Holidays and after the holidays

This topic contains 13 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by Debster251 8 years, 1 month ago.

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

Qsue

12:02 am
6 Apr 16
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The whole idea of 5:2 for me was that I could lose weight now I am older but still enjoy life. I always gain a bit on my feast days but I lose enough on my 2 fast days that overall I usually lose around 200 grams a week. (I live in Australia so it is kilograms over here.) However I have just been on my first holiday since I started the diet six months ago and I am finding it really hard to get back to my good habits.
I tried to fast when I got back and I couldn’t. I felt tired, I felt sick, time stopped and I felt super hungry. I ended up eating up all the Easter and holiday leftovers including some chocolates I was given to take to my 86year old mother- oh dear stealing chocolate from an OAP.
I went for a week away to a house by the beach at Port Elliot SA with lots of family and each day we had large communal meals and it was great but I could not even start a fast. I kept telling myself to just relax and that when I got home I would get back into my normal routine but it is really hard to restart.I have gained 2 kilos in my week away and overeating since I got back and I am worried I am going to undo all my good work but it is not at all easy to get back on the horse.
I am going to start my second post holiday fast today and I hope I can stick it for the 36 hours.
I read this forum regularly and know lots of you do enjoy holidays and it would be good if we could share our experiences on where we have been and how to manage when we get back on the 5:2 diet.

MelindaShay

6:05 pm
6 Apr 16
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Hi Qsue,
I’ve been doing ADF for approx. 4 weeks now. I have had several holiday feasts throughout the month and the key is getting those fasting days done isn’t it?

I have found that making the decision each morning and not questioning if I can do it helps. It feels empowering and I remind myself I can have whatever I am wanting tomorrow.

Most days that works. Some days it hasn’t. I call those the “hard” days. I just try to get through the hard days, and decide to do this again the very next day hoping it will be an “easier” day.

It sounds like you need to get a good fasting day under your belt to get your confidence back up. No need to “hope” you can do it, of course you can. Some days are just harder than others.

Qsue

10:42 pm
6 Apr 16
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Hi Melinda
It certainly was a hard day but as you say we have to keep going.
I am on a fast today and it is easier. It is all about discipline and knowing that tomorrow you can eat and being determined.

It is also a bad idea to have tempting foods in the house like tubs of ice cream, chocolate or peanut butter. When I came back from my holiday I had left overs that I had bought home with me. We have eaten them all now or I have binned them.

I hope you have an excellent week and successful fasting.

MelindaShay

1:35 pm
7 Apr 16
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Congratulations on getting through your hard day yesterday! I hope it is an easier day today. Seems like everyone says the first 2 to 4 weeks are the hardest to get used to….but I hope it is getting easier for you since you have been doing this for so long.

I am finding that while I can almost always white knuckle my way through a fast day, on my eating days it is very hard to stop at appropriate portions of the foods I have been wanting on fast days. I think I will start calling my eating days Maintenance days to remind myself.

I agree – must get the tempting foods out of the house on my maintenance days! I have good intentions of eating salads, bean soups and reasonable portions of eggs and bacon, but when there’s banana bread or croissants in the freezer my weaker moments can get the best of me!
Have an excellent week and happy fasting Qsue!
Cheers

Qsue

9:57 pm
10 Apr 16
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Hi Melissa
I am nearly back to my pre holiday weight after 4 fasts of 36 hours each in two weeks despite all the excess eating while I was away. Only 500g to go and then and I will be back to my pre holiday weight.How good is that. I know a lot of people don’t like to weigh or measure themselves but I am a scales tragic and weigh every day.

I know it is so easy to over eat on the feast days and I love to eat. I finished off my granddaughter’s left over chocolate croissant in an instant when I went out for coffee with my daughter’s family on Saturday. I don’t stick to my TDEE or count calories on my feast days I would fail every day and give up.

I manage by having lots of great healthy non processed foods in the house and I have a sensible recommended eating plan which is quite generous as a general guide line and some good healthy cookbooks so I can make delicious meals if required and desserts etc. Like most people I have a few favorite meals and snacks I generally tend to stick to.

Also like most people who have always struggled with their weight and come from chubby families I also love to eat and overeat and I find the only way to limit this is to not store some foods in my house. If I do buy trigger foods and I know I will eat them as soon as I am on my own such as a tub of ice cream with half left over after a family meal then I give the rest of the tub away or I bin it. I have learnt I have to be ruthless or all the lovely chocolate I buy for the kids, all the extra cakes and biscuits etc etc end up being eaten by me. I try to keep my home environment as controlled as I can but I still make sure there are plenty of good unprocessed foods around that I can eat without feeling guilty.

I find the 5:2 diet does require discipline but you can still live your life, enjoy yourself and still manage to get in the healthy weight range. I have been on this diet since last August now.

All the best Melissa and happy fasting this week

HappyHerts

12:11 pm
11 Apr 16
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Hello. Really interesting to read your posts. I just wanted to say that I feel that it’s very much two steps forward and one step back for me, it’s slow-going but feels more natural and healthy for my body that way. During holidays and Christmas/Easter etc, I just put fasting on the backburner, or squeeze in a day here or there if I can (which usually ends up being one fast day a week), but don’t beat myself up about missing any. I suppose I am putting in minimal effort and getting minimum return, but the main thing is I am seeing some results even though they are small. I really love my food so am just eating normally (for me) on the other five days (which I imagine is well over my TDEE). After just over 6 months fasting now I’ve really got into the swing of what works best for me meal-wise and it all just seems to come naturally now. In this time I have lost a little under a stone. Good luck to you both.

MelindaShay

4:27 pm
11 Apr 16
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Congratulations Qsue!!!!! What a great come back…..that has got to feel so great!

Thanks for the reminders and the insight about not keeping those dangerous trigger foods around. I went through a really exciting couple weeks where I wasn’t even tempted by the goodies in the freezer that I like to keep on hand for my kids so I got overconfident about my willpower to just avoid them. I thought maybe I had shrunk my stomach and would be able to eat normally – but during a bad week it would have made a huge difference to only have healthy (though still appealing) foods in my house. I still have a few items I better just toss out for just those occasions. 🙂

HappyHerts – thanks for sharing your experience. Two steps forward and one back has been my experience too. The fact that you are steadily losing is very encouraging. Getting the scale to go down instead of up is such an accomplishment no matter the speed it is happening.

I absolutely feel like fasting is a game changer for me – no matter how guilty or bad I feel about a past day *one* day of fasting and I am back on track. I also find that all the little tricks that have helped in previous weight loss attempts are also important for me to stick to as well – it is going to take every bit of knowledge, help, science and encouragement to get me to a healthy weight. (I lost 25 lbs last fall on a slow carb diet and about 15 more fasting since March 1st.)

I am so grateful for your posts and this website for the ideas and evidence of this working for others.
Thanks for sharing and happy fasting!
Cheers

Qsue

8:37 am
13 Apr 16
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Hi Melissa and Happyherts
I am so glad we are doing this it is such a positive thing to do. I have now lost all the weight I gained over my indulgent holidays in just four fasts over two weeks so I am happy.
I am now setting another short term goal to lose another 5 kilos.
Losing a stone is excellent Happyheart obviously this is also the diet for you. So we have both been on the diet for six months and we are both still going which is great. I’m sure we must be building up some good habits.

I started this diet after seeing my cousin lose weight two years ago. I asked her at Christmas what was she doing and she told me it was really easy and she had lost 15 kilos which is about 37 lbs. I read the books but it took me until August, seven months later, after two overseas holidays to be motivated enough to start. I met my cousin for lunch recently and we both had a good talk about how it actually works and how her cholesterol levels have gone down. Like you Happyhert she doesn’t follow it all the time but she has certainly changed a lot. I just feel I have dodged getting Diabetes 2 which is rife in my chubby family.
I too have a lot of experience and losses on Atkins, Weight Watchers and others. I have had successes and then regained the weight. I was thinking of myself as a failure of dieting until I read somewhere that failures still provide you with knowledge and experience that can help you succeed in the long term. I think that also inspired me to try the 5:2 and as you said Melissa it gives you tricks and techniques to keep going.
All the best and happy fasting

HappyHerts

12:48 pm
23 May 16
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Hello, I just wanted to add my holiday experience. Just spent a little over a week in Cornwall. I didn’t fast during this time at all; just lived off cream teas, veggie pasties, normal dinners, then lots of treats, including the disgusting habit I adopted of spreading clotted cream on slices of cake!! I had a whale of a time. The rest of the time I just walked and walked; through bluebell woods, tracks, beaches, harbours and town. Once home I decided to get back into the swing of things pretty soon, but made the decision not to weigh myself as I thought that may just be counterproductive – I didn’t want to be upset if I’d put on [a lot of] weight, when really I was happy that I’d had such a marvelous holiday. I didn’t want food to have become an issue when I should just have been enjoying myself. Therefore, I have decided to not weigh myself for a month (saying that I am a pretty intermittent weigher anyway). Happy holidays everyone, and just enjoy yourself, you’re not falling off any wagons, just having a little holiday from fasting.

onlyel

3:45 pm
13 Sep 16
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Hi all,
My first post on here, until now I’ve been searching for all the advice, now I feel I can contribute too.
My first holiday (since starting 5:2 in April 2016) was in August, leading up to it I was searching for the magic answers to how to get through the summer family holidays and not undo all the work I had achieved, which was slow for me. In the end I had no magic answer other than to enjoy myself, but be mindful to not overdo it. With that in mind two weeks later and I had really enjoyed all the eating I did whilst away. I came back home dreading the scales and also not enjoying the bloated feeling. The very next day I weighed myself and I was surprised to have gained 5lb and almost undoing all the hard work. But I channelled my energy into putting my mind back into 5:2 way of living and 2 weeks post-holiday I managed to get back to my pre-holiday weight. Now I feel happy to continue on my 5:2 life, although I do often get frustrated with how slow the progress is for me.
So bottom line advice for those looking for it, and mental note for myself…. Live the intermittent fasting life, and when it’s time for a holiday or special occasion just pause your mind set – enjoy your time and un-pause when you get back to life’s routine.

inkyford

6:10 am
27 Sep 16
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Thanks for sharing.

Debster251

4:21 pm
27 Sep 16
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Hi everyone, I usually post on another blog, but was browsing and came across this. I have lost a stone since I started, and have managed weekends away quite well, but am just about to embark on the holiday of a lifetime – 2 months in Oz and NZ, including a cruise. Any advice for managing my weight during my time away? I so want to not come home with that stone on again!

simcoeluv

5:27 pm
27 Sep 16
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Hi Deb and welcome:

Your upcoming holiday sounds great and it sounds like you have decided not to diet during that time. So I guess you can expect to regain some weight!

I travel extensively and have found that skipping meals whenever possible helps. I don’t skip or worry about eating meals I really want to eat – I enjoy them thoroughly. But if there is really no reason to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner that day, I don’t. I usually manage to return weighing about the same as I did when I started.

Much of the weight you will gain will be water weight that you can lose quite quickly after you get back on 5:2.

So have a great time!

Debster251

10:16 am
28 Sep 16
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Hello Simcoeluv, thanks for the advice. I do intend to diet in some shape or form -I’ve only about half a stone to lose now and would hate to give myself another mountain to climb? I had thought of picking two convenient days and just eating dinner. It’s the lack of control that concerns me. I weigh myself every day and won’t have that facility to monitor how I’m doing!