Opinions for a newby.

This topic contains 14 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by  dykask 6 years, 8 months ago.

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  • Hi all,

    After watching the documentary and reading the book I’m planning on giving the 5:2 a go. I’m 37 year old mum of 1 weighing in at about 72kg (167cms) and would like to lose 5-10kg (10 would be amazing ideal weight stuff) and wondered if anyone had had success at a similar weight and how long did it take to see results. I can be super motivated when I’m seeing results but fall off if I think something isn’t working.

    I have a really active social life and would love to be able to eat out a couple of days a week without it affecting my waistline.

    Any help / advice much appreciated.

    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.

    Also, @alandem, there’s a July challenge coming up that you might want to consider. I’m going to do it, because we’ll be traveling and I want to stay on during our vacation.

    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!

    Thank you, @califdreamer ! Good to know about the welcome here. I would be thrilled with a ten-pound loss since May 10th, btw! I started on my own in April, and have lost about eight, but am in a plateau now. Good for you!

    Thanks so much for the replies I definitely think I’ll give it a try and sign up to the July challenge – do you know if there is one set up as yet?

    you both seem to have lost good weight which inspires me. I want to enjoy my weekends with my family and not stress over a diet I’m following so I hope this one works.

    CalifDreamer – what do you typically eat on your fast days? Do you stick to liquid like a lot of people? Also would you both recommend doing breakfast and dinner or lunch and dinner? Is it better to have a huge gap in the day?

    Any advice greatly appreciated.

    Hello there. If you wish to join a challenge, how about diminishing days and weight which is a 3 month challenge which runs until 21st September. I set this up a few days ago after completing the midsummer challenge (where I lost 8.9kg in 3 months). I’ve found the motivation from other people very helpful and knowing that we all have blips is reassuring. I have learned a lot from finding out what other people do on the different forms of the Fast Diet.

    PaxEst, I live in France and am a similar age to you with 2 grown-up children. I have another 12kg to lose (maybe a bit less or more, depending how I look and feel).

    At the moment, I’m doing 2 FDs a week and have tea for breakfast, coffee for lunch and a good meal around 6pm with 2 + litres of water spread out through the day. Last night’s meal was a huge plate of lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, radish, 2 hard boiled eggs, olives and smoked trout. During the early spring, when I started, I needed breakfast because I got so cold on FDs so I had porridge made with water and milk with some blackberries and homemade soup in the evening.

    Anyway, good luck to all of you and I hope you do really well.

    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.

    ALandEM, I drink a lot of water, herbal teas and coffee on fast days but for the 500 calories I have a few favorites. I like broccoli, so I’ll often take a 1 pound bag of frozen cut broccoli spears, but it in a big Corelle vegetable bowl, and put it in the microwave with a little bit of lemon juice salt and pepper and whatever other herbs sounds good at the time. I will eat the whole thing which is about 160 calpriest. Super filling and healthy. Other times I’ll add a can of chunk light tuna (100 calories) packed in water to a big bowl of greens and maybe a small cut up Roma tomato. Dressing is lemon juice, a little vinegar, herbs, salt and pepper and a packet of Splenda. (Perhaps not so healthy but calorie-free) The whole thing is around 160 calories, big and filling. Hard boiled eggs are good on fast days. No fat added refried beans are good. A can by Rosarita is 350 calories. Or sometimes I cook beans on my own and just measure out however many calories I want. Super filling with lots of fiber. Canned soups that are around 200 calories for the whole can are a frequent choice. Manhatten Clam Chowder is a favorite. These are some of the things I choose from on fast days.

    I put Tobasco sauce on the beans and often on the broccoli. The flavor makes it seem more filling. I suppose I have quirky tastes, but whatever gets you through the day. I never eat sugar on fast days other than what’s in fruit. Sugar sends me off on a binge. Pick foods you like with lots of fiber to fill you, and find a few that you like so you won’t have to do a lot of deciding on your fast days. I go for quantity over quality. Lol! So far I haven’t drank any of my calories on fast days, but I may add some green smoothies in the future. (Lots of greens, spinach, half a banana, half a lemon, water and lots of ice in a blender)

    I never eat breakfast anymore unless we’re going out for breakfast and certainly not on fast days. I’ve always preferred coffee only in the mornings. I try to stop eating by 9:00 pm. I try to space what I eat, but other than the coffee only in the morning, I eat when I’m really hungry.

    Lots of people here lose weight faster than I do, but this is what works for me. The important thing is that I can stick to it without a lot of angst!

    @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.

    Hi @alandem

    There is a July challenge set up now which is to be led by @coda. If you look on the active topics list you will see the heading for the challenge. Just post that you would like to join and your name will be added to the spreadsheet.
    Hope this is helpful and welcome.

    @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

    I’ve been here less than a year and much less of that I’ve been joining the monthly challenges. Probably around 1/2 the people the post often have been doing so less than the time I’ve been here. Following the challenges is a good way to learn and get ideas about what to do. The only problem is there and be too much to read, so sometimes everyone probably gets behind. Anyway the challenge threads are always very open and friendly.

    Sone Lingo

    NFD – Non-Fast day
    FD – Fast day
    BSD – Blood Sugar Diet (pretty new, people only eat 800 calories a day for 8 weeks)
    Zero Calorie Fasting – Just drinking water on fast days, or at least thinks without calories
    LCHF – Low Carb Healthy Fat
    LC – Low Carb
    Carb – Carbohydrate, things like bread, pasta and sugar. If it isn’t a fat or protein it is a carbohydrate.
    kg – 2.2 pounds
    lb – a pound whatever that is
    stone – 14 pounds (British making the Americans feel better, even a stranger measurement.)

    thanks, this is helpful!

    A few more …

    WOL – Way of Life
    WOE – Way of Eating
    ADF – Alternate Day Fasting
    IF – Intermitted Fasting, can man a lot of different things, but periodic fasting is always a part of it.

    x:y – Like 6:1, 4:3, x+y=7. Means non-fasting days vs fasting days in a week
    xx:yy – Like 16:8 or 20:4, x+y=24. Hours a day fasting and hours for an eating window.

    CR – Calorie Restriction

    CICO – Calories In Calories Out. That is typical way most diets work
    SAD – Standard American Diet. (Not used much here, but there could be other forms of it.)

    Macros – Macro-nutrients , food is mostly fat, protein or carbohydrate
    Micro-nutrients – Vitamins and Minerals

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