Hi everyone

Saturday afternoon and I’m just enjoying being home with my OH. We went for a quick visit to his dad and step mums this morning and as we were leaving his step mum ( a very lovely lady) commented on how much weight I had lost. I hope one day (thin) I can get to the point that I no longer need anyone’s comments and appreciation and just be happy that I am who I am, who I was meant to be. I don’t want to be that big person who has lost the weight and is now thin. I admit though that at the moment I still need people’s observations. Weird right?
So I had a weird day yesterday. In the morning I pulled out all of my clothes that I am to donate as they are too big. Then I found some that I wasn’t sure if I fitted into them anymore. They are summer clothes and I am a lot smaller this time round than last summer. I put them on top of the bag to ‘try on’ later as I ‘wasn’t sure if I fit them or not’
I am trying to sabotage myself again. It is a confidence thing. I know I will never fit them again but I am also scared to get rid of them. They are sitting in my bedroom with the ‘try ons’ on top and I haven’t gone near them since yesterday morning. Argh!!!

Hope you are feeling better today Gday

Lindsay don’t let that up and down weight put you off what you are doing. Being a daily weigher, I have found so many things (falsely) influence my weight reading. It can be how much salt I have eaten, how much water I have drunk, a combination of the two and also how much food is in transit. Various other factors also come into play.

Housework. Well I don’t love it either, but I do love that satisfaction of having a nice clean house.

thin I would love to join you in the silly season challenge. I’m not sure exactly what it is but I have plans for this silly season anyway which I am sure will be easily incorporated into the challenge!
I am not going to have breakfast ( I find that easy most days anyway unless I have been eating badly beforehand). I am going to have lots of healthy salads with the proteins, whatever they may be. I am going to try and walk for exercise, so much easier in summer as I like to get out about 5:30 – 6 ( better for my rosacea) Desserts are mit an issue for me as I don’t like them anyway. Alcohol, another story.
I will try to not drink so many beers. And I will remember that it’s ok if I have a FD, even a mini one, even when OH is home. He is totally suppprtive of my FDs ( ha ha unless he feels like a beer that day!!)

Christmas is at my house this year. We are having lunch here and I plan to have lots of food but mainly healthy. We will be doing prawns and oysters ( we live in a famous oyster growing area, awesome!)
Salads galore and probably chicken wings and sausages on the bbq. Maybe I will do some pork souvlaki as well depending on how many are coming. I think all that food is healthy as long as portion control is exercised. No issue there as I will be eating a tonne of oysters and prawns – pretty healthy and extremely yummy!!

Hey Cinque, hope you are ok today 🙂

I’m getting up now to make meatballs for dinner. Fresh parsley and mint from the garden and I may add some chives a super we have so many again. OH is going to mow the lawn…… (I better go check on him in a few as it is so long he may have trouble finding his way out of it)

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their day. Be happy x 🙂

Lindsay, hoping your husband is alright and will have a good outcome. Commiserations with that pesky noise issue. Not getting their lease renewed will surely create a vacuum for the next lot of inconsiderates. My neighbours have gone away for the school holidays and, for the first time in several summers, I have been swinging in my hammock reading a book outside, listening to birds and the gentle trickle of our water feature. Utter bliss! I can’t remember what else you said as I read your two posts earlier and I’m afraid to go back a page mid-posting. It’s like that memory game where you study items on a tray, one is removed and you must try to recall what’s missing. Stick Dyson. Weight bouncing around….. hope you’re OK, best wishes. Post holiday dramas.

It is so quiet that I can even hear our bobtails rustling around in their enclosure – after helping my neighbour for several hours in her garden, she gave me ten snails for them and they were fighting each for them – literally taking them out of each others’ mouths. Comical but gross at the same time.

Quacka, you can see the Silly Season Challenges from the past two years on my profile. It’s nothing difficult, just a commitment that, as a group, we can continue our fasting WOL throughout the Christmas and NY period together. I think it’s under ‘Topics Created’ or similar.

Alcohol is a tricky one. For most people, it’s just a habit that can be changed over time just as we’re doing with food. We really can’t talk about healthy eating choices without including alcohol since it represents empty calories (and a lot of them), it’s a carcinogen and it has the propensity to cause us to make bad food choices as we lose our inhibitions. But it’s also a hard subject to discuss without sounding like some weirdo nutter. I think over time, we just come to our own conclusions along with the good choices we’re making about food. I can only say that, with rarely drinking alcohol, I enjoy and value a drink a lot more than when it was a daily habit. And I definitely don’t need the calories. As for those larger clothes, just bag them up by size and stash them somewhere until you feel safe getting rid of them. There’s no hurry.

Hello Merry.

Clearly I’m a slow poster. While I was writing three new posts appeared!!

Hello Quacka and Merry.

Merry, you’ve been at that spring clean for a while now. Your house will be truly sparkling by the time you’ve finished.

Quacka, try those clothes on again, if you need to reassure yourself that they really are too big. Then put them in the “donate” bag. You have definitely proved to all of us that your weight is heading down not up – time to believe it.
I’m not sure we ever become immune to others’ comments. The only thing I don’t like hearing is that I’m too thin, or gaunt as that always feels like sabotage.

Thin, I am just imagining the bobtails having a snail grab fight. Very cute.
I’m glad you enjoyed your quiet afternoon.

Thin, he’s usually not a bother, but I’m glad my typo gave you a laugh.
Nothing to panic about, the procedure is really just a precaution. I have a few symptoms that could mean a number of things, including uterine cancer. The ultrasound was clear, so I stopped worrying at that point. To be sure, I was told that a biopsy was advisable. Unfortunately the procedure, while brief, requires a general anaesthetic. I am really not expecting any problems.

Good morning,
Cold and grey this morning (the weather, and me!) It is Sunday fast day.

Ooh look you have given me an opportunity to give my favourite ironing tip:
Whenever you have an item of clothing that needs ironing, put it in a special basket.
When the basket is full, gather all the clothes, and take them to the op shop 😉

I love that one, even though I am one of those bizarre old fashioned creatures that doesn’t mind ironing (not that I do it very often) and love having ironed clothes hanging in the wardrobe, ironed teatowels in a pile in the kitchen cupboard and even ironed pillowcases. Especially because I have a lot of pure cotton and linen things.

I do try to avoid dry cleaning, all those horrible chemicals, but I was so glad to get my padded silk jacket dry cleaned last week as I have worn it for two winters, every day (it is so light and warm) and my attempts at handwashing didn’t make much inroad and clumped up the padding.

I do agree that it is the relentless of housework that makes it so dispiriting. I am continually amazed by my ability to mess up my home. I can completely fill up the kitchen bench with things that need to be washed and put away…. EVEN ON A FAST DAY!

Quacka, I agree with LJoyce that you shouldn’t give yourself a hard time about giving away your big clothes. It is a whole series of small steps and you have already done a couple of them: packing the ‘too big’ winter clothes, and collecting the ‘probably too big’ summer clothes. The next step will present itself soon, whether it is taking the winter clothes to the Op Shop, or trying on the summer clothes to see if you will send them too. You’ve got all the time in the world. Pat on the back for every small step.

Christmas sounds wonderful in your area! Special food, but perfectly healthy.

Hi Merry, cheers for that Spring cleaning.

Thin, so glad you are having those lovely peaceful days.

Good wishes to Mr Lindsay, to Gday, to LJoyce for your procedure, and enjoy that family feast tonight! And your new home’s first visitors.

Best wishes everyone for a good day.

Hi all,
A quick post on my iPhone – laptop packed away for a couple of days.

I am sitting on the verandah in my new outdoor furniture, enjoying a cuppa while I wait for my sister and b-i-l to arrive. I think I’ll need to get cushions for these wooden seats if I want to sit on them for any length of time.

Cali, thanks for the best wishes, I’m feeling confident it will all be ok. If that tariff war with China continues you may find the outdoor furniture is made in the US again soon, or perhaps not – I seriously doubt it’s that simple.

Cate, that’s an excellent result given the week you’ve had, hope the 3FDs works

Cinque, I had a less drastic ironing rule (when I used to wear clothing that required ironing). If something stayed at the bottom of the ironing basket all season then I didn’t like it enough to keep it. There were always a few things that just sat there waiting to be ironed and I would keep finding alternatives.

Have a nice Sunday everyone. I probably won’t post again until Tuesday.

Good morning…second FD today and I am nervous as I’m worried what will happen when the ‘novelty’ wears off. But I’m determined as I had a pretty rubbish weekend food-wise, but nowhere near as bad as a ‘normal’ weekend. We took the dog for 3 long walks so hopefully that will help a bit

Hope everyone has a great week

Hi Anzac 🙂 we can get through this together! The novelty won’t wear off when you see the results you are looking for :):)
Good luck today

Good morning,
It is lovely sunny morning after Fast Day.

Cate, you are doing brilliantly.

LJoyce, bet you do a quick read, even if you can’t write, so hoping you had a lovely feast last night, and your visitors have enjoyed your new home.

Quacka, not the best start to a Fast Day! Maybe it will just settle into a normal Fast Day after a rocky start. Lots of cuppas?

10cm off your waist! Wow, that is really wonderful. You just saved yourself a heart attack or two!

I’ve got a theory that I am brilliant at golf (even though I am shocking at all other sports) but no one knows because I have never played. But it would be even better to do it with someone you can laugh with the whole time.

Anzac, the novelty keeps on as you lose weight. It is a bit different doing it for maintenance, the novelty is pretty well gone, but it is in the rhythm of my life now, FDs are easy (and NFDs aren’t necessarily easier). I have the option to stop, but that would be self destructive, so I don’t.

Good luck today. A Fast Diet recipe book and emergency fruit salad mean that you are set!

Cheers everyone

sorry, I need more editing time, s/b: “and fears hunger so, before we started, …”

You don’t sound petty or dramatic at all Quacka, that was unnecessary and – as you said – very insensitive. Losing weight and changing life-long habits is hard enough right? There was no point to her comment, seriously. All she could hope for was to turn you off it and what sort of ‘friend’ does that?

You said you were getting near her weight so you have obviously been really successful; so pat yourself on the back, ignore her and try to forget about it. I bet she has a think about it and comes back and apologises. If not then I reckon she IS feeling threatened.

I caved today and it’s only my second FD. Had 6 Vita-weats 🙁

Thanks Anzac. I just wanted to say please don’t let a little set back stop you from achieving your goal. We all have our ups and downs with this way of eating, some days are easier than others. I think it is Merry that posts “if you fall off you horse, just get back up on it” I have had to pick myself up a few times LOL 🙂

Cali really love what you wrote too and thanks. I would definitely rather be a cranky pants than a tubby pants!

Cinque, I forgot to say this morning that I also love your approach to ironing 😉
So many more better things to do in life.

Well almost through today’s FD and I am happy I persevered with it. I won’t be a cranky pants when I hop on the scales tomorrow morning…..
Oh forgot to tell you. Last week I weighed myself and I was so delighted with the numbers that I got all super excited and gave myself a massive headache. Not doing that tomorrow!!

Good evening everyone,

I hope the rest of the day went better Anzac. Don’t call it a failure, it is an excellent learning experience! Have fun analysing it without putting yourself down.

I wonder if you added up the calories of the vita-weats and anything you had on them, and just factored that into your fast day, or whether the rest of the day got sabotaged.

Quacka, your workmate was terribly rude. Personally, I love the look of miso soup, but even if she really didn’t it was an extraordinary thing to say to someone just about to eat. I’m going to be rude in return and call HER Ms Cranky Pants.

Hi Cali, Thin, and everyone else.
The second installment of Hugh’s Fat Fight is on SBS tonight, looking forward to it.

Good Morning everyone,

Welcome Anzac🙂, – brush off that FD yesterday and move on with the week. I had a rocky FD yesterday too. I’ve been on 5:2 for almost 4 yrs, and love this forum and this Way Of Life (WOL or WOE-eating). There is a lot of experience on this thread to help answer your questions. I have probably failed more FDs than any of the other maintainers here, but I still got my weight down to normal, and due to health reasons I can’t exercise, so I still feel like I’ve found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

This is not like any diet you’ve done before, and I suggest you not to go lower in calories than you need to on your nonFDs (NFDs). This is not about daily deprivation which is what all other diets are. This is about learning as you go along, making discoveries you never expected. You will learn lots of things about yourself and your relationship with food doing 5:2, and you have just learnt 1 of 5:2’s amazing secrets.

Secret no. 1 – We don’t feel hungry the morning after a FD. How does that happen? I have no idea, but we all love it.

In case this applies to you I’ll let you into another secret – people on 5:2 fit into response patterns with their FD eating. You’ll work out which pattern you are over the next few weeks. You’ll find yourself in 1 of these groups: I

1. The Hunger Dragon group. This is a phenomenon we didn’t know about before 5:2. Some of us have a Hunger Dragon. These people are not hungry on a FD till they eat something, then their hunger comes roaring to life and it keeps roaring at them after that. These people usually eat 1 meal in the evening of a FD with all their FD calories.

2. The Nauseous Ones. This group feel a bit nauseous on a FD if they don’t eat breakfast, so they divide their FD calories into 2 meals – breakfast and dinner. There are lots of recipes available – in the FD book or other 5:2 recipe books, where calories are given for meals to help with what to eat. My OH often does FDs in this pattern.

3. The 3-a-Day Eaters. Three very small meals on a FD, following a normal NFD eating pattern.

4. The What The Heck I’ll Just Have Water! group. This is a smaller group but there are several what-the-heckers on the forum. These people sometimes have a Hunger Dragon and choose not to have anything on a FD and find it easier that way. Some don’t have a Hunger Dragon but choose to only have water on a FD for other reasons, so no calories on a FD.

I’m a Hunger Dragon lady, so I’m a 1 meal a day FDer and do Mon/Thur FDs. I have 1 meal after 6pm, and 80% of the time I have the same thing:
– miso soup or fish stock ( either Campbells or from a cube), with
– 120gms hoki fish (frozen from Aldi, NZ caught)
– small portions of vegies with low calories, on the day this may change a bit but I always have veggies of different colours
– carrot,
mushrooms,
broccoli,
cauliflower
bean sprouts
Chinese leafy greens eg baby bok choy or whatever’s in my local Asian market
bamboo shoots – canned
water chestnuts- canned
Asian herb mix for extra flavour
-fresh coriander is a staple in my fridge, so a little chopped on top goes well.

Lowest calorie fruits are strawberries and rockmelon (cantaloupe). Yes we’ve had challenges with these in Australia this year, but I’m back to having rockmelon now the scare seems over, and strawberries I cut up.)

With these I can bring a FD meal in at 360 calories. To me, the key to FDs is to make the food tasty – lots of zing in the soup – Thai green or red curry or chili for those who like it.
I need a touch of extra salt on FDs, so a miso soup base works well for me.

So, Onwards and Downwards,
And, If you fall off the horse get back on it.
Merry

Hmmm, I poste on my phone on the train to work this morning but I just realized it isn’t there. I didn’t derail after my vita-weat frenzy 🙂 I still had my stir-fry and I ended up just over 600 calories instead of 500.

Wow, thanks Merry for that incredibly informative post. I’m not sure which category I’m in yet. I’m currently doing 3 small meals but I have a feeling that I might be a Hunger Dragon as my appetite does spring (roar) to life as soon as I have the fruit I have prepared for breakfast. I will experiment over the coming weeks.

And yes, I can’t fathom how we aren’t starving the morning after a FD! I did have a bigish stir-fry for dinner but it was mainly vegetables with a palm-sized piece of chicken breast and a drizzle of chilli and soy sauces. But both times after my FD’s I have not been overly hungry. Weird.

I really love the concept of only feeling like I’m dieting two days per week; so while I won’t go bingeing on junk food on NFD’s, I won’t deprive myself too much either. A good walk every lunch time really helps too; I work quite near Hyde Park in Sydney so that is a lovely place to walk around.

Have a great day!

Good morning losers and maintainers. A sunny but foggy morning in Perth. Hope your fog has lifted LJ and that your procedure revealed nothing unusual. Bah humbug, the neighbours returned last evening and immediately advanced to the trampoline. Not sure why that activity requires so much high pitched screaming. The three days they were away were cherished moments. This morning they woke us from a sound sleep at 6am, not incredibly early some might say but the concept of teaching the children to be considerate of others is evidently lost on the parents. Fingers crossed that their second trip of the school hols is already underway.

LJ, glad your procedure is over and you’re back home. Sounds like you’re reacting to the anesthesia, or maybe a pain killer. I hope the nausea goes away soon and the pathology comes back all clear. Do they use the term “unremarkable” there when they don’t find anything? Sometimes it good to be unremarkable.

Thin, sorry to hear that the trampoline screamers have returned. Maybe talking to the parents about some time considerations would help if you feel comfortable with doing that. 6 am is too early for such nonsense! Even 8:00 am is early. I would definitely be Cranky Pants if I were you. (I call our dog Mr. Growly Face when he growls playing tug of war with his toys.)

Cinque, I can’t watch the videos on ABC, they block them for out of country people. Some licensing thing I guess. I’ll have to see if any of the other streaming services have it here. It looks good from the ads on the website.

Anzac, the novelty doesn’t seem to wear off for most of us. This group here keeps me interested even though we seem to talk about everything under the sun. It’s nice to see new posters here because then we can answer questions about 5:2 again, one of our favorite topics. It becomes a habit and a way of life.

Today was a FD for me. It went well. The hunger dragons stayed away all day.

GDSA, my OH is a bit like that too. I’m more like LJ – my philosophy is that there’s no point in worrying until you’re actually given some bad news – although you did call it unwelcome news. Best wishes for anyone unwell or undergoing investigations or treatment. Hope you feel good soon LJ. Yes, we say ‘unremarkable’ CalifD. Here’s to everyone here staying unremarkable.

CalifD, thanks for listening to my whinge this morning! I just don’t get how people can generate that much noise pollution in such a quiet neighbourhood. Anyway, after my grumpy pants vent this morning, I had a good walk, saw three dolphins and got on with some projects and believe that early morning carry on was them leaving on trip no. two. How are you coping Lindsay? And is OH OK?

Cinque thanks for the reminder about the ‘Fat Fight’ but, even with the reminder, I still forgot. Hopefully tonight. I’ll start at the beginning. Sorry you can’t watch it CalifD, but I gave you a wonderful recommendation on Netflix to keep you busy – you didn’t report back yet! Was it too bizarre for the CD family? he he.

Good morning Quacka and everyone,
Another gorgeous Melbourne morning, and did you see the big shining moon last night Stunning.

I am super busy and a couple of people close to me have difficult things going on (something in the air, Quacka) so I need to be short here as life has become extra busy. Also my littlest granddaughter is turning 2 tomorrow and I am making a jelly ring AND the birthday cake with Peppa pig on top. I’ll make my famous chocolate porridge cake, to look like a muddy puddle. Delighted to do this, but it means I have a tight timetable.

LJyce I am glad the procedure went well, and I do hope you are feeling fine today, and that the results are good, when you get them.
Best wishes to everyone else who is dealing with eye operations and OH’s with operations, and ill or recovering from illness, or trying to do Spring cleaning with ME/CFS.

I’ve had a couple of good eating days, and I am fasting today.

Just quickly: Good point about fruit in the morning, it suits most people, but for me it is just like eating something with too much sugar, and sets off the munchies.

I won’t try and write more now, and I might be too busy to write for a few days, but I will keep sending everyone lots of good wishes for Fast Days, and Non Fast Days.
Best wishes and all good things.

Good morning SH’ers. I find FD’s much easier if I wait until after 12 at least. Fruit on an empty stomach leaves me very hungry so always have it with some yoghurt. I’m loving the Yoplait, forme no fat, no sugar yoghurt with some fresh strawberries as my FD lunch. Actually, I’m going to have the same today on a NFD as my golf lunch, but with some GF muesli on top.

Anzac, I don’t know if you read my post much higher up the page in response to your having said that you were feeling ‘mega hungry’ on the FD. In it, I mentioned having 30gms of oats with water for breakfast when we first started fasting. I did say I’d added half a tsp of honey (which four years later I couldn’t believe) but, on closer inspection of the spreadsheet, I see that was for my OH not for me. Anyway, for those who feel they need ‘meals’ on FDs, oats are very filling. Nowadays, I wait until 2pm for my first food. Everyone is different and you’ll find out what works best for you. The main thing is to stick with it.

Good morning everyone.
Thanks for the well wishes. I feel a lot better today. So good in fact that I’m going to head out for a walk in the sunshine soon.

Cali, do you get blocked from watching UK tv programs too? I mention this as the program we’ve been discussing, and a lot of the other food/health docos that we get here are actually British and may also be available on their sites too.

GDSA, good work on the clothing cull Hope your OH’s health issues are resolved easily.

Thin, if the neighbours are going away again, enjoy your extra days of peaceful enjoyment.

Quacka, sometimes the scales need a bit of time to catch up with reality and sometimes they stay mean. Hopefully this time will just be a delayed reaction.
Enjoy experimenting with the recipes. I think in the beginning we all experimented with lots of recipes (which we posted) before settling in to a limited range of FD meals – it’s just easier. I hope you find something that becomes a favourite.

Cinque, I hope the birthday baking goes without a hitch.

Anzac, I hope you find it easy to hold off on food until afternoon. Trying to concentrate is the most difficult thing to do I think when you feel hungry.
A fruit that I used to find helped me through the morning was strawberries – they have far less sugar and calories than any other fruit and a punnet lasts a long time if you just have one occasionally. I used to wash them and sit them on my desk and snack throughout the day as needed. Together with cups of tea they got me through quite a few hours without eating anything else.

Merry, enjoy your day off, and Barnesy.

Cate, I agree about yoghurt being a good food as your first food for the day.

I decided to go ahead with the FD today. The nausea is pretty much gone so I think I’ll get through it ok.
OK, time to go and enjoy the outdoors for a while.

Thanks everyone, I made it to noon and it was much easier without having anything for breakfast. I then enjoyed (REALLY enjoyed) a thai beef salad that was mostly salad and a small amount of beef. I also had a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce mixed with fresh lime. Yum!

I am re-reading the Fast Diet book as I sped through it the first time and this morning I read ‘The key, then, is to recognize, through patience ad the exercise of will that you can make it through a Fast Day. Bear in mind that fasting subjects regularly report that the food with which they ‘break their fast’ tastes glorious. Flavours sing. Mouthfuls dance’. I agree totally.

I have never been more excited or encouraged about finally losing weight. A lot of this comes from you lovely people and this forum and your successes and ongoing enthusiasm. When I had hunger pangs earlier I pictured myself this Christmas finally looking and feeling so much better and not hiding myself behind lots of huge, loose-fitting clothes.

Dinner tonight is another stir-fry; I need to spend some time looking into other dinners as I will soon be tired of stir-fries.

I don’t eat seafood @thinatlast but I might try your recipe but with chicken breast. It sounds lovely.

Anzac, well done on getting through until lunch time. You’ll probably find that you continue to learn new things about yourself and food over the coming weeks. Stir fry is one of my FD go-to meals, I hope you enjoy yours.

Thin, my stomach is feeling a little unsettled so I have decided I can’t face the soup I was planning to gave for dinner. I will have a slice of wholemeal sourdough and 2 boiled eggs. I had this for dinner last night so I know my stomach can handle that. Enjoy your smoked salmon – just thinking about that makes me feel queasy!

I only managed a half an hour of walking. The further I went,m the more bloated and uncomfortable my abdomen became, so I had to head for home early. I guess my body is letting me know I have to take things slowly for a few days. So I’m having a lazy afternoon reading.

Hope the fasters are having an easy day.

Thin, I don’t object to smoked salmon normally but I need a very healthy stomach to face any kind of fish. This is not the week!
And frankly I’ll always prefer fish that’s been hot smoked to the the cold smoking they use for smoked salmon.

I’ve just had the boiled eggs and piece of wholemeal sourdough. Together with the food I ate through the afternoon – a small banana and a rye crispbread – I suspect I’m sitting in the 5-600 range today. I’m not bothered, just glad I got through it despite the nausea returning this afternoon.