This topic contains 7,289 replies, has 660 voices, and was last updated by Opal Shine 1 year ago.
angie1:
I don’t think that difficulty in menopausal women losing weight is unique to the Fast Diet and it does seem to happen to more than a few women who post on these forums.
Don’t menopausal/post menopausal women have difficulty in losing weight with any food plan? Have you found success with other diets? Do you know of anyone who is post menopausal who did lose easily on any diet?
Hi Ladies
Smiffy – many thanks for your kind words. My outlook on life has changed, I worry a lot less about things. I opted out of the financial sector and decided to work in a primary school, however with two challenging children in my class some days I go home and vegetate. One tried to bite me earlier this week during a stressful moment, but I do love watching the children achieve and realising they CAN do it 🙂 I also eat between 1200 and 1500 cals on a non fast day.
Iouabook – do persevere, even if you are gaining or losing, your body is benefiting from the time to heal itself. As said before this is a new WOL, not a diet. But hey just read your latest post, don’t know how you have time to breath; sounds like you need that rest some days otherwise you would burn out. Take time to look after yourself.
gerringi54 – I bet when your friend commented about your new looks you felt a tremendous boost. I’ve also had comments that I’ve list a lot of weight and that tends to come from people who haven’t seem me for a while, we don’t tend to. It is it just by looking in the mirror. Managing to comfortably do up that old favourite dress or pair of jeans is the real sign it’s working!
AmyC – I am menopausal and have been for a number of years. However before starting fasting I’ve had great success by following a low GI diet. I eat slow release carbs like new spuds, brown rice and wholemeal pasta, pulses and beans. I don’t eat much bread, but lots of salads in the summer and then soups in the winter. I use a subscription website by Amanda Hamilton, a Scottish nutritionalist whose often on TV – but only north if the border 🙁
Everyone else! – keep strong, persevere and ensure your meals are colourful and tasty. Remember we also eat with our eyes.
Ali x
Hi Angie . I don’t want to sound like I am on a crusade but I think it is really hard to understand menopause. I come from a sports science background and thought I knew everything about physiology but it has not been relevant once hitting the menopause.
EVERYTHING slows down. The rate at which you replenish your collagen in your skin, your metabolism etc.etc. BORING
I am not statistically over weight but having been very slim and in control of my body, everything just re – arranged itself around my tummy and thighs. As I have a lot of friends around my age, mainly 3 or 4 years older than I am ( I am 57), I noticed they were thickening around the waist too.
I tried protein diet, cutting down, exercising and nothing helped me until this plan.
I had gone up 2 dress sizes and was beginning to need a size 12 having been a size 8 all my life. Now I know some of you will be thinking that is a small size but remember I am only 5ft 2 inches with tiny size 3 feet. I wear quite fitted dresses and nothing except A Line would fit.
If you look at symptoms of menopause, bloating and retention of fluid is common. Think of the dramatic changes that take place in puberty and how disruptive that is, well the same is happening again, your body needs time to readjust.
Two of our close friends have both had Prostate Cancer and they are both through their treatment but taking tablets which is lowering their testosterone, they are both getting hot flushes and slight breast development and boy are they sympathetic to our hot flushes!!
Hormones have a dramatic effect on some people, others do not seem to suffer as much, but one thing I think we all can agree on is losing weight is much harder post menopause.
To encourage you if I had relied solely on poundage lost 10 pounds is not much in almost 7 months but I have lost 15 inches. That is a heck of a lot of fat. 4 inches off waist but nothing off face and bust, so no haggard looks. In fact it is only because I am more exposed in the summer wearing sleeveless dresses that people have begun to notice the change.
I think it took about 6 weeks to start to notice a difference and I only lost 2 pounds in 2 months, then things started to happen. I only weigh myself once a month now and last month I lost 3 pounds, right out of the blue and that month had included a week on holiday in Spain.
I think this plan really does wake up your dormant fat cells. I do however think maybe calling it the “fast” diet creates a feeling that everything will happen “fast”. I do not think that is the point, I think definitely in my case I was not eating as small a portion as I thought I was and was eating quite carelessly and far too much sweet stuff.
Be patient and kind to yourself and I would e yourself 3 months initially. Use your tape measure, I weigh and measure once a month, far more rewarding than seeing nothing on the scales week after week.
Hi there
My 5 cents worth on weight loss after menopause. I believe that we each have trigger foods and that once you work out what they are, weight does start to come off. Mine happen to be sugar and starch, so all bought processed food is out for me. When I seriously want to lose weight, I give up all sugar and starch, including alcohol. I eat Vegetables and a small amount of protein, eg, fish, chicken or egg. Lots of flavours such as chili, lime, lemon, herbs. Lots of salads and soups. No bread etc.
The most satisfying outcome from 5:2 has been the cms or inches melting away, as I have persevered with fasting twice a week. My body has reshaped itself into clothing sizes that I wore in my 40 s. I am now 67.
Also the body needs exercise every day. Walk to the bus, shops, train wherever you can. I am sure that fasting kick starts a change in the metabolism. Be kind to yourself and don’t focus on weight. This 5:2 is about health and healing your body. 🙂
I started back with 5/2 on Thursday of this week with a fast and went paddle boarding the next day. Unfortunately, I did not eat before we went and after 3 hours on the water, I started experiencing symptoms of heat exhaustion. I don’t think that my symptoms were all from the heat, rather having nothing in my body to help keep me going. I think it is really important to eat a good breakfast the day after fasting and drink lots of water, especially if you are going to be out in the sun. Sounds like common sense, but the day after a fast I don’t feel hungry and like to kind of go with that. Anyway, I learned my lesson and thought I would share.
dmh:
I would withhold making a solid judgment as to what caused your problems in paddle boarding. Heat exhaustion is rarely due to lack of food, but the lack of water. Even eating breakfast prior to the paddle boarding may not have prevented the heat exhaustion.
One of the biggest challenges I have found with fasting is keeping hydrated enough. On the day of fasting, you should drink 6-8 cups MORE than you usually do.
I frequently exercise in a fasting state – granted it is not in the bright sunshine or really high temperatures – but have not had an issue if I keep hydrated.
Hi BooBoo and LOACA.
Hi AmyC
I have been on one diet or another all my adult life and I have had success with some of them. It’s not the diet but the dieter that fails in most cases, when we want instant results and if we do not get it we give up and try to find another more weird diet to have ago at. This time I have found the WOE that works for me after many years of yoyo dieting. It is Weight Watchers losing 56 lb in 17 months it was not easy nothing worthwhile ever comes easy. I have found on this 5-2 way of eating and all the encouragement I/We get will keep me and the others who are at their goal or near to keep going, nothing in life comes easy. We hope that staying in touch like this will keep those of you/us to keep going however slow the going is. 5-2 is something different from the normal diet of counting points/calories 24/7 which is why it may be slow but with the health benefits it will be worth the effort to keep going this time. If you have the time and inclination to read back the posts that all of the LOACA have taken the time to tell us all about their experiences coming from all walks of life with one thing in common, above all the dreaded inch war. we may have to fight it all our lives but it’s better than giving up. JIP
Hi, I am restarting the 5:2 after a break. My first day back today and so far so good. Am going to make a bid pot of allotment soup shortly. My biggest problem is staying motivated! This time I am determined to stick to it as I am feeling quite bloated at the moment. I am coeliac and dairy intolerant which does require a bit of juggling. Any ideas anyone?
Hi Pamie
Welcome back to the fold.
My husband is gluten and dairy intolerant and finds this WOE very easy as carbs and fat are the biggest problem.. it means I can fill him with vegetables and he is much better off with it.
We didn’t eat any flour, potato or rice based foods for about 6 months when we started. The only dairy we had was plain Greek yoghurt (he can eat yoghurt.)
Omolettes with mushrooms or tomatoes and some herbs are good. As you know veg soup works really well. We eat lots of salad and fish or steamed leafy veg eg onion, garlic, chili flakes, celery, shallots,fish sauce, grated lime or lemon zest, grated ginger root, bok choy, spinach etc tossed together with a smidgen of water and covered with a lid. Add some Shirataki noodles and smoked or fresh fish pieces (about 50g each serve). Filling and low cal. Blueberries and strawberries also proved to be a faster’s friend. I also always have a nice apple handy for desperate times. Only 80 cal. Keep up the fluid, black tea and coffee and keep busy. Great excuse to do that gardening that you have been putting off or go for a really long walk.
Are you doing this alone, or do your have a Fast Friend?
I’m fasting today too, so keep posting, I’ll look after you
All the best, Purple 🙂
Thankyou Purple for you words of encouragement. Made the allotment soup and had a bowl for lunch and we are having chicken salad for dinner. I am doing it by myself but my husband is very supportive so I guess I’m lucky in that respect. Feeling good today so onwards and upwards( or should I say downwards!!!)
Hi Purple and Pamie, it looks as if all the other LOACA are busy so it’s just me from this side of the pond as you say so often. I am fasting today too after a very indulgent few days. I don’t find it a chore, even glad to be back on the straight and narrow.
I have been out walking this morning and lots of pottering in the garden to keep me busy.
BooBoo how did Friday night go? fasting and no wine? How did you survive it? Did you see my message with the wine link? Also did you read about the lavender spray to help with the sleepless nights? We are still waiting to here about your honeymoon and water retention!
Hello and welcome to Msmantis, Pamie and Dmh. You do know you are on the best thread don’t you? It will soon be 3000 posts and Boo keeps us on our toes and keeps us fasting and feasting together. Like I have said before these posts are better than a good book, all fact no fiction. LOL
Well I could sit here more but it will not get the weight moving so I had better do something.
Happy fasting or feasting to the followers of LOACA. OW’s and DW’s JIP
BooBoo, Purple, JIP, Smiffy, Nicky, et al: Well (trumpet fanfare please) I hit my 20 lbs lost today. Just hit, but I will take that. So it is 20lbs for me in 22 weeks ( and for a couple of those I was definately off the grid and off the plan).
So like JIP, what is working for me is patience, plus low carb, and not being so restrictive that I would not be able to stay on this for the other 55 -60lbs I need to lose.
So I am hoping that with the support of all of you fabulous ladies that I will break through the 30lb barrier (which is the max I have ever lost before only to slide backwards again and again) and by this time next summer I will have lost another 45-50 lbs and be within sight of my goal weight.
In the past I also have added ambitious exercise programs that in all honestly actually set me back a little as the good ones do add muscle and therefore some healthy muscle weight. But muscle obscures the fat loss even though the clothes may fit better. So now that I have gotten the first 20 off, I am going to add back the excercise and must tell myself to mentally factor that in as I track the fat loss.
Quoting from an article in Eating Well: Studies show that we lose ½ to 1 percent of our lean muscle mass each year, starting as early as our thirties (eek!) Muscle strength also declines by 12 to 15 percent per decade. These drops are much more dramatic, however, among people who eat less healthfully, don’t exercise regularly and even those who lose a significant amount of weight (since muscle tends to vanish along with the fat). In one study, 30-year-olds who were put on bed rest for a month lost an average of a pound of muscle just from their legs. In a separate study, even greater losses occurred in older adults after just ten days.
I wish there was some rule of thumb that would tell you realistically how much muscle a 60 year old can put on doing moderate excercise (stairs, walking, and kettlebell are the plan). Does anybody out there have any data on that?
I am going to assume that it could be up to 1/4 lb of extra muscle a week up to a max of 5 lbs of muscle gained. As I said, it is simply to talk myslef out of being discouraged if the wieght loss on the scale actually slows down with the same eating plan plus more excercise.
Well, on to Phase II.
OW & DW.
Bonjour from Burgundy – hope all you LOACA are well.
I recently spoke of my binge last Sunday evening, followed by a fast on Monday – amazingly, I still managed to lose 1 lb, making a total of 7 in three weeks. Like some of you I am finding that on the day following a fast I do not want to eat ‘normally’. Also after only 3 weeks I am feeling more positive and confident in myself. I went for a 45 minute brisk walk this morning (brisk being the important word, as a stroll wouldn’t burn many calories) where I try to walk at 120 steps per minute, which does make me breathless, so I know that’s the right pace for me.
I note that lots of you are losing kilos and not pounds, so for you losing kilos I have lost 3.18 kilos!
I’m determined to have a good week as on Saturday I am going with my daughter and family to Lake Como for a week – they are attending a friend’s wedding and I am looking after my girls. Being Italy, which is at the top of my favourite countries to visit, I know I shall be indulging in delicious pastas (I just love spaghetti vongole with a glass of prosecco)and their amazing ice creams!
The discussion on building muscle is interesting – as I understand it the only way to increase muscles is by using weights. At our age one of the best things to do is yoga, where lots of the positions are weight-bearing, i.e. the plank which is one of the best positions for strengthening different areas of the body. Also balance is very important (which ties in with muscle strength) as many accidents occur because people lose their balance – here again lots of yoga movements work on balance.
I agree with Precious BooBoo’s comments that we need to eat substantially on the day before a fast, even if we don’t really feel like it (which is never my problem), so this evening I am having a chicken korma (a small portion) with a peshwari naan and mango chutney; it’s all been calorie-counted, and I am just within in DTEE allowance – can’t wait.
Have a good week, FemmeA x
Hi all LOACA. I’m posting to tell you all how thrilled I am to have lost another 3lbs following a week of no loss! That makes my total 8lbs over 4weeks. I realise that this probably won’t continue but it is certainly a big boost for me!! I even had a friend say yesterday how good I looked which always makes you feel better. It’s a fast day tomorrow so I’m inspired to keep at it. Good luck to all whichever sort of day you are planning.
First, I would like to thank the Academy….oops, I mean BooBoo and THE LOACA LEAGUE, for this beautiful non-existant award which will hang invilsibly on my living room wall. While invisible, I will cherish it in the spirit in which is was given and for the motivation it provides. May the force be with each and every one of us. Thank you BooBoo.
Wilbersnanna, when you hit another 2 lbs and I will have to hand over my MMM award. 8 lbs in 4 weeks is fabulous starts. A round of applause for Wilbersnanna. (silent clapping heard ’round the globe).
I hope Cheeseplease is reading this….anxious to know if she has also had a big week after a “no show” loss the prior week. Don’t know what our goofy bodies are doing or why, but if you have the patience to hang in there, that missing lb often pops up as a “bonus week” later on (as if it was hiding there all along and just to shy come forward all by its little lone self).
BooBoo, also hoping your vacation weight gain was mostly a mirage and has largely dissappeared.
Hi LUVTCOOK
I am indeed reading this, and would like to offer my congratulations on your wonderful achievement and the award you have been presented with – I hope you had your best frock on! And thank you for thinking of me at this very exciting time.
I putting off standing on the scales, I may have to do it standing on one leg with only one eye open… I have been a naughty person over the weekend. We went to an Asian music festival and there was a wonderful Indian veggie food stall – oh boy. So many carbs consumed in one day, and some jellabi which is wheat batter deep fried and then soaked in sugar syrup – need I say more? I was tempted and I fell. However, big breath, I refuse to beat myself up about it as I really enjoyed it, but I will knuckle down to a FD on Monday and get back on the wagon, albeit with a bit of a flat tyre!
Hi Everyone I hope you are all doing well.
I like the summer weather as I’m perfectly happy eating salads with just a little healthy dressing. I weighed myself this weekend after last weeks B2B fast and I’ve stayed the same weight but have lost 3 cms. Not disappointed as I need to trim my waist and hips a bit.
On wards and downwards ladies
Ali x
BooBoo: I KNEW it!!! Good for you. So glad it was all water and one good round of fasting and off she went. So relieved for you as I know how hard it is for you to lose. This is a good weekend for the LOACA thread. Nice to have some good news to go with all the angst and struggle.
And yes I too retain more water when it is hot and humid. You would think you would sweat it off and lose more weight but I just feel I blow up like a big red faced balloon. Not pretty.
Need to raise my glass (even if filled only with sugar free lemonaide) to Femme Anglais. I am afraid I omitted her on the last round. Mea culpa. Great begging for you!!!
Cheeseplease: well, you may just need that credit on your account to cover your feast, but at least you chose something very yummy. Stomach growling in envy when I read of your weekend. But, tomorrow is another day. That is the beauty of this WOE. Feasts allowed as long as balanced by some judicious fasts. (and it’s ok to fall off the wagon, but please don’t fall off the scale standing on one foot with one eye closed !).
I am 58. I started the Fast Diet in January 2013. I had about 9 lbs to lose and it went quickly – in fact I lost 17 lbs by May and then happily maintained …. until I switched from cigarettes to ecigs in January 2014.
My weight started creeping up – and I was still going to the gym at least three times a week and averaging 10k steps daily – so I tried the 4:3 and I upped the exercise. Nothing has worked. I am fighting to keep the weight off. I have put on about 5 lbs … but am sure it would be more if I weren’t fighting so hard!
If anyone has any ideas …..
Fantastic news BooBoo. You must feel so good! I know your story of your honeymoon will be echoed with holidays abroad I never weigh when we get back from our foreign holidays I feel and look like I am 6 months pregnant for 24 hours and it’s awfully painful carrying around the extra inches even if it’s only for a short time. My hubby never gets on the scales either but his definitely not water but food and alcohol which he can say no to the alcohol but not the food. You know now you have seen him he is built like a racing pidgin or bike, as we say in Wales and with a week he can be back to his pre holiday weight when it used to take me almost until the next holiday to get my increase off and then it starts all over again. LOL
Boo you know I shorten my hubby’s name well it’s the first 4 letters with
( ijo)@aol.com
All lower case just in case you cannot find your piece of paper.
Footy is still on so I am going to find a law and order type thing in the other room to watch anything is better than this awful noise.
I have fasted today but it’s nearer the 600 than the 500 calories.
Congratulations and well done LUVTCOOK on the good news and Boo’s award.
We are with you all the way to the end of your road.
Onwards and downwards JIP Good night all.
And Purple and co good morning. Bye JIP
Hi there. I’m finding all the posts in this stream very helpful. I am new at fasting and had a fabulous response to my first 4 weeks- I lost 9 pounds! Then I hit no loss….and this week I fasted and weighed and had gained 2! I know weight fluctuates and I can cope with it, except on my most tender emotional level where I’m struggling. I have done more exercise this week, but have also eaten more and had cravings like crazy, so all over the place. I’m 56, had breast cancer at age 42 and went into menopause, then out again then back in! I gained weight then and unknowingly did my own version of the fast diet, limiting food every second day. I’m still 1/2 stone better off than at the start, so am telling myself to chill, but watch the eating. And To continue the exercise and to keep the eating in moderation, despite my partner’s bad habits! I’m wondering if other people are balancing other halves who can eat without worry and who love love nice drinks and treats! 🙂
Hi paintpaper and welcome, you have found the right place, everyone is so supportive here. My husband isn’t doing the 5:2, apart from the fact that he has the same dinner as me just with added carbs. He is doing a lot of work on our house, so has lost weight just because of the extra physical activity – and he likes a small beer and some crisps after a hard days work. So I work my way around it, by doing our evening meal as I have described, and he doesn’t really notice. I tend to make something with fish, which is generally low calorie. He does eat healthily on the whole though, so it could be worse. Good luck with your journey and hang in there. Reading back over the posts on here from the beginning is really interesting and helpful.
Good luck.
Glad to hear you also went over the top on the Sunday fast JIP!
The hubby wasn’t fasting so I made him a chicken bacon mushroom tomato gnocchi sauce. I had a very small helping with a few gnocchi. Well, it WAS very cold and I needed to sleep. Had a small glass of red too, but as a maintainer that is all fine. It IS worth the hard yards to get to this point ladies 🙂 Purple
Well done LUVT! 🙂
You sound as if you will stick with this. Way to go, girl.
Am lying on the bed after watching Germany win (it’s 9 am here) and I’m trying to keep my eyes open to read back over all the overnight posts. This thread had gone mad!
MM states that this diet removes fat, not muscle. That is what is unique about this WOE. I have found that myself. Any apparent muscle loss was really just hidden by fat before. My muscles are fine and can propel me rapidly up the steepest steps, despite my now quite skinny body. I don’t want to look like a weightlifter, anyway.
There might be something in your temperature theory, Precious,. We both plateaued all through summer and started losing again in Autumn. Interesting!
Keep up the good work everyone. Purple
Good morning all and Happy Bastille Day to our Francophile LOACAs.
LUVT – million congrats for your breakthrough. Precious’s award well deserved.
Precious, you deserve another award yourself for your ‘honeymoon’ weight disappearing.
Hi paintpaper, my husband is of normal weight and only has to cut out biscuits and cake to lose whatever he needs to and has hollow legs to boot. For my own ease I don’t cook different meals on fast days but instead give him extra carbs. We eat fairly simply anyway such as grills, stir-fries and the like and I eat a small portion with no carbs on fast days.
Hi Purple, wise words as usual, thanks. Listened on the radio on the way to work to hear end of world cup match. At least it didn’t go to a penalty shootout!
Felt unreasonably down after last week’s weigh-in as I had only lost 0.2kg in two weeks – I know, too impatient. Forgot to add that at least I saw a new kg number, even if x.8. Fasting today and tomorrow as usual. Decided this morning to add a little skim milk powder to my porridge, weighed a scoop and then appalled after calculated that it was 75 calories! 🙁 Not even enough wiggle room for miso and miracle noodle soup at lunch time today. 100g dry-roasted chicken breast and steamed veg for dinner.
Ow and Dw everyone. Nicky
G’day Nicky. Happy Bastille Day to you too!
I always count it as in the kg as soon as it is .9!!!! It is the best reward. I even photographed my feet and the number when I hit 59.9 🙂
I bought 3 pairs of Countryroad slacks on Saturday, massively marked down, AND in ….drum roll….SIZE 8!
I haven’t been a size 8 since I was about 10 years old.
Enjoy your fast day. We are doing French tonight. Fasted yesterday.
Cheers to all, Purple
Hi again all.
Purple, well done on size 8 and Country Road slacks, marked down too – bargain! Comment est l’ecole francaise va? (hope that makes sense, haven’t used high school French since spending some months in New Caledonia years ago).
I will be happy if I ever reach that promised land size 12 (unless the sizes have been changed since I last looked about 100 years ago). I’m pretty comfortable in my size 16s and the zips are getting easier to do up but very much looking forward to getting reacquainted with the smaller stuff which was banished to the back of the cupboard years ago.
Recalculated my skim milk powder addition to porridge and obviously brain not working before, so have just come back from yoga (tingly and warm all over) to a bowl of miso soup and about 50g miracle noodles. This is the first time I’ve tried the noodles so hope no unfortunate digestive effects (I don’t have a colon due to Crohn’s disease in my 20s so have to be a bit careful of new things). Interesting texture!
Happy Monday all, Nicky.
Happy Bastille Day LOACAs, today is also my wedding anniversary – I’m fasting tomorrow so I can celebrate a bit tonight. My husband does not need to FD, he had an extended period of inactivity that lead to someone shrinking his trousers so he had to go up a size but now he’s back to normal activity those next-size-up trousers are held up with a belt and very baggy.
I found my tape measure again and wish I’d taken more measurements before I started 5:2. The scales seem to have been stuck for a while but when I entered my new measurements in the FD weight and measurement tracker it showed, with encouragingly steep lines, where the changes are… nearly all my kgs have come off my hips hooray. I’m doing a lot more walking and even a bit of jogging with a lot less sitting so that helps.
Well done BooBoo losing those unwanted holiday souvenirs, congrats to all the barrier breakers and Purple with size 8 Country Road pants.
VM
Hi Presciousbobo, I was surfing this forum and came across your post about insomnia on fast days (I mainly contribute to Auriga’s maintaince thread). I read a study years ago on insomnia and a team of doctors in a sleep lab wrote that, out of all the foods they tested for the best sleep inducement, lettuce came out on top. Ah, Ive also just found an article (google it) by Anne McIntyre described as “a food expert” with a lettuce tea recipe for insomnia. It’s worth a try – its gotta be better than doing housework in the middle of the night, as I know one “expert” suggests!
Hi dp66
Have you tried using real old fashion oats (20gms on fast days. 30-40 normally) cooked quickly on the stove in water only? Cook until still quite wet. Serve with lots of blueberries or strawberries or both. Nothing else. It IS sweet and moist. Delicious. Very filling and low cal. Also low GI. So it sustains.
Real old fashion oats are much better and cheaper.
As Bayleaf says, the way to go with this WOE is back to basic homecooking.
Try it. Let me know what you think. 🙂 Purple
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9:22 pm
11 Jul 14