Hi Jo,

I’m still a couple of pounds away from my lowest but I keep trying!
If it doesn’t happen I’m not going to worry about it.
You’ll get there soon enough now you are back on track and have found a way that works for you. Remember I lost 42 lbs and regained 18 of them before I found this website and I’m now 66 lbs less than my original start weight.

There will be many tasty and healthy food options in Myanmar and as I’m a great fan of eating what the locals live on and not searching out Western food I’m hoping not to bring any extra pounds home with me although I’ve no intention of abstaining from alcohol or saying no to the occasional sweet treat if it looks good 🙂
Most of the hotels we are staying in have pools and some have fitness centres so I’ll be able to swim or use a treadmill or bike if I feel the need. The pool might be an excellent alternative to going into breakfast for a hot drink and being lectured by a well intentioned person who thinks I’ll die if I don’t eat anything 😉
The holiday is fairly active with lots of walking, a whole day trek and a day on bikes cycling the back roads and villages, so I won’t be spending too much time sitting around.

Amazon,

66lbs down is an amazing achievement, a life changing amount of weight to lose for sure. As long as you’re not regaining, you’re a maintainer.

Jo,

Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it! And next time you get to 65lbs down, please don’t relax and put 2 stone back on! You don’t belyeve in making it easy for yourself do you?! …or us 🙂

I’m fasting today. Pre 5:2 I thought I’d die if I missed a meal, and I never embarked upon a journey without an emergency supply of food. Now it’s just liberating to leave the house knowing I won’t have to think about food again until this evening.

I went for another run last night, having not been crippled by Sunday’s run. The nights are closing in now though so I’ll soon have to get my exercise at lunchtime 🙁

Hello,
Gorgeous day here!
Right now taking it easy after that procedure.
All went well and I am very impressed with the service of excellence from the nurses.
The doctor later announced that the polyps were removed. He’ll send it to the lab… I am not really concerned.
The worst part was when the nurse asked me what of the following snacks a wanted: English muffin, cinnamon bun of crackers with tea or coffee. After almost 2 days without nearly any food I had to decline “their” food. My barley soup was waiting for me.
I am glad to know everyone some way or the other is trying to have a healthy and happy life.
❤️

Hi Jo,

Well a true yoyo is regaining all the lost weight and more, which you didn’t do. So long as any future regains keep getting proportionally smaller then you’ll get there, on a damped sine wave…

Sorry to hear you had a hard fast day. Well done for sticking with it though. You’re certainly exercising your will power muscle at the moment.

I’m not enjoying my running! But I do enjoy the benefits.

It’s probably a good idea to jump groups if you can. You sound disillusioned with your current group, but the weigh ins and support do seem to be working for you, Better to jump ship than fall overboard!

HCB,

I’m glad to hear your procedure is over and wasn’t too awful…except for the aftersnacks! Shocking really that health care providers don’t offer healthy food!

Morning/evening all,

FD turned into a non FD yeaterday so I’m trying again today…..
Well done for sticking with it yesterday Jo. Maybe your struggling and feeling hungry contributed to being cold when swimminng and you body will cope with the cooler conditions better today.
It felt very cold here due to the strong wind which has dropped considerably today although it is cool and overcast.

I’ve got a really sore throat and swollen glands again today. I had a dental check-up on Monday including xrays so I know it’s not an abscess brewing so probably a throat infection so I guess it’ll be paracetemol and lots of hot water with lemon today.

Happy I would love to be able to run but my knee isn’t able to cope with it.

HCB, pleased to hear all went smoothly in Tuesday and hope you don’t have to wait too long for the lab results. I know you aren’t concerned but it’s nice to know that all is well.

Have a good one everybody 😜

Good morning my Cyber Friends,

Another gorgeous day here! One of those autumn days that you fall in love with yourself.
Happy I’ll agree with you there with that yoyo situation. If we re gain a little it isn’t considered a big deal. So long we gain control of another FD. And we all know here or there something goes wrong.
Amazon yeah! Have to wait again for another lab result. I bet you are all excited about your upcoming vacation. What’s the highlight in Myanmar?
RT missing the Friday’s jokes. Hope you are well.
Franz welcome to the group! Our more experienced peers will jump in with advice for you. From my side I’ll say read the book, start slow and give yourself some time. It probably took you years to accumulate those pounds.
Heading to the gym for a treadmill run and Pilates.
❤️

Wow, starting to think I had been inadvertently ‘logged out’, but maybe everyone is busy! Maybe Amazon is packing her final bits, or maybe she has already left? If you are still reading Amazon, I hope your trip is wonderful.

Jojo you have had a rocky ride, but don’t give up will you? I think that is the secret to success with weight loss, just never give up! We all know if we do that then the weight will sneak back on and we will hate ourselves. Thats what I love about fasting. I can have a wobble and lose focus for a few days, but the habits I have formed over the last couple of years keep bringing me back on track. Never managed this before in 40 years – one serious wobble and I would fall off the wagon. Now I know there is a simple solution.

RT thinking of you and hoping you are OK. I hope the sun is shining in South Australia for you.
Have a great weekend all. I am making sausage rolls for a family gathering next week, luckily not tempted by raw meat or pastry – so much easier than baking!

Beautiful RT 💕

Bad luck Nama. 30 deg here with the pool calling at last. The debate is history I don’t want to be part of.
Sitting at a good low weight despite 2 weeks of celebration eating. Amazing how much more mindfully we indulge these days. Thanks again Dr M ☺

oh HI everyone!

I hope you are all doing well – Jojo, it’s great to hear the highs and lows of your journey as it reminds me that it happens to all of us. Inspired by your determination and refocusing. Keep it going!

RT – so very sorry for your loss! really tough times, but it sounds like you have a loving support network around you. I’m thinking of you.

Purple Veggie Eater – Some great tips there for eating out – I will put them into action next time I’m out with friends!

Wee- welcome back. Hope you and Ross enjoyed the sunshine – gosh I don’t know how you resisted that but well done for staying strong.

I must admit you guys, the last week or two has not been good for me. After loosing a kilo and a half the few weeks of fasting, but instead of pushing me forward, I think I grew complacent.

Lately I have found the fast days very difficult, but even worse is that I find myself over compensating for my fasting on my normal days. Justifying bad food choices with “I’ll fast tomorrow”.

I’m not sure why I do this – one half of brain tell me no – that I’ll undo my hard work. While the other half of my brain justifies it.

It’s very frustrating and I’m sure I’m not alone, although I felt alone and out of control the last few weeks.

I’m trying to refocus to today sop I prepped some healthy meals for my non-fasting days, I’m hoping that it will keep me on track.

I’m also re-researching the benefits of 5:2, to remind myself that it’s for more than just weight loss!

Would love to hear your thoughts, or perhaps some coping strategies which you guys have found helpful when you feel yourself starting to stray.

I’m so inspired by those of you who have been doing 5:2 for many years now – I’m sure it isn’t always easy, so if you have any advice I’d love to hear!

Good luck everyone – thanks for the inspiration and support!

xxx Faith

Forgot to mention, nailed a good fast day today, now off to bed before the kitchen beckons!

Hello,
Guys I love reading all the posts but I was on a very funny mood to post anything lately.
To be honest with you Faith I haven’t reached my goal because I get easily distracted. I love Fasting and it makes me so energized. The secret in my case is to have a very busy day so you don’t think about it. A day goes by quick.
Sending hugs and kisses to my Fasting friends and supporters ❤️
It’s cold here this week.
Xoxo

Morning all,

Another cold and sunny autumn day, suddenly the days are getting very short. Ah well, it will be spring again in the blink of an eye!

I had an odd weekend. I found I didn’t actually want my usual weekend treats (a sandwich for Saturday lunch, some homemade biscuits). I spent a while umming and ahhing, half determined to still make some cookies, then I visualized them (mmm, tasty coconut, very sweet though…) and realized I really didn’t want them, I’d just fallen into a habit. And the result of not eating the usual sandwich or added sugar at the weekend is, well nothing! No weekend weight to be fasted off this week. I will however miss the fast, so may have to make a bit more effort to overeat next weekend!

Faith,

Have faith! Stick with it. The long lasting benefits and effects continue to surprise me.

Jo,

No weight loss is called maintenance, and after losing half a stone so quickly I’m not surprised your body is having a regroup this week!

Same experience in our household, Happy. We started this way of life with no expectations but soon discovered our weight dropped and Mr P’s diabetes improved to the point of total reversal.
We set no goals, until we realised that a return to healthy weight was within our grasp. We both ended up changing how and what we ate. 3 1/2 years down the track, we cannot believe the changes that have happened.
Concentrate on the changes, Jo, not the detail of each week’s “success” or “failure”. Real success is when you have managed to change your eating habits into a lifelong, sustainable, healthy regime. Then you don’t need to worry about overweight. Healthy weight will just happen. You CAN do it! ☺☺P

Yay, Wiwi, great to see you.

Happy, I had the same approach to 5:2 when I began. I had no expectations of weight loss. I just wanted to be healthier and I minimised carbs and sugar to help along the way. I lost weight in steps and stairs. I never once thought of it as a plateau. I thought that my body was readjusting to the weight loss each time. I was just very happy not to gain any weight.

Cheers, Bay 🌺🌺🌺🌺

Hi Jo,

I do appreciate we’re all different, but sometimes the language you use suggests you still view it as a weight loss diet and not a way of life, most recently that the scales are still stuck but you’re not giving up. It just seemed odd that you would even think about or need to say you weren’t giving up…

And as for not being disappointed when you don’t lose…Well you’ve told us previously that you need to see movement on the scales to stay motivated, so you can hardly blame me for assuming you were disappointed by not losing! Great to hear that you’ve changed your mind set on that though!

And my post was more a conversation piece than a direct criticism of you, as you had suggested HCB should set weekly targets. I was just pointing out that targets may not help everyone…

Our posts crossed Happy! I guess what I’m trying to say is that many of we early adopters of 5:2, and that is most of the maintainers, tended to go into intermittent fasting, not for weight loss, but for the many health benefits prompted by Dr M’s doco. We used basic 5:2 and trial and error to find the way that worked for us. Losing weight was the bonus.
Most of us didn’t come to the forum until after we had reached a healthy goal weight. It was then, through discussions on this forum that we discovered the commonalities we shared. Low carb, high fat, small portions, regular fasts, fewer eating opportunities, more home cooked and fresh produce, monitoring weight, not obsessionally, but as a guide, seem to be some of the lessons learned. We then shared them, hoping to shortcut the experiments newer fasters were going through.
Tinker at the edges, but the system seems pretty universal. What do others think? P

Not Nirvana, Jo 😊😊 Just a total rethink on how I live my life. It seems to be pretty well habituated now, but I will always have to be mindful. I don’t divide food into treats and normal. I just think through my total day or week’s consumption and make sure it is not excessive. I never eat unless I am truely hungry and I stop as soon as I’ve had enough. This was definitely not the case in my larger days. 🙄
Keep up the challenge. You already know the massive benefits of a lighter body.

That Dr M sure does some crazy things to his body. His wife must worry about him ☺

Hi Jo

I’ve only just looked at all the posts. Thank you for asking. Unlike others doing 5:2 I maintain by gains and losing the same amount. I am trying to reduce the weight fluctuations from 4 kg to 1-2 kg but am having trouble saying no to sweet things on non fast days.

However, focussing on the health benefits, and reading various threads keeps me going. Thank you for all your support of others. Like Happy, I don’t have goal weights, because if I didn’t meet a particular target, I would most likely become frustrated. I just keep saying the mantra to myself, You can have this tomorrow, and then I spin out the tomorrows. Some weeks I succeed all week, and other weeks I don’t.

The fact hat I love my fast days best, keeps me on the general straight and narrow.

Cheers, Bay 🌺🌺🌺

Hello,

You Girls are so good! All this back and fourth makes me think and ask myself many questions.
Of course we are all different but sharing experiences can be very encouraging. I want to believe we all have weaknesses. For sure food is a great reward for frustration and boredom.

I will be fasting tomorrow and Friday! I need to come up with a great tasty soup with lots of broth, cabbage, cauliflower and a protein or I just use legumes.

I’ve been trying to be off vino this week! Yes I tend to indulge on extras but I know too many isn’t healthy… Let it be a weekend dessert.

Gorgeous weather here. Crisp, colorful and dry.

Take care ❤️

Good plans Jo. It is important to recognise and verbalise the skills you learn. Small portion size really does become a habit, but needs to be always kept in mind. It is very easy to have incremental size increases again. I know! ! 😑