Morning Nap, I really feel for you. I never had any formal diagnosis for my lifetime of eating disorder, there probably isn’t even a name for it but I was certainly an over-eater and had (perhaps have) many ‘issues’ surrounding food. I understood perfectly why I was behaving as I was around food but couldn’t do anything about it. I didn’t ‘learn’ to handle any of it but am convinced that years of rigidly adhering to two FDs a week have naturally shaped how I behave with food without my realising it. That’s why I say keep going.

One positive change that’s ‘happened’ to me is that I no longer obsess about what other people are putting in their mouths. One of my weird behaviours was competing with my OH for food. I now just think, ‘that’s your insulin’. He can eat all the bread he wants, for example, and I no longer feel I have to get my ‘share’. I can happily make him a sandwich and have no desire to eat lunch. Of course I am still the same person I always was. I could still eat half a tub of Connoisseur – but for some reason, I just don’t.

I think it would be good if you could get your OH on board especially if he needs to lose a bit of weight. A lot of people wait until they have a health scare to do something about their diet – maybe you could have a conversation around that. My OH, who’s never gained an ounce since high school, agreed to fast with me for support and amazingly stuck it out for 11 months. He immediately lost too much weight so we had to bulk him up on NFDs and he switched to 6:1 quite quickly. But even he learned a lot – for one thing, the sky won’t fall in if we skip a meal.

I can only speak of my own experience, others have their own take, of course. For me, mastering the two FDs and rigidly adhering to them no matter what life is chucking up forms the backbone of this WOL. I’m a B&W person, there are no grey areas, so it’s either ON or it’s OFF. I’ve never missed a FD in 42 months because I don’t trust myself to lapse. The rest is a work in progress and these are the aspects that are modified according to the individual person. In your case, you’ve had a huge success but you see this junk food day as a sort of reward. I think this is what’s holding you back from getting control over food. Especially now that you agree you feel bad afterwards. So, you’ve had this junk day ritual for a long time to get you through but now you ARE through, it’s time to wean yourself off that.

These are just my thoughts Nap, I’m not trying to tell you how to run your life. You select the things that resonate from what everyone writes. I’ve been maintaining since about Aug 2015. 59.6kg today, squeaking under 60kgs for 2-3 weeks, never allow myself to go over 61kgs. Enjoying the first of two wonderfully frothy coffees after a great Sunday FD!

Hello Cinque! I’ve written enough but loved your post. Don’t worry, the people JJulie and I write about are not reading this thread. They’re busy making their way through the breakfast buffet like locusts.

P.S. Hello LJ. Your post appeared. I shall read that with my second coffee. Have a lovely day! Dont work too hard.

Ooh look, we are on page 300!

Sybs, I am with you on good bread and dark chocolate! And a little bit with the cheese. When it comes time to give yourself a treat, it will be a lovely one.
Your childhood must have been very hard, I am so glad to hear of a life full of beautiful walks now, and delicious healthy food.
Isn’t it wonderful how sweet some veggies are (especially roasted). I have cut out sugar, so I nearly swoon when I eat roasted butternut, red capsicum, sweet potato… Oh yum.
I have found that I can make a cuppa with good cocoa and milk and no sweetening at all, and get my chocolate hit that way.

LJoyce, hoping the new door work goes easily and well.

Nap,
Your difficulties at the moment really highlight how we all have things in common, but also are very different in how we need to use 5:2 to make a sustainable change in our lives.

I realised early on how so many emotional things were going on in my binge eating and comfort eating, and eating to keep my anger down, so I have been working for over 40 years to try not to beat myself up and feel ashamed.

I have come a long way, but food and eating are so complicated! There are the pathways in our brain, the messages sent by our gut flora, the messages in the ads and TV and films and fashion, our own feelings of the difficulties of being overweight, our mother’s voice in our heads, the teasing of kids at school, and the temptations of food around.

My best strategy is to put all those messages aside, as best I can, and try to really taste and enjoy what I put in my mouth. Try to listen to what my body is really telling me about what I want and how the food tastes. (My poor body is often very confused).

You might need to say ‘No’ if peanut butter and cheese set off mammoth binges for you, or other horrible health effects, but my instinct is to say, if it isn’t a fast day, make yourself a plate of toast and peanut butter (if that is how you like peanut butter best), no more than two slices. Sit down and enjoy every bite. Notice how good it tastes. Eat slowly. Savour it. Then when you are finished, remember how it tastes, and what a pleasure it was, and keep that memory with you. What a yummy meal.

Then wait three or four hours til your next mealtime and make a meal that uses your favourite cheese in your favourite way. Think about what a sensible portion would be. Be kind to yourself by not making it too big or too small. Sit down and enjoy every bite. Notice how good it tastes. Eat slowly. Savour it. Then when you are finished, remember how it tastes, and what a pleasure it was, and keep that memory with you. What a yummy meal.

Afterwards you can think about how you will eat these foods you love in the future. If they get in the way of eating enough vegetables, you might have to make them a once a week treat. If you didn’t enjoy them as much as you thought you might want to try a different recipe, or put them further down your list of favourite foods. But both peanut butter and cheese are good foods to be part of a healthy diet, and hopefully you can make them part of your healthy diet.

This is what I had to do for myself, and it changed my thinking and language away from beating myself up.
What undermined me was sugar: I might eat chocolate mindfully, but the sugar set off the insistent, intolerable cravings, and all the mindfulness techniques in the world didn’t help. However a fast day, and as much mindfulness as I can muster, break the cycle. Phew.

What I know is that you have been magnificent in getting 50kg off, and have maintained it impressively. When it started to creep up you immediately changed your behaviour, and when that didn’t seem to be helping you asked your peers for ideas. You should be so proud.
You will definitely work out what to do.

My tips:
1. Consider eating food you love. Especially food that is part of a healthy diet like peanut better and cheese. Eat it mindfully. Then tot up the calories and see how it fits into your regime.

2. Maybe use your waist measurement instead of your scales to measure yourself.

3. Tape measure or scales, plot it out over a couple of months so you see the trend, instead of day to day fluctuations.

4. Don’t forget the whoosh effect: http://100down.org/the-whoosh-effect/

I love the tip about non food rewards, and only eat the junk food if there is nothing in the world you would rather have. (And then eat it mindfully!).

It will be so interesting to see how you work this out. All power to you.

I have been trying to write for the best part of the day – just as I’m ready to post, another client comes in. How inconsiderate of them (haha) . Nap, I am so impressed with what you have achieved, and hope you can burst your way through where you are at the moment. I’ve read the advice of our stalwarts here on SH – Cinque, Thin, LJ, JJ, and I have taken from those posts too. I am also struggling – but will keep at it. I have changed what I eat though. I crave fruit when I want something sweet (my FD lately starts after lunchtime, with a white nectarine), and if I do indulge, I tend to go for something that’s not as rich, not as big. I also make sure I only eat ‘good’ food, even if it falls into the ‘treat’ category. eg I’ll eat Lindt dark chocolate, never dairy milk. I guess this WOL has made me much more conscious of what I put into my body.
LJ, Cinque my pub meal was a disaster. Noisy, so no real conversation , and my husband got confused and ordered the chicken dish he likes (with avocado, sauce and chips), instead of the chicken and salad I’d asked for. I felt cheated! My mindful weekends are going well though – no wine over the weekend, and instead of ordering an ice-cream when we were out on Sunday, I just had a scoop or two of my OH’s. Funny, but the taste was enough.
Merry how are you going with your reduced starch? Having the desired effect?

Thin, you expressed that perfectly: this weight that you are at now, after losing is normal. This is where you belong. You certainly don’t belong at the higher weight that you somehow, mistakenly got to before. I’m going to say those words to myself every day, “This is normal. This is where you belong.” Such a simple phrase, but so empowering!
You said something else a couple weeks ago, I can’t remember exactly what type of food the discussion was about, but you said that we deserve the very best. I’ve thought of that when looking at a (relatively) cheap bag of crisps which used to be one of my binge foods, and thinking, “I’m just craving the salt. I’ll get the thinly sliced smoked salmon instead and have some of that.” Or instead of a couple cheap chocolate candy bars I’ll buy 1 or 2 fancy hand made truffles. I end up eating less and being more satisfied with what I’ve eaten. The price of each keeps me from buying large amounts of either. Win win!

Welcome back Quacka, you’re here now and lovely to re-connect with you properly CalifD. Yes, I said that because we are eating less, everything must count. So we deserve the very best. LJ often says that something has to be ‘worth’ the calorie expenditure.

JJulie are you fasting 5 days every week? Or just last week? Sorry, I got behind with posts.

Yes Thin,
5 days every week until my next overseas trip.

Lots of posts.

LJoyce. I liked your trowel. I have an old gardening tool I watched my father buy about 60 years ago. He called it a “Tatie hack” and used it to dig the trench in which he planted potatoes and then earth them up. It still gets used.

Cinque. You can still confuse me. Thank you for the Yuba explanation in your later post. I think we can count ourselves none-smokers. On one of the anti-smoking features it gave a time scale to get it out of the system and we are both well past it.

Naptime. Hi. I know that junk food experience. Last week we had the grandchildren with us and we ate like they do. Not good for us (or them).

Thinatlast. Like Cinque you can broaden my horizons. When this post is finished I shall research Spanish Fideos.

Sybcairns./ Quacka Hi both.

Merry. I fuel my car in litres. The car, which is less than a year old, tells me my fuel economy in miles per gallon – UK gallons because the US gallon is different and it knows that. I measure in inches or centimetres depending on which rule I pick up. In UK I walk miles, in Europe I walk Kilometres. I weigh myself in stones, record it on the chart as pounds but buy things in kilograms. Isn’t this normal?

OH and I are now six hours from ending our five day fast. After day two of the water only fast I felt no hunger. OH, who was doing a normal low cal fast day for the five days did feel hungry at times. I guess the difference is that my body got used to no food. We did it for health reasons rather than weight loss, but OH lost four pounds and I am down seven so far. There were never any problems. Sleeping fine, although I found I needed about an hour less. I was up bright and early this morning feeling fit, healthy and energetic. I feel so good that I am not sure I want to eat later today, but OH is insisting. Actually there is a problem. The new moleskin trousers I bought last month will have to go to the charity shop, they are now much too large and too good to throw away.

Merry. Since posting that I have remembered that when I lived in Germany, where they have had the metric system for about 200 years, I could go to the village butcher and buy things by the “Pfund”, which was 500 grammes.

Thin. According to the Longevity book, people of my advanced age should not be doing this at all, unless of “superior health”. I hit my initial weight target last year and re-set it seven pounds down. I am now on the re-set target. I think I will aim for another seven pounds, but gently. I will do OH’s version of 5:2 – eat lightly on FDs and throw in a five day fast every two or three months, for the longevity reasons, not weight loss.

I had my six-monthly cancer blood test and a few other tests last week courtesy of the National Health Service. Results CEA (cancer markers) OK, glucose OK, liver function OK, cholesterol OK, low on Vitamin B12/iron. Re-test tomorrow and speak to the doc. My Mum was right – must eat more greens. Daft thing is that having made some major changes in my diet just pre-fast, my B12 readings will probably come up anyway.

Good morning everyone,
I’m everything metric except my height.. and the weight of new born babies. Hooray for online calculators!

Merry, only a minute more and you’ll be under that 65. Good luck with the project. Obviously it was nothing to do with the Winter Olympics, maybe the SA elections?

So glad you got something useful to go on with Nap, well, lots of things 🙂 . You might love that Nigerian Bean Stew, it has peanut butter in it!
It was so nice reading the excellent posts through the day.

We do deserve the best.
And what a wonderful mantra for the maintainers: This is normal. This is where you belong.
Thanks Thin and Cali.

Oh dear, that was a pub disaster Lindsay. Damn.
But don’t you describe nicely how we make those changes to eating better through better quality. (And yay for everyone else who made the same point).

Quakka, so glad you popped in. You have had a bad start to the year. What a pity. Hooray for being back on track.I love the way those two fast days keep us in line for the non fast days. I couldn’t do without them.

Cheers for reaching the end of your fast Penguin. It obviously suited you well. Dr Longo seems to be so cautious with his Longevity book. Understandable. My sister might be considering doing it, and if she does, I might do it with her. (I’ll ring you in too Thin). Surely your B12 and iron can’t be too low if you are so energetic. Hope that the tests today are fine.

JJulie, I have to admit, you might just be mimicking the Fast Mimicking Diet, but whatever you are doing it seems really sensible and doable.
I wonder how you will then handle eating on your trip? Have fun planning for it.
Oh those pesky scales adding on 2kg, but look in the mirror, they haven’t really.

Good grief it is 9 o’clock already.
Cheers all, best wishes for an excellent day.

I had a sleep in until 7am. So JJulie’s doing the FMMD. A brave effort nonetheless. Cinque you are very amusing. I can’t imagine you ever getting angry (as you’d mentioned a post or two back). You have such a gentle and tolerant manner.

Penguin, my LD book hasn’t arrived yet but I remember you’d read that you were warned off the FMD due to the maturity of your years. I have a picture of a very fit, learned and youthful 70 something year old. I’m betting that in your mental and physical condition, you’re not any risk in participating in anything suitable for someone 20 years younger. How was that first meal?

Cinque, if my book comes in time and your sister prompts you to go ahead, please count me in. A group effort would be a hoot. Maybe CalifD will join us. Has your sister done any fasting or does she plan to leap in with a 5 day fast?

CalifD, I didn’t manage as well as you when switching systems. When I moved from the US to Oz and entered the relatively low world of kgs from the high number in lbs,, I became complacent about my weight as the numbers didn’t mean much but seemed low. Now I only think in kgs except my height, like you Cinque. When I convert my current weight back to lbs, I am well-pleased.

Morning LJ, yours has just arrived. Thanks for the account. Have a good FD.

sorry, I forgot to ask something else.

I like “quark” but can only get full cream here, and very expensive. So as an alternative I use 99,8% fat free, natural yoghurt and tip the the contents into a chux cloth in a strainer, and let all the liquid drip out. After about 8 hours I have my low fat quark. My question – does the end result, which is about 50% of the original weight (that’s 250g left from a 500g container), have the same calorie value as the yoghurt with the liquid?

Hi Just:

Re your FMD – are you using the ProLon version, or did you develop your daily intake from a recipe you found on line or in a book? There are so many versions floating around, I’m just trying to keep track.

Thanks!

Time for a lunch break – a pot of tea and a small banana.
I have the first coat of dark grey on both doors. Looks a bit streaky as both doors were previously white. I’m hoping that once it has 2 or 3 coats it will be a uniform dark grey. It was a bit of a shock to see it at first – I’m used to choosing pale colours.
I have to leave both doors open to dry – so the wet paint doesn’t stick to the door jam. I’ve just had to chase a wasp out of the back door – why the smell of fresh paint didn’t deter them I don’t know. I’ve given up trying to stop the flies getting in. I’ll have to chase them down with a tin of fly spray later.

Sybscairns, to work out the calories in the homemade quark, you need to work out how many calories are in the whey that you drained off. Whey from milk that’s drained off when making cheese has 116kj (28calories) per 100ml/100g. To work out the calorie count in 100g of your quark, start with the calories in 200g of the original yoghurt, then subtract the calories in 100g of whey. The result will be the calories for 100g of your quark.

Thin & Cinque, if we are doing a group FMD and you guys can wait until March to start, then I’ll join you. (I don’t want to attempt it this month, I have too many hard days.) I think it’s easier to tackle new and possibly difficult things as a group.

JJulie and Sybs, I’m excited that you might get together! JJulie, I agree re: the discipline part. One of the best things about my FDs is that it makes me feel good (smug actually) to be able to exercise the discipline required to complete the fast, regardless of what else is happening around me.

P.S. LJ, we keep posting together. I’m happy to put it off as long as possible. I would like to have read the book first. It would be brilliant to have you with us. (And I’m not just saying that because it means we’ll have someone knowledgable to guide us with the appropriate nutrients.) My OH returns from outback Qld tomorrow for a couple of weeks. I’d prefer to do it when he’s not here but I suppose it wouldn’t matter too much.

P.P.S. Hi Merry!

simcoeluv, I have not followed any special diets really. I just was inspired by Penguin and Mrs Penguin when they were talking about a 5 day fast. I had started my normal B2B FD and was finding it really easy on the Tuesday 2nd day fast that I decided to continue on with it for the Wed, Thurs and Fri. Although the Thurs was my daughter’s birthday and we had already decided on a restaurant for dinner, I chose something I thought was fitting for the diet. I have tried to keep to 400 calories for the day, except I think I was over on the Thursday. I have not eaten meat during the 5 days except the sashimi salmon I had at the Thursday birthday dinner. And I have also been following the idea of not eating until midday and not eating after 8pm, e.g. 16:8. Then for the weekend I have added a small amount of meat to my dinner still keeping with 16:8. In effect I have been doing 2:5 rather than 5:2. I have decided to be strict with myself as I have just not been doing anything else properly.

Sybscairns, Do you walk every morning? I could meet you tomorrow morning in McPherson Close. I hope I can keep up with you!! But I like the idea of taking photos along the way. I can bring my camera with me too!! I am 5 foot 2, blond hair, glasses, driving a maroon Captiva.

Merry, yes 5 days of a diet I thought I had made up myself only to find out that it is called the Fast Mimicking Diet. Anyhow I was pleased with the result and am doing it again this week, so today is now day 2 of the second week and I have made pumpkin soup for today.

Thin, yes I am glad to find someone else from Cairns on here too. I have envied your meet ups for coffee etc with some of the others.

Sybscairns, you can use whey instead of water or milk in baking (eg bread or scones). Apparently it can also be heated and cultured to make a low fat ricotta cheese – not that I’ve ever tried. You can also use it instead of water when fermenting vegetables, eg kimchi or sauerkraut.
I also forgot to mention that all of the calories in whey come from carbohydrate, so you’ve lost none of the protein and fat that was in the yoghurt. I’m not sure about the calcium content.

Joyce – thank you for the added info – fermenting vegetables is on my to-do list, so that’s what I’ll use it for.

Hi Julie:

It sounds like you are doing great! I wouldn’t change a thing.

I’m just following references to FMDs. The FMD is a very precise diet. It is not like a generic diet (LF, LCHF, WW or the like). So when I hear someone is following a diet they call FMD, I’m curious.

Thanks for outlining what you are doing, and have a great time on your trip!

Lindsay, your another traveller!!! I love Hong Kong although I have not been there for a few years now. Used to travel through on my way to the Philippines years ago and then took the kids a couple of times. Have not been to Vietnam, but I hear it is a beautiful place, especially some of the non-touristy areas. Are you going for work or pleasure?
Agree with the hotels and club lounges. OH travels to Singapore a lot for work so he has a favourite hotel he stays in. They give us a great price for a Club room these days and we get spoilt by the staff. Last trip was work for the both of us but the next trip I am taking our 18YO daughter as she has never been to Singapore. OH will go on to Borneo and leave us in Singapore before returning for a couple of days with us, then fly home. OH then leaves for Kendari in Indonesia sometime between the Singapore and Tokyo flights.
Anyhow hope you have a great trip!!!

Good day, everyone! Great to see this thread so busy.

Just a quick note to point out how much weight can vary within a couple of days, obviously due to water or eating more fiber. I know several of you that are still losing were concerned about not losing some days, or even gaining when it didn’t seem warranted. I’ve been hovering in the 58’s and low 59’s mostly for the past few weeks on maintenance. I don’t count calories on NFD and likely eat over my TDEE on most. I count every calorie on my two 500 calorie FDs and never skip either of them. Here’s the last 4 days:

Feb 16 – 58.1 NFD
Feb 17 – 58.3 NFD
Feb 18 – 59.3 NFD
Feb 19 – 60.7 FD
Feb 20 – 58.3 NFD

That’s 2.4 kg or 5.3 pounds overnight. I didn’t feel bloated yesterday at the higher weight and couldn’t feel much difference in the way my clothes fit. I did eat quite a bit on the 17th and 18th. I didn’t get much exercise any of the days other than normal walking. It just goes to show that it isn’t worth getting upset over a day or two of inflated numbers on the scales as long as you’re doing your FD’s.

Good morning, all. A cold morning down here in NSW – 5C overnight. The cats are sitting next to the cold fireplace, looking longingly at it, hoping some kind person will light it!

Sybs, I make quark like that, too – and have often wondered about the cals. Thanks, Joyce for clearing that up. I have used the whey in cakes, etc and often freeze if for later use. If I have a fair bit, I also give it to the chooks with bread soaked in it – it is good for them as well.

CalifDreamer, thank you so much for showing your weight fluctuations. It really helps to see how other people’s weight can fluctuate so much.

You are all such travellers! I whinged and complained because we had to drive 75 minutes on Sunday to see family!

I’m still trying 16:8 everyday this week, and it is going ok. The hardest thing is no milk in the morning for my coffee and teas – but other than that, it is not an issue. I didn’t count cals yesterday. I felt like a toasted sandwich with some cheese for lunch, and I had it – and it was lovely. As advised on here, I tried to savour every mouthful.

Had picked a whole heap of tomatoes yesterday so made a basic tomato soup, and a lovely tomato sauce. If my sauce has red wine vinegar in it, can I freeze it? Not sure how long it will keep in the fridge, and didn’t have the jars to sterilise and seal them.

I felt like I was doing well – until OH decided pizza was the go last night. We hadn’t had it for months, so I caved. Hopefully the damage won’t be too bad, as I am dying to know if combining the 16:8 and 5:2 is helping shift those pesky extra kilos. I did try and savour it, and I felt like I did enjoy it, rather than just shoving it in – although I felt really full.

Hope everyone has a good day, fasters and non fasters alike!

Julie, I’m glad my post helped you. That’s what I was aiming for.

Nap, I eat pizza almost every Saturday night and have been since I stated 5:2. Saturday is always a NFD. There were a few times when I didn’t because I was on a plateau, or we had something else going on, but usually it’s movie (Netflix or other streaming) and pizza night. I usually stop at 3 slices. 5:2 isn’t about deprivation for me but I mostly try to eat mindfully. Monday and Thursday are always FD. Occasionally the days get moved around but are never skipped.