Well done patsykona, I can’t imagine what it’s like to be able to run 5 and a half km. This morning I did a brisk walk, jog, walk, jog for four and a half km and that warmed me up on a frosty morning. I had a terrible fast day on Monday, not because of the fast but because my fitbit zip wouldn’t wake up – waaaah, it was like a pet dying. The previous night the battery was showing as half full but thought I’d try a new battery and didn’t have one. I finally got a battery yesterday and the poor little fitbit was awake again but totally confused about the time, when I synced with the laptop at home my busy shopping day steps were allocated to Monday and my yesterday evening steps was all I logged for tuesday. So, new fitbit zip users, have a spare battery handy just in case your battery level icon is as unreliable as mine.
bayleaf – I know the feeling of disappearing magic numbers, I saw 56.9 for a moment last week and after Monday’s fast thought it would see it again but the numbers were higher than before the fast (all that water perhaps), then this morning I saw 56.3 – I know it will disappear again but the general trend is still going down. I haven’t been under 57kg for more than 15 years (and mostly over 60kg). I’m 5’2″ and when I started 5:2 my bmi was just entering the overweight area.

Here’s a video of some alfresco dancing:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152344250683889

I have to join in!
cheers, VM

Hi all, today is my first fast day and the FAST diet. Feeling a bit peckish at the moment and drinking lots if water. I’m tossing up whether to do 5:2 or 4:3, I’ll see how the first week goes. I might mix it up a bit. I need to see some progress. I’ve stacked on a lot of weight over the past 12 months (20kg) due to various issues, which has hit my self esteem hard. So I have about 30kg to lose all up. I am dreaming of being able to move my body freely again, without straining under my weight. I have attempted so many different diets and have become so confused, and my weight has continued to increase! So this is it. It sounds good. It sounds reasonable. It sounds right. So I will focus on the health and the psychological benefits and hopefully the weight will come off and by Summer I can hit the pool with my kids. That’s my plan.
Good luck to everyone starting today.

Welcome Nichole
I totally back up everything Bayleaf says. Start with 2 days a week, arm yourself with knowledge and understanding it IS definitely doable.
We are right behind you. PVE

Hi all
Re Fitbits….I have stopped wearing mine. I have a very good handle now on energy in and out and like not being controlled by having to enter everything. .
They serve a very useful purpose short term, but you soon get your head around how much exercise you need.
I have blisters from running through the city this morning but I know it burned lots of cals 🙂 P

Hi Tim
Re Simcoeluv, he/she is the mystery of the site. Seems to be able to grab references from all over at the drop of a hat, reads and gets involved in all the threads, but never gives anything personal away. S/he has been asked by others in the past.:( to no avail.
Come on, Simmo (Aussie abbreviation ) how about coming clean?
All the best fasting tomorrow folks. P

Hi all, we sure are a mixed bunch who are free to express ourselves behind our pseudonyms, which makes these forums so very interesting and entertaining.

I’m freeing myself of old clothes at the moment, and yesterday gleefully chucked out four bags full of things I had shrunken out of (rather than grown out of), looked too old for me, or never wore in the first place because they made me feel too dowdy and depressed.

It’s so strange, because up until now I’d thought those old clothes were ok, maybe even great, but now I thnk they are just plain ugly, strange or just ‘not me’….isn’t it fascinating just how our tastes and opinions change as our body changes? Is it a sort of metamorphosis? A strange variety of ageing in reverse? Mutton trying to dress as lamb? Or is it that my true self is slowly and actively revealing herself, after being asleep or missing in action for so long?

Whatever the cause for this sudden change in my tastes and need to clear the decks of the old, it’s a cause for celebration and hope, knowing that my life IS worth living, and I have a happy future ahead of me!

Happy fasting! Cheers my dears!

Go, IHAW, go! Long may you dance 🙂 B

Great work Graeme
My Aussie male is also below 70 now AND spending a fortune on new stylish clothes. He works full time so doesn’t post. I give him a second hand report from here.
Tim (Tarkeeth) is a regular. He’d enjoy your participation I’m sure.
Have a good Thursday. Purple
Typing this on the station in the sun as I mucked around adding recipes to the LOACA recipe thread and missed my train:(

GrahamE that’s a fabulous result! I remember you posting here when you were starting on 5:2. I still haven’t managed to make the exercise part a habit, even though the HIIT does seem like my kind of exercise plan.

Good question Purple regarding the mystery person. I wonder whether he ‘luvs’ his coeliac artery or something akin to that. Note the ‘coel’ part of the name. The coeliac artery is a good one to love as it supplies the liver, spleen and pancreas, part of the stomach and maybe part of the intestine – can’t quite recall. As none of these are paired organs and are the ones that maintain our dietary health and immune system amongst many other things, it’s a good artery to love!!

Just a thought.
Ros.

Graeme,

Forgive me if this is all stuff you know already…

If you lose weight too fast, it takes seems to take more time to fit your skin. It’s important not to put your body into starvation mode with too many fast days. Starvation mode is very different from fasting and can promote weight gain by slowing your metabolic rate. Perhaps the exercise will mitigate against that.

Skin health (the flab bits) is supported by reduced or no alcohol, vitamins A, C, and E and some say that probiotics are a good idea too. Youth is helpful as well – the more collagen in your skin and the more elastic it is, the better. Otherwise patience is a virtue.

For my part, it’s a bit sad about the youth bit. 😉
Ros.

I rub moisturiser in after my shower. It is a dermatologist recommended cream. Literally, by my sister’s dermatologist. 🙂 skin and hair are full of dry dust. I wiped all our plantation shutters and walls and cupboard doors. We had sheets and towels over the benches. 🙂

Oh my word Bayleaf, the dust is drying indeed. I spent five months travelling in the desert with a tent and learned a bit about that – and you live with it. The moisturiser is certainly a daily application for me too.

Purple, now you mention it, I do recall Michael writing about the myths, and that the metabolic changes are a myth. I must say I was speaking from experience rather than research, and I went through a period 25 years ago of eating way too little for nearly a year. It took a loooong time to recover from that and then I went overboard without really being aware of it. Hmmm.

Thanks for the pointer.
Ros.

GrahameE, are you looking to lose weight or get fit for the race? I have been unsuccessfully trying to lose weight using Interval training, 10 min warm up
30 sec flat out, then a minute normal pace repeated 3 times with 5 mins cruise
between 3 sets and cool down. It looks as though the ” flat-out ” is as the Irish say I have a weakness.

The 5/2 diet and members of this forum have help me get back on track.

Only got the fast exercise paperback this week and am still working my way through.

Did you find help on any of the other forums? What I’ve explored so far has given me a couple of heads up but there really is so much out there it hard to sort.

Its good to have some male company in the group because there are some crasy females around, they dance, sing, discuss blouse and trouser sizes, swap recipes, walk, run and skip and they are likely to break out at any moment through one never knows 🙂

Cheers.
Tim.

Well done, Patsy

Hi Purple, Knock em dead today 🙂

Thanks everyone for your sympathy. ThE dust is in and on everything. Like fasting, I’m trying to focus on the end goal. Off to paint the skirting boards. 🙂

Interesting at the Christmas in July. I hadn’t eaten much during the day in preparation. I probably ate only my TDEE over the whole day, plus an extra red wine. So feel fine this morning. The meal included small portions of Turkey, ham, tiny piece of roast potato and kumara, gravy, fruit sauce, green beans, Xmas pudding, cream. Starter was lovely and maybe could be adapted. Does anyone know calories of Gorgonzola?

Wholemeal pita bread spread with around 200 grams of Gorgonzola, as if you’re making a pizza. Then cut thin slices of fresh pears with skin on, eg, Williams or Packham pears. Lay pear slices on the Gorgonzola so they overlap. Then bake in 180 C oven for 10 minutes. Tasted divine, and light.

Hi All,

It’s good to find a time-zone friendly thread! I’m newly diagnosed with moderate hypertension which is very scary and I have 35 kg to lose. I’ve lost at least 250kg in the last 25 years but it always seem to find me again and bring along a few friends (as many others here probably already know). I’m not overly hopeful to be honest but not trying is the ultimate failure, so here goes. I’m starting on Monday and aiming to do Mon & Thurs so keen to read up and learn from others experiences. Cheers.

Hi Purple
How did the family do go? I painted gage skirting boards that had received the rough treatment. OH did the sanding etc. I did the washing etc. 🙂
Off to homemade pizza with the grandchildren. B

Hi B
Good work! I never sand. The old bloke does that. I believe painting is to change the colour. He thinks it is to finish surfaces properly. Just a difference of opinion!
Lots of positive comments today. Makes it all worth it 🙂 Restricted myself to one wine, fish and veg. Proud of myself AND had a good time. Even had a long walk afterwards to make up for all the sitting. One has to have balance.
Enjoy your pizza. P 🙂

Thanks so much for the welcome PVE and ihaveawaist 🙂

So far I’ve ordered the books, have read some great threads for newbies and some excellent advice on what to eat/do when fasting and will definitely add the dancing to the tool kit! My GP does 5:2 and has recommended it to me based on other patients’ success as well (I’d seen it on TV a year or so ago).

I’ve put all my measurements into the tracker (GULP) and I’m trying not to get too obsessive about every last calorie (although I appreciate the fast days need to be just that) so hopefully it will be something I can sustain. Am now feeling quite virtuous having just written out my shopping list for tomorrow 🙂 and ready for the challenge – wish me luck!

All the best ensitu. Follow ihaw’s advice. 🙂 Purple

Hi ensitu, I notice you mention moderate hypertension. I have had my BP medication reduced by one third since losing 16 kg on 5:2. A really good reason to persist with intermittent fasting. All the best. 🙂 B

ensitu – welcome!!
Violet May – “Silver tea” I love it! The tap water is super cold at the moment. Might try some silver tea when I’ve had my share of black tea.

Hi Tim. Key motivation was to loose weight, side benefit was to get a bit fitter – not that I am that unfit when considering as a lawyer I sit around in an office all day – have always been willing to get up earlier in the day to ‘create’ some time for exercise – hence my 5.10am wake up alarm to be at gym when it opens at 5.30.
With you exercise format, I have not read the fast fit book but know my format works (at least for me). I agree with your 10 min warm up and as a starter, 20 or 30 seconds flat out with no more than a minute recovery time, repeated 3 times, sounds right. Not sure what you mean by your 5 minutes ‘cruise between 3 sets’ means – I don’t believe you should be having any more than 1 minute rest between your intense periods and if you are then this may be the reason it is not working. Remember, it is intense interval training – with the emphasis on the intense, not the interval – the interval is to ensure you have just enough time to recover and then to go flat out again. As I said before, I started off on a routine of 20 seconds flat out followed by 60 seconds of recovery and repeated this 3 times – when I started, this was quite exhausting. Then you just add 10 seconds a time to the intense activity and then start increasing the number of repetitions. It has taken me 3 months to work up to my current 90 second intense, 60 second recovery routine and I still look forward to stopping at the 90 second mark – it is hard – but you should NEVER look at taking too much of a recovery rest – I find 60 seconds is more than enough and this enables me to finish my ‘real’ exercise each day in less than 10 minutes.

10 min warm up
30 sec flat out, then a minute normal pace repeated 3 times with 5 mins cruise
between 3 sets and cool down. It looks as though the ” flat-out ”

Is that right! Very impressed with your efforts then Tim – but remember, flat out to me will be different to flat out for you Tim (or any body else). This is why Michael’s idea is so great – we all have our individual concept of ‘flat out’ but as long as you find it, the benefits of Fast Exercise can be yours.