Hi Chat,
I hope the above post is of assistance. It’s meant to be a check list for ways to review why your weight loss has stalled.
Don’t forget to drink lots of plain water each day, aim for 2 litres a day.
Cheers, Bay 🌺🌺
This topic contains 27,917 replies, has 832 voices, and was last updated by thinatlast 4 hours, 41 minutes ago.
I agree with most of what bayleafoz said except for the last point (it’s right to a degree), but walking lots is an excellent way to lose weight… I lost about my first 10kg doing exactly that (walking about 5km, 5 or so days a week, without any real diet changes – though some started to happen naturally because of the extra walking). It’s a major benefit, I wouldn’t stop doing that by any means.
(that’s different to going to the gym or something btw and lifting weights – that could help eventually, but once you start losing weight, to help keep the muscle mass up).
Hope everyone is having a good weekend… up early this morning to take my eldest rowing (I was just in the tinnie with the coach, so nothing too energetic for me, other than a very early start!)
G’day from a lovely cooool Perth after several very hot days. We watched a sunset at the beach with friends last night and the temperature just suddenly plummeted. I woke at 5am to the sound of rain and am hoping for a lot more over the next 3 days. Like you mentioned LJoyce for Adelaide, we rarely see rain throughout summer.
Lael, you mentioned working on Saturday – does this mean that you got the new job? I recall you had a job on Fridays before, or were you just helping out where you usually work? I hope your Saturday fast went well despite the lack of sleep.
Chat, how frustrating for you. Many would have given up by now. Even if you stuck to 500 cals 2x week and changed nothing else, you should have lost weight. From memory, you didn’t have a lot of weight to shift and sometimes those last few kgs are the hardest to get off.
Bay’s right, something needs changing and, assuming you have the FDs mastered, the nonFDs must be the culprit. You might have to do a rough estimate of your calorie intake on a nonFD. If that’s in order, then you have to start looking at the types of foods you’re eating. When I reached a plateau in my weight loss, I cut our bread and pasta and reduced my rice intake to miniscule. That made a huge difference to me. I now don’t eat pasta or rice at all and rarely eat bread.
Re: your point 4. Bay, “the amount of exercise you do does not have a bearing on the calories you eat” just to clarify for newbies that you meant “no calorie allowance is added to your TDEE to compensate for any exercise that you undertake”. Exercise might have a bearing on how many calories you eat because it has been shown to increase appetite.
Cinque, my fast day will be similar to yours. I’ll be having chicken miso soup this evening and will get the shiitake ‘shrooms soaking shortly. Try and say that fast three times!
One other thing that might be worth looking at, and I know people get upset whenever this comes up but it’s a fact to be faced anyway, alcohol is highly calorific, has little if any health benefit (yeah, yeah, the French and their red wine!) and, due to its inhibiting effects, can have a significant impact on what foods we choose and how much of them we consume while we are drinking. Case in point last night, I had a glass of wine while watching the sun go down and spent the evening picking away at nibbles – something I never do when I’m not influenced by alcohol. Paying for it this morning and welcoming this FD.
Hi Thin
As ever, I agree with you. I was trying to say that you ignore your level of exercise when working out intake. Exercise is for your health. It may help you lose weight, but there are many people who do not lose weight through exercising.
I also agree re alcohol on NFD. Maybe only have alcohol 3 glasses a week until you reach goal weight.
Chat, what would you eat in a typical day? I forgot to add point number 5. Make a food diary until weight loss begins again. I wrote down everything I ate while trying to lose weight. It was the only thing that stopped me nibbling or tasting as I cooked. I realised that I was adding many calories this way without consciously eating.
Cheers, Bay 😊😊😊
I knew that’s what you meant Bay, just spelling it out for newbies. One of my friends told me that they’d added an extra 500 cals to a FD because they’d worked out hard at the gym!
Yes, it took me decades of expensive gym memberships to realise that it was doing nothing for my weight loss. Like Vaderz, I once lost 16kg while walking 5km twice a day and, at the time, I did attribute the loss to the walking. However I was also on a starvation diet at the time and have since read that studies show that exercise has no bearing on weight loss. However, it does seem logical that if you’re significantly overweight and change nothing else but your activity level, you’d lose weight.
During that previous 16kg loss (all of which I gained back and then some, by the way), I had no alcohol at all (and believe me, I’ve had more than my share over my life) and actually lost my taste for it completely. My beloved G&Ts started tasting like something you’d put in the car radiator and I lost all interest in wine. Nowadays, alcohol’s not part of my weekly routine at all which makes it a bit more of an event when I do have something.
I think the food diary is a great idea – especially if you’re counting the cals as well because the hassle of that makes it not worth the effort! But just from the standpoint of seeing in print what exactly goes in, that would be an eye opener for me on a nonFD I’m sure.
Hi Chat
You might find the info here useful:
https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/
The first post on this site has links to other pages that deal with things like plateus – I found the info was quite useful and shows just how uneven weight loss can be.
The following post is also quite good:
https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/on-plateaus/
Hi All,
Happy Chinese New Year!
Amanda28, how are your fast days going now? Hoping you’ve felt to persevere and that you’re over the ‘hump’ so to speak.
Chatelaine, just wondering if you’ve ever had your thyroid function thoroughly tested? I ask because I was hypothyroid for a couple of years and during that time, it didn’t matter what I did, I simply could not lose weight. Thyroid regulates metabolism and my metabolism was so very low. The thing is that my particular type of hypothyroidism didn’t show up on the routinely given ‘TSH’ test. It was only when I was given a host of other related tests and then offered an rarely prescribed form of thyroid hormone replacement that I improved. Once I did, efforts to shed weight actually worked (Well when I followed them properly – such as when I successfully shed 5 kg following the ‘Adrenal Reset Diet’. Unfortunately, I rebelled against the narrowness and restriction of that diet and is why I eventually ended up here on 5:2)! One ‘in home’ test anyone can do to get a rough sense of thyroid function is by taking one’s temperature. There’s a lot of info on the net about temperature and thyroid function you can Google if you feel this might be worth considering.
I get what you are both trying to say, but I still don’t completely agree with you 🙂
The important thing though is that exercise complicates the equation, and it’s the simplicity of 5:2 which I think is its real strength.
…the problem, is that TDEE is just an estimation. Calories expended from exercise is just an estimation (one that usually involves multiple assumptions)… even the amount we eat is mostly an estimation (unless you weigh everything down to the gram before it passes your lips)… and then there are probably more complex factors like how various parts of that interact with each other etc.
I do agree that it is usually best to calculate our TDEE based on the sedentary level. If you’re counting exercise calories you can only add it onto that (the other levels are trying to approximate what your exercise is, so adding to those would be doubling up)… and I do agree that you definitely can’t add it on a FD (if you wanted to be pedantic about it, you could add your average daily exercise calories to your sedentary TDEE and divide by 4 to get your FD calories… which is exactly what you’re doing if you choose a non-sedentary level and don’t add exercise specifically. But if you’re stuck losing weight, get back to basics, simplify things and er on the lower side).
To put walking in context though – if you wanted to lose 0.5kg per week (3850 calories), just by walking alone, a 100kg person would need to walk approximately 46km over the week (6.6km per day, everyday)… for a 140kg person (what I was at the time!), you only need to walk 33km per week… and someone who is only 70kg would need to walk around 66km per week for the same 0.5kg weight loss! (which is one of the reasons why the closer you get to your goal weight, the harder it is to lose those last little bits).
(there is a calculator here if you’re interested: http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/walking-calorie-burn-calculator.shtml )
…what I found, was that it also made you want to eat better (in general, not totally), by association and it also helped get you in the right frame of mind (something that doing 5:2 will also help to do).
Those numbers aren’t huge… and I think that’s where a lot of the “exercise doesn’t work” mentality comes from. If you walked 2km every 2nd day, that’s not going to shift the scales. At all. Consistent, perseverance though, will help (diet is still the single biggest factor).
Again though, I go back to the point of simplicity being one of the biggest strengths of 5:2 and if the weight loss seems a bit stuck, focus on the simplicity and make your assumptions on the lower side.
…but don’t give up on walking… don’t neglect exercise. Consistency will help the scales (even just a little bit, and even if you don’t give yourself any bonus food calories for it), and it will have other positive benefits too… the numbers may not seem ‘worth it’ if you detest exercise, but after a while you get a mind shift with that too and it suddenly makes a lot more sense 🙂
5th fast day (I think) went well. Not much sleep the nights before due to going from nights to days at work and then being called in to work in the middle of the night, and still having to work from just before 9am-5pm because I’d had my required break from 5pm until 4am. So I slept until midday Saturday and then it was pretty easy to complete a fast day and not overeat after that. I’m working on call overnight tonight from 5pm-8am, so I really didn’t want to be doing that on 500 calories (or whatever it is I’m allowed). I always seem to get a bit of a headache, no matter how much I drink, and I get sweaty. I’m figuring it’s withdrawals from something or other. It’s not that hot here at the moment, maybe 25-27 I’m thinking.
I’m actually wondering how accurate the calories burnt per day on my Fitbit is, it’s nearly 5pm here and it’s only showing 1,100 calories. I have been rather sedentary today, although I’m expecting that to change very soon when I go on call. It’s fairly stable around 2000 calories on a weekday, so that would be my TDEE if it’s accurate.
Haha, I just got a hilarious error message when I tried to reload my tracker on this website.
“Sorry, there was a problem with your submission.
Something went wrong – are you messing with the space/time continuum?”
Haha I wish I could mess with that.
Hope you’re all well.
Jody
Hi Thin,
Interesting to read your experience with gyms! Also, I had to chuckle reading that a friend added in an extra 500 calories on the FD due to an exercise session! I chuckled because I’m aware of how ravenous I’ve been after gym workouts and even more so when I had weekly weight lifting sessions with a personal trainer! In all honesty, there was no way I could have stuck to my sedentary TDEE when I owned a gym membership or partook in personal training because both of those unleashed my hunger dragon!
I’m only called in to the health food shop occasionally, when the owner takes an afternoon or occasional day off. I was happy to have worked both Friday and Saturday this week. The customers are great and the products are right up my alley of interest!
The job I applied for is in the area of ‘community services’ or social work, which would be one that could lead to more full time work and is in the area which I’ve been studying at TAFE.
Hi everyone!
I’m still alive- ha ha! I am going into my second fast days tomorrow (second set- I’m doing mon and tues together)- so I survived last Monday and Tuesday. I have cut back massively on carbs too during my non fast days. Lots of water to try and hold off hunger too- I didn’t realise how much I snacked on ‘quick fixes’ during the day! REALLY hard work this past week, lots of hot flushes (looking forward to that stage of my life…NOT) and a lot of quick runs to the toilet! I hope it’s my body flushing all the crap out of it (Ok too many toilet references). I will be weighing myself tomorrow evening, all I want to see is that I am NOT putting on weight- I don’t care about losing any (yet), but trying to stop the continual increase! (also decided to invest in a fitbit- if only out of interest to see how much I am moving!)
Hello everyone,
I am in my hungry hours before soup time! Only a couple more hours!
(and bread in the oven! :O )
Don’t the posts above show how nuanced simple 5:2 is. So many possibilities and complexities. So good to have all the different pieces of evidence and the individual experiences too.
Hi Amanda, I hope this week’s fasts are good and that the scales tell a good tale!
Jody, I am glad you could catch up on sleep! Best wishes for your shift tonight.
(That space/time continuum! It messes with us all!)
Thin. so nice to think of us both looking forward to our chicken miso soup!
Happy Chinese New Year to you all. I was born in the last year of the fire rooster! Yes, I will be 60 this year! How did that happen?
Anyway I plan to be a happy chook all year!
I realised something today.
Just because I haven’t been hungry and haven’t eaten by mid-afternoon, doesn’t mean I have to turn a planned NFD into an impromptu FD. It’s obvious really, but it’s only just occurred to me – doh!
In the previous 4 weeks that’s basically what I’ve done – I used the lack of appetite to throw in an extra FD (consequently most weeks I’ve ended up doing 4:3 rather than the 5:2 I planned).
I had planned to stick with a 2NFD+1FD routine now so impromptu FDs will mess with that. Today was planned as a NFD and was meant to start with a family brunch at a local cafe. The brunch was cancelled so I slept in instead. I didn’t feel hungry at lunch and by 3:30pm I still hadn’t eaten, didn’t feel hungry and was dithering about what to do. The penny finally dropped – a NFD can contain less calories and food as long as I stay above my BMR. This is a good thing as it trains me for “normal eating” which will naturally vary from day to day. It’s obvious really, I just hadn’t seen it that way over the last month.
I think my appetite is lacking today in part, because it’s hot in Adelaide, and hot weather can always be relied upon to suppress my appetite. I also had a meal out yesterday that pushed my total food for the day over my TDEE by about 1500 kilojoules (350 calories). Overeating one day usually reduces my appetite the next day – I guess this is my body actually doing its job – trying to balance my food intake. Yet another reason to listen to our bodies more I guess.
I can’t believe all the calories some of you can eat. I am flat out eating anywhere near my BMR allowance. I exercise each day but do NOT eat those calories,that would be defeating the purpose!
I feel a bit down today, apart from being tired I weighed myself this morning and my scales say that I have put on weight, hope its them that is wrong! I have been very good with what and how much I eat so it’s a bit of a downer.
Plus I planted a new veg garden a couple of weeks ago, this morning I saw that even though I fenced the area off the bloody kangaroos have got in and chewed off the tops of my tomatoe seedlings! So this afternoon I went to Bunnings and bought sturdier fencing AND MORE TOMATO SEEDLINGS!
Hope tomorrow is a better day for me.
Another easy FD almost over and I’m at 270 cals. I’ll probably have a boiled egg around 8pm. How was your miso soup Cinque? Mine was delish and I’ll be having the other portion on Wednesday.
Charlotte, do you have a good set of digital scales? Treat yourself if not! It must be fun to have kangaroos for neighbours but annoying when they want to share your food I’m sure. Trade you for our shrieking banshees next door and their swimming pool.
Lael, that health food shop job sounds as though it was made for you. I bet the customers are impressed with your knowledge of the products too. For me, it’s like going into the Asian grocer – I just have no idea what anything is.
Vaderz, I can’t comment further because I’m not sure what it is that you say you don’t agree with. It’s probably my FD brain fog but your last post seems to underscore everything in mine. Unless you believed Bay and I to be advocating that Chat give up walking and of course we’d never suggest that; just commenting that it’s unlikely to prove a factor in her weight loss especially since she’s already down to, what would be for most us, the last few kgs to shed.
It’s sometimes to hard to get your point across in this format so, to that end, Chat, let’s set up that coffee date asap. What a shame you couldn’t meet everyone last week, someone would have had a solution I bet!
Intesha and Kris, I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend together. Intesha, I made your pork kebabs on Friday night for a nonFD meal. I didn’t bother with the apples but served it with a very colourful salad and some fresh mint yoghurt. OH and I both thought it was really nice.
CharlotteRose – just read your post / the very idea of being in the country with kangaroos as visitors of course sounds wonderful – not when they eat your tomatoes.
I just wonder if you are doing too much exercise and not eating enough calories – I remember my weight watcher days and that being a problem for me – or alternatively not eating enough to compensate for a lot of exercise.
I’m very new here – just one week tomorrow,
I hope tomorrow is a much much better day for you. No more kangaroos eating your seedlings!!!
Actually Thin, when you’re down to those “last few kg’s” exercise becomes a lot more important.
(and yes, we do mostly agree on just about everything and I should probably just let it drop, but I found it useful working through some extra calculations and figured I’d post it here in case anyone else found it useful! I’m not actually disagreeing – I don’t think – I’m just a spreadsheet kind of guy, so apologies for continuing on, lol)
If you’re 100kg, it’s a lot easier to cut extra out of your diet than it is to do a large amount of exercise… when you’re 63kg and already eating quite well, the trade off between exercise and food reduction is a lot more stacked to the exercise side.
Ignore TDEE calculators for a moment (which again, are only estimations), let’s use this as an example.
If you are currently doing 5:2, eating 350 calories on your FD’s and 1500 calories on NFD (which you’re probably doing if your believe your TDEE to be 1500 calories), but you haven’t lost any weight in say 6-8 weeks, then you are essentially in maintenance at that level. If you want to lose 2kg (which = a total of 15400 calories btw), you have a couple of options.
1. Change to 4:3, that extra FD will take 1500-350 = 1150 calories per week off your plate (literally), and take you around (15400/1150) 13-14 weeks to lose those last 2kg (not expecting it to be quick at this point I hope!).
2. Cut back on NFD calories… staying with 5:2, you could reduce your NFD calories from 1500 down to 1250. That would take approximately 12-13 weeks to lose that 2kg.
3. Keep everything as it is and do some additional exercise… let’s just use walking as an example, if you did something more strenuous you could cut the time, but you’d probably need to eat some extra calories to keep up. Someone 63kg would need to walk approximately 300km in total, to lose those last 2kg. Over 12 weeks, that would mean you’d need to walk an additional 3.5km per day
…any of those 3 options should work.
…so would walking 7km per day and ADDING 250 calories per day to your NFD allowance (now eating 1750 calories on NFD)
If I am actually making a point here… it’s that if you haven’t lost (or gained) any weight over say the last 6-8 weeks – TDEE calculators are irrelevant. What you’re doing now is maintaining your current weight and that’s going to be way more accurate than what any TDEE estimation is going to tell you. To move forward from that point, you essentially have 3 options (above). Increasing your exercise (and increasing your food intake if you make it intensive enough), is possibly the more appealing option at that point.
Good morning,
Melbourne is getting it easy today, sending good wishes to everyone struggling with the heat! Especially Adelaide where it was over 30C before sunrise :O
Enjoyed that bread I made yesterday for breakfast today… Inspite of Pete Evans talking no carbs in a radio interview this morning!
I hope people who love the tennis had a great time with the match last night, and people who are jumping on scales are seeing fine things happen, and people getting dressed are thinking “Oh this outfit is particularly comfy!”
Just about time for coffee.
Tennis was awesome last night, great match.
Scales are being friendly, but weird for me today. When I first woke up, they were 116.2 (116.6 last Monday), not bad, but thought they might be a bit lower after a flat week last week. 3 hours later (after coffee, and about 1 litre of water)… they are now down to 115.5 (crazy things, lol). I Think I’ll just take 116 as my official weight for this week and go from there.
FD today… and fairly cool in Brisbane so far, might even go for a slow run shortly – was very slack last week.
…just about time for another coffee 😉
Hello everyone – it was such an exciting game last night – terrific win – Federer is such a gentleman (I know it’s an old fashioned word) but it just fits him. I wish our young players especially one obvious one would model their behaviour on him!
Anyway – question since this is only my second week – I had to give in a couple of times and have a very thin 29g of Zeally Bay sourdough wholemeal organic – so thin my toaster tossed it on the bench!! Are a few of you finding it really impossible or at least excruciatingly hard to have no carbs??
Hope that you Sydney and Adelaide’ers can keep cool. Melbourne is utterly odd weather – very overcast, rainy and muggy!!!
I’ve just done my first weigh in – lost 1.6kgs – iour scales also have a mind of their own – !!
Got on three times to make sure.
My coffee frothed up especially well this morning, it’s chucking down with rain and lovely and cool. It’s looks as though I might have to dust off the treadmill instead of walking at the river today.
I don’t know Vaderz, you seem to be only arguing with yourself at this point! (You’re not my husband are you?). But even if you’re now saying that there’s more to be gained from exercise for the person closer to goal weight, your proposal is neither practical nor sustainable. And there is another option which is to look at the types of foods consumed. It doesn’t make a difference to everyone but, for many of us, reducing or eliminating carbs like rice, pasta & bread was all we needed to start dropping weight again. These foods can be re-introduced in small quantities once goal weight is achieved. Chat has said that her husband is a fabulous cook and tends to use a lot of carbs – so this could possibly hold the key.
Anyway, enjoy your slow run and your FD and I’d be taking the 115.5kg measurement!
Unfortunately, I didn’t see the tennis Cinque but even the summary of it was very exciting.
Susannah, I haven’t tried the BSD and didn’t realise it was a no carb diet. My own experience with deprivation diets (and yours too by the sound of your profile) is that they are a constant struggle and unsustainable. Perhaps Bay can answer this? Congratulations on your loss – perhaps that is all the motivation you need to stick with it. But if you find that it’s just not for you, you can always switch to 5:2. The process of tweaking and adjusting is flexible, gradual and forgiving.
Yes Thin it is a little hard.
This is also Michael Mosley’s research that has produced this BSD book – so I’m wanting to try and kickstart my weight loss with this for a few weeks and then onto the 5:2 – as have cardiac prob’s and orthopaedic surgery behind me. I just want to get as healthy as I can like all of us. Thanks for your thoughts….
Hi Susannah,
I found this link which outlines the low carb aspect of the BSD and it says ‘minimise the starchy white things’ (like bread and potatoes) but go for legumes and for grains like quinoa, bulgur (cracked wheat), whole rye, whole-grain barley, wild rice and buckwheat. https://thebloodsugardiet.com/the-low-carb-plan/
Not that they should be the big part of your diet, but it is okay to have some!
It is even okay to have an occasional piece of toast. My tip is, have a piece of toast exactly the way you like it, as thick as you like, toasted as much as you like, with your favourite topping. Enjoy every mouthful. And then plan to do it again one day next week.
Coffee was good! Love the sound of your rain Thin! Your scales have an interesting personality Vaderz! Yours are being very nice Susannah!
I’ve been cutting Carbs Susannah, for no reason other than they are heavily processed (the ones we eat here anyway)- so I’ve allowed myself a slice of toast on NFDs and I no longer have sandwiches at lunch (which I did- religiously), and don’t have pizza bases or pasta anymore. HOWEVER, I slip up regularly and have a snack on a vita wheat or last night (REALLY BAD- I had half a garlic bread-not half a slice…half a loaf!)- so todayI am being careful. All food contains carbs, just trying to cut out the processed ‘poop’ in my life! Anything that is heavily processed I’m avoiding, and have encouraged my family to do the same…NOT happening! I’m also trying to limit potatoes as we had these nearly every night to bulk out our meals (living off very casual work + government benefits at the moment as there are NO jobs around here and we are saving to move to a place to hopefully get a job!! ha!! vicious cycle isn’t it!)
I’ve found after just one week of cutting out processed foods I am feeling a little better- I went on a downhill spiral for a few days and had a lot of side effects, which to me says they were worse than what I thought they were- if my body has to do that when I stop eating them!
Best of luck- I’m on a FD today- and so far so good!!…will see how I go later today 🙂
Amanda
Good morning everyone.
It is HOT and sticky here on the Gold Coast,( well I think it is anyway) and I have decided to have a FD today. It is 11am and I am about to have breaky, or should I say ” brunch ” 2 hard boiled eggs and a tomato! You Vaderz, are going for a run!!!!!! No way. Too hot.
I gave my scales a good telling off yesterday so hopefully tomorrow when I weigh and measure myself it will seem a bit better than the other day.
I blitzed the bean and veg soup I made, Everything that went into it added up to just over 500 calories and I got 6 portions out of it. Froze 5 and will have 1 today and the rest on FD’s.
Kangaroo’s roam the grounds of the village I live in, nothing beats going to hang out the washing and there are a dozen or so on the back lawn! They cant get at my veg now unless they demolish my new fence!
I must admit, I feel a lot healthier than what I did before I started this 5-2 way of living and when I start to loose a decent amount of weight I dare say my mental being will be up in the air.
Thank heavens the tennis is over and we can get back to some different, even though weird, programs to watch whilst resting.
Have a good day all.
Amanda, your post was distressing to read and I thank you for highlighting that there are people bulking up their meals with processed white carbs to save money. It does annoy me that our local food chain has displayed a constant stack of hot cross buns at the entrance since Christmas. It’s not as though they want you to stock up for Easter (in January), it’s that they want you to keep on buying that rubbish right through to April. I never see fruit and vegetables stacked at the entrance and on special. The only fresh produce ever on sale is something just about to rot.
One thing that you can take comfort from is that with 5:2, you eat significantly less and therefore can afford higher quality produce including the items Cinque listed above. Make every bite count.
Hi everyone,
FD today for me, considered moving it due to being 42C here today but thought I have been moving my FD’s around a bit lately so I need to get back into a routine.
Amanda82 good effort in taking on consecutive FD’s don’t think I could.
Lael great to hear this WOL has helped you overcome other habits and fears. You should be proud and you do have strength in you for being able to do fasting.
I just had a weekend with my friends to which only one of them knew I was doing this and none of them could believe how little I eat on a FD.
My mate’s girlfriend is a genetic scientist and has read the results of DNA repair due to fasting saying it is great on a cellular level for repairing your body. It also said in the report that during the Depression in the 1930’s it was noted the health levels of the general population was better due to not having enough food everyday. I like hearing these things as it reminds you that eating like this forever will be good for you.
Two of my friends have now said they are going to do this. I do not push this onto people as I don’t like that so I am careful how I speak about it. I just answer the questions asked and say it is quite easy and that I will be doing this forever.
I read a page or so back someone was having a hard time with headaches and stuff and people mentioned to have more water and salts etc. As I was catching up on all the posts that have been going on last week it was taking time then got to that post and the posts answering the problem and realised I needed to have some more water so the forum was working for me whilst I was on the forum. Yep that’s my mind ticking over.
Anywho I will report my meals tomorrow, only had a white coffee so far and afternoon chores are set to keep me busy for the rest of the day. Happy fasting for all on a FD today.
Hi Amanda
So upsetting to read that you’re having a really hard time and difficulty with finding work too – very tough.
I find legumes/pulses are brilliant – especially if you buy them dried not canned – they’re such a good source of protein and so inexpensive.
I buy the Zeally Bay bread – organic, low GI sour dough wholemeal. I bring the loaf home and slice thin slices and freeze in 2 slice packages with glad wrap – about 29 grams per slice! Very low in calories.
I also downloaded EasyDietDiary from the App Store – calorie counter – easy to use and really helpful.Good luck today – with your FD. I hope things improve for you as soon as they can.
The run went well Charlotte – was starting to warm up a bit, but just an easy run to the park (2km) and mostly walking that distance again back home… I actually like running, I just wish my body would let me do more of it 🙂
FD going well, white coffee and about 10 grapes so far – even with the run, the day seems to be flying by and not feeling hungry at all… to think – 8 weeks ago, just the concept of going all day with essentially no food seemed both difficult and senseless (kind of like running was when I first gave it a go). It’s crazy to think that our perception of what is right/wrong/good/bad/hard/pointeless can totally hide the reality of what it’s like to actually experience that thing (when you have the right mindframe for it at least).
So true Vaderz. It took me a year to get around to starting 5:2 after I first heard of it from a friend. I find it very empowering to be able to go without food and realise that I can still function well – physically anyway if not always mentally.
Joffy, that’s great, the more mates you slowly introduce, the easier becomes your own life. I just love having my two neighbours (both doctors practicing 5:2/6:1) pop over, FD or not, we can still enjoy each other’s company over a pot of herbal tea or a glass of water. I used to feel obligated to put food in front of people when they came round, but no more.
Ha ha, Charlotte, wait until Easter! 😆
I hope you’re all keeping cool, it’s still raining here.
Hello All 🙂 Blissful rain in Perth today, also forecast for tomorrow after two days of 39+ heat. I really don’t know what’s going on with this weather. I do know for sure that it’s shifting.
Anyway, just popping in very quickly to post the recipe I said I would:
CHUNKY PUMPKIN MULLIGATAWNY
212 cal per serve (Serves 6) *
2tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 dessert apples, peeled and finely chopped*
3 celery sticks, finely chopped
½ small butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, chopped into small pieces *
2-3 heaped tbsp gluten free curry powder (or to taste)
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp nigella seeds (also called black onion or kalonji)
2 x 400g cans chopped/diced tomatoes
1 ½ litres gluten-free chicken or veg stock
140g basmati rice
Small pack parsley, chopped*
3 tbsp Mango chutney*
Heat the oil in your largest saucepan. Add the onions, apples and celery with a pinch of salt. Cook for 10 mins, stirring now and then, until softened. Add the butternut squash, curry powder, cinnamon, nigella seeds and a grind of black pepper. Cook for 2 mins more, then stir in the tomatoes and stock. Cover with a lid and simmer for 15 mins.
Vegetables should be tender but not mushy at this stage. Stir in the rice, put the lid back on and simmer for another 12 minutes until rice is cooked through.
Stir through the parsley and mango chutney, then serve in bowls with fat free plain yoghurt and extra mango chutney on top, if you like.
• I used pink lady apples as that’s all there was. I don’t think it matters what apples.
• I didn’t have butternut, I had a piece of kent pumpkin left and used that instead
• I didn’t have any parsley or mango chutney so I didn’t put it in
• I dished up 7 and a bit bowls out of this. One bowl was absolutely sufficient.
• If you don’t have nigella seeds (I happened to have them), it would probably be good without or, even something like cumin seeds I think would work well
• I also didn’t put yoghurt on mine but I may do next time
Hi everyone, lots to read up on for me tonight!
One of the things I really like about this S. Hem thread is we’re different, we know we’re all different with different ways of approaching our food and exercise, but we keep it real, with a sense of humour, and respect. It works really well, so thank you to everyone as we go along this journey to better health, better self worth, and rejuvinated bodies. It really is a bit of a revolution that we’re all taking part in co-operatively.
FD for me today and please excuse a little off-topic talk. Today was a big family oriented day with my father-in-law’s tribunal hearing. We have ended up with the best possible outcome, and it seems his predator has given up as well. The oldies will know what that means, and what it means for us as a family. Lunch was all of us together and I had peppermint tea while everyone else had lunch. I spent the afernoon on my own working on a special project where I had instant decaf with a bit of skim milk added (7cals) and a small apple. Celebration tomorrow night but I did have a 1/3 glass of champagne and some cheese and a few walnuts, before having a small meal of some stir fry veggies and a small amount of lean pork. I haven’t added the cals up and I’m not actually worried about how much I’m over for the day, because it was a special day after an extended scenario over a long, long time of challenges and stress. I do 1/4 of my TDEE which is 360cals for my FDs.
That’s another thing I like about this thread. We know that Life with a capital L happens to us all, and sometimes it takes precedence. What I love about 5:2 is that it’s so flexible. I didn’t stress about it. It was appropriate for me to celebrate with my OH after all the stress and hard work he’s put in over a long time. There’ll be a bigger celebration tomorrow night with family, but a little tonight was important, even though we didn’t plan it ahead of time.
Oneards and Downwards,
Merry
Some general comments, and forgive me for no personal references. Just a bit time poor and xan’t keep going back to check.
Because my inability to exercise is forced by health stuff I faced several challenges while normalising my weight. My TDEAe is only about 250cals over my BMR. Not much room to move there, so I experimented to work out strategies during my weight loss journey, and learnt from the oldies, The Wise Yodas as I call them.
So here are my personal strategies:
1. I decided to only focus on my weight loss, not try to work out my absolute healthiest diet ever, that I was going to stay on for the rest of my life. 5:2 for life yes, but what I ate and drank for life, no. I wanted my food to be as healthy as possible as it suited me and my health needs, but truly, my greatest health need was to be a normal weight, not overweight, and so I was prepared to make allowances to get the weight loss done. That included having a small amount of non sugar sweeteners – preferably stevia.
2. The process had to be sustainable, so when capitol L Life (several horrible things ) turned up I used 5:2 to maintain for 8months, till I was able to go back to weight loss. Also, it had to fit into certain parts of my life i.e. Certain personal things are a priority, like tonight. these times do not happen all that often but I’m prepared to be flexible at those times without going beserk or throwing the FD totally out.
3. After a while I plateaued and didn’t come out of it. I chose to drop all starchy carbs, and I immediately started losing again. Very occasionally I will eat a small amount of these. I do find it a challenge to give them up completely. For me this includes potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, peas, legumes, chick peas, dried beans.
4. My FD calories are all taken after 6pm.
5. Went to 1/4 of my TDEE rather than <500cals, and dropped it as my TDEE went down with weight loss.
6. I still needed to do something extra so, having always been a late breakfaster, not hungry till at least 10 every day, I chose to take advantage of this and gave up breakfast, only eating 2 meals a day on nonFDs. I only count calories on a couple of nonFDs about every 6months, to check that I’m at or under my accurate TDEE.
7. Never give up till it’s done.
I’ve now chosen to go down 2 more kgs to 60kgs as my final final goal weight. Then I anticipate working for some time tweaking my long term food regime. Things like potatoes, pumpkin etc legumes, chickpeas, etc and a small amount of gluten free flours will go back in. I still believe all these are healthy and should be included. I just couldn’t lose weight on them.
Re bulking out food. The cheapest healthiest meals I could come up with when I had very little was lentils, seasonal or frozen veggies particularly peas and corn kernals (they have a lot of nutrition and more than canned), and brown rice.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the recipe!
I make some recipes very similar – red kidney beans and mushrooms also work well with these ingredients.
If you fall off the horse, get back on it and keep going,
Merry
Oh dear! Not only is it breath-takingly hot, my scales died (gave very unreliable results from one moment to the next, so after 11-ish years, they have retired to the recycling bin), and
The new scales say I am heavier than I had hoped. Which is disappointing, but maybe it’s all the water I’ve been drinking too?
Anyway, today has been a fast day, & I’ve stuck to it (despite some serious temptation) so hopefully my next weigh-in will be happier.
I’m sorry – can’t read all the posts, just don’t have time or energy. But glad to see so many people supporting each other.
Stay cool!
Thanks Cinque and Bay!
Re chocolate Hot cross buns – those dratted things are addictive – Does anyone ever eat just one!? Dr Mosely did a video on sugar + fat. It might have been on an episode of Trust Me I’m a Doctor….anyway….. It looked at whether there was a difference of attraction, addiction or compulsion to foods of varying sugar to fat ratios. They found that when the ratio of fat:sugar was 1:1 i.e. equal quantities, the food became almost addictive. We want to just eat it mindlessly and just keep eating more. The food companies know this little gut-psychology trick and use it to up their sales. They deliverately use this ratio. So…. some culprits with this ratio are – a certain glazed donut, not iced, glazed, you know the one, cheesecake, some icecreams, and I betcha those choc hot cross buns are another! They were an instant hit when they were introduced, and I bet tge makers are rubbing their hands all the way to the bank. I’ve heard more than one person in my life talk about them…drooling while they talk about them, and saying how hard it is to stop at one. I have to stay on the other side of the planet from them!
Canbewarra – well done on getting through your FD! Ah ha the pesky scales – they’re sneaky, you’ve gotta watch them. Water – we’re a water based life form, after all – about 80% is it? Anyway have a large glass of water and it immediately ups your weight of course. Some FDs though you’ll notice you go to the loo more than you expect or have to go in the night a couple of times and you’ll get a bigger loss the next morning. It’s steps and stairs for just about everyone.
Night all,
Merry
Hello everyone
It’s the wee small hours, but really want to write a short post, at least, to thank all of you who’ve made such thoughtful comments regarding my weight “stall”. Your support and encouragement is very much appreciated. Just hope I’ll be in a position to “pay it forward” in the not-too-distant future.
To respond to some of your comments:
Cinque – Yes, the stall is very frustrating. Today was FD 21. Strangely, the FDs have become a little more difficult, and I’ve been feeling quite hungry. I’m guessing that this may be because I’m not seeing the number on the scales moving down. I think I’d find it much easier if I was seeing some weight loss each week.
Bay – Thanks very much for your input. Your comments and advice really made me re-evaluate my situation.
I’ve calculated my new TDEE. I don’t have the exact figure to hand, but it’s just over 1600 calories. Hmm. I didn’t enter my activity level as sedentary, though. Will see what that gives me.
Today’s FD intake was 402 cals.
A lot of my excess weight is centred around my middle. I can’t believe that it still looks as it did 11 weeks ago!
Re carbs: My OH bakes all our bread, only sourdough, using organic flours. I’m eating much less, but its hard!
Have definitely cut down on other carbs, but perhaps not enough.
Have cut down portion size, but will reduce further, except for vegetables.
No, don’t eat snacks, except a few unsalted nuts occasionally.
Think I’m pretty good re eating only when hungry. I don’t relate to those who talk about cravings for chips etc, and yielding to temptation and then some.
BTW, I’ve had awful insomnia since embarking on 5:2 in mid November. Not sure if this is merely coincidence. Has this been anyone’s experience?
Had better sign off now and type another post tomorrow – this is quite long already!
I want to respond to others of you who have been so generous in your support and suggestions. Meanwhile, my grateful thanks.
Good luck to all.
Chat
Good morning all. Way too many posts to even think of answering but all so supportive and encouraging.
Weight this morning 66.7 after my lovely few days in Canberra where KrisAnn and her husband fed and watered me like royalty. When I was leaving yesterday, KA’s nearly 9yr old granddaughter told me I was very Thin 😳😳 I’ve never been called thin in my life.
My cousin arrives this morning so another few days of socialising before I get back in the saddle but I’m not unhappy with where I am. Two years now since I started this WOL.
Thank you to all you lovely Southern Hemispherites for welcoming me. Had a great long weekend with Intesha – she looks fabulous and has inspired me to resume 5:2 and not to look at 5:2 as a diet, but a way of life. I have been reading the posts to get ideas for surviving the first week and Intesha gave me some good tips, so here goes day one.
Something interesting happened last night…
My husband has built a new TV and DVD cabinet in the loungeroom. After my spa I spent an hour or so organising the DVDs (which were making a huge mess in the loungroom) and putting them into the cabinet – organising – OC heaven!
I worked right through my dinner time. Being obsessive compulsive I eat when it’s time to eat. Hubby was in bed so it just didn’t feel like the time for eating.
I decided I should so grabbed a carrot and a piece of Bega So Light Vintage cheese. I could easily have gone to bed without anything.
Lesson learnt about not needing to eat!
Good morning all,
FD completed yesterday with no problems. I had seen a few others were having the La Zuppa soups and spotted it at the shops so grabbed one, it was OK I bet you all fill it with veggies to make it the meal as it was only a cup full as per the packet instructed. It is tasty (I had the Tom Yum) and has less kj than a white coffee so it is a nice flavour to break up the day.
Meals for the day:
1 x white coffee 150kj, 100g Tom Yum soup 115kj, 500g minestrone soup 800kj, 100g kidney beans added to soup 400kj. Total 1465kj or 350cals.
La Zuppa soups always remind me of Charliesmum as she was the first to turn us on to them back in the day. I found them too salty – but the extra salt could be just the ticket for some fasters experiencing headaches.
Intesha, is this the cousin from South Africa for whom you were a bridesmaid last year? Perhaps your next trip will be zooming off for a safari! SAA have some great fares at almost half price right now.
Poor Chat, you are having a hard time of it. I’ve never experienced insomnia with fasting. Quite the opposite; when I started I would be so tired after a FD that I’d often go to bed at 8.30pm and sleep very soundly. These days, FDs are more or less like any other.
Merry, that’s wonderful news to have all that hassle behind you and OH at last. I’m with you on the carb issue. I found that cutting right down on some and eliminating others definitely made a big difference to my weight loss once I hit a plateau. During the process, I learned that my portions had been far too large. But cutting out carbs altogether, especially those naturally occurring in vegetables, is a step too far for me.
Another day of rain for Perth!
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11:48 pm
28 Jan 17