Gozo, Malta

Today it’s a fast day for me only. My husband is eating normally. I’m doing liquids only but with two smoothies, one I had for lunch and the other is for dinner total calories today is 500 as I went out with the mother of two of my sons in law with my 10 month grand daughter and 8 month old grand son and had a large cappuccino with no sugar ofcourse. The smoothies are 180 and 277 calories each.

It’s my last day of fasting before Friday morning weigh in to report here. At the cafe there was the salesgirl who started commenting on how good and slim I was. I had to write this site for her to look it up on the Internet and explained to her how the fast diet works. I also recommended her to get the book of Dr Michael Mousley on the 5:2 fast diet.

I have to get new clothes. We just received an invitation from my husbands cousin for her daughters marriage on 5 th November. I need to buy a dress for it before then.

As back2thefuture said it’s important to keep on going even if we have a weight gain as going back on track would mean we lose the weight again. This happened to me when I went for a long weekend for holiday and indulged in excessive food. My weight has gone back to what it was before then and I’m feeling so much better.

It’s the middle of the week. Happy Wednesday everyone.

Correction: I WILL DO IT.

Day 28/USA/NFD. Walked 4 miles this morning. Not hungry so I might as well do 500 calories today.

Day 28 Edinburgh UK

It’s starnge but after downloading Dr M’s Fast Diet and Dr Fungs Obesity Code last night; it’s as if a switch has clicked in my brain!

This morning I decided to have a fast day and it has been successful at under 500cals! Though as I write this my daughter is getting a plate of cheese and biscuits which I do intend to RESIST!! Cheese being my biggest temptation it will be hard!!
More sparkling water!! Now watching ‘Bake Off ’- must be mad!!!

I will weigh in the morning and check holiday weight gain!!

Coda without you and your May challenge I wouldn’t be 2stone lighter I’m so grateful to you and my 5.2 friend o this forum! I really thankyou for all your support for us all and your truely motivational posts!
Stay strong and get back on that horse! Tomorrow is a new dayx

We can do this Fuvvie and HollyLJ you have been great buddies, we have come so far!

It seems a good plan to get back to basics. Personally I’ve become complacent over the past couple of months. August was emotionally traumatic and September I’ve relaxed on holiday!

But on a positive note I haven’t totally lost the plot, and I’ve resisted the cheese, so a successful fast day!!

Stay strong everyone.

Stick with it Bethany!

6lbs in 4 weeks is great – a steady, sustainable, healthy loss. If you’re anything like me, the weight crept on gradually: having kids, finishing their leftovers (!) and eating a bit too much on a regular basis. I’m resigned to the fact that it will take time to get to a healthy weight again, but I’m confident I can do it, without having to deprive myself or get hung-up about food.

Much as I love the idea of losing 14kgs in 8 weeks (thank you Daily Mail headline!), I’m not good with feeling that I’m missing out on food, either through hunger or just having to deny myself. 5:2 works for me because I can negotiate with myself – ‘I’m not eating that juicy scone today, but I’ll save one for breakfast’ etc. Maybe not nutritionally very advisable, and I know I’d lose faster if I ditched the cake altogether, but I’m not sure I’m a ‘no cake’ sort of person.

I used to do WW, but having to continually eat less than I needed left me feeling hungry, deprived and sorry for myself, and then reaching for the biscuits to cheer myself up, then depressed about not having enough willpower to resist, and so on. In the long run, I put on more than I lost within a year of stopping, each time I put myself through it. I still have to fight my demons on NFDs, and have a long way to go, but I know this plan works for me, so I’m going to slog through it.

I do like the advice about the Mediterranean diet though, so might have a read of the Blood Sugar Diet website and see if there’s any bits I can ‘borrow’… I’ve lost 13kgs on 5:2 since Aug 2015, have another 13kgs to go before I get under BMI 25, into the ‘healthy’ zone, and would like to aim at another 7kgs lighter than that. At 1-2lbs a week, you’ll have lost your 56lbs by Easter next year. It just feels like a long time when you’re on a FD. The wheels will come off now and then, and you’ll shove them back on again and keep a eye out for next time!

Day 28 Sussex U.K.
NFD.
Late checking in. Sorry. Have fallen by the wayside since a very emotional weekend with bereaved brother.
Managed well sat and sun but caught a sore throat.
Scales on Tuesday showed a loss but then the comfort dragon arrived! Why is it that I can see a loss and then sabotage it. So frustrating.
On the plus side, overall, these challenges have also made me more relaxed around food and I look back to the beginning of June and think yes there is a downward trend. Slow but sure.
Coda- thank you so much. Now look back at your journey and see how far you have come and how many people are grateful for your support. Stand up and be proud. Say it out loud. Oh dear have I overdone it? Lol.
August2024- you make be laugh out loud. Love it.
Debbie- thanks for getting us through this month. I hope we can all continue on through the coming months and get to our Shang-gri-la, maintenance, together.
Will post weight along with everyone on Saturday.
Good luck for the final push everyone.

PS just seen your post Patti thank you and for making me smile lol, I looked at my tracker and at times a little higglety piglety but a definite downward trend. Nite all – so much for an early night, I really had started my post on day 28!

Another lesson learned this month – never tell anyone you don’t have a problem with fast days because, sure as eggs, that’s the day you will feel you are STARVING! So hungry … 🙂

Day 29 / Australian in Asia / FD (maybe)

PositiveinPA I’m so glad someone gets it! We need to fight this and we will. I’m sure of it.

Today is meant to be a fast day but my mental health (I still have 9 months til I’m an ordinary Australian in Australia and I’m struggling with life here at the moment)always takes priority and if I think fasting is going to make me crankier I won’t do it. I will still try and make sensible choices though.

Yesterday’s NFD I stayed in TDE but, as PositiveinPA is aware of, I didn’t necessarily make healthy choices. Didn’t eat until dinner, then afterwards ate / drank the rest of my TDE (actually only 1,200, so not my whole TDE). I wasn’t hungry. I just wanted stuff. Sigh.

Have a great day everyone.

Day 28/USA. Today was a FD. I am still struggling with the evenings at home on my FD. Tomorrow will be a NFD. I will need to save my calories for the evening so I can enjoy a charity event. Wishing everyone a successful end to the Sept challenge.

Day 29 – Switzerland – FD
Mental note not to stay up late reading interesting diet facts / watching Jason Fung videos when i have to be up at 5.30 the next day…
Anyway, I’m up and sticking with FD as planned, as, like Maui, we have an anniversary dinner tomorrow night!
I’ve printed off the BSD info on Mediterranean eating to see if that can help me with NFDs going forward. Doing the 8 wks at 800 kcals per day would give me a calorie deficit of 8,400 per week so almost three times what I’m working towards here on 5:2 – that’s a bit radical for me right now, although i can appreciate how it gets results…
Last couple of days of the challenge – stay strong everyone!

Sunshine Coast Aus Day 29: NFD: Hello everyone, I have had some lovely laughs from August2024 and Lany36. I so enjoy the humour shown here. I feel sympathy for those struggling, being in that boat myself. I think that, in my case, 5 months is a long time to stick to a commitment every day. If one hasn’t ever done this before, then it’s not surprising that we start straining at the bit and want to break out. But it’s like bringing up one’s children, you are stuck with feeding them every day when they push the food away and don’t want to eat it after all the trouble you have gone to. You can’t just pack it all in and say ok, I’m not doing this anymore. It is just something you do and keep on doing. Some days are diamonds, some days are stones. You turn up at work everyday as otherwise you can’t pay your bills or do any of the things that we need to do in life. So now we are committed to doing this, day in and day out, because it is getting us where we want to be. Yes, we can stop, but why did we start this journey in the first place? Because life had become a struggle and we were discontented with ourselves. Nothing that is worth achieving ever comes easily. And it is so reassuring to know that it can be done. We are doing it and will keep doing it as the end result is worth it.
Do you think I would have made it as a preacher? Forgive me, but these thoughts are all buzzing around in my head. Got to keep my eye on the goal.
Hey Bethany, know how you feel. Still have over 30kgs to go myself. Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that Jazz. Gazing into the future, I see us all standing at our individual goal lines, so thrilled we stuck it out through thick and thin, highs and lows. Lows allow us to appreciate the highs. Unfortunately, at this point, 100 kgs seems to be like a huge magnet and i’m holding one with the same polarity so that the closer I get, the stronger it seems to push me away. But I will get there. I was at this point 7 years ago when I hoped to be under 100 kgs for my 60th birthday. This time I’m going to get there. It’s only being part of this group that hasn’t allowed me to shoot back up again. See you all tomorrow. Tons of hugs for all of you.

UK day 29 …tail end of a long FD.
Nearly there (well, to the end of September!), and I come back to a phrase that struck when I first discovered this website back at Easter – a year from now, you’ll be glad you started today!

UK day 29 NFD Morning all, so happy about yesterday’s FD ,well under 500 cals and resisted the dreaded afternoon munchies so feels good to nail a FD and as long as I’m sensible on the NFDs I will lose weight – sounds so simple doesn’t it ha ha ! Great to read the posts,was chatting to an old friend last night who is thinking of joining WW I and realised we have our own global support system going on, real people no hype and it’s free Thanks all x

Surrey UK Day 29 Today is a FD for me…I was busy making tea and had a strong desire for a piece of toast with peanut butter, first thing this morning. So I asked myself if it was worth doing something now and then spend the rest of the day regretting that, and probably the whole day would have gone south. So I made the tea, came upstairs and started reading the posts on this thread, which is what the choice was instead of the toast. Thank you to all you life savers!
And…exhale, your description and reply to Bethany was almost a mirror image of my own path. It was so useful to read it!
Fuvvie, so succinctly put! Yes this way of life should become second nature and we ARE committed to doing this. The alternative is back to the old ways and that is just miserable. As B2tF says, the real challenge is to make a habit of the best healthy choices. We are all thinking these things through in our minds, and each one of us has a slightly different perspective. When you put them all together it just gives a very strong base to work from. It has been very interesting watching most of us hit similar hassles during this challenge, and it almost seems as though collectively we are re-grouping for the October challenge. I think we are growing up!
BrightonBelle, you are so right…real people, no hype, and it’s free.
I was watching a video where Dr Jason Fung describes how, over the years, we fill our bodies with particularly sugar, and what insulin resistance really is, and my word, it made so much sense! He also pointed out that each person IS different, what works for one may not work for another…and the total beauty of this way of life is that we each find what works for us within the framework of 5:2. Those of us who have loads to lose (25 Kg), it will take a while but guess what? For the first time I can actually see that it is possible. Thank you all. I plan to see this fast day through, because I know there are others who are also fasting today. Good luck!

Gozo, Malta

We’re really a great bunch. It’s good to feel inspired by everybody’s posts because we’re in the same boat. When I started 5:2 in June I did so as I wanted to do something to start really running after my grand children as I was constantly catching my breath on the sofa. I did it for myself also because I was tired of wearing baggy t shirts and extra large pants. And so for health reasons which my daughters were constantly harping about. Today I know I even regained my balance as its no joke to carry about two stones wherever you go. 5:2 fast diet is a way of life and has thought me to thinkbefore I eat though I have the occationL feast days. I’m getting better doing TDEE on nfds. When I reach target weight I hope to be able to maintain on 6:1 and if I have some kilos extra I’ll just do 5:2 fasts until I reach my target again. Tomorrow I’ll weigh in and report here.

Today is a nfd for me. I had around 140 calorie breakfast namely a brioss and coffee with semi skimmed milk with no sugar or sweetener. My husband and I have been taking coffee with no sugar and sweetener this past year and a half.

For lunch it’s chicken and chickpea soup which is cooking on the hob right now and some melon. And for supper I’ll have something lighter such as a smoothie and banana or yogurt and an apple. That will keep me within my TDEE.

This evening I’m starting a yoga/Pilates class although when I’ll have my other daughter grand daughters to babysit I won’t be able to make it on Thursday but they are doing another one on Mondays. And I babysit my grandaughters every other Thursday’s until 8.30 pm. Today it’s my 8 month old grandson whom I’m babysitting.

Onwards and down the last couple of days of this challenge. Stay strong everyone and remember tomorrow is another day.

Day 29 / Tweed Coast Australia / NFD

Thank you for the good wishes Violet! I’m happy to report that I experienced almost no pain today! I’m being very careful about what I’m eating and continuing with the oil pulling and a few other things which are helping and eliminated things that I’d thought were helping but apparently not so, according to the doctor!

I’ll be joining you on your FD tomorrow Violet!

This morning after yesterday’s FD, still weighed the same as before FD, though sometimes my weight is lightest the second day after FD! So we’ll see what tomorrow brings!

Fuvvie, I’m about at maintenance and am wondering if the October challenge is open to maintainers? I feel like it will be a challenge for me to maintain, so could use the extra support. Thanks. I understand if you’d like to keep the group for those actively shedding fat.

Hi everyone UK day 29 FD or NFD haven’t decided as yet so no pressure but will just see how it goes.

Have a hair dressers appointment later which will help give me a lift. Had a small jar of homemade bircher muesli with a little almond milk about 11 am with a couple of cups of coffee – so far so good. If I can make it home I may make a smoothie and make it a fast day or depending on what I will make the family I could have a small portion and still make it a fast day and do the same Friday. Think it may be called damage limitation ha ha. Would like to get back my success at making my fast days liquid fasts as I felt good on them but no rush. Will maybe even do a few smoothie/juice days to see how they go. I and along with my friends here – we will get there. Have been watching the JF’s clips and will read the book again to be inspired all over again.

Day 29|FD| Toronto
OK NFD yesterday, as far as quantity being at or under TDEE,but poor for nutritional quality.

London Day 29

2 more days to go! DebbieQ thanks for running the September Challenge – I will post my monthly result on Saturday.

If anybody needs a good laugh do go and see Bridget Jones’ Baby – I went last night and it was the best of all of them – very funny and light relief for anyone who is feeling under the weather.

Also just a quick reminder, if anybody wants a free annual membership to my hubby’s house and pet sitting site https://www.professionalhouse-sitters.com that I mentioned earlier this month please send an email to hello@professionalhouse-sitters.com and he will send you the coupon. 🙂 🙂

day 29 NFD
173.4lb but still hoping to see 172 on Saturday.
I was just reading Dr Mosley’s 800 calorie diet plan and he made a comment about combining the 800 calorie plan with 5:2. He said even though he had originally recommended 500-600 calories for FD, he saw little difference if you did 800 calories on FD and stuck to Mediterranean low carb the other 5 NFD. Has anyone tried this with good results? Sounds like it could make life less stressful and much simpler. I think the key is to keep everything out of the kitchen that’s not on the diet plan if you live in a household where that’s possible. My challenge is making sure I bring food with me to work or eat before work and just drink water at work. One thing I like about this WOLZ is that there seem to be various ways to apply 5:2 and you keep at it till you find what works for you. This is a life changing WOL. Hoping these last two September days will go well for all of us!

Day 30 NZ NFD
Weight this Morning only down 200g for the week BUT total loss in 24 days (didn’t check weight until 6th September) 2.9kg.
I’m very pleased with almost 3kg in 3weeks even if it’s more some weeks than others it’s all in the right direction eventually and that’s a substantial amount of weight.
Another 4-5kg till goal weight – although as I’ve said before I’m much more interested in fitting my measuring pants than getting a number but I cant be the one to skip the weigh in when we have all come this far together.
I must get home from the gym (typing on my phone on the cross trainer – multitasking Mum extraordinaire) so I can motivate my monkeys, because this is my circus, and if I don’t rouse teen bodies before I leave for work they’ll still be standing by their beds holding one sock and a toothbrush when Nan gets there at lunchtime to take them out!
Best of luck all you lovely people, I couldn’t be happier with my September and I truely hope you all finish feeling the same way.

Extra post – hey Fuvvie your post got through!!

Don’t beat yourself up, tomorrow is another day to get back on that bloody horse!!

You have a lot to contend with in your home life and this is just a bump on this rocky road we’re travelling, but we travel together my friend x big hugs x
staying strong with you, sending positive supportive vibes.

Day 29 Minnesota, USA FD (hopefully)
Sorry for not signing in yesterday, DebbieQ. I think that’s the first time in 5 months that I’ve just totally forgotten to.
A couple of thoughts:
Bethany, Fuvvie, and….exhale, and all others who are looking down what feels like a long road until you reach your target/goal weight; I’d just like to point out to you, or remind you, that you will have landmark days of joy well before you hit that final goal! Days where you will feel so good about the way your body is feeling, and the way you are looking! Days of people noticing your loss and complimenting you. Days you suddenly realize that you are fine with passing on a food that use to control you.

I think people forget that there will be victories all along the way, not only at the “end goal”. Every size down, every significant drop in weight, even the loose waist bands or pant legs that you suddenly notice, will encourage you. Being able to get up off the floor easier! And I hope you relish each and every moment like that when it happens!

Second thought: The change of seasons, especially in Spring and Autumn, can be a difficult time of transition for people, it seems, when it comes to health. I speak as a retired nurse who worked in both medical/surgical areas and also psychiatric nursing. It can affect our appetites and moods. It certainly does for most animals. I think October may find us all on a more even keel, when it comes to our appetites, anyway.
Thank you so much, DebbieQ, for hosting this month. You’ve been a calm and encouraging voice.
Best of luck to everyone!