This topic contains 467 replies, has 39 voices, and was last updated by annette52 8 years, 7 months ago.
Hi Aud,
I wondered where you had got to. It sounds as though you are doing great. Have a wonderful time in Whitby – lovely place. And if you do over-indulge – and why shouldn’t you? – those steep hills will burn off a few calories.
When we were there a couple of years back we witnessed a Viking funeral just before sunset. It was for a young local man who had drowned while trying to help a friend in difficulties. A very moving event.
Hi Cath, good to hear from you – you are a very busy bee at the moment aren’t you? Well done on the weight loss, every little helps as they say and if your shape is changing that is good too.
I’ve not been on for a while because I’ve had nothing good to report really. What I have to report now is that I have put 3lbs back on because I was a real pig last week! That’s the only word for it – I just couldn’t seem to control myself. I am determined to be extra good now for the next 4 and a bit weeks as Australia is looming (6th September). I think I have become a little bit complacent and let things slip a bit on my non-fast days really. I know this can be the slippery slope to piling it all back on and it will be nobody’s fault but my own if I do.
Anyway enough moaning, I hope you are still enjoying your job even though you are really busy. You will be ready for that holiday in Spain. Linda
I started the fast diet on April 17. I have just finished the 16th week!. During this process, I added some exercise at least 2 times a week (biking) and whenever possible another fast day. 17 April/ May was mostly 5:2, June was entirely 4:3 July was mostly 5:2. 16th week was 4:3.
I usually weight myself after a fast day in the morning. my first measurement was after the second fast day in April (week 1).
April 21: 199 pounds
August 7: 174 pounds
25 pounds in 16 weeks : 1.56 pounds per week average.
Goal: 165 to 160 pounds (I am getting close)
To me it works if I add exercise and another fasting day when possible as I have a tendency to not eat “normally” sometimes.
Hi Cath, wow dancing lessons! I’d love to be able to dance and if strictly is anything to go by it’s certainly helps with the weight loss. Doing something fun as excercise is a bonus too.
I agree when you say you and I seem to be cut from the same cloth and, apart from the weekend/social life excesses both of us want to get below 11 stone before our holiday.
I am happy to report that I have lost the couple of pounds I put on last week and am 11.1 which is the lightest I have been since at least 2009! I was looking through some old diaries last night and in 2009/2010 I was at the high end of 12 stone and got to 13.3 at one point. I hadn’t realised that and thought that before I started 5:2 last year at 12.13 I was the heaviest I had ever been – obvioulsy not! Realising that I am now over 2 stone lighter than that makes me feel good. I will continue to be “good” so that I can get under that 11 stone mark for September.
Tombaron, I have seen your posts in other places (I read a lot of the other osts but don’t put many comments on) .Well done for your loss, what a great achievement.
Linda
Hi Cath, Congratulations on your 33.5lb loss, what a great achievement.
I’ve stuck this week with no loss but at least I haven’t put any back on. I have been using the Vibrapower disc I told you about and do seem more toned so perhaps it’s more muscle? Perhaps it’s the same with you. I had two more people this week commenting about my weight loss and someone last week too so even though I haven’t lost much recently I must look different.
I’m still aiming for under 10stone before Australia but even if I don’t make it I’ll know it’s not for the want of trying. I read in one post “if hunger isn’t the problem, food isn’t the answer” and I am trying to keep that in my head when my hand reaches for something I really know I don’t need.
Have a great weekend in London, don’t be too hard on yourself! Linda
Hi Cath, silly me I meant under 11 stone – wishful thinking! I’m nearly there, just under 11 stone this morning. Surely I can get another couple of pounds off in 2 weeks – Australia is 2 weeks tomorrow.
Well done on no weight gain Cath – sounds like you had an amazing weekend. Lets both give it one last push to get to 10-something. Linda
Hi Cath, well done on the loss, I’m sure you will get there. An Xmas/New beach holiday sounds fab. Where are you thinking of going?
Not so sure about me though – still not under 11 stone but thankfully a lot less than the horrifying 11stone 5lb when I got weighed on Monday (I didn’t think the weekend had been that heavy!)I know I said that if I didn’t get there it would not be for want of trying but, thinking about it, it is my own fault because I know there have been times when I could have tried harder. No point beating myself up about it now though. I will just do my best for the next week and get back into it when I get back. Linda x
Hi Cathy and Linds,
Sorry I haven’t been commenting much but still reading 🙂
Well done both of you with that below-11 stone goal in sight, that’s my mini goal too, but it’s a way off for me. I’m encouraged by your progress but I definitely now need to try harder. I had a great holiday a month ago (went to Whitby, lovely, only splurged on chips once); came back the same weight! Then got sick with a stinking cold (my third this year, arrgh) so reverted to 6:1 and gave up the exercise as the chest infection got me. Now very much on the mend and with a 5:2 week behind me, I’m looking forward to next week.
Have a great holidays, ladies!
Aud x
Well the final weigh in before my hols this morning and I am still 11.02!! Just didn’t quite manage it although I will probably jump on the scales at 5am Saturday morning just to be sure. I’m not going to worry about it too much while I am away, besides the one pair of size 12 trousers I am taking will let me know if I am over doing it!
I hope you get to under 11stone before you go away Cath and have a wonderful time.
Aud, it’s been very slow and steady at times, more like 1 step forward and 2 steps back even but at least I am 26lb lighter than this time last year which is incredible. I will return from Australia with a new determination.
Linda
Well done Cath, you are doing brilliantly.
I am back in the groove and hoping to lose 14 lb or 14 inches, or a combination of in the next 14 weeks.My plan is to do that vague sort of calorie counting this week, to see where I am going wrong and to write everything down.
Also to get back to the gym and work on getting stronger arms.I am weedy.
The holiday is quite an incentive and I am sure that you will do well.
Hi Cath, well done on your loss since you came back from your hols, I’m not sure I can do that well! I’m glad you had a wonderful holiday.
After an amazing time in Australia I bit the bullet and got weighed on Saturday morning after returning on the Friday and was pleased to find I had only put on just under 7lb. It’s still quite a bit but it could have been a lot worse! I’ve not really got back into the swing of things yet and I have quite a heavy week this week too but I will see what I can do and then really go for it from next week. I want to lose another stone too if I can before Christmas (on top of what I have put on in Australia)so I need to get back into it as soon as I can.
Portugal and Cape Verde will be great at Christmas and a great incentive.
Annette – Good luck with your plan, I hope it’s going well. Linda
Hi Cath, wow, well done for losing another 2lb! I managed to lose 2lb so not doing too badly. I am going to try harder this week and see what I can do. You’re right, we do have very similar goals because I want to get to at least 10 stone 7 before Christmas; the trouble is it will be on us before we know it!
I have a cold now so, as I can’t taste much, it will be a good reason to stop eating! Linda x
Spectacular results, Cath. Give that woman a medal! 🙂
As the world’s slowest loser and second-time-around plateau queen, your achievement gives me hope. It’s taken me since Feb 2013 to lose a little over two stone with one more to go. I’ll still be marginally overweight (BMI 25.8 which looks pretty damned good compared with 33.3 where I started) but it will be a weight which I know from experience I can achieve and at which I look and feel great. If and when I get there, I’ll decide whether I want to lose a wee bit more or simply maintain.
I’m too much of a wuss to do 4:3, but I’ve made my fast days on 5:2 stricter – no breakfast or lunch, save it all for evening when I actually feel hungry, and stay as close to 400 as possible. And carb-free – or at least very low carb – lunches on non-fast days.
May I join you in saying hi to Aud and Annette? MA done and dusted, dissertation delivered. Now all I can do is wait.
Hope your job scene is getting more bearable, Aud. How are *your* studies going, Annette? I bet now you are well into your Master’s it’s a tad easier than you thought it would be. 🙂 Good luck, anyway.
Hi Cath, well done on your loss this week and 2.5 stone altogether is amazing no matter how long it took. I’ve managed one and a bit pounds which brings me to 11stone 3lbs so I am getting there. I’ve thought about 4:3 but not tried it get although I am trying to be extra good on Tuesdays and Thursdays (my fast days are usually Monday and Wednesay)and see how that goes.
I have some size 12 trousers I can still get into after my holiday which I was surprised at. It’s great isn’t it when you find that sizes you couldn’t get into before are now fitting. I don’t know if we have ever said what height we are. I’m just under 5’4″ so a bit of a short arse.
Sorry you are feeling stressed and will have to go job hunting again. I didn’t realise it was only a short-term thing. Linda x
Hi Cath,
Thanks for the encouragement. I shouldn’t moan too much as 5:2 has turned out to be the first diet – or way of eating, I should say – that has ever really worked for me and losing 2 stone-plus is nothing short of miraculous.
Part of the problem was that I had always eaten healthily – clearly not quite healthily enough, probably a matter of quantity rather than quality – and I didn’t have to make that many adjustments to my diet. Clearly, the fasting was the game-changer. Also I guess my losses were never going to be as spectacular as for someone who had previously been on the pork pie and doughnuts diet who started 5:2-ing and immediately shed huge amounts of weight.
The other part of the problem was being grossly overfed as a kid, all basically healthy home-cooked food but in humungous portions. Whether it is true scientifically or not I don’t know, but I believe fat cells laid down in childhood are always there waiting to be filled.
Thanks for asking about the MA. All being well I should hear around mid-November. Various uni committees have to sit and wrangle over the marks and earlier assignments have to be considered alongside the dissertation. I’ve done fairly respectably throughout and unless I’ve screwed up mightily on the dissertation I should pass and it’s just possible that I could end up with a Merit mark overall. Fingers crossed.
I see you work to contract. What do you do? I also work in a similar way and can refuse assignments I don’t feel comfortable with. Most of the time, though, I get given great things to do – I’m a translator specialising in Arts & Media – and I work from home. As long as I meet the deadlines, no one cares if I sit in front of the computer in my nightie. 🙂
I am inspired by you all.
Well done Cath, amazing achievement, no matter how slow.Hermaj, well done on the completion of the dissertation and all the work before.
I found that the pace of work and continual essay deadline of the OU, combined with family life a bit of a disaster with the FD.I have put on weight and more importantly, inches that are making my skirts rather uncomfortable.
I am having a break from the OU. First module completed which I absolutely loved and now a year off to save up my pennies for the next one.I need a break from the pace anyway and plan to read those books which were skim read for essay purposes.
I did 2 fast days this week, back to back, and it was fine.I am planning to do 2 more spread out this week and then thought that I would have a bash at ADF and see how that goes. I would love to shift some inches from my hips and waist in the 10 weeks before Christmas. I shall keep checking in to see how you are all getting on.
This is a lovely thread, & sounds very encouraging to me – I’ve been horrified to hit my heaviest ever weight, having gained a stone over the summer months thanks to mindless eating, so the time has come for determined action! I had moderate success with this last year on the approach to my sister’s wedding, so I know I can cope with fast days. Mine will be a 10-week countdown: I’m doing my first fast today, planning the next on Thursday – this pattern works well with my fitness & work routines, and allows me to relax a little at the weekends. Aiming for a 10% loss to begin with, which will get me back into some of my favourite clothes in time for Christmas – any extra I will count as a bonus! Ever hopeful, eh? 🙂
Hi Cathyork,
Sorry, I should have thanked you before for your interesting post and for your good wishes re the MA.
I completely identify with the ‘healthy but humungous’ way of eating you describe. Could it have been the way we were brought up? You know, clear your plate, think of the starving refugees, etc.
As a technoklutz extraordinaire I have the deepest respect for anyone involved with IT. Do you usually work onsite for your clients? If so, I understand why you need to pick and choose which projects to accept. And isn’t it nice to have the odd break, as you may do in November, especially if you know there is work on the horizon. The worrying bit is when you finish a project and then sit twiddling your thumbs for weeks on end, although happily I haven’t had too much of that over the past couple of years. However, I did take ‘study leave’ to do the dissertation, which of course meant nothing coming in. Fortunately, when I was ready to go again, jobs began gently flowing in.
I’m also the main breadwinner. My other half has been a freelance programmer for years, but more and more clients sending their stuff offshore meant that work has dwindled alarmingly. He still gets the occasional assignment but he decided to reinvent himself as an instructor in Shibashi/Tai Chi/Qi Gong (one of the gentler forms of martial art) and only yesterday he learned that he was now fully qualified. What was your husband’s degree in? Great that he did well and has now found a job.
The word ‘job’ reminds me that I’d better get on with mine. One last question, does your ‘handle’ mean you live in York. Lucky you, living in such a beautiful city.
Hermaj xx
Hi All,
I started this when I was diagnosed with Pre-Diabetes last year. It shook me up a bit although I also knew that I had piled on the pounds over the summer through ” mindless eating” then not getting rid of the holiday pounds and adding more on top leaving me the heaviest I had ever been! I’m an all or nothing type of person so the 2 days works well for me and, after a few goes at different things, I find that eating little or nothing during the day and saving it all for my evening meal works best for me.
I haven’t been re-tested yet, although I go for the blood test next week, and have lost 26 pounds so far although I’ve still a couple to lose that I put back on in Austalia.
Cath, sadly I love chocolate and it’s very hard for me to have “just one” so I have to do without. Even on non-fast days I have to be careful or I would just blow the calories for the week which is another reason I like this WOE as it makes me think more about what I am eating and the choices I am making i.e. whether to stuff my face and undo the good work I have put it on fast days.
To be honest I just love food and I agree that the portions handed out when I was young and the bread to “fill you up” haven’t helped. Living on my own I also find it hard to cook for one but am finding it easier to throw some away or freeze it rathen then be a pig and eat the lot. It’s odd but I am just about ok now if I don’t have any bread in the house although I was finding that sometimes I didn’t have any all week so it went to waste. I agree too that we were taught to eat everything on our plate and think of those starving in Etheopia or wherever which is why I find it hard to waste stuff.
I think I’m getting there but it’s a slow job and, as you all know, not as easy as others make out. Linda x
Hi cathyork,
There are moves afoot on the ‘lose 2lb a week’ thread, where you occasionally post, for as many as can make it to meet up face to face. Plans are still in their early stages but there seems to be a concensus that York might be a good place to go.
Three questions: Do you live in or near York as your handle suggests? Would you like to join the party? If you are a local lady, have you any suggestions where we might meet and eat?
One possible date is the w/e of 29/30 November to coincide with the Christmas market. It’s not clear yet if it will be there-and-back-in-a-day, or a stopover.
Hi Cath, not good news for me either this week – I didn’t lose anything although have only myself to blame for eating the chocolates again!!
I’ve been for my bloods etc. today though and I only weighed 11 stone which is 5lb less than what I weighed on my own scales this morning (with clothes on). I can’t have lost 5lb in 45 mins! I will have to get weighed somewhere else and see what they say!!!
Back to it for me too – I must lose some more. Christmas is not that far off and I need some new jeans but seem to be between sizes at the moment.
Good luck this week and I hope your gran-in-law is ok – Linda x
Hi Cath,
How is your gran-in-law?
Two weeks done of very strict FD with the scales moving a smidgen in the right direction, sadly my hips don’t seem to be following!I will have a weigh/measure/try on tomorrow morning and hopefully there will be some shrinkage somewhere.
Two sessions with the sports physio are working wonders even though I can hardly walk for the 2 days afterwards.Hopefully I can get back to the gym next week, even if it is only for my arms.
Eight weeks clear, until the week of madness. I would love to lose 2 inches off my hips and bust by then. It seems an awfully big ask, but that is my goal.
Cath,
Well done on the new job, even though it will be bonkers for a bit. Glad to hear that the elderly one is feeling better.
I have lost an inch off the bust and 2 lb in 2 weeks. Pretty pleased with that although the hips are a tad disappointing. My son and I have a 5K race tomorrow, he will fly round and I may or may not take part. If I do, it will be more of a shuffle, but maybe I can run after a month with no practice? Cath, you have done so well and remember that you can’t see the fat shrinking under your skin. I am sure you can see lots of improvements. We have 8 weeks before the madness, you may well get to 10 stone something and I may even shimmy some off my hips. But, remember, we are so much healthier and fitter than we were before. Something to celebrate I think.
I swam 100 lengths in total one week and didn’t lose anything, but then I noticed that my upper arms have some definition now, which I love.
Hi Cath, well done with the job and good luck with the juggling! I hope your gran-in -law is on the mend – krikey 95!!
I’ve managed to get down to just under 11stone 1lb but it’s hard going. Like you I seem to be not seeing much benefit from being extra good. I also seem to have been going up and down between 11 stone 7lb and just over 11 stone since February. Looking at it one way I am at the good end this week but half a stone in 9 months isn’t as much as I wanted to have lost by now.
As Annette says we are so much fitter and healthier than before although I haven’t had the results from my blood test yet – I can’t get another appointment until 13th November.
I haven’t seen any jeans in in-between sizes so will have to investigate. I need to try different ones on too I suppose as sizes ary from shop to shop but it’s all the bother of trailing round all the shops that puts me off.
Annette, well done with the 2lbs – it’s a mystery to me why we lose inches from some places and not others. It looks like my belly will be the last thing to go!
Linda x
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