Such wonderful news, Weemam! I’m sure you are looking just as good as you are feeling! Have a wonderful vacation!

Hello, fast trackers! I hope everyone is having a good weekend. Unseasonably cool weather here; feels more like October than August. Nice for a run this morning, though.
Eating lots of veggies for dinner in the form of grilled shrimp and veggie spring rolls, which are gorgeous as well as delicious, and a spicy Thai beef salad.
Anyone fasting over the weekend? I often do a fast day on Sunday, which I try to make a quiet day. Sometimes that turns into a back to back fast on Monday. School is starting soon, and I am going to try to enlist a few colleagues to start a lunch club, where four of us will prepare a healthy lunch for four once a week to share. It will work out that each will only prepare one lunch, and will be fed the other three days. My plan is that we will set some guidelines for calories, low carb, etc. I hope that I can get some like-minded colleagues to join. I think the variety will be nice, as well as only prepping once a week. (plus the fifth day when we will be on our own)
Have a super a Sunday, all!

Hi Jojo
Doesn’t sound like your hip pain got in the way of a good time! I have been to Jamie’s in Oxford and the food was delicious and the waiters good looking. I am pescatarian and there was lots of scrummy food I could eat. Have you had your hip diagnosed?

aww so sorry you are in pain Jojo . Especially when you are away from home.I hope it eases with the patches My RA is a bit worse today and I hope it eases off before I have to drive to the lakes a week today . Our hall light just decided to leave the ceiling last night .Must be haunted lol . Our eldest son is coming shortly to fix it for us .
I have started to put things on the bed that we are going to take with us . This time I am going to be sensible and not take too much :).
It is a lovely day here today and I have all the bedclothes washed and out on the line . I just love getting into a nice clean fresh bed . I change it as often as I can . Off now to make myself a sugar free jelly .
I had so much fun yesterday looking through a lot of my clothes that were too small . I was buzzing with excitement when one after another they just slipped on . I have lost much more inches than weight I think it’s 17 pounds now ( weigh in again tomorrow ) . I just FEEL so good .
have a great day everyone .Jojo try and take it easy.

Wee xx

Hi Jojo,
Well that sounded like a journey and a half.

I had trochanteric bursitis about three years ago, and you have my sympathy – b****y painful and debilitating. I had a steroid injection which helped a bit for a while, but basically it just took a long time to heal. Patience was never my strong suit! I now have rotator cuff tears x 2 in my shoulder which is similarly taking ages (years) to heal. Grrrr, I hate it when my body lets me down. I had to give up running because of the hip and now have trouble exercising because of the shoulder. Hope your doc comes up with a solution.

The bursitis has now resolved thankfully so there is light at the end of the tunnel. :-). I don’t risk running though!

Xx

Bittersweet!

I have an older brother that has for last 2 decades taken on my obesity with insulting and confrontation.
My mother out of the blue at the family buffet day we have once a month.  Said BROTHER why don’t you give him those clothes I gave you for Christmas ?
His reply was he was going to go on a diet.
She replied , by then I can buy new clothes for next Christmas. The look on his face is one I know only too well!  At first I was HA! Karma!  Then it was a quick change of subject on how to look for cancer fighting foods at the buffet.  

My other brother and I have had a similiar but healthier approach.  He’s a Marlborough  man . He smoked enough to get some corduroy shirts that we both like very much. Size large and the other 1x .

Weve had to exchange the shirts. Even came to blows once that’s just how we are. Lol .  I was wearing the old tattered corduroy size large at the buffet today.  No chance of him wearing anytime soon either. When they ask what I’m doing I simply say 5:2 or two big cans of soup. 2-3 times a week.
I can tell their curious when I come back after my veggie and fruit plates with a steak and lobster. 

It’s hard to believe I can still lose weight eating steak and lobster buffet twice a month.  However seeing me in that bright red corduroy marlboro shirt is proof no matter what the scale says. I like 4:3 with a buffet feed day.   No way I’m stopping now!
After today’s buffet.
Monday the 25th I start a fat attack ADF for 12 days. Next weekend is Friday and Saturday are B2B fasts.
My new scale says 224lbs
Hoping to see 214 by mid September as this is my birth month, and my realistic goal is to be 175lbs by age 50 in 3 years.

I am SO chuffed about starting jujitsu classes when reach 200lbs. HA! My big brother won’t be able to wrestle that shirt away from me then!

Hi jojo,

I didn’t realise you were studying Spanish. If you hit any problems, you know where to come. 🙂

BTW if you have Spanish friends or acquaintances who tell you “Estás más gorda”, which literally means “You’ve put on weight”, don’t despair. When I was living in Spain and for a variety of reasons was within a very few pounds of ideal weight, that’s exactly what was said to me. What they meant was “you look great”. In Spanish culture, the word “gordo” – fat – is, or certainly used to be, associated with beauty and prosperity.

Hello ply
Can you tell me a bit more about the kettle bell training you do – for instance did you start off in a gym or get any advice? I am interested in it but as I have a shoulder issue I wonder if it is for me. I do have exercises for strengthening for it though and I wondered if kettle bells might help. I would be grateful for any advice you can give.

Many thanks.

Hi Cheeseplease, I am currently using a 15 pound kettlebell and using Bob Harper’s (Biggest Loser trainer) DVD. He talks about the power coming from the hips when doing kettlebell swings, so maybe it would be okay for your shoulder. I would check with your doctor or trainer first, though. It definitely keeps the heart rate up. You could start with a lighter one and just a few minutes of swings and see how it goes. Jojo has been doing swings for a longer time, and I’m sure she can offer advice.
Also, I was actually 1 1/4 inches taller when I had my physical a few weeks ago at the doctor! Definitely from Pilates!

Same here Tartan Lass! This is my first day and I’m bloomin starving!!!! Well not too long to wait now – I will have my soup around 630 pm so hopefully that will sort my grumbling stomach out.

As you’ve studied in Spain, jojo, maybe I should come to you if and when I have a problem. 🙂 I get to do quite a few translations from Spanish, mostly of an arty-farty nature which usually means the author’s credo is “why use only two words when I can use 25?”.

Where did you study? I lived and worked first on the east coast in Gandia, which lies halfway between Valencia and Alicante and then a few years later in La Coruna, in Galicia on the north-west coastr, where all my best memories come from. The Gallegos are Celts who play the bagpipes. The coast is rugged with stretches known by quite sinister names like Costa de la Muerte (coast of death for non-Spanish-speakers) and Cabo de Finisterre (Cape End-of-the-World) and the countryside is very green as it rains a lot. The folklore includes lots of stories about witches, making it quite a strange and magical place.

In both cases I returned to the UK at optimum weight and looking really slim. In both cases I put on a stone within less than a month of arriving in the UK. Never knew why. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t overeating. Someone I knew suggested that when you live by the sea the iodine in the air speeds up your metabolism and moving inland slows it back down again. I’ve no idea whether this is correct.

Hello Silva,

Welcome to the club. Hope you lose as much as you want to and have fun while doing it. I know what you mean about stopping smoking, which I also did getting on for 13 years ago. Even though I was extremely careful about not eating sweets or other stuff to replace the ciggies I still piled the weight on. 5:2 is the first way of eating that’s ever worked for me. Also it seems to attract a very interesting bunch of people. 🙂

I buy skinny cow ice cream (3 IN A BOX) CHOCOLATE CHIP AND THAT ADDS INTO THE DAYS (NOW AND AGAIN)MEALS WITHOUT A PROBLEM . i COULD never HAVE A TUB OF ANYTHING BECAUSE i KNOW i WOULD EAT IT . sOLERO ARE GOOD TOO BUT SKINNY COW ARE BETTER FOR CARBS CALS AND SUGAR . nICE i CAN HAVE SOME AND NOT FEEL i HAVE BEEN WICKED . iT DOES FEEL SO NICE NOW AND AGAIN . 🙂 XX

oops sorry about caps but hands to sore to do it all again ( I have RA )

WEE xx

Hi Jojo and Hermaj,

Thank you both for your quick responses and warm welcome. Not sure about the successful dieter bit – if that were the case, why do I keep putting the weight back on! That’s always been my problem though. Once I decide to do something and put my mind to it, I am usually successful, but I do find keeping it off very difficult. That’s why I love this WOL so much and I really do think that I will keep the weight off. Hope I didn’t sound smug, that certainly wasn’t my intention!

Jojo, your comment about being burnt by acupuncture alarmed me, but I think I know what you mean. Many years ago, I had Chinese acupuncture (different medical complaint), and he put the needles in my back, then put a very strong lamp on it which did get uncomfortably hot. This is not the same at all. As I understand it, Chinese acupuncture works on finding energy channels (someone will put me right on that I am sure), but this is what they call dry needling, just a fine needle inserted deep into the muscle. It’s rather an odd sensation but certainly not painful. Also, someone recommended Tumeric tablets as they are a natural anti-inflamatory apparently. Like you, I was prepared to try anything, so have been taking them (bought from Zipvit) for several weeks now and maybe its just coincidence, but my hip pain has definitely improved. Just the odd twinges now and then.

I have never tried kettlebells, but do Body Pump twice a week which I love, and also Pilates twice a week, but I have found that some of the exercises aren’t so good for my hip. I suppose you just have to listen to your body.

My fasting day went well yesterday, it really does get easier. My favourite drink on fast days is slimline tonic with a lot of ice and a slice of lemon, I can almost imagine it’s a gin & tonic!

Hi Silva and jojo,

I can’t resist giving a big round of applause for acupuncture. I first sought help 5 years ago. Having been prescribed steroids for polymyalgia rheumatica, which then screwed up my immune system leading to shingles, followed by the even more painful post-herpetic neuralgia, not to mention the weight gain and great big moon face and little piggy eyes, I consulted an acupuncturist more or less in dispair.

Slowly but surely, the acupuncture worked, as it has done for a number of minor issues ever since. The first treatment didn’t hurt at all, I didn’t feel a single needle go in. Had it hurt, I’m such a wuss that I probably wouldn’t have gone back. And if I’d been threatened with a lamp, as you were, jojo, I would have been out of there double quick!

Pain or otherwise varies from session to session. Sometimes you feel nothing, other times maybe one or two needles will cause you to jump a bit but it never lasts for more than a second or two.

As of now, I’m in pretty good nick generally, due in no small measure to nearly 20 months on 5:2, but I go along every few weeks if I need extra physical or mental stamina, e.g. prior to going on holiday which always means lots and lots of walking, or if a particularly difficult translation crops up or, like now, I have a dissertation to write.

Awesome, Weemam! You are an inspiration. Enjoy your vacation!

Cause for rejoicing – weemam now only has a wee bum! And 17 lbs is still a very respectable weight loss, no ONLY about it. Maximum respect on both counts. 🙂 Have a great trip to the Lakes.

@amazon

That’s how I feel many times. AND I LOSE WEIGHT

BUT
The next day. I feel as if it’s over. Not like starvation that I have had success with in the past.
I feel very empowered to lose weight doing it this way. This has lead to high confidence that I will ultimately lose 100lbsand know how to maintain it.

However there’s a flip side of the coin for me. My reading on the subjects of weight loss has led me to opinion that I could become slim yet unhealthy eater. So after many many fasts where I’ve kept a journal. I’ve found what works for me on fast days. Very happy about that. I then turned to my feed days.

So my fast days are set. So now on my feed days, instead continue gorging on the foods that made me morbidly obese. I looked at the feed days as days to eat health foods, or cancer fighting foods. It was like an additional challeng. What I discovered was placing fish 1 day home cooked and 1 day eating in a restaurant out with my wife. So when I’m on 4:3. And eating fish twice in week . Only leaves 2 other days to find those recipes for my new healthier lifestyle of eating what either nourishes or heals me.

But just like your post the fast days tend to be a struggle when I restart, but after 2-3 weeks I find my routine helpful to carefully journal what days are better than others. After reading about foods that have enzymes that help be sensitive to the full feeling- because no pill or food makes you feel full unless you actual are full. I discovered there are two foods that make all humans SENSITIVE to the full feeling.
Red kidney beans , and Catfish.

So I tried it out as a hunger management strategy.

I can start any fast day with waiting until 12noon. And eat the red kidney beans at half my calories. But I mix them into water sort of a chilli soup.so theater doesn’t just pass through.i feel. Full for 3 1/2 hours.

So I get hungry but not starved for 1 1/2 – 2 hours until 5pm- dinner with family time.
Here I eat the cat fish just like the kidney beans. As a spicy soup. O get the full feeling again and it lasts till 8pm. When I get hungry again. I start finding my way to going to bed early before any hunger pangs temp me. I’ve learned to strict about not having a single morsel of anything at that point . Because ivehad successful days. All the wat to 10:30. Ate a bit o something , and the hunger genie hits me with a unfillable appetite -I’ve even binged-and still felt hungry. So I learned to just go to bedearly when I get hunger pangs close to bed time.

Also I found that exercising on fast days created a strong hunger pang from time to time. So If I exercise on fast day it’s typically not hard and fast workout. Rather a 5-6 hour long day of doing light hand weights or kettle ball without breaking a sweat. Enough to burn calories but not enough to trigger hunger pangs.
I then learned to skip rope, to improve my vo2 max.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max
I learned that could do intense H.I.I.T of 7-10 minutes on fast day. But I do it 10-20 mi utes prior to eating the red beans.
So if wait till actual hunger pang hits after the exercise then eat the beans I’m sated and it lasts 3 1/2 hours.

Of course this is just what I’ve found that works for me. We all seem to find what works individually.
Good luck. I hope you get to that point of feeling as confident and empowered to achieve your goal I do.
Keep On Keepin On