Progress is not a straight line – my journey

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Progress is not a straight line – my journey

This topic contains 9 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by  Emilly 7 years, 5 months ago.

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  • So it’s week four for me and I’ve lost 3kg. I’m thrilled.

    After a big loss in week one, and then putting nearly all of it back on in week two, I did almost – almost! – throw in the towel. And then I reminded myself that I said I’d give this four weeks to see if it works, and boy am I glad I did. Here’s are my numbers:

    Start: 80.3 kg
    Week 1: 78.6
    Week 2: 79.2 (I went up to 80 during this week)
    Week 3: 78.5
    Week 4: 77.4

    I’ve also done enough maths to know that I can eat 10% over my TDEE on non-fast days (not that ever I aim to) and still hit my weight loss goal (65kg) in six months. This is helped along by exercise (I run, do weights, and walk a lot) but, as ever with weight loss, calories are king.

    I know I could lose the weight more quickly if I counted calories on my non-fast days, but for me that seems to go against the spirit of 5:2 – the best part of which has been how FREEING it is to stop punishing and rewarding myself with food.

    I just eat what I want, except when I don’t.

    And it turns out – if you remove most of the emotion from food – what I want is pretty standard and relatively healthy, with the occasional pub night, takeaway or sweet – which I don’t over indulge in anymore, because I don’t feel like it’s ‘the last time I can ever have this’.

    Anyway – gosh what an essay! I’m going to keep track of my progress here. I hope you all are finding 5:2 as rewarding as I am!

    Congratulations Emilly!

    You’ve done really well and got past a hurdle as well.

    So at the start of week 5 I was back up to 78.9!

    A kilo and a half gain. Two weeks ago that would have sent me into a tailspin, but I remembered to factor in: 1. I moved house on Sunday. Sore muscles (and boy did I have those!) retain water and 2. I got my period. And yep, that retains water too.

    So I did my normal fast days (and my normal feast days), drank a lot of water, and four days later I’m down to 76.5.

    A 2.5kg variation in four days is a really good reminder of just how unreliable the numbers on the scales are!

    Oh well – as long as there is an overall downward trend I’m happy 🙂

    Emily,

    Pretty much everyone’s weight varies within and between days. As you know. that isn’t gains and losses of fat, it’s differences in water retention, food in transit, etc.

    Most people’s weight will be heaviest after the weekend and will decline (even without fasting) through the week to a lightest.weight at the end of the week.

    I’m heaviest on Mondays after eating carbohydrate and probably larger quantities of food generally over the weekend, and lightest on Saturdays after a more moderate week of eating.

    I’m at maintenance now, and I weigh myself every day and use that information to guide the following week. If I’m heavier than normal on either my lightest or heaviest day, then I know I need to be a bit stricter on my non-fast days and reduce the amount of processed carbohydrate and sugar (since these are responsible for fat gain).

    The scales aren’t unreliable, they are reliably telling you what you weigh. What they aren’t doing is teliing you what proportion of that is fat.

    Weigh daily to understand how your weight varies, but record your lightest weight for the week to monitor the long-term trend (fat loss).

    As you point out it’s the overall downward trend that matters. And you’re doing really well so far!

    So after two months of doing 5:2, I’m back to where I was in my second week. I’m so frustrated.

    And I know it’s my fault. I started getting a bit less strict on my fast days, or not making it all the way through them. I’ve had a lot on in the evenings, and I haven’t been able to turn down an unplanned meal or evening out.

    Then I would do two days of fasting in a row to make up for it, but all that did was trigger my IBS – something I haven’t had a problem with in years. And then I would need to eat to make myself feel better (mostly physically, but probably emotionally too).

    I probably haven’t done a full fasting day in a few weeks. So it’s no surprise that I’m back here. But I’m ready to get back to it, and do it properly. This time around, I’m trying:

    – eating three small meals on my fast days instead of one big one (my guts are a lot happier with this!)
    – a short run on weekdays (it helps my mood, energy, self esteem, digestion – all the things I try to fix with food)
    – stick to my IBS friendly foods on non-fast days (lots of probiotics, veggies, avoiding dairy and high fat food)

    I think if I can stick to these three very simple things I can get back on track. Wish me luck!

    Get a grip, Emilly! If you can cope with moving home, fasting, and not going into meltdown you can cope with anything! ?

    Good luck Emily!

    You know, the only thing I stick to is fasting 2 days a week. That is it. On non-fasting days I eat and drink what I like and exercise as much as I have time for.

    And I have lost 7 kg over the last 9 months and have already reached my target weight. (That is not meant to sound smug, supposed to sound encouraging :-))

    Well, giving myself even more rules to follow definitely didn’t work. Nine months later – no real fasting at all – and I ended up three kgs heavier than my starting weight.

    But I’ve just left a stressful job, started exercising, and things are looking up. I’ve lost a bit of weight just through weights + running, and today I completed my second fast of this week.

    Hurrah!

    Last time around, I would have ended my fast day with a greasy slice of pizza and a sneaky wine (that’s 500 cal in one tiny meal!) and gone to bed craving more. This time, I made myself a bowl of stir-fried broccoli, tofu and enoki mushrooms with a tahini sauce. It was 350 cals, filling and delicious.

    I have to say, the biggest change has been the exercise – my mood is just so good. I’ve pretty much stopped craving comfort food and will happily have a cup of tea instead of half a bottle of wine. (When I was traveling a lot for the stressful job, it could easily be a whole bottle!)

    I’m looking forward to tracking my progress again. 🙂

    SW: 83kg
    CW: 81.4kg
    GW: 70kg

    So I decided to fast on a workout day this week – for the first time. It’s gone really well! I had a piece of toast (with vegemite and avocado – so good) for lunch, and veggies for late dinner.

    In between, I did an hour long weights class and a 2K run. Happily surprised to find the workout was no harder than normal – I maybe even had a bit more energy? Hoping I’ll be sore tomorrow 🙂

    Second fast day of this week today, and second workout day too. (I also snuck an extra run in yesterday!)

    I did an hour of yoga (very, very gentle yoga), half an hour of weights and a 2K sprint. All of it (apart from the yoga – ouch) was really great, my weights and times have improved and it feels almost…easy?

    I had some coffee and a bite (literally, just a bite) to eat before hand, and then veggie soup + toast for dinner. 450 calories today and also…really easy!

    My mood is great, I’m not really hungry, and I’m getting fitter. What isn’t to love about this 5:2 caper?

    I’m not sure I’ll see a loss tomorrow (birthday weekend just passed) but I won’t be too upset if I don’t.

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