This topic contains 27,907 replies, has 831 voices, and was last updated by thinatlast 4 days, 17 hours ago.
P.P.S. …Oh dear! I realize it was Thin who described the ‘all or nothing’ approach! Well, re-reading everyone’s posts, I gather most or all of us are facing similar or same issues around our relationship with food; wasting, snacking, etc. The thing is that I feel a healthy momentum in our group! I feel us all growing via this WOL which reflects in our improvement and progress toward goals.
Lael, thanks for the link. I’m pleased that the reasons some abdominal exercise workouts are unsafe for women are explained on that website: https://www.pelvicexercises.com.au/abdominal-exercise-workouts-for-women/ as many women our age don’t understand the risk of undermining the pelvic floor muscles in their endeavour to improve core balance because their gym gurus are giving them duff gen.
Can you freeze those truffles? If so, problem solved as you can eat them at a time of your choosing.
Hi Thin, Yes the truffles are freezable and they also keep fresh long term in the refrigerator, so thankfully today I’ve been able to let them sit there uneaten. I addressed my emotion around the kumquats by eating a small handful as starter for my salad lunch and have decided to take some to class tomorrow to offer them around to the other students. I don’t know why I have this emotion about wasting those kumquats! I guess because they are only in season a short time each year, so they feel like a rare delicacy, especially grown on someone’s backyard tree!
Before reading your post, I also didn’t know the danger in weakening the pelvic floor, so I’m happy to now know. I’ve known a couple of women who have been required to repair a prolapse with surgery, with differing results. One woman I know was sewn in with mesh that basically turned her into an invalid and she was someone of child bearing age who simply wanted the problem fixed so she could have more children. We really need to protect our pelvic floor!
Just watched Catalyst program on the ABC. Five things to dramatically reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.
Exercise such as brisk walking.
Good quality sleep
Social engagement.
Normal Blood pressure and High levels of good Cholesterol
Mediterranean diet, that is, Virgin olive oil, green leafy vegetables, fish, nuts, fruit. Very little meat, dairy, sugar, or processed food.
I too watched with great interest, the Catalyst program!!! I guess I get pedantic about details so I then had to find out how much walking is required to increase the hippo-campus, since neither Catalyst nor ‘How to Stay Young’ with Angela Rippon specified actually the amount of walking is required! Here is what Harvard Health Publications suggests:
“How much exercise is required? These study participants walked briskly for one hour, twice a week. That’s 120 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week. Standard recommendations advise half an hour of moderate physical activity most days of the week, or 150 minutes a week. If that seems daunting, start with a few minutes a day, and increase the amount you exercise by five or 10 minutes every week until you reach your goal.”
The study cited a study which verified the positive effects of 40 minutes brisk walk three times a week:
Both studies recommendations were about the same; brisk walking from between 120 – 150 minutes per week, chopped up different ways seems to all lead to same benefits.
And when I don’t feel like going out for a walk for various reasons, I’ve been known to follow along with one of Leslie Sansone’s walk at home videos…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndVjwkaLGDk&list=PLnZJLnXYpNd0gTliat58JyQGjlSERm_2m
A very interesting and encouraging programme. Thanks for verifying what’s required Lael. It’s hard to believe anyone could be daunted by the prospect of ‘walking half an hour most days of the week’!
Re: prolapse, what happened to the lady you mentioned is awful. Physios are now taking the lead in this area of women’s health and educating doctors about the consequences of surgery which should be the very last resort. Prevention is important and we can all do something about that.
Wow, with you on that one Thin, half an hour a day walking is wonderful although it is usually a lot longer for me, can’t possibly image ever not wanting to! Interesting thread with the pelvic floor muscles, certainly something to think about, quite amazing also how now so much of the mind body connection is actually getting out their into the mainstream population and the public are actually taking it on board, I personally think this is great and we will see some real long term benefits from it.
Didn’t do too well on my first week back on 5:2 but much better going this week so far, not much change on the scales but definitely on the measurements, started my walk/jog/HIIT up and over the hill early in the morning on Monday and cycled around 60kms yesterday, such a lovely day, out weeding the garden today before the rains come, off to Christchurch at the weekend to visit friends so may be a challenge!!
Merry, I know you’ll meet the challenge, and Thanksgiving in the US will be a marvelous experience for you, especially with family.
Sounds like you’re very active Turnabout. A 60km bike ride is impressive. I’m going to walk with a bit more purpose starting from today. I’ve just realised that my previous post was rather insensitive to Merry, Cinque, Nap and anyone else here suffering CFS. But I’m sure you realised that I meant that half an hour’s brisk walk most days isn’t much to expect of those of us who are physically able to do it. All of us here ‘get it’ and we’re all doing the best we can with great results.
No worries, Thin, Lael, and Turnabout. Those of us with ME/CFS are the exception. It’s a multi systemmic neuroimmune disease and exercise is contraindicated. Any exercise, dammit. Having a shower is exercise, as is preparing a meal, washing your hair, and it all has to be paced through the day and week. However, we have to live in your world not you in ours. We know we’re the odd ones out. Keeping ourselves emotionally balanced is a challenge, yes, but it doesn’t mean that we expect others to not live normally. So please talk about exercise in a normal way. I don’t get in any way offended by it.
I, for 1, am just so grateful that 5:2 can help me get to my normal weight, and grateful that the forum is here for us as well. For many of us the internet is a window on the world and a way of keeping in touch. Maybe not as often or for as long as brain energy is less than usual as well as visial bodily energy, and language is often compromised so it can take ages to write as coherently as we used to…….and now I’m gettinng pedantic and tangential….
I used to be an avid advocate of brisk walking on a daily basis. Actually I still am, just not as avidly as I forget, and don’t do ‘enthusiasm’ quite as energetically as I used to. I think the 3×30-40 mins a week regime is an absolute minimum, not a goal. A bit like the 10,000 steps a day limit. It’s the minimum we need to keep health maintained. Improving it requires more. I often think of when I walked every day much longer than 30 mins and wish I could still do it. One thing I’m noticing now I’m closer to my normal weight is that my thighs are different, and probably my buttocks will be too. There’s the droop with age! Yuck! But The muscles are not as big so I’ might end up a bit smaller than I was. Since I can’t exercise to build the muscles I may even end up all 1 size instead of the bottom size being a bit bigger than the top. Won’t say no to that.
Happy FD to the Wednesday fasters,
Onwards and Downwards,
Merry
Don’t forget to tell us when it’s your birthday Merry. How are you celebrating?
I’m mostly wearing my new size 10 clothes these days. Both my coats swamp me now but I’ve made do this winter and today bought a new one in the sales – size small. I still can’t quite get used to that and I did try on some size 12s before I remembered. My GP says that no-one has a truly accurate body image. Back in the day when I bought my best coat, it was pure wool and I do love it. All I could find today was wool blend. I also still go for walks in some too big shirts but gradually everything is getting replaced.
Hey, guess what! Why I was trying on coats, OH went to a bookshop. I was shocked to find him thumbing through his new acquisition – a ‘Mediterranean diet’ recipe book. He’d watched the Catalyst show last night and evidently taken note.
Good morning everyone,
I had a strange 5:2 day yesterday. I didn’t chat on the forums, and I fasted! On a Wednesday!
I just woke up and figured it would be a good day to fast (and it was). So here it is Thursday, and I am eating breakfast!
Bay, I did watch the Katering Show! And laughed. Aren’t they merciless. But in fact, 5:2 didn’t get such a bad rap, from the cat anyway!
I haven’t caught up with Catalyst yet, but I am a long time proponent of the Mediterranean diet. Cheers to your OH, Thin!
I have little exercise and shocking sleep (although it has been a bit better lately) so hooray for the Mediterranean Diet (and 5:2 of course)… and the forums for social engagement! Maybe I’ll avoid Alzheimer’s after all!
Isn’t it hard to find clothes made out of natural fibres! At least blends have a bit! Hope you find a gorgeous one.
Although I grieve for all the years I was overweight, and now my body is no longer young, I don’t mind an older body going hand in hand with my greater age and wisdom (the little bit I have) and perspective and experience (yep, some of that too!). It is strange to make clothes choices like “I can’t have that it looks too young” but I do enjoy dressing for my age, and looking a good 59 years middle-aged! (Hopefully I will still feel like this tomorrow!)
Hi, I’ve thought of myself as a tortoise because I hadn’t seen any real change on the scales for a couple or few weeks. Back then I’d reached a new low which I seem to briefly touch, almost like in a dream! It’s as if the next day I’ve awoken to feel like it wasn’t ‘real’! However, when I calculated how long I’ve been practicing this WOL, I realize it has been about 8 weeks since I started and I’ve shed about 8 pounds total or 3.7 kg, so I guess I’m actually on par with what Mosley says is an average loss over time.
I have to remind myself though that my fat, muscle and hydration percentages have continued to improve over these past couple weeks.
I usually wait until after a FD to measure myself, though this morning, as I began my FD I decided to measure for the first time since I’d hit that new low and found that I was 4 cm slimmer combining total loss on the 5 points since that last time I measured when over a half kilogram lighter. So again, I’m registering improvements that aren’t picked up by weight measurements. As I observe my concern over my own progress, I reflect again on the efficacy of how you approach this, Cinque and understand the efficacy of your practice of continuing on with 5:2 without giving energy over to weighing on scales.
Hi Lael, rounding your weight loss up to 4kg, it’s half a kilo per week on average which is nothing to sneeze at. Well done. You go on to say there’s been little or no change on the scales for a couple of weeks despite noting other improvements. You could consider this a plateau. But if it is concerning you, there are a couple of things you could look into. Have you calculated your TDEE for the weight you want to be and then taken one quarter of that as your upper calorie limit on FDs? 500 cals is fine as a general guide especially for people who might be considerably more overweight than yourself. We need to learn to eat for the weight we want to be. You do sound like a healthy eater but have you made sure you’re not going over your TDEE on non-FDs? Calorie counting is the pits and is enough to discourage anyone but it might be worth doing an estimate. Another thing that helped me get off a plateau was looking at my carb intake. I couldn’t believe the difference when I gave up bread, pasta and rice. You can always re-introduce them in smaller quantities later. Just some thoughts anyway.
Cinque, you mentioned you might swap to Wednesdays and Saturdays – is this the beginning? And are we really only middle-aged? That’s happy news!
Bay, I’d never heard of the Katering Show. I found the one about thermomix on the net and thought it was funny. But the humour on the 5:2 escaped me I’m afraid. Beans the cat looked dead. How are you getting on with your post-holiday loss?
Good morning and TGIF. Haven’t left the house since coming back from the airport on Monday afternoon. The house is now back in order, all clean and sparkling. Will try and get up the energy to go out this morning but woke up a little under the weather. I have been fighting it and keeping busy has helped but my body is all achy and I have a sore throat. Both my daughter and granddaughter had it when they were here, so I guess it was only a matter of time.
Had my second FD yesterday and this morning weighed in at 68.1. My lowest prior to the family visit was 67.3. So take heart all those that are struggling or think this doesn’t work. This WOL and that is just what it is a WOL not a fad or something unsustainable. 5:2 gives you back the tools to manage and control your life, even with our occasional hiccups.
I am still picking at nuts, cheese, biscuits etc., but getting much better at throwing away food. It still goes against everything I’ve done previously but I actually feel sick when I over indulge now. Funny how the body adjusts.
Lael, I was so frustrated in the beginning because I wasn’t losing as fast as I thought I should or compared myself to others journey but you have to think about why you started this and how much you’ve achieved already. This is our own personal story but luckily we have this wonderful forum of amazing people taking the journey and sharing their stories with us.
Meeting friends tomorrow for lunch overlooking Sydney harbour. Looking forward to some R & R.
Have a good day everyone 😀😀
Morning, all. Another frosty morning here in Canberra, although not as bad as it has been.
I have been reading all week with interest, and just wanted to say that I’m with Merry when you talk about exercise. I loved to walk the dogs everyday – but it just can’t happen like that anymore for me. But I still like to hear how others are going and what they do for exercise, etc.
Awesome changes in measurements, Lael. Well done!
Talking of how we are looking naked, I now have a lot of loose skin on the inner thighs, arms and stomach. But I can see it as showing how far I’ve come, not as a negative. It is almost like a ‘badge of honour’ for all of us who have lost a lot of weight, I think.
Terrible week for me. The stress has hit an all time high – and what do I do? Eat junk with OH. I weighed in this morning, knowing I would have put on, but thought it might help me get through today’s fasting. Yes, I’ve put on 600g since Monday. It sux, but I totally know why. I wish I didn’t still try and eat my way through stress!
Anyway, hopefully today’s fast will help reset things a little, and get me on a better path next week. So close to my goal weight and sometimes I feel like I will never get there!
Good morning everyone,
Chilly morning! Nice big cup of tea 🙂
Definitely middle-aged Thin 😉
I even googled it and it said it ends at 65, but hopefully when I get there it will have crept up to 70!
(Hello all you young things! Enjoy your youth! I think it lasts until you are 50 these days)
I think I am giving Wednesdays and Saturdays a go! I’ll fast tomorrow. See how it goes. Are you doing Saturday yet?
The thermomix episode of the Katering Show is my very favourite!
Nap I love your description of that loose skin we notice, as a positive to show our journey.
Those old habits of eating for stress are so ingrained. I try to remember that originally we did it as a safety mechanism, and our brain/bodies are still trying to keep us safe. I try to be as kind to myself as I can. If I am going to binge eat, I try to binge eat the best food, or the food that I really want. I try to be mindful and notice the taste and my fullness, how I feel and what I am thinking, and see if I can stop, or have a break. All without hating myself! I try!
And I so hope that the things that are causing the stress can be worked out. Sending all my best wishes your way Nap! Of course you will get there!
Intesha I hope you just get a whisper of that bug! And I hope you can have a lovely trip to the big outside after all that housework!
Hi Lael, you’d think those scientific instruments: the scales, would be the most exact measurers of how we are going, but as you say, they can be bizarrely out of step!
(I saw scales in the op shop last week that were modern fancy ones that measured four different things and part of me thought, Oooh maybe I’ll buy them! Before the other parts of me all screamed NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)
Merry, cheers for your birthday preparations! How is it going having a weightloss deadline? Is it an added incentive or a hovering stress?
Well if I am going to fast tomorrow, I’d better go and enjoy some breakfast today! Cheers everyone!
Hi everyone, I’m starting the 5:2 diet today. Tried it for a short time before and noticed results so here I am again. I’m 54, female, 172cm and weigh 81.4kg. I weighed 61kg when I turned 40.
Found it MUCH easier to lose weight pre 40 than post 40. In the year I turned 40 I quickly put on 6kg. Asked the doctor about it and she said peri menopause. She said, average age of menopause is 50 and the 10 years leading up to it is pm and your body goes through lots of changes, including weight gain and difficulty losing it. Well, she was quite right. The hardest things have been interrupted sleep, difficulty getting back to sleep after 3am (hard to go to work when you’ve only had a few hours sleep) hot flushes (can’t take hrt due to occasional focal migraine, and the natural alternatives haven’t worked) and weight gain.
To be fair, I am lazy when it comes to exercise and I have a sedentary job at a computer. Must exercise more, hopefully will improve sleep.
First day today and I had pasta for dinner last night. Just read ‘never have pasta the night before fast day’. Good advice, am starving this morning 🙁 Next time will have a higher protein meal before fast day. Trying to hold out till 11am before eating to gain benefit of 16:8. Has anyone noticed a difference when they switch to 16:8 rather than eating breakfast at say, 7/8am?
Am an emotional eater. Stress or boredom are the usual culprits. This is difficult to overcome. Wouldn’t be an issue if I chose to eat say, celery, when it hits instead of crackers or whatever.
Really want to lose this weight and need to be accountable. Too easy to fall off the wagon with my husband, he says he loves me and I look beautiful but I’m not happy with my size and would like to live a long, healthy life.
Really appreciate any tips you have for success in this journey. 😊
How are you getting on bigbooty? I went to your profile page to find out and discovered this interesting post on another of your threads which underscores what Cinque was explaining and might help you Nap:
http://www.chuckrowtaichi.com/ch.html
While we were away, I broke my awful habit of snacking on muesli in the evening but now I’ve started again. I now have a choice, stop doing it or return to two fasts a week. I’m hoping this article might help me understand why I do this. It’s a bit more scientific than the usual explanations of emotional eating which never made sense to me.
Cinque, did you at least get on those scales and have a peek at your weight? DD is leaving for a vet prac down south on Sunday so that will be my FD again this week.
Intesha, I totally agree, the rate of weight loss isn’t important. My loss was at a tortoise pace too. As long as you see a downward trend, you’re laughing. I hope you can keep the bugs at bay long enough to have fun with your friends.
Off for a brisk walk with the vitality of a middle-aged woman – thanks for the revelation that I’m not yet a senior.
P.S. Welcome to you Beth. You might like to read the article above too. I started at 83kg and am now under 60kg. We are here to support you. Try to consider it a way of life, not a diet. The longer you hold off eating, the greater your fasting window as you point out. Another benefit is that once we start eating it awakens the ‘hunger dragon’ for many of us. However, go easy on yourself while you’re starting. if you need to distribute your calories throughout the day, that’s fine while you learn what works best for you. I don’t eat until 2pm on FDs when i have a 103cal soup. When I started two years ago, I had three mini meals on a FD. Know that hunger comes and goes in waves and doesn’t have to be satiated with food – a good walk if you’re able or keeping busy with a bit of gardening can also distract you. Good luck.
Thinatlast – thank you for the welcome and encouragement! I agree it has to be way of life, sustainable for the long term. I look forward to being a part of this group and sharing my progress.
One question, when I came to this page it starts with the first comments back in 2013. Is there a way to view it so the most recent comments pop up first?
Thanks
Checking in –
Welcome Beth. You’ve come to a good thread where you will be supported, informed, and just occasionally kicked in the proverbial. It’s an approack that works really well🙂 Wishing you well on your new journey in life.
Life has been busy this week. 65.5kgs after yesterdays FD, and that’s 600gm down on last Friday, but my weigh in day is Mondays so we’ll see where I am on Monday morning for my recorded weekly graph. I can go up and down a bit with fluid. Brain fog today, so while I’ve read all your posts, I’m not retaining much.
Onwards and Downwards everyone,
Merry
Hi Beth,
If you have us on your Favourites list in your profile page, or if you click on ‘Forum’ and then ‘Active Topics’, the trick is to click on the name next to the thread. That is the last person who has posted.
If you click on ‘Forum’ and ‘Recent Posts’, you just click on the thread name and you go to the latest post.
If you get email notifications, someone else will have to tell you the trick!
Welcome here! It is so frustrating to have all that weight pile on and feel so out of control!
I can tell you that 5:2 still works if you can’t exercise because, like Merry, Naptime and Lael I have a chronic illness that means I have to be very sedentary. I was over 80kg at my fattest, and now I am down to the low 50’s.
But I do hope you find exercise that you like, it will help with that old age in good health that would be so wonderful!
I don’t worry about 16:8, so long as I have my two fast days eating less than 500 calories, I just eat normally (gradually working that out) on the other days. However each of us has to work out what suits us. My thing is that I have to keep right off sweet things and refined foods.
It is all a bit of trialing things and adjusting until you work out what suits your life.
Welcome to the journey!
Low fifties Cinque? Wow, you kept that quiet. Haven’t you done well? No wonder your PJs keep falling off. I was hoping you’d show up and answer Beth’s question so that I could also ask you this: how can I get a new tab to open when clicking on a link from within this thread? Everything else I do always goes to a new page but when I click on a link from here, I always lose this page. Thanks. I know you’d know.
And Lael, you have a chronic illness too? I somehow missed that, although I remember being a bit confused when you mentioned having pneumonia and it leading to something much worse.
Great job Merry. Looking forward to hearing about your next weigh-in.
Hi Cinque and Thin wow Cinque, excellent, (Cinque’s not as tall some of us). Thin, Lael, hi Lael!, first apoeared on the ME/CFS thread and we suggested that she come over here as that thread’s not very active, as you can imagine.
Beth, you are about an inch taller than me and starting about the same weight, and I do 16:8 on my nonFDs, 5 days a week. I’m forced to be sedentary so I find I can easily overeat if I eat breakfast. Never really hungry 1st thing in the morning anyway, so no huge change for me. I don’t eat till after 12 or 1pm or 2 sometimes. On FDs (fast days) I don’t eat till after 6pm and have all my calories at 1 meal. I change my FD calories down as my weight goes down. So now at 375cals. My goal weight is 62kgs.
Thin, my birthday is in early September, but after the identity theft thing OH has had (still there a bit in the background) I’ve become wary of giving specifics anywhere on the net. 🙁 No plans as yet as so many other things taking up time and mental space at the moment. When we visit the littlies soon after my birthday there’ll be a birthday cake though, and that is fun to have birthdays with them. They are 3and 5, help make the cake and help decorate Makes lovely memories.
Intesha, glad all is more or less back to normal. Hope you get well soon and your dad settles back in OK.
Hi to Nap and anyone else I miss.
Cheers,
Merry
Welcome Beth! I relatively new to 5:2 having just completed my first 8 weeks! Hi Merry, Intesha, Cinque, Bigbooty, Nap, Hagar, Jaz, Judy and anyone else I might have forgotten! I love that our group is so active, supportive and dynamic!
Thin, good points to consider to accelerate progress! I see my habit of snacking between meals as my main culprit and also I can be an emotional eater/binger too, so bouts of that can set me back. Even though I eat healthy, like you said, the healthy food can still contain calories!
After that pneumonia of 2009, I was diagnosed with Hashimotos and then later I developed related adrenal insufficiency which resulted in symptoms same as CFS and Fibromyalgia. At my worst I was a brain fogged zombie who would wake feeling like a truck had hit me. All tests given by GP that are on the Medicare benefits scheme showed that everything was ‘normal’, so any symptoms, difficulties, etc I reported to my doctors at the time fell on deaf ears. They just wouldn’t hear that how they were diagnosing and how they were administering wasn’t working for me. The tests they gave me supposedly showed that it was working, (sigh). That experience taught me that ‘normal’ is not something to relate to health but only really valid as a setting on the dryer!
Thank goodness for the internet!! I went online and did my own research and also avidly read books on thyroid health. I eventually found a couple of gems of books which spoke to me and when reading them, I immediately felt like they were written ‘just for me’! I subsequently joined those authors’ respective online groups and participated and began taking points from the authors and other members who were in the same shoes as I.
After meeting in person with one of the members of our online group, together we went ‘doctor shopping’ and as a united front we interviewed various doctors to actually find one who was open and receptive to research we presented and who was willing to work with each of us as a team partner in recovery, rather than ‘the authority’ to consult. For example, this doctor was willing to prescribe tests outside the Medicare framework and honor alternative interpretations gleaned from the experience of the 10,000+ members of the online groups!
By troubleshooting my own health and working in partnership with my doctor, I soon began to make progress out of my dark hole. It’s taken 4 years, though the limitations and boundaries of my physical capability have expanded.
I’m now at a point whereby I can ‘get away with’ some exercise (well that’s how it feels because for 3 years + my limitations were narrow and was so easy to over exert which would cause me to crash badly)! I still have to be careful though. For example, I’ve recently pulled off some 4 minute HIIT type exercise, though no way would I be able to do that two days in a row! I can feel I’d crash if I didn’t allow an extra day in between to recover. Ditto for a 3-mile brisk fast paced Leslie Sansone Youtube walk that I did this week.
Thanks Thin, and apparently i’ll be officially old! That can’t be right, the Boomers are never gunna get old!
Cinque – re putting a deadline on my final goal. It’s a bit of a help, but I had to think about it carefully beforehand, and I only did it because, going on experience, I can do it in that time. If it was touch and go or a challenging deadline I wouldn’t have done it. The deadline is there to stop me over indulging.
The Asian Moon Festival is September 15th this year, and Moon cakes have appeared in Asian Supermarkets. I looked at Moon Cakes today (while buying Konjac noodles), and they are calory nightmares! If you don’t know Moon Cakes they are about 10cm across, round with pastry casing with an impressed fancy embossed pattern in the pastry top. They have some sort of firm vegetable/bean/fruit paste in the centre with between 1 to 4 duck eggyolks in them. Don’t go there unless you’re Chinese, although there are now apparently lower cal option like jellied Moon Cakes. The more eggyolks the more calories, starting about 700cals and going up past 1000. They look cute but they’re ultra sweet.
At 1100cals right now on NFD
Goodnight all
Merry, I love moon cakes!!! The sweet bean variety were my favorite!! They are both beautiful and delicious! I haven’t had one in years! I might find them too sweet now. I also used to love steamed buns filled with the same sweetened fillings, again sweet red bean being my favorite. I’m not sure any of it is gluten free and as you point out, all that sugar!
Merry, I also want to commend you for succeeding in dropping that 600 grams!
Nap, hope all the stress of last week has passed and that your fast resets you back into the ‘zone’. Over the past few weeks I’ve been varying up and down in a 600 gram range.
Intesha, cheese and nuts are favorite snacks of mine too!
I did catch the Katering show the other night and also thought 5:2 got the least send up, or at least the cat appeared slimmer by the end, though as you point out Thin, poor Beans did looked dead at the end. Somehow I missed that!
Hi everyone and thank you for your welcome. I appreciate your tips and advice.
My first fast day went well. I only held out till 10.30am before having a small protein drink. About 3pm a cup of soup and a few blueberries and fish & green veg for dinner. I had some major hunger pangs this morning but not so much this afternoon. Will be interested to see how it goes if I do a fast day on a work day.
I’m very sorry to hear some of you have chronic illnesses, I work with a girl who has CFS and I see how some days are a real struggle. I am fortunate to be well and have no restrictions on exercise, I just struggle to find the motivation and willpower to stick with it.
Will fast again on Monday and hoping I can remain mindful of what Im eating on the other days.
Hi Thin,
Im doing OK. Managed to squeeze a bike ride in today. Been reading some other posts tonight, wish I could help more but unfortunately I cant. For me it was relatively simple, I just didn’t know what a healthy diet was. Once I did some research and found 5:2 it was easy as I don’t have an emotional need for food. Im not addicted to food. Wish I could understand this aspect a lot better and offer advice that would help.
Hello Southern Hemisherites!
It is a pretty morning in Melbourne.
I AM having my Saturday fast day.
The shopping trip with my daughter yesterday took twice as long, and involved walking twice as far, as I expected and I was so hungry and tired when we got back that I not only had my lunch, I then nibbled so many peanuts that I might have cancelled out todays fast day!
Still tired today, but all I need to do is make some lovely soup to take to my sister, and I think I can do that, and enjoy it. My sister is home. Yay.
Beth, congratulations for a lovely start to 5:2!
I hope you have a lovely mindful nonfast day today!
Merry, you will be able to enjoy that deadline since it is so doable!
I had a lovely Chinese neighbour who gave me a mooncake every year, but they are way too sweet for me.
Red bean paste now, that is something I miss very much! I have a recipe for it and even made red bean buns AND red bean ice cream, which was just fantastic.
PS Lets up the middle-age deadline to 70 right now. You are not old!
Yes I am a little shorty (5’3″)so even with my weight in the low 50’s I still have a few kilos to lose (if I ever stop eating peanuts long enough to lose them!)
BigBooty, hooray for NOT having a whole lot of complicated eating baggage to sort out. Lovely to see you posting!
Thin I use the button on my mouse to open things in a new tab (which is why I find laptops very hard, if they don’t use a mouse).
Best wishes to everyone!
Good morning, just a quick one from me. On the train going into town. Couldn’t let Cinques comment go without saying I AM NOT MIDDLE AGED I will be 66 in two months it frightens the life out of me that I am that much closer to 70. I certainly don’t feel it and from comments I get people think I am in my 40’s……..
It’s just a number.
Yay! yesterday I was 81.1kg, after my fast day I am 80.5kg! Look forward to getting back into the 70’s and eventually the 60’s 😊
Interestingly, wasn’t starving this morning. Had a boiled egg, some raw celery and green beans, a handful of blueberries and feeling ok but a bit empty. Hunger pangs certainly there overnight. It will take time to get used to feeling hungry – I rarely felt it because I was always snacking I think. You’re right, the hunger pangs come & go, I hope they dissipate over time.
Beautiful day here in the country, have a great day!
Hi Beth, I agree hot drinks really help me with hunger too! I don’t drink coffee or tea either and black and green tea contain some calories that I would have to account for were I to drink them! I actually drink Rooibos or Red Bush tea which contains zero calories! I just read this about its health benefits: “Health benefits of red rooibos tea include its use as a cure for nagging headaches, insomnia, asthma, eczema, bone weakness, hypertension, allergies, and premature aging. The tea is absolutely free from caffeine content and is also low in tannins.” I’m giggling as I wonder how many cups one would need to drink to actually address the bone weakness, eczema or nagging headaches!?!
What also helps me most with hunger is consuming minimum 50 grams of protein on my FDs. I’ve found that if I don’t have roughly around that number of grams, I get very hungry.
My preference for packaged soups is La Zuppa range because they are so hearty as well as contain a fair number of grams protein per serve even for their Lentil soup. The main reason I buy La Zuppa is because I see absolutely no additives such as yeast extract, sugar, flavorings, msg. The only thing that some find objectionable is that they do contain a fair bit of salt, but that works for me since I struggle with low sodium and I often add 1/2 to 1 tsp salt to my meals anyway! I
I have to chuckle! I’ve had a number of well meaning friends try to talk me into eating organic ‘Pitango’ soups because they are made with 100% organic ingredients, appear more freshly made, sold from the refrigerator section in Coles and Woolworths, here in Australia, though they all have added sugar!!! My friend didn’t believe me until I pointed out that detail on one of the packets! She just trusted because it was labelled ‘Organic’ and never actually looked at the fine print ingredient list! Sugar is sugar to me!! Even organic sugar isn’t acceptable as far as I’m concerned! Why do they need to add that?!?!?!? La Zuppa soups taste better to me, are cheaper and with no added sugar!!! …Plus they don’t require refrigeration!
You may have already seen this, though just in case many of us use http://www.myfitnesspal.com to calculate calories. I use it for that and to calculate protein grams prior to my FD starts. Eventually I’m sure this will become second nature, though for now I need my printed sheet to guide me! It really helps having what I’m going to eat set in writing prior to starting!
Big Booty, it is wonderful knowing that you don’t have any addiction to food in any way. It is a relief knowing that there is someone out there who is so free and gives me hope that maybe I too will get there. I somehow thought everyone was dogged by this in some way or other! You also help so many in the threads and I appreciate reading your reminders about the sugars and carbs. I can’t hear that enough times.
Hi Lael,
Ive gone full circle. As a child I didn’t like chocolate. Then I developed a taste for chocolate and now Ive gotten rid of the desire to have any. Now on the odd occasion that I have some I really don’t enjoy the sickly sweetness and its a real let down and I say to my self, well that was really very average, wont be having that again any time soon.
I enjoyed all the posts, I won’t comment on everything or we’ll be here all night.
Beth, you’re off to a good start. I can ignore or distract myself from feeling hungry during the day but there’s nothing worse than going to bed hungry because that’s all you have to focus on. I always save enough cals for an egg around 8pm if my FD dinner didn’t include protein. Some days, I just smugly embrace hunger knowing I’m saying goodbye to those ketones. I rarely feel hungry after a FD. In which part of Australia do you live Beth? (I’m the nosey one).
As for hot drinks, I use almond & coconut milk in coffee and re-use one herbal tea bag several times during a FD. I count 20 cals for the milk & 5 cals for the tea bag. I love Rooibos which I discovered in South Africa but I didn’t know it had all those benefits Lael. What a bonus that it’s a cure for insomnia.
If you don’t drink coffee, you don’t have that dilemma of the added milk cals on FDs. I’m addicted. For miso soup recipes, I think we added a few on our recipe page which you can find here: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/southern-hemispherites-fd-recipes/
Cinque, I hope your Saturday fast is going well. I will miss you tomorrow.
Bigbooty (or is it now Lil’Booty?), one of the best things I took from that article on the link I posted yesterday about “Hunger” from your thread “Eating Himself To Death” was this sentence:
“………even when sugar is combined with other food elements, it is absorbed into the blood stream almost immediately, causing a momentary high. Momentary because soon thereafter, the pancreas secretes a copious amount of insulin, dropping the blood-sugar level and causing an even greater low. The up-and-down effect is greatly increased when the sugar-rich food is accompanied by coffee. However, the effect of coffee is so powerful that the down is delayed by hours. Therefore, only the up and not the down is noticed. Next time you have a craving for coffee and a Danish pastry, be honest with yourself.”
When you think you want chocolate but you know that the result will be a high followed by an even greater low, it really makes you think, “what is the point?”. That article is definitely worth a read for any emotional eaters.
Thanks Lael. I’ve heard of rooibos tea but never tried it. Anything that’s a potential cure for insomnia is worth a try. I will try the La Zuppa soups too!
Thin, great tip about having an egg at 8pm. I wasn’t hungry when I went to bed but I surely was at 3am’ish when I was awake for an hour or so.
I find that if I have a high protein/low carb meal at night, I don’t sleep as well as when I’ve had a high carb meal (like pasta, rice or potatoes) for dinner. Wish it were different. I remember a doctor on Oprah confirming this in response to Oprah saying she always felt a bit sedated after eating potatoes. He said a starchy carb meal will give you a better nights sleep. Shame about the weight gain downside 🙁
Before my next fast day I’ll be having a high protein meal to see if that helps with hunger the next morning.
Do people watch their carb intake on fast days or only calories?
Hi Beth, I make a big distinction between refined carbohydrates (sugars and refined white flour) and complex carbohydrates (that include whole grains, beans and legumes etc). I avoid the first and eat plenty of the latter. I like how Jamie Oliver explains it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BMnAllZWtY
What I find works for me with regard to carbs is eating those with a fair amount of resistant starch. All beans and cold potatoes have good amounts of resistant starch. Resistant starch doesn’t raise insulin levels and is a good pre-biotic which helps our intestinal flora. The potatoes have to be cooled before eating for them to develop resistant starch. Here is an article about this if interested.
https://chriskresser.com/how-resistant-starch-will-help-to-make-you-healthier-and-thinner/
Hi thin,
I suppose it is lil booty now. I have a glucose meter (as used by diabetics). It really is interesting your BG response to different foods. Orange juice will spike your BG within 2-3 minutes. Pizza and pasta will spike it and it will stay high for about 3 hours. I highly recommend everyone buying one. They are cheap and give a good insight into how you respond to different foods.
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6:25 am
23 Aug 16