If your clothes are looser but the scales are the same, read on

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annette52

8:17 am
21 Aug 16
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Morning All,
Just back from another mini break which has meant meals out every day. I have to say that I ate what I liked and had dessert too on the grounds that I was on holiday. It was great to be home and finally have access to fruit again!

It is cool and wet here, so I will be making a Bolognaise for my son and I to eat half and freeze the rest for another day.The plan is to have 2 and possibly 3 FD next week in an effort to limit the damage. What I have realized though, is that I would rather eat food that I have cooked from scratch, it tastes better and I suspect will be rather better for me too. I may have thought that I might be missing out, but now I know that I am not.

Funny how what is thought of as a treat can morph into ‘makes me feel rubbish’. Another lesson learned.

LouiseJM

8:47 am
21 Aug 16
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I too would rather eat food I prepare from scratch although it is lovely to go out to eat and not have to think of the preparation.

We are going away for a week to Italy and I am not taking a calorie counter or Fitbit with me.

Please let us know how you do on 3 F days as I reckon that is what I will have to do when I get back.

annette52

1:13 pm
21 Aug 16
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That might be great optimism on my part as I have been trying to figure out how to fit in 3 FD next week with my plans, but 2 will be very good, so no stress about that. I have guests staying next weekend too and then a week of packed lunches at work. No idea what to have but need to get my thinking cap on for simple food that doesn’t need a fridge.

I have missed my end of summer goal but will now give myself another 18 weeks. Anyone guess what is happening then?

Iona72

2:10 pm
21 Aug 16
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Don’t even mention it Annette!!!
Packed lunch without a fridge is not so easy, I will have to ponder!!
Eating out and birthday cake (daughter not me) have hijacked the last couple of days but feel today is better. FD planned for tomorrow, need to get back into a routine.
Onwards and downwards!!

NearlySlimJim

8:19 pm
21 Aug 16
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Hi Annette. Well, it’s a funny thing but after last weeks weight gain of one pound I decided to have a holiday from fasting for a week, did no exercise whatever and ate whatever I wanted (usual breakfast and evening meal every day, 3 tubes of Pringles (one a day), garlic bread & pizza for tea one night, two Morrisons Big Breakfasts Monday and Wednesday with extra sausages & black pudding, a 250g bag of honey roast peanuts over the week, a can of lager every night and some soft fruit gums I found at the back of the cupboard) and when I weighed myself this morning I found that I was three pounds less than last week, which is two pounds less than I was two weeks ago before my weight went up! Amazing.

I’ll be back on the fasts and the exercising this week, so I’ll see if that makes a difference.

simcoeluv

9:36 pm
21 Aug 16
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Hi Jim:

Weight gains are common, and weight losses often come in ‘chunks’. Just think how much you would have lost if you had not eaten all of that food! This might explain: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/really-no-weight-loss/

LouiseJM

10:28 pm
21 Aug 16
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It’s all quite frustrating especially as I am going away to Italy on the 7th (yummy food and no 5:2 on husband’s orders) and I will only be at week 6 by then. I suppose the answer is I will come back weighing what I was when starting 5:2 and start from the beginning again😢

One question I have meaning to ask you guys: most of the 5 days I eat less than the specified number of calories which, according to 5:2 should be 1600 (and in fact I am using My Fitness Plan’s recommendation of 1200 which I rarely get to), is this OK or must I force feed myself more? Incidentally that hasn’t had much difference to my weight loss!

annette52

9:18 am
22 Aug 16
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Louise-have a lovely time in Italy-very jealous. I went years ago before I ate pasta and had a lot of chicken which was lovely, but I also love ice cream too!It doesn’t matter what number is on the scales when you get back as you should have been shrinking over those 6 weeks.Look to the waist, Louise, not the scales and enjoy yourself.

I have tried consuming up to my actual weight and also tried using my goal weight and find that it made little difference in terms of calories. I have tried not counting calories at all and increasing my fat intake. The biggest difference that I have found is avoiding sugar, it turns me into a lunatic looking for more…and more.Remember, Louise it is about a reducing waist line(less visceral fat-the stuff that kills) NOT the number on the scales.

Jim- I appear to have lost 5 lb too after my week away, which is rather baffling when I think about what I have eaten. However, all of my measurements are exactly the same, so I am having a week of writing down what I consume and will see if there is any improvement in the clothes/tape measure next weekend. I have run/walked a half marathon which has only used 1500 calories in 3 hours BUT I consumed 3000 calories in jelly beans and sports drinks to get me round the course. The bottom line is that you can’t outrun your fork. Exercise is great for toning and overall fitness, but more than that, for burning fat in muscles and the liver. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do something that makes you sweat and walking is great if you increase your pace rather than amble. You know, from your jackets that you are shrinking, Jim. Keep your focus on a waist of 37 inches, rather than worry about a lb gain or loss. There are times when the scales/tape measure seem to be broken but just keep going, I find that my clothes show where I am shrinking often by simply fitting better.

This is a way of life rather than a diet and I have maintained my loss after 3 years. Keep the faith and keep going.

LouiseJM

9:22 am
22 Aug 16
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Than you Annette for your words. I have lost 5lbs but hardly anything from my waist 😢😢😢😥😥😥

annette52

9:50 am
22 Aug 16
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I didn’t have a waist when I started, so you are ahead of me! That is a good loss, just keep going, you may have smaller thighs or upper arms for example.

annette52

11:31 am
22 Aug 16
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Let me be a warning to you.
Three years ago I lost 23 lb and 23 inches in 8 months, which was thrilling and then I maintained that loss until December. For some bonkers reason I thought that I would have the whole month off and proceeded to eat everything that I liked. The first of January saw me 10 lb heavier and struggling to do up anything. I lost that again over the next 6 months…maintained and then put it on again the following festive month. Clearly, something was going wrong. Could it really be that cake, pudding and mince pies? After I calculated the calorie and sugar in those small delights…fell over in complete shock…I vowed to do better last year. I did- I picked up and put down an awful lot of things in the shops once I had looked at the sugar content.Just 5 lb and found most of those delights simply too sweet, but most of all, not as scrumptious as I thought they were. I found them simply not worth either the tears and misery or the months that it seemed to take to get rid of that padding again.

This year, there will not be cake or pudding(I am the only one that likes it) and rather than bake, there will be 1 box of mince pies only.There will still be the large roast but most of it will be vegetables and there will be fruit.My goal is to simply maintain.

I am not convinced about this recent 5 lb loss either. It doesn’t make any sense.

Onwards and downwards fast friends.

NearlySlimJim

1:34 pm
22 Aug 16
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One of my friends does weight lifting and he says that after about eight weeks the body gets used to the weights and stops producing muscle, so he has to have a week off doing no lifting and the following week when he starts again it sort of shocks the body into producing more muscle. Perhaps it’s something like that on the fast diet, fast every week for eight weeks then stop losing, so have a week off and start again. I’ll go back to the three 24 hour fasts and one hour on the turbo trainer three times this week and see what I weigh next Sunday. Might have a go at the XL size cycling top too.

annette52

6:17 pm
22 Aug 16
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Or maybe I am special!

I am off to lesson number 4 of Krav Maga soon and hope that this muscle theory is correct as I haven’t been for a couple of weeks. I expect to ache tomorrow.

annette52

7:13 am
24 Aug 16
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The plot thickens..a FD yesterday and another lb off, but the inches are the same.I am intrigued to see what will happen after another FD later in the week. No closer to the elusive pink shorts either!

Thoroughly enjoyed Krav Maga and expect my overall fitness to improve over the coming weeks. Need to get back to running a couple of miles, 3 times a week too. I feel happier and taller when I do( I am short!).

annette52

7:45 am
25 Aug 16
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Further update…now 8 lb heavier than I was yesterday! Which all seems to prove to me why weighing frequently is a complete waste of time and quite demoralizing. Another sensible day for me today and then a FD tomorrow.

Onwards and downwards fast friends.

Iona72

9:15 am
25 Aug 16
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Wow Annette, what a difference. Did you compare the tape measure on both days? I think that is going to be my weapon of choice, astoundingly you have proved the scale can’t be trusted.

LouiseJM

11:30 am
25 Aug 16
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Annette, something must have been wrong with the scales. I can’t believe anyone could put on 8lbs in a day. Saturday is my weigh day (only once a week now, I used to do it every day which drove me loopy) and I will see what has happened this week with two fast days. My measurements though have hardly changed in six weeks although I have lost five pounds. 😉

annette52

12:30 pm
25 Aug 16
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Same scales used in the same place…and I used the tape measure. My clothes had already showed me that my waist wasn’t smaller.

I had known for quite some time that scales are hopeless at showing shrinkage, which is why I started this thread in the first place. I was curious and had time on my hands to see what happened over a week.

The problem with a tape measure is that it only shows a loss where that slender tape goes…and not shrinkage anywhere else. I think that clothes are the most accurate for showing you where you have lost or gained. One nightie used to go to my knees and is almost mid calf now, so there is less of me, but it is off my shoulders, upper arms and that bit between your neck(also much smaller) and the start of the boobs.

If you want to use the scales then weigh every day for a month and then work out the mean for an accurate figure. My eyes remain on the goal of a decreasing waist(around the belly button)which is refusing to budge and has been for ages. I just try and imagine that there is less visceral fat and keep going.

NearlySlimJim

3:55 pm
25 Aug 16
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Hi Annette. RougeTrader on another thread posted a link to Jason Fung’s site mentioning circadian rhythms, which suggests that the Mediterranean diet of a large meal between 12 noon to 3pm and a small meal in the evening is better than three meals a day of breakfast, lunch and a large evening meal. Seems you were quite right earlier when you said that breakfast is not an important meal. I will therefore now always bow to your superior knowledge.

https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/circadian-rhytms-fasting-17/ (read the last four paragraphs if you don’t want to wade through all the science).

NearlySlimJim

3:57 pm
25 Aug 16
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By the way, that 8lbs you put on this morning was probably the same 8lbs I lost the other week. I wonder if that’s how it works? Perhaps it just floats around in the ether until it latches onto someone. 🙂

annette52

5:17 pm
25 Aug 16
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Brilliant Jim. Know anyone who might like this 8 lb?!!

If only my knowledge was superior!!! Usually comes from Robert Lustig or Jason Fung…wish they could sort out my poor body…a medical mystery?

I need to have a smaller breakfast as I just wasn’t hungry for lunch..out with friends and enjoyed an ice cream in the warm sun, but those days are numbered.Simple chicken and salad for dinner and then a FD tomorrow.

Wonder what number my magic scales will say before and after?!!!

NearlySlimJim

5:26 pm
25 Aug 16
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I’ve stalled a bit over the last couple of weeks and I think it was because I was trying to do too much in too short a time. I’ve been doing three 24 hours fasts Monday, Wednesday and Friday 6pm one day to 6pm the next and also doing one hour on the turbo trainer on the same days burning 900 calories and ending my fast with a 500 calorie meal. Thus the exercise sort of cancels out the meal and carries the fast on until breakfast at 10am the next morning, which means I’ve effectively been doing three 40 hours fasts within a 138 hour period. It’s no wonder I’ve been stuffing my face with pizza on a Friday night!

After reading the Jason Fung circadian rhythms blog and checking out other threads on this forum, I think I may have a go at a Mediterranean Diet 16:8 sort of thing by having my main meal between 12 to 1pm, then a 2 hour siesta, then some exercise (30 minutes on the turbo trainer Monday & Thursday and a 30 minute weight training session on Tuesday and Friday) and a small snack like meal at about 8pm (soup & a slice of bread sort if thing). This is mainly to see if I can still lose weight doing this and also whether I will feel hungry on a morning as I have been when doing the fasts.

I’ll try it for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow (if I can keep it going that long) and update as usual every Sunday morning.

annette52

7:50 pm
25 Aug 16
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Hi Jim,
The Mediterranean Diet consists of olive oil, cheese, fish, meat, eggs, cream, butter, vegetables, salad,nuts BUT NO PIZZA OR PASTA! You could eat lots of lovely things that are filling and nutritious.
What do you think?

annette52

11:08 pm
25 Aug 16
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Oops, I missed out fruit.

If you are planning on shop bought soup, then don’t forget to check the sugar content. Remember that 1 teaspoon of sugar is 4 gm and some soups have rather a lot of sugar.

bigbooty

11:34 pm
25 Aug 16
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Ive got Italian parents and I asked my mum what she ate as a child thinking the reply would be pasta/pizza. To my surprise pasta was maybe a once a week treat and pizza was even less. Those were not considered staple foods but were sometimes treats!! Fast forward 50 years and now those are considered staples and biscuits cakes etc are treats. Although for many biscuits cakes etc have become staples that are eaten every day. Easy to see where our diet has gone astray.

annette52

7:28 am
26 Aug 16
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I have meant to thank you for encouraging folk to give up rice/pasta/bread/potatoes. I have most of my meals without and have to say that I feel better without them too.I have spent holidays in Italy before I ate pasta and pizza and lived on lovely chicken and fish. I make pizza when I have odds and ends that needed using up in the fridge. Even my label conscious boy conceded that mine tasted better than one from a box!

When I was a child, no one ate food outdoors(apart from a picnic). Now food is everywhere and all of the time, never mind the continual advertisements and how children are used by food manufacturers to use pester power to get parents to buy rubbish. It is exhausting, having been on the receiving end.

I wandered around the supermarket yesterday and my trolley comprised of a couple of tins of chickpeas, garlic and lemons(to make some hummus),tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, apples, oranges, bananas,avocados, chicken, steak, salmon, prawns, butter, full fat milk, walnuts and almonds. Then I looked at what other people had in theirs and how well they looked. I know that it is hardly scientific but more packaged food=less well.

My rather overweight friend(who has done all sorts of diets over the years) is trying a couple of days when she misses breakfast and now her meals comprise of meat or fish with salad or vegetables. She is shrinking although demoralized that the weight is not falling off her as it has in the past. I keep encouraging her to just keep going, that it is a way of life and note that she finds it easy to fit into her very busy social life and not feel different to everyone else…and has said that she doesn’t feel deprived and could keep this up for the rest of her life.

Scale update…2 lb less overnight.

cinderella

8:30 am
26 Aug 16
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We had a great week on the Isle of Wight, good weather for a change on a UK holiday. We had a lovely little house by the sea so very spoilt. I was disheartened on holiday though that I hadn’t been more careful before the holiday and looked more splodgy than I realised in the mirrors! Think last year before going abroad I was more focused and had done some toning exercises. Waist is now 1&3/4″ bigger than last year! Shocking. Ate lots of ice cream that I didn’t really want. Hard to find menus without chips but I did manage a few salads. So back to the 5/2, and got to stop snacking. I noticed on holiday that the slim people were very much in the minority. Husband loves ‘real’ cider which is no good for him at all so hope to reduce the carbs with his dinners. Might set us a waistline challenge as Annette has proven that it’s best to use a tape measure!

My sister has had success with the Whole30. Just read it but it it’s quite drastic so will think about it. It would help with resetting cravings which is one of my issues.

Good luck all with the tape measure / xl jacket Jim.

cinderella

8:34 am
26 Aug 16
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Oh and I went out with friends last night for pizza, would never have a whole one at home! And tiramisu which was only average, why did I do it!!

NearlySlimJim

11:27 am
26 Aug 16
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What, no pizza at all Annette, not even a little one?

NearlySlimJim

12:47 pm
26 Aug 16
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I recently bought a six litre pressure cooker and a book called The Soup Bible by Debra Mayhew, so I am able to cook some cubed chicken or beef in the small pressure cooker and a lot of cubed vegetables, beans and lentils in the large one. I use a blender on the veg when it is cooked, then mix the chicken or beef in and let it all cool down. I then divide them into meal sized containers and put them into the freezer. This makes me enough for about a week, although I also have some tins of Heinz Vegetable Soup in the cupboard in case I forget to get one out of the freezer and which only has 6g of sugar (1.5 tsp), so it’s not too bad.

On the down side, I recently filled my chest freezer with a load of grass fed beef steak mince which I love to have with a home made bolognaise sauce and I noticed that Asda sell a 3kg bag of fuisili, so I have bought 3 bags of that too which will probably last me a couple of months, which means that I may not be giving up pasta that quickly. I’m quite tempted to have a couple of pizzas tonight and start the Mediterranean thing on Monday. Must be strong!

annette52

1:38 pm
26 Aug 16
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Jim,
You are missing the point. A Pizza is going to come in between 1-2000 calories depending on the size and toppings. That is an awful lot of cycling to just break even!

Why on earth did you buy 3 bags of 3KG pasta? I only ever bought one when I was feeding 5. Keep the pasta(70g per person for a main meal-ideally the wholewheat version), it lasts for ages and see if you can construct a menu that has one meal a day without rice/pasta/potatoes/bread. You will be able to with all those lovely ingredients from Mediterranean menu and it will be delicious and filling. Then when you have mastered that for a couple of weeks, I challenge you to 2 meals a day.

If you had 1 meal of pasta Bolognaise a week and a pizza once a week, perhaps that is a good compromise and something that you could maintain? I just wanted to make sure that you were aware that a Mediterranean diet is one without pasta and pizza. It is your choice what and how much you eat..it will just take longer to reach your goals.

Never mind cinderella. Keep going and you will shrink.

FD for me today. Prawn salad for lunch. Lamb chops and vegetables for tea-scrumptious.

bigbooty

2:10 pm
26 Aug 16
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Jim,

You’ve bought 9kg worth of pasta, bought a pressure cooker and youre thinking of having pizza???????? What happened to the Mediterranean diet?? What happened to 5:2?? Tomorrow never comes.

K- Lo

3:55 pm
26 Aug 16
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THe only pasta we eat at home on a fairly regular basis is that made from beans made by Explore Asia. The bean pasta is delicious, nutritious etc. — not carb free, but loads of fiber.

Wheat pasta is a “once in a while” restaurant splurge. Except for soba which I use for only one recipe (cancelled out by loads of kimchi!!), I don’t even have wheat pasta in the house.

NearlySlimJim

9:16 pm
26 Aug 16
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I can’t help it! I walk around the supermarket, see a special offer and think ‘ooh, I’ll better buy loads of them while they are at that price’. My shed and kitchen cupboards are full of stuff I bought on special offer, it will take me years to work my way through it all. If ever the oil runs out and there’s no food getting to the supermarkets, I won’t have any problems.

I’ve already scuppered the Mediterranean Diet 16:8 thing by having peanut butter and jam on toast for my breakfast this morning; best laid plans etc (forgot what I was supposed to be doing). Start again on Monday! Managed not to have pizza for tea though , hurrah.

Sorry everybody (including mine).

annette52

8:08 am
27 Aug 16
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Hi Jim,
You can help it. We have all made changes in what we buy/eat/portion sizes and you can too. You must be a marketing persons dream. Repeat after me ‘it is only a bargain if I need it’ and that would be 1 3kg bag of pasta and not 3!

Can I suggest that you compile a list of what you have stored and the best before dates. Have you thought of donating some of it to a local food bank? Assuming that you are having smaller portions now and you already acknowledge that it will take you years to get through it, why not give some of it to those in need?

One thing I have started doing is a stock take of my freezer and then making a list of what I have and then crossing out each one as I use it. That way I can make a much more efficient shopping list of things that I need rather than be seduced by any special offers of things that I don’t need which will also take up space. After all, those offers regularly come round and they are not always the bargain that you first think, once you look at the price per 100g, there is often pennies in it.

If cost is what drives you then think about what you can learn to make and then freeze. As you are shrinking, why not put an amount of money away each week into a clothing fund, rather than buy more food? I have used charity shops a great deal as I lost weight and my shape changed, and then re donated when the items became too big.

Is there a reason why you feel the need to store so much food? Anything in your past?

The choice is yours, Jim. You make the decisions about what you eat and how much. Would it help you to write a menu plan and stick it up so that you can’t forget? I menu plan with my son every few days around his shifts and it works very well.

Have a look at LCHF with wwwdietdoctor.com it is very visual way of looking at what foods to choose and those to avoid. You might find it helpful.

cinderella

8:38 am
29 Aug 16
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Great idea re the food bank Annette. When we have pizza at home we have a half each and fill the rest of the plate with salad items, my large husband seems happy with the portions. You can freeze half a fresh pizza for another day. Glad to report after 2 x FDs and being sensible waist has gone down 3/4″.

I’ve stumbled across Michael Mosley’s blood sugar diet book, I didn’t realise he’d published something new. I’ve read it, and having read the Whole30 too I’m ‘digesting’ all this info. I’m wondering if I should buy a blood sugar test to see if I’m a TOFI, thin(ish) outside fat inside. I’m definitely carrying more round my torso than I used to. I’m worrying about my husband who is 9 years older at 54 and big built so weight creeps on and doesn’t look too bad but I think he’s several stones over weight. He thinks it is just one stone. I need to get him measured around the belly button! I think that could be easier for him than weighing. Trouble is I can’t see him giving up carbs, toast etc. His Mum was diagnosed diabetic, but she has now lost 3 stone so I think that will really have helped. Funnily that is the weight of my 8 year old son! He’s in danger of the same problem I’m sure. It’s hard when the low fat message has been out there so long, he’ll probably have a hard time accepting that sugar/carbs are the culprits.

Anyway the book is worth a look for those with lots to loose as it gets results in 8 weeks. Loads of inspirational stories in there. Wonder if I’d be able to get my husband to agree to it!

NearlySlimJim

12:40 pm
29 Aug 16
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Hi everybody, I’m back on the wagon again. After two weeks of not fasting, not exercising and eating pretty much anything I wanted to I have gained 7lbs since the Sunday a week ago, so that 3lbs loss last week must have been a fluke and I am now back to 20st. I am therefore doing a 24 hour fast today and will do a bit of exercise this afternoon on the turbo trainer, see if I can get it back off by next Sunday. The fast is harder than it was, so I expect I’ll have to get used to it all again.

When I said that I would be doing the Mediterranean Diet 16.8 I didn’t actually mean I would be following the Mediterranean Diet per se, but that I would be having my largest meal at lunchtime and a small snack at tea time (like the Greeks do apparently, according to Jason Fung) and all within an 8 hour period. The trouble is I forget I am doing this and keep have a breakfast, which buggers it up a bit. So I’ve decided to forget that idea and instead to do a 24 hour fast with the turbo training every four days, some weights in the middle of the four days and continue that every four days and on the non fast days just eat normally ie. porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch and meat & veg for tea. This should be easier to remember.

As per your suggestion Annette, I loaded the car up yesterday afternoon with all the tins of high calorie foods (curries, pies etc) that are within a year of the use by date plus two of the 3kg bags of fuisili, which I then took to my local food bank early this morning. This has made a large space in the shed, which I shall have to try very hard not to fill up again.

I’ve bought another recipe book, this time on making soups in the slow cooker. I have two slow cookers, one which has a 2l capacity which I occasionally use to make a stew just for myself and another which has a 5l capacity (and is currently hidden away in the cupboard) in which I can make three portions of soup and freeze two. These should go very well with the pressure cookers, though I have only used the large one once; I bought it with the intention of making a lot of soup and stew to freeze, but I don’t really have enough room in the freezers with all the grass fed meat stuff in there and I’ll need to leave a space because last week, before I read your post Annette, I ordered some 1.25kg beef joints from the grass fed meat supplier which I shall be freezing too. I only have one a week, roasted with veg for an evening meal and use the rest in sandwiches.

The reason, if you would like one, is that my neighbour loves gammon steak and beef steak mince, but there is a minimum price for free delivery and he cannot afford to buy a lot in one go. This time he just wanted the gammon which was on special, but he did not want any mince so I added the beef joints to make up the order. I think I’ll not be able to make much soup for a couple of weeks until I’ve cleared a space in the freezer.

cinderella

11:02 pm
30 Aug 16
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Well done Jim re the food bank! Keep soldiering on.

annette52

9:16 am
4 Sep 16
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Hello Everyone,
I wanted to share with you the tale of my very dear friend who has been on all sorts of mad diets over the years and has lost vast amounts of weight very quickly, only to put it all back on again and then some when she cannot stand the diet restrictions anymore. I have encouraged her to try avoiding bread/pasta/rice/potatoes and to switch the focus of meals to protein with salad or vegetables. She is very sociable and eats out several times a week with different friends and family.
She started in January and to date has lost 2 and a half stone, which she would regard as a very slow loss, but the difference is that she said yesterday that she can see her maintaining this way of life for ever. She has rice/pasta/potatoes if she wants to when she dines out but the biggest difference for her is to stop snacking and limit herself to 3 meals a day. If she wants to have cake, then she does but regards that as a meal and often finds that she rarely finishes it as it is never as fabulous as she thought it was going to be.She started fasting a couple of days a week but cannot actually remember when she started doing that which is amazing as she would always know how long she had been miserable.
She had several weeks of the scales not moving and was getting rather despondent but kept going and is shrinking again. The clothes that she is wearing are too big for her and clothes that are a size down are getting close to being worn. She is delighted and so am I.
Habits are difficult to change but not impossible. I am always surprised how little food I need to eat to be nourished and healthy. My challenge is what food will be available next week when term starts.
Well done Jim, on the food bank. Why do you want to store food in the shed? Have a look at the number/size of sandwiches and see if you can eat the meat without the bread for a few days a week.
Cinderella, why not try menu planning as a family and reducing the amounts of pasta per portion? I found that no one noticed having less pasta. When I started to make tomato sauce instead of jars, there was initial complaints but I dug my heels and in and showed them ho much sugar was in each jar. I also stopped buying fruit yoghurts and chocolate mousse in those little pots. There was some moaning but they got used to it within a short time. If you don’t buy the rubbish…then they can’t eat it. Try getting your son onside by showing him the WHO guidelines are for 6 tsp sugar/day and then look at how many gms sugar that you are eating in everything from jar sauces to baked beans and soup…never mind breakfast cereals. Approx 4gms sugar per tsp. What has your MIL changed to have lost 3 stone? Remind your husband that a healthy waist(around the belly button) measurement is a minimum of 37 inches, but ideally less than half your height. Do you make your own pizza? I often made them with my boys and found that they would use less toppings that I would have chosen, plus we used to make small individual ones and eat them on smaller plates. They were not salad fans.

NearlySlimJim

10:43 am
4 Sep 16
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Hi everybody. Well. my one week holiday from the fast diet has stretched to three weeks and I am now back up to 20st which is an increase of 8lbs on what I was three weeks ago, so it’s definitely back on the fasts from teatime this evening and the exercise from tomorrow afternoon.

I’ve been existing for the last week on a tube of sour cream and onion Pringles for breakfast everyday (they were on special), pastrami salad sandwiches with mayonnaise for tea and a few chocolates from the tin of Heroes that my friend bought me for helping him out the other week. Fortunately I have finished the Pringles and the Heroes and will not be baking any more bread for the foreseeable future, so I can not worry about any temptations in the cupboards taunting me.

I too had some cake yesterday but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I used to do. Maybe because I was already mustering myself ready for the start of the fasts again.

By the way Annette, I store food in tins and jars in the shed because I only have a small kitchen and there is not enough room in the cupboards for all the stuff I bought, whereas I have lots of space in the shed especially if I put it all in those stackable Really Useful plastic boxes. I started doing this with the RUBs when I used to buy both toilet & kitchen rolls in bulk and it sort of progressed from there.

LouiseJM

11:26 am
4 Sep 16
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I think I am giving up the Fast Diet. Two weeks with no change in weight or measurement and I have counted every calorie and fat that has gone into me using My Fitness Pal. Maybe this diet just doesn’t suit me.
We are going to Italy on Wednesday for nine days so you can imagine what that food will do to me! Maybe I will start again when I get back or maybe not.
Any advice would be truly appreciated.

annette52

3:18 pm
4 Sep 16
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Hi Jim,
You are not a dustbin. It doesn’t matter what is ‘on special’ if it isn’t going to be good for your body..then leave it behind as you deserve better.
The point that I was trying to make was that you were buying too much food and then increasing the pressure to eat too much food. I have a small kitchen but stock take every month and don’t buy more than I might need for a week at a time. The shops are always going to be there. So menu plan for the week and shop accordingly. If your friend wants to buy you something for helping him, make it something non food such as fresh growing herbs that you can use in cooking. I am not surprised by the weight gain(1000 calories per tube of Pringles), have a look at what you eat every day and then choose a way of eating that you can maintain…forever. Make the protein the star of the show and then add vegetables or salad.
My weeks shopping consisted of fruit, vegetables, fish, meat and nuts. I can create a weeks meals for 3 with what I bought today along with what I have in the cupboard.

Hi Louise, Enjoy Italy- I am very jealous. I don’t think that I noticed any change for the first couple of weeks either, but I kept going because of 1 woman who used to post that she was dropping clothes sizes although the number on the scales hadn’t moved. I suppose it was ‘blind faith’ that kept me going at the start. I didn’t see a difference in the scales or tape measure at first either, but did notice a change in how my clothes fitted..there were less rolls of fat at the side…and so I kept going. I don’t think that you are a failure or unique, Louise. What you cannot see is the shrinkage of visceral fat, which is after all, the most important reduction. See how you feel after your holiday and if you want to join us here, you will be very welcome.

bigbooty

3:40 pm
4 Sep 16
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Hi Louise,

There is no magic involved. 5:2 works but only if you give it a genuine try. There is no way of sugar coating it. If you are doing 5:2 and maintaining your weight then you are eating exactly the right amount of food. Energy expenditure equals energy intake. To lose weight you need to run an input energy deficit. It really is that simple. So either you are eating more than 1/4 TDEE on fast days or you are eating more than your TDEE on non fast days. It really is that simple. You need to run a deficit to lose weight. Running a deficit and still feeling satiated is a lot easier if you don’t eat sugar and simple carbs. By simple carbs I mean no bread, pasta, pizza, rice. Going to Italy? No problems, eat traditional Mediterranean meals which are vegetable based with lots of salads.

My parents are Italian and I asked my mum what she used to eat as a child think it would be pasta and pizza. To my surprise pasta was a once a week treat!! Pizza even less. It was mostly vegetables with beans and lentils. Fish and meat maybe once per week.

Good luck. It works if you want it to.

simcoeluv

3:50 pm
4 Sep 16
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Hi Louise and welcome:

It is not unusual for a person on 5:2 ‘doing everything right’ to not lose weight for two or more weeks. Weight may not come off consistently – it can come off in ‘chunks’. Please read this to get an idea of what I am talking about – and please don’t give up! https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/really-no-weight-loss/

Good Luck!

LouiseJM

7:46 pm
4 Sep 16
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Thank you all for your encouragement. I did lose 4 1/2 pounds in the first couple if weeks. I think my problem could be that the Fast Diet tells me I should be eating 1500 calories on normal days and 500 on fast days. However MFP is telling me I should only eat 1200 calories per day. I was sticking with MFP’s suggestion on my 5 days. and Fast Diet ‘s 500 on fast days. Maybe this is where I went wrong. Any thoughts on that?

simcoeluv

7:53 pm
4 Sep 16
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Hi Louise:

I am curious about your MFP. Most TDEE calculators, regardless of the formula they use, yield similar results. But the 1200 is about 20% different. In addition, I have seen several other posts by people using MFPs who also say it gave them 1200 TDEEs.

How does the MFP work? Does it take into account exercise? I really can’t try to help without knowing.

Thanks!

Lany36

9:54 pm
4 Sep 16
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Thanks for the post. I’m only in my third week and I haven’t lost anything yet. I think I’ve overdone the NFD cals so I’m starting fresh and hopeful again this week. I really need some encouragement today, I stood on the scales and for reasons I don’t understand I’m 3kg heavier than I was this time last week??? Very demoralising

LouiseJM

10:46 pm
4 Sep 16
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Hi Simcoeluv

Yes I believe it does take into account exercise but I am afraid that apart from housework I do little of that. Whilst I may not look it I am 73 and I have always hated going to the gym. Yes I know I must make myself go out for a walk but apart from that there will be no exercise as such.

Perhaps I should start again in earnest once I am back from my holiday and forget MFP apart from calorie counting. I put all my particulars into MFP and it gave me 1200 whilst FD gave me 1600. Big difference! Maybe the 1600 and fast days of 500 are a better option. I will read the book again.

Also I have one other problem in that my husband is skinny and always has an enormous appetite. It’s not really fair! 🙂

I really am grateful for any advice you can give me.

bigbooty

10:52 pm
4 Sep 16
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Hi Louise,

TDEE of 1500 or using MFP (some sort of app?) tells you your TDEE is 1200? Seems awfully low values. If you don’t mind me asking how tall are you and what do you currently weigh? Any calculator will be an estimate. If your not losing weight your not running a deficit.

bigbooty

10:56 pm
4 Sep 16
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Hi Lany,

If you think your eating too much on NFD your probably right. You might be compensating for your fast days. Nett result is no change in calorie intake over the week. Describe a typical days food intake, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Be honest.