Audrey,
thanks for the warm welcome and the congrats. Shared joy is something I appreciate very much. I had been to another forum before yet did not feel good there because of the energy. People would – what I perceived as – mostly “lecture” patronizingly instead of sharing among equals.

Fran,
I am new here and sorry to read about your actual situation. I will light a candle for you today. There is something I would like to share with you privately and if you’re interested you can contact me (I left my mail in my profile information, if you do not feel comfortable with that, it is perfectly okay, too). There is no way to IM on here, is there? At least I could not find it.

Have a great day all!
FFF!
M

Morning applecrisp

I like to drink a big glass of warm lemon water every morning, I think it helps with water retention. I have a container that I squeeze my lemons into then mix some into a glass with water. Hope this helps x

Audrey

Himalyan salt is a great salt to use as it helps NOT to retain water. Get rid of any other salt and drink enough water, some 2 litres a day. Diuretics are contra-productive as you will also lose many minerals with a lot of water your cells need. I never eat from packages, except for salami or sausages and I’m always sorry afterwards because it makes me retain water and it takes me three days to eget rid of the excess. Same with Chinese take-away. Of course I am grateful to my body for doing this for it is protection of the cells. E621 (ve-tsin) is notorious for this effect on ones body. it may be this salt that is causing these problems.

Hi all, Thanks so much Mahalo for the link. My problem is that I haven’t quite figured out how to order the English book. I’ve tried clicking on what I believe to be the ” add to cart” but no luck checking out. If you could take a look at the payment process I’d so very much appreciate the help. I would love to be able to get hold of the English book. Losing weight is such an overwhelming adventure, I could use all the help I can get.
Applecrisp, you’re not the least bit presumptuous, just incredibly thoughtful. I thank you for your kind
words. This forum has shown me that the world is full of kind, friendly, sweet, and generous people. It has proven to me that regardless of anything else that may go on from day to day, in this world, the good still far outweighs the bad. ( in more ways than one, haha)
Love to you all
Fran xx

Mahalo

I too am fasting today, I have had a very tricky week this week and haven’t managed to do a 500 day yet. I start off with good intentions but then hunger strikes or life gets in the way and I somehow fall off the 5 2 wagon!

My BFF came yesterday and brought me home made cake…… she makes the best cakes light n fluffy to die for so I ate mine all up so yesterday’s good day turned bad hehe.

Today I am planning a liquid only day fingers crossed that its a successful one!

Good luck to you today,

applecrisp I hope you are doing ok, have you tried the lemon yet?

Fran,

All the best keep on going you are in my thoughts and prayers daily

Audrey

Hi All

Sorry I have been a bit bust lately and not had time for the forum.

Hi Milena

No I don’t think our bodies are getting used to it, I think it is more that we are a bit slack on non fast days. I have gone back to 4:3 now and I am more careful about treats I have on NFDs.

Hi Mahalo

Welcome to the thread. I have a similar app called my model. You put in your start weight and your end weight and then your current weight. It shows in model form how far you have come and how far you have to go. This can be very motivating. The app is free.

Hi Applecrisp

I am sorry to hear about your bad experiences on the forum before. It does happen from time to time but these people generally don’t last too long. There were two people who have left this year who were being overbearing and unkind. Sadly also one of the people that they were being unkind to has also left. As Fran says the people on hear and nice, encouraging and supportive. This is what you need to help you. I hope you find this a much better experience.

Hi Fran

Nice to see you back in circulation. I am so sorry that it is going to take such a time for your op. Maybe you can lose so much weight in this time you won’t need it.

I did the fast beach diet. This was for six weeks. I fasted 3 days a week, cut out all sweet treats apart from three is the weeks when I went out for a meal and had a small ice cream for dessert. I don’t drink alcohol so this wasn’t a problem, I also calorie counted for the six weeks. In this time I lost 16lb, the publicity is that you can lose up to 12lb. I know that this was strict but it worked for me. I also had my Sunday dinner every week and had something like fruit or yoghurt for dessert. Maybe if you feel you can do it, it may work for you. It has had really good results from other people as well.

Hi Audrey

Ah well, these things are sent to try us. You will get back to it. I missed the lemon discussion and I assuming you are talking about lemon in a glass of water. I did read and I have also heard that you should start the day with this. I find it too sour so personally I would add a tiny amount of stevia in there. Lemon is one of my favourite flavours.

Hi again Mahalo

Yes it helps that it is just a day.

Hi Nemum, haven’t seen you in a while, I know you will be busy now with the children on holiday, so I hope to see you here soon. Annabelle how are you doing?

Ginette

Hi Annabelle

Sorry to hear about your limited walking. Yes I agree the Fast beach would be too much for you at the moment. I think people need to have done 5:2 for 2/3 months before even thinking about it. I had just had a slow weight loss (my own fault) for a couple of weeks before I did this. I was surprised at the amount of weight I lost. It was something that only lasted for six weeks as that was good for me.

I have recently stepped up again to 4:3 as I was losing more slowly than I wanted to. I like to lose between 4 – 8lbs a month. I have just been losing the 4 but I would led ally like to lose 1 or 2lbs more than that. I have such a lot to lose I need to be strict.

My son is just trying Hiit now, he started this week. I hope it helps him as well.

I hope you recover soon and nice to see you back on the forum.

Ginette

Annabelle

Sorry to hear about your foot, hope you are now on the mend and feeling better welcome back.

Mahalo

4 day water fast! My goodness it seems a bit extreme I could not do it, I didn’t manage a 24 hr water fast yesterday. Good luck let me know how long you go for.

Audrey

Hello everyone.
Who is Brian? Came through on email with magic 3 week weight loss programme making fantastic claims. Sounds like a scam to me and how did he get on to our thread?
Foot progressing well and thank you for your good wishes. Can now get a shoe on and drove to the shops today. Freedom.
I must thank you all for being such a supportive and encouraging group especially GINETTE K, AUDREY and NEmum.
This thread is so friendly and there is always someone to answer a query or give helpful advice so thank you ladies.
I’m off FD until next week but hope you are all doing well.

Annabelle

A little status report on my waterfast 😉

Today I have 1,5 days done so far. (It is 1:30 p.m. now.) My plan is to keep going until Tuesday evening. Wednesday I will slowly break the fast with fruits and veggies.

I’ve felt pretty tired over the period, even had a nap yesterday afternoon yet am just hanging out at home in a relaxed mode. No sports for me during the WF. I woke up with no feeling of hunger this morning. I went to bed at 10 p.m. yesterday with no hunger-feelings either and woke up at 5 a.m. Went back to sleep again until 7.

Hard is…
…that I do miss my coffee a lot, though 😉 Coffee keeps me motivated during the 5:2-FDs. And, yessss, I look forward to having my first cup again on Wednesday. I am okay with “thinking of food” because I always think what I will eat on Thursday or Friday. That helps me a lot. (Like when doing 5:2 it’s always comforting that you are able to have some yummy food s o o n. And anything is yummier than water, isn’t it!)

I am open to ending this any time in case I start to feel bad healthwise. Right now I am doing okay. Am curious myself how the next two and a half days are going to be like. I am not working on Monday and Tuesday so I can stay in the slow mode.

Wishing all of you a wonderful Sunday.

M

I am 58 and the menopause and also underactive thyroid plus not being able to walk anymore than 50 metres means its pretty much up to how much I eat at the moment. I do my first weigh in tomorrow after my first week of 5.2 so we will see. I am not expecting great results if any on the scales but my tummy fat is shrinking and my clothes are getting looser . A good sign for me. I put on 20 kilos with a 3 month stint in hospital and years of cortisone about 5 years ago and nothing has helped to get the weight down except that I tried 5.2 last year just before a special event and I lost 7kgs so that was good at the time. I put it back on with our holiday home afterwards. So I am determined to give this another good go. I have been on 150mg of thyroxine for about 20 years for my thyroid so it is a battle. I also have read that cortisol effects weight and sleep. No sleep,no real weight loss. I believe that to,the way my body goes anyway. I will try the Q10 again but I found it gave me migraines the liver didn’t cope. I do find however that probiotics and Digestive enzyme go a long way in helping with weight loss and lots of Magnesium forte to keep everything going well. I will be looking at ways I can do more movement at least. I read that most who leave all their calories for dinner on fast day,do real well. May see how this woks for me tomorrow. I just stick to my 500 for fast and water and green tea and then my 1800 I can have for non fast day but keep it non processed and all fresh. I am determined to keep trying. All the very best ladies in your journeys and hope that we can all encourage and inspire each other. I believe good oils and fats are good on non fast days to. Sorry to ramble. I am a very newbie and needing ideas on best way to go. Thanks all.

Hi Gen

Our posts must have crossed. Well all I can say that it has certainly worked for me.

I am one of those people that normally eat in the evening. I occasionally have some fruit either melon or strawberries about 3.30 ish if I really want something. If not I wait until my dinner.

You lost a lot of weight when you did it before so you know that you can do it again.

Now the sleep issue is interesting. Have you tried Paul McKennas I can help you sleep cd. It really does help and like me I think that you probably feel that you take enough meds already.

What were you hoping to get from Q10? If it upsets your system is it worth it?

Whereabouts in the world are you I am in England.

Diet is the key thing for eight loss exercise does help but not as much as diet.

I would suggest the my fitness pal app. It gives you realistic calorie goals. Depending on your height it might be lower. I found that the suggested TDEE on this site was too high for me, it gave me over 2000 but I was really overweight. The my fitness pal asks how much you want to lose a week on setting it up. My target is always 1lb I think this is achievable. This works my calorie allowance out currently at 1520 I have over 5 stone to lose and I am 5ft 5ins tall. This is very achievable for me and I always use it to count fast day foods.

it is a really useful app as well.

Good luck and at least you have company on your journey now.

Ginette

Hi ladies, Well once again I find myself full of new happenings in my life. First and foremost, I received my appointment for bariatric assessment. It’s Sept 2. Under the present circumstances this is extremely fast.
I will be put through a battery of tests to determine if I’m a suitable candidate. This conclusion is arrived at by a number of phycological as well as physical examinations. This includes for some reason, an overnight
sleep apnea test. I must start blood glucose monitoring and keep a log of all my results. I must immediately start a rigorous weight loss plan involving protein shakes and clear chicken broth. If I do all this, who knows, I may make myself ineligible for the surgery anyway due to the drop in my BMI. If I go below 35, even with my preexisting health conditions I’ll simply not be ” fat ” enough. How about that!! Maybe I’ll just stick to the protein shakes and avoid the whole thing. Then after I’ve lost about 40 pounds, I’ll be able to have my vascular surgery. It’s certainly something to go for. After all, who wants to complicate their lives unnecessarily. What do you ladies think of this? Myself, I’m pretty stoked.
Have a great week everyone.
Fran xx

Fran,
I am wishing you the best from my heart for all that lies ahead.

And best to all of you in this thread.

M

Hi Abs

Nice to see you here, I take it that the fact you are calculating in Kilos means that you are not in the UK.

I have had problems sleeping as well and it got so bad that I bought Paul McKennas I can help you sleep book which came with a cd. I found this really helped. If you put Paul McKenna I can help you sleep free download I think it may be available free – I only found this out recently.

I really don’t like to eat breakfast so now I never eat this. I eat later in the day and may have a piece of fruit early but I tend to have my meal in the evening so this way I am not hungry. I find that when I used to eat breakfast this triggered my hunger and was counter productive.

Yes I agree it is really important to measure the inches. Have you tried Hiit exercise, this is interval training and has some good results especially with belly fat which I have and so I am looking to sign up to a local gym to reduce it.

I do weigh and log my weight once a week as I find this helps. If I have stayed the same for a couple of weeks which has just happened I change to 4:3. This kickstarts weight loss again. So it works as a motivator for me. But obviously we are all different I am too curious to leave it any longer. For weeks like this week where unusually I have had a Chinese takeaway and I shall have a meal out tomorrow I weigh myself in between because I may need to add another fast day.

Mahalo

Well done on you water fast. Do you know yet if you lost weight or feel that your clothes are looser?

Hi Nemum and Annabelle, how are you doing?

Ginette

Hi Janet, Hi all

How are you all doing?

Ginette

Hi Nemum

Well that is great news, that isn’t too much and it tends to come off more quickly after doing 5:2. I am glad the Nedad is doing it with you as that will make it easier and more fun. Be warned though that men tend to lose quicker than women, it doesn’t seem fair does it.

I am glad he got through his first fast ok.

Ok, I have just ordered some Heck Italia sausages and they are coming tomorrow. It looks as if I might have a cooked breakfast soon although for dinner. As they are only 117 for two and have good reviews I thought that they would fit in nicely with a couple of eggs, bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms. Ideal for a fast day, don’t you think? I shall report back when I have tried them. I also have ores the low calorie noodles from tesco so I shall be trying them soon.

Nice to see you back Nemum. I look forward to hearing how things are going for you and Nedad x

Ginette

Milena
Thank you for your encouragement, I am hoping to see that 3lb melt away this week so I cang et back to this seriously. am really pleased my hubby is joining me but slight miffed that he gets 600 calories in a fast day, I shouldn’t have told him that!

How have you been getting on?

Fran
Did I read right that you might not need bariatric surgery to be eligible for your vascular surgery? That would be fantastic if you could do it on your own, I already voiced my concerns about the permanence of bariatric surgery, so power to you to do it on your own.

So good to see so many new names in here too, welcome and good luck, I have found this forum so supportive, to encourage me in my weeks of not losing weight and celebrate with me in my losses.

Ginette
How are you doing?

NEmum

Hi Milena

Hi Nemum

I lost 5lbs last month so not bad. I would like this to be 6 although I always said a minimum of 4 was the least I wanted to lose. So far I have managed that, not bad going after 6 months.

I will let you know how they taste. I saw a documentary on the company about a year ago. They are more expensive than normal ones and obviously had more calories until now.

Worth trying anything within reason if it helps. I had an unusual fast day meal yesterday. A small 100g tin of salmon, when I weighed it, it was 94g a couple of chopped tomatoes and lettuce and an omelette with two eggs. It was really nice so I may get two or three more tins. I just fancied a change.

Are you and hubby both doing the same days?

Ginette

Hi Nemum and all

I just wanted to report on the Heck sausages in the UK.

Well I have tried the Heck Chicken Itala sausages tonight as part of a fast day meal. They don’t taste like chicken but they are really nice I also can’t taste the mozzarella. They were very meaty and filling although maybe I should have had 4. They are 36 calories each and well worth the price. Tomorrow I shall have the same meal again I enjoyed it so much. So I would give it a 5 star rating. There are 10 in a pack. They are about the size of a chipolata.

Have a nice weekend all.

Ginette

Hello everyone

Feeling very fed up at the moment. Since foot operation to remove screw have been unable to get back on the diet. I start the day well but just after lunchtime it all seems to go wrong. I think I have not got my brain around it yet but don’t know why. Also other side of foot is painful (arthritis) and difficult to walk. I keep telling myself that if I lose weight the foot will not be so painful but at the moment it’s not working. Arrrrg. Sorry to grumble but I know one of you lovely ladies will post something positive to lift my spirits. I think I must be a bit bored but have no reason to be. The sun is shining here and there is nothing wrong with me, except the foot, and that’s not the end of the world.
Feel a bit better now I have got that off my chest.
On a completely different subject has anyone got any advice re smartphones and/or tablets? I have a very basic smartphone but it has a very small memory and every time I try to download something it says there isn’t enough memory and it is not possible to uninstall the preloaded apps.

Hi Nemum

Yes give those sausages a go. Well worth a try for fast days and also to have something that looked like a breakfast was nice. I have got three for today as I will have a slice of bacon with them, again with mushrooms, tomatoes and eggs. All good.

Hi Annabelle

Yes these things can be slow to heal and very frustrating, also being inactive leads to picking, I did the very same with a knee injury.

I ended up getting out my Wii and playing table tennis so I get a bit of exercise. I was able to do this sitting in a chair.

Doing something positive helps, catch up with that shredding, or anything that you can do sitting down. Tidy some drawers all those things you normally would put off. Make a list of things you can do and then tick them off.

Maybe be inventive with low calorie recipes. I always make myself a sugar free jelly, not that I am diabetic but it does help with sweet cravings, I have this with half a yoghurt. Delicious!!

Write out a recipe book of low calorie recipes that you look up. It all helps us get into that mindset.

Try to do 6:1 which is a fast day one a week if you can’t do 5:2.

Post on the forum more often, we are here to support you.

We all go through these times and you will soon come out the other side. Chin up Xx

Ginette

Hi Annabelle

Link to best buy smart phones.

http://www.which.co.uk/technology/phones/reviews/mobile-phones/best-buy/table/

Ginette

Hi Annabelle

I love gadgets and I can even tell you that my phone has a better processing chip than the one before, this makes it more efficient in many ways.

I always look at specifications on things. My son was interested in a particular car so I looked this up and the different specifications to the one he has now.

I took my blood pressure just after as I had forgotten to check my readings earlier. It was the lowest it has been for ages!!

I hope the info helps and at least that will keep your mind of of snacking!!

I have stayed the same this week so hopefully I shall see a loss next week. Although it is annoying to stay the same two weeks in a row, at least I haven’t put on and I hope to lose it next week.

Ginette

Hi Nemum

At the risk of getting a wallop I am going to add a link for you.

I had really painful knees and now having lost some weight I feel they are much easier.

This will be nice to know when you go and see your doctor and they see that you have lost weight. Also at least you don’t have to worry about what they will say, hopefully it will be well done!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3095919/Another-reason-not-diet-Losing-pounds-dramatic-effect-joints-risk-diabetes.html

I hope this makes you feel good and you walk into your doctors with pride. Xx

Ginette