call me loudly when I’m feeling weak. At least they all live in a drawer in the living room, well out of sight.

Happy hump day everyone! Nicky

Well done on leaving the croissant Cinque . They are a seriously bad waste of cals. And I used to love them!
Have eggs ready for a low cal, sustaining breakfast. An egg with spinach or mushroom or tomato, or just boiled, is perfect and would not have meant a skipped fast. A bit of yoghurt and fruit won’t break the bank either. Makes you look normal and is good role modelling when with non 5:2ers. We did this extensively on our long o/s trip recently. 😉 P

Well done Cinque.
Beautiful summer evening in Sydney. I am SO appreciative after months with limited sunlight (and warmth) in the UK. So much easier to eat well, too!! P