Hi, @alandem — I’m new to this site, also, although I’ve dabbled with fasting a little after seeing the documentary and reading the book a few years ago.

Like many sites where a lot of people have hung out for years, some of the forums feel a bit clubby. They all know each other, and I am reluctant to crash the party. There’s a lot of lingo and jargon that I don’t know, and that sometimes makes me want to run in the other direction. But after several months of trying to do this on my own, and being stuck at a plateau, I think I need something that will make me a bit more aware and accountable.

I once lived in France and knew the kilos-to-pounds conversion easily, but that was many years ago. I’m in the U.S. and weigh in pounds here, but I did the conversion on google, and also my own. In kilos, I’d like to lose about 18, so nearly twice what you hope for. In fact, nearly everything about me is nearly twice that of yours: I’m 61 years old, mother of two grown children (son 29, getting married this September, daughter turning 26 in August, and she got married nearly three years ago).

I remember the challenge of staying in shape when raising kids. I was never exactly where I wanted to be — at 5′ 3″ tall, my weight stayed in the 130-150 pounds range then, or 58-68 kilos. (When we lived in France I was a 27-year-old newlywed, and weighed 55-57 kilos. When we got married I weighed about 53. So you see, the scale just keeps going up every year by about 1.5 kilos. Consider me your cautionary tale!)

Because I always tend to consume a few more calories than I should to maintain, and because I detest thinking about restrictions on a daily basis, counting calories, counting points, eliminating carbs, blah-blah-blah, intermittent fasting is the easiest, best solution for me. I just need to learn how to do it so it works.

The best thing I’ve found so far is for my fast days to be all liquid, with soup in the evening. It’s still a challenge keeping it to 500 calories. Veggie juices and smoothies add up! But once I start chewing it’s very hard for me to stop, so the liquid fasting is much easier to manage. I’ve prowled around here and found that some people do water only, which I could also try — or just clear liquids. There are any number of ways to go, but in general, I think intermittent fasting will finally be the answer, if I am tenacious.

I hope this helps you a little, and if you’re interested, I’d love to join you as we learn about this community.

Hi AlandEM and PaxEst, and welcome to the forum. I fairly new to both the 5:2 and to this forum. I started on May 10th at 155.8 pounds and have lost about 10 pounds so far. I’m 68 and 5 foot 5.5 inches. I’ve found the diet to be pretty easy to stick with, although not a super fast way to lose. I count calories meticulously on fast days (FD) and rarely count them on non-fast days (NFD). I try to eat mindfully on NFD, but sometimes go a little overboard. But a pound per week on a plan that’s easy for me to stick with, seems like a good deal to me. I’m much less likely to give up on this way of eating.

Pax, I’ve found people in the forums to be very friendly. Just jump n a post a few times and they’ll get to know you. I often convert to kg because most of the peoplehere are from outside the US. It’s easy to find converters if you Google them, like you did. I think most people who are here for a while can go back and forth in their heads after a while.

Good luck to both of you. Hope to see you around the forums. Just jump in and post!

Do jump into the forums, it can be daunting, and some people have been here for a long while and have formed friendships, but everyone I’ve come across has been very kind and willing to pass on what they’ve learnt, tips and advice, and just very supportive in terms of helping people make intermittent fasting (IF) work as a way of life (WoL) or way of eating (WoE).

The longer you spend here, you fill find everyone that has been doing this for any period of time has tinkered and adjusted from the basic plan set out in the books. Everyone’s body has its own quirks and needs, some people have specific medical issues they need to adjust for, others it’s adjustments for life style.

Personally, I started this after reading the blood sugar diet (BSD) and doing a similar, but less restrictive, calorie restriction for 7 weeks. I then moved to 5:2, and have experimented with 16:8 (16 hours of every 24 spent fasting, 8 hours where food is allowed) at times during that. Sometimes I have done back to back fasts (B2B) ie. 2 consecutive fast days, sometimes I space them through the week as that fits what is going on. Some of those decisions are more based on what mentally works best for you – regular routine, or flexibility, do you want to calorie count on your non fast days (NFD). Some people do alternate day fasting (ADF) as they find that works better for them in terms of what they eat on their NFD, or only putting things they fancy off until tomorrow works in terms of will power on fast days (FD).

Look around, there are quite a few newbie threads with really good advice.

Also, I would personally recommend taking other measurements than weight or finding particular items of clothing that you know how they fit or want to get in to. Fat loss doesn’t always register on the scales, especially if you also become more active and are growing muscle to replace it.

I have lost around 4 stone (25kg) in 5 months (possibly a bit quick), and 4-6 inches (10-15cm) from my waist, hips and bust, generally slimmer everywhere. I plan on joining the July challenge to help me transition to maintenance. I am 5’11” (180cm) ish and now weigh 75kg giving me a healthy BMI for the first time since my early 20’s and am now almost 40.

@firmandfruity — I am very interested in your challenge that lasts until September 21, because my son is getting married on September 23 (and we’re hosting the rehearsal dinner on September 22), so of course that is a big goal for me — to feel great and beautiful for that! How would I find your challenge?

Has anyone had experience doing a month-long challenge and also a longer challenge at the same time? Is it too much? We’ll be on a 16-day fun trip July 8-24, and maybe I don’t want the obligation of checking in on two challenges. . .

@lmrenfrey — your message with many of the acronyms explained is super helpful. I’m starting to understand what they are and mean. Thank you!

@califdreamer — you have given me several food options for FDs that seem doable, which is good, because the liquid thing might get old. I think as long as I 1) wait until dinner; and 2) eat low-desnity or high fiber, low-fat food, I could do okay on a FD eating solid food.

It’s just so wonderful knowing that somewhere in this massive pile of hay is my needle. (It’s too good to call it a pile of manure, or I could say “my pony”!)

@alandem — thanks for getting the ball rolling here.

@alandem,

I’m a month behind you, but starting at almost the same place. I’m also 37, mother of 3, starting weight is 151 or 68.5kg, and I’m about 5’5″ or 165 cm I am looking to lose about the same. I am still reading through the book and learning the plan. Are you still doing this? I would love to hear what this last month has done for you!

Rachel

thanks, this is helpful!