Wow QUIET ONE, I couldn’t resist looking up all about your Chunky Monkey Ice Cream, it’s a brand we’ve never seen here in New Zealand

http://www.benjerry.com/flavors/chunky-monkey-ice-cream

It certainly looks delicious, ice cream, next to chocolate is one of my life’s real weaknesses however the Nutritian Facts of the ingredients don’t paint a pretty picture. One half cup (108gms) is half a FD’s allowed calorie intake, not that you would probably eat this on a FD.

I personally have to be very strict with myself when I know there is ice cream in our house, especially when the New Zealand favorite Hokey Pokey is in the Freezer (see Hokey Pokey within this list)

https://www.tiptop.co.nz/product-category/tip-top-tubs/

Sorry to temp everyone, it wasn’t my intention however QUIET ONE’s reference to his ice cream made me curious.

Two FD’s completed this week plus very good controls within my TDEE’s (except Wednesday which was birthday celebrations) however the other 4 NFD’s were all very good, plus two gym sessions completed too so it’s been a good week, albeit another year older…. Cheers Mike

Talking about ice cream, my extra special treat for successfully completing January challenge together with my goal of losing my holiday weight, on a nfd of course, will be a Mcdonalds chocolate cone on January 31st. they are absolutely to die for, did I mention Im a confirmed chocoholic!!!! and its better for me to have that, than to buy a 2ltre tub and have it calling out to me for the rest of the week. I know its not good to have a sweet for a treat, (im a poet and dont know it !!) but I am only human after all (although some would disagree lol).

getting back to the healthy when I make my protein bars, I usually add some stranded coconut, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, or anything healthy I have around to help bulk them out and make them slow burning.

I have had four German shepherds, and all four of them had completely different personalities. when we lost our beautiful lab retriever due to old age, we went to the shelter and tried to pick up another one. My husband then was away a lot and I found having a big dog around comforting. He would always sleep on our bed when OH was away and if I woke up to a strange noise, we had a steel framed home and they always creak at night when it gets cold, if the dog didnt care, neither did I. One morning my oh had an early start and I woke up to the phone ringing, before mobiles, and I nudged him to answer it, when it kept ringing, and with a lot of expletives I turned the light on, my oh had already gone and the dog looked at me as if I had completely lost it!!! I would have done if he had indeed answered the call!! Anyway at the pound they had no labs only a black and silver shepherd who looked just like a wolf and that was when my love affair with my shepherds began.

Rommy
My first dog was a German Shepherd. We grew up together. He was wonderful! I understand your love for them. I thought he could never be replaced, and probably still cannot.
As an adult, I have had many wonderful dogs, but never a German Shepherd.

Blueberries with heavy cream sounds great and is something that fits in my plan. I even have blueberries and heavy cream in my refrigerator at the moment!

Unfortunately, chocolate has also been my downfall this week. There’s a Lindt store a short walk away from my office and I went to pick up some dark chocolate. I get the 90 or 99% chocolate which I don’t have to share with my husband (he says it’s like eating dirt). They always give a sample when you walk in so who was I to refuse. While I was there robot aliens took over my brain and I picked up a small selection (about 8) of Lindor truffles which I ate as my lunch, not exactly part of my plan! I have managed to keep up with my fasting days but thanks partly to that I didn’t lose any weight this week but I’m okay with that – at least no gains! I hadn’t been on the scale since last Friday so I was concerned but pleasantly surprised to see that I’m still at 132. I think I do better weighing every day and also tracking my food daily which is something else I’ve been slack on since before Christmas. Well, that little experiment is over – it’s back to tracking and daily weighing for me as that seems to work better if I want to actually lose a bit more.

Goals for this week – three more fast days, stick to the blueberries with or without heavy cream and stay away from the chocolate, track my food every day and get on that scale and face the music every day!

Hi Folks,
Thursday fast day went well, so with the experience of Wednesday and Thursday behind me, I will add 2 additional “stretch” fast days to my commitment (20th , 27th) – bringing my total for the month to 11.

My wife did her first fast day yesterday, and did very well, she just felt a little cold. My mother in law, forgot about the fast day, despite reminders :), she said she’ll do it next week.

Quietone, your commentary about the additional benefits of the 5:2 besides weight loss, resonates with me, I have a bunch of “internal” body issues besides fat which are benefitting from the fasts. I take my BP every day, and numbers are extremely encouraging already at this early stage of my journey.

Bill.

I managed to get two fasts in this week. Third one was a bust did okay until tea time. It didn’t help that we had 43+ for that day. I am now if PB territory again. Th weather has gone back to 20’s but alas no rain at all.

Well half the month mostly gone.

I only got two fasts in one of 113 hours and one finished this evening of 47 hours both were water fasts.

I’ve stay within my TDEE on all non-fsst days, though I had one day I showed a zero calorie deficit so I ate right to the TDEE. Staying within my TDEE is still a challenge a year in. I did lose weight but not as much as you might think even with a 4.5+ day fast in there. My body is changing the weight not so much but I’m happy where I’m at and where I’m going.

Congratulations to everyone for sticking with it. If things aren’t happening exactly as you wish you might want to recheck your TDEE and perhaps lower it a bit if you do have it calculated for your present weight.

5:2 pattern of eating can be tough at times but if you stick to it you will be amazed at the new you.

Billy
Well done getting your family on side !!!
I envy you because my two sons are actively against my doing this even though they know of my dramatic weight loss and the improvement in my diabetes. I would like to see both of them do it too but……….(Maybe they want me to knock off early to get all my $$$$$)
LOL !!
To All – sorry if the blueberry dessert set anyone off as a decedent dish. It was truly not meant to be. I was offering that as a very POOR alternative to the other two high sugar alternatives. Poor in deliciousness I mean, not in “good for you”. I actually think that it is a GOOD alternative – healthy and amazingly delicious after a year of having extremely low amounts of sugar and starch. How our perception of taste can change !

Hi everyone, hope your weekends are going well. I had three fasts this week and they went surprisling well. I find my runs and skis are much better on fast days. I just seem to have energy on those days. Weather in the Yukon has warmed up to -8 and snow, yippee the ski trails really needed it. I travel next week so hoping to stick to my 3 fast days and work out. I think the extra holiday weight is melting off slowly. Welcome back Mary. Good work everyone who stuck through the hard week. Keep it up.

Just reading everyone’s posts and it looks like you are doing great! Looking at some of the posts I am guessing some people are doing high fat/low carb and thought I would share my easy recipe to satisfy that chocolate craving.

2Tbsp Chocolate Philidelphia cream cheese (not light) & 4 Tbsp of 33% whipping cream in a blender makes 3 small (but filling) servings of a lovely chocolate mousse. 100 calories each with a little over 9g of fat and 4.7g carbs (over 80% fat if you just look at percentages). The portion size isn’t huge but I have added water to the blender sometimes and it makes a sort of chocolate milk, still nice and creamy tasting due to the whipping cream. I am also a huge fan of thinly slicing a strawberry and putting a Tbsp of heavy cream on it – so good and filling with just a bit over 50 calories.

Happy fasting everyone and congratulations on making it over half way through January!

Hi 😀 My first ever fast day tomorrow , looking forward to it I think 😀👏🏻 I hope I join you 👏🏻

Congrats Tippy and welcome to a whole new pattern of eating.

Zen don’t beat yourself up and get down. Just review and slip back into the 5:2 pattern. Giving in to temptation happens to everyone it’s not the end in ways it does help to strengthen the resolve going forward.

Onward and watch the slippery sections. You can do it and you’re now aware of something to watch a little more closely.

reporting in: stayed the same but not too concerned as I know why. 2FD last week plus 3 good other days. Went a little awry yesterday – been away for the weekend plus unwell on one day earlier in the week. On the plus side, pleased I managed to fit in 2 good swim sessions and felt better for it. Big family party and a few social gatherings this week to navigate so all positive

Skinnyme – Hello fellow Canadian.
Thank you for those 2 wonderful recipes. Gotta try them.

Hi All, just catching up, as I’m closing in on the end of my fasting January. Like LAB26, I’m off to the mountains for some snow with my extended family. No point pretending I could fast or abstain from the rojo, so my one scheduled variance from Dry January is coming up next weekend. I’ll be back well before my month-end weigh in, so not exactly a free for all. If I misbehave too much, I’ll get my comeuppance!

Quiet1, I’m still amazed by your marathon fasts – 113 hours followed by 47 – Wow. Good for you! And yes, I like your notion of ‘watching the slippery sections’ because so often that’s how it feels to make a bad food choice. It’s so fleeting, but can have such damaging physical and mental consequences! Thanks for that.

TTL, thank you for your fabulous idea of recording calories before consuming them. I did that yesterday and it provided an incentive to put my fork down earlier.

PJBR, is it too late to trade in your 2 sons new ones?! I can’t believe they’re not supporting you, especially with your good results. Keep up the good work…you show ’em!

You too, LAB26, Runningnorth, Lisa57, BillyB, Rommy and UpaGT; looks like all of you are having good results even with various challenges.

Zen123, one fast day is better than none – keep at it. Zen and Tippy, and anyone else fasting today, good luck! ST55

Oh and dry January isn’t going that well either…..

I checked back in last night but I don’t know where my update is gone. I must be quick my two youngest are crying, and so my day begins at 06:42 😭. I can report one good fast day for last week. I started one on Wednesday but in the evening I went off track and stayed off track until last night. I’m back in the zone now and ready to do this, I’m fed up starting over again. I’ve kept up the running and I’m really enjoying it so all is not lost.

I have my parents arriving on Thursday for the weekend so I decided to do a catch up fast day today while I blitz the house.

It’s great to be back😊

Hi guys – it is freeeezing here today, but blue skies and sparkly blue sea makes up for the shivers. Well my weekend didn’t go quite to plan, ended up having a large gin and tonic on Saturday evening, which in turn led to a bottle of wine being opened – oopsie 🙁 then rugby on Sunday so plenty to drink again – however I did make a considered choice at the restaurant and avoided ordering a huge baguette and fries which I was pleased with. Think I am going to only manage 1 of my 2 fasts this week as we have a busy diary, had my daughter and her b/f round for dinner last night, and out again tonight,but I’m ok with that really as these things happen and I don’t like to turn down invites from precious friends. I intend to fast tomorrow (Weds) and would do another on Thursday but feel it may be foolish as I have a personal training session booked midday and I think I would be too weak doing back to back fasts. But will aim for it to be a low cal/healthy day. The one thing I haven’t gone back to once yet is my love of Cheddars which were becoming a bit of an issue before Christmas everytime I had a glass of something nice I would ‘treat’ myself to eating crisps!!!! what on earth was that all about? anyway I have stopped that now. So if I don’t check in again before I go on my holidays, good luck to all you wonderful people and I look forward to hearing what delights February will give….?

Hi all. Just had my first year anniversary on the 5:2 WOE. Reading Up’s post about her year mirrors my own. Up on holidays, downs afterwards with a couple of serious plateaus thrown in.
Just to show that this WOL does work, I’m posting my stats. I was hoping to be at my goal of 9 stone by this time, but with just 3.5lbs to go, it won’t be long now. Although as Up says, it seems to get harder towards target, I guess there’s not so much ‘easy’ fat to lose.

Date Bust Waist hips Neck Calves Thighs BMI

19/1/15 38″ 38″ 42″ 14″ 14″ 25″ 28.5
19/1/16 37″ 31″ 38″ 13″ 13″ 22″ 24.5

I have reduced down from size 16 to 10-12
I feel much healthier than I did a year ago.
The only medication I take is for the odd Migraine
I don’t eat carbs (Just occasionally)ad have cut down considerably on sugar
I hardly drink alcohol now. The occasional G & T or wine
I am exercising more than I have ever done

The nice thing is people really notice the difference and say so.
I have never posted on a blog before, but I have to say this group has really motivated me, and given support when it was most needed.

Just 3.5lbs to go – not putting a time limit on it. I will definitely be following this regime for the rest of my life. I am sure my insides are in much better health than they have ever been, and at 67 I actually feel a lot younger.
Hope this post will spur you all on – it takes time, but it does work. Just keep doing it!
If I can do it anyone can!!! TTL

Hi Folks,
fast day yesterday went really well, I actually decided to do a water only fast, which mentally I thought was easier than having some food.

Will be eating clean today, in prep for tomorrow’s fast day. As part educating myself with all the data out there in the real world, I came across a fellow called Dr Jason Fung, he has an excellent video series on Youtube – which is worth watching. He advocates that type 2 diabetes can be reversed with intermittent fasting – my mother is type 2 and I spent some time last weekend chatting to her about it. Fascinating stuff this fasting WOL.

Bill.

Pleased to report that, even though it’s only5.25pm here, I am having a great fast day. I said it out loud this morning CODA and it is so. I have fish and salad planned for dinner so am confident all will be well. Still haven’t stepped on the scales…….