Although the figures are grim, my trousers are tight.I am pleased that despite my shock and despair, I have continued to avoid the rubbish and to simply carry on.

I have been thinking about goal setting and how important it is not have unrealistic goals that are going to set me up for failure. I have two time goals, one is the start of September and the other is the last day of this year. I am back to work in September, so I really want to be comfortable in my trousers by then.By the end of the year,I am hoping to be able to get into all of those clothes that I can’t now and those that I can, look awful.

I have several body goals. One is to put on the trousers and them not feel/look tight. I am aiming for a healthy waist(around the belly button) measurement for a man which is 37 inches, which will mean a 2 inch loss.I am actually aiming for a 35 inches.I am aiming to shift 2 stone, hopefully by the last day of the year.

I have input the statistics on the tracker too. My usual approach is to weigh and measure once a week, look at how my clothes are fitting, and stick to good food that I enjoy, no rubbish and 2 FD each week.

I am finding that ditching the hot buttered toast several times a day is comfort that I am missing but I am on a mission to reduce my metabolic age from 65(I am 60 in January). Logically less fat to muscle ratio should mean a lower age.

Exercise for me will be walking and gardening, my two great loves. I am going to increase my walking up to 2 hours a day and will always get out in the garden weather permitting.

Family BBQ’s and birthdays are very much part of life and are important.How was the bean mash?

I have been reflecting on how I find myself here again with inches and fat % to lose and thinking about my denial in terms of weight gain. I don’t have any answers.

I am rather impatient for the days to pass, so that I can see what impact 2 weeks of not having rubbish at all, skipping breakfast for 4 mornings and eating good food but less bread and chips has had overall.

I have a whole load of goals, this weekend, the end of July, the end of August, wearing my trousers and they are no longer tight.I have lots of clothes that I can’t get into, so that will be great to get back to wearing them too.

How are you today?

Morning All,

feeling chuffed. I did complete a 24 hour fast yesterday and it was fine.

Hopefully, my endeavours will be reflected at the weekend with the tape measure and those posh scales!

Thanks Iona. I haven’t done one for ages either. I had been thinking about it but lacked confidence. I watched Jason Fung on You Tube who both explains why fasting is a good idea and also really plays it down. That was enough to give me the shove and the belief that all would be fine. It was, several mugs of tea saw me through although the last hour was the worst when I had run out of things to do to distract me.

I am just avoiding any rubbish. I have never been able to just have one.

I have the grand weigh in tomorrow. I don’t think that the tape measure has moved either, but I really hope that there is less fat on these fancy scales.I read somewhere that it takes 10 weeks to see any difference from fasting. I am hoping that I will see some evidence before!

I have had a big clothes sort out and reorganise this afternoon. I will have a whole new wardrobe that wont have cost me a penny, when I have shifted the lard.I have found clothes that I had forgotten that I owned.

Hello Everyone.
I have had a good sort out of clothes and retrieved some clothes from the charity pile that are the same size of clothes that I can’t get into. When I have shifted the lard, I will have a whole new wardrobe!
The trousers that I am wearing now are tight, uncomfortable and don’t look good. I have tried on a skirt that I love but I need to lose several inches off the waist before I can wear it.
So, today I am skipping breakfast and lunch. Off to paint the fence and then out for a walk with my friend this afternoon.
Seven weeks until September, so that’s one of many goals. I am hoping to lose 7 lb in 10 weeks, more inches, decrease fat percentage overall.
I have changed what I am eating. The rubbish has gone, it was making me fat.
The current plan is to do 2 24 hour fast in the next 7 weeks. I am hoping to be able to wear this skirt in September.
How is everyone doing?

Hi Beldyboop,
Welcome. Can I suggest that you have a look at some of the films of Jason Fung on You Tube? I find him sensible, considered and inspirational. If you don’t have any need for breakfast but look to eat later, why not ditch the afternoon meal and push it back to an evening meal 2 days a week? I actually find it easier on all fronts to ditch breakfast and lunch, 2 days a week rather than have a meal. I am a woman on a mission though, having sorted and organised all of the clothes that I actually can’t get into anymore. I am currently furloughed and will be back at school in September, but my trousers are rather tight.One of my goals is for them all to feel comfortable.

I am not sharing that I am back on the 5:2 with friends either. I am planning to shrink over the coming months and see if anyone notices. I found that last time I did this, no one notices until you lose a stone and I have 2 to lose which will allow me to wear clothes that are a dress size smaller. My focus is on my waist measurement, which is far to large to be healthy.

What is really puzzling me, is how do we deny that the weight/inches are piling on again? In my head, all was fine, but I was buying clothes a size up rather than taking action and addressing the issue. I told myself that it was small sizing. Why?

My son found that a photograph taken at the end of a running race, shocked him into action. He has lost 50 lb. My shock was standing on his fancy scales and learning that my metabolic age was 5 and a half years more than it actually is.

Well done in stepping up activity and ditching the diet coke.I think Lustig said, don’t consume anything that your grandmother wouldn’t recognise, which I think is helpful guidance. I ditched sugar in tea after 40 years and made quite a song and dance about it, but feel so much better without it.

My plan is to fast for another 24 hours on Thursday. I will have dinner on Wednesday, skip breakfast and lunch on Thursday and then have dinner on Thursday evening. I know it works and will try to imagine less abdominal fat as the weeks tick by.

I am fasting from dinner last night until dinner tonight. An easy way to clock up 24 hours as I have been asleep for 8 hours. I will skip breakfast and lunch today and then eat at 6pm. Dinner will be salmon and salad, followed by fruit.

The key to this is to keep busy. I am out walking with a friend this afternoon and have a list of indoor and outdoor jobs for this morning.

Hello Snedger,
How the devil have you been?
I have no interest in counting calories but I did give up sugar in my tea a few years ago now. My focus is like Jason Fung and seeing the action of fasting as the most important element. I have plenty of lard to shift-mainly around my middle and I imagine that my body is fuelling itself with my fat.It seems to be working as my clever boy was able to work out that from the 2 lb that I have lost, three quarters of that was fat!
very pleased with those numbers.

I live in a city that is surrounded by hills. Unfortunately my place of work is up one of them. It takes me about 45 minutes, but I will allow an hour when term starts, so that I don’t have to rush. Hopefully I will have lost 7 lb and more inches by then, so less lard to haul around too. I have arthritis in my foot which will no doubt feel much better with less of me as well.

I wear layers too. I don’t want to get to work all hot and sweaty, but even on a chilly day I have often taken off my coat along the way.

Hi Beldyboop,
I am not working and it can be a challenge to fill the time on a FD. I am so desperate to fill the time that I am working my way through all of those dull jobs.I have just bought 4 pairs of cotton trousers a size smaller, which are in the sale and will be the right size when I lose the lard. I am trying on that skirt and various dresses every few days. I can see an improvement which spurs me on to keep the faith and just keep going.

Welcome NorthGeorgia,

You should be delighted with the 25lbs lost-great achievement!

I completely understand the problems with the scales and the tape measure. Clothes seem to ‘show’ where the improvement is when the scales and the tape measure sometimes don’t. The real challenge is to keep the faith when nothing seems to show any change.

My friend, who had a similar amount to lose, got very demoralised when the scales were not showing any change. I pointed out that her skirt had become longer, so her shape must be changing, and it was. Skirts were becoming longer until they almost slid off!

Hello Minnesota Miss
Welcome and thank you for your comments. Sometimes when I post, it feels like it’s just for my own benefit. I look at several threads, but rarely post on them
.
Well done on the 10 lb loss, which is s great achievement. Glad that you found the 24 hour fast quite ok too. The though of it is far worse than the reality I find.
Get the clothes out and just try them on. You may be surprised at what you can wear now.
If I had one piece of advice it is don’t weigh more than once a week, with a clothes try on.
Weight is only one part of the picture. If you add in reducing inches and an overall downward trajectory with a healthy waist measurement, that is a far more accurate assessment of success.
Keep posting with how it’s all going and I hope all goes well with your check up.

North Georgia
Great news! You must be thrilled.
Are there any changes that you can make to your diet on the non fast days?

I have made a series of swops, from something that is not so healthy to something that is healthier. I like salad, so rather than have chips with something I have salad.

I am also aiming to have one meal a day that doesn’t have chips/rice/pasta/bread in it either.

I like chocolate, biscuits, cake and ice cream but I also know that if I buy any, I will eat it. So I avoid the aisles they are on and don’t buy them. I do but fruit that I like instead.

I used to make my own meusli for breakfast which was full of dried fruit. One day I estimated how much sugar was in it all and the figure was shocking. Now I make my own granola, full of seeds instead and much better.

As this is not a diet but a way of life, I am looking at making healthier swops on the non fast days so that I can both shrink over the coming months and then maintain that when I am a healthy weight for my height.

Incremental steps.

Hello Beldyboop,

Biscuits are tyrants aren’t they? I can’t have them in the house. Don’t beat yourself up, it really doesn’t help. Plan how you can avoid the little devils.

Maybe play around with the fast days? I find that skipping lunch and dinner is far easier for me than eating at lunch time. Have you tried it? I also find Jason Fung on You Tube very inspirational and that really helps when I am fasting. I am planning another 24 hours later in the week, with a whole list of jobs lined up to fill the time.

I read somewhere that a Japanese company had designed pyjamas that looked like office wear on the top and pyjamas on the bottom. Genius.

I operate on a one day at a time approach. I struggled yesterday with skipping lunch and dinner because I didn’t have enough to occupy me and I was in a funny mood. I took myself off for a long walk and listened to podcasts. When I got back I had used up 2 hours and just had 2 more to go before I ate. I set myself a series of little tasks and got to 24 hours.

I have been food shopping this morning so will be eating salmon and prawns with salad which I love. I also like quiche but instead of having half, it will be a normal portion of a quarter.Portion control with some food is clearly out of control.

I had a little try on of clothes this morning and although someone has shoved a bowling ball under my skin, clothes are starting to look better.Not sure how they are going to look when term starts, but they will look considerably better than they did when I tried them on a few weeks ago.

Well done Iona. Keep going, nearly there.

Looking forward to hearing about it later and about the carbs.

Where you watching Jason Fung?

Snedger,
That is long time!

It’s weird isn’t it? Some FD seem a breeze and some I find are really up and down. I try to imagine my fat shrinking when I am fasting, which helps me to keep going.

I think that having a time focus is helping me too. Hopefully comfortable trousers for the start of term.

Well done Iona. It will be lovely to see the dress fitting better over the coming weeks.

I really like The Obesity Myth by Fung. Really interesting if yo haven’t read it.

Thanks for the link. Did you ever see That Sugar book? by Damon Gameau? Really interesting read.

My rule of thumb is if it says ‘low fat’ or ‘diet’ it simply doesn’t come home with me as I know that it is pumped full of sugar. I am also looking at portion control.

Just getting dressed and noticed that there is a bilateral indentation just above the waist! I didn’t expect to see any muscular definition for a couple of months.Another pair of trousers that are not straining at the waistband. Delighted.

The belly is still very much there, but look what 3 weeks of no chocolate, crisps and cake can do. Its clear that without the rubbish and fasting that it is working.

That will certainly help me to continue with another 24 hour fast tomorrow.

Thank you, Iona. I think that I am going to have to get another copy, such a good book. I also have The Obesity Myth-Jason Fung on my kindle which I must find, charge and read!

Well done on the fasting. It sounds as if its all going well and you seem very positive.

I am playing around with what I eat the evening before a 24 hour fast.Last week it was pasta before and at the end, but I don’t think that I need that. Last night dinner was a portion of cold salmon, 2 tomatoes, cucumber and some cole slaw, finished with fruit. I really enjoy it. Today I am skipping breakfast and lunch and will have the same for dinner.

I am so thrilled with the little bit of muscular definition at the side of my waist, that it as spurred me on to try and reduce this bowling ball belly a bit faster. On my sons fancy scales that measure fat percentage I was 44%, I am now 40.8%, which means that I am obese. The goal is to get to 35% for my age and sex.One of the things that is spurring me on is I am trying to get into the 30s this weekend.

I have been looking at the hidden sugar in my diet(baked beans) and trying to reduce that too, so that should help to reduce my fat percentage and my belly. Not blessed with much patience, I am hoping to be able to do up that skirt at the end of this month. I don’t think that I will be able to move or breathe, but the goal is purely the zip!

I couldn’t resist trying the tape measure this morning. I have lost half an inch/ 1.5 CMS approx off each thigh, which brings up the running total to 5 inches or approx 13 CMS all over.