Just a couple of questions regarding vegetable portions..
Does everyone weigh each serve and how many do you limit (or not) yourself to?

I’m also wondering how to calculate thickening for stews/casseroles, which usually involves flour, but I don’t see a calorific value for that in the book.

Today is the 5th fast day and so far I’m having no problems, but although I have not lost weight, my midriff is deflating and my fingers are ‘thinner’ 🙂

I’m expecting the recipe book today, so I can be even more inspired in the weeks to come!

Hi, I am 65 and have been on the diet since March this year. I lost weight initially but have stuck at 9:12 – my doctor wants me to get below 9 stone so don’t know how to face him next month. I eat less on the feast days than I used to so I was wondering where I have gone wrong. However, I am committed to this eating regime as I do feel much healthier since I started it and I know it’s not just about weight loss. I used to have bouts of diverticulitis quite regularly and haven’t had any problems since starting the diet and I enjoy my food more now. I think I could probably take a bit more exercise which may help. Thanks for listening. 543ingrid.

are you sure you should be shunning food instead of sticking to the prescribed 500 calories?
Don’t be disheartened. I’m not loosing quickly either, only 8 lbs since beginning of July. I wouldn’t shun all food, stick with the plan as prescribed.

I think the 500 calories is there to make it easier to do – and MM got good results with a small number of calories. Personally I prefer to just do a water fast on fast days as eating anything seems to stoke up my appetite. If I have something, I have it in the evening but I try not to. I don’t think having 500 cals is prescribed but I see them more as optional. I have a LOT of weight to lose so, for me, a water fast gives good results and honestly is easier than working out what is 500 cals.
On fast days I prefer not to have anything much to do with food at all.
But whatever works really. 🙂

Hello,

I have been reading these posts and wanted to say that it is very affirming to read of the struggles that other women of a ‘certaine age’ are experiencing with weight loss.

I started to gain weight without any changes to my lifestyle or diet about four or five years ago. My bra size went up from D to E and despite ramping up my exercise to include more cardio, cutting carbs drastically, eating salad for dinner regularly, the weight was not coming off. And it centered in the midriff area.

I think anyone who says the approach and onset of menopause does not cause weight gain is lying. Perhaps it doesn’t happen to everyone, but it does happen. My mother who had never had a weight problem – she was a fashion designer and always conscious of how she looked, hit her late forties and within a few years put on six to seven kilos that she could not lose.

I’ve always been a healthy eater – organic and home cooked foods are the mainstay of my diet and I have shunned the idea of fad dieting.

But fed up with nothing fitting me any more, and making no progress with the changes I had adopted, I started the 5:2 diet three months ago. I have lost six kg (13 pounds) in that time. This includes regular exercise and a holiday in Italy and Greece for three weeks (yes I kept up the diet) where I spent most days walking for several hours.

So it is most likely slow progress, but at least I am making progress.

The most infuriating thing was going to doctors with my situation and having them not take you at all seriously.

I hope to continue into the maintenance phase after Xmas and I hope it stays off.

Good luck to everyone!

Hi Jeana1
My understanding is that 6 kg in 3 months is the expected rate of loss on 5:2, and given that included time on holiday (even tho you kept up 5:2), I would say ‘well done’! 😀
And given you were already eating healthily, you didn’t have the same amount of less healthy food that you could reduce (unlike many of us!).
So it seems to me that you are doing very well indeed. How much more weight are you hoping to lose?
Best wishes
Sassy 🙂

RoBa, read ‘Pain Free in 6 Weeks’ by Sherry Rogers!

Thank you for the encouragement Sassy! It’s great to hear that I’m going as expected. I’m not sure how much more I want to lose. I have a pair of pants that I bought in Italy 5 years ago and my aim is to fit into them again. Probably another three kilos, I would say.

I don’t weigh myself and the only reason I know that I’ve lost this amount is that we had health checks at work in May this year where they measured cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure etc and weighed us. Then they did the same a couple of weeks ago and that’s when I found out how much weight I had lost. I could tell from my clothes that I had lost weight, but I didn’t know how much. My levels for everything else was probably good too, but they were good to begin with. They actually told me when I had the first tests done that I had the blood pressure of a twenty year old, and asked me if I take cholesterol medication – because my levels were so good: I put it down to having a Greek background and pretty much following a Greek diet. However, as I said in my first post, that didn’t stop the peri menopausal weight gain.

I remember my husband saying to me about six months ago after watching me exercise and watch my diet so carefully: “I’ve never seen anyone put so much effort for such little results”. He was the one who suggested I go and see a doctor.
He used to say “Babe, there must be something wrong. Unless you get up and eat a tub of ice cream in the middle of the night, there’s something not quite right.”

How is your progress going?

Check your diet on fast and non-fast days. If you can, as someone posted earlier, keep a food journal and be honest with yourself. You can track calories on the internet of what you’re eating.

Then, start moving around more, even if it’s just walking around the corner a couple of times. Just move.

PreciousBooBoo

We take a hit at menopause, no question. But you’ve lost nine lbs and that is fantastic! Go pick up a gallon of milk and hold it in front of your stomach, then look in the mirror. Realize you’ve lost more than that amount and be proud of yourself!

Hi All,

Yep I’m going through the same thing – 6 weeks and only 2 kilos lost. BUT something about this diet really helps with inflammation…. I am usually in constant pain and now I’ve had only a few pain days in the past 6 weeks. I feel so much healthier, so if the weight loss is slow and frustrating I figure hey ok I’m still cuddly but it’ll come off eventually and meanwhile I feel well again – woohoo

Hi Jantra,

Cortisol levels can be measured via a blood test. A good indicator that you may have high cortisol levels is to think about how you react to a shock like a loud bang. For example if a child pops a ballon behind your back, do you shrug off the “shock” within about 30 seconds or do you remain unsettled for the next 15 minutes or even longer. If the latter, your cortisol might be high and your body is in the “fear, fight, flight response” all the time. Cortisol is produced by the adrenal glands, which sit on top of your kidneys so you may also find yourself uriniating alot or retaining fluid – depending on how your body reacts. Some cortisol is neecessary for normal stress reponse but unfortunately we can produce too much as our bodies slow down with age etc (oh joy lol). If you have high cortisol levels, reduce the amount of coffee and other stimulants in your diet 🙂

I’ve been off the diet last week as grandchildren came to stay. I weighed myself this morning and don’t appear to have put on any weight. I fully expected to gain something after all the sweets and treats I ate last week.

Diet today and am feeling hungry but determined to stick to it.

Hi Ronna- a stone is 14 pounds, old imperial weight, used to be used here in Australia, but we have used kilos for about 30 years so i get confused with all the talk of ponds!

Hi Precious–

You wrote:
“So please keep all your posts coming BUT could those women whose weight loss has been really low and disappointing get in touch?”

Well, that’s me. I’ve been doing it for many several months and have lost a pound, sometimes two but they come back a day later, so I consider it to be just water.

So I got desperate and upped the ante to 4:3. Still nothing budged. So I increased the fast days to 4 a week. And am now on the 3:4 diet! That three days eating and four days fasting. This means fasting two days in a row, mixed with alternating fasting days.

I also eat much less than the 500 allowed on a fast day. Usually aim at about 250 and sometimes nothing. I’ll tell you my tips for eating lo-cal at the end.

But on eating days, I eat what I like—highly flavored food—Indian curry or goat cheese pizza. Nuts, fruit, olive oil, avocado. (No desserts.) And I know I eat a fair amount of calories on those days.

Have dieted all my adult life on and off and have really learned that the hardest thing of all for me is to eat a restricted diet every single day. My only hope is to have hard and fast, inviolable rules such as eat/don’t eat. This is why I was excited by the 5:2 diet. But if I now have to eat only 3 days a week and also watch my calories on eating days—I’ll feel I’ve landed in the most depriving diet of all time! For me it’s becoming essentially a don’t-eat diet!

My goal was to lose about 25 pounds. It would be hard to have time to exercise more though I walk several miles several times a week. I’m in good health and have never eaten junk food. Also, I feel very tired at the end of fast days.

My lo-cal foods for fast days include: frying white and crimini mushrooms in mushroom broth (5 calories a cup) . They look and almost taste like they’ve been fried in butter when finished but you can eat a a big mound for about 50 calories total. Big bowls of high quality lettuce, no dressing, with a half cup of shredded chicken mixed in. Lots of celery. Measured amounts of water melon and cantaloup. Hard boiled eggs. If I eat black beans–I’ll have only a 1/4 cup. Beans mixed with mushrooms, hot, is a nice snack. Lots of tea or decaf sweetened with Stevia which allegedly has no calories. Sometimes a half cup of plain no-fat yogurt mixed with a half cup of berries. Of course, I don’t eat all of these on a fast day. Just enough of them to equal about 250 calories–which I track carefully.

So, that’s my tale of woe, though I am still mightily determined. Not sure what to make of the situation. Years ago, of course, if I’d eaten like this I would have lost weight immediately. It’s as if my metabolism has gone on strike. I expected this at first, but after so many weeks—I don’t know what to do.

Thanks for persisting in asking about those of us who are really struggling. You’re not alone!

Hi Rocky and Loretta–
Actually I think a stone is 14 pounds. So it was years ago when I visited England (and first gained weight!) and so it is now when I google the conversion of it.

Hi All Just thought I would let you all know how I am going, especially Sassey, as she helped me at the beginning.
I did my weigh/measure in today after completing 4 weeks (8 Fast Days) on the 5:2 and have lost a total of 3.4kg (7.5lbs)and 6.3cms (2.5 inches) off my waist plus my BMI has gone down by 1.6. I am so thrilled with this approach to eating.
I don’t like to call it a diet because it isn’t its a change in the way I eat, not what I eat.
I’m going to fit into that dress easily on the 7/12/2013 at this rate, if not now but I’m not even going to try until closer to the time.

She got me too- I thought it might have been American humour but you can never be sure about these transatlantic, transpacific issues like the relative weight of stones…..perhaps it’s gravity that makes them heavier down here…..

It is a bit untried yet has a very long history and I’m sure that probably means it has good effects. Just has to be proved now. But ten, when was any diet every really and properly tested? None that I know of.

I’m doing quite well on this I think about 14 kilos now (2 stone) in about 9 weeks. But I have a lot to lose (bmi about 50) so maybe that helps. I weigh every day. Just for immediate feedback about te effects of what I’m eating. I note that after a fast day it is often a new low. Then after eating days it goes up but in general the trend is down at about 1 kilo a week now. I don’t eat carbs such as bread, rice etc. I think that’s the key. Then you can eat well on feast days without triggering a big insulin response.

I asked Dr. Fung about the rise in Human Growth Hormone that you get when fasting. I Googled it and it has lots of bad effects when taken as a supplement. He said he felt raised levels of natural HGH was not a problem and ensured that you hung on to lean tissue.

I’m going to try 5:3 one week then 5:2 the next to try to get closer to ADF without it getting too much of an obsession.

Was disappointed that my bp has not come down at all in these weeks but will keep going and hope it eventually does. Otherwise it will be bp pills. I’m hoping this can be a non-surgical gastric band way of weightloss for me.

I posted earlier that I’m struggling to lose weight now. I started at Easter and since then have lost about 5-6lbs. Now, I lose 1-2lbs on fast days but put it back on on non fast days. However, I have dropped a dress size from 16 to 14 so I think I have lost inches or fat rather than weight.

I am now being extra strict with myself and watching that I don’t over-indulge on non fast days. I may add in an extra fast day, but I will see how it goes.

Hi PreciousBooBoo and all LOACA. Thank you for starting this thread!

I have only just started 5:2 fasting – unofficially and unplanned yesterday around midday, after I’d had my normal breakfast and bought fish for dinner already – so my day ended up at 630 calories., but was a way of easing myself into it! I’ll officially start on Monday, and my husband is going to do it as well.

I’m 51 and I’m not sure where I am in menopause as I had a hysterectomy some years ago – I still have ovaries but no uterus, so no obvious signs of hormonal changes. In 2008 an unexploded aneurism was found in my brain and in the next few years while they tried to stabilise it my physical activity was limited – unexploded bomb in head means you don’t want to push hard! I ended up having brain surgery in Dec 2010 to bypass the artery. All went very well but the incision in my leg where they extracted the vein to put into my head became infected, and that limited my exercise, too. As a consequence of all of tis, I put on another 20 kilos (44 pounds) above the extra 10+ I was carrying.

I have been restricting calories off and on for more than 12 months, and upping my exercise but I’ve had a lot of trouble shifting any weight and keeping it off.

It seems to me that one’s individual metabolism is key, and I haven’t managed to find a way to boost mine to burn more fat. This is why 5:2 fasting appeals to me as a good thing to try – that it can give the metabolism a short, sharp shock and boost it into a different mode of functioning and processing fuel. I certainly felt different yesterday, on my 630 calorie, very low carb intake. I’ll be interested to see how 5:2 goes for me.

Your comments about not sleeping resonate with me, PreciousBooBoo, because I’ve probably had only 2 decent nights’ sleep in over 2 years. In my case, these days it’s not getting to sleep that’s the problem (as it used to often be for me) but staying asleep, for two reasons – firstly, I snore, and wake myself (and my husband!). Secondly, I have to sleep mostly on my side because of the snoring, and I can only do one side because of the replacement artery in my head running on the side of my face, and after a couple of hours in bed I get a really bad back. Our bed is quite firm and this doesn’t suit my rounded curvy figure, and that doesn’t help. I actually now sleep out on the couch around half the time, which is more comfortable. (I suspect my flabby tummy is pulling my spine out of shape…)

I’ve read in a number of sources and my doctor agrees that it is very, very hard to lose weight when you don’t sleep enough. I suspect it’s a metabolism thing – if you’re fatigued, the metabolism stays slow as a protection, and therefore exercise is harder and just exhausts you rather than boosting your body’s functioning, and there’s no happy endorphin rush! And if you consistently have fewer calories than you need for your basic body functioning, I suspect you just feel tireder rather than actually burning fat. Add on menopausal hormones – double whammy!

For me, addressing the sleep issue is important. I can’t afford a new bed yet, but I take afternoon naps often (I work mostly from home so I’m lucky I can) and refuse to feel guilty about it. Two hours in the afternoon plus 4-5 hours at night does help – and then I can work on into the night, which is my productive work time.

When I had a lot of difficulty getting to sleep, I found that a drop or two of lavender oil on a tissue near the pillow, or dabbed on my temples, helped a great deal, and I still use it especially if I’m stressed by something and the brain is in racing, circling mode.

Okay, this has become as long as a book (and not the book I’m supposed to be writing!)

Thank you all for sharing your experiences – I feel much more informed going in to this, and am glad there is support from women in similar circumstances.

Bron

I’m just now joining this forum–I’ve been on 5:2 for one week and it was surprisingly easy, I even look forward to doing my fast day. And yes, in the evening I was thinking about eating a hamburger and french fries (which I would normally NOT do) but this morning, on an ‘eat’ day–so far I have no desire to do so. Thank goodness!

I’m 63 and have struggled with weight all my life. I got addicted to sugar very early on. I’m not using a scale to judge my progress as I can no longer face the ups and downs. I’m letting my clothes be my guide along with how I feel. I do a complete yearly blood workup and that’s about 5 months away–which should be very interesting this time as I will continue doing 5:2 until then and beyond. It’s the first time I feel that I can actually ‘do this’. My blood work will tell me lots as my cholesterol was getting higher and higher along with blood sugars. I went completely vegan to get my numbers down and gained weight due to the high carbs, even though I had eliminated all refined carbs. Plus it was simply very difficult to commit to and I wasn’t feeling better and better as I am now.

Anyway, in one week my clothes are fitting better, I feel amazing, even took a walk around the neighborhood yesterday, something I haven’t done in a long time. My energy is really good on this way of eating–so far, and I feel good about myself and what I’m doing.

What I have to be careful of: eating too much protein on ‘feast days’ as it turns to sugar pretty quickly for me and then I gain…so I keep it to around 8 ounces or 55 grams at the high end and less on fast days, of course.

I”m grateful for this forum, super fabulous reading all of your posts, keeps me encouraged and positive.