I swear I posted last night – yet it seems to have disappeared.

Welcome vegoDownUnder. You will find the people here wonderfully supportive and helpful, and they will certainly encourage you to stick with it.

Janieau, the others are right – you will find your own way to work it. And if you do feel too deprived, evidence shows it won’t last – so it has to be what works for you. I used to feel really deprived and struggled a lot in the early stages. I was having almond milk in tea to drop the cals even more, but I felt deprived of my usual coffees, so I decided I needed three coffees with milk a day to not feel deprived. If I continued feeling deprived, I know it would not have lasted and I would have thrown in the towel.

I personally start the morning with my usual cup of coffee and skim milk, then water until lunch. For lunch I have a diet yoghurt and a small amount of fresh fruit (under 100 cals). With that and my cup of skim milk for my coffees for the day, I then keep the rest of my cals for dinner (I do keep my cals at 430 for fast days).

I am not a fan of drinking water – but I do drink a fair bit on fast days, as it helps control the hunger pangs, and seems to fool the body into not needing food.

Thin, I have tried again to add my email address, but when I hit submit, it keeps setting it back to Naptime – but still sends me the email saying I have changed my email address. I will try on the computer today, instead of the iPad.

Intesha, that is so awesome you didn’t reach for the food in times of stress. Do you feel like this is a huge change?

Cinque, thanks for the advice on cfs. I have found my morning exercise does make it worse, which is a real pity. I enjoy my mornings hour exercise, and now I suppose I have to find a new balance between exercise and my health. Any words of wisdom? Or advice?

Have a great day everybody. Cooler here at the moment – I hope you are all having the same :-).

Nap your post passed mine on the way in.
The biggest trick for CFS is ‘pacing’ and the best introduction to it is Spoon Theory http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/
Have to go, granddaughter duty. I’ll write more later.

Hello all,

I’ve just started Fast Diet and I have a question: On ‘Fast Days’, do you need to consume the calories (600) or can you skip the whole day without eating?

Thanks for the response Cinque.

Kind regards.
I.L.F.

Hi Cinque, did you miss me yesterday? I was fasting but we had a garage sale from the early hours and I discovered that our internet only extends to within about two paces of the garage door. Then we went to the final showing of the Titanic exhibition in the city. By the time I packed away the unsold items and made dinner, half the evening was gone and I’d consumed only 340 cals. I’ve been well rewarded on the scales this morning : lol : Of course at my weight, 340 cals is nothing to brag about – it’s not much less than what I should be consuming anyway.

Welcome to the newest newbies. What’s happened to the newbies from a couple of weeks past? Happy to have you VDO Marilyn – we could do with a few more posters here on the west coast – I’m just up the road from you in Perth. Your questions have been answered and I agree, whatever works for you is what works. The whole point is to find something sustainable for the long-term. I tend to believe that it depends on how much weight you have to lose – if it’s a great deal, you’ll probably get away with making smaller changes at first. Realistically though, we should all be calculating our TDEE for the weight we want to be and eating up to that on non-fast days and one quarter of the goal weight TDEE on FDs.

ILF: wow, let us know how those pure fasts work out. You’re tough!

Nap – did your mother eat plenty of that Chinese food too? Never mind, I had a bad week too. This week will be better.

Hi All,
Did my first fast day yesterday & was surprised how easy it was. I am so determined to lose weight this time that the hunger pangs only made me imagine fat melting away. I ate 492 cals, porridge, lunch was a low cal soup & dinner tuna & greens. Had enough cals for 2 herbal teas, & a cuppa in the evening. Mind you I drank so much water that I was up in the night twice !!
I took my gorgeous puppy Eddie for a walk to get in some exercise.Perhaps went to far as I felt a little light headed by the time we got home. Loving the cooler evenings though.
Normal day today, but I’m making sure I watch what I eat & don’t over compensate.
Feeling like it’s the start on something really good !!

Good morning everyone,
It has been beautiful in Melbourne the last few days.

Janieau, congratulations on your first day! I am so glad you found it easy. I had that wonderful feeling at the end of my first fast day, and new I had found the thing that suited me. And it has been a great 8 months, so easy and sustainable. Even the hardest fast days have only been one day, and most of them have been easy.

I am pretty close to feeling I am at my happy size now. I might try fasting one day a week for a few weeks and see how that goes. I am fasting today!

Hi Thin, I had a lovely couple of days with her, and it was great fun, but O dear, how tired I was! Yesterday afternoon we drove to the airport and found her mum and dad at the baggage carousel. It was such delight when she caught sight of her mum! (who was coming towards her with the worlds happiest face!)

Still quite tired, but it was an easier night and a new morning now. We are having the fun of three adults and a toddler in a tiny flat. Lucky we are all nice people!

Best wishes everyone for a good fast day, or a good non fast day!

Hi, I’ve had a good fast day. I’ve made the yummiest soup! I’ll wait another couple of hours and have it.

Life is beginning to feel a bit ordered again, which is nice.

Thin I hope the day surgery went really well and that you have made a happy plan for getting back to your comfort zone!
I think I’d go for a Wednesday and Sunday fast next week and then see how you are. 🙂 I wonder what you have decided!

Yep, Cinque, I reckon in these early stages (this time around anyway, I have done it before and was also more lax with the calorie amount then too and it still worked!) it’s fine, and as I reach a plateau that won’t cut it any more and I’ll have to be stricter. I have made some changes in my non-fast days too – nothing drastic but onto cottage cheese and Ryvita frequently for lunches, and loving that, instead of lots of stodgy bread, peanut butter, other kinds of cheese. I feel better for that too, and both combined is working well for me, I think 🙂 I still have normal dinners, though, but am watching how much rice I consume now as it’s easy for me to stodge out on that too – not needing it, but just assuming I need more than I do, I think.

That’s one of the things I love about this regime, that it re-educates you for the non-fasting days too; makes you think more about how many calories you’re consuming and how much your body actually needs.

Well done, Janieu, that’s great. One thing you mentioned made me feel I should mention something I just discovered the other day, and it might be helpful to someone. That was about feeling lightheaded, and I was wondering if you were in fact dehydrated. Then of course you said you’d drunk plenty of water, so in your case that was unlikely. But as a general thing it’s something worth noting that the dizzy, lightheaded feeling can in fact be a sign of dehydration, which I’d never known.

When my partner and I returned from the gym the other day (and it had been a stinking hot day here in WA that day), I was going to the cupboard for something and suddenly felt lightheaded and unsteady and really not good. My partner told me to sit down and he’d take my blood pressure (he’s a nurse). My blood pressure is usually on the low side, but mine was very low – 93 over 64, I think (I’m normally 110 over 80, or thereabouts). He said to drink 2 large glasses of water and it should bring it up and I should be better, which I did, and I did feel better and the blood pressure magically came up too.

As I said, in your case that probably wasn’t what it was, but I think it’s a useful thing to know for us who are doing a lot of exercise!

Thanks for the welcome, Thinatlast. I’m glad there’s another WA person here 🙂 Are you down south too, or closer to Perth?

That would have been disappointing for you to have popped up by a kilo or so after that big meal. Mind you, for Indian I think I’d sacrifice it – yum, my favourite food. And it sounds like you’re well on the way to getting rid of it again anyway, well done.

I’m on a fast day today. I’ve made them Thursdays and Sundays, though this Sunday I’m going up to Perth to visit family for Easter so I’ll switch my days around, I think.

I’m interested to know what soup you made too, Cinque. At the moment I’m still having the same thing for dinner on every fast day (I’ll do that till I’m sick of it, but so far I like it and find it easy). I made a variation on a spicy lentil soup that’s in a vegetarian 5:2 recipe book I’ve got. I add a bit of veg and some kidney beans to mine, and make batches of about 4 or so for the freezer, which lasts me a couple of weeks then.

What surprised me hugely about the 5:2 regime is how I actually quite ENJOY that slight feeling of hunger I have in the evenings around bedtime. It’s not a gnawing obsessive hunger by any means, it’s just a feeling of lightness and slight hunger, which is oddly enjoyable. Can anyone else relate to that?

Good evening everyone,
It has been a lovely, busy day with our full little household.

I do find it hard to work out when I want to stop fasting twice a week. I am mostly feeling nicely slender, but I need to get used to my older body shape, and there are still a bit of flabby left overs (particularly upper arms).
Today I fasted happily but then I had too much to eat. Just bread and soup. The soup was made with leftover veggies from the chicken stew ( after all the chicken got eaten), with added chickpeas and herbs and spices. But we also had bread, a particularly lovely loaf, if I say so myself, and I had a bit toasted, and put the crusts, in pieces, into my soup, which made it absolutely heavenly. But then my daughter left her crusts and I pinched a couple of them to add to my soup too. So now I have a very un fastday-like full belly. ( I prefer that feeling of lightness and slight hunger too, Vego)
Part of that was this confusion I have in my mind about how strict I need to be now. But I have decided, if I do a fast day, I want to do it properly.

Thin, I am so glad all went well today. Just as you say, even with the small ops, you still have that held breath til they are out the other side. Hope he is manplaining quietly to himself.
Sunday is definitely my favourite day for fasting, so that is the one I’d like to keep.

Vego, it is so nice to read through your replies!
I also found that fasting greatly effects my non fast days! Smaller portions, less snacking, changing to healthier tastes, completely different sense of hunger. I do believe it has changed my brain!
I also relate to your description of our bodies as strange and fluctuating places! That is it exactly!
And Oh yes, thank goodness that as grandparents we can give them back at the end of the day!!!

Purple, salt is exactly what came to my mind too, reading about dehydration. I find I need lots of water, but salty things too. ( which is why soup is so wonderful! Generally miso, or thinner soup).

Isn’t it nice to know I will wake tomorrow with an empty belly, and I will look forward so much to my Sunday fast. See you all!

Good morning! Happy Easter, or chocolate day, or whatever you celebrate. 🙂
It is Easter Fast Day for me.

Vego I hope you have a lovely day with family in Perth.

End of a good fast day. I had such a yummy miso soup to finish the day off with! Left over pork in it, and greens from my garden, and a little bit of the veggie and chickpea soup that was left over to make it really nourishing.

And time to boast. Way back in the 70’s when I was still a teenager and went all vegetarian and wholefoodsy, I refused to believe that margarine was better for anyone than butter! I’ve been vindicated!
And always whole milk, whole yoghurt, etc, although I am not one for wanting lots of fat, so I never overindulged.
(A lot of other things I thought then, have sadly been cast aside for better science and more wisdom, but that is the one I can boast about).

Best wishes to everyone! Coast I realised it is ages since you came and let us know about your shoulder. How are you going?
Nap, are you okay?
Hello everyone else! sorry I am not reeling off all your names, it is my bad brain!

Hi Qsue, welcome here!
Cheers for a lovely Easter picnic.

I have only fasted while staying with my daughter and her little family (husband and toddler). So it was quite easy to say I wanted to fast, check out which days would fit in best with what we were doing, and organise soup, which is my fast day food.

I can see it is harder with a whole bunch of rellies.
It sounds as if you wouldn’t feel you were missing out too much if you were able to keep your fast days going, so why not try? You might have to be prepared for a public relations exercise, but once they see that it isn’t such a big deal, and you can still do everything with them, even if you just have a drink of water while they have lunch.
It won’t be weirder than going gluten free, or vegan, or Fodmaps, and I bet there is at least one of them doing one of those!

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

Hi All,
Thanks for your advice re the dizziness. I”l be more careful re my water intake & also have a few nuts. Hadn’t thought about salt.
Finished my first week, but didn’t lose any weight. Had a couple of days away over Easter, camping, & had to drink wine to stay warm ! I’ll be more careful this week, which is back to normal, work & school for the kids.
Hi Qsue, I’m from SA too – & spent the weekend just a few kms from Port Elliot in Wirrina. Hope you have a lovely time. Beautiful spot.

Hi QSue

Some great replies to your post from others, I think. I must admit going away on holidays was always a bit of a downfall for me when I was doing the 5:2 before. I’d just decide it was too hard and that I wouldn’t worry about it and get back onto it when I returned. That’s been my sister’s philosophy too who also goes on and off the 5:2 as I have been. If it’s not too long a break I don’t think it will make such an awful difference, you may put on slightly or stay the same, depending on what food choices you normally make anyway, just unlikely to lose – apart from Thinatlast doing all that walking! I was amazed at how well organised you managed to be for your holidays, that’s quite inspirational 🙂

And having said the above, I have found by not bothering with it whilst away has led to me tending to not bother with it when I return either, and same for my sister!!!… then the kilos start to pile back on, until I have to start all over again like I am now. So I reckon the advice from the others is very sound and will probably stand you in much better stead than being as slack as I normally am!

As with all of 5:2 being well prepared is key, so I think Thin’s advice is spot on in that regard. I hope you have a great holiday.

Hello Thin, CM and all
I’m back after a very long break. I had planned to come back in January when people were back from their travels but had family and health issues and it just never happened. So I haven’t read comments since December and will have to just jump back in where I am today.

I hope all my old friends are continuing to do well and welcome all the newbies since December.

Thin – I’ve missed you and thought about you often.

Well, I have only probably had one fast day since December!!! But having said that I am sitting at my lowest since starting this woe at 61.7 kilos. Not quite where you are Thin but getting there. I’ve cut out sugar and refined carbs which has helped but I want to get back on the 5:2. Will probably start next Monday though as I have to let my body recover from it’s latest medical problem and get my strength up a bit. But I suppose I have been sort of intermittent fasting but more due to not wanting to eat than doing the 5:2 intentionally.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday Thin. Does it seem like a lifetime ago yet?

Well, all the best to one and all and I’m glad to be back.
EA xxxx

Wow, loads of posters today after a very quiet few months. So good to have you back EA and to learn how well you’ve done. I’m impressed that you’ve cut out sugar, I wish I could but I’m gutless. So the drive-through hot chocolates are a thing of the past! Sorry to hear about the family and health issues but welcome back to 5:2. Yes, the European holiday is just a memory now and we’re looking forward to the next one which will be more challenging as I won’t have so much control over the food aspects (Africa). Prepare for whinge alerts starting soon. I have maintained my 24 kgs loss at or below 60 kg since September so I’m delighted with everything that 5:2 has given me.

Cinque – agree about Sunday fasting; it’s just another day for us. Like you, I didn’t plan for my FDs to include a Sunday, it just happened to be the day that we decided to ‘get on with it’ and found it worked well. It helps limit the tendency for excess on weekends because, if we do plan something involving food with others on a Sunday, I switch my FD to Saturday which means it’s still only one weekend day of indulgence.

VDO – your 6.27am post cracked me up with the pragmatic advice in para one to just enjoy the holiday and worry about the consequences when you return – followed by the hilarious para 2 in which your advice sort of all fell apart! Don’t be amazed by anything I’ve achieved here – I’m overcoming a lifetime of bad food habits and over-eating and I’m still the same person I always was. 5:2 has helped shaped my behaviour with respect to portion sizes and the discipline required seems to suit my sort of addictive personality. Sticking rigidly to the rules is the only way it works for me. After decades of losing and re-gaining large amounts of weight, this time, I am never going back so I do see this as a WOL forever. Whatever works for others is just as commendable.

Sweet natured 3 year old indeed. I’m also from the UK and we didn’t have Easter egg hunts. But what I do remember from my childhood is receiving from various rellies the most enormous eggs of delicious quality packed full of our favourite chocolates (in my case Crunchie). They would last for ages and the eggs were so thick, it took an act of strength to crack into them. Was that real or just a fantasy childhood memory? I was hoping you were going to say that your Perth family were a bit closer. Three of us from this thread meet for coffee occasionally and it would be lovely to have you along sometime. EA’s also from WA and, one day, we are going to meet her too.

That’s plenty from me. Hi to everyone else.

Hi Everyone,
Have been reading up on the posts. Good to have you back EA, and the drive through hot chocs a thing of the past. Wow, well done! Had lunch out with some people yesterday and 1 had battered fish and chips, and I have to say, it looks very unappetising now. Mine meal came with a few chips as well as salad, but I ate only a few and left the rest. At least they were well cooked ones. That’s the difference on 5:2, we get more discerning on our non fast days about what we eat. I enjoyed what I had, but if they weren’t really good ones I wouldn’t have had any.

No, I haven’t run away, just a lot on and a bit of stress thrown in plus a few days away for a break, and then Easter with it’s choccy, hot cross bun diversions. I’ve designated this as the week of a New Beginning, yes capital letters. Weighed in at 68.3kgs this morning, 1 – 1.5 kgs up on my lowest weight ever of 66.9, but the same as when we went overseas on September. Been dodging around in that 1-1.5 kgs ever since, but with so much stress since early December, while I still wish it were different, I’m sort of Ok with it. I’ve learnt a lot about how I react, foodwise, under various amounts of stress. We talked about this some time ago, about childhood stuff getting in the way, and it’s still there, and shows me where I need to be working on strategies to overcome it. I think I’ve said before, that I’m considering this period to be like maintenance, and know that I can do maintenance now, once I get to goal weight at 62kgs. Typically through this period during times of higher stress I’d start a FD but not finish well when tireder, or eat at 3 or 4pm rather than my usual 6pm, though my cals would never be over 900-1000. Very high stress days I would eat when I felt I needed to, and definitely craved sugar and starchy carbs. Part of the challenge has been less ability to plan, as we were often ‘fighting fires’ not knowing where and when we’d eat, and making our way around dodgy menues in the closest cafe/hospital kiosk etc, and not always getting food shopping done, or having food go off at home after a week or 2 would go pear shaped. Often all I could do was get some eggs boiled as staples in the fridge. The miso soup satchets went a few places with me, and small apples, almonds or walnuts in a bag thing as well, while we still had them. We’re now out of those times of every day being a reaction to whichever situation was going urgent and important. Thank goodness. All 3 situations are still ongoing, but we’re able to breathe easier now, have a handle on things, and be able to plan more, and get some rec time off.

Doing my Thursday FD today. Nothing till 6pm then salad and lean chicken breast, small piece of fruit. Still doing no calories till 12 noon on nonFDs, and only rarely do I have calories in drinks, and must get back now to 1 milk coffee out 1/week.

Hope all are well, newbies and old hands, and it’s onwards and downwards,
Cheers,
Merry

Hi, ThinAtLast, I think managing to lose, and keep 24 kilos off, is a huge feat, and well done on it. Yes, a certain amount of vigilance would be needed to make sure things don’t start to creep up too much, and it sounds like you’re totally determined to not go back to that weight again so I’m sure you’ll succeed in that regard too, especially now 5:2 has helped you in so many flow-on ways to ensure you keep on the straight and “narrow” (indeed :)). And off to Africa for a holiday – that sounds exciting!! When is your trip? I went to Europe in January, basically Sweden, to see the Northern Lights. I did see them, a few times, but unfortunately not the colours. Still I have some lovely photos courtesy of the lady photographing what we were watching at the time that shows all the green, so that’s a lovely thing to have. I’d love to have another go at seeing them actually, and I love travelling. Next time I think I’ll have to take OH. He’ll be too whingey if I go off and leave him another time 🙂

Yes, you’re quite right, my two paragraphs were totally contradictory, hehe. I was musing on how things had gone down for me with 5:2 and holidays, and then also musing on the fact that it had ended up putting me right off track again until such time as the weight crept on so much I had to start all over again (that’s usually at 5 kilos over what I’m happy with – this time it was 6 before I jumped back into it). So I realised my way wasn’t really anything for anyone who wants to stick to it to be following, and your suggestions were infinitely better 🙂

I think it sounds great that you get together with a couple of other WA’ers, and a hi to EA, being another West Australian who’s also originally a pom (although that’s pretty common over here in Perth, isn’t it). I’d love to get together with you next time you arrange a coffee if I can coincide it with a Perth trip. I’m quite happy to swing past Perth way on the way home from Mundaring, or if I’ve gone up to see mum in Duncraig it’s on the way home down the Freeway anyway, so would be no drama at all. Sounds great – I’m in! Is one of the people you meet with SueJen from Margaret River? I’ve “met” her on the other Australian thread on here (not in person as yet).

And hi, Cinque, yes, I remember you mentioning you started off the 5:2 with slightly higher calories too and now you’ve really cut it down well, haven’t you. And thanks for saying you’ll help to remind me re after holidays. Actually this morning I got up and thought “oh, a fast day… mmm… don’t think I’m in the mood really. Can I be bothered?” It was only a fleeting thought, and then I thought about all the others on here that said they were doing one today, and I instantly put my sabotaging thoughts out of my mind. I don’t think I’d have not gone ahead and done it today, but I do also think already knowing there are other comrades in the trenches has been helpful in my resolve, plus it’s lots of fun reading all about people’s lives and stories. So thank you for including me so nicely, much appreciated 🙂 xx

Oh, yes, Thin, absolutely right re the thick eggs we used to get in the past in England and our youth. I remember that too. I actually thought all the large ones were still like that (I’ve not had a large Easter egg for yonks so don’t know), but what a pity if they’re not 🙁

Hi all, welcome to the newbies and great to have you back EA.

Still doing my two FDs, Tuesday and Thursday’s and getting slightly frustrated. Have been back from OS eight weeks and although I didn’t put on weight in the 7 weeks I was away I am now struggling to lose anymore. Didn’t indulge in any hot cross buns or large Easter eggs although I was given one, just a few mini ones!!!!!

Weight this morning after FD 69.5. Still for the newbies this is an 18kg loss since Feb last year.

Off to Brisbane on Monday for a weeks R n R, looking forward to that.

Have a lovely weekend wherever you are.

Hello everyone,
It is a glorious morning in Melbourne. Life is still hectic with my daughters little family here, but wonderful too. I am trying to pace myself, and have begun having sleep ins, which are saving my life.

So good to see your post Merry! I do love how discerning we get with 5:2. We eat so much less why would we put something less than excellent in our mouths!
I am glad you got a break, and best wishes for a wonderful New Beginning!
Stress, tiredness and inability to plan must be the three biggest obstacles to 5:2! I hope you have some lovely clear time now. Even with the dramas ongoing, if you are getting more sleep, less stress and can get back to planning, everything will fall into places and those kilos that popped back on will fade away.

Hello StayPositive! Welcome here. I think there is every chance 5:2 will do exactly what you want and those narky 10 kg will be fading away before you know it! Lovely to have you here on the journey!

Vego I hope you had an excellent fast day yesterday! I’m glad we kept you to it, especially if you feel great this morning as a result!
And before I forget again, Vego, I wanted to say how much I loved the story of your little grandson sharing his Easter eggs!
The egg hunts are fairly new to my part of Australia too. is We didn’t have them growing up (I remember big eggs) but I did them for my daughter (with a big chocolate bilby or something thrown in (she wasn’t very environmentally conscious, and preferred a rabbit 😉 )

EA I hope your friends join in! My sisters were interested, but none of them have been able to get into it yet. I am so glad I have people here to share and discuss! PS. Actually one sister may be doing it quite well, but she is the busiest, and the furthest away, so she wouldn’t have a chance to chat. Plus she is the sort of matter of fact person who just does things and doesn’t need to talk about the experience (unlike moi!!!! 😉 )

Hi Intesha, how unfair! Those pesky scales! Maybe a week of R & R will do the trick.

I had my no fast Thursday yesterday. My current plan is to do three fasts a fortnight and see how that goes. But I missed my Thursday fast! I’ll keep this 11:3 until my daughters family find a place to live (or for a few weeks, whichever is sooner!) and see how it goes.

Off for a cup of tea! Best wishes everyone!

Afternoon all.

Thanks Intesha. Enjoy your time away and hopefully those scales will cooperate again very soon.

Cinque – lie ins sound like a marvellous idea! You are doing very well continuing with the 5:2 when you have family staying with you, well done.

Oh my goodness, Stay Positive. 18 months in a caravan near Kalgoolie! I hope it had air con ha ha. It’s great that you didn’t like the chocolate too much. I have lindt 90% choc which I love (and can’t eat too much of in one sitting). I had one the kids mini lindt eggs at Easter but it was yucky – far too sweet. So I was happy with that. You are lucky that you get to the UK yearly. I last went back in 2014 and am hoping to go back in August this year. I hope your work colleagues are being supportive of you on your fast days. Who knows, you may get a few come on board with you when they see how healthy and fab you look.
EA xxxx