I’m just hopping out of the cave and dropping into the forum to wish you all a really Joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year. Jade & Annette, thanks for holding the fort and a special cheers to you both.

Also, I wanted to say it’s been lovely sharing the struggles with you all this year and enjoying the laughter and feeling the love when it all goes pear-shaped. Ironically (or not) I have actually lost about 5lbs in the last couple of weeks, no idea how it’s happened psychologically although clearly it’s because I haven’t eaten so much (D’oh). It’s Christmas Eve day right now and I have a few last food-related things to pick up – it’s mainly seafood & salads in this part of the world, with 39o Celsius forecast for tomorrow – just over 102 degrees in the old money – and a lot of the day will be spent in the pool. I know your celebration will be very different 🙂

So, I’m off to pick up smoked salmon & prawns & champagne – CHEERS to all of you on the successes this year and I’m looking forward to us all being big losers in 2016. Spring xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Well done Spring!
I went down with an ear infection and have left unwell, but the antibiotics are working well and I am much better now. Trapped indoors by high winds and driving rain. Plan to get out tomorrow for a walk come what may.

I have eaten far less this year than last, so that is a relief. I have discovered that mince pies/Christmas cake and pudding are…uninspiring. I don’t think that I will bother with any of this next year. I can nly think that less sugar in my diet has caused this transformation somehow. I am cured!

I have eaten and drunk whatever I liked but I have found that I want/need less to eat or drink to feel satisfied. I have eaten chocolates but haven’t had the desire to scoff the lot, which is a surprise. I am thrilled with how the holidays have gone on the food front.

It is a lot cheaper and I have been far less stressed. I have managed to re gift most of the chocolates and shared out what is left. Another day of left overs tomorrow and then it will be a relief to get back to some brown rice and pasta!

I couldn’t cope with 39C, but I am very jealous of prawns and champagne by the pool. Sunshine? How wonderful, just grey gloomy days here.

Just 5 days until the start of 2016…lets be kind to ourselves with our goals for the new year. I am aiming for another inch off my waist.

Hi Queen, I’m so glad you had a nice Christmas – holiday indulgences are the norm. There could be something to that gene theory BUT I have to also remind myself that indulgences are part of life. No need to feel bad about those (easier said than done).

Annette, I hope you’re feeling better! With the cold weather, that sounds like no fun. However, if it’s helped your feeling so-so about the sugar treats, perhaps a blessing in disguise 🙂 How brilliant that you have found this cure. And by scientist, I mean you are good at using the logic of cause and effect. Some people (my students especially) have no sense of it. That or they don’t care enough to find the link, but rather just want to finish the assignment and move on. Those who do care are always a bright light.

Queen I’ve noticed since cutting my sugar intake – not quitting cold turkey by ANY means – I am less nutty all around. I was determined to enjoy my sweets this Christmas, and let me tell you I still loved them but in a nicer way. I didn’t start to glow and levitate and half lose consciousness with sugar lust lol (and how odd that the doctor’s name is Lust-ig?). It was a slow road, months in fact, but it sounds as though it has started to work for you, right? Keep going – when you can’t replace the simple carbs with whole versions, make them a small part of the meal, savor them but then turn to the veggies and protein.

OK yet another holiday gathering for me tonight – I’m bringing nuts, mozzarella rollups with ham, and of course grapes (the liquid kind as well 🙂 – ). Take care lovely Islanders – we will get there xx jade

Right?! I don’t feel deprived either. Truth be told, I’m NOT depriving myself, I’m having whatever I like, but the mania is absent. I’m sure I could find it if I broke a fast with sugar ie a cream doughnut, but I don’t really want to go back to that. I used to enjoy that momentary insulin “hit” but after that was not so enjoyable. I’m pretty darn happy to still enjoy the treats and walk away before I can ruin that feeling. Cheers!! xx

Oh dear, please don’t tell me caffeine is bad…! It is my biggest comfort on FDs. And actually, I’m sure there is truth to the genome thing, or more simply put that different things affect different people at different times. So even if someone told me coffee was a trigger, I wouldn’t think so at least for me. I enjoy sipping it until almost mid-afternoon most days, sometimes adding a splash of real cream so that I don’t feel in any way deprived. And I am saying all that with as straight a face as possible because my tummy is growling like a hyena. So once again I’m doing some quiet reflection about how coffee with cream is oh so heavenly and I don’t need lunch.

So Queen I read an article today about the genome business that referred to a new book called the “doctor on demand diet” – On Barnes & Noble I was able to read a sample and honestly it sounds like the same thing Annette has been telling us for free 🙂 And it is all based on the science of testing hypotheses, i.e., what sets each person off on an eating tear. First the doctor apparently says to cut simple carbs (refined wheat mostly) and sugar for 10 days, then test yourself adding back in some carbs for 10 days. Not sure what comes after that but I don’t think the book is worth buying. We already know all this stuff. It’s just hard to do until you see or feel the results.

I’m lucky to no longer struggle through TOM problems, but you can test that out as well. What sets you off the most then? Is there a substitute? Even if there isn’t, and if you overeat whole foods, the cumulative effect is going to happen. It has to. Your blood sugars will normalize.

I wonder if oatmeal (porridge) could be a culprit for you? Do you use a whole-grain type – not sure if there is such a thing, but I’ve read that steel-cut oats are better than quicker-cooking oats. They’re all yummy, so why not look into that. I sure do love whole-grain bread, so avoiding the refined-wheat bread is a cinch for me. Avoiding the cookies, cakes, candies…well, that’s the hard part because there is no easy substitute. I just had to stop turning to them. Hence my temporary addiction to grapes! But lo and behold the insanity for grapes also quieted.

And that’s what I mean when I say the cumulative effect WILL happen for you if you stick with it, even if you’re overdoing the whole foods. The body is smarter than the mind sometimes. I’m not saying I’ve found the key to perfection, I mean I’m not even close, but I’m starting to realize I’m closer to normal. I just have to steer toward better foods and away from those that make me crazy, and if I decide to take the scenic route through CandyLand occasionally, it’s fine to enjoy the sights for a bit and then jump back on the 5:2 highway. Hey that’s not a bad metaphor if I say so myself.

I know you have said you can binge on anything, but I wonder if when you feel that way you are turning to foods with refined grains or sugar in the thought that this whole thing isn’t working so why not. I know the feeling, I have been there many times. I think I kept going with the whole foods focus just because I had bought such gigantic sacks of lentils, etc. that I couldn’t afford NOT to use them 🙂 and after I don’t know how many weeks, things did start to shift. To the point where now, I still love sugar OH YES I do, but I don’t eat as much because I don’t need as much to feel happy. Unlike you, Annette, I find they taste as good in reality as they have in my head :0 BUT I’m still satisfied without fully jumping into the bag and trying to blast off to the moon in it.

So wow this is getting really long – if you’re still reading, the bottom line is I hope you try this for a month, and if necessary just eat the living **** out of whole foods, binge on apples and peanut butter, and I’ll bet your body will eventually drag you kicking and screaming into a better place. That is basically the story of my Fall 2015, so yes if I am preaching it is because I feel like I went through a conversion of sorts. And this time ladies, it is NOT a virus. (And FYI I did have one this summer, a bad one, and you’d have thought I’d have lost more weight from it than I did is all I can say…lol).

love you Islanders – sorry to ramble — jade xxxx

I hope it helps, Queen – I’m also quite stubborn, and I rejected this whole idea until Annette would just not stop with the chemistry (lol thank goodness) and then she started to succeed, and it was hard, but she kept at it and kept gradually getting better. I mean, Annette is one of us, and like she said, “if I can do it, anyone can.” Those words always get to me. Maybe because, like you, I tend to think that I’m the hardest case on the planet.

Now, my change is different from Annette’s, but it’s a good change nonetheless. I still love simple carbs and sugar (preferably wrapped up in the same morsel!) but just not in that Godzilla way. So I don’t need a ton of it. I’m still an emotional toddler about it though, I have this internal lecture loop that goes something like “you’ll feel like s*** for hours if you eat all that.” And I don’t want to feel like s*** for hours anymore, maybe because I feel so much healthier from forcing these darn whole foods down my throat. Seriously I did have to force myself a little at first. I grew up with white rice at almost every meal.

Ugh I am starting to sound like Kevin Trudeau again. But I do feel better and I want you to feel better, too. Don’t worry if you gain a bit of weight, by the way. I did – remember how I whined? But it was all part of some detox phase I think. I was overeating because I still desperately wanted a doughnut, so I ate 10,000 grapes instead. HA. And peanut butter (and not one silly 2 T serving either) with grapes on wholewheat toast. Anything to stifle Godzilla. I think maybe I just drowned Godzilla in grapes. Whatever, he went away. He’s still nearby though – last night I almost had to slap myself with the spoon I was using to dig into frozen cool whip, which technically is plastic and sugar and probably something they swept up off the floor. Honestly jade?

Anyway we’re all in this together – I know you can do it. If I can, oh dear God believe me, anyone can. In the meantime, I’m still working on my goal, so I’m toiling away right beside you. jade xxxx

Oh please do NOT feel guilty. I am teasing, except as to my own stubborn self. Had you not kept on about it, gone ahead yourself, slipped up (that is a biggie – I don’t copy perfect people), kept going, and proven it works, I’d have never given it a go. I am seriously that skeptical. No good reason to resist the simple notion of eating whole foods, except I did not want to numb my sweet tooth. I wonder if that’s how drug addicts feel, a sort of tenderness for the drug because it gives them pleasure? Now don’t anyone get carried away, I’m not giving up sugar or calling it a drug or poison. But it was a habit that was controlling me and I do not like to cede control to anything. Remember the song I am Woman Hear Me Roar? I loved that song. All right, sermon is over! Back to my cave. 🙂 xxxxxxx

Annette, yes it’s been an interesting experiment – and credit to you for going first. I know you’re not THE first, but I wouldn’t have followed the recommendation of just anyone. I needed to hear from someone I knew had really struggled. Dr L does not conjure up the image of a struggler 🙂

I thought of you last night as I was cooking lentils to secretly add to a pot of chili 🙂 I boiled just a cup or so of them with beef broth in a separate pan, and yikes, it was like the loaves and fishes, the never ending lentils! But having a bunch ready to go in the fridge is a good thing, too. My 10-lb sack should last forever at this rate.

My sweet tooth was acting up this week, maybe because I’ve been eating this delicious ham, which I realized I had glazed…with the packet…that was pure sugar, to which brown sugar was added. Oops! I’ve also made regular visits to the Christmas treat stash. I’ve thought of doing a FD today but that is highly unlikely 🙂 Well, next week, it’s back to the low-sugar playbook. Tomorrow we’ll have the ham with black-eye peas and cabbage to usher in 2016 with luck and fortune – that’s as close to the traditional meal as I can get.

Happiest of new years to all the Misfit Islanders – the group has dwindled but maybe the drifters still check in from time to time. I’m sticking around, even hanging a few paintings in the cave. Hugs — jade xxx

Ha Annette, you raised smart kids, and maybe got a bit zealous with the lentils? They do hide pretty well in soups or stews, in fact I may sneak some into my cabbage rolls today if I ever crawl into the kitchen for more than coffee refills. I took a ride on the whiskey express to sugarland last night, after which I had untold sweets and then THREE diet cokes, let me just say it was a massacre of my newfound virtue.

So today is as good a time as any to renew my health vows. I picked up 3 lbs over the holidays but pfft, I actually look fine (feel like utter crap) but I do not want to stay in the sugar trap. Funny how when I have it, I want the diet coke – weird. Need to figure out how to have a few cocktails without turning into an effing gigantic hummingbird. Thank heavens for the knowledge that hunger will not kill me but will lead me back to sanity. That and a couple of ibuprofen 🙂

Happy New Year to you – let’s stay safe and healthy all year shall we? xxx

Ha, there’s a scary image – but I’m finally back on the FD wagon as of yesterday and feeling much better. After the debauchery of NYr’s Eve it was slow going but felt almost therapeutic.

My cabbage rolls turned out to be a good FD meal, so I’ll share what I did in case anyone’s interested. Saute onion, sweet pepper, minced pork (really not very much – maybe half a cup, just for flavor and luck), add 2-3 tomatoes (canned), big spoon of tomato paste, can of rinsed black-eye peas, 2 c cooked brown rice, a cup or so of cooked lentils. Simmer together with whatever spices, salt, etc., then put a heaping spoon of that into each cabbage leaf, roll it up and brush with tomato sauce, bake for 30 min or so. I boiled the whole cabbage for a few min to soften up the leaves, then used about 10 of them. Maybe I was just super hungry but hubs and I both thought it was delicious. Too tired to figure out calories, but I’m saying 3 = 500ish. I went to bed hungry and THAT hasn’t happened for a while 🙂

Going out with friends tonight, let’s see if I can behave. Happy weekend to you! xxx

Hello Everyone,
I am giving myself this week to keep a log and a tally of what I am actually consuming with a running tally, to keep me in order and up to my TDEE. I am also going to eat wholefoods and avoid sugar where I can for the next 7 days and see what happens. I may need another week with a gimlet eye on what I eat before I get back to FD. No rush, got all year for my goals.

The sad fact spring is that we cannot scoff how much we like, if we want to shrink. I have several goals, to be comfortable in the elusive pink shorts, to be able to wear those other winter trousers(unworn) and for my favourite shift dress(which is now tight) to be more comfortable. I plan to keep sugar out of my tea, eat wholefoods and avoid sugar when I can and to run 3 times a week just for half an hour. I want to lose another couple of inches off my waist as I have recently discovered that I am a whole inch shorter than i thought I was!

Hello Islanders! Spring lovely to see you again, I’ll take all the philosophy you can dish out. Lately I’ve discovered the island sugar cane field, and how ironic that I did so after the holidays. I wasn’t perfectly behaved then but at least had the excuse of parties. Now it’s just dreary January and the looming semester, so I guess sugar has been distracting, perhaps even a subconscious wish to extend the holidays. How’s that for philosophical (or psychological, or something).

Must cut the strings today and get back to business, in fact I’m tossing the leftover goodies before the witching hour arrives. I have too little control lately in the evenings; what IS it about nighttime that gets me going on the sweets…. But the cravings are back so thank heavens I know what to do about them. I can be armed and dangerous with brown rice and lentils at a moment’s notice, as I cooked a batch for the fridge yesterday. I think of lentils as magic now, Annette – tasty little things too. I’m upping my exercise also, not to lose weight but to find some endorphins and sunlight – and the dogs are getting a tad chubby too so it’s good for all of us.

All right back to 5:2 it is, maybe even :3 if I can stand it – I need a swift kick up the rear. So far with just coffee today I feel saner. Hubs is sick so I might even really fast my way to tomorrow. Not getting on the scale, I’ve hidden it with laundry – I can tell I’ve found some old friends that would show up there 🙂 and that’s all I need to know for now. Onwards and downwards we go – old stalwarts that we are. Hang onto your hats, and let’s get the ball rolling xxxxx

I am really quite envious of your cool weather as we swelter through an awfully hot summer. I’m not sure the sun makes any difference to food intake for me anyway, at least at the moment – it’s a nice idea to think ‘I’ll just eat salads in the heat’ but it’s more about how my brain is working (or not) that seems to drive my eating. Lizards like the heat apparently…

I had a really good FD yesterday (although with my usual inability to sleep last night which is a constant for me with fasting) so today I have to decline all invitations to ride the Lets-go-over-our-TDEE Express and remain plodding along on the virtuous path to slimness.

Well done on the running Annette, I’m sure your goals will not allude you this year. It’s always good to remember we can’t just stuff our faces and expect to lose weight and if I’ve learned anything in my life it’s exactly that.

Jade, sorry about the sugar-ambush but so glad the humble lentil has proven to be your friend (reminds me of that scene from Finding Nemo “sharks are our friends…”). I’m so very confident you’ve found the key (or keys, as I don’t think there is ever just one answer) so I expect to be hearing more good news from you, even if the pace of success is slower than we’d all like. You don’t have much to go from what I gather, whereas I have a sh*t load still to lose to reach a healthy weight – I hope to achieve that this year and hope you’ll stay around for the ride 🙂 Spring xx

I would swap crisp chilly weather with sun for the relentless grey skies and almost constant rain, in a heartbeat. I have always thought that I was born the wrong nationality and struggle with the gloom over the winter.

I think that we are all plodding, Spring, one way or another. I was 3 stone heavier than I am now and never thought that it was possible to be smaller..but it is. Just keep going with the TDEE, a couple of FD, more wholefoods, less sugar and some exercise(brisk walking is very good) all help to get to a healthy weight. I was completely convinced that i was never going to be able to get to the weight that I am, but the solution was simple, consume less of the sugary stuff.

Ha Jade! We are here together to support each other and know that we are not alone..and we’re not. I wonder what lunch choices there are today? I have a ripe avocado(160 cals per 100g and i love them) to eat for tea, so must weigh that now so that I can factor that in with my decisions for today.

I’m so glad you are here, Annette, Spring, and Queen – and others though they’ve dropped off posting** — I never thought I’d find something I could stick with. Yet here I am still, hacking away! Every FD sets things right again, and even if I don’t behave properly (there’s an understatement) I know where the reset button is.

Yesterday though was a total bulls-eye – I got through a real fast without food, just coffee, tea, and water. Don’t even feel like keeling over dead this morning, though last night was a struggle. I think back to before 5:2, you know, the diet wisdom that you had to eat breakfast, had to eat really all the time. So I did, ate when I wasn’t hungry, which for a Binger Island native is not the best weight control plan. Makes me so mad – and what Queen is discovering, and finally popular wisdom also, is that everyone’s system is different. Some people even get wound up by eating tomatoes?! For me it’s sugar and alcohol, and I sure proved that again over recent weeks. Why did I have to get so old before getting some wisdom – ha, I guess that’s how it usually works :). Spring are you still swaying? That made such perfect sense.

OK, I’m determined not to eat until at least lunch today – need a booster shot of control after the holiday bacchanal. Mmmm a ripe avocado on toast! Maybe I’ll join you, Annette. Hugs all – xx
**ps: MCCA, we crossed posts – you wonderful thing, great to see you! You are going through the VERY thing I believe we’ve all fought recently. Keep trying, it is tough going indeed after the holidays. I finally broke through and hope to stay more on course. I will send kick-up-the-*ss vibes across the waters to you. Ready, set, GO – you can do it!!

Sadly, Jade there are not enough calories free, to have the toast with the avocado. So it will be tomatoes/sliced avocado and a little dressing for tea. I have 3 ripe ones that need eating very soon!

Well done on the FD. very impressive and at least we are learning this stuff now and not never. All those years of being miserable and fat….

Hi mcca, stop lurking and join in. I had a look at the sirt foods, but don’t like many of them, so will just keep plodding on with counting up to my TDEE and learning what that looks like. Like you this way of life has been the only thing that has worked for me too, so I will carry on as well.

I did have a couple of cookies today in a weak moment and then struggled to stay awake..so I will avoid them. I cannot believe that I never made the connection between the afternoon slump and sugary stuff, and now that I have I just seem to need to confirm it sometimes!

Preparation is definitely the key to success Jade. I have been perusing the lunch options for the week and planning what I am going to have. Just 2 more avocados to go…

I suspect that the magazines etc, are all desperate to find the ‘new’ diet, which is usually nonsense anyway. The problem with the 5:2 for all those diet companies is simply that it is not making billions for those corporations. That and the fact that we will be ignoring all those messages from the food industry telling us that we need to snack and spend our hard earned cash with them. It is a threat, and needs to be rubbished by those who can see that it isn’t making them any money. Simple.

Haha, there’s always someone on the look out to make money from desperate fat people. So 5:2 is not the holy grail but I wasn’t looking for the holy grail. What I found was something, as mcca said (and WELCOME BACK!!) that actually worked after 30 years of dieting on and off. So far I’ve lost 50 odd lbs and even more amazing have kept it off (not without effort) for a considerable while. Sure, I still have 50lb to go but hey, whats 50lbs between friends?

I had never heard of ‘Sirt’ foods but a quick google gave me this list:
1) GREEN TEA
2) DARK CHOCOLATE
3) TURMERIC
4) KALE
5) BLUEBERRIES
6) PARSLEY
7) CAPERS
8) CITRUS FRUITS
9) APPLES
10) RED WINE

And in the last week I’ve had all of them except Kale & Green Tea so clearly I am doing something right (and feeling quietly smug 😉 )

I’m doing another FD today after Monday’s success and then two days of just below TDEE and I can already feel the spare tyre around my middle has shrunk so that feels good.

Keep up the good work Misfit Islanders and together we’ll get there!! Spring xx

Hi islanders – just a quick note as I dive into some research here at work. Queen great food for thought, I have been going through the same thing lately – finding I need something to help fill the gap in being satisfied. FDs not a problem thank goodness, but regular days….I’m trying too much low-carb, trying to behave when I’m not sure what behaving is, and feeling less than satisfied. Every time I try to get through a regular day without bread, I miss the texture and try to replace it with a thousand nuts or similar (though must say grapes and nuts are delicious). And Q your chocolate hasn’t got much sugar in it, does it! Must be super dark – like that red wine (thrilled to hear that’s a SIRT, whatever that means), there is some good in there. But right, Annette, can’t outrun the fork, can we…or in my case the hand grabbing the frozen blondies. I am still up 2 lbs from Christmas, feeling the squeeze in these new slacks that fit oh-so-great but now starting to muffin up a bit – like the irresistable force meeting the immovable object! Except I know I can resist and it WILL be movable lol. Catch up later – jade xxxx

I’m afraid if I have the bread (especially early in the day) there will be a LOT of drama, like maybe even a full opera. Where the fat lady can’t sing because there is an entire loaf of bread in the way….Still learning how to deal with triggers 🙂 But right, just need to keep working, and what a great way to close “just think where we might be by the end of the month.”
Eep, OH just suggested dining out tonight, and there is no time to cook as I’m still at work. Can I stick to my FD goals?? xx

That was the story of my past MONTH. Today was better b/c very busy at work. I might’ve gone over 500 at dinner but not too much. Mcca, I hope you start to feel better – it’s not making excuses to ease off the fast train when you feel crappy.

Seriously though, I flunked fasting over the holidays. I did try, at least once a week, but just didn’t make it. And if I felt bad (even if self-inflicted), there just was no way. Keep trying and one of these days you’ll get your groove back.

Queen, I reread your post, and we’re very much alike except for my sweet tooth v. your carb tooth. Same result. The only thing I can make work is to pounce when I feel good and strong enough to do this. As a mom and former superwoman, I learned to make use of every second of my time – I remember studying for the bar exam while in stirrups awaiting the annual exam (sorry if TMI, no guys here on the island though). So that’s the way I am trying to approach control – when I have it I need to run with it like a panther. It then balances out a bit when I don’t have it. There’s nothing worse when tired, sick, or just flat than to add “control your eating” to the list of things you have to do.

And it’s good to remember the sliding goal idea. If I can’t get the fast done, I can choose from other goals: TDEE, not snacking, snacking on whole foods, you get the idea 🙂 Some days nothing works but others it does, so it’s a heck of a lot better than having no days that work. love to you all – time to tote up my kcals from dinner lol xxx