Aaah that is so sweet Cinque.

Just been shopping, two new tops and skirt……size 10 whoa hoo.

Hi everyone🙂

Congratulations Cinque and especially your daughter, SIL and Little Miss 2 who is still just adorable and going to be a lovely big sister for your lovely chubby bub. So good little Penelope is here safely and well!

My trusty little travel scales show me a kg higher than when I left home a week and a half ago, but not surprising given the celebrating and settling down into a rhythm in someone else’s house and kitchen. I love coming to visit my family and grandkids but do struggle a bit being out of my own kitchen. At home I have nothing that tempts me to overeat or the things that put weight on me or things that I’m intolerant to but call to me anyway. Here there are a few of those things and food is mostly healthy but eaten differently and it’s up to me to adapt, and try to work it so I’m not eating the no-nos and getting myself into an addictive spiral. Getting there. I find it easier overseas or just away with OH (other half) where I am choosing for myself all the time. Things don’t tempt me nearly as much as when I’m staying at someone else’s house where I’m around the temptations a lot. I keep up with my 16:8 decision while away, but I do get concerned about not eating till midday in front of 2 littlies who see and take note of everything.

Yesterday I ate too much in the evening and then realised I hadn’t drunk nearly enough water through the day. I can mistake thirst for hunger and overeat that way. At home I have a glass of water always sitting in the kitchen ready to drink and fill it up straight after. Then it’s easy to just pick up. In the past I found if I had to get a glass out and fill it, it was easy to put it off, but this way I don’t get dehydrated. Again, this is another routine left at home and not here, so today working on a solution that doesn’t get in the way of family and neatnick SIL.

Intesha – last week of October works well for me. How about you?

Congratulations to those with post FD losses this week, and I love zucchini vegetti with a bit of pasta sauce too. Yum!

Tonight, dinner is tacos, so I’ll be having some of the meat/beans and salad on a plate, no taco shell, and a small apple, with sparkling water and lime slices.. Dinner here is 5.30 or 6pm at the latest as well. At home and here if we have pod coffee we make it a black and just add a splash of milk at the end.

Hope all the Wednesday casters are going well!
Onwards and downwards,
Merry

What a sweet photo of little Josie, taking her big sister responsibilities seriously – and Penelope doesn’t look like a newborn. Congratulations Cinque family!

Intesha, size 10, hurray for that great news! Plateau – annoying after all your effort last week. I hadn’t realised so many of you eat dinner early like us. Our friends & neighbours find it very odd.

I’m fasting with you today Beth. FDs roll around quickly on 5:2, don’t they?. I’m paying the price for yesterday’s restaurant meal. As I’m not used to alcohol, especially in the middle of the day, I got a bit giggly and thought a dessert would be a good idea despite warnings from OH. We shared it but still, a poor decision, and a good reminder to me that it’s not just the extra cals from the alcohol but the undesirable consequences of not being in full control. Not only that, I can make a far better sticky date pudding so, yes he was right, I regretted that.

Lael, I hope you’re soon recovered and, yes, it was the 25th. Congratulations on your 25th anniversary too, Steph. And good luck to the school leaver in your home. It’s a stressful time for them, there’s so much pressure. Our daughter is nearing the end of third year (of five) at uni and, other than her 10 hour Saturday job, does nothing but study. This week is supposedly a study break week but she’s doing prac work so there’s never really a break.

Steph, I think you should get back on that page and educate those people about the merits of IF! My own GP is very supportive and my wonderful neighbours, both doctors, both practice 5:2. Well done with your loss too.

Good job helpme, focussing on the fast, not the scales. I can’t do it. I’ve already weighed twice today. Three times actually, if you count before and after the shower. Sadly, it didn’t change.

Last but not least, Violet May, I’m glad we lured you back. I went and read all the uses of TCP on my industrial size bottle that my Dad brought over from the UK for me. I remember you’ve posted on this thread before & I hope you’re getting along well – in maintenance? Your post made me wonder how many lurkers there could be out there. Why not show yourselves? We’d love to hear from you all!

This morning, I made Hearty Root and Barley Soup (259 cals) for our dinner tonight. The OFMs really love it and I can freeze extra portions for another FD. See recipe page for details.

P.S. While I’ve been rambling, we’re on a new page and there are three new posts from Intesha, Lael and Merry. Hi again and I’ll read yours now.

Hi Merry, it’s good to hear from you. It sounds as if you’re being mindful and doing the best you can to meet the challenges of living in someone else’s home. I chuckled to think about you filling up the water glass and SIL coming along and cleaning it up. Enjoy the rest of your stay and thanks for checking in with us.

Feeling pretty down today as I couldn’t get up for the gym. Sore tummy & very very sore head. So not feeling good about myself at the moment. I have also changed my fast days to Mondays & Wednesday as I don’t think it is fair on myself to be fasting on grocery day.

Hope you are all well.

Thanks everyone! Very tired today. Still on grandma duties (how do you people with little kids do anything?) but it is Fast Day nevertheless!

Hope you feel better soon Michaela. Take it easy. Good idea to move Fast Day away from grocery day.

Intesha! What an enjoyable shopping trip that would have been!

Lael I so hope those mouth ulcers clear up soon. My daughter suffered from them when she was still at school. They were awful. My herbalist friend got her to hold a sage leaf under her tongue, which gave her something to do, and I think they are a bit antiseptic too.

Pineapple bites me also! I don’t eat it anymore, but I used to have to make sure it was very ripe and that I had cut out every prickle! And still not eat too much.

Cheers for your new low weight!

Merry, welcome home!
I am so the same re drinking water. I can have a five second awareness that I need a drink of water, and if I don’t catch it next thing it is “Hmm I need something to eat”

lol re predictive text. It does add interesting puzzles for the reader, to keep alzheimers at bay.

I am glad it was such a lovely Anniversary Thin, even with alcohol and dessert!
I’d never heard of oil pulling! I was trying to work out what predictive text mistake it was!

cheers all!

Hi Michaela,

Sorry you are struggling with sore belly and headache. Hoping those pains ease soon. I too can easily eat when I’m feeling frustrated, even when I’m not hungry. I think I read in another thread someone called that being ‘hangry’! I thought that summed up how I feel at times.

I wish I could get up and go to the gym. Unfortunately gym exercises or any other strenuous types of activity aren’t possible for me due to my adrenal insufficiency. The good thing is that I’ve lost more weight simply passing on the exercise and instead practicing 5:2 way of life than I ever did when I exercised! I know exercise feels good though and I miss it.

Ha! Got up eagerly and weighed myself this morning after yesterday’s fast and I weighed 100 grams more than I did yesterday at the start of the fast! However, my muscle mass percentage had gone up and muscle mass reduced, so I’m happy. Those RC pants are as they were. Hip and belly button measurements same. Neck reduced by 1/2 cm. I’m happy about this because overall, I feel my reduction in neck circumference has helped ease the increasing sense of snoring I was beginning to be troubled by. It’s so nice, I can once again fall asleep on my back without waking myself up by the sound of my own voice!

Morning everyone!!

Another FD for me. Although feeling slightly disheartened. My weight is up 600g after two non FD. THhinking next week I may play around with the 16:8 idea and figure I just need to work out what’s right for my body. We are all different after all

My aim today is just tea with skim milk – and the odd banana if I need to with a bowl of veggies and protein tonight. Shall see how we go

Paddy markets sounds like fun!!! Am off to buy a new oven today, take my daughter and her formal dress to get altered, keep Encouraging her to do some study, and after two days at work there’s house chores to be done. Always something!!!

Have a perky day everyone.

Oh. dear. 2 failed fast days in a row 🙁
Hoping today I will have more willpower.

Started the week on a bad note. 78kg Mon morning. Had the lowest cal FD ever and was sure I’d be in the 70’s on Tues morning. 78kg Tues morning. 🙁 Tried to increase my food intake on Tues as I’m sure Im not eating enough on nfd’s and sure enough, the scales were 78.5kg on Wed.

Well done everyone who’s had good FD’s this week!

Gorgeous photo of the littlies Cinque! Hope all are doing well.

Off to work so I better get moving.

Ps. I say all this being mindful that some people plateau for weeks or months at a time – apologies for my impatience.

Morning after Fast day. The sun is out, even though we are about to get what is left of the dreadful rain that hit South Australia.

So sorry everyone seems to be having a hard time. Fingers crossed today will be a good day. Keep on keeping on!

Beth good luck sorting out your next step. I am all for working out what is easiest and most sustainable for you, and sticking to that. It is what a love Dr Mosley for because he looked at the health issues and made it do-able.
(And for me that is just 5:2. Making my fast days as fasty as I can, and my normal days as ‘normal healthy eating’ as I can).

My other trick for my brain is to remind myself that I would do this for my health and how much better I feel, even if I didn’t lose weight. I take the long view. And then the “Ooh this is too loose” and “Oh now I can fit into that!” are glorious bonuses.

btw I had a wierd fast day yesterday. stupid tired and needing to get mum and bub home from the hospital and also looking after Miss 2.
of course everything took forever. I ended up buying the little one chips and accidentally ate a couple! Then I made her a yummy dinner she refused to eat and so was taking mouthfulls saying ‘yummy’ to encourage her (didn’t work. so she nearly went to sleep then got hungry and ate 2 bananas and 2 vitawheat biscuits and didn’t get to sleep til half past nine) Missed my miso soup. mo idea what my intake was but i have woken up feeling skinny (and tired). Writing with one hand. Toddler on my knee

Best wishes everyone!

Morning fasters and feasters. Did any Aussies watch, ‘The Diet Myth’ on SBS last night? More interesting science about gut microbiota. The evidence is mounting to challenge our thinking on ‘calories in, calories out’.

Completely agree with you Cinque. This is a WOL for long-term health benefits. We must remember that, although it’s what attracts most people to fasting, the weight loss is just a bonus.

Home from my little adventure into the city. I was naughty and had veggie spring rolls and a Chinese custard tart.

My Women’s Weekly 2 day fast diet cookbook arrived, I was beginning to wonder where it was but it was worth the wait. Over 300 pages of breakfasts ( crumpet with raspberries and cinnamon honey, 125 cals), lunch, dinner and snacks. All recipes are for one, some can be doubled for the next FD or frozen. I think this is going to become my bible, some really diverse recipes. I think it is going to pay for itself.

Beth, it is the super diet.

Welcome to maintenance Lael! Will you keep the same FD each week?

Intesha, that cookbook looks good. Last night I made a chic pea & spinach casserole from OH’s recent purchase of a Mediterranean Diet cookbook. I’m going to serve less meat and concentrate more on ‘eat mostly plants’.

Hi All,

The cookbook sounds really good Intesha!

I’m also about to watch The Diet Myth on SBS On Demand!

Beth, I’ve had that same experience as you where I ate so well on FDs, stuck to 1/4 TDEE or less only to see no improvement on the scales the next morning and then finding myself snacking later on with a surety that things would be worse on the scales next time I weighed but found they were better than ever! Go figure! I’m learning that scales can be fickle and that they don’t always reflect what’s going on metabolically. Maybe it is that it helps balance that gut flora? Maybe it is the building of lean muscle mass all while shedding fat? Anyway, I’ve never had that type of experience with any diets, so feels a bit magical! Anyway well done for reaching 77.8 kg and maybe less by the time you read this!

Ha! Thin, I chuckle when I reflect on my track record for consistent FDs!It’s not that good! Looking back, I’ve barely ever had 2 weeks in a row of the same FDs, since starting 5:2 in late June! I’ve really had to move the FDs around to fit with whatever else I’ve had going on. Thankfully chopping and changing hasn’t hampered my results. In light of that, I’m going to fast again on Monday this week!

Hi Beth, your loss is exciting. I’m an obsessive weigher and sometimes the scales don’t co-operate. Have you tried the hot shower, jumping up and down on them, moving them to different parts of the house techniques?

I use the miso sachets, whatever’s on sale. Cinque’s the miso queen so I’ll let her explain what she uses which is fancier and comes in a jar.

As to your question about how much to eat on NFDs, it would seem a little nuts to me to ever eat more than you really wanted. I don’t know about the organ function argument but our organs don’t function optimally when we’re overweight. I don’t count cals on NFDs but only because I’m hoping to be doing this for life and it wouldn’t be sustainable to be on a perpetual ‘diet’. While losing weight on 5:2, I aimed to eat to my TDEE for the weight I wanted to be (in goals of 10kg increments). Now that I’ve reached that weight, I just carry on having what I want. That must be working since I’ve stayed the same weight for 13 months with a combination of 5:2 and 6:1. It’s the first time in decades that my weight has been steady for this length of time.

It wasn’t always that simple. I experienced two or three stubborn plateaus and, rather than calculate cals, I looked at carb intake as many on these pages were talking about that. Reducing or eliminating simple carbs made a huge difference to me but everyone’s different. It really sound slike you’re doing fine. I’d say focus on getting the FDs perfected and don’t worry about the rest for now.

Drat Lael. I was hoping you’d say Sunday would be your fast day.

The AWW cookbook sounds interesting Ill remember to check it out when I’m next in the shopping centre

I’m also in the obsessive weighs category. After loosing this week after a great FD followed by gaining and then loosing again – I’ve decided to just stick to weighing once a week. I’ll report here on a Saturday!!

As of today I’ve done the 5:2 one week!!! My loss at the end of the first week is 1.5. Today’s weight was 74.1

Am fasting again probably Tuesday but have to say I’m being careful what I’m eating on NFD after gaining this week. And definifely keeping the carbs to a minimum but not counting calories.

Tomorrow I’m planning on a bicycle ride with hubby and Monday am planning a big walk so that will help burn extra calories too!!

Thanks for the posts ladies. Very informative!! I’ll check out the miso sachets this week too.

Judy, welcome home from your motor bike holiday, I hope it was a good trip. It’s helpful that your OH is motivated to lose weight with you.

Steph, it’s normal to go up & down on the scales in between FDs. When I was losing weight, I weighed daily but recorded my loss from the weekly weigh-in after the 2nd FD. 1.5kg off in the first week is tremendous, well done.

Hi Intesha, happy fasting, what’s on the menu today? I empathise with your need to make separate meals for your dad. I find the FD fare very easy (after all, there’s not much of it!) but worrying about the OFMs is a psychological hurdle for me and I sometimes feel resentful. OH still makes a dash for the kitchen the morning after my FD and cooks himself a huge fry-up. As if he were somehow deprived the day before by virtue of my fasting.

I try to adapt my FD choice to something they could also have. When this isn’t possible, I tend to feed them the meals that they don’t want to give up and that I no longer eat such as pasta and rice based dishes. Tonight, while I have asparagus, poached egg and smoked salmon, they’ll be having pizza and home made soup. I feel guilty feeding them junk food and wish we could all just eat the same. Last night, I continued the Mediterranean theme and we had a really nice baked chicken dish with ‘mint’ pesto. I like the vibrant colours of the Med. diet.

I hope you kick-start your downward trend with this extra fast today. I’m at my trigger weight today so it’s 5:2 for me for some time to come. And a bit more effort on the NFDs.

That was the coldest September on record in WA. A gloomy 18C today. It’s hard to get motivated to go for a walk although yesterday was worse and I did see two dolphins so it was worth the effort.

Quick note. Fasting! Very glad to, as I was a garbage guts yesterday. Thank goodness for 5:2.
Josie will be sleeping at home now, but I am still looking after her through the day. Like now!

Cheers all!

So, you can feel better knowing I’m at 61kgs today Intesha! It’s my trigger weight. Cinque’s idea of garbage guts is probably diverting a spoonful of Josie’s dinner into her mouth.

Ah, the cauliflower fried rice, that’s what I had planned too but I forgot about it. I’ll do that on Wednesday instead. Rub it in about your lovely spring weather too, why don’t you? Just heading out to the garage for an hour on the treadmill as it’s too miserable outside for a walk.

How’d your day go Cinque?

Well done Intesha, another one behind you. I’m up to 320 cals too but the day’s not over here in the west. I may have 50gms of full fat cottage cheese later. Also hoping for a nice drop on the scales tomorrow …

Lovely fast day today. Just having my soup now. So nice to feel hungry.

I think I am a worse 5:2er than you know. It often takes a while for it to sink in how I have overeaten, and by then I feel that sharing it here would be old news, so I just get on with the new day.

I’ve had the whole afternoon to myself so I henna’d my hair and went through my wardrobe and found a huge pile of things that are now too big for me. Some are very hard to throw out, I will see if I can give some to friends.

Now I need to get to bed early and then head over to pick up granddaughter first thing in the morning, So sorry I won’t respond to all the interesting and lovely things you have been talking about. I will just say hi!

Yippee, hopefully broken the plateau, 67.5 this morning. It was exactly 2/9 since I last saw this. Now hopefully don’t sabotage myself.

Cinque I think we feel guilty when we know we have over indulged and don’t like to verbally express just how much we have consumed. I think in a way this forum seems to make us accountable if we are serious about making 5:2 our way of life. I know I understate what I actually consume when I have been very bad.

Lael, join the club. Just get back on the horse.