This topic contains 28,298 replies, has 835 voices, and was last updated by thinatlast 19 hours, 14 minutes ago.
Hi peeps. I’m down again to 66.9! My previous best during this WOL (before my artificial sweetener debacle) was 65.9. My goal weight is 63kg.
Pattience – I have the Fast Exercise book and the research does show that HIIT is as effective (and sometimes more effective) as longer more moderate exercise.
One Australian study showed that when women were randomly allocated to one of two exercise groups:
– 3 x 40 minutes of moderate cycling a week
– 3 x 20 minutes of HIIT cycling
those who did moderate cycling gained (!) some weight and became slightly fatter and the women who did HIIT lost an average of 2.5kg
Another study randomly allocated 10 men and 10 women into either HIIT (30 minutes with only 3 minutes of high intensity running) or 60 minute runs 3 x a week. Those who did HIIT had lost twice as much fat as the other group in half the time. They lost an amazing 12.4% of their fat mass.
So I’m v v excited about doing this.
Of course the other fabulous effect is a huge improvement in cardiovascular fitness. I’m really hoping that I’ll eventually be able to jog. I’ve tried the Couch to 5k before a few times and just couldn’t do it as I wasn’t aerobically fit enough. HIIT should increase my aerobic fitness quickly.
My point isn’t so much that you can’t or won’t lose weight with exercise of any type. I know its possible as i’ve done it so many times before. And i attribute some of my current losses to my increased activity using my pedometer since i haven’t added more calories to compensate.
My position is if you do exercise for fitness and health, rather than weightloss, then you won’t come unstuck down the track when you stop doing it, you won’t suffer the guilts because you don’t feel like going out today or its cold and raining, many people can start their weightloss journey and not feel pained by a perceived need for exercise, you can save all that boring time at the gym or doing other things you don’t care for, if you don’t care to do it and so many other reasons. Although i’ve done lots of exercise in the past with my diets, its been one of the things that’s brought me unstuck eventually and caused my regain when i stopped and i always stopped – Through injury, moving to a place where i couldn’t continue to do what i was doing or just stopping for no reason other than not feeling like it. My sister who is a fitness junkie was astonished when i told her recently that i’d lost all my weight without exercise.
When you are at the start of your weightloss journey, you will certainly lose weight totally easily without doing a single extra step. And so long as you keep reducing your calories in order to maintain a calorie deficit, you will always lose.
Its just a question of doing what you like to do with your life. If you love exercise, great, do it. If you don’t, don’t worry about it or find a way to include it in your life without having to make special time for it. If you want the health benefits of exercise, do it. If you don’t care, don’t bother. But whatever way you want to go, do what you enjoy and don’t make it a chore.
I suspect the HIIT could be a chore for me and i doubt i will be able to do it regularly week after week. If i was really determined and got into, based on past experience, i’d probably do it for a maximum of 3 months before quitting. That’s just how things tend to go for me.
HI all,
wow, so many posts to catch up on.
Welcome and good luck to all the newbies…I like your suggestion of a forum for people not doing 5:2 BKD…though I haven’t met that many yet.
Well done pattience, you are a real inspiration!
That’s great news CG,that you’ve gotten to the bottom of it…and what an interesting effect. Certainly wouldn’t have thought it, but I do have an inherent mistrust of anything artificial. I have heard of a girl who was hospitalised for mysterious stomach and digestive complaints. After they’d tested her for all the nasties like Giardia and co it turned out to be the artificial sweeteners in the chewing gum she was overconsuming! So that was kind of the opposite effect.
Anyway, you must be really relieved.
I survived my back-to-back fast, and Monday, and the scales are down a further 1.5kg (below 78, haven’t seen that for years! 😉
I had dinner at my friend’s place, who put me on to the diet on a fast day and we had those ‘slendier’ noodles which only have 8cal per serve. I was curious to try them.
They have an unpleasant fishy smell, which she rinsed away, then mixed them with grated zucchini and heated them, and to be honest I barely noticed them.
She has read up on them. They are made of Konjak, which is a vegetable which has been used in Asia for centuries for digestive complaints (so nothing artificial 😉 and is basically cellulose, ie fibre.
It was nice to have a normal-sized serve (the sauce was tinned tuna- in springwater of course!- tinned tomatoes, onion and 5 chopped Kalamata olives – 50 cal, but worth it for the flavour!)
So yes, I probably will buy them again for a filling fast day meal.
She only eats one meal on fast days, so was able to finish up with strawberries and yoghurt and didn’t go to bed hungry, as I usually do.
I don’t think I could do that, but maybe when I’m more used to it…
I wasn’t working Monday, and felt shitty, emotionally and physically, so it was challenging to stick with it, but I was proud that I managed it, despite two coffee dates! (Would have been sorely tempted if anyone had been serving Devonshire Teas, but they weren’t)
I will try some of your distraction tricks next time, Nicky, IHAW and Pattience. For some reason I couldn’t seem to get away for a walk, though I knew it would do me good. Dancing was not an option that day, but I should do more of it, you’re right IHAW. I envy those of you with a garden.
Sorry I’m not in the Wollongong area, I’d love to meet up for a walk now and then. Anybody in Canberra interested?
Fast well folks,
Sue
Hi all!
Made it through the day 1 of b2b fasting,even though OH decided to eat a bag of chips on the couch next to me…there will be payback!
Feeling ok about today, must come up with something to do with kids, as lounging around the house in pj’s on a stormy day will lead to munching…
Pattience- I completely agree with “weight loss is 80% diet, 20% exercise” for me I think it’s that I allowed myself the excuse that I exercised so it’s ok to eat that proverbial piece of cake. Love to know what ideas you come up with in re to your trip to Japan,as I’m planning a 4 week trip to Greece next July, and though I hope to be my ideal weight before then, I don’t think it will stay that way. Only thing I can think of is to do a fast day a week (not sure I’ll have willpower to do 2 or my normal b2b, with all the lovely greek food around me) and skip food at lunch daily or eat a small fruit salad instead if hungry
Minnnie52- well done on such great results! I’m only one extra week on you so still quite a newbie, it sure makes it easier to keep going with this WOE when it’s so do-able and get immediate results
Marata-welcome to forum thread 🙂 we’re all here for the same reason,at various stages of weight loss and health improvement. For me,motivation comes from truly doing this to for health benefits,if not for myself,then for my kids and OH, for a healthier happier longer life. The weight loss is just the awesome benefit of being healthy!
Miss Lizzie C- awesome results on your loss!! and isn’t it amazing how much our kids absorb from us… I’m making changes to my eating habits,though my daughter is only 9 so I’ve not discussed any specifics, you know,don’t pass on your fears and food issues to them mentality, but I made spag-bol on Monday and she said to me she’d like less in her bowl and then would decide if was still hungry, to which point she wasn’t and was shocked she only ate half a normal portion. Good luck to you both, what a great support system you can be for each other
C ya all later, wishing you happy fasting and even better weight results
Hi Pattience, you commented yesterday about ‘getting ahead of myself’ about a post I wrote aimed at other working men to encourage them to take the ‘leap of faith’ I took a week ago on 5:2. Believe it or not and I know it will be hard being the oracle of all diet information ever and ‘guardian of the Southern Hemisphere 5:2 diet plan’ but I was simply giving a male perspective for blokes to read and ladies to show their ‘hubbies’ that may have dismissed 5:2 because this forum has most of its posts by women. I am well aware of ‘first week weight loss realities’.
I am very keen to hear your ‘valuable’ advice on being a man on the 5:2 diet as you certainly have all the answers it would seem, unless I missed it and you have given it out previously.
Well here is a little weight loss motto you can have for free. It was given to me by a woman I knew that struggled with weight loss all her life as I have done and lived with the low self esteem and sense of worthlessness that comes with the ‘unending battle’. It was on her fridge until the day she died struggling to fight obesity:
“Never pretend you have walked a mile in another’s shoes, shared the pain of experience or gained the wisdoms of insights hard fought and lost, when we have all trod a different path. You will never know what I have done and seen, the regrets shed in tears and the knowledge my life has granted me. To pretend you have all the answers, your life has mirrored mine or I wish to follow you does not inspire me. It simply makes you look the fool.”
Have a wonderful day Pattience commenting on each post as they arrive here.
I like the way you think bigkahuna, and each of us does need to remember it’s always one small step at a time. I’m really glad you want to inspire other men, because they are the ones who often have the worst health outcomes, and are often less likely to try something as novel as 5:2. So here’s hoping at lots of men see your words and are inspired to act on them!
Thanks for the wonderful descriptions of calves and bulls and cows giving birth Charlie, it makes sense now you explaining it that way. I’d be a sucker wanting keep each baby just because they looked at me with their big brown eyes. I have enough trouble when my poor old chooks get too old to lay anymore….I just keep them around till they pop off their perch!
Interesting results about the comparisons in exercise Chichita, gives me food for thought! I was someone who always put on weight when I exercised, it was incredibly frustrating, when everyone around me would be telling me that I should be losing weight, particularly my husband and doctors.
Suetee, scary news about the chewing gum, it’s something I’ll tell my husband about, as he loves the stuff.
Having a look back on a couple of photos before I started this way of life, when I was probably around 90 kilos. I do look and feel so different nowadays, and have decided to keep up the full 5:2 until I’m a whole 25 kg lighter, at 63, rather than 65. That means 4 kilos to lose, but I’m supremely confident that I’ll be able to do it!
Cheers for now and keep up the great ideas, it’s what keeps me switched on and focused!
Where is my Bigkahunadad flag?….got it and I’m waving it! Thanks for sharing your journey so far and well done of your weight loss and committment to a new WOL! I hope you do inspire many more men as you go along…
That motto you shared is wonderful, I’m going to cut n paste and print it up…..we each have our journey to take, not only in weight loss, but in life and no-one really know what a person has been through to reach the point that they are at…
Hi to the dedicated SH mob.
After two good b2b (855C total for the FDs pleased to report the new scales have recorded 20% (0.5kg) of the involuntary gain have gone up in smoke. Should only take another week or so to get back to apparently lowest number recorded for some years.
Happy Wednesday all. N
well said bigkahuna… Our journey through life and weight loss is as individual as our finger print. I quite often like to get ahead of myself, it motivates me, but I’d rather call it being hopeful.
Hope my OH is inspired to join 5:2 instead of sitting on the couch next to me munching on chips…but his excuse is he’s “not overweight,just a pot belly”. Keep reading the positive posts on this awesome and inspiring thread, but remember that some times “what other people say about you is non of your business” what my mum used to say 🙂
On my third week and my husband is now on board, doing his 2nd fast day. He just called to say he’s doing well, had the miso soup for lunch and doesn’t feel ravenous at all. It’s good to be doing it with someone else in the house.
So far I’ve lost 2kg, only weighing myself once a week or else I’ll become obsessed about the numbers. Today I’m wearing a skirt that was a bit too snug last summer but feels comfortable so today so it’s amazing how much 2kg can make a difference. 8kg to go.
Kathryn
Re my japan trip and your greek trip. Well, when i go to japan, i will be cycling so i will be doing a lot of calorie burning nearly every day. But i know this does not mean and i can make a pig of myself. Actually to some extent when i travel food becomes less important because there’s usually so much else going on for stimulation and some times i find i have to make an effort to hunt down a good restaurant to specialty. Otherwise i could just eat street food the whole time.
But anyway this time, i am going to make more special effort to eat specially delicious foods and because i’ve quit sugar, but allow myself to eat it on travel like this, i will have only one serve max a day and it has to be Japanese, not western style stuff. I guess i will generally be trying to eat unituitively and healthy foods types.
If you want to learn a good system for intuitive eating before you go, i can point you in the right direction on my fitness pal where i’ve written some notes. But if you want the full explanation read Dr Amanda Sainsbury SAlis’s second book: Don’t Go Hungry for LIfe. She has a system of rating hunger and saiety. i think it would ensure you don’t over eat.
But i would also suggest not eating between meals and if you have a big pig out one day, just let it go and try not to do it again. I wouldn’t even bother trying to compensate for it. You need to focus on enjoying your holiday.
When i get back, i plant to go straight back to MFP and calorie counting until my diet returns to healthy restraint again. I am going off calorie counting as soon as i reach goal. I’ve been so focussed on this all year and now its time to try to loosen up a bit. I will continue to log my food though as i know i can do that and not gain weight.
I do not think i will fast in Japan, though i will if the mood takes me. The main thing is to pick up where i was as soon as i get home again.
If i was going to Greece, and i have been there before and i also adore greek food, i would just go with two or three meals, restraint on the sweets, try to choose fruit and vegie dishes often, eat moderate sized meals. Or you might think about doing 16:8 fasting. Have a late breakfast and dinner or go for a big earlier breakfast and a late lunch or early dinner. Don’t eat too many gyros!!!
I don’t know whether i’ll be doing 2 meals or three in Japan. It may depend on what i find to eat and meal times there. Greece is pretty easy re food as most of the time you will be in small places and the tourist restaurants will be prominently located. I wish i could spend one week in greece right now. It was so long ago i was there. I can remember many scenes so clearly in my minds eye. Didn’t have much money to eat well then but i do remember, crumbed calimari, the standard greek salad was a favourite for lunch. I used to like an omelette sandwich, oh just everything. And retsina!! Which parts are you going. I was most of the time in Rhodos, but spent some time in a few of other islands on that side near turkey. The aegean.
Thanks Big Dad. I don’t have any special advice for men. I am a forum addict. And i am practically a pathological advice giver. So that’s just me. I’m not apologising for it. It might get up some people’s noses and i can understand that. But i know i’ve helped many people too. Even my GP who i saw the other day, is interested in the details of my dieting experiences. She has failed at 5:2 this year. Alas i don’t feel its my place to ask her what happened.
So good to find a spot for us Aussies. I have been dieting since I was 10 – 43 years of feeling overweight. I have tried every diet under the sun and have been feeling miserable and obese and having become empty nesters this year was wondering how on earth I could go on a diet and stick to it without OH sabotaging me.
I decided the first step would be to organise some really tasty and healthy food for both of us and get it delivered. That way there could not be any take-away and break the carb and wine habits and re-set the portions.
I didn’t confess to OH, just ordered a week of home delivered organic prepared meals to start last Monday.
OH saw the channel 7 segment on the Sunday night about 5 and 2 and got really excited – he has high blood pressure and is almost in the diabetic club.
So, it all came together. We are doing the 5 and 2 together. I can’t believe how many people I know who are and have been for ages. Even my trainer at the gym – her husband has been fasting and has lost 8kg.
Last week was wonderful – great food, no shopping, no cooking except on Monday and Thursday, my internal tummy has shrunk heaps and it doesn’t take too much before I have had enough to eat. I have organised 2 more weeks of delivered meals.
So, on my fast (or famine) days I am sticking to the 500 cals – I go the 16 hours and then have a couple of poached eggs with baby spinach. No coffee that day and some lean chick and veg for dinner..
On the other days I have been eating breakfast (approx 350 cal), skim milk flat white from the coffee shop for morning tea and lunch (approx 320 cal), usually nothing in the afternoon and approx 320-350 for dinner.
At lunch time today I went to the gym to do some weight training and got on the treadmill to warm up and after 3 minutes of brisk walking felt like I had run out of steam – felt flat as.
I am worried that the current meals on my 5 days may need a few more calories.
Has anyone any thoughts? Is it just my body adjusting?
I am loving reading everyone elses posts – so inspiring. 🙂
Hi VAnbrooky. Its great your husband tuned in to your wavelength at this time. How much better it should be for you.
It seems you are only eating around 1000 calories on your non-fast days. I wouldn’t think that’s a good strategy for anyone really. (although i know there are people who say you can do it for a short period of time). Its certainly not an approach I would want to take. I’d much rather eat as much as i can and still lose weight. I am not sure though, why it worries you that you need to eat more?. Why are you restricting so severely?
I’ve only just noticed myself eating less than 1200 per day on average over a week, because of the fasts and wondering if this could become a problem for me. But i’m nearly at my goal.
You seem to be starving yourself and although you may not feel it much yet, it will hit you at some point in the not too distant future surely. You will get malnourished, lethargic, and no doubt many other little negatives that you may not notice so easily and its bound to make you fall off the wagon when you start becoming too hungry too often.
The basic recommendation of this diet is that women fast on 500 calories for two days, and eat at around your TDEE for the remaining days of the week. Its eating as much as you can that makes this diet more sustainable for the long term, I think. If you keep eating more nutritious foods rather than less nutritious foods such as junk foods and refined carbs, you will find it easier as you go along i think.
I have certainly found dieting all year easy because i have chosen to eat nutritious foods and not restrict my calories more than necessary. And i have certainly found it easier because i have taken my problem foods more or less off the table. I don’t like temptation so i avoid it.
Hi All
I just realised I thought I’d gone down this morning but I actually went up 100grams. LOL.
This week I’ve had two people tell me how fabulous I look and ask what I’m doing. Couldn’t be happier 🙂
I made myself a raw broccoli, avocado & bacon salad (the bacon was cooked – wink). With a salad dressing of red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, olive oil, salt & pepper. I am SO full! I’m starting to really enjoy attempting new things on this new WOL.
SueTee – Good on you for doing 2 fast days B2B! And losing 1.5kg. AND for reaching below 78kg. You go girl! Especially when you were having such a hard time.
Kathryn – It is hard seeing other people eat. It’s great that you’re able to stay motivated & focussed. Seeing someone eat potato chips would REALLY mess with my head 😉
BigKahunaDad – I totally agree with the importance of being able to show people how awesome this WOE is given who they are. I love my wine. I love socialising. A couple of weeks ago I bumped into a gf and she suggested we go for coffee. It was about 1:30 & she hadn’t had lunch. When we got to the restaurant she decided to have lunch. I was on a fast day. I didn’t want to throw that down the tube but I wanted to feel like i was out, socialising, and having fun. So I ordered a glass of wine. On other nights when social plans have spontaneously occurred I’ve allowed myself 2-3 glasses of wine (about 300 cals) and eaten about 400 cals of dinner. Sure I’m 200 over my fast day limit but I’m ENJOYING my life and this WOE 🙂
IHAW – Wow you have done so well. I’m sure you’ve posted about this before but I’d love to hear your suggestions regarding how you’ve stayed so strong and focussed.
NickyF – another B2B faster! Well done. And the results speak for themselves. So happy for you 🙂
Sarah67 – doesn’t it feel fabulous when you put on clothes and they feel looser! LOVE that feeling. And the fact that your husband is now on board means he must see the difference too.
Vanbrooky – Hasn’t the universe conspired beautifully to set you up for success. How wonderful x. Re you caloric intake on non-fast days – Have you calculated your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)? There’s a tool on this site you can use to calculate it. That will give you really useful info on how many more calories you can eat on non-fast days. I hope that helps 🙂
Have a great evening x
Despite what i just said, i went out and did some skipping HIIT. My father has build a very nice little skipping platform and his rope is hung up on one of his weightlifting machines, so put on shoes, a bra and went jumping. It wasn’t too bad. Warm up was 50 skips , break, 50 skips, break, 50 skips break. Then i tried to do it fast and tripped up at about 35 but i did it three times.
I’ve buggered up my food today though by not eating big enough breakfast and not spending the time needed on meal prep. I mean it was still healthy its just low on vegies and that i find, makes it less satisfying.
Clearly making enough time for proper food prep is essential. When i’ve got leftovers in the fridge its easier. I’m actually hungry now and think if i make myself a salad, i will feel better even though i’ve already eaten all my calories.
Hello Everyone,
I wasn’t going to post until I got home, but after seeing those about Japan and Greece, I have to let you know how things are working for me.
I started 5:2 on the Queen’s Birthday Monday and had lost almost 3kg by the end of July (just 700g above my goal) when we left for the northern hemisphere.
I made the decision not to fast, but to stay as close as possible to my TDEE without counting calories. The other thing was to walk everywhere – no Metro, trains, taxis etc.
I brought a pair of tight (but stretchy) jeans with me and I am wearing them now with the same ease as I was at home, so I think the maintenance is going well.
Some days I eat 3 meals, but most days a brunch and evening meal. I have a ‘treat’ (so hard to resist French patisseries) about twice a week. I do like a glass of wine (sometimes two) but not every day.
I think it can be done.
Pattience’s advice is really good. I think you do have to be aware of what your TDEE looks like and be conscious of the food you choose.
The proof will be on my return in 2 weeks, when I step on my scales. I will keep you posted.
Hi all, have had my second fast day for the week today, definitely my easiest day so far, didn’t give eating much thought, no headaches and even felt energetic enough to take the dog on a big walk. Will check back in when I do my first weigh-in in two weeks on Saturday. Good luck to everyone for the rest of the week
Pattience your advise sounds very good and all the options make sense. As we’ll be in Greece for 3-4 weeks I will definitely stay on top of WOE to some degree, the 16:8 sounds like a good option.
I think what you say to enjoy my holiday also makes sense. It will be 13 years between Greece trips by July next year and I don’t want to look back and think of it as the holiday I was dieting on. I usually naturally reduce my meal sizes when it’s very hot weather,so hopeful for a hot holiday 🙂
Will be doing Athens for 3 days, ancient ruin markets etc.On the island front we’ll be going to Rhodes and Paros, but mainly will be parking our bums in Creete,as the idea of dragging three kids on a long haul flight to Greece and then continuing to live out a suit case and spending too much time in airports or ferry boats is the opposite of relaxing. Gyros will be my undoing! Greek cuisine is quite healthy so I’ll have to stick to all the lovely vegetable base meals, and not be too tempted by the baklava…otherwise I’ll come home looking like one 🙁
I don’t drink much alcohol so one retsina would knock me off my feet LOL
I’m going to pick up “Don’t go hungry for life” next time I’m out, as I think intuitive eating is the end game of 5:2 WOE
Mamaleish -knowing what my TDEE looks like is good advice. I love walking everywhere, but I’ll have 3 narky kids to toe behind, but they’ve been warned that we’ll be walking to dinner every night! Will be taking my ipod and runners to run on the beach every morning,whilst OH & kids sleep in. A friend said to me if I can’t resist particular food, just get it,split it literally in half and eat only half.But mainly I think the late breaky and dinner only option make most sense.
I can not thank you all on SH thread enough. The advise and support is amazing. If it wasn’t for all of this, I’d feel completely daunted and just go back to a vicious cycle of bad WOE. ((hugs)) to all
Hi Vanbrooky
Welcome on board the 5:2 wagon. It’s great you’ve made the choice for a healthy WOL. Have you read Michael Mosleys book? It’s a good idea to find out the theory behind this WOL. There are also recipes in the book. Michael thinks that for the long haul, it’s good to eat around your TDEE on non fast days. And to use your calories to eat nutritiously. I could guess that your TDEE would be closer to 1600 calories than the current 1,000 you are eating.
For example, make sure to have some protein every day, some eggs, or lean chicken and green vegetables, or fish and vegetables for dinner. You should also have some fruit on your non fast days., eg, blueberries and strawberries.
Just so you know, I lost at the rate of 1 kg a week for the first 7 weeks, by eating fish, chicken and lots of green vegetables, plus an egg for breakfast each day. I omitted all processed carbs and sugar during this time, no bread, pasta, rice or potatoes for seven weeks. However, I had a glass of alcohol on 3 days of the week. I had (and still have) lots of energy every day.
Cheers, Bay 🙂
Hi my dear fasting family, hope everyone’s going well this morning.
I just wanted to see who meditates in this group? I strongly feel that it’s helped me a lot over the last ten years, to keep on an emotionally calm and even keel, rather than being swept up in the dramas around me.
Since starting 5:2, I’ve found that meditating is taking on a new and stronger use for me, where it’s of even greater benefit multiple times during the day. I use it when I wish to change my levels of boredom, stress or anxiety, which in the past would inevitably lead to me stickng my head in the fridge or pantry and getting stuck not a bout of unconscious/mindless eating.
I also find that I really ike to meditate in a small way before eating on fast days, setting a nice table, sitting peacefully, breathing calmly. Then looking at my meal and appreciating it’s colour, smell and flavours….taking each mouthful and chewing slowly, tasting it, savouring it. Then asking myself after each bite, am I full yet? Am I still hungry?
It’s a form of mindfulness I guess, and it helps me a great deal.
Does anyone else do something similar? I’m curious!
Cheers to all Thursday fasters, have a lovely day.
Thanks Mamaleish and Kathryn.
I must say in France, i would have to eat sweets every day at least once, if i was there again. I would do it guilt free, because where i live in Australia, nearly all the food that is accessible to me apart from what i make myself is so crap and or expensive and especially the cakes (which i have quit now anyway). While in France food is cheap and or delicious. I think i only had one very ordinary meal but it was substantial and cheap. I just love french food and the french way of eating.
After i read French Women Don’t get Fat earlier this year, i made a conscious change in my eating style, though i admit i’ve slipped again. I had a french boyfriend for a number of years and i learnt a lot from him too so when i read this book, i recognised immediately what to do. I reintroduced courses. I love courses. It makes you feel pampered and special. Although it might take a little bit of extra time.
I would still really only cook one course but i would serve everything as a course and each course was a modest amount of food. A three course meal might be a smaller bowl of lentil soup rather than a huge bowl as a meal, main of say fish and some vegies, all followed up by a piece of cheese. Or Salad, main with a veg, and a 30g piece of yummy cheese. I try to always have a big jug of basic red lentil or chickpea or vegetable soup in my fridge.
The thing about this style of eating is that:
a) You never need to go back for seconds.
b) after each course you an assess whether you need more food or not. And if you do, you have it but not the same thing. And if you feel satisfied, you don’t have any more courses.
c) this is an easy way to get a wide variety of food into your diet which an austrlian researcher showed was the best way to optimise nutrition in your diet. He said we need to be eating from 30 food groups/foods each week.
After yesterday, i realised quite clearly that if you don’t make the time to spend preparing a meal properly, then you (meaning me) are liable to make not such great food choices and get left with a perpetual appetite.
Eg yesterday for lunch i had home made hummus and heated pita bread which was yummy (despite my not having remembered i;m supposed cook the chickpeas before blending them). I really should have stuck to my original idea and piled it up the pita and hummus with salad on top with a spoon of yoghurt as i’ve done before. But i was impatient to get back to my other activity and rushed the whole thing. The addition of vegies to any meal makes it much more satisfying for me.
So now guess what i’m having for breakfast today?
Morning losers,
I read a few pages of posts yesterday, lots of newcomers, great. I won’t comment on everything or we’ll all be here all day but I did notice IHAW’s post about the 25 kg loss, How inspiring. No wonder about your username then. Mine, on the other hand was more wishful thinking as I’ve never been equated with the word ‘thin’ since I was about 7 years old. However, my great hopes for this new WOL are coming true and, who knows, maybe I will be slim one day.
After 6 weeks and 12 fast days, I have lost 3.9 kgs. I’m thrilled with this. I find planning ahead one month of fast day food works well for us. On the other days, I am not counting calories and I have what I want – but I find I usually want less than before I started this WOE. This allows me the freedom to have the occasional ‘forbidden’ fruits without guilt. And I don’t mean fruit of course. OH has progressed to 6:1 but I’m adapting my fast food meals for the family (by adding rice, extra portions, etc) rather than cooking two meals.
Have a wonderful day everyone!
There’s a great business opportunity in there CG! And the meals would be so reasonably priced because of the savings on ingredients……hmmmm, maybe not. Anyway, “Five and two bistro”, I can see it now.
I still think Dr M should change the name of this WOE. I’m not keen on anything with the word ‘diet’ in it – even though of course our diet is simply what we all eat. I always tell people I’m doing the “5 and 2 fasting”. As soon as you say ‘diet’, scepticism creeps in.
Morning all!!
What day do you all choose as a weigh day? Is the day before fast or after more accurate?
I’m being OTT at the moment and doing a weigh every morning, and yes I know that weight fluctuates. Last week was my 1st 5:2ing, and I started at 68.2 (need to get to 65 to be just inside normal BMI, but want to be more in the middle of ‘normal’at 57/58kg, which I haven’t been in over 2 decades…) after b2b fasting I was 66.5 Thursday,
66.2 Friday
66.9 Saturday
66.9 Sunday
66.8 Monday then after a blow out 🙁 of cookies and cream ice-cream @ 10pm…
67.2 Tuesday. Fasting b2b again Tues/Wed, so I’ve weighed myself this morning at 66.1.
Do I take this as a 400g loss from last Thurs even though I crept back up to 67.2? A loss is better than a gain, but two lessons learned,
1-just because you’re fasting tomorrow don’t use it as an excuse to eat junk today! 2- stop weighing every day LOL.
I did take measurements b4 5:2, so I think that’s the better option.
IHAW- I don’t meditate, I am completely hopeless at it, I either fall asleep or my mind keeps racing back to random things or my list of things to do. I’d love to be able to meditate…*sigh*
What you wrote “taking each mouthful and chewing slowly, tasting it, savouring it. Then asking myself after each bite, am I full yet? Am I still hungry?” -that was me at dinner last night after a b2b fast. I’d saved food from OH & kids dinner from night before,as I’d used a new chicken and vegetable thai recipie that I didn’t want to miss out on. But I realised that it actually looked like a big portion. I completely surprised myself when I asked myself those question, and stopped eating half way through! Not sure if it was sheer willpower or the fact that kids had eaten other food earlier,so I wasn’t just shoving food in my mouth unconsciously. I’ve actually come up with an idea of serving up 4 identical kid sized dinners (1 for me and rest for actual kids!),what I ate last night is the size I would serve kids, that way I get a controlled portion,and if I’m really-actually-truly hungry after dinner,I’ll eat an apple
Good luck to all fasting on a Thursday
Hi Kathryn, I’m an obsessive weigher. I have noted even more fluctuations than I normally had since starting this WOE. I weigh every day but I only record the weight the day after the second fast day i..e. the end of every fast week. I notice that I often gain weight the day after the first fast day of the week. From what I understand on these pages, fluctuations are normal and you’re looking for a trend. In the first 3 weeks, I lost nearly a kg per week. Since then, I’ve only lost 300gms per week but considering I have whatever I want on the NF days, I see it as sustainable and a slower weight loss is better for your body.
My doctor who has been very supportive of my over-eating issues, (he had lapband surgery so he knows first hand what it’s like) told me a couple of years ago to aim to lose one kg per year (rather than obsessing over weight and wanting to lose 10kgs instantly which would inevitably be put right back on when you stopped whatever you were doing to lose the weight). I thought it was great advice. When you think of it like that, what we’re all achieving here is so much more.
Good luck!
QUESTION ABOUT OUR FORUM
This SH forum is marvellous. Just a thought though – it can be unwieldy to keep up with. Is there any merit in dividing it into a few smaller forums, all still for us Southern Hemisphere people but perhaps keeping topics like, say, ‘recipes and food’ in a separate forum? I’ve only been a guest for 6 weeks so I don’t want to rock the boat. But is there any appetite out there for trying this? I find I’ve lost the personal connection I thought I’d made when I first started participating. Or do I just need to get on here every day to keep up? Your thoughts please.
Thanks everyone for all the encouragement. Bay that was great advice – thank you. I eat protein at each meal but I agree, 1000 cal a day on Feast days is not enough. I am an obsessive weigher 🙁
I was on the treadmill the other morning and not thinking about food but the thought popped into my mind (as strange things do when the mind is empty) that all my life I have felt guilty about every piece of food I have eaten and enjoyed. Does anyone else here?
Is that part of the complex problem we all have with being overweight? Guilt!
I think it may be with myself.
Have a great Famine Day happy 5 and 2’ers.
PVE What a fun observation!
“the restaurants/cafes wondering where everyone is on Mondays and Thursdays.”
and CG, tailoring the meals to a healthy size, is something i’ve been considering doing. I want to start a market food stall next year at our local after my trip. My food ideas will be healthy and i want to give useful nutritional info on the meals too so that some will be low carb, and some the usual. The need for a food license and licensed kitchen limit what i can do but i’m hopeful that another project i’m involved with at the moment will lead to this realisation. If I’m still a regular at the time, i will be sure to let you all know so that when you come here for a holiday, you will know where to go for healthy food.
Kathryn, “-just because you’re fasting tomorrow don’t use it as an excuse to eat junk today! 2- stop weighing every day LOL.”
Absolutely! Its vital not to compensate for your good efforts with excess indulgence. Keep trying to choose healthy foods for most of what you eat and if you can’t stick to a small portion of indulgence food, don’t start.
But i disagree with the second one. I weigh daily. If i left it to once a week, i think i would forget or start skipping it. Anyway do what works for you but the ups and downs on the scale do not bother me in the least because i always try to find the explanation.
You know the overnight jumps are not fat, its just water. Had you eaten the ice-cream earlier in the day, the jump would not be so high either.
But yes if you are weighing everyday you could take your weekly loss as your weight loss or you could take the average. But what i do is neither.
I just register the lower number as as it shows up and call that my weight – so long as its generally going down. Or i’d say this morning i weighed….knowing that tomorrow it would be different.
I tend not to say oh i lost 1 kg this week. I am really only interested in my weight and how i look and feel. But that’s just me. And certainly i understand that fat % is ultimately even more important than total weight. But i don’t have a good scale for that.
Have you thought of the possibility of starting a thread called “Southern Hemisphere – personal lives/making friends” or “Southern Hemisphere – Food, Diet and anything else.” in the same forum. If it were to take off i’d probably go with the latter but i wouldn’t like to be on a thread that only dealt with food and diet either.
Vanbrooky there are intuitive eating books that deal with the problem of excess guilt. I just can’t think of the title of the popular one. Check out the 3 fat chicks forum intuitive eating thread to find out its title. I do know that they seem to advise stopping calorie restricted dieting and calorie counting. Maybe you could find a way to combine 5:2 and that intuitive eating approach. But maybe you also should get some therapy for the guilt. Find a psychologist who does CBT or mindfulness based therapy. Its probable you wouldn’t be cured in a week if you’ve been doing it all your life but if you put your mind to it, i am sure you could learn to let the guilt go.
Speaking of meditation Martine Batchelor (an excellent meditation teacher) has written a book called Let Go which deals with breaking habits. Most habits are essentially habits of mind. Vanbrooky i would seek it out and start working with the buddhist meditation approach to change this type of guilty mindset.
So yes IHAW, i don’t meditate now but i have done a lot of it. I found it was the discipline of regular practice that got me in the end. But i learned a great deal of practical stuff from my buddhist experience and now feel quite different about many things. And i don’t keep a buddhist focus as much as i’d like but i find i need a decent community to help me achieve that and no such thing exists where i live. The only one nearby has too many cultural trappings and ideas that get on my nerves from Tibet. I know i’m supposed let all that go too but i just want to hang around with more secular minded people for the most part who hold the key buddhist principles uppermost in mind and not all the claptrap about rebirth and karma.
Earlier this year i went to my psychologist one day and to my great surprise she whipped out a short article i had written about meditation for the local paper when i was trying to start a meditation centre and told me she gives it to a lot of her patients and said it was the best thing she had ever read of this kind. She herself teaches mindfulness meditation. Basically the article says what mindfulness meditation is and is about so that novices understand its not about wearing saffron robes, shaving your head and what you believe happens after you die. Its not about worshipping anyone. Its not about religion. Its just a practice that builds self-awareness in a way that thinking and self-analysis does not. Its a process first and foremost of observation. Later comes the thought.
Patti, you wouldn’t be restricted to only being on a ‘food’ forum – you could contribute to as many as you liked. You’re the only one to have responded at all though so I guess it’s dead in the water – and sort of proves my point that, by the time you log back on, the thread is long gone. Have a great day all. Over and out until next week.
Hi Van
My OH and I eat about 350 calories on fast days…been on it 18 months now with remarkable health improvements. He eats one meal only. I vary between one or 16:8 principle. It is interesting the variety of ways we all approach this, and it changes over time, too. That is the huge benefit of this woe, isn’t it? We can all do our own thing within the parameters.
OH had massive success with reversing diabetes on 3 small meals initially (350-400 cals total), but eventually found it easier to only eat one. He is drug free now.
Negative attitudes from GPs doesn’t help when people are trying to take control of their own heath.
All the best, P
PVE, every time I bravely walk past the snack isle at the supermarket during my weekly shop, I go home and put $3 (cost of the chips I would have bought) in a money box, hope by the time I reach my goal weight I have some $$ for new clothes. Hope to boost Vic’s economy at some point in the new year
Thinatlast & Pattience-thanks for the advise, think I’ll stick to weighing every day as when I don’t, I find I drift to bad habits. Might consider getting a better set of scales,with a body fat calculator, or will that add to the weighing obsession…? Def a bad idea to eat ice-cream at 10pm, I should have just gone to bed
Thinatlast,planning is def the key. I kind of took the bullet and started 5:2 without planning to 2 Mondays ago. I do fortnightly menus & shopping for family meals. Last time round I made a 3 week menu plan because I wanted to include the school holidays and not have to shop with 3 kids in toe. So, whats happened now to accommodate the impromptu start to WOE, on Tuesday I kept a portion of pad thai chicken for me to eat on a non fast day,as I hadn’t used that recipe before and wanted to try it Wednesday after my fast (also because as a ritual, on Wednesdays during school holidays.kids are allowed take away, and I didn’t want to eat that) but it’s not exactly pleasant having to cook for everyone else.After kids are back to school, I’ll get organised with some pre-cooked meals for family on my fast days. It hasn’t been too bad, but could make it easier for me.
I quite like the forum and it’s abundance of chatter, all mixed experiences and food ideas etc. Anytime I’m struggling with something I can pop on and have a read, and the fact that it takes a little while to read stuff is the distraction I need when the pantry is chanting my name, lately it’s saying “were have you been? come back?” I think I’ve been on a fair bit also cause it’s school holidays
Vanbrooky, I only have a greek/black coffee during fast days, which I’ve done b2b so far, and 2 liters of water, also I mix up a jug labeled “mummy’s drink-don’t touch!” it’s juice and peel of 2 lemons,sprig of mint, ground cinnamon and cayenne pepper -to taste and a table spoon of honey,mixed with water to make 1.5 liters .I sip on this throughout the day, it’s quite zingy and refreshing with a hint of spice that makes you want to sip some more. I find doing this easier than controlling 500 cals,as once the flood gates open, my mind set goes out the window. Also because I start getting confused at tallying up labels as some are in kj others in cal.(will install an app for this today to help me with non fast days) I find that it acts as a good way to detox & cleanse bowels.
2.1kg down in 2 weeks, 9 more to go. I thought it was unrealistic to hope for ideal weight/goal to be reached,but it seems very doable!
It took me 12 months to loose 12 kg on my own,many ups many downs… so thanks to 5:2 and SH support,think I’ll do so much better from now on ((hugs))
Van, tell him to ignore the doctor. Doctors are not experts on diet. I had it from a diet expert. A scientist. Even Dr MM says non of what he learnt in med school taught him about weight management or something along those lines. This 5:2 diet springs from his profession as a journalist. He’s not actually a doctor anymore although once a doctor always a doctor i guess. I eat 500 calories more or less.
CG i can’t even remember what i said, now i have go and hunt for it…oh yes. Claptrap! but of course plenty of others still find these ideas helpful. Not me. Even a number of buddhist monks and nuns are on the same wavelength as me so I’m far from alone. I can’t remember his name but there’s one interesting american thai monk from the forest tradition who wrote a lovely book about his travels through a number of asian buddhist countries – which i could remember the title. He’s very critical of buddhism in thailand as practiced by many monks and lay people as well the place of those religious concepts i just mentioned. And of course many ex monks as well. They are ex but still practicing buddhists but some practice and don’t even like to call themselves buddhists anymore. They are ex because they grew disillusioned with the institutions they’d been trained in – primarily from the tibetan tradition. There’s also the whole secular buddhist world which has a prominent presence on the internet now and doing a great job at making buddhism more accessible to people who are frightened off what they might otherwise find beneficial because of its religious and cultural trappings.
And that’s about all i should probably say on religion here.
Thin, its not that, its that i want to be a on busy thread with an ongoing conversation exactly as is going on in here now. I don’t want to stop talking about food and diet here because for me such a thread becomes less interesting. I don’t think you can stop this thread being inclusive of food and diet topics since as we saw with the recent influx, newbies will continue to come in and ask for help just as all of us have.
Maybe you could start one and invite all your old friends over to it to continue talking in the way that you used to. And i’m not suggesting you or anyone go away or anything like that but starting a non-food thread might be an EASIER way to get what you want.
Oh Kathryn,
“The pantry chanting my name”…I LOVE it! perfectly describes why I don’t go near the kitchen when I’m weakening.
LOACA thread started a recipe thread, THINAS. It was aimed at having only recipes, not chatter. It is a good resource and keeps the recipes in one tidy place. There are quite a few other Aussie threads, but this one is the most enduring due to the variety of people contributing to it. We all pop in and out and greet each other, provide support and hints. Think of it as a coffee shop for fasters….pop in to see who’s here, have a chat and move back out into the world.
BTW, since I started 5:2 18 months ago, I have weighed daily and recorded the lowest. As I have been maintaining my goal for 6 months, I still weigh daily to keep an eye on what I’m doing, but I rarely record as my weigh is a stable 57-59kg. Perfect. French women I know, who are thin, weigh daily and simply stop eating if they have gone above their limit. Allow yourself wriggle room for the natural fluctuations of human bodies. 😉
I too have considered that someone will start a 5:2 cafe, but am finding, increasingly, that many places offer low carb, tasty choices, so problem solved. Go for entres or tasting plates. Even in an oyster bar in the city you can get just oysters and lettuce. Way to go!
Happy fasting, P
THIN AT LAST – I missed your post with the suggestion for a few different SH threads as this thread gets so wieldy and cumbersome to read and keep up with. I like the idea of that.
I would like there to be some more guidelines around posting. I loved reading the start of this thread. I found it really supportive, motivating, positive and insightful.
Nowadays I find there is a theme of unasked for critical feedback and negativity, unasked for advice and opinions, and pompous pontifications. I really appreciated when BigKahunaDad addressed this. I’m sad I haven’t seen him around here lately.
If you start a thread for SH to support each other on the fast diet/fast exercise journey I’ll join you there. Maybe in the opening post there can be some guidelines around not tolerating unasked for critical feedback and opinions, or blanket criticisms of other people’s religions/culture/political beliefs etc.
X
CG
Thinatlast,
I only just read your idea about having multiple threads for the Sh-ers. (Ha ha, that looks naughty). I had been thinking an SH recipe thread may be good. I know there’s the LOACA recipe thread, but a lot of that is in imperial measurements, so maybe a metric of our own would be good. It wouldn’t be a chatty-get-to-know-you thread, just have recipes suited to our Antipodean climate. Maybe people could contribute samples of their own fast day meal plans as well? Might make it all easier, especially for new-comers. Just a thought.
Hi Everyone, ChicitaGatita thanks for the positive feedback to my last post. It certainly seemed to spark a few people into action! I have only been on here into my second week and have not gone anywhere yet but it seems many of us feel the same way about a very small number of people that use this forum as their own personal soap box and “pontificate” (as you beautifully put it)their sermons about what we should all be doing. If I want this…I will buy a book or pay a real professional to ‘preach at me’.
I like many want to hear the success stories, smile at the hard earned losses, laugh at the quirky insights, cry with the frustrated and marvel at the ways people cope on fast days and basically help share the “collective load” (no pun intended!). These are the posts that have inspired me thus far….kindred spirits all willing to admit human weaknesses, hope for brighter futures and essentially motivated to be better versions of themselves. Not the odd person wanting to deliberate over every persons action or motivation.
In this spirit, I have already admitted my love of beer and I will concede tonight that I have an habitual weakness for Kit Kat, oh and brunettes when the first two coincide with a fast day…like today…TODAY. Nearly at end of third fast day and all okay. All body functions appear normal, no strange odours, colours or murderous tendencies. Yep, it is great to get ‘ahead of yourself’ and dream of weight loss and health benefits into the future with others here.
Keep up the great work everyone and thanks again for the wonderful insights people are sharing.
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Michael Mosley gives an update for 2019, current research in the field and announces a tour starting in February.
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23 Sep 14