Go MK88! Great result. You’ll be at your goal weight in no time. I agree the calorie counting can be unreliable. And the stated calories in a recipe is sometimes quite inaccurate. All this walking to work might become a habit! Did your OH get the job?

CM: have you converted the NYers yet? We have a couple of morbidly overweight friends in Hawaii, we’ve been very concerned about their health, or lack of it, for a long time. Having seen me on skype the other day, they’ve decided they will get on 5:2. They said they wouldn’t have recognised me if passing me in the street. Thank goodness, it will save their lives. I feel as we’re at the cutting edge of some kind of food revolution – I can’t work out why everyone isn’t doing it but I have converted 11 people now! Sometimes I see very young women who are already so overweight and destined for diabetes, I just want to help them change, I feel like handing them a card with two numbers on it. 5 and 2.

Thin that is fantastic that your friends in Hawaii are undertaking 5:2, I have converted my Mum and her partner just this week which I am thrilled about. Neither of them are overweight but could stand to lose a few and if it means I have them around a bit longer, fantastic 🙂 I’ve converted my sister too who is a bit overweight and only 22 but she is a procrastinator and keeps saying she ‘wants to do it’ and I just want to scream, THEN DO IT! JUST START!

CM, don’t you just love going to bed at the end of a FD with that sense of accomplishment? Well done you for resisting temptation! And that’s why you are an amazing 66.6 this week!! What a great result, well done.

Just had some yummy sushi for lunch, I just feel so grateful for good food after a FD and want to treat my body well! This WOL is such a lovely way to care for your body.

MK88

Thin, sorry I missed your question! Thank you for asking, OH felt he nailed his second interview and is feeling confident he will be offered this job 🙂 He got an email this morning with links to psych tests and criminal history checks he has to pass but they are wanting to have the role secured before easter so there won;t be much mucking about! Very exciting opportunity for him 🙂

That is tough that your friend has procrastinated so much, I wish people knew how simple it really is and that it doesn’t require the effort that other diets and exercise regimes do. They can only find out by trying it! You’ve just got to get stuck in don’t you. No time like the present!

64.9 is fantastic! Your are officially ‘under 65kg’ 🙂 Well done!

Have a great weekend all 🙂

I love reading your posts and in time I will get to know you all. You sound like old friends and I really hang out for the latest news. I have to admit that I have been fighting this weight war for a very long long time. Up down up down, I have a weight diary that goes back to 1990 and I can track where there have been hiccups in my life by my weight gains. At my heaviest I was 109kg, that was the marriage breakdown. 19 years later 87kg, somewhere inbetween I did manage to get to 71kg. They say for my height, 167cm, I should be around 66kg, a daunting and I thought unachievable goal this late in life. 1st February this year I started the 5:2 journey and it sounds like some of you have done the same. Today I had my two month weigh in, I was a little disappointed as it turned out the person who measured me last month did it wrong but I still lost a few cms and another 1.5kg, so my loss so far is 3.5kg. My BMI and body fat are also going down. My new scales arrived today so I will be able to track myself daily. You are all amazing and I hope you realise how much hope and inspiration you give. Who needs weight counsellors when you have this remarkable site. I’m really looking forward to this journey as it does seem achievable if you just keep believing that it will happen. Have a great weekend. I’m having lunch with a friend who hasn’t seen me since i started this so it will be interesting to see if I get any comments.

Woohoo Thin!!!! In the 64’s in the blink of an eye. Forgot about the exercise being responsible 64 is 64, cos the scales said so!! I’ve got some catching up to do. Sooo happy for you. Gotta remember that photo idea with the scales.
Good luck to Mr MK88 & his job interviews ….hope it all goes well for you both.
Intesha you are doing so well. I’m with you, I truly didn’t think it would be possible to get my weight back down, being in my mid-50 & with everyone saying the only way is UP at this age. Rubbish. You can do anything you set your mind too, and although I sound like a broken record, this DOES work. Don’t get disheartened when you have moments of frustration with the scales. Things will get moving again if you follow the rules & be patient. We ARE all friends here & I really look forward to reading the days posts too. I’ve never been on a forum before, but without you all I wouldn’t be where I am today. It’s like having a bunch of buddy’s along for the ride. Thanks gang.
….and yes, we should get business cards with 5:2 Change Your Life! printed on them. We could save some lives & save the government a fortune in the process.
CM xx (from the banks of the Swan River…cheers!)

Hi everyone. I need your help. Seven weeks ago I started the 5:2 plan and in the first week I was thrilled to have lost 1.1kg! The second week I put on 0.4kgs. Since then I have put on and lost between 200 and 300gms each week! The upshot is in 7weeks I’ve only lost 1.1kgs. I’m getting quite disheartened as I’ve been exercising 5 days a week and trying to eat reasonably well on non fast days. Any ideas??? Are other people losing this slowly. I really need to lose at least 20kgs – preferably more and want this to work.

Hi LT and welcome! Here are some tips that might help: Firstly, have you read the official 5:2 book? If not, do yourself a favour and buy it. Calculate your TDEE and make sure you keep below that on non-fast days. On the FDs, make sure you’re rigidly sticking to less than 500 calories if you’re female, 600 if you’re male. This includes counting cals in milk with coffee, tea bags, drinks, etc. Any exercising you do on FDs doesn’t change the 500 calorie limit. You haven’t given any personal statistics other than wanting to lose 20kgs so I’m assuming the generally accepted 500/600 calorie limit applies to your situation.

If you’ve already done the above, other things you could do are making sure you’re drinking lots of water on FDs and examine exactly what you’re eating on both fast and feast days. For some of us, we have to combine 5:2 with reduced carbs for example. You could be over-exercising.

Take lots of measurements – waist, thighs, hips, arms, etc because it may be that you’re off to a slow start in kg loss but are still losing cms. This is advice I didn’t heed and wish I had because we all plateau at times on the scales.

Others, who’ve been doing this a lot longer than I, will have other advice and tips. Keep posting and tell us what you’re doing and how it’s going. It WILL work for you so don’t give up!

Hi Barata, thank you for your input. I go to Curves gym and they have monthly weigh and measures so I am able to track myself monthly as well as weighing daily and now being able to feel the difference in my clothes. Losing weight is a very personal journey and I think once we have committed and found that something actually works without resorting to food deprivation it gives us more motivation. How has your weight loss been? Charlie’s Mum I think we listen too much to the negatives and sometimes this is our excuse not to do something, also putting time limits, like saying if I haven’t lost X amount by a certain time it doesn’t work. previously when I saw older women looking trim and terrific I would say well they haven’t been through what I have and there is no way I could ever look like that. But now I am going to give it a damn good try. My first goal is to get under 80kg. Yesterday I weighed in at 84.2, starting weight was 87.

Hi everyone! Happy weekend! I have only been going 7weeks so still feel very much like a newbie although I did officially start originally in Oct 13 after the Horizon programme had aired in NZ, just seemed to make so much sense to me!! Lost weight last year but put it all back on again and it decided to bring along some of it’s mates to keep it company!! Now it has all been told in no uncertain terms that the party is over and it all has to go, friends an all! Seems to be understanding me so far!! Planned it out quite well by chance, having a FD today so can have a couple of guiness tomorrow night to celebrate the Black Caps win!! Plan to have crackers, dips, salami and cheese for dinner tomorrow night so don’t have to cook, will make a welcome change for me plus I won’t have to miss any of the game!!

I guess their will be lots more of us out there watching the game tommorrow????

Enjoy your weekend!!:-):-)

Great start Intesha. Of course you can do it. I’m 58, at my worst I was 86kgs, I can’t believe I let myself get to that point but that’s all behind me now. When you get into the 70s, we’ll all be here cheering for you.

CM, those NYers will be glad to get home for a nice rest. Have fun on Penguin Island with them, yes it’s a perfect day here in Perth.

Turnabout & CM, no idea what you’re talking about. Cricket? What part of the UK do you come from Turnabout?

Intesha, I started 5:2 in August last year. Lost 13kgs since then. Before that, it took me from Jan-Aug to shed 5kgs, so 18kgs so far but the 5:2 method was a lot less painful!

Yes, Shoreham-by-sea, Sussex – but I always say Brighton for those who don’t know the area. After uni, I left England to live in the USA where I met OH. We’ve been in Perth since the early 90s. Could have easily settled in NZ and sometimes wish we had, been many times and love it. Never thought I would want to return to the UK but lately I find I do envy my brother who can spend a weekend in Switzerland or zip over to Paris for a day. I wouldn’t mind having a few more options a bit closer – those 23 hour flights are getting more than tedious these days! Your friends won’t recognise you when you go back this time!

Congratulations Merry, thank you for sharing your story. What’s that saying ‘when the student is ready the teacher appears’ something like that. I am blessed to have good health but I am the same age and height as you. You are an inspiration. I do 4 x 30 min gym sessions a week and have to push myself at times to get in the car to go. After all that you have been through and have still managed to lose that amount of weight is a true testament to the 5:2. I think 58-60kgs is a bit low for our height but if I could get to 66 I would be a very very happy person.

Enjoy your holiday and look forward to following your progress. You are amazing.

Welcome to NZ Merryme and well done for losing so much weight with so much else happening too, sometimes the will to focus can be real tough, i guess it’s just so much easier to keep on with the habits of a lifetime eh!!! So congrats and keep sharing those meals!!:-):-)

Hi,
Reasonable weight gain on the 5:2 is 1 lb/week.
You may be eating more calorie dense foods than you realize, so write down everything that you eat and drink for a week and see what the numbers are and how they compare to your TDEE.
Just because you measure a particular part of your body, it doesn’t been that is the bit that is shrinking. Take a good long look at the naked body to assess for any changes and then try on all of your clothes. You may well now ‘see’ where you are shrinking from. This was how I realized that I was gaining a waist and that the fat on my back was disappearing.My dresses were hanging longer as the fat across my shoulders, back and above my chest had gone.See how your clothes hang as the weeks tick by and don’t let the tyranny of the scales hold you back or make you miserable.
Exercise is good for you, will build more muscle, which will burn more calories hours after you finish exercise, so keep that up.It will also tone, so that you will look slimmer too. Win win.

Life – Sorry, just re-read your last post & also want to say that I have not found 5:2 to have been a huge change to my lifestyle, nor have I found it difficult. On the contrary, I’ve found it really easy, apart from the first week or two of FDs. You are correct, there are no “bad” foods, however logic tells us if you eat too much chocolate, bread, icecream or whatever, it’s not good. Everything in moderation….including moderation! Thinatlast & I both have issues with carbs & that’s why we mentioned it. Others don’t. Hope this helps you.
……oh, & maybe I shouldn’t mention the cricket.
CM xx

Great point Annette.
Another way to clearly visualise this is to put 1kilo of grass-fed, lean beef, next to 1 kilo of butter, dripping or lard. The fat takes up a much greater volume than the meat.

The muscle in your body will take longer to grow, than your fat. But the muscle will use more calories to merely exist, especially if you continue to use them. So being as active as you can, is always a more positive thing than being inactive.

Also the 5:2 tends to assist in reducing the percentage of fat in your body overall, rather than your normal dieting regime, in which one loses BOTH muscle and fat. And if you ask me, I really don’t like the idea of losing muscle! I want to be an active, healthy older woman, who can run after grandkids and pick up and easily move things in the garden, as well as continue my massaging as a career.

It’s been great to continue reading everyone’s posts. And this is the place to pose questions, vent frustrations and generally ponder the meaning of how, why and when this way of life works. Well done all of you, especially Charlie ( your cows, work and studies! )

So far this is my 102nd week of 5:2 and I’ve been plateauing along for 8 weeks, but this isn’t all a bad thing as although my weigh is at a standstill, I’m feeling leaner and stronger. My waist is still shrinking!! As well as my boobs and thighs. My huge upper arms have gone back to a much more normal shape with my biceps and triceps gaining better tone and definition, So I can easily wear nice tops nowadays, without cutting off my circulation! Yay!

Waiting on my blood tests after seeing the doc on Thursday, she was happy at my progress and low blood pressure. She and her husband have both been 5:2ing, and gaining great results.

Have a lovely week everybody,
Cheers!

Thanks again for all your good advice everyone. I’m going to be more careful with what I eat on my NF days and TRY to ignore the scales! Annette and ihaveawaist, your comments really make sense to me and have encouraged me to keep up the exercise. Hopefully I can post again soon with good news. How good were our boys yesterday? – World Champions!

Hi all, hope you had a happy weekend. I am still sulking today over the cricket… Thank you to the Aussies here for not rubbing it in! Working today has been less than fun with every patient that knows I am a Kiwi asking with a smirk, “Did you watch the cricket last night?” to make matters worse my bosses have kindly put out a huge jar of easter eggs on my desk for patients and staff to help themselves to and I have to keep topping it up. My goal is to not have any at all, even on feed days! We’ll see how that goes…

Intesha, did your friend notice a difference in you at lunch? If she didn’t, she certainly will when she sees you next! Your perserverence and determination are fantastic, obviously this WOL is working well for you and you should be really proud to have lost almost 3kg! Well done!

Merry, what an inspirational story. Thank you for sharing and what an incredible weight loss so far! Lovely that your OH is doing it too so you can do things like share a main meal together when you’re out 🙂

Life traveller- stick with it, I really hope you see better results after assessing your calorie intake. I too am losing slowly but surely but isn’t it fantastic to feel healthier and know we are doing something good for our body.

Made another low- cal discovery today, fellow Aussie residents- have you discovered slendier slim? they make REALLY low cal pasta and rice! http://www.slendierslim.com.au

Hi all fellow losers. Start of week 7 for the OH and myself. Had an interesting girls week end away the weekend before last. Ate more than normal and paid for it both with a bellyache as well as the scales….but on reflection it wasn’t that over the top just a reflection of my bod’s NEW FULL. Promise to myself listen sooner to the full signals. Moving forward a couple of questions for you all. We fast on Monday and Wednesday’s one meal in the evening. Works for us both, however I have found myself tired, quite often in the past week even on feed days. Sleeping well, so not sure what’s going on. The OH works part time in an office 2 weeks on 2 off. He is heaps more active around the yard on his off weeks. However on his weeks off he is really lethargic come Thursday and it takes him till the weekend to get his mojo back. This is not the case when at work…..don’t want him to loose his enthusiasm for this WOL so any ideas to overcome these glitches??

Secret Poster, I can’t really help you out except to say I feel quite lethargic on FDs sometimes, always go to bed early and sleep really well that night. I think for me it has something to do with having no coffee on FDs. I suppose you could experiment with spreading the FDs out a bit more – but you’ve already said those days work for you so perhaps not an option.

Intesha, you can get the Slendier noodles at Coles and Woolworths but not everywhere. I can’t get them where I live but pick them up when I visit other towns. They’re usually near the gluten free type foods but just ask; they’ll point you to the right aisle if they’ve heard of them. I can’t comment on all the varieties – I’ve not tried the rice one – but I think the fettucine and angel hair ones are great. You can look on the web site that MK88 posted above to find some recipes. I’m sure no-one would be as stupid as I, but I did try freezing a meal once as OH had to change a FD at the last minute – they definitely do not freeze well!

PS I can’t believe how much time I spend reading these posts too – I have never even looked at a forum before this, let alone contributed to one!

Hey Intesha, hmmm is your Coles a small one? Alpine bread is made here in Victoria, which state are you in? Maybe it’s only available to Victoria? As for the Slim rice/noodles they should be at most supermarkets. As Thin said, have a look in your health and gluten free aisle. Thats where I find them. Check out the website so you know what packaging you’re looking for 🙂 I’m having the noodles tonight as well but jazzing them up a little with chicken and mushrooms and sauce as it’s my feed day!

Well done CM on maintaining your WOL so well while hosting visitors, I think travelling and having guests stay will be what throws a spanner in the works for us!

Day 2 sharing my desk with the eggs and despite today being my feed day, I have not had ONE! Thin, I like you’re idea of spoiling myself with some better chocolate after the eggs are gone 🙂 What an incentive!

Secret poster, what foods are you eating on your fast days? Maybe you need to opt for really low GI foods if you’re not already? Are you drinking enough water? I don’t know enough about this all just yet but do stick with it and mix it up on your fast days to see what works for you.

MK88

Hi MK88, no it is huge Coles, I went up and down the bread aisle several times, is it near the wraps? I live in Sydney, anybody else in Sydney seen it? Today is a FD, I am finding it easier and just keep telling myself I can have that treat tomorrow. I think that is what is so good about this WOE/WOL if you are desperate for that piece of cake or chocolate you can have it, within reason, if you are sticking to the rules.

My first goal is to get under 80kg, once I have achieved that there will be no stopping me. I have an outfit I bought for my daughters wedding 7years ago that I have not been able to wear since, it cost me a small fortune and I am so looking forward to fitting into that again.

What is my fitnesspal?

Hi NannaP, and welcome, I have only been on this for 8 weeks and already amazed at the results. Everybody here is so supportive and encouraging. I am sure you will find all you need from these amazing people. From what I can gather there are a few older people following this, me included. So enjoy the journey.

Hi NannaP and welcome. You will see from our earlier posts that we chat A LOT. It’s great to know that we’re not alone on this journey, particularly at the beginning. You will have questions that we will all do our best to answer – so go ahead and ask us. For me it was comforting to know how many others are on 5:2…and WOW the weight loss stories just within our group. My doctor happily recommends it to her patients as well. Until you (& your body) gets a handle on how it all works, just stick with the basics. If you falter, that’s ok, tomorrow is another day. If you have a social engagement, move your fast day (FD) – yes, it’s that easy. There really isn’t a reason to fail, because it is so adaptable. Please take the time to measure yourself today. You may have weeks when you don’t lose as much as you expect, but you will be losing centimetres. We’ve all been there. Apart from the weight loss, I feel the best I’ve felt in years – seriously I feel fantastic. Stick with it, Nanna, you won’t be sorry. Good luck.
CM xx