Oh, and, introducing myself,

Lost 21kgs in 2yrs – 8months not losing during very stressful period in the middle,but used 5:2 to maintain where I was at, during the over the top stress, so really the weight loss was 1 yr 4 months. Just beginning long term maintainence. During the 2 yrs I’ve also been overseas twice, had 2 Christmases, various usual celebrations etc. i believe 5:2 can be done for life and intend doing that. I’m healthier and happier. I’m a size 10-12 now after started at a 16. OH also sort of does 5:2 but has not applied it as much as I have. He has reduced his weight by about 7kgs, and stayed there for a long time.

It is a joyous thing to know I can go through celebrations like Christmas enjoy special foods without going stupid and without putting on weight.

Merry

doing a FD today OH caught some nice flatties packed and frozen for Christmas dinner just in case he doesn’t catch anymore. great loss Merry i wish i had stuck with it lost 11 kilos then stopped and put it back on weighing myself more often will help. I have struggled the past few months but now i have a more positive attitude i wasn’t sleeping because of my Asthma that’s sorted and i feel great.

Ps Please could someone recommend some good scales.

Thank you for such a warm welcome and yhank you for the head’s up on my address as I had no idea I had done that – I think I have sorted it out now.
I’ll check out the weight watcher’s scales – thank you.

Thin,

I haven’t (yet) fasted down to have wriggle room for Xmas. At this rate I’m heading for mindfulness over the festive season. Eek!

Wow- well done on losing the 10kg NMRN!
It is a difficult time of year to be keeping on track and I have such a sweet tooth so I am trying sooooo hard to be good and not be tempted by mince pues and shortbread. I have to admit that on my non fast days I do still allow myself small treats as otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do it.
Thanks for the info on the scales – I ended up buying a whizz bang Beurer scale which will blue tooth to my phone. Hopefully these will help to keep me on track!
😀😀

Doing my 1st FD for this week only managed one last week too many visitors bringing treats very hard to say no to 17 year old with cake she bought for you, eat the cake and feel blessed. must do two this week happy days.

Thanks Thinatlast – one of the reasons I decided to do the fast diet was the fact that I only had to restrict my calorie intake for 2 days a week. We tend to eat pretty well most of the time and since starting the 5:2 a few weeks ago we are following a mostly Mediterranean diet with very little meat and carbs which, I have felt a lot better on.
I am also keen to experience the health benefits of fasting.
Unfortunately the weekend was not so good for me as I totally overindulged in food and bubbles as I celebrated my birthday but today is a Fast day so back on the wagon. Like you I’m hoping to do 3 days this week which will give my body and guts a bit of a rest from all the rich food. Peppermint tea to start my day 😀😀

Hi Everyone

Well I managed a couple of proper fast days last week (I eat noting all day until dinner time) and thankfully after 4 months of not doing it at all I haven’t suffered the side effects I was worried about. The good news is that my belly hasn’t grown since I stopped fasting either – finally plucked up the courage to measure it and still 33.5″ around. (I started at 36″ last year and need to get it under 32″).

I was planning to fast today but I might have to call it quits at lunchtime – the office is just far too cold today 🙁

Hi All, arrived in Melbourne after very little sleep and am doing well! Cheers, Lael

I’m envious Thin as my goal is to get under 60kgs, preferably 57kgs to give me some breathing space.
I feel like I hit a brick wall this week! Celebrating my birthday + all the social’stuff’ with the Christmas season has been so difficult for me. I started my fast days well but then ended not so well 😑
I was feeling quite despondent yesterday but after a good talking to, I am not going to stress too much. It has taken me well over a year to put this weight on so it won’t drop off in a few weeks plus I am hoping this will be a lifestyle change for me – keeping at least one fast day a week after I have hit my goal weight so I just need to pick up and move on.
Our house is busy, busy as we prepare for 30+ guests on Christmas day so hopefully that will help with not being tempted. I am contemplating trying a fast day tomorrow after my failed attempt yesterday – will see.
Well done to you 😀😀😀

Yes! act girl that’s great about your slim waistline! Gives me hope about mine maybe?! The weight at my belly button hasn’t shifted as much as I’d liked though maybe as much as I can expect for age and health circumstance.

Thin we would have loved you to join us! Maybe one day if you’re over on the east coast? By the way on our walk around Kew we came across a type of bookstore we thought no longer was in existence. It had classy art books and this ‘art’ style ice cream recipe book created by one of Melbourne’s premier ice cream places ‘gelato messina’. Much pictured in the book made me question whether it was really food. I had to read the recipes to confirm. Then I turned to the page with a gorgeous bombe and thought of yours, in your freezer ready for SundayThin! I bet yours will be as good as the one in the book looked!

Merry, great to read your idea about buying just enough to indulge for Christmas and a little left for Boxing Day. I’ve seen Christmas goodies sold as early as October and at times very tempting. Your Christmas salads sound yummy! I love turkey but won’t get any this year because where we’ve booked the four of us (Mr. L, his mum, his sis & I), for Christmas lunch the turkey option is glutenized. The chef has promised me eye fillet steak so am not complaining though turkey is my favourite!

Deb your attitude is inspiring! That you are keeping on is what speaks to me and counts! Though I’m at goal or around it, I too find that reading of others’ perseverance helpful.

Fishing gran, that sounds like a good strategy to bake just what Mr. FG will eat and using the freezer too help avert need to eat up food so as not to waste. I’m one who has eaten to prevent waste so often in the past so all the suggestions about how to approach holiday food is helpful.

Mr L’s family is notorious for giving wrapped food gifts as gifts; mostly sweets. I’ll keep in mind all of the above ideas!

I was going to fast tomorrow though I’ve changed my mind. We’ll be out and about riding trams and on foot all day and I don’t think I would enjoy the city if I fasted. It feels like all too much. I may instead do 16:8 and will continue with the mindful eating! Plus I just have to go back and eat at ‘Thrive’ at least one more time before we go home and tomorrow will be the only opportunity! ‘Thrive’ is something we discovered in the food court at the Melbourne Emporium. The menu is paleo but fast food. So you can order things that are very slow cooked, like bone broth and pulled beef bowls with greens, pesto and zoodles or make up your combo of ingredients from a list. I enjoyed this with a sparking apple cider vinegar drink!

Not sure I’ll be able to fit into goal pants by Boxing Day, even with mindful eating minus the fasting day tomorrow, though I’m enjoying and happy. Life is for living and sometimes to live it up!

Hello everyone,
I have been able to avoid lots of silly season munchies by not going anywhere! (although I still managed an overeating day yesterday! 🙁 ).
Feeling pretty good today as I am making a couple of lovely dishes from the ‘Community’ recipe book to take to the family feast tomorrow.
One is ‘Spiced Persian red lentils with roasted cauliflower and yoghurt’
And the other is ‘Baked sweet potato with rocket, feta and black olive – walnut relish’
It is so much easier for me if there is plenty of special food that suits me to eat!

Cheers everyone as you find your own way of truly enjoying the Christmas offerings. Pleasure, good health, and no sore bellies at the end (unless you want one)

PS Cinque, your lentil dish and the sweet potato recipe sound like nourishing cures for my current cravings and would be better than the Maccas salad I just ate!

Thin, interesting about the extra sweetness taste of the mince tarts and egg nog. One of my friends at the Boxing Day lunch became very interested in 5:2 as I explained how our bodies find their own natural preferences on 5:2. I explained how the fasting reset days are so healing. And what’s good too is that we can prepare for the holidays as you describe Thin! So good that we can celebrate with loved ones and maintain our goals via this WOL!

PS there is a set of scales in the bathroom of this Airbnb where we’ve been staying. They are old style with dial and not very precise, but I have stepped on them a few times to see which direction I’ve been traveling. I can see the value of the true travel scales though since they would be a powerful incentive for me right now!

I’m usually typing my messages for the forum on my phone and often on the run hence the typing errors, well that’s my excuse anyway WOL!!
I managed to get through Christmas day and Boxing day without too much damage – we had fabulous food, lots of yummy seafood and lovely salads with pomegranate, mango etc which helped. I indulged in my daughter’s Toblerone icecream bombe and resisted the pavlova, trifle and christmas pudding, a challenge for me as I have such a sweet tooth. Now, I have to admit I wasn’t an angel and I did get stuck into the cheese and biscuits and lindt chocs but I didn’t overdo it. I did hop in the pool yesterday and swam for 45 mins which felt good.
I started a water fast yesterday afternoon and will hopefully make it to this evening – so far, so good. My scales showed no weight gain this morning (just under 62kgs) after several days of enjoying myself so that certainly made me happy.
I will hopefully get another one or two fast days in before the NY and hopefully my mind and body will get back into the routine.
My christmas dress was still a bit on the tight side (probably a good thing as I couldn’t eat too much!) And my goal pants are in the corner of the cupboard and I’ll only get those out when I have lost another 3 kgs!
I am very impressed that you travel with scales ThinAL – there is no way I could fit scales in my luggage!
We also use Airbnb – so far we have been very lucky and had fantastic experiences through it.
Lael – like you, there were several people on Christmas day that were very interested in the 5:2 diet and I now have a friend who is joining me on the 5:2. My hubby (who def doesn’t need to lose weight) is doing a 1 day a week fast for the health benefits – the more the merrier I say! 😀😀
I am very much looking forward to NY eve as we love celebrating it so I will be trying hard to get these fast days back on track so we can celebrate in style without any guilt!
Thanks everyone for the support 😀😀😀😀

Happy post- Christmassing!(That sounds more energetic than I feel on the inside LOL. )

Good to hear all your Christmases and Boxing Days have been going. Cinque -your salads sounded great.

I’m in for the New Year’s Eve fast! My fasting days and ‘ not eating till after noon on nonFDs’ are being (delightfully) sabotaged by a young budding cook and ‘restauranter’ whose very early rising time is taken up by getting her restaurant ready, on the back verandah overlooking a wonderful view from our airbnb accomodation. We are then woken with a lovely smile, and 5mins later the restauranter/chef morphs into a hostess taking orders from the menu. How can a grannie resist! My last 2 FDs have done some morphing of their own into not eating till 4pm days and then lose the plot😬🙃.

Oh my goodness, the sugar! It is everywhere and in so many things in such huge quantities. How did we ever eat this stuff for years and think it was just so wonderful. No wonder we measured our Silly Season weight gains in kilos instead of grams. We bought custard this year and it is just so sweet. We also get a famous Christmas pudding for our US expat who loves it, but this year it didn’t get opened till last night and then only 2 of us had any, and yes the us included me. We couldn’t get a small one so most of this 1kg one will be going back to the USA I think. He has orders from various American friends who don’t get Christmas pudd or Christmas cake like our traditional ones. Apparently they go into raptures over the famous pudd he took back a year ago, and the ones on sale will probably be sold out by the time we get near a DJ’s or wherever so it will be winging it’s way soon, maybe I’ll package it up today, so I don’t eat any more. It has the saving grace of being so densely flavoured that it’s almost impossible to eat more than a tiny slice. As a family, we are all eating much healthier in general, and our Christmas hasn’t included very many things out of packets and cans, and we haven’t even had a Christmas cake this year. Each year we get further away from the traditional English Christmas. My family are, however big on brunch and cheese platters, so lots of temptation happening, and earlier eating than I’ve come to enjoy on my nonFDs. I did get a funny look from one of my kids when I said I was fasting on Boxing Day, but, as I said, it morphed into a “nothing till after 4pm day”.

Well, I have the travel scales, but I’ll swear they’re broken this morning. Definitely not reading right! I think when I get home it will be a 1 off back to back fasting 2 days with 350-500cals each of the 2 days, and nothing till after noon on my nonFDs.

Ps, there are scales in our airbnb too but they’re probably just as broken as my travel scales!

Onwards and downwards,
Merry

We try for carry on luggage but WOL you beat me hand’s down! I push myself right to the 7-8kg limit.
The scales sound hilarious and although I do a lot of yoga – balancing is always a problem for me so I think I might end up with an injury! I thought my scales were broken too so I invested in a new set but think they are also broken lol
Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens watching the fireworks with dinner, dancing – a bucket list job 🙂
I’m off to check out Wimdo now Thin.
PS I’m still going with the water only fast and all I can say is thank goodness I am off shopping soon with my daughters to get me away from all the chocs and mince tarts in the house!

Hi All,

We’re back home in Northern New South Wales!

I really only had two blow out type days over the holidays, Boxing Day lunch with my lady friends and yesterday at the continued ‘Boxing Day’ sales (that really go on for a whole week) at Doncaster Westfield shopping mall! I have to chuckle about my foray there because I went around to what I consider all these ‘healthy’ food places to buy treats in between shopping for new smaller sized clothing, because the sized 16 shorts that I’d purchased at the same mall on Boxing Day 2015 no longer fit! Look, I know the ‘health’ treats aren’t really healthy, but they match my lower tolerance for sweetness. So, I made the rounds at ‘NU’ this kind of protein smoothie shake place in one of the center aisles. I wouldn’t waste calories on a protein shake! They sell these ‘raw’ slices and confectionery all made with raw ingredients so I chose a raw peanut butter chocolate slice! I think it might have been sweetened with rice malt syrup (still breaks down into sugar in the digestive tract – so I’m not fooling myself). Later After trying on some clothes at Meyer I headed over to ‘Frozen’ the biodynamic frozen yogurt shop and helped myself to a bowl of different flavored yogurts! I then headed over to DJ where I did find some ‘David Lawrence’ sized 12 shorts 40% off, and they fit very well, so bought those and also a 40% off top to go with them. I didn’t need the top, but couldn’t resist! On the way back to Mr. L. who’d been parked in the food court reading his study material for his master’s degree course, I passed a very tempting ‘Zumbo’ patisserie that had opened up since we’d been there last and whoa, was that difficult, passing up the couple of gluten free selections on show including a salted caramel cube that in typical Zumbo fashioned, didn’t exactly look like food but instead like an ornament that would look good displayed on a side table next to a lamp! I love Aussie chef creativity!! I love the thought of eating something that makes me guess what it is! Anyway, I was so full from the frozen yogurt and peanut butter slice that I couldn’t and I attribute even that small level of resolve to 5:2 since prior to 5:2 my craving and brain desire would have over ridden my bodily needs. 5:2 has aligned me more closely with my body and true hunger. I’m not perfect though, I’m aware that I would have been better off with a chicken salad than the peanut butter slice and yogurt for lunch, but so be it! I enjoyed them! Later on our plane ride home I looked at my watch and decided to start today’s fast!

When I stepped on our home scales this morning I couldn’t believe my eyes! I saw 56.8 kg. which is 200 grams less than the morning we left and that had been at the end of a FD. Well, if the scales aren’t broken, I’m chalking up the 200 gram loss to all the extra walking we did while in Melbourne. I certainly had to walk briskly at the ‘Boxing Day’ sale to get around to all the shops I wanted to visit!

Reading the other posts, I see I’m in good company with you Merry, Thin and Deb, fasting today as well! Hey, I’m rapt that I’ll be sharing a New Years Eve fast with Thin and Merry! I’m feeling that starting a fast on New Years Eve is a fitting way to end the year and ending it on New Years Day is my way starting the New Year on a positive note!

Cinque, Yay, that your FD went well and that you are back on track with eating in tune with your body! Gives me hope that after today I will be too!

Deb, hope that by the time you read this that your headache will have been long gone! Yes, I sometimes forget that when fasting we have to provide the extra water that we aren’t getting from our food. It’s also been so hot, seemingly everywhere in Oz. …Wow! New Years Eve at Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens and harbour foreshore with dinner and dancing! That does sound like fun and swish!

Merry, I loved reading of your budding restaurateur hostess who sounds delightful and irresistible! …And the Christmas pudding! Those Americans will be getting a real treat with the one you are sending home with your guest!

Thin, I loved the Airbnb where we stayed in Melbourne! I’ll give it 4 out of 5 stars! I felt right at home there and would like to stay there again next Christmas if it is available. By the way, Mr. L. has stayed in quite a few more Airbnb places than I, and he has some amusing stories to tell! Even this one made me chuckle a little since as I eyed the bath tub, Mr. L. pointed out that the tap handles had been removed! …That’s good to know that Airbnb is a responsible company who really cares about their customer base and that you were remunerated for your travail, though nothing can really make up for bad nights during a holiday so hope it didn’t spoil your whole trip. Wow, only 5 kg. on overseas travel including scales! I envy such light travel! I used to travel as lightly myself, though seems as I’ve gotten older I find more things to take and especially this time since we had to pack for 4 seasons because we were visiting Melbourne!

I have been bad no way will i lose the kilo i gained but fasting today will help sitting here with my bottle of iced water trying to ignore OH munching away while i starve lol.