This topic contains 7,289 replies, has 660 voices, and was last updated by Opal Shine 2 months, 2 weeks ago.
Hi both, I am on Levothyroxine Sodium) 75mcg a day and I have been on 100mcg per day last year, I have it checked every six months with a lot of other blood tests, I take steroids for poloymyalgia, I hate taking all this meds but I know I cannot do without, so I will keep taking the tablets (as they say) thank goodness for the national health service and being over 65 and living in Wales, I think England still have to pay for their prescriptions.
Good health and good fasting to you both. JIP
Hello again Lovely Ladies and BooBoo
Thanks for your warm welcome back 🙂 I will make the effort to post more regularly! I will just have to accept that I can’t keep up with all the posts (I feel a bit guilty about posting if I haven’t been able to/ made the effort to read the history…) – it’s wonderful that PreciousBooBoo and others manage to consistently keep uptodate and give all that fantastic personal feedback. 🙂
BooBoo, I did briefly look through your recent posts to give me an idea of where you were at. 10 stone something – that is fantastic! Congratulations. That should help with the motivation to stick with this – tho you generally seem pretty motivated, all things considered. And 19lbs total loss, even tho not as much as you hoped, is still a great and significant loss. Doesn’t sound like your sleep is much better tho… 🙁 Don’t know how you did b2b fasts tho – I have only managed that when sick!! Doesn’t sound like you are keen to do that again tho…
I probably mentioned in an old post that I am finding maintenance more tricky than when I was trying to lose weight. That being said, I have realised that I have been within a couple of kgs of my goal weight (including less) for 6 months, so I must be managing maintenance at some level!
I have still needed to fast 2 days a week, however, sometimes with an extra fast as well, to do this. This is because I have trouble controlling the evening munchies. I can go all day with very little consumed, but once the evening is here… Someone mentioned “limbic hunger” as what is happening – I had a bit of a google search on that – it’s possible, I guess – the body trying to regain the fat it has lost. And also, of course, once I eat something sweet, I just want more. I know about all the strategies that can be used to distract one from putting unneeded food into one’s mouth – just don’t use them!!! But obviously overall I can’t be overeating too much, or else the weight would be going back on, even with 2 days fasting. In some ways my concern is more that I am eating a bit too much of the less healthy food.
But I have set myself the challenge of more mindful eating and being able to maintain using 6:1 for the next 7 weeks, before we head off on our first major caravanning holiday to the northern Queensland beaches for 7 weeks. Am really looking forward to that. 🙂 and if I have been able to get into the habit of mindful eating, that should really help on our travels too.
So I promise to report back on how I am going with this challenge! 🙂
One other thing to add re the overindulging. I have had some weeks where I have seriously overindulged and the scales show a gain of 2-3kgs. But if I then do a couple of strict fasts (not b2b tho) and be mindful of what I eat on other days, the extra kgs go quite quickly. I think a lot of the weight gain is probably thru fluid retention due to excess salt/sugar, which is why it goes quite quickly. Some of the extra must be fat, however, but that seems to go too.
My usual diet is reasonably low carb, I guess, tho I am not an advocate of cutting things out of your diet if you really like them – so I only significantly reduce my consumption of the carbs that I don’t care about, such as rice, pasta and the sort of everyday bread that the menfolk in my family consume!! I do eat less potato. I eat a LOT of salad – my plate almost overflows – with tinned tuna or salmon for lunch. I have a small piece of fruit cake, some almonds and a piece of fruit as well.
Dinner is lots of veggies with either fish, meat or chicken, sometimes with a sauce or gravy. Fruit and yoghurt for dessert, sometimes as a smoothie. I will also have some choccie almost every day, and/or some dried fruit and nuts. Maybe some porridge, made just with water (which I now prefer to using milk), which seems to help make me feel full and less hungry.
Generally no brekkie anymore, tho I do have some if I really fancy it (and I then generally do have carby cereal with low fat milk, cos I enjoy it).
On my fast days I have the same sort of dinner and dessert that I have on other days – I am happy to have 600 cals if that is how it works out – I don’t count cals exactly, never have. If I am having real hunger pangs during the day that refuse to shift, then a miso soup works wonders. I drink black tea and coffee. I used to drink a lot of herbal/fruit tea, but have gone off those now. Drink a bit of water, not a lot.
I am reasonably active. I walk the dogs for 50mins every day, do the MM HIIT on the exercise bike 3 days a week, and the Joanna Soh morning exercises every day bar Sunday. I have just started the C25k learn to run program. When the weather is fine, I spend several hours in the garden – so that is where a lot of my time has been going. But at last the ivy, holly and blackberries are getting under control!! (These are weeds here.)
I have started some (academic) research and am preparing a report for the organisation I used to work for on informal support for the elderly (an interest of mine due to having elderly parents who live interstate). I am also helping a friend with her Masters thesis, and being an editor for my elder son’s uni essays (am glad to say that these have improved considerably over his years at uni). Younger son is now at uni too, and although he is studying similar subjects to those I did, I am no help whatsoever as I have forgotten it all…
Supporting mum and dad does take quite a bit of my time too, have just returned from 9 days with them where I do “everything” to give mum a break. And the choir I belong to has had a very busy start to the year. So time goes!!
Yes, well, I have posted an essay again… Better go and get on with some other things. 🙂
Best wishes to all
Sassy 😀
Hi JIPWGP,
So far 60-pluses in England don’t pay prescription charges, but you never know if and when that will change. Once again, commiserations on having to take the beastly steroids and all the other meds. I still can’t help thinking that the docs still shove medications down our throats as a box-ticking exercise, their thinking being “over 60, must need pills”, rather than because we actually need them.
Sassy, well done on your brilliant results. To change the subject, what area are you researching? I’m on the last leg – it’s dissertation time, folks – of a Master’s in History of Art. I’m still also working full-time as a freelance transaltor. Let’s hope our aging brains reward us for all this intellectual effort by letting us hang on to our marbles for the longest possible time.
Hi Sassy, I have just read your thread and I am exhausted. LOL. Are you sure you have the same 24 hours in day out there. I am new’ish about 5 weeks or so and I have a lot of the same things to watch as you do. I have a sweet tooth about 28 of them LOL I only want to get into the 9’s and it’s only 4 lb away, I have lost 56 lb with Weight watchers and I have kept 50 or so off for 3 years in July. I also take steroids and I have under active thyroid so i have to watch what I eat but I know like you I can indulge and then get back to it again, I find this 5-2 easy and I think I can stick to it for life. JIP
Hi hermajtomomi and JIP
(Something funny happens when I go into the reply box – some recent posts are not visible as the page header overlaps them. It didn’t use to happen but does all the time now, which makes it hard to reply to recent posts. Wonder if it is an iPad issue. Will try to remember what I just read…)
I really am not that busy, as I don’t have paid work to worry about. I am doing the research to keep my marbles as long as possible, as you suggest, not so much because I want to – I love not working!! My initial research is collating into the one report all the key results from Australian published work from larger quant studies on care/support for the elderly. Then I will do some analysis of my choosing from available data sets. Herma, what aspect of art history are you researching?
JIP, you have had fantastic weight loss, especially given the challenges of steroids and thyroid, and even better that you have kept off almost all the weight for 3 years. I hope those last few pounds go quickly for you. 🙂 Agree totally that this WOL is pretty easy and should be sustainable for ever.
Cheers
Sassy 😀
Hi,
I am new here and this is my first day of trying the 5:2 diet. I am 54 1/2 years old and until I hit 50 I never had to think about my weight, I was the perfect size 10 (UK). I have not changed my eating habits but over the past years I have gained 2 stone. I have had my thyroid checked and it is fine. I have kept a calorie counting diary for three months of what my normal every day food intake is and it very rarely goes over 1500 calories, so as you can imagine I am pretty fed up! My ability to exercise is limited due to a back injury but that is not to blame for the weight gain as I injured myself at work when I was 40.
So, at the moment my plan is to have my 500 calories in one go later in the day as I find eating breakfast makes me hungry sooner. I have drunk 1 ltr of water but my tummy is rumbling so I hope I can hold out till tea time! From reading some of your posts I don’t think this is going to be easy but here goes…………..
Hi sassy, have a look at the page you are trying to answer by turning your ipad to the side and see if it gives you a view of all the post. If you have just posted a thread it will stay there for 5 minutes for it to be edited if required and I think this is why you can only see that post and half of it is covered. Does that make sense. JIP
Hi Gi Gi, I did my first fast day last Monday and today is my second. Same as you, I never had problems until a couple of years ago, about 47, when I started to gain weight and it became very hard to lose it.
I think the bigest problem is try not to think about food, try to stay busy and you can think tomorrow will be a normal day and you can go back to your usual food, this is good!Much better than other diets. Well,sry, not very good English here, but I wanted to answer you, we are both at the begining of the plan. Best wishes. Ana
Hi again, I only take 5mg of the steroids now I have been on them for about 4 years and started on 20 mg and reduced by a few gms over that time. I did try to cut them down even further but I had the polymyalgia back with a vengeance. So 5gms seem to keep it at bay. So I will keep taking the tablets as they say. I was told 20 years ago that I would have to keep taking thyroxine for life but its only .75 mcg so it’s only a small amount. Keep fasting. JIP
Hi GiGi, Hi Anna1965
Welcome! Where you are coming from sounds familiar – I was 8st 12lbs for years, until I turned 50 (I’m now 55). My weight stemmed from getting a frozen shoulder. Ouch! – so much so, that I used it as an excuse to loll around on the sofa every evening eating crisps and drinking wine. 24 lbs later (by last Christmas) I knew I needed to do something.
For me, the 5:2 has worked brilliantly. In the four months since New Year, I’ve dropped to 9st 9lbs (as of this morning!), and it’s been virtually painless, now that I’ve accustomed myself to the stop-start of the scales. I was utterly delighted to get to nine-something, but I stuck around 9st 11 lbs for six weeks and it all felt a bit pointless for a while.
Don’t give up – it will work if you take it slow and steady, and don’t fret too much about the odd week’s gain. Personally, I just record my new lowest weight, so I can see a downward progression without the flatlines.
FYI, don’t know if you’d find it helpful, but my way of managing my 440 cals (a rather arbitrary number I lighted on, having worked out I need 1660 cals on a normal day, and being unable in the heat of the moment to calculate 25% of that) is the following:
Breakfast/morning – two cups of coffee with milk
Lunch – something calorie counted from a healthy chain like Pod or Hummus Bros – around 315 calories
Dinner – low cal cup of soup from Waitrose.
That means that my day runs pretty much as normal until 7pm, and by then I can drink my soup, read or watch TV and have an early night thinking about breakfast. I couldn’t get through a day without a decent lunch. I can’t be bothered cooking on a fast day, but that makes me enjoy good food more on the other days.
Hi Sassy,
It’s comforting to know there’s also someone in the Antipodes for whom technology doesn’t always work. Coincidentally, my computer fell over this morning while I was trying to meet a deadline. My husband was out teaching (Qi Gong/Tai Chi) and as a total technoklutz I had to await his return. Deadline now safely met.
Re the MA. I suppose the easiest way to describe it is to tell you what assignments I’ve had to complete over the 2-year part-time course. Whatever the subject, I always seem to slip sideways into social/political history, which I’ve found is no bad thing.
First assignment was to choose a famous photographic image and produce a historiography of it. I chose “Migrant Mother” a wonderful and quite famous portrait by Dorothea Lange of a woman travelling westwards across the USA with her family during the Great Depression. Then I wrote about the German Expressionist artists of the early 20th century, much of this was about war art during World War I in which a number of them fought, two of them were killed and the ones who survived were severely damaged, both physically and psychologically.
Then came a research project, the aim of which was less about discovering anything new, but our research abilities. My subject was a tenement flat in Glasgow, lived in by one tenant for 54 years. After her death,it became a museum, an absolute treasure trove for social historians, as she never threw anything away. I had a wonderful time, the museum people – all but one of them Scottish – were incredibly helpful. The research uncovered some absolutely amazing human stories, although of course, this being academic writing I had to throw in some museological theory. However, my supervisor was so impressed she is urging me to rework the whole thing as a book for a more general readership.
Now comes the dissertation, working title “Proletarian Heroes and Angry Young Men” exploring the connections between French cinema of the 1930s with its working class heroes and the British New Wave, with movies like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Room at the Top, A Taste of Honey, etc. I suppose I’ve been a bit naughty sticking to a limited time frame from the 1890s to the 1960s, but at least I’ve worked on different disciplines.
All this stuff isn’t totally irrelevant to my work. As a translator, I specialise in Arts and Media, and a lot of the material I’ve worked on for the MA has been really helpful with the day job – which I’d now better get back to. As my mum used to say “This won’t buy the baby a new bonnet”.
Do tell me more about your own marble-preserving activities. Unlike me, you are doing something that might actually benefit someone – in this case older people. Mine could be dismissed as arty-farty self-indulgence. But it’s fun and it keeps the brain in gear!
Hi Gi Gi,
Isn’t it a pain when for years you have eaten healthily but still can’t lose weight? I have been the same for most of my life, until 5:2. It’s been very slow – including a 5-month-long plateau – but I’ve lost 12 kilos (26.4lb)in 15 months and that’s not counting 2 or 3 kilos lost without even trying after finally being taken off the steroids. Ideally, I’d like to lose another 12 kilos, but another 9-10 would be acceptable.
After trial and error I find it easier to eat minimally during a fast day and save most of the 500s cals for the evening, as you are doing. I even do that on non-fast days, although eating slightly more, e.g. oil and vinny dressing on the salad, thereby allowing for the odd treat without completely blowing it.
The secret is finding what works for you. There’s no “should” or “must” about it. You make rules you think you can keep to. Good luck and keep us posted.
Hi PreciousBooBoo
Yes it was meant to be rainy volcano but the system does not allow me to change the mistake. Ugh. Ironically I can’t say I have noticed any health changes. My blood pressure was erratic before I started and still is. I also have high cholesterol which I can only control by eating more sensibly, usually just after the yearly bloods are taken and results are reported back to me 🙂
Mainly the benefits are being slimmer and the sense of not wanting to slip back which keep me going.
I must admit I started on the diet more for the health benefits and the idea of living that bit longer.
Keep trying though. I will keep reading to see how you are progressing.
Wow! A star and top of the class. I think it’s a first for me I am sure I would remember that. I must admit I am pleased with myself for keeping the weight off because I have struggled with my weight all my life.
In my 20’s I was in the 10 stone and wanted to get into the 9 stone but never did. In my thirty’s I was 10 and half and then 11 stone for about 10 years. I got to 9 stone 7 lbs in 1995 with WW again but I did not stay there very long that is when I was diagnosed with under-active thyroid. Between 1996 and 2010 I went Slimming world and WW’s a few times and tried lots of various diet on my own. But in February 2010 after returning from a cruise and seeing the photos (as we do.) I was determined to do get the weight off once and for all, I cannot think what made this time different but I never missed a class and stayed to the meeting only missing when I was on holidays. Oh also my husbands niece was getting married in Rhodes in June that year and I knew I would be hot and bothered if I did not lose some weight I lost 2 stone before the wedding and another stone by end of September but it took me 10 months to lose the last 10 pounds. 17 months in all. So thanks for the Star. I will wear it with pride. LOL JIP
Hi all
Interestingly my tablet died today, so maybe the techy thing is related to this forum! Luckily I had just bought a new transformable, which is much easier to type on with an add on keyboard.
At 61, I hit 85kg last year after a series of temporary activity reducing medical issues. As a youngster I had always weighed 54kg and could eat anything. I particularly like savoury foods, but after 40 the weight just slowly piled on. Once the kids had left home (we have 4), we both seemed to slow down and consume more. I guess we had more money and less people to feed. My husband developed Type 2 diabetes about 15 years ago and gradually followed the slippery slope into injecting insulin and gaining weight (that’s what insulin does to you). He was very worried about the health implications.
We were staying in a hotel in the country on business 12 months ago and, with nothing to do, flicked around the tv stations and discovered Michael’s Horizon programme. We were hooked. I bought the books the next day and we began immediately.
I eat 400 calories a day (my husband is a scientist and insists on kilojoules but I am good at converting by a factor of 4.186!!!). Initially I recorded everything I ate on fast days. My husband started off on a small egg omelette with a small piece of ham or mushroom and a few herbs for breakfast, a couple of felafels and a piece of lettuce for lunch and I would steam us up leafy greens with lots of onion, garlic, chilli and 50gm each of lean fish for dinner. No alcohol, no fat, no carbs. We missed wine, so poured ourselves soda water with a slice of lime in wine glasses. Worked a trick.
We both lost 1kg a week consistently for 10 weeks, then slowed right down. Our clothes started falling off us. We both found we ate differently on non fast days. We were embracing our hunger and no longer having to snack. We took up eating a dessert of blueberries with a teaspoon of unsweetened yoghurt and a few slivers of almonds in tiny ramekins on normal days. We were staggered how it really felt like a treat. Our taste for sweet foods had dropped significantly. We reduced our carb intake significantly in normal meals too.
I adore cheese, so didn’t keep any in the house for months. Any other foods that tempt me were removed also. I have reintroduced cheese, starting with shaved Parmesan, as it is a convenient flavoursome addition to foods.
I found it easier not to have breakfast until as late as possible. I eat an omelette or vegetable soup (homemade with only low cal ingredients and lots of chilli flakes and onion) as late as possible and dinner with my husband. We have discovered packets of 100gm smoked salmon on lettuce, a couple of tomatoes and some capers and spring onions make a simple, quick, tasty dinner. It is easy to take as a picnic too.
I cook up a lot of soup or similar fast day dishes and store in 1 fasting person sized containers in the freezer. I buy fish/ lean meats and package in 100gm lots in the freezer too. The less you need to think about food on fast days, the easier it is to avoid making irrational choices.
I drink lots of water and black tea and coffee and walk miles on fast days, carrying a bottle of water. I find if I am travelling in the car, I have an apple and a bottle of water and, as I don’t particularly like apples, it serves as potential food if I really cant last, but is easy to ignore. Interesting mind games.
We eat our last food after dinner the day before a fast and don’t eat normally until breakfast the day after the fast. I am always staggered how I don’t rush into breakfast then. And I am famous for my fabulous cooked breakfasts.
My biggest problem was missing cooking. I have solved this by discovering interesting new low cal foods. We also have 2 days between fast days as I found I was overwhelmed by only a 1 day break and if you had any leftover food from the single normal day, it was wasted.
Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t manage a fast day, but be strict with yourself the next time. It won’t work if you eat more than your calorie intake too often. Some days were just not meant to be fast days. Weigh yourself and measure your waist often and record them. Record what you eat to keep yourself honest and take up reading the data on packets and using online calorie counters. You eventually get a good handle on what 400/500 cal is.
Lastly, foods that are a dieters friend: blueberries, strawberries, mushrooms, tomatoes, chilli flakes, lean fish, soda water, Shiritaki or miracle noodles, lemons and limes and lettuce,, lettuce. lettuce!
A year later, it is still tricky on fast days, but the rewards are SO great. I am down to size 9 jeans, weighing 59kg. My husband weighs 70 kg down from 100 and no longer injecting insulin for his well controlled Diabetes. Our lives have been completely turned around by Michaels’s programme. Thanks Michael, good luck girls (and boys)
What a story! It is great that you lost the weight and that your husband’s diabetes is well control with the diet and losing weight.
I sure hope you eat more than 400 calories a day! That might work on fast days, but the other days you need a few more calories. Hopefully, I misunderstood what you wrote and you meant you ate 400 calories on fast days.
Hi Amy C
Actually, I do happen to eat on other days! I aim for about 1500 to 1600 tops, but don’t really count. I do have a raised awareness of the role of carbs on our diets. We rarely eat potatoes or rice anymore. I think people of a certain age don’t need the energy boost these foods give. We drink wine 5 nights a week.
We also think more about how many meals we eat and, if we are going out, might skip breakfast or lunch to allow for overeating later. I fasted yesterday and plan to go up to the local markets to try out the new French crepe stall. I’ll skip breakfast and lunch and have the crepe as brunch. Perhaps some strawberries for afternoon tea and a normal dinner. This is not a fast day, but a more sensible approach to normal days. I am a lot lighter, so need far less food to maintain my lovely trim shape.
PVE
Hi PVE. Congratulations to you and your husband. What great results.
My experience is very similar to yours in all aspects. I do not count calories on non fast days, but eat way less than I used to. I minimise any sugary or starchy food. Like you , I eat less if I am going to dine out.
I have lost 11 kg ( 24 lb) over 12 weeks and have lost 13 cm (5 inches) around the waist. I am very happy with my new size and have lots more energy. I am active every day, either walking or golf or something.
I keep it as simple as possible. I eat all the green vegetables I want and always have some protein for breakfast and dinner on fast days. I drink lots of water. The beauty of this woe is that I do NOT count calories.
Well done Babyleafoz!
I agree, you are using the same approach. It is truly amazing how it works. All the best with your continued success. BTW I had a crepe, a German pastry and am having lasagne tonight (homemade with lots of veg) but I know now that it is not a problem. Mind you, I have also walked miles today and will have veg soup for lunch tomorrow as penitence.
Cheers PVE
Hello and I loved the Girls and Boys bit, this is an amazing story of yours I am sure it will inspire everyone on here. My little bit of weight seemed doable before but after reading this, I am going onwards and downwards. I needed something like this today because I fasted yesterday and walked 18,000 plus steps and the scales have not moved, how I hate those scales. I will be looking for purple veg from now on LOL. JIP
You are right about taking control Purple Vegie Eater. I went to my GP in October with sudden onset of night sweats & figured I was peri-menopausal but thought it best to have blood tests to rule out serious illness. To my surprise my fasting glucose was raised significantly & I was advised to lose at least 1 stone in weight to see if this helped bring my glucose down. My cholesterol was also raised but that is familial so I wasn’t so concerned about that. At the time I was 10st 7lb which for my 5ft 2 height was a little overweight.
I’ve following 5:2 since early November & lost some weight initially then stopped following it over Christmas & January (my birthday that month I’m 47 now). I got back into it seriously about 8 weeks ago & can see the results now. I’m down to 9st 12 today so I’ve lost a total of 9lb since my doctor’s consultation in October & 2 inches of my waist down to 35″ from 37″.
It is very slow progress but I find the 5:2 regime easy enough to follow. My routine is I consume nothing on my fasting days except 2-3 cups of tea/coffee with milk, sparkling water & one 450 calorie low carb meal in the early evening usually meat or fish with a huge salad. If I exercised more the weight would come off quicker & I’d be fitter so that is my aim now the Summer is upon us, stop being lazy & get out to do a brisk walk every day.
Hi,
Well that is my first day of fasting over and it was harder than I thought. I was doing fine until about 3 o’clock and suddenly I was so hungry I had to have something. I had some raw carrot and cucumber and it took the edge off. Anyway this morning I weighed myself and 3/4 of a pound has gone but I’m sure that will be water weight.
I go on holiday on the 20th, I know I will not have lost enough to make a difference but if it’s a couple of pounds it will be a step in the right direction.
Like JulieK1967 I too am 5ft 2ins and know exactly what being about 2 stone overweight looks like and looking in the mirror is not something I enjoy doing. Oh well, one day at a time…..
Hey ladies
Will you forgive me if I do a big show-off whoop look at me? I weighed in this morning at 9 stone, 7.75 pounds. OK, I know that’s close to 9st 8lbs by most reckonings, but seeing that ‘7’ was a terrific feeling after being at 9st 11lbs for weeks and weeks and weeks. And PBB, the maths kills me too, but I think it’s 12.25 pounds loss in four months.
I do feel diffident about sharing absolute numbers, because I fear that those of the group who want to lose more weight or who are struggling with health challenges might just think ‘well what on earth does SHE have to moan about’. But I know the LOACAs are a generous-spirited bunch, so I’m hoping not to have annoyed anyone.
And the best thing of all about it is that FINALLY I feel in control. Like PVE says, this WoE is empowering.
Good luck all, and happy weight loss!
Hi GiGi I find I typically lose about 1 pound each fasting day but most of it is water weight I guess because it goes back on the next day which is slightly disheartening 🙁
Slow steady progress is better than rapid weight loss by all accounts. You need to keep your 5 “non-fasting” days sensible & don’t go over your TDDE. Out of interest did you eat breakfast? I find if I eat breakfast even just something small it sets off my hunger pangs. Far easier to skip breafast & lunch I find, having said that today is my fasting day & I’m having a 250ml bowl of homemade thin vegetable soup! Probably because I’m on the forum & thinking about food more than I usually would.
Hi JulieK1967
No I didn’t eat breakfast as it does make me more hungry. I got through 1 1/2 ltrs of water though. I did a shop today and got a jar of Bovril I think one serving in hot water is something like 12 calories, I thought it may be something I could have to put me on till tea time on my next fasting day.
Hi jojo and co, the 18k is about 7 miles but I did do about 2+1/2 miles in the morning just around my village calling in the library in the morning and I did the rest in the evening, I got dropped off by my hubby at a garden centre about 6pm and I walked to my nephew’s house just over a mile from there to a friend in the next village about half a mile away they both live at the end of their own village. I walked from my friends to her village main road another 1/2 mile or so. And then the long walk home out her village to my place about 3 miles and I think I told you all it rained on the long walk home.
I was very disappointed this morning he scales did not move and I am inclined to blame the scales they seam to stick haha no really they do. I do not want to invest in new ones when I get weighed on a Tuesday morning at WW’s so I double check then.
I will keep the walking, bowling and 5-2 going. JIP
Hi BooBoo
I too love a glass of wine & won’t forgo it completely as I enjoy a drink. I used to drink far more than I do now, possibly half a bottle of wine every day but financial circumstances & being conscious of the calories & my need to lose weight & get healthier means now I have just 1-2 glasses (125ml size) on Friday & Saturday nights and maybe 3 glasses on a Sunday! I never go out to pubs we live too far from town & there are no taxis to speak of in rural Ireland so we drink at home.
It’s a question of mind over matter really. My husband drinks lager which I hate the taste of so if there is no wine in the house I’m not tempted to have a drink but if for some reason there was a little wine left over on a Monday (one of my fasting days) I would be sorely tempted to drink it, in fact I would drink it & eat less to compensate for the extra calories.
Julie
Hello beautiful women. I’m getting ready to leave work. Just waiting for an office mate to return before I head out the door. It’s almost 3pm in my world. Boo Boo — you are right. I don’t share a lot, however I do get inspired by popping in and reading. I also post on another thread dedicated to positive progress where there are fewer people.
I’m beginning month 3 of the 5:2 plan. Wondering if I should try some 4:3 for a few weeks. I’m doing well and incorporating exercise throughout the week. It’s not coming off quickly, but I’m not worried. I found a life plan and I’m thrilled beyond words. Here’s a shock, I only weigh once a month. I know — there’s not a lot of support for my logic, but emotionally, this is best for me. I also don’t obsess over my weight this way. I’m a bit overly focused at times and that can rob my enjoyment while going through a process. I’m petite and started the plan needing to lose 40 pounds. I’ve carried the excess around for two decades. What was I thinking? I gradually gained a few pounds each year and there you go — you wake up and find you have 40 pounds (a little under 3 st) to lose! I’m ready to release it. I have 30 more pounds to go, or 2 st and 2 lbs just waiting to be shed. My progress is slow, but I’m confident building muscle has something to do with the numbers. I haven’t exercised this much since I played softball at university. Have 3 grown children and 3 grandsons. Currently work part time at a college and recently took an early career retirement as an academic counselor from another college. I’m 60. Life is good. Married 35 years to a wonderful man I met in college.
That’s it about me. Fasts are going well now that I learned how to break a fast so I’m not nauseated. I keep experimenting with the plan. I do love it. Will continue to exercise. I’m learning so much from reading everyone’s posts. It helps me to stay encouraged. Thank you. I’ll close now. Let’s keep moving!
Hi everyone, Another long one!
As I live on the other side of the world, I LOVE waking up to all the wonderful, positive additions to this forum each day. It is a good excuse to stay in bed too! I can also brag…. from where I am, I can already say ‘Thank God it’s Friday’! 🙂
I have so many to answer, I’ll start with yipyop. Good on you! We must celebrate any positives and totally ignore any backwards sliding. In the long term they won’t count. Keep a graph with an easy to achieve goal and track your progress by only recording the lowest weight each week. That is why I don’t think it is obsessive to weigh often as it changes all the time and it is better, psychologically, to catch that lowest weight. I tend to celebrate by buying some smaller clothes, digging out something I couldn’t wear before or altering something that is falling off. I got very frustrated when everyone would congratulate my husband for his weight loss and not notice my, similar, loss. Then my youngest son told me he thought I didn’t look as if I had needed to lose it (I did). What a sweety. I skipped around for days. On that topic, the thing that flipped my husband was when one of our granddaughters (3) patted his tummy and told him he was fat. He was devastated!
Preciousbooboo, my new computer is an Asus that is somewhere between a notebook and a tablet. You can take the screen off the keyboard to lie in bed to read and pop in your bag to show pictures of grandkids to friends at lunch, or add the keyboard to make typing on this forum much easier. Unlike a tablet, it is a full fast processor with Office on it. Brilliant!
As to alcohol… as I said, I am married to a diabetic scientist. This has proved excellent while doing the Fast Diet as he initially tested and recorded his blood sugars as much as 2 hourly. He found a glass or 2 of wine did not effect his bs but beer or cider did. The basis of FD is blood sugar levels. As there is a lot of evidence showing a moderate amount of wine daily has health benefits (dementia, heart, psychologically), I feel this is an important part of my consumption. It is better to drink a glass each normal night than to binge at weekends. As the Fast Diet is for life, there is no way I would forgo the pleasure of a relaxing glass with the evening meal. Not drinking 2 days a week is a good way to prove I’m not addicted 🙂 I have even told people, when they ask what we eat on fast days, you could choose 3/4 bottle of wine and nothing else. But you would be pretty hungry as it is not as filling as greens!
I get so lost with all the comments.. sorry if I don’t answer personally. As to introducing 4:3 occasionally to kick start the weight loss…we have done that and found it successful, particularly if we have been away or know we will be. Don’t do it too often, though, as it tends to make dieting a drag. You really need to be flexible. That is the HUGE benefit of this. Fast when it suits (but be really strict about it on those days), remain flexible and don’t panic if you only do 6:1 occasionally. This is a lifetime commitment, not a fad diet.
Keep up the good work ladies.
Cheers PVE 😉
Thanks for all the tips, PVE!
@precious BooBoo, count me in with the wine drinkers! Will not give it up, except on fast days, and sometimes even then I find a few calories for a small glass!
Hi PreciousBooBoo and all the other LOACA’s, I’m having a lot of problems with my computer so can only get online occasionally at the moment. Hopefully I’ll finish this before the line drops!
To answer you question from a few days ago, I’ve tried a few of the HIT exercises from Michael’s book such as squatting, lunges and step ups but my old body didn’t like doing that type of exercise at such a fast pace. I’m ok if I do them slowly as part of a more general exercise routine which I do regularly. I’ve also tried one of his static bike routines of 20 seconds pedaling as fast as possible followed by 20 seconds at a relaxed pace x 3. It sounds easy, but it’s really tough by the third set. I don’t have access to a bike so can only do this when my husband get passes for his gym. I’m debating whether to re-join the gym or buy a bike.
Thank you for your support in your more recent post about my reaction to FD. It’s very much appreciated. As you say, it may be of value to chat here rather than the other thread as a little nugget of information may help other LOACA’s. My temperature gauge is all over the place anyways at the moment, so I tend to view being particularly cold on FD as just one of those things. I’ll look back to see if I can find the two books you mentioned to k8tie. I saw an holistic rehab exercise practitioner recently, and his view of women around the menopause is that our bodies are under so much stress anyway with the hormonal goings on that we shouldn’t embark on any diets, extreme exercising and so forth. His answer was that we should aim to eat sensibly and do moderate exercise we enjoy such as walking and swimming.
Speaking of walking, how are you and your foot? I hope you’ve had some respite from the pain and are perhaps able to get out and about again.
I did my second fast yesterday, and am looking forward to cereal for breakfast today. Weigh in tomorrow, let’s hope for a weight loss.
Keeeeep fasting LOACA’s, and good wishes to you all for a steady weight loss!
Hi Ladies.
Now the body is a strange thing. My first fast day was Wednesday and yesterday the scales read 3/4 lb down. Yesterday was normal eating day, now bearing in mind normal for me is around 1400-1500 calories and yet have still put weight on over the past few years, anyway, got up this morning and and another 1 lb has gone ….how…where !!!!
I’m fasting again today so I can get 2 in this week and it not get in the way of the bank holiday weekend as hubby wants roast beef with all the trimmings.
It is interesting reading your experiences, it’s good to know you’re not alone.
Oh….and count me in with the wine appreciation society !!
Please preciousboobo, I did not have the star long enough to get use it. So I will have to do something else to earn it again. I have been reading about protein whey on these threads so I have just bought some chocolate flavoured at half price, it was £29.99 so still £15.00 not cheap but I was going to ask if anyone has tried this and do you use it on fast and non fast days. It says 69 cals for 30gms and you can add skimmed milk if required. I would like to use it on fast days in the day between my two mini meals and perhaps one in the the evening to help me sleep I am not hungry but I do wake a few times and I am awake for about 1/2 hour each time. Thanks JIP
Hi Booboo and Julie, well boohoo I think I might be able to get that Star back because I cannot not be trusted to have an open bottle of Rum in the house so I got hubby to take it down the garage last Friday and I also not had a diet coke since last Saturday no fun without the rum. LOL. I usually open a new bottle of rum when my Inlaws come come to us on alternative months for an evening meal (we go to them the other month) so any rum left over when they go home that night/morning hehehe. I am left with what is left in the bottle could be at least 1/2 or more, I can consume at a rate of a very large double most evenings until it’s all gone. I do not drink wine I had a bad experience with wine at a Birthday lunch 2 years ago when I did not remember anything after about 5pm. So I give all wine a wide birth and I just would not drink it even if it was the only thing on offer I would have water. can you see my halo shinning? so 8 days and counting with out my rum. (Roll on when it’s our turn to go to the Inlaws in the next 10 days or so.)
Hi luvtcook and all to take thyroxine for under active thyroid. I have just been reading old threads on other 5-2′ boards and there is a question on when to take the tablets? I have always taken mine after breakfast with my other tablets which are steroids (prednisolone) because I take the steroids I also have to take omeprazole, bisoprolo fumararate for angina and aspirin, ( Shake me and I rattle) anyway when do you take
your tablets please? JIP
Hello LOACA, haven’t got much to say really, just saying popping in to sit on the couch and say Hello.
I’m struggling to get back into fasting since I stopped more or less around Christmas. It’s such a silly thing, I feel better fasting than not fasting – still I’m not doing it.
Thing is eating is such a great pleasure, in fact, apart from my dog and watching Vera and Rev, it’s probably my only pleasure at the moment. I like a few sips of wine but it gets me tiddly in seconds! Not used to it.
But today I almost bought a new television! I’d made myself wait until after my operation but as I have to have another operation, first I thought I’d make myself wait till after that one, but it will be several weeks still and my old tv has almost given up the ghost. So I hope next week to have a thin, not smart, not 3D Sony! It feels very odd to buy it. I feel rather tearful spoiling myself with it. But I have almost bought it and feel quite excited about it. 🙂
The gym is going well again now and I go about x3 week for an hour.
PVE what a great name. Reminds me of that song Purple People Eater – one eyed one horned pink peuple peaple eater 🙂 I think I look rather purple after the gym lol 🙂
Don’t forget to drink lots of water ladies.
xx
JIPWGP: I was told to take it on an empty stomach and not within 4 hours of taking an iron supplement or eating foods with iron.
I take during the night between 2-4. I haven’t eaten for several hours and don’t plan to eat for another several hours.
If your lab tests are OK, you are probably ok taking it the way you are. I would ask your doctor.
Ok, now this can’t right and it can’t last as all things too good to be true usually are. On my first attempt at this diet I have lost 2 lbs since Wednesday. Will my euphoria be short lived, and if I join my hubby in the home made meatballs in gravy with mash potato today will I get up tomorrow and it will all be back again ?!!!!
🙂 You know PBB, I had real stroke of luck! I read my post and thought ‘get agrip girl!’ so I do order the televion I’d chosen – and it was out of stock. But they offered my the next model up for the same price! So I feel 150 euros up on the deal! So pleased! It’s coming Wednesday whoopee!
I might be a little frit if you lived around the corner from me! No not really 🙂
Indeed Piper! Doing so well, Go girl!
I’ve found reading about yours and the various B2B experiences really interesting. I always felt better on the 2nd day than the first. But that was at 0 calories which I think is easier (for me at least) than 500cal fast days. ALso I find the idea of spiritual fasting also interesting. I do feel I have more space in my head as well as my tum when I fast. Have a good weekend.
Keep on drinking lots of water 🙂 xx
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29 Apr 14