Salma, hope you feel better soon!!! My period days are over but I still get migraines and they have a mood component. The bioidentical hormones help but aren’t magic, unfortunately….We also used 23 and me, but there are at least two other companies who do similar testing. One is from National Geographic, which had this fascinating article on the Neanderthal component: https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/neanderthal/ I think the other is operated by ancestry.com … it’s entertaining. I think back to earlier people and I’m pretty sure I would not have survived!

Sherry, the clearing program is a mindfulness program where you get an email every day (themed by the week) that gently encourages introspection about things like unhelpful stuff/clutter you keep around both physically and energetically and emotionally. Sometimes it’s directly focused on things, such as the clothes in your closet, but a lot of times it’s more metaphorical. Like last week was about sensing the energy of different spaces in your home–a little feng shu (sp?) — but other times it’s more about thoughts, etc. It’s hard to describe and might be too out there for a lot of people, but it’s good for me. Starting it this year kind of coincided with a “clearing” process I was in anyway so I was doing great for a while but then the funk of March hit and I’m stalled! In a way, losing unneeded weight is in the same vein. So it’s time for me to reboot all around!!!!!

So, I need to really stay focused today. I’ve had a bit more than I planned so far but a “good” supper should keep me on track. I’m committing to you!!!!

Hi there! Joining this group for some support and encouragement, after lurking and contemplating getting this started again.

I’m 52 years old, living in USA, tried 5:2 on my own last year for about a month, then fell off the wagon. I lost about 8 lbs in that month and felt generally great. I’m almost 6 ft tall so I find 600 kcal easier than 500 on fast days.

Looking for tips and support to make it stick this time! I’ve gained about 10 kg over the last two years transitioning to a more sedentary job, and would like to lose 15-20 kg total.

I’m a mom to a teenaged boy with a voracious appetite and married to a man who loves his meat, so meal planning can be a challenge! My daughter who’s a healthy eater/veggie lover is away at university.

Today is Day 1, planning on Tues-Thurs fasting in general. I love vegetables of all sorts and am lucky because I’m in generally good health and have no food restrictions. Just need a kick-start and a reminder to eat to my body’s (newly lowered perimenopausal) requirements!

Thanks for reading and thank you for letting me join in!
–Kari

Hi again!

My daughter and I had an early dinner so she could get to symphony and I put up the food already so now to be good during the evening. That’s my downfall!

Welcome, Kari. Posting here regularly is a big help. I’m envious of those 8 pounds!!!! I’m going much more slowly than that but if I look at where I was a year ago I’m down at least, not up! Just to stick with that pattern is my goal.

Sherry, the program was through dailyom.com and it is called A Year to Clear. I should warn you that some days, all you get is one sentence, but that’s fine with me. I try to make myself focus on whatever it is for at least a few minutes. Other days you have a concrete task that takes a little bit longer….

And thank you for the warm welcome and good wishes, Salma! Miso broth with mushrooms, broccoli, scallions and a little tofu for lunch gave me quite a bit of bulk for around 200 calories. Dinner will be broccoli and carrots steamed and then stir-fried with just a tsp of coconut milk, and a little chicken breast and half a sweet potato.

I’ve just ordered a digital scale, which will help me be precise, and also help me be more in line with the UK members here who post info!

Good morning everyone,
It is a rainy day. My garden is delighted!

Salma, I’m glad you have been able to look after yourself a bit. Running away is often the best idea! I hope it was a three day funk, and it is finished now.

Welcome Kari, it is great to be able to share experiences and have people here to pick you up when times are hard, or boring, or a bit disconnected. It sounds like fasting means being quite out of step with your household! But hopefully you will make a nice easy rhythm of it so that it is easier to sustain.
I started last July and am getting close to being the shape/weight I want. I have got my eye on maintenance when I change to one fast day a week. But I think I have a month or so to go.

Miso soup is my fast day favourite! It is fast day today, since tomorrow (my usual fast day) is tricky. I am just about to have my lovely lovely morning coffee and then we will clean up the bomb site this house is! No I will clean up first and have coffee as the reward!

Hello everyone else! I miss Milena and Makica too!

Must go and tidy!

PS Neanderthals were cool! I’d be happy to have more of their DNA!

Hi all and welcome to Kari, as others have said we are a mixed bunch, some dip in and out like me and others keep us going consistently, so join in as you please.
My 2nd FD fell by the wayside yest, I only had a small dinner but DIL brought wine home and I had a couple of glasses, plus I gave myself a chocolate biscuit after an afternoon of filing paperwork relating to my Mother who died last year, just makes me sad sometimes that she has gone.
Onwards today- we are out at our local Lebanese place later so plan low carb day and will take carrot sticks to eat the houmous with so I don’t eat the bread- the family laugh at me, but all eat carrot sticks with me so not such a mad idea!
No car today but hoping to get a walk in if the rain holds off,
Susie

Good morning Carolina! I wasn’t the one who asked, but I have been interested in trying a lower-carb eating pattern so that’s really good information.

I don’t see how a person could fit many carbs into a FD, so I guess that’s sort of a natural fit. We’re eating fewer starchy foods as a family, and mostly whole grains/brown rice/etc when we have a starch at meals. It’s funny, my older daughter (who’s in college) is the one with the wicked sweet tooth — she also bakes professionally for her summer job. Very, very dangerous combo for me! She’s a skinny minnie and a diligent exerciser so she’s fine.

Thanks you for the info!

Hi Sherryann! I have a 15 year old son and a 20 year old daughter who’s away at aschool. We certainly aren’t gluten-free or sugar-free, but we pretty much eat real food. I am lucky because nobody in my family is a picky eater, and everybody likes vegetables — my guys just like their meat too!

It sounds like you have a really busy household! It must be a lot of juggling with all the different schedules and activities.

I just got back from a good hour at the gym, with 2.5 treadmill and elliptical miles plus weights and abs. I’m going to try to focus on weights and higher-intensity workouts at the gym. Now that the weather’s improving in Wisconsin I can get my dog out for longer walks which we both enjoy a lot.

Have a good evening!

Good Morning,

Thursday already? The days seem long but the week is going fast, does that make sense? Not having golf to look forward to this weekend is kind of a drag, but we do have dinner plans with friends on Saturday night. Other than that, it will be a low key weekend. Next weekend I go to my sister’s for a long weekend(taking 1/2 day Thursday & Friday off)

Off for boot camp in a few minutes and having a fast day today. The scale popped back up a 1/2 lb yesterday and it is sticking. Sigh…..I’m having a 500 calorie day today to try to get things moving again.

Have good days!

Hi Girls!

A bit quiet here today! Rainy and cool today. Out here in California the weather can’t seem to decide if it’s summer or winter…super hot one day, rainy and cool another.

Just finished a pilates session. So hard to concentrate on those correct muscles in the core to get the exercises right. I’m slowly progressing.

Salma, are you still looking at the possibility of doing pilates? Also, I just saw a recipe on the Cooking light website for a middle eastern dish, Chicken Shawarma. Have you ever made it? Looks tasty! Great job on the dinner out! Sounded perfect and yummy! Glad the clothes are feeling looser…we all know sometimes the inches come off before the pounds…they will follow shortly I’m sure!

I’m trying to get my travel plans for the summer nailed down. As I told you, my daughter and I are doing a student tour to Paris and southern Spain in June for a couple of weeks. We’re trying to tack on a 13 day tour of Italy at the back end to include Rome, Florence, Sorrento, Pisa, Lake Maggiore, and Venice. I’ve done Italy before kids with the hubby and probably could do it without the tour, but honestly I don’t want the hassle of hauling luggage, catching trains or driving myself and plus you get tour guides who give you insight (something my hubby and I rarely did…we’d just wing it!). Hoping it all turns out ok.

Hey British gals, I heard on the news this morning that Britain is looking to put labels on junk food there that state how much of certain types of exercise you’d need to do to burn off the calories in the item if you eat it! My pilates instructor (who I told you is British) laughed and said, “Britain is becoming such a ‘nanny state’ at this point!”

Anyhow, have a great day ladies. Hoping all who are fasting are having a successful day! 🙂

Sherry

Good Morning!

After a good FD yesterday, the scale went down a wee bit, but not enough to get excited about. Guess there’s nothing to do but have some beer, as that seems to make the scale go down! LOL!

We are to have a couple inches of snow tomorrow. I am beyond depressed. I will be puttering around the house all weekend instead of walking the golf course like I should be. Sigh…..Ah well…….just happy to have a nice warm house to putter around in!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Lori, we are headed out to State College tomorrow. NOT looking forward I-80 in the snow.

Cinque, I love miso and I love kimchi. I have not yet put them together! I make a dish of chicken, soba noodles and kimchi, cooked in coconut oil with TONS of ginger and garlic — major comfort food.

My mid-fifties friends!!

As I read your posts, I related to so many of the struggles! Menopause is brutal! ugh…don’t get me started, right?!!

I have always watched my weight and kept a healthy weight for years. I have very health habits and have had them for years. When I was 49, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Surgery and all the rest followed. I have to take tamoxifen for 5 yrs. 1.5 to go and I will be done. The tomoxifen slammed me into instant menopause. Like a freaking rocket from hell.

I decided to give this my best shot because nothing else is working. I do the following – track all of my food and drink (weight watchers), walk, on average 10,000 steps per day, don’t drink soda’s, don’t smoke, very low sugar intake, drink water, weigh myself everyday, don’t eat fast food, get at least 8 hrs of sleep per night. I mean, really! I WORK HARD AT THIS!! I have had these healthy habits for years. I have great habits and stick to them. I am rewarded with little or no weight loss. I am not looking for a “magic” solution. I want something that I can stick to forever and be rewarded with hard work and sticking to plan.
I am a very private person, so this is very new territory for me. I am looking forward to the journey with new friends, if that is possible.
I am going to start Monday.

Looking forward to the journey with you.

Jules

Hi jules and welcome:

Here are some tips that might help: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

Hello!

Kari, how neat that you spent time in Lebanon, too! What are the odds that two people in this group would have lived in Lebanon….sounds wonderful except I keep getting hungry thinking about the food. But as Salma said, it’s healthy food compared to a lot of junk being sold. I don’t feel bad about eating healthy food….

Sherry, the walk was good. I call it WALKandTALK….it’s kind of therapy for me and my friend! Glad you avoided an Rx. That’s always my goal.

Lori, hope you can enjoy the indoor weekend….just think of it as one of the last times you’ll have that cozy feeling of a warm house on a cold day for a while.

Welcome,Jules! Glad to have you. It’s so unfair to lead a healthy lifestyle and get hit with disease like that…I admire you and wish you the best! My sister in law had stage four breast cancer and is going on four years cancer free. She will be on some low level chemo (don’t quite know what to call it) indefinitely but she’s doing great otherwise.

So I had a migraine today but I stuck with the walking plan and I’m even doing a third fast this week. The migraine actually came after walking but it was looming earlier. My husband has something this evening so he won’t be here for supper so I thought I’d just turn my modifed fast into a real one. Yay! Tomorrow I’m driving my daughter and a dance friend to Knoxville and we’ll be there all day–it’s about two hours. I think I’ll be able to not screw up too bad even if we get a little fast food. I’m really hopeful to get even beyond my pre-spring break weight by the end of next week. If I’m able to make progress with this third fast day, I think it’s possible. And then the pre-Christmas weight will be within a pound and then…”new” territory!!!!

Briar Rose, good luck with the shop. Wow!

Hello Everyone,
It is a lovely light Melbourne morning. It feels like summer has completely said goodbye, so we are enjoying the Autumn things.
You know my daughter, son in law and toddler granddaughter have been staying with me in my tiny flat after moving back from Sydney. Well, yesterday they were accepted to lease a lovely roomy house a suburb away, and they will be able to move in next week. Great news! I had got into the rhythm of enjoying having them here (after the shock of my normal life being stripped away! 😉 ) But now we are gearing up for them getting their goods out of storage, their cats from the vets, and somehow gathering up everything they have got here. And then, after a bit of a rest, I will get back into my old rhythms!

Salma, I hope your parents had a wonderful night at the museum! And omg that restaurant looks delicious!
Careful of that hip. You need a very experienced pilates teacher who will know how to protect it!
So glad you are feeling better in your clothes. As you know, I think that is a MUCH better gauge than those stupid scatterbrained scales!

Sherry, hello! Your travel plans sound so exciting! And your healthy breakfast cookies sound extraordinary!
I am longing to get back to the garden. I have been way too busy and it has been dry until a big rain a few days ago, so I was hardly keeping things alive. My butternut pumpkin vine is growing four butternut, one of which will definitely be ripe when the vine dies back. My rocket is crazy, full of flowers and seed pods coming. I am sure it will self sow after that, and those two things have been good at shading everything else. I planted a piece of sprouting sweet potato and it has grown large. I wonder if it will survive our winter! My stevia is good, I had better harvest the leaves before they die back. My basil is looking disheveled and keep asking me sorrowfully why I didn’t make more pesto when it was at its best. My other herbs are happy and my Japanese windflowers are putting on a most beautiful show!

Briar Rose, so glad you could pop in. Cheers for all the work you are doing! Exciting times.
Kar, K-Lo, I bought some kimchi a while ago and found it wonderful. I would add a little bit to soups, stirfries etc and it adds such a wonderful zing and depth of flavour. I bought another lot but it wasn’t as good as the first. So I need to research where I can get the best stuff!

Jules, welcome here! I bet, if 5:2 works for you (and surely it will!) you will find it so easy and wonderful, after all your strict management and control. With 5:2 all you need are those two days of light fasts, and normal healthy eating the other days! You work out how to make it sustainable in your lifestyle and then you do it. That’s all!

(I know it isn’t always that simple, but it can be!)

Hi Catz, I hope your migraine is gone now. They are so debilitating! Focus Day is good, F day might work! 😉 But I agree with you that there should be another name. Focus Day doesn’t work for me, because I focus more: on eating mindfully and making good decisions, on the other days! My Fast Days are more a Me Day, because they are set up to be good for me.

Must go, Daughter is making muesli bars and granddaughter is feeling left out! Time for a little walk!

Me Day tomorrow!

Happy Saturday (or Sunday depending on where you reside!),

Just got back from a walk with the hubby and kids before the next big rain storm hits. We’re supposed to get rain this afternoon and then thunder and lightening this evening right as we’re headed out to my mom’s birthday dinner. I hate driving in the heavy rain!

Carolina, yay for the modified fast and powering through your walk despite the migraine. I’ve never had them but heard they can be awful…so sorry you get them! 🙁

Hi Briar Rose, yes the cookies are very good. The recipe is on Jane’s Healthy Kitchen website if you’re interested. The soup you had sounded good! I made a yummy lentil curry veggie soup last night in the crockpot and subbed coconut milk for the heavy cream…mmmm!

Salma, yes, Cinque is right. If you do the pilates you want to look at the bio (commonly seen on websites for pilates studios that list their instructors) on the instructors and maybe zero in on those that work with people with injuries in particular. And of course, talk to them about your issue in advance and make sure they know how to make modifications so you don’t further injure yourself. All of the good ones I’ve worked with always ask me to tell them if anything ever hurts and if so they modify or have me stop doing that particular exercise. Good luck!

Hi Cinque, good to see you here! I’m sure it will be wonderful to have your place and routine back, but maybe a tad strange initially after getting used to all that activity you’ve had for a while! Interesting that you grow stevia. I’ve used it in liquid and powder form. How do you use the leaves? Do you steep them in teas or dry the leaves, etc.?

Hi to everyone else and have a wonderful weekend,

Sherry

Good Morning!

A cold, cold start to our day. The sun is shining and things should improve quickly. I’ll be doing laundry & watching golf on TV. Not very exciting, right? Just 3 1/2 days of work this week and then I get to head to my sister’s for a few days of relaxing and sister bonding. Looking forward to it.

We went out to dinner with some friends last night and I splurged on a chocolate martini. Oh my….it was SO good! My friend actually had 2! I stopped at 1 and am glad I did. I ended up bringing half my dinner home and it will be the husband’s dinner tonight! Haddock stuffed with crab. I also brought home 1/2 a portobello mushroom stuffed with crab that I got as an appetizer. That will be my dinner. Scale stayed the same this morning, which is still a pound and a half up from my low. I have got to get this weight loss kicked into gear! Just 4 weeks till cruise time which I know will pack on some pounds. Round and round I go!

Hope you all have a lovely day!

Good afternoon to everyone,

Third dreary day in a row here. I think if I lived in a northern climate I’d definitely have that SAD syndrome because I seem to suffer when there’s a lack of bright sun for days on end.

I’m a bit down because the scale’s been moving upward and I need to get on it quickly before those pounds solidify. Though my family lives near, we don’t get together as a group much except holidays and birthdays. Now that all the nieces and nephews are getting married and having kids, it seems every weekend is a shower (wedding or baby) or a birthday. This last month has been particularly tough in that regard…every flipping weekend I’ve been faced with temptation and I thought did pretty good, but evidentally not! Ugh! Anyhow, onward and downward (hopefully!). I don’t want to travel this summer with extra pounds on me plus the extra I’ll probably find while vacationing!
🙁 Tomorrow I’m going to buy the food supplies to make my bone broth, veggie smoothies, turmeric & ginger root tea, protein etc. to do my 1 week cleanse. Haven’t done it since January so it’s about time…it will help hit the reset button!

Cinque, your garden sounds wonderful! I’ve heard there’s health benefits to gardening, getting in the soil and breathing in particles of it! Actually good for us! I figured you used stevia that way! I wonder how potent a leaf is vs say a packet of powdered stevia? How do you use the dried leaves? Put them in a tea infuser?

Susie, how funny! I’ll be hitting the spots you are in a few months! Where in Spain are you? We’re doing southern Spain and Morocco. Florence is absolutely beautiful, in fact the whole Tuscany region is. You will love it there! Did any of you ever read that book, “Under a Tuscan Sun” (or see the movie, which I don’t think was as good as the book, personally) that was out many years back? I often envisioned myself remodeling and living in a Tuscan villa! Ahh, dreams! 😉

Bye for now! 🙂

Good Morning!

You all are making me relive my Mediterranean cruise and our time in Italy! We spent a lovely day in the Tuscany region with a guide.

Salma…your summer plans sound divine! What a lovely place that must be. A beautiful villa and all your family together…what could be better?!

I spent all day yesterday sitting and watching golf on TV. Imagine my surprise to have the scale take a nose dive this morning to a new low! I really thought I ate my weight in cheese yesterday, but the scale didn’t seem to mind. The number probably will be gone by tomorrow, but I’m claiming it for today!

Not much happening at work this week. I am doing a mini training tomorrow with 2 people from one of our affiliate companies. They have been told by management that they are to do things the way we do things. They are a bit resistant as they are rather set in their ways, but I’ll do my best to “show them the light”! 😉

A rainy day today, but there is hope for warmer weather this coming weekend. Of course, I won’t be home to play golf, but there will be plenty of time for that this summer.

Have a lovely day!

I feel so out of the loop after being caught up and not on here for week or so. Sometimes, things move so quickly.
Welcome to all the newbies and don’t get discouraged. You will read so many of our different stories here and then you will find your own.

Matilda, just keep plodding along and you will find that you just slip into a rhythm. If you start a day with good intentions then you are halfway there and that is better then being at the starting gate.

All your talk of holidays has me champing at the bit for a break. I am a travel agent and it feels sooo long since I had a holiday. That is not quite true as I did go on a cruise last Nov, but in my job you just want to pack yourself into everyone’s suitcase so you really need to start planning your next break as soon as you get home. I am so longing to go back to Europe and the UK as there is so much more I haven’t seen yet and so much I would like to revisit.

I am calling Fast days ‘Cleansing days’ as that is what it is to me and I agree that Fasting has the wrong connotations like starving and depriving. So great idea to change the name -sorry I cant remember who brought that up, and I am sure we will all find the right words for each of us.

Cinque, I am interested in your CFS. I hope you don’t mind me asking but how were you diagnosed. I know it is an iffy disease that is often not recognised but I do think my Dad has it. He had a very bad viral infection 18 months ago and spent the better part of 6 months in and out of hospital and rehab. Now he is sleeping 16-18 hrs a day and has no interest in anything. He takes a mountain of meds and lives on his own in the country so I am quite concerned about him. Was there a specific test?

I am just plodding along, released some weight this week but nothing fantastic, though I saw my Dr today and she is very pleased.

Off to bed before the clock strikes 12 yet again. I rarely get into bed before 1am these days which is another unhealthy habit I have to break – all in good time.

I release any excess fat cells that no longer serve me.

So Salma, as your long lost cousin, 50 times removed, I wanted to let you that I will be attending the family reunion in Corfu…perfect timing, as my trip to Italy will be ending around the 13th of July! 😉 Seriously though, sounds absolutely wonderful! Re: the cleanse broth, it is just bone broth for which you can find a recipe anywhere on the internet these days because it’s so popular right now. Were you wanting the whole cleanse? I posted that between Thanksgiving (end of November) and mid-December if you wanted to look back and find that. I’d retype it, but it was a lot!

Lori, Congrats again! Seems you’ve found the silver bullet to weight loss!

Spreckles, how fun to be a travel agent and get all those great travel deals! Don’t you also get to travel to resorts, etc. free so that you can recommend them to clients? Please book my ticket from Rome to Corfu in mid July for me! 😉 So sorry to hear about your dad! I’m really hoping they figure out what is going on with him soon!

Carolina, my hubby had talked about taking the motorhome to Glacier National Park this summer. We’d gone to Yellowstone a few years back and just kind of drove through Glacier. Wished we’d actually stayed there a bit because we heard how beautiful it is and that you are more likely to see moose (something we never saw in Yellowstone no matter how hard we looked!). I can see why you ended up eating all the crud after a long, exhausting day carting the kids around…it happens! Back on the horse, right!?

Ok, showering and grocery shopping are in order. Bye!

Sherry

Jules, I also meant to tell you best of luck on your first fast day today! I’m cheering for you and hoping it goes by painlessly! 😉 Let us know tomorrow how it went!

Sherry