Why oh why do we set “targets” in terms of weight! It is so silly in the long run none of us walk round with our weight hung round our neck. Everyone can tell when you go down a dress size rely on inches not scales, too many diets fail because weight in women in particular fluctuates so much.
This diet does work but I think more on inches than weight, I am quite petite and weight wise am not too bad but wanted to lose inches and that is exactly what has happened. Once a week is more than enough to chart progress!

Mommabear, have you looked into Hip Hop Abs Extreme, yet? It’s a form of the Insanity workout. Pretty instense cardio; no rest in between.

Since going back to my original weight loss program started last Sunday, I am happy to report that I’ve already lost 4 lbs. and this is just Wednesday. I haven’t worked out this week, but will resume today.

I need to get in the fitness mindset again and saying it can make it so.

Annette, thanks for being nice. I promise I didn’t want to offend anyone because I know everyone is so dedicated to the 5:2 diet and it works for some, it did allow me to lose 14 lbs., but that’s over the course of a year and my weight stalled, even when I started doing extreme workouts.

Anyway, the 6 Week Body Makeover works if you can adjust to doing without salt, dairy (don’t consume that too much anyway and only drink almond milk), fats, and my all-time favorite, RED WINE. You also have to consume 100 oz. of water a day to flush the system.

In 2005, I lost 46 lbs. in 6 weeks and was never hungry, but when I met my husband, he wined and dined me and I let him and gained the weight back. It’s time to lose all of the weight I want and then be serious with my mindset and enjoy good food in moderation. Nothing feels as good as looking good. I graduate from culinary school this Saturday (Soooo happy!!!! the kids were driving me EFFEN Crazy!) and with that knowledge (had most of it before school), I can concoct some low calorie meals for me and hubby.

Again, I truly appreciate your kindness because I expected a flurry of heat. If you don’t mind, I’d like to check in from time to time to let you know of my progress and, if possible, post some before and after pics.

Have a profitable day!

I promise you, this is the most supportive thread I’ve ever been on and if I could, I’d bring a loud applause to each and every one of you for your kindness and support of each other. Now, more about my favorite subject: Me!

I’m doing well and my husband decided to join me on the plan last Friday weighing 182.6 lbs.(5/23/14) and today 5/26/14)he weighs 178 lbs. and it has only been 4 days in for him. You can best believe since he is male, he will surpass me on his journey and I’ll be following behind. Men lose quicker than we do, but it’s all good. He said he would eat whatever I cooked and he has. The surprise to him is we eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. He said it’s too much food and I said that’s the premise of the program, you eat more and exercise less and you lose the weight really quickly. Also, you must drink at least a gallon of water a day. I think it flushes out toxins, salt, keeps you hydrated so you won’t mistake thirst for hunger.

I mentioned this in an earlier post that I was on this plan about 9 years ago and lost 46 lbs. in 6 weeks without starvation or weakness. Sounds like a Godsend, right? My problem was I couldn’t or wouldn’t let go of my craving for salt, butter, cream, rich sauces, red wine (the good stuff!) and after a year on the program, I slowly fell from grace and gained it all back, plus five pounds. Lesson well learned. The program is geared to be a lifestyle changer and you can stay on this program for the rest of your life as it has a maintenance program to keep you in your target weight and a forum. I don’t think the forum is working so well, but I go there daily to get recipes and read success stories. Numerous women who were considered by their physicians to be morbidly obese are down to size 2s and 4s and even 0s. I never got down that far, but I think this time around on it, I’ll go a little on the skinny side.

Anyway, I’ve resumed my workout Hip Hop Abs Extreme yesterday and decided I would do it at least 3x a week for 90 days and then switch to another workout dvd for another 90 days, and so on.

At my last weigh-in I was down from 182.4 lbs. to 176.4 lbs. as of last Saturday morning. After my graduation last Saturday from culinary school, we went out for lunch and we did eat salads that were off-plan because of the salt and dressings, but we still lost weight. My next weigh-in will be next Saturday morning and I will post you my progress. I’m still trying to do the HHA Extreme Abs portion of the workout. Good God! It’s sooo difficult, sitting in a “C” position and rocking from one side the next without break and then to spread your arms wide and do it again and then, raise the opposite leg in the air, while still sitting in a “C” position (curved and leaned back), you touch or reach for your toes on the opposite leg, while actively contracting your abs! Whew! That hurt just talking about it, but little by little, I’ll get there.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial day, but if you are a day ahead of me, then I’ll drink an extra glass of water for you.

Take care.

Annette, you can pull a pair of jean up without undoing them? Good God! Way to rock it.

Hi y’all, Annette, my daughter is thrilled with the loss. she has always been skinny, so the weight she gained over the past couple of year has been hard for her. I’m just glad she didn’t give up because it is really starting to pay off. one thing that helped I think is she really increased her water intake and cut down of other drinks ( like sweet tea)

how is your fast day going? we are fasting today too. trying to decide what to fix for supper. we have been eating salads, but I might switch it up tonight. don’t beat yourself up because you didn’t do the ADF, I think that would be really hard and if you decide to do it, might take a few weeks of trying to be able to adjust. oh, I have days that I lose control and eat WAY more than I intended. I think that makes us fully human:)

Etherial thanks for sharing the recipes. and congratulations on getting a compliment from doctor serious. 🙂 hope you had a great workout.

wishing you all a great day and good fasting. Phyllis

Hi Annette, I’m so looking forward to hearing about your friends reactions. don’t blame you on the swim, I mean I know being cold is supposed to up calories burned, but geez. 🙂

how did the weight and measure up go? I think you should totally bask in the less inches and what all you have accomplished!!

would you believe we totally forgot to measure this morning. a lot going on today and my daughter just weighed in (a slight gain,:( ) and she hubby took of to run errands. my weight was down about 6 oz, but still not lower over all. I’ve been playing with the same lb all week. 🙂

hope you and all our fast friends are having a great weekend. Phyl

Hi Annette, I’m sorry your friend didn’t mention your lose. I’m sure she noticed, but maybe was uncomfortable about mentioning it since she has regained her weight. I do understand that helpless feeling. I had decided to get rid of my “skinny” clothes and just accept that I was never going to be slimmer again. what with the health stuff and age, I just figured this was my life. Then I saw the documentary, found this wonderfully supportive place and my life changed!

oh, don’t you hate it when calories sneak up on you??? I think getting our brain adjusted to our new size and calorie needs takes a while. I bet a couple of weeks of watching it closely will be just the thing you need to get started downward again. that should give your appetite and brain time to get used to it. tell you what, I’ll join you. we haven’t really fasted well this week, so much going on, but I would like to see if I have reached my lowest or can get down lower. starting tomorrow I’ll keep track for a couple of weeks with you and we will see how we do.

hope your day with your friend goes well. my cousin just posted on facebook a picture of his lunch with the caption, “couldn’t do the shakes today”. he has lost quite a bit doing the diet shake thing. I’m trying to decide if I should share 5:2 with him. he is one of my 30 plus cousins a lot younger that I and I don’t really know him all that well. I might just post about my experience and see what happens.

good luck this week, my friend. I’m anxious and excited to see how you get on. Phyllis

Hi All – Great forum…I am a new starter on this diet. Started 5:2 2-3 weeks and have already seen reduction from 72 to 68.5 (3.5 kg in 2 weeks)

42 yr old male
BMI – reduced from 24.9 to 23.4 Target BMI – 20 (60 kg)
BMR – 1552 kcal
TDEE – 2000 kcal (between sedentary and lightly active)

I find it easy not to eat any thing during the day on the fast day …so almost have a 24 hrs water / green tea fast before eating my 550 kcal fast day diet…

This week in fact I did 4:3.

Few questions
a) will this eating style slow down my metabolism permanently?
b) I find it hard to eat on the feed day…and almost get a feeling of tired after eating.
c) ironically I almost look forward to fast day though i have only started recently. Especially if I am at work I dont even notice that it is a fast day. I suspect this is the initial exuberance. I am thinking of doing Mon & Thur fast(so far have been flexible on which days but probably would settle for those 2 days). If I decide to go for 4:3 then probably Mon, Thur and Sat

d) only problem I feel a bit tired and slightly heavy headed on the day after the diet but it goes away and not really bothersome. I try to drink lots of water on fast days.

e) Have a long way to go to my target weight of 60 which I have not been at for almost 15 years. I have not been too high either …always around 67-70 range and whenever I reach 72 I start reduction programme and then stop around 66…this time I want to take it all the way to 60 and then maintain there. Any advise for this long journey.

Gotta cook for the week on this plan, so stuffed peppers for dinner tonight made with brown rice, green onion, tomato sauce, chopped mushrooms, and a little ground turkey.

I’m also making a brown rice salad (might as well, big pot of rice), and using some leftover sliced red onion and tomatoes, green onion, carrots, arugula and snow peas. Wa-lah! Rice vinegar, a little Truvia to soften, crushed garlic, and toasted sesame seed oil.

Tonight’s dinner is tomorrow’s lunch and so on. Last night, I made Indian Curry Roasted chicken breasts (boneless/skinless). The week’s menu is done and that makes it so much easier to just reach instead of gathering ingredients. Kitchen looks good, too. Little to no clean-up.

Hello everyone, I hope you don’t mind me contributing to this post. I have read the whole thing over a few days and found it really inspirational and informative. I too have always been a slave to the scales in the past and somewhat to the tape measure too! How fabulous to realise that I can also use the way my clothes fit as a measure of the way my body is changing….I can’t believe I never really thought about this before.

I am on week 8 of a 4:3 version of the 5:2 which I am finding is getting easier each week. The first month was frankly awful…..really tough and I never managed to stick to 500 calories, but despite this the weight has dropped and the clothes are fitting better!

Anyway I just wanted to say hi to you all and to let you know how much this post has helped me! Off to cook dinner now for the family….not a fast day today and I enjoyed a rather fabulous cake at 3pm so actually not very hungry! Take care. Lynne

I decided I needed to do something about the weight that had crept on over the last 12 months at Easter. My fiancé and I went to Paris for the week and I had thrown some summer clothes into a suitcase. When we arrived I got changed and was horrified to discover nothing fit me! Everything was tight…I had put quite a few inches on my thighs and it all looked and felt awful. So I decided there and then I needed to do something.

I found a site about alternative day fasting, and then stumbled on 5:2. Since then I haven’t looked back….and have learned a lot (I hope) on the way. Mainly not to be a slave to the scales…in the past I would have been so disheartened to see such slow movement…but I know clothes are a lot looser now….and clothes I wore a couple of years ago that I have had no chance of getting into are slowly starting to fit better. I have a pair of jeans that I struggle to pull up over my butt…so these are my test pair LOVE that idea! and I am trying them on every Saturday morning.

Anyway it’s fast day today…which bizarrely I look forward to as I find it easier to plan food choices for. And the sun is shining!! Have a fab day everyone.

Lynne

Hi Lynne, oh, how frustrating it must have been to get out your clothes and find they didn’t fit. good for you for doing something about it! And, not letting the scales dictate your mood. I think the test jeans are a great idea. like Annette said, I try to use all three ways to measure how well things are going, but not let anyone get me down if it doesn’t do what I want it too. 🙂

Annette, those evenings can get really long can’t they? hope today is going well. fingers crossed for weight and measure day.

I have to tell you about my clothing adventures this week. In addition to shopping the thrift store, I shopped my daughter closet. she has always been skinny, until the M.E. struck. the past couple of years have been really hard, gaining weight in spite of herself. when most everything else has been taken away, food becomes your friend. anyhow she is doing much better now, scales and tape measure going down. the other day I was looking for a skirt to wear, they are so much cooler in the Tennessee heat( and we don’t handle heat well ) I tried on a skirt that is still too small for her, and I could find the hook on the side. She said, Mom you are overlapping it about 4 inches, it’s way too big!! I tell you that made me REALLY happy! I’m sure she will be back into it soon though, so it’s not wasted.

hope everyone is having a good day, we are fasting today, and rather looking forward to it also. 🙂 Phyllis