Hello all. I have been AWOL for quite some time. Im finally caught up with posts. How great and inspiring it is to read everyones fabulous news!

Salma, congratulations on the whole package. I love your outlook, it sounds exactly what the 5:2 plan was designed to be.

Phoebe, well done! Only 1 stone to go, you must be so pleased with yourself.

Lori, I think you have found a pretty effective way to keep yourself on track
:-). A hike on Mt. Rainier sounds so nice. And how fun that you and Janey get to meet up. A few of the group on the Little Voices thread also got to meet up, I wish I didnt live so far away from everyone else.

A belated good luck for the week Norlandlass and BB I most definitely will be keeping my fingers crossed for you.

I am just back from a mini-vacation in Quebec City. It has been so long since I have been there and I have forgotten how beautiful it is. I also ventured out of the City to both Montmorency Falls and Canyon Saint Anne – areas of spectacular natural beauty. I got lots of opportunity to exercise given all the stairs I climbed up and down during the 4 days.

Today is a FD and on the way home from work, I stopped in the store for some sparkling water. I ended up carrying around a box of cookies and a box of pasta for quite some time. I eventually managed to put them back and escaped with just the water. Im feeling pretty virtuous at the moment!

Keep well everyone and good luck for anyone doing a FD today or tomorrow.

Hi DJ

good luck with the fast, very impressed that you put the stuff back!!!

Hi Sheryann

You are more than welcome to join us, we have company for you too, a few on here are from your side of the pond, so you are in good company.

Can’t promise you won’t find the odd day a defeat, but the battle can certainly be won, lots of help to get you on the horse, into the fight and victorious!

The secret is 5:2 isn’t a diet, its a way of life, a way of eating and a plan. All the best voctories have a reat plan!

Quite a good metaphor eh?

Tell us about yourself, and if you are fasting today, best of luck, I’ll be fasting with you!

Hi Milena and Beldyboop. Many thanks for your support. Welcome Sherryann. I’m actually on maintenance now, but pop back in as often as I can because this forum was so helpful to me on reaching my goal–and is still very supportive so I want to return the favour. I’m a neighbor to your north in Seattle. DJ, that’s quite impressive that you put the food back. I’m usually very focused when I go grocery shopping–not on impulse and usually not when I’m hungry. I have a list of what I need and pretty much only get that–though there are some things (olive oil comes to mind) that I really go through, so whenever I think of it I check to see if any is on sale and get that. It’s great to keep up with what’s going on with you all.

Jayney

Hi all,
Thank you for your warm welcomes 🙂 ! Milena asked me to tell a bit about myself. You can just call me “Sherry”. I am, as I said, just turned 52. I’m the “older” mom of 4 kids (three girls: 14, 8 year old twins, and a 9 year old boy). One of the twins was recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes which pretty much rocked our world. My husband and I own three non-medical senior care franchises (Home Instead Senior Care) in North San Diego & South Riverside counties in California and Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Soooo, life can be a tad stressful, but we all of have our “stuff”, right?!

I was 5’2″ but think with age I’ve shrunk an inch! Too scared to get on that scale yet…thinking of waiting a week or two after starting this way of eating (I know, stupid, I should just bite the bullet but I’m afraid it will be too depressing). I’m guessing I have about 25 pounds to lose.

I’ve struggled with my weight since my teen years (and especially since my early menopause at 45…lots of eggs sucked out of me for in vitro procedures that brought that on!)and am so tired of the mental energy that I have to expend figuring out what/how to eat to keep my weight off. I think this plan sounds a lot simpler! Up to recently I was doing the Fast Metabolism Diet, which was super healthy and gluten free but a bit hard to maintain over the long term and so I started to gain weight back.

I’d love to hear from any willing to share, what are your best tips for success on this plan? Thanks so much! I’m so happy to be part of this group!
Sherry

Hi Sherry,

In answer to your question about best tips for success on this plan, I will refer you to the modifications my naturopath (who recommended me to 5:2) made. You can see them here.

https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/first-dayweek/

Please see the penultimate post. I realize this seems a bit extreme, but I pretty much stuck to the above in combination with a total of 6 Tablespoons of olive oil (spread out through the day/night) and 10-15 grams of fiber three times daily (I’ve been using apple flavoured psyllium because it’s lower in calories than chia or flax seed). I also exercised six times weekly. This was inconvenient for me, as I was exercising four times weekly before I started 5:2, but it was relatively easy for me to do my usual strength training/aerial dancing thrice weekly, and have the other three times be half an hour of HIT/HIIT each.

Of course, I’m not suggesting you do everything I did, but in combination it made for the weight coming off rather quickly. I dropped just over 30 pounds from 10 January to 25 April of this year and have pretty much been on maintenance ever since. Since starting my weight reduction programme in June of 2008, by this past January I was pretty frustrated and just wanted the weight off as quickly and safely as humanly possible–but that’s just me. I offer this as one possibility for how to get your weight down in short order if that’s important to you. Please feel free to take whatever of these ideas work for you (if any) and leave the rest. However, I’m curious to know what you think of all this if you care to comment.

Jayney

Hi Sherry,

That’s interesting that you have a similar list of restricted foods. As long as you’re used to that, I suggest you might want to keep it that way until you reach your goal weight. Actually, I stopped using coconut oil shortly after starting 5:2 and replaced it with olive oil (only because I’m 4’10” and every calorie counts–and coconut oil is ten calories more per Tablespoon (so an extra 60 calories if I used the same amount as olive oil).

The naturopath says that a lot of olive oil really helps to control weight. Who knew? Not I. The psyllium is to ensure I get enough fiber–but it also keeps things moving in the digestive tract as well of course (as you mentioned). That’s a shame about your injuries. Have you had them looked at by a doctor? How long have you been dealing with them? All the best in that regard, and with 5:2 generally.

Jayney

Hi Ladies,
Thanks so much for all the encouraging comments this week they have really helped me, and welcome Sherry.
Today is my way and measure day and I am really pleased to report that I lost the 2lb I put on last week plus another one so that is 16lb in 7 weeks and it takes me down to just under 12 stone, I was 13.1 when I started so am really pleased with this WOL, I’ve also lost inches from hips, waist, bust and neck so the clothes are feeling better now too.
I’m off on holiday today with some girl friends so will probably be doing lots of eating and drinking but am not too worried now as will just start again once I’m home next weekend.
Hope you all have a great week with FDs and weigh ins.
And thanks for all the support I would really struggle without you all.
Take care. Xx

Hi all and welcome Sherry. I can so sympathize with not wanting to get on the scale. I worked hard at this diet for two months and lost four pounds only to put them all back on on a ten day vacation. So, last doctor’s visit, scale was right back where it had been. Since then I’ve been afraid of it, but my clothes are starting to feel a bit looser so hoping I’ll soon have the nerve to step back on.

Janey, how good to hear from someone who has made it to maintenance. While I don’t think I can cut out all the foods you did, I can easily avoid a few of them. Also good to know there are others on the forum who are “vertically challenged.” While I don’t have all that much weight to lose, on those of us who are small every pound shows.

Went out to a local supper club on a lake with friends last night. The food wasn’t that great and afterwards I felt I had wasted a bunch of calories. Anyone else have that experience?

Nordlandlass, 16 lbs in 7 weeks! Wow, that’s impressive.

Hope you’re all having a good weekend.

MM

Hi all!

Just in from playing 18 holes of golf. Over 10,000 steps on the pedometer, even though I rode in a cart part of the time. It was very hot & humid, so I didn’t try to walk the whole way.

A cookout at our son’s tonight will mean more eating and drinking, but I had lots of exercise today. Back to the course tomorrow for more chasing the little white ball around!

Have a great weekend!

Hi Everyone,

Beldyboop, in answer to Janeyw how do you take the olive oil? by the tablespoon? I generally put a couple of tablespoons in a protein drink, on veggies, on salad, etc., so I have six tablespoons over the day.

Minnesota Miss, I know what you mean about being vertically challenged–just one more thing to throw into the weight equation.

Sherry, regarding fasting three times a week, that was actually how I finally managed to stay on track and reach my goal weight. I steadily fasted twice weekly until about the last two or three weeks before I ended up meeting my goal. In those last weeks ONLY I fasted three days a week. I purposely waited until the end in an effort to confuse my body into letting go of those last few stubborn pounds more quickly–and it worked. At first I fasted three separate days a week, with at least a day in between. However, in the last week or two I fasted on two consecutive days (i.e. two back-to-back fast days) with another fast day thrown in after a day or two. That really propelled the weight off in my case. However, I don’t recommend fasting three days a week until the weight loss starts to stall, as that can get it in gear again–at least it did for me. Also, the naturopath highly advised AGAINST fasting more than two days a week. However, in this case, I was madly trying to reach my goal weight by the time of my next visit with him (and it almost worked–I was .3 pounds/.13 kilos/.02 stone over goal at that point–though didn’t have to make any more weight-related appointments after that). Again, this is my experience, but I personally didn’t/wouldn’t make a habit of fasting more than twice weekly in general. I consider fasting three times weekly to be a very specialized tool in my weight management arsenal. Just a thought. What do you think?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Jayney

Hello ladies,
Thank you so much for your messaging. They have been heartening to find in my ebox and have given me solace and even hope sometimes.
Recently I crossed the age boundary and am now 60.

I feel, in good faith, I will have to leave this group and leave some chat space for a newly arrived 50-ish person.
Thank you again,
and good luck to you all

Dj, imagine finding a thread for foodies and cat lovers, a marriage made in heaven.

At the moment, if it gets to 5.30 and Willow hasn’t come in to demand her hot water bottle refilled, I have to get up and poke her to check she hasn’t died in the three hours I’ve left her alone!

After a week of her jumping all over the furniture and demanding to be played with, she is back to struggling to walk . Though a part of me thinks she just likes the fuss and being hand fed!!!

Well done on the 5k.

Today we drove to Tynemouth, as seaside town where I used to live, showed hubby the route I took when I trained for a marathon in the eighties. I think I saw a grudging respect, as it was 20 miles to my mum’s and a cycle back , much along the beach and sand dunes.

Made me feel quite nostalgic, we past the ‘Spanish City’ mentioned in song ‘Tunnel of Love’ by dire straits – I was brought up in the same town nearby as Mark Knophler – it’s isn’t there anymore. So sad.

Great day though, stood at an antiques fair and dinner in a pub in Craster, facing the North Sea. Famous for skippers but the storehouse was closed.

No starter, no pus, feeling virtuous but looking forward to fasting tomorrow.

Have a great week!

Hi Norlandlass

live in just west of Edinburgh, was at an antique fair. Wish I’d known, we could have met for dinner.

It’s close enough for a drive out, was in Hexham last Tuesday, and Bamburgh the week before. How long is your holiday?

Good Morning!

Yes ladyfilosopher, please stay! 50’s is just a number, all are welcome here. We need all the support we can get!

Feeling quite tubby this morning. It is so hot & humid that it just makes you feel “ick”. I had a bowl of cereal last night that has added to my bloaty feeling, I’m sure. I haven’t had a bowl of cereal in ages. Nothing else would satisfy, so I ate it. Now I’ll be starving until my eating window opens today.

Off for boot camp in a little while. What a sweaty mess that will be. We do have air conditioning in the studio, but it’ll still be very hot.

I had the most frustrating round of golf yesterday. I don’t know what was wrong, but I just couldn’t find my swing. Not much fun, to tell you the truth. Some days are like that, but yesterday was particularly bad. Oh well….no one died. 😉

Have a good day my friends, whether fasting, or not!

[water welling in eyes]Sniff, sniff,
Thank you Ladies, I am so touched by these 2 (Salma and Lori_PA)exhortations to stay. I really was just being courteous and honoring all your constant sincere engagement by writing to inform you of my pleasure in being part of each others path….. I am told I ‘look’ 50…. so as Lori_PA says 50 is just a number… When we all get to 60 we can adjust the name of the group!

I hope to become ever wiser as the years pile on; technique is needed rather than brute strength as we get on in years and lighter in Kgs.

As Salma has mentioned, I do not actually weigh food on feeding days, but my sense of portion has adjusted. Congrats Salma in realising that there is no obligation to be the left overs “larder”. I am sure that is a natural atavic sentiment but not our case in these days and places of abundance.
I remember during a strict food intake period, I stood under a tree laden with the ripest purple plums and realised that NO! I could not honor the beauty and ripeness by eating them all. The tree was truly toooooo big, and old, and the fruit was just simply in such abundance that a single person could not have made use of them all. I tipped my proverbial hat to the forethoughtful person who had planted that tree, and found some solace that the fruit would go to the ground and be wonderful compost…. probably the reason the tree was soooo big and bountiful.
There are many ways to deal with left overs, and not being a squeamish person, I will take certain items back to the kitchen and save for some other moment as a treat. What does not fit that category goes to the compost to feed the plants I have in the garden.
But, it is true, we westerners WASTE food. With that in mind, I try for smaller portions, or just eat one less meal and drink even more tisanes and teas.

I have found having coffee without milk a drag, but necessity on fasting days. I need those calories for vegies and protein, and i need that caffeine push in the afternoon if I cannot take a nap.
I found cod is the least calorific of all the meats so far….even whelks are more calorific. Less calories, more quantities (always strategising !)

I was very down last night but philosophical about the plateau I seemed to be staying at. I had weighed myself at night at the end of a fasting day. Alcohol and chocolates had been on the scene, but not much; rice,and gnocchi, pizza and i was resigned to eating less of everything and no oatmeal etc. The following morning (this morning) I weighed in just for curiousity’s sake and VOILA’ 2.3 kgs lower!!! I held my pjs in my hand got on again, measured, off again, (digital), got on again and the number kept coming up.
94.5 kgs!!! Plateau broken?
I was perplexed before, because actually my body size difference is evident. Water retention?
Thrilled. As Salma points out, damage is fixable because this is a healthy, non gimmicky way of living with food.
Thanks again, there really was no other place I wanted to go to… was even contemplating not joining another group….
hear from you all soon

Hi all!

Ladyfilosopher, do stay. I’ll be hitting 59 in a few months (and planning to stay there for awhile 🙂 ) And congratulations on the loss!

Thanks for all the support, ladies. I’m still avoiding the scale, but have noticed when I’m lying in bed in the morning that my stomach is now flat! Too bad it doesn’t stay that way when I’m upright. I’ve started a 30 day plank challenge to see if I can work on that.

I’m off for the summer (I teach at a university here) and finding it harder to work in fast days than during the year. On days I teach it’s easy to skip breakfast and lunch and keep busy all day. Much harder when I’m home all day at the computer. Seems to be more socializing these days too. But I have a FD planned for tomorrow and as some of you have noted, I’m actually looking forward to it.

Sherryann, hope your first week went really well.

Milena, you said it. If only we had the bodies we had in our twenties or even thirties but could keep the wisdom and cool we’ve fought for over the years! Much as I miss that body I wouldn’t go back to those years for anything.

Good luck fasting everyone.

MM

Thank you all for such a warm insistance to stay. I had not expected it. Sherryann:I do not eat only one meal a day on fast day (called ‘healing day’ by husband and I). I start my day by drinking tisane, usually redbush because green tea makes get soooo hungry. When I have liberated my innards, [which the liquids really seem to push out of the gut] only then do I think of eating breakfast, which in the end is a brunch. I make sure that it is high protein, fish usually, or even hamburger with chopped mushrooms patted inside it. The other day I made myself a summer whelk salad with fresh lime juice and tons of parsely for breakfast. I am usually fine food wise until late afternoon but can get very cold. If I can fit it in, I take a nap. Dinner is a couple of boiled eggs and salad or more fish and salad. I try to stay just under the 500 kcal.Drinking tisanes and water all day at all times is a real help.
An aside: here in England at 60 the health service starts testing for bowl cancer. I learned something new from the brochure about the gut: the small intestine is all bundled up in our belly (OK, i knew that. The large intestine, instead, goes from the bottom of our belly goes straight up and over to the other side and down again framing the small intestine. The large intestine’s job is to suck fluids out of our waste and also where intestinal cancer nests. My studies have informed me that our gut is our second brain, and we know that our brain is what helps stay on track with our decisions about food and feeling better…. science now knows that when our brain finds itself lacking in chemicals it fishes them out in the gut, where there are as many neurons as the brain. I try and balance that out with probiotics.

Contrary to many others, despite being a recidive insomniac I sleep sooo well the night of a healing day; no abundance of calories begging to be burnt up, I suppose.
Happy days to you all tomorrow.

Another cheer from the crowd, happy in the fact that ladyfilosopher will be staying with us. As Salma says, it is all relative and soon enough many of us here will be hitting our 60’s.

Sherry, I also was following Salma’s strategy for fasting, but lately I have been finding that my fast days have been completely unsuccessful. Once I put that first bite of food in my mouth, I was incapable of putting a halt on the eating. My so-called FD’s became no different than my feed days, I was eating the same amount of food in a very tiny time-frame. Today I am trying a liquids only fast in the hopes that the FD will be more successful. So far, so good – it is 7 pm my time and have stuck to coffee, water and veggie broth all day. I am completely exhausted from last night’s insomnia attack (2 hours sleep tops), so I will be going to bed soon and that should be that!

Take care all and strength to all today and tomorrow’s fasters.

Milena,
Please give the uninformed among us the name of the fab face cream! We can all use all the help we can get. As the mom of young kids, I don’t want to be confused as being grandma…haven’t yet, but it could be just a matter of time!
Sherry

Good Morning All!

I’ve had an attack of the “lazies” this morning and have wimped out on my run. I overslept and sprang out of bed, but decided I didn’t feel like running. Sigh…I’ll be sorry when we do more running at boot camp and I’m struggling.

Oh yes….let us know the name of that magic face cream! I have been using an Oil of Olay night cream for the past couple years and really like it, but Lancome night cream was always a favorite. I think it was called Primordial Nuit. I switched to the Olay based on $$.

My eating window got stretched yesterday to nearly 7 hours. I had a sinful ice cream bar at about 7:30. It was good, but made my teeth ache! Weird. It has been a long time since I’ve had a treat like that and I guess my teeth didn’t like it.

Fasting today until around 1 or so. Not sure what I’ll eat to open my window. Lately I’ve been eating a lot of Hummus. I’m addicted! I suppose there could be worse things to be addicted to. 😉 I may pan fry some Cod for dinner tonight.

Ok….coffee and watching the news for me. Have a lovely day!

MM, OK! Let’s virtually hold hands and jump (or gingerly step!) on the scale together tomorrow. Are we going to officially post our weights or state how much we need to lose 😉 ?

Will keep Rose in my prayers (it is after all, my mom’s name too!). Sometimes those vets don’t know anything. We have a cat who’s leg (we think) was somehow yanked when it jumped out of a tree or maybe even a coyote tried to get at it and it was dragging the leg around limp for a while. The vets ($800 later!)had no clue and thought maybe he had a foxtail sticker deep in it. They said he’d just keep dragging it until it was raw since he seemed to have no feeling in his foot so they wanted to amputate. Well, a year later and he’s adjusted to walking on the tip of the bad toe (not dragging) but he’s fine.

Salma, congrats on getting back on the horse and successfully completing your fast day! It is nice to know we always have a plan to “fix” things after enjoying ourselves a bit much! Thanks for the feedback on saving your eating for later in the day. I’d read too somewhere that giving your body ample time to rest from digestion helps it in healing and improving your health. I will strive to get there!

Yes, Jayney, I can relate. While not as petite as you, at 5’1″, I’m also challenged in the height department and can’t eat much or I gain! I will have to look up the calculator to see where I should be. I’m assuming you use the weight you want to be as opposed to the weight you are when figuring out how many calories you should consume?

Milena, yes, that’s what they say, those kids keep you younger (or what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger 😉 ? Yes, I was 37 when I had the first one and 43 with the last two. My husband, who turned premature grey early on, was confused as grandpa by a young boy in a pool about 10 years ago and has used “Just for Men” to cover his grey ever since!

I’m off to the local trampoline park to get the “wiggles” out of these kids. They eat you alive during the long days of summer if you don’t have activities/play dates constantly planned! I remember as a child laying on the grass for hours looking at shapes in the clouds and being quite amused. I think possibly all the electronics our kids are exposed to (and I do try to limit them but it is hard!) today makes them not appreciate the simple pleasures 🙁

Best of luck to you all today!