thanks I’ll post how I go

Good morning everyone,
Welcome MonkeyDo,
Cheers for your first fast day!
I hope it isn’t too hard, but even if it is, it is just one day!
The first few are particularly experimental, you’ve made a great plan and you will see how it goes!

I’m having my favourite time…. morning after fast day!
I hope you are enjoying yours Intesha! And the 66!

Meeting my friend for coffee and since it will be hot I get to wear one of my summer dresses. Black with purple irises on it. Very pretty. (That’s what I got for losing my 15kg MonkeyDo!)

Best wishes to everyone today!
To those having their fast day!
To those having the pleasure of morning after fast day!
And to those gearing up for their next fast day!

Vaderz, when in 5:2 weight loss phase, I too had weeks which registered the same weight despite my two fast days. Like you describe, my pattern was often in stair step fashion. I chalked this up to other things shifting inside that might not register as kilograms shed. For example, I would sometimes notice that my muscle mass increased (which was often in line with feeling stronger) while my body percentage went down slightly as shown on my scales. However, this didn’t show up as a net gram loss since muscle weighs more than fat.

Cinque, your Iris summer dress sounds so pretty! Here’s to Melbourne healing after the tragic violence the whole city endured. Even those who were not physically injured would be feeling violated and maybe even more hesitant when out and about.

Intesha, great that the difficult FD produced such good results! It’s a reminder to me about tough FDs.

Hi to all of you downunder. I’m in Canberra and very new to this – second week. Finding it pretty easy so far and the weight is starting to come off. When do you guys weigh yourselves. I’m fasting MOn and Wed and manage to drop quite a bit by Thurs but then I have 4 days off so some goes back on. Do you think I should only weigh once a week – maybe Sunday??

Hi BF
I think the best guide for how often you weight yourself is:
Weight as frequently as gives you motivation rather than frustration.

In the past, I have become so obsessed with the scales that it caused me more frustration than motivation. I started with weekly, then it became daily, then twice a day. To break myself of this habit I initially imposed an once a week limit and then a once a month limit. I’m still sticking to the once a month limit and using clothing a guide between those weigh-ins. As I took measurements when I started, if I really want an idea of progress I can take some measurements – so far the fit of my clothing has been enough feedback.

Other factors to consider are:
– How volatile is your weight? If you have medical conditions that cause fluid retention or inflammation your weight can fluctuate by up to 3kg from day-to-day just with body fluid changes.
– For women – do you have certain weeks each month where your weight goes up due to bloating & temporary fluid retention (I am now menopausal, but I used to have one week per month where my weight went up by at least 2kg.)
– How prone are you to bingeing? If I have followed a diet faithfully and I either don’t lose or gain weight I am likely to be so annoyed that I go on a binge.

The only drawback I have found with weighing less often, is that when I was trying to maintain my weight, a lot of kilos can be added in a month (I managed to gain 10kg last December), whereas it’s more difficult for gains to get out of control with more frequent weighing.

This is one of those issues, where we each need to find an individual answer – there’s no one right answer to weighing frequency.

Hi BF and welcome to you too (you’re the 4th newbie to join us this week!).

As far as weighing goes, you’ll get a diverse range of responses from Cinque who doesn’t own any scales and never weighs herself (unless a scale shows itself while she’s visiting someone in a hospital ward or similar); LJ who weighs monthly (unbelievable willpower!) to the likes of me, an obsessive weigher.

I weigh twice a day as a minimum and use the result as a guide for what to eat next (if anything). I’ve recorded my daily weight since I began this WOL in Aug ’14 but, while in weight loss mode, I only ‘counted’ a weekly weight. This is because our weight can vary quite a bit from day to day and within a 24 hr period. I would weigh after your second fast on Thursday mornings to get the maximum boost! Totally naked, after visiting the toilet and before that first cuppa! if I don’t like what I see, I go for a walk and try again. Still no good? Have a hot shower and re-weigh, jump up and down on the scales, move them to another room and, finally, record the lowest of all those weights.

Good job intesha! No such luck for me today – I’m exactly the same as yesterday. Pretty sure I need to check the cals in that Green Miso Soup if I have that one again on a FD. We’ve been for a big paddle across to the city today, since the new Elizabeth Quay, we can drag the kayaks out of the water, have a coffee and paddle back to South Perth. Love it!

OK, Perth losers! Last chance to show yourselves to come and join us for coffee tomorrow. We have three confirmed, five if we’re lucky.

P.S. Good grief, how did you all type those responses to BF so quickly? There was nothing when I started. I’m way down the list now. 😆 Yes, Cinque, I weighed even more before! In maintenance, I need a daily weigh-in to prevent me from going over my ‘trigger’ weight which is 61kg. If I see that on the scale, it’s an instant fast day.

2nd post for today,
I have just read a few other posts re- weighing. I found that when I started this diet, only a week ago ( lol ) I weighed myself then, after my first fasting day I weighed myself again, then bought new scales and my weight was higher. Very disheartening as my old scales were obviously under estimating. I know I am prone to fluid retention so hopefully I am under what they say, ( lol ) Anyway, I told myself that the mornings after my FD I shall measure myself and weigh, NO OTHER DAYS. When I see my scales going down I will maybe take it down to once a week and if by a miracle I loose heaps maybe once a fortnight but that will be an absolute effort to stop myself. At the moment I want to stand on those scales all day!!!! I think scales can be a motivation but the best motivation is the dress sizes, loose around the tummy, that will be awesome for me. My mum had a big tummy and I remember it was always rock hard, I have a big tummy but I know mine is fat and that is my goal, get rid of the pregnant look which at my age (67) is rather ridiculous !
Any way I have rambled on for a while now, ignore me if you want , have a great rest of the day all.

Ha! I thought I’d wait two minutes before replying in case someone said it all before me. And thanks LJ, you did. I did recently recommend calculating your activity level below what you actually think it is because most of us are less active than we like to think we are.

I also suggest aiming your TDEE calculation at the weight you want to be, not the weight you are. This is because we all need to learn how to eat to sustain our goal weight. This doesn’t have to be done all at once – you have enough on your plate (well, not really) just mastering FDs. The cruel irony is that, as we lose weight, our TDEE needs to be constantly adjusted. Whether you do it now or as you go is entirely your choice. A lot of us in maintenance can now only consume 350 cals on a FD … ponder that!

Hello everyone -I live in Melbourne.

I’ve just been reading through all your interesting and helpful posts. It’s good to meet other Southern Hemispherites!

This is my first day and I’m doing 800 calories each day ( if I can keep to this calorie level).
I had lost weight on WWatchers twice and put back on over 19kgs and now much more! I’ve got lots of osteo-arthritis and had quite a number of orthopaedic ops.

When I heard Michael’s talk the other day on ABC Melbourne, I decided I would buy his books – immediately. So went out to my local bookshop and bought all 4 – the 5:2 and recipe book and the Blood Sugar Diet and recipe book (which he was speaking about on radio). I was so impressed by his talk and it made a great deal of sense to me!

I couldn’t make up my mind which to do initially – but decided I would like to try and lose a large amount quickly and then revert to the 5:2 way of eating which makes so much sense.

So I hope you all don’t mind me posting in this section – it’s still Michael’s way of eating but the one to lose quickly those kilos that are making it so hard to walk around and exercise. I’m very height challenged being only 4’11” – and weighing in at over 82.5 kgs!!

Thank you for reading all this – am also weighing obsessed and will have to get a grip to not do so every day!

PS I’m on Northern Beaches, Sydney. Any others around?

Hi all,
I had planned on a FD today but was sort off forced into one on Sunday and I’m taking it.
Monkeydo, one of the toughest times is late night and your not asleep. You can’t have black coffee or black tea due to caffeine, water will wake you with a trip to the loo, maybe a bit of fruit as in strawberries or carrot sticks if you have the cals left in the bank otherwise my answer is a boring, fluffy movie that you know and like but it can’t be too funny or tense as it will keep you awake. Normally I will only get 10mins in and then awaken to play movie or scene selection choices. This is why you will hear a lot of us keeping our meals to the evening. I like to eat at around 8-8.30pm on a FD with most of my cals in this meal. It will come to you in the first few weeks what will work for you.

Hi Thinatlast, I keep thinking your up late then remember your watching the sunset over the ocean (never seen this).

Meals for Sunday:
1 x 250ml fruit juice 490kj, 1 x 250ml soft drink 540kj, 100g x chicken 800kj, serve of steamed veggies 580kj, jellied fruit 280kj Total 2690kj or 643 cals.

I know it was a little over but I think I will take it. The amounts were approx. but I think they are close. I reckon I now see all foods in 100g amounts.

Good morning everyone!
Hello Susannah, glad you got here! Best wishes for your day!

Melbourne’s back to cooler weather, two new zucchinis starting. Lovely morning!

This thread is so busy!

LJ, Well said! “Weigh as frequently as gives you motivation rather than frustration.”
Perfect!

CharlotteRose, I find the BMI and BMR and TDEE all a bit overwhelming too! If only my body was like my granddaughter’s, and simply knew when it had enough food! I try to be as ‘Fasty as I can’ on fast days, and then work on trying to listen to my body on non fast days. This poor old body has trouble telling me sensibly what it wants though, and how much!

Thin, that is interesting how full the Green Miso Soup made you feel. I had to look up the recipes for it (don’t know as much about miso soup as I thought I did! 😉 ). Is it just tofu and greens? Surely that wouldn’t have a lot of calories?

Good morning Monkey Do! Did you get through the night ok? Do you feel wonderful this morning? Hope so! Breakfast beckons!

Hi Fishing Gran! Joffy! Lael! Everyone else!

Hi-
I’m the newest newbie! I’m in my mid 30’s, never had any real issues with weight before (before last year that was) and now I’m here (that is a long story cut short). I am currently around 91-93 kg’s, which is over 30kgs from where I should be (ouch)- I have been steadily putting on weight at aprrox 2kgs a month and have decided this needs to stop before I reach triple didgets and can no longer fit in ‘normal clothes’. I have been looking into this diet for some time, and thought I would just jump in and do it- cut out as many carbs as I can on the five days (not that I have that many to begin with) and exercise a little more. I am hoping to STOP the weight gain initially, and would love to lose it too- but for now, just stopping the 2 kgs a month is number one on my list.
I live in Tasmania- we’ve been here about 6 years now. I recently returned to work after having children which is when the weight started piling on (kids are 8 and 9 so no baby weight excuses). I thought I was movign more at work than at home- so here goes nothing!!! 🙂

Morning All 🙂 Hope everyone is well.

So after my scale debacle last week, I had decided that last week would be week one for me (even though it was week 2).
Because I weighed myself on the Tuesday, I thought best to stick to that day for the time being.
Fast day yesterday and I was pleased that I only used about 320 cals. I did get a couple of hunger pangs during the day but was able to focus on something else quite easily.
Little bit disappointed this morning when jumping on the scale to find they hadn’t changed a bit 🙁
I know I should be reassured that they didn’t go up but I was kind of hoping for a movement downwards of some kind.
Still, I shall persevere and hope that next week we see something different.
I really hate scales actually but for the first little while, I think I should continue to weigh weekly don’t you? Ideally, I’d like to maybe make it monthly and then perhaps not at all but for the moment, I’d rather keep track. What does everyone think?
Usually my FD is Monday and Thursday but we’ve got Australia Day this week and I have plans so I’m pulling it forward to tomorrow this week. I like that there’s flex like that 🙂

Anyway all, hope you enjoy your day. Take it easy 🙂

I think I know what I have been doing wrong. My BMW is 1435 and I have been working on 1100 a day. From what has been explained to me I should be eating more near my BMR.
Am I correct?

Hi Charlotterose25

Yes you do need to stay above your BMR on the day’s that you aren’t fasting and you should also try not to exceed your TDEE very often. There was also some advice given about working out your TDEE for your goal weight and trying to stick to this, as it’s good practice for maintenance – I think this is good advice.

I thought the following might be useful for those of you interested in how these things are calculated:

Using the Mifflin-St. Jeor equation to work out your BMR:
Women: (9.99 x w) + (6.25 x h) – (4.92 x y) – 161
Men: (9.99 x w) + (6.25 x h) – (4.92 x y) + 5
w = weight (kg)
h = height (cm)
y = years/age

To work out your TDEE, essentially you multiply your BMR by a factor relative to your activity level.
The following values are commonly used for this and you can adjust to what is accurate for you:
Sedentary: 1.0 – 1.3
Low-Active: 1.4 – 1.5
Active: 1.6 – 1.8
Very Active: 1.9 – 2.5

The TDEE calculator on this website makes some broad assumptions, eg if you select “sedentary” as your activity level it multiplies your BMR by 1.2. I know that a truly sedentary day for me means BMR x 1.05, to get to a multiplier of 1.3 I need to me on my feet moving around and doing housework for at least half the day (which to my mind is not really sedentary)- so I adjust accordingly.

Hi susannahD I was just talking to my OH I think it may have been caused by something else as i easily do a 500cal FD no problem so 800 cal shouldn’t cause a problem either but yes I will talk to my Dr he is ok with 5.2 has done it himself and is very supportive. Ljoyce my meds were adjusted when my BP dropped too low when i lost the first 10 kilos so i keep a check of it i have a monitor my Dr said they aren’t as accurate but it gives him an idea of what is going on at home you have done so well with your weight loss this is certainly a WOL to embrace.

Hi monkeydo, I’ll chime in here with my experience with hunger on FDs (Fast Days) which is that I find I do best with a protein snack at night or before bed. I do what Thin suggested in an early post, which is to reserve some of my FD calories for this snack and it sustains me through the night. Biochemically I’m pretty sure I’ve read that it is natural to be sleepless when hungry. If I remember correctly the hunger has to do with making us more alert so that back when we were hunter/gatherers we could have our wits about us better to find the food we were hungry for!

I’ll also say something I’ve observed for myself (and I know everyone is different), but I do better passing on fruit on FDs. This is more specific to me because I tend to have blood sugar issues. In any case, I’ve observed that I’m much hungrier after eating fruit on a FD. In fact the times I’ve eaten an apple on a FD, I’m just as you describe, not long afterwards ‘ravenous’. So, just a thought and something to experiment with. …Of course there is an exception, I just thought of! I do fine with 1/4 cup blueberries mixed into 100 grams of cottage cheese. Maybe this works for me because the protein balances out the sugar in the berries and prevents a blood sugar spike? A 100 grams of Dairyfarmers cottage cheese and the 1/4 cup blueberries = 127 calories, so this is a ‘go to’ favorite meal of mine on FDs!

That said, welcome all newbies!

And, it’s Tuesday so I’m fasting today and enjoying!

Wow, I had no idea that he’d been that size before Lael, thanks for posting. Did they end up posting other people’s before and after photos also?

Speaking of a great advertisement for 5:2, I spent a fabulous couple of hours today drinking coffee (and one of us enjoyed a raspberry muffin but I’m not saying who) in the company of VeggieDownUnder, CharliesMum and English Aussie. How many of you have been around long enough to remember those names? I’m pretty stoked that we could get four WA losers together because two drove one heck of a long way to get here. Sadly, Chatelaine who’d inspired the get-together and Debdjd weren’t able to make it. Next time! 😆

Wow Thin those names were a blast from the past. Are we allowed to ask if they have stuck with 5:2???

Nice cool morning here in Sydney and managed to get a good nights sleep. All this heat is very draining and makes me feel very lethargic.

FD yesterday, weight this morning 65.9. Have not seen 65 since 10/12. Take note all you newbies, this way of life is so forgiving if you just keep following the plan and get back on the horse as soon after our binges or bad days as possible. I went to Melbourne, had Xmas then Qld in between that date and now so my weight shot up. I now have 8 days of probably non fast days in front of me but will be back in the saddle as soon as I can.

What other diet (shudder) can do that for you. This is a for the rest of my life WOL.

Have a good day everyone.

Have a great time on the Murray River Joffy. Intesha, it sounds like you’re going to be edging closer to 60kg soon. You realise that this means another dress size, more lovely clothes! Morning Cinque, have a fun day, I’ll keep the home fires burning with a FD for both of us today. All I’m having for dinner is the leftover miso soup from Sunday’s fast and a leftover salad from last night’s dinner (I’ll rake through it and count the cals using Joffy’s guide).

Intesha, VDU reached a weight she was happy with and stopped fasting for a while but has recently re-started 5:2. CM hasn’t practiced 5:2 for a long time and says she’s gained 2kg – she looks amazing at 62kg. English Aussie stopped posting a long time ago because she switched from 5:2 to a low cal, high fat diet and felt she couldn’t contribute to this thread therefore. The last time I spoke to FreyaT, (who had to work yesterday) she was still fasting.

The subject of Alzheimer’s was close to people’s hearts (family members suffering) and everyone seemed to appreciate the value of fasting wrt staving off dementia.

Hot day forecast so I’d better get my walk done asap. Have a great day all.

Susannah, my starting body two weeks ago was fairly similar to yours, but I’m 5″1/4″ (yes the 1/4in is important), so just a little taller. I’m already down to 78.8 so I think this is what’s going to work for me.

Monkeydo, like you I’ve been spreading the food around on fast days. However i do it differently depending on whether it’s a weekday or a weekend day, on a weekday I’d probably have three small meals and maybe a snack, on a weekend day (only one I didn’t have to work btw) I’d wait until maybe 1pm to start eating and then that day have 2 small meals and 2-3 snacks. I have to have my snacks, I haven’t yet tried having all my calories in one meal, as I don’t think that would work for me, although I’ll probably try it just to rule it out. I haven’t really noticed any great hunger yet, yes I know I said I don’t really get hungry, but when there’s a reason for being hungry I do feel it, like doing Weight Watchers I was hungry the whole time. Simple carbohydrates are usually what makes me hungry, so I always try for the lowest GI options I can think of. I’m a graduate of The GI Diet books, worked really well for me at the time, I got all my excess weight off and it stayed off for several years. So if you’re looking for healthy low GI snacks this is a great book series to look at. I love the apple pie cookies and the chocolate brownie (it has kidney beans in it). I don’t believe in eliminating carbohydrate altogether, but I probably wouldn’t have normal fruit on a fast day either. Try a handful of berries or cherries instead, or a green tinged banana. Cherries are one of the lowest GI fruits, I’m working my way through 2kg of Otago (NZ) cherries as we speak, and bananas (provided they’re not too ripe) are pretty low GI too. Brown basmati rice is the best, and you must try and get hold of some konjak (?sp) noodles, very low calorie and so filling. I used them for my first fast day and they were great, a can of tuna, lots of courgettes/zucchini and konjak noodles filled me up a treat. To tell the truth I’ve only done 3-4 fast days but they seem to be working for me, and I’m not getting so hungry I can’t sleep. Speaking of which it’s 2pm I need to eat now, it’s not even a fast day, but I finished work at midnight last night so my routines are all screwy right now.

Charlotte Rose, to tell the truth I’ve just been completely ignoring my TDEE (2100 I think it was) for now, seeing as I’m fairly new to this too. I just used it to see that yes 500 calories is about 1/4 and so that’s going to be about right for my fast days. Sure, I like a few treats, but I’ve just come from a diet (AWW Monday to Friday diet) with a meal plan where you’d eat no more than 1500 calories on weekdays, and it was quite a lot of food. I didn’t even need the snacks, so would’ve been eating a bit less than and I ended up stuffed full at most meals. So I started to wonder if my problem was eating too little food, and I was going into starvation mode instead. I certainly don’t feel I was eating too badly normally, I mean I’ve seen people on these fat programmes on TV and I’m always horrified at what they’re eating. I have takeaways maybe twice a year, and I cook for myself every night, Besides which, two fast days a week is cutting my calories quite a lot anyway, so I’m bound to lose weight, and if I don’t maybe I’ll start looking a bit more closely at non fasting days.

In other news, I just got my Australian Women’s Weekly 2-Day super diet cookbook. It looks great, like just the sort of food I want to be cooking. There’s even a meal planner at the front where they’ve put several dishes together to give you your fasting day’s menu, and a calorie counter at the back for common everyday foods. I think the Australian way of cooking is much more in line with the NZ way than the American Fast Day cookbook which I also bought. Apparently Americans think you’re amazing if you can make a soup or muffins or a cake without using a packet mix, something I’ve known how to do since I was 6 years old. Morrocan Chicken pilaf for 222 calories, don’t think I’ve ever made a pilaf in my life not by that name anyway, but I want to make one now it sounds delicious.

Cinque, that was hilarious, the different ways you can choose to weigh yourself. Alas, I think I use the last method, although I’ve never tried moving the scales around the house – do you think that would make a difference? (jokes). I only really weigh myself every three days or so, but if I really like/or really hate a number, the next day I’ll try again. Either because I didn’t believe the really good number, or because I want to disprove the bad number. I suppose I should try to stop thinking of them as good and bad too, they just are.

Hello JodyW – I’m envious of your extra inches or inch and a bit height – !!! I’m doing ok so far – well done you losing what you have – I can’t understand why I’m not hungrier (I’m doing the BSD) for a few weeks 800 calories a day – then I’ll start on the 5:2.
In your msg to Monkeydo you mention eating Otago cherries – just the mention of them makes my mouth water – they are just the best
Flavour –
Used to live in NZ but we were there on hols and we still remember those cherries and the Honesty Box to put the money in.
Why am I not hungry or feeling faint -must be living on my excess fat!!

Ha ha Intesha, you’re remembering EA’s trips to the drive-in to get hot chocolate perhaps! Or her love of hot chips? No, it wasn’t her. English Aussie, you’d better get back on here to defend yourself!

Those recipes sounded delicious and then I remembered that you’d given me two of them. I must try those. But what do you mean by making them up in bulk and freezing them raw? – oh, just read the pork kebab recipe again so you’ve made the pork balls and frozen them. I see. I love that idea, makes FDs so easy when you know what you’re having. Speaking of which, it’s 2pm so cauliflower soup time.

Sorry EA it was the hot chips that made me think of you.