New to 5:2

This topic contains 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by LJoyce 4 years, 6 months ago.

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Betheleth

7:09 pm
21 Oct 19
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Hi everyone:)

I’m a mother of a 4 and 6 year old and after having my 2nd child, I never seemed to lose the weight I had gained and even put on som extra. Life got busy and I stopped exercising and made unwise food and drink choices. I’m finally fitting in time for myself and am working on getting stronger and healthier.

I stumbled across this forum after learning about 5:2 in September and have been glancing over the forums over the last few weeks and have been hiding in the shadows, figured I would finally say hi!

I started at 155 lbs (which is my heaviest without being pregnant) over the summer and lost the first bit by only walking, cutting out fast food, my sugar coffee addiction and then a couple weeks I stayed within 1200-1300 calories a day.

I started 5:2 on September 15, starting at 148.9 lbs. I have gotten to 139 lbs and seem to be hovering at 139-140 since October 8th. I think I lost mostly water weight at first so I expect the progress has slown down and I may start gaining muscle from exercising as well, so I plan to mostly go by measurements and how my clothes fit.

I’m short (5’1″), so I would like to get back down to 110-120 lbs. My smallest was 105, but in the past I looked just as good if not better at 110-120. So I am not going to base my goals on just weight alone.

My TDEE at my height is 1557 at sedentary or 2011 with moderate exercise. I walk daily for atleast 30-60 minutes with little running durring that time (working towards being able to run again) and I am using just body weight for now to strengthen my muscles (3-4 times a week) before starting to use my dumbells and resistant bands.

Anyways, I would love to here about others success with 5:2, what routine they follow, or any beginners tips and encouragement!

I’m also interested in knowing if anyone slightly cuts calories on non fast days and whether or not they eat back workout calories. I have not been eating back my workout calories. I have also read that eating at your goal weights TDEE or between that and current weight could be beneficial, would love to hear anyone’s input on that.

Thank you for your time! I am happy to be jumping on the 5:2 wagon and can’t wait to hear from others 🙂

LJoyce

6:21 am
22 Oct 19
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Hi Betheleth, well done for finding the motivation to tackle this problem. It sounds like you are making good progress.
The range of approaches to 5:2 that people use are many and varied. I can say that many try to speed weight loss by cutting back calories on NFDs. This can be a double edged sword if it has you feeling like you are on a diet everyday. Others just try to make healthy choices on their NFDs and cut back on processed and fast food. Sticking to the TDEE for your goal weight on NFDs is a good idea as you start to learn what your serving sizes need to be once you get to goal, so it won’t come as a shock.
I think being flexible on your final goal is also sensible. Being healthy and having the energy to manage your life is often a good indication that your weight is ok and your food choices are the right ones.
You said you’d been reading some posts. I’d suggest you post on one of the active threads on this forum – just choose one that has plenty of daily posts and that feels a comfortable fit for you and are discussing the things that feel most relevant. The regular contact with the same group of people really does help. (Under “forum” if you select “active topics” you’ll find those forum threads that have a group who chat daily.) It is helpful if the group is in a similar time zone, but not compulsory – I’m on the southern hemisphere thread, but we have some posters from the northern hemisphere who seem to manage the time difference quite well – it just means that you may need to wait for people to wake up before they respond to your latest post.

Good luck.