Hi Everybody!

Survived yesterday’s fast, although it was funny how many times I had to stop myself from eating, and there seemed to be food all around me during the day. However, I survived and managed to stay in control. Then hubby rang to say he was getting home late and that I should eat if I wanted to and not wait for him. It was really sweet of him to ring and say that, especially as we are alternating our fast days at the moment and he remembered that I was on a fast day. I found that waiting the extra two hours until he got home wasn’t that unbearable.

I normally take my weight on a saturday morning as my recorded weight for the week but can’t do that this week as will be in Sydney tomorrow morning. I never trust the weight the morning after a fast day to be a true weight, but the scales showed that I was down by 1.4 kilos this week – so even though I expect to regain some weight today, if I was able to weigh tomorrow it should be a good reading of at least a half kilo drop. Hubby’s weight this morning was probably a fairly true reading as it is the second day since his last fast and he has averaged a kilo a week so is quite pleased with himself (and I’m pleased with his progress too). He complains that not eating during the day is hard, but I think he is making mountains out of molehills – although I wont say that to him.

Jools, I don’t think that we need to be too hard on ourselves when we indulge a little bit on our eating days. I had two very bad eating days and still managed to lose weight this week. So enjoy the work function and don’t be too hard on yourself.

Alimax, it must be exciting getting so close to your holiday and the big 0 birthday. You make sure you kick up your heels and let your hair down, fasting can happily wait upon your return.

Well done, what a great start to a new way of life!
All the best and keep us updated.
( what is with all the shorties!? You might want to drink filtered water…lol!)

Good luck with the weight loss for this week.

Hi from Adelaide. New to this new way of eating. Only one week, fast days Monday and Thursday last week. Weighed thjs morning, no change in weight, but nil desperandum! Found last week hard surprisingly, as I am not a big eater .. my fast day meals would be about normal eating for me (although I did miss not having bread, (tho I usually only have one slice of homemade sourdough each day). My problem is my sweet tooth, altho I did strictly refrain on my fast days and kept well within the healthy 500g, and I tend to be a bit of a grazer. On feast days I tended to have a little bit of chocolate (did feel guilty), and a bit of this and that. I would like to lose about 5-6kg. I am unsure whether it is better to split the 500g between 2 meals or to have something at lunchtime (still keeping to the daily calorie limit).

What do other people do and would it make a difference to weight loss .. 2 or 3 small meals? Would appreciate some help. I am determined to stick with this way of eating long term and never have to watch my weight again! Onward and upward!

Hi Sassy and thanks for the encouragement. Fast day tomorrow. Have just discovered carton egg whites in my supermarket yesterday and am thinking of an eggwhite omelette with tomatoes and mushrooms for a late brunch. Will try it and see if it lasts me to dinner, which will be steamed chicken breast (100g) with plenty of steamed spinach, pumpkin and broccoli. That will be it for the day! Probably less than 500 cals. Been cooking appallingly calorific things today (caramel cheesecake slice) for a function on Tuesday. Didn’t think I should attempt this tomorrow! Will wait till after my second fast day this coming week before I weigh again. Fingers crossed.

Good Morning Everyone!

Dumpling hope you are enjoying Paris. 🙂

And all the short hobits need to have some Entwater.

Shoshanna – don’t be overly strict with yourself on non fast days. I’ve had a couple of non fast days where I packet chips and still lost weight (enjoyed the chips as well).

Having said that however this last weekend was absolutely FANTASTIC socially and DISASTEROUS weight wise.

Went to Sydney for a family wedding and ate and drank and kicked up my heels had a fantastic time and came home 2 kilos heavier. The wedding cake rocked – it was – wait for it – not a fruit cake – not a chocolate cake – not a sponge cake – it was cheese. Literally cheese. Blue cheese, camembert, I think a gouda(?) all stacked on top of themselves and decorated with flowers. The bridal couple started married life by cutting the cheese together. (hee hee).

Hotel breakfast was too lovely to not indulge in either. Ah well – it wasn’t normal everyday living and hopefully those 2 kilos should come off as quickly as they went on.

Fast day for hubby today, and fast day for me tomorrow (I’ve got a christmas function tonight so will be a late start on fasting for me). But this WOE does not rule my life, but is designed to work hand in hand with it.

Hi, just having a quick look at forum while at airport waiting for my flight…

Aussienow, will give you thoughts on your query after my weigh-in tomorrow…ie what the scales say will probably influence what I have to say!!! Having been away all week, I have eaten out quite a bit, and had a few Christmas goodies at mum’s, tho have also tried to be mindful of roughly how much I am consuming. I had one fast day, but fasted the day before I left Melbourne and am fasting today. I had been doing 16:8, but decided I was sick of feeling hungry all morning, so had good quality plain full fat (the only type my mother will have) yoghurt and fresh berries for breakfast and that helped enormously in getting thru to lunchtime and not feeling too hungry. Also helped with my concern that I have not been getting enough calcium now I don’t have cereal for brekkie, and also helped reduce just a little bit the amount of nagging my mother has been doing about not losing too much weight cos I will get really scrawny and have a “pin head” (she already thinks my arms are scrawny – she is used to them being plump – and she disagrees with fasting as well).

Hmm, that was all about me wasn’t it…!!! Will get back to you Aussienow. Perhaps remind me of how much you have lost on 5:2 in how much time, and how much more you want to lose. 🙂 And what BMI you are aiming for.

As promised, will post other comments once I am home and have time to properly read all the posts 🙂
Cheers
Sassy 😀

Wanderer23 – I too know what you mean about it being addictive. Hubby and I have now been on this WOL for 4 weeks now and we happily and eagerly make sure we allocate our fast days in each week. Hubby works away a lot so we fast on whatever days suit us those weeks and when he is home we work out our plan of attack each Sunday for the following week. So far so good!

My last weigh in showed a loss of 600g for the week which I was stoked with! I did have 3 fast days however that week and I don’t really have that much to lose. But what a sense of achievement, knowing that I am making good decisions for my mind and body – it is not just about losing weight for us. Hubby cholesterol was abit high so we are looking forward to his next round of bloods to see how this has changed those levels.

Well fast day for me – couldn’t fast yesterday so will fast back to back today and tomorrow – as I have work xmas functions Thursday and Friday!

HEADS HIGH EVERYONE! Happy fast days to those fasting and happy non fast day to those not fasting 🙂

Hi all fasters
Yay! Scales went slightly south this am (almost 1kg) after 3 fast days, 2 last week and 1 so far this week. Didn’t lose anything first week and was beginning to believe the posts on UK site re ‘women of a certain age’ having great difficulty losing weight. At 73 heading for 74, this post was rather depressing. I am 173cm tall and weight had gone up to 79kg .. used to be 60kg! Must get some digital scales so I can see exactly how much I am losing .. current scales + being tall + eyesight not as keen now = frustration! Found yesterday’s fast very difficult .. having to weigh things all day and NO sugar! Had small slice of homemade sourdough toast with margarine and grapefruit marmalade this am .. heaven! Have function tonite, but will try to limit damage. Currently fasting Mon and Thurs. Only want to lose perhaps another 5kg .. can’t have sunken cheeks and scrawny neck at my age. One thing extra weight does is to push out wrinkly skin!!

Hi everyone 🙂 I’m in Brisbane Australia, I’m 31 and I have two kids aged 4,9. I have been on an ongoing mission to get to my goal weight for a looooong time, I lost 7kg clean eating last year but for some reason the weight came back (maybe from getting older?!) so over the past 8 months I have tried a few things from points counting, calorie counting, vegetarian dieting, raw food dieting – nothing has really suited my lifestyle so here I am! Very excited to have started my first fast day today – I ate 500 calories and surprisingly havent been too hungry, just moody. My fast days are going to be tuesdaya and thursdays.. lookingn forward to getting to know some lovely people on here 🙂

Nice to meet you Cherry! I’m Kind of excited about my fast day tomorrow for some reason.. I guess im just looking forward to feeling better & good results. I’m going to try not to eat breakfast & try to save my cals for after lunch, will see how I go though as I’m working 12hr 7am-7pm tomorrow soooo may not last til lunch.. Will be thinking of other Thursday-fasters tomorrow ☺️

Hello folks! 35 year old residing in Melbourne here. This is my second week and it’s been… interesting.
Some observances:
– Fast days actually feel good. Not in a corny ‘high on life’ way; more like a ‘phew, thanks for not making me digest all that damn food’ way.
– Hunger is like a bratty child which must be tamed. It will make your stomach growl very loudly on the bus. There may even be cramping and one’s bowels may be held to ransom (sorry about the terrible mental image). Like a toddler throwing a tantrum in a supermarket, it will not be pleasant. But like the screaming lungs and pounding fists of said toddler, the moment will pass. Distract it will a well-timed (umami-rich and calorie-accounted) cup of miso soup and eventually forgiveness reigns.
– Did I mention bowels? Because if you have any food intolerances, even mild ones, your body will DEFINITELY let you know the day after a fast. Oh boy.
Hey body, I knew you and gluten weren’t the best of pals, but there was no need to do THAT.
– Water with lemon. Lots of water with lemon. Yes.
– Probiotics also yes. Inner Health Plus all the way.
– Friends and coworkers; I am not ‘out’ to all of them yet as a Fast Dieter. Especially being so close to Christmas, I’m sure everyone will have an opinion… which I’m not terribly interested in because those conversations reflect much more about their own psychologically fraught relationships to food/Christmas/body image/insert hangup here rather than actually being supportive to someone trying to make a healthy change.

Well, it’s been pretty great so far. Just feeling better all around, my body feels a bit springier and less tired than usual.
My goals are simple – don’t get diabetes (runs rife in the family) and maintain a sharp mind.
My boyfriend and most of my peer group are nearly a decade younger and it’s my duty to keep terrorizing them right into old age; will need a well-working brain for that.

Hi panda…you are so right in your summing up of those of the ‘OMG – your brain will liquify and pour out of your ears/ your bones will disintegrate yada yada’ brigade and your opinion is the same as mine…it’s their problem – not mine.

There is also diabetes in my family and a year ago my glucose tolerance was very poor. I’m happy to report that 1 year on and 43lbs (so far) down my blood sugars are well within ‘safe’ levels.

The sooner you start practising the terrorisation of the younger members in your circle the better you will get….trust me – I’m now an expert!!! 😀
It’s worth the practise just for the pleasure you can get from being perverse and annoying!! (I wish there was an emoticon for tongue in cheek but I’ll make do with a grin) 😀

Good luck with 5:2

Hi, the recipe book has a spiced pear porridge recipe, which uses

30gms jumbo porridge oats (UK kind, I guess)
250ml skimmed milk
1/2 pear
1/2 tsp cinnamon
grating of nutmeg
Nuts and nectar ??

Place all in a saucepan and simmer, stirring until the porridge is thickened to your liking.
Calorie count is 221 (with nuts and nectar 299)

If you aren’t using milk, why not double the oats?
NB on the page says “Oats are slow-burning and space filling, healthy and antioxidant too”

Just to confuse us even more..
100gms oatmeal is 363 calories and ready-to-eat porridge is 100gms 95 cals!
Don’t know where they get the 221 with milk and pear from!

Sorry I can’t be more helpful, but someone else may be 🙂
Aussie

Hi Shoshana there is a great app called calorie counter by Fat Secret which will do all the hard work for you. I highly recommend it to everyone as you can keep a daily track of food consumed and exercise plus it will tell you how many calories you’ve burned up. Input any amount of food and it will do the calculations.

I’m now in my second fast week with 3 fast days down and 3cm lost from around my middle. I’m not sure about weight as I don’t own scales but the numbers are heading in the right direction.

I’ve found the day after a fast day that I not only wake not hungry but with little appetite until about 9am and food consumption thereafter is decreased. It appears my body is self regulating the amount of food I really need and listening to it is what will break the over eating food cycle. Tomorrow I fast as I have a work Xmas dinner tonight.

Jools

I blew it today!

First time, and hopefully the last.
I just could not get my head round it and by 2pm, gave in and had 2 leftover boiled eggs and a light salad.

It’s been raining off and on all day and humid with it, so no way to keep busy outside, which is my normal ploy 🙂

Dinner was a lamb chop, with steamed vegs, so I really haven’t done too badly.
I think I’ll leave my next day till Monday and make a fresh start!

Jools, thanks for the app heads up, I need to be more diligent!

Turns out there is a word limit to these posts

@ ghostgirl… well not so much blew it, rather could not see out the 24 hr fast.
Normally I’m fine from dinner to dinner, but that day I just was not in the “zone” lol

My other days have been a bit lackadaisical too and although I really do try to watch what I eat, I don’t want to calorie count 7 days a week.

The scales are sort of needed, as when I return to my GP (whenever) I need to be able to tell him I’ve lost 10kgs!
My clothes and wrinkles prove the loss, either fat, muscles, or water, or all three!

I weigh on Saturdays and for the week, only showed 100gms gain, neither here nor there, but I NEED to lose this coming week.

Another fast day is probably feasible for me, maybe Mon – Wed – Fri, but given I don’t have a lot to lose now, I don’t think I’d benefit much from it.
I just have to be more aware of my intake on off days!

Roll on Monday and another successful week to us all!

Hey Aussienow I agree you don’t want to be counting calories all week.
A 100 gram gain is nothing – a trip to the logo would set it right. 🙂
Wishing you a loss this week – just to help give you a number go back up the loose clothes & wrinkles.
Was thinking I wouldn’t eat until dinner but the stomach is already rumbling.

I am contemplating doing 4:3 this week,Mon.,Wed.Thurs..to prepare for next week,any thoughts?

Hi Everyone, I live in country Victoria and have just returned from a weekend visiting family in Melbourne. My sister-in-law and all her family have been doing this 5:2 diet for 6 weeks now with great results, medically and weight-wise, so I have only just heard about it. My husband and i are going to start it tomorrow with our first fast day. Any tips? This is also my first time on a forum of any sort. Not sure how regular I’ll be but I’m encouraged by all your positive and honest posts. So thank you to you all 🙂

Hi all, a Melbournite here! I have been on 5:2 for 3 months and I am very disappointed to have not lost any weight, whereas my husband has lost nearly 7 kilos!!!!! Grrrrr… I was just looking at some of the other forums speaking about this being a bit of an issue for us woman of 50+ (I am 53). Any advice? I was a little overwhelmed looking at the other forum, as there just seemed a lot of agreement but not many ideas – maybe I need to go back and read it.
Cheers.

Hello! This is my first time ever for posting on a forum, although I read them all the time. I usually just read LOACA, since I’m 58 years old, but today I just discovered the Southern Hemispherites and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of your comments from the very beginning. I live on the southern outskirts of Brisbane (in Logan)and I started the 5:2 WOE in Melbourne Cup week, at 93kg. I’m another Aussie hobbit at 163cm tall. I fast Mondays and Thursdays for 12 hours (water only) between breakfast and dinner, and weigh myself on Tuesdays. Up until last Tuesday, I have lost 4.2 kg (in 5 weeks). I lost 1.9 kg in the first week, 0.1 in the 2nd, nothing in the 3rd – so 2 days later on the Thursday, I weighed myself again, out of curiosity, and found I had lost 1.3kg! Last Tuesday, I lost 0.9kg. Like rmg, I suffered headaches and mild nausea after 4.00 pm on fast days in the first 3 weeks, but last week and today I feel fine. I walk for 40 minutes briskly for 5 days a week, but I am retired and lead a sedentary lifestyle other than that. I read about the 5:2 WOE when it first came out last year and after seeing the Horizon documentary “Eat, Fast Live”) on Foxtel in October, I was determined to give it a go. I bought both the books fairly cheaply from the UK on eBay (Michael Mosley’s “5:2 Fast Diet” and Mimi Spencer’s recipe book).

Hi Gomarg, I’m really encouraged to hear about your perseverance through fast day headaches and your weight loss success so far. Well done!! I’m 59 and like you have only ever read postings before. How did you manage your headaches on your fast days? I’m about to go to bed with a cold face washer on my forehead as painkillers have had no effect to date. I’m hoping sleep will do wonders and I’m looking forward to eating normally again for the next two days, but I’m almost dreading Thursday.
I haven’t bought the books and I’m wondering if you have found them helpful. I hope you continue the good progress & look forward to hearing more of your journey. 🙂