Starting 5:2 today… Wish me luck!

This topic contains 36 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by daisybouquet 6 years, 2 months ago.

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Fruitcake3

8:36 am
9 May 16
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Hi everyone!
After reading your amazing success stories I decided to give the 5:2 diet a go…
I would really like to lose 10 kg.

I am not extremely overweight, I am actually on the upper limit of a healthy BMI (I am 1,70 m for 72 kg weight, BMI = 24,9). I am 32 years old.
I am Italian and when I moved to Belgium 7 years ago, the change of habits and the stress of a demanding job led me to emotional eating: I gained weight very fast and I ended up at my heaviest, 85 kg. After almost two years of a miserable life (I was simply unhappy and I hated my body) I decided to start a diet seriously. A low-carb regime helped me to keep calories very low and I finally lost 15 kg.
Now I have been yo-yoing between 70 and 73 kg for 4 years (I keep track of my calories on Myfitnesspal, which helps to mantain a stable weight) and I would really like to make the last effort to reach my ideal weight (62 kg) and finally truly like the image I see in the mirror.

I’ve always had body image issues and I just want to be free from it, once and for all. It just occupies too much of a big part of my brain and it often makes me feel sad and uncomfortable.
I am a big supporter of the calories restriction approach to dieting (= as long as you create a calorie deficit you’ll lose weight) and I like the idea of intermittent fasting.

My motivation:
– on the long term:reach my ideal weight of 62 kg and keep it!
– on the medium term: get confident in my body (goal: 66-65 kg) for when I’ll move to Singapore in August and my life will be made of light dresses and the occasional bikini for the next three years… At the moment I’m really scared about it!
– on the short term: feel gorgeous for the weeding of a dear friend, the 18th of June. It’s going to be in Italy and I want to feel comfortable in my light dress under the Tuscan sun.

Your stories gave me a lot of motivation and I really hope to do as good as you did!
I’m starting with the Fast beach diet approach (calories control also on non-fast days and a HIIT exercise routine).
Today it’s my first day of fasting… Wish me luck!

I hope to come back in a week or two with good progress to tell 😉

Have a great day!

ETJ

11:10 am
9 May 16
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Good luck! At least you have a goal in mind to keep you driving forward. This approach to eating is by far the best I have ever tried. Normally you run around buying food you don’t normally eat, you start feeling deprived, it feels like a mountain you can’t seem to get up. I do alternate day fasting, it is saving me money, I don’t really have to worry about what I eat on my non fast days, I can work it around life. I have more energy, I sleep well, I no longer get heart burn, it goes on and on and I have lost 15kgs with about 22kgs to go. And I feel like I can do it.

I really wish you all the best 🙂

Fruitcake3

2:54 pm
9 May 16
Permalink

Thank you so much ETJ!
Your progress looks amazing, way to go!
So you do something like a 4:3? How long did it take you to lose 15 kg?

So far today I had 250 Kcal and I feel perfectly fine, not hungry, although that’s probably the newbie luck, wonder how it will be on fast day n°2 :p
It also helps that I’ve been very busy at work in meetings until now, so I haven’t had the time to think about food (it’s much more difficult on days where I sit at my desk all the time).
I had a coffee with 50 mL milk and half a digestive cookie this morning before leaving for work, a chicken broth cup-a-soup (44 kcal) around 11:30 AM and now that I have 10 min break before my last meeting, I just had a pot of full fat natural yoghurt (~70 Kcal) and two peanut m&m’s from a colleague (20 kcal).

I plan to do my HIIT routine tonight, have another cup-a-soup, a coffee (for a day total of ~400 kcal) and then bed time 🙂

I hope all my fast days will be as smooth as this… And I hope not to get disappointed when the weigh in moment arrives!

Cheers

Fruitcake3

7:50 am
13 May 16
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I just wanted to write an update because I’m so excited!

I took my weight today, it’s been only 5 days since I’ve started the diet but I fixed my scale days on Friday mornings so I want to start the routine with the right day…

This morning I was 71,2 Kg! I’ve lost 0,8 Kg in 5 days!!!
I suppose a lot of it is water weight, but I’ll pretend water weight doesn’t exist and enjoy the result ;p
Hope to keep going like this!

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

ETJ

11:36 am
13 May 16
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Fruitcake – Congratulations!! That is a great result for the first week. I think the average for the forums is about a pound a week, so you got over that!
Yes, I do every other day. So fast, non fast, fast, non fast, etc. I am averaging out at about a kilo a week 🙂
Good luck with the weekend, and keep it up!

frauB

11:02 pm
13 May 16
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Hi Fruitcake- thanks for your posts! I also only started last week and in July I will move to Brunei (close to Singapore) for 3 years and I currently live in Germany so I think we have a few things in common!! (I’m also going to my sister’s wedding on 2nd of July and have that as a real date target to have lost at least 5 kilos, hopefully more! I wanted to do ADF but it’s more like 5:2 with some below TDEE days thrown in. So far it’s working (2 kilos in 2 weeks) but it’s really just a honeymoon reading and just water etc. I know I won’t keep that up for the next 5 weeks unless I ramp it up massively. I just want to be able to spend my 3 year (at least) in a tropical climate without feeling flabby and to enjoy the food there without falling into bad habits. I think 5:2 and especially sticking to healthy options and avoiding too many sugary treats will allow me to do that. So first I’m going for up to 9 kilos weight loss but then I’m getting serious about maintenance. I wish you all the best and looking forward to hearing about your progress! Cheers

Fruitcake3

10:27 am
20 May 16
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@etj: thanks for the encouragement!!

@fraub: Thanks for your message! It’s cool that you’re also moving to a hot country from the cold North of Europe (:p) like me! When I went there (to Singapore) in April it was so hot that I really thought: either I’m gonna be able to wear shorts when I move here or I’m gonna die. That is why I started the diet! ;D
How was this week for you? Still good progress?

And now time for a little update… I decided I’ll keep this forum topic as kind of a diary, bear with me :p

It’s Friday!
Which means not only it’s almost weekend (finally!) but also time to go on the scale for me.

I was a very bit worried as the past weekend has been a bit special: Friday was my birthday (dinner out, drinks…); on Saturday I went to a wedding (I mean, free all-you-can-drink champagne…); on Sunday I went to an Italian friend for dinner (hello pasta with mushrooms and cream and wine…) and like this wasn’t enough to threaten my diet, Monday was a national holiday in Belgium and due to a family trip to Bruges I had to skip my fast day (but miraculously I managed to keep my calories just under 700 that day).
Last but not least, on Tuesday and Wednesday I was in Vienna for work (think of: Schnitzel, Strudel, Gruener Veltliner wine, hotel buffet breakfast…). It was a crazy bunch of days for the diet and I was really scared it would impact my weight loss like crazy.

But I went on the scale today and I am 70.6 Kg! This means that I lost an additional 0,6 Kg in the past week (for a total of 1,4 Kg in 2 weeks), even with the “bad” days!
And I have to say I totally start feeling it in the way my clothes fit (a pair of jeans starts to be slightly baggy on my butt, while another pair that used to be a bit tight fits comfortably now. I also feel my blouses fit better on my arms).

I think the key is that I was always careful: never went above my TDEE of ~1600 Kcal on the “party” days (I did so by saving calories during the day and leaving most of them to be allocated for the party/big meal and by eating consciously in general i.e. stopping when I’m full and not taking seconds). On Monday I skipped the fast but still managed to stay below 700 Kcal and on Wednesday I didn’t go above 1250 Kcal.
Myfitnesspal says my average of the week (including yesterday’s fast) is just below 1200 Kcal/day, which is compatible with my weight loss I think.
I log everything religiously in the app as it really helps me to keep track of what I eat and drink and never lose sight of the goal.

So for now I’m very happy about this diet. I love the fast days: the feeling I don’t “have to” eat makes me feel empowered and actually energized. I occasionally experienced some tiredness and slight headache on the day after a fast but nothing horrible, really. I don’t feel like overeating on feed days, instead I noticed I’m focusing even more on healthy food and the pleasure of having a glass (or a few :p) of wine is even greater now that I have to control when to have it as a treat.

I find it a very easy diet to follow especially because it doesn’t affect weekends, holidays and special occasions: the social limitations were always the most painful features of all the other diets I’ve been on (and eventually the ones that made me give up after a while).
I hope it will be sustainable in the long term and I hope to stay so motivated and get to my goal weight one day… It still looks like a mirage to me!

Thanks for your support, have a fantastic weekend!

frauB

6:06 pm
20 May 16
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Hi Fruitcake, That’s fantastic! Such a great feeling when life gets in the way and then you find that you’ve maintained or even lost! I really think one of the best things about 5:2 is how it has re-set my appetite and made me feel like fruit is a treat and I therefore haven’t felt the need to binge on chocolate (which I did nearly every day after lunch for the last 1.5 years). You’re going to feel great in Singapore. I’m looking forward but also slightly worried about the hot climate. Until you’re sweating away, it’s so hard to imagine it. Anyway, I’m so happy you had a great week and you fast diet is still on track. You’ve given me hope for when I’m holiday with the kids and my in-laws in Italy next week! Have a great weekend! Cheers 🙂

Fuvvie

3:59 am
21 May 16
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hello fruitcake3 and FrauB,
Can’t help gate crashing here and saying hello. I live in Queensland, but my husband worked in Brunei for over 2 years on an BLNG project back in 1992-94. It was a wonderful time and wasn’t too hot to play tennis or golf (I didn’t play the latter but plenty did), swim, learn how to do hardanger and entertain. So I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 5:2 is the bees knees for weight loss and I wish you both well.

frauB

1:04 pm
21 May 16
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Hi Fuvvie! Thanks for joining us! So happy to hear that you had a great time in Brunei! We’re really looking forward to it. I’ll be interested to learn how to do a hardanger, I’m not even sure what that is! Yes, I’m loving 5:2 to help me shake off my winter tyre, seen as where I’m going there is no winter! Cheers 🙂

Fuvvie

11:44 am
22 May 16
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Hi FrauB,
Are you going with She’ll? Hardanger is a form of Norwegian embroidery. I had never done it before, but learnt while I was there and then taught it to others when we had a couple of years in Nigeria. We had the best Roti I have ever eaten with Kari Ayam (chicken curry). I wonder how much it has changed since ’94.
Having a fast day tomorrow. Looking forwards to it as feeling a bit overloaded today. Italy! You lucky things. It’s a bit far from here to just pop over. Enjoy.
Fruitcake, I can totally identify with goal looking like a mirage. What a great description. But I figure if others can do, I can too. Have a great week.👍

Fruitcake3

9:26 am
24 May 16
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FrauB: I’m Italian! Where in Italy are you going? Maybe I can give you some tips 😉

Fuvvie: you’re making me want to visit Brunei!

Here 5:2 still going strong, pants getting more and more comfy and went down a hole in my belt!
I’ll skip the scale moment this Friday because that’s when I’ll get my period and I know that around that time I gain 1-3 kg (!) of water/bloating… To the girls out there: do you experience this too? Also, I suffer from IBS and it seems to get worse in this time of the month 🙁
I don’t want to get discouraged because of this fake weight gain (I usually lose all the period water weight in two days), so I’ll wait next week to weight myself again!

frauB

9:51 am
24 May 16
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Yes Fruitcake! I have exactly that problem with weight and time of the month, so I also don’t count readings right before and during my period. We are at Lake Garda, camping. It’s fun for the kids and the pizza and ice cream is great (not that I should know lol). In fact I have managed to order salads most days and just have one slice of pizza and left over ice cream from the kids :)))

Fruitcake3

10:37 am
26 May 16
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FrauB, Lake Garda is one of my favourite places in Italy. I went there the first time because my boyfriend was competing in a marathon in Malcesine and simply fell in love with it!
Enjoy your holiday… and the food! If you stick to our mediterranean diet and indulge in some wine and ice cream in moderation I’m sure you won’t gain weight… But you simply can’t say no to food when you’re there 😉 (or at least, I can’t!)

In the end I didn’t resist the temptation of going on the scale before my pre-period water weight would start creep up :p
Yesterday I was 70.2! (-0,4 Kg since last Friday)
And I ate a lot last weekend… But my net average on myfitnesspal is still less than 1200 Kcal/day so I guess it explains why I’m losing consistently.
Maybe it’s too soon to say but this is the best diet I’ve ever tried.

Fast day for me today and I guess for many of you too… Good luck and happy fast! 🙂

suzbo

1:52 pm
26 May 16
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I am in my late 50’s and trying this 5:2 diet. I have completed 3 weeks. I have lost 6.4 lbs. or .46 stone. While this is not a great deal to some to me it is a good start. It has been very difficult for me to lose any weight. I have lost and gained the same 3 lbs for years. But I am finding that I can generally tolerate the 5:2 fasting. Last night I was unable to sleep because of the hunger and ate a hotdog bun with butter. I was not and am not upset by this because I still made progress this week (lost 1 lb) – but I assume that sometimes this will happen. Any suggestions on preparing for the fasting days? At what time should I eat my one meal?

frauB

10:08 am
29 May 16
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Hi everyone,

Suzbo, great to hear from you. I think the better you prepare for a fast day, the more successful you will be. If you are at home, have salad and fruit and vegetables in so you can make a salad or a meal with vegetables. I definitely find that eating my one meal in the early evening (between 5 and 7) works the best for me. I just have to white-knuckle it through breakfast and lunch-time and then I’ve done it, as long as I have stuff for a salad in. Or soup- which you can make in advance and calculate the calories for. I’ve just remembered I have lentil soup in the freezer and last week, my best fast day was when I had a very watered down bowl (it’s got lots of ginger and flavour in so still tastes good watered down to make a big bowl only about 130 cals) of that at 4pm and then a small salad later on because I wasn’t even hungry.

@Fuvvie- I’m going to be working at the University there, not with Shell. I’m getting really excited now. I leave in early July and my family join me 3 weeks later. How did your fast day go? Are you in maintenance mode?

I let myself go in Lake Garda, but because of 5:2 I wasn’t reckless and I enjoyed every mouthful. I’m having a fast day today to get me back on track hopefully and mean that I can hopefully squeeze three in between now and the weekend to off-set any damage.
@Fruitcake- I LOVE Lake Garda too, it’s so wonderful. We had a brilliant time and even took my parents-in-law for a day in Venice (they had never been- they live in Brazil) and they loved it, as well as Lake Garda so much.

Now we’re back in Germany and we planned it badly so I can’t get to a supermarket today (closed her on Sundays) and stock up on fruit and veg, so it looks like it’ll be defrosted lentil soup and maybe an omelette later. Amazingly my kids slept in really late (was an exhausting day yesterday) so it’s already nearly lunchtime and I’m feeling like this fast day is in the bag. I hope so!!!!

All the best everyone!
Cheers
FrauB 🙂

Fuvvie

5:53 am
6 Jun 16
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Hi FrauB, Sorry I did not reply earlier, but I lost the thread. Your departure to Bandar is getting closer. The excitement must be growing. Will you live on campus or in town?
I’m a very long way from maintenance mode. Oh how I wish that were the case☺️ I have another 40 kgs to go, but have shed 10kgs so far. I try not to think too much about the scale of what is still to go. I just get excited about what I’ve achieved so far. I wonder how fruitcake and Suzbo are going?
I’ve got around to trying the bone broth and find it very satisfying. Have to pick up the grandsons now and take them to swimming lessons. It’s in a heated pool thank goodness as winter has come in with a bang. Talk later. All the best Fuvvie

frauB

1:56 pm
6 Jun 16
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Hi Fuvvie, good to hear from you. It sounds like you’re doing brilliantly. 10kgs is a lot of weight, and you’re doing really well. I have never done 5:2 for this long (going into my 6th week) and I really hope this time I can stick with it long-term, even in maintenance mode. So far so good anyway! I’m fasting again today and last week I did manage to squeeze three fast days in so that was good. I’m hoping that will make this week feel easy and I may even squeeze a third (or certainly a low cal day) in on Friday.

We won’t live on Campus, Fuvvie, we’ll live somewhere in the Bandar area. Maybe Jerudong or Rimba though as they as quick to the Uni and the JIS school where my kids will go, but really anywhere it that area. I can’t believe how soon it is til I go now! So excited!!

Well done again, great to hear from you and hear from the Southern Hemisphere.
Cheeres, 🙂

Fuvvie

7:30 am
10 Jun 16
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Fruitcake,
I’m wondering how you are getting on. You sounded very positive and happy in your last post. Hope all is going well. Cheers, Fuvvie

Fruitcake3

8:38 am
10 Jun 16
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Hi Fuvvie!
Indeed you’re right, I disappeared :p
I was sooo busy in the last couple of weeks that I always forgot to pass by and give an update 🙁

It’s still going great!! Went on the scale today and I’m 69 Kg!!!
Which is great for three reasons:
– I’m following exactly the expected loss I planned in my calendar(after a bigger initial loss, it’s not almost exactly 0,5 Kg/week)
– I finally passed the dreadful 70 Kg barrier that I was stuck at for years!! It’s been the lower limit of my weight loss forever, so I’m very happy about this!
– I feel great!! I love my fast days and the freedom I have in the weekend. I overall noticed that I’m less hungry and greedy in general, which adds a generic feeling of well-being and “lightness”

So it’s a total of -3 Kg lost in 5 weeks! I’m very happy 🙂

I’m now a bit scared cause I’m going on a holiday tomorrow for 10 days: Barcelona first to visit a friend and then my family in Italy + a wedding… I’m soooo scared I’ll gain weight…
If you have any tips to survive holidays without gaining weight please share!

Happy weekend everyone!!!

Fuvvie

11:19 am
12 Jun 16
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Enjoy your holiday Fruitcake3. Nothing to be scared about. You can maybe have late breakfast/lunch and then hang off till dinner. Nothing wrong with just coffee first up. You’ll probably do a lot of sight seeing as well. If you do put on some weight, it’s not the end of the world. You have this lovely forum to come back to and lots of support. Just enjoy your family, friends and the wedding.
I’ll be so interested to hear your impressions of Brunei, FrauB. I suspect it may be quite a different experience for you as we lived in a camp situation. But I have friends who lived in Bandar. She taught in a local school and he is a civil engineer. They were there for a couple of years. They both play musical instruments and play folk music so they became part of a band who played at the sailing club and used to come down to Kuala Belait and to Panaga. They came there after we had left.
How is it going Suzbo? I was eating my one meal at night and it was whatever I cooked for the family, but I wouldn’t have the potatoes or pasta, and I’m trying to cut down on my protein. Soup is a great standby. We’re into winter now so salads not as appealing. I’m trying to do alternate days, but may stretch it out to more like 4:3. A bit like ETJ.

frauB

9:31 pm
12 Jun 16
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Hi Fuvvie- wow, I love the thought that there’s folk music groups in Brunei- I hope there still are! Yes, from what I’ve heard/ read, it has changed a lot since the 90s but every ex-pat out there now who I have been in touch with for one reason or another has been overwhelmingly positive about their life there, so that is really encouraging. Anyway, all the best everyone. Fruitcake, I hope you’re enjoying a lovely holiday and not worrying about anything at all! Cheers 🙂

suzbo

11:43 am
13 Jun 16
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I am going to take your recommendation today and try to wait a few more hours before having my one meal.

Things are going well – only a pound a week. But for me this is amazing as I have not had any ability to stick to a diet until I found this one. I love the soup idea and I am a big fan of lentil soups. thanks

suzbo

12:01 pm
13 Jun 16
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Thank you for asking – I am doing alright. I am getting this terrible headache at night on the fasting days so today I am going to try to hold off on my one meal until later in the day. I am losing 1 pound a week. While that is not much – – for me to stick to a diet is unheard of.

Fruitcake3

2:17 pm
12 Jul 16
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Hi everyone! How are you all?
Again, it’s been a while since I’ve been here!

And I can’t wait to tell you something that gave me amazing joy: I didn’t gain weight on my holiday!!

I left for my holiday at 69 Kg, I came back after 10 days of Spanish and Italian food (including almost every day eating out, a family feast, a wedding…) and when I went on the scale I was still 69 Kg. No weight lost (of course) but not even one hundred grams gained. I was so happy I couldn’t almost believe it. I was sure I gained a bit and I was really scared of going back on the scale.
After measuring my weight, I looked back to identify the behaviors that helped me in such a tempting situation.
I realized that my eating habits really did change: during my holiday I usually ate quite small portions (in general tried to listen to my body and stop when I was full), never took seconds, very rarely had dessert or if I did I shared with my boyfriend or my friend. In more than one occasion I skipped dinner if I had a huge lunch, or lunch if I was planning a big dinner and this felt quite natural as it was simply too much compared to what I’m used to eat at home.
So basically I was very careful,but in a very natural way, because basically I was always feeling full :p
This is good also because being the trip to Barcelona a visit to a friend and the trip to Italy a visit to my parents there weren’t much activities like sightseeing and walking around involved.

At the moment I’m 67.5 kg which is great, but I have the feeling that my weight loss slowed down a bit. I don’t think I’m hitting a plateau but I hope to get back to my usual 0,5 kg/week.

Do you have any suggestion to speed it up/avoid plateaus? At the moment I’m trying to stick to an average of 1200 calories per day, that is the average calculated by myfitnesspal based on my week intake, considering fast days and feed days. My TDEE is 1600. I don’t think I can fit an extra fast day in my schedule but I was thinking to pick up some exercise (best for my schedule is 20-30 min of HIIT 3/4 times per week).
Did this help for you?

Thank you! 🙂

Fuvvie

8:01 am
13 Jul 16
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Hi Fruitcake3, I just dropped in to see if you were back and here you are, victorious. Well done and it sounds as though you had a marvellous holiday. It never ceases to amaze me that desserts have lost the pull they used to have. Exercises do not feature large on my weight loss journey. Doing alternate day fasts some weeks and 4:3 on other weeks have helped. I’m no expert, but I have now shed close to 15kgs since 26/04/16. I do some walking. Perhaps one of the exercisers can give you some advice. My weight loss is a bit faster at this stage as I have so much to lose.😂😢

suzbo

2:15 pm
13 Jul 16
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I wish that I could report good news but I am unable to budge from my original weight loss. I am exercising so much more than before – often I reach my 10,000 steps a day and swimming 1000 yards about 5 days a week but I am unable to stick to the 500 calories on my fast days. On Saturday I am going to prepare myself (mentally) for the fast day – wish me luck!

Fruitcake3 – I am so happy for you. I know that vacations are so often a weight loss destroyer.

Bell izzy

6:33 am
14 Jul 16
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Hi All, just read the first post and I am in the same sort of situation not officially overweight but at the top of my healthy weight range and wanting to lose about 10kg l started the 5:2 about 3 weeks ago and have lost 2kg already not eating at all on fast days jut tea coffee and water which is not too bad but I struggle on the other days to stay within the calorie limits and not to eat late in the evening that has always been my weakness. Today is a fast day for me and I just can’t seem to stay warm just wondering if anyone else gets this way

Fuvvie

8:43 am
7 Aug 16
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Just wondering how FrauB is getting on in Brunei. And you are moving to Singapore this month, aren’t you Fruitcake3? Hoping things are working out for you.

frauB

3:20 pm
10 Aug 16
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Hi Fuvvie! Good to hear from you. Thanks for thinking of us starting out in Brunei. So far so good! I’ve been here for a whole month now. We’re really enjoying it. Did you hash when you were here? (group jungle walking). That’s still going strong and I’ve joined in and really like it. There’s people here who have been here for 20/30 years so you would still see some familiar faces if you came back for a visit 🙂 we’re getting used to the heat and how best to use/ not use air con at home. Kids are adapting well. Looking forward to starting at their new school. In terms of fasting, I haven’t done a proper fast since I got here but I’ve definitely made use of the hectic, roller coaster departing/ arriving period when I generally tend to lose my appetite and find it easy to resist sweet treats too. I hope I’ve at least maintained and I will buy some scales soon and see for myself. I hope everyone is well and I’m looking forward to hearing from fruitcake too, arriving in Singapore *waves across the south China sea* 🙂

Fuvvie

9:40 am
20 Aug 16
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Hello FrauB, It gave me a real tingle when I went searching to see if there was a reply. I didn’t belong to the hash as I was never a runner, more of a “stitch and bitch kind of gal”. I did cycle though. There were lots of bike paths in the camp in which we lived. We used aircon all the time as those little houses in Panaga were heat traps. Shell supplied the power and the houses. In Brunei and Nigeria we found that fungus was a problem if we didn’t use the aircon. We used to take the kids walking in the jungle frequently and it was delightful to stand under the waterfalls. The noise of the cicadas was deafening though. Is the uni living up to expectations? Are you doing research? I hope you enjoy the life as much as I did. I feel so excited for you. If you have the Roti with chicken curry, give a thought to me. I can almost taste it just thinking about it and I’m salivating. And I’m on an FD. Regards, Fuvvie.

Fruitcake3

3:25 am
19 Jul 18
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Hi Everyone!

First of all sorry @fraub and @fuvvie for not replying to you posts 2 years ago (!): I got into the mess of packing, moving and adapting to Singapore and I completely forgot about this forum (and my diet haha).

I am back here because I would like to do 5:2 seriously again but I am totally not motivated… Every day I say “I am starting today” and then I miserably fail. How do you guys stays motivated?? Which goals do you set for yourself to stick to the plan, especially if your weight is already kind of OK-ish (I found it easier to stick to a diet when I was really overweight and had a lot of weight to lose)?

My story:
I did 5:2 back in 2016. I was 74 kg (for my height not obese, but overweight/chubby) and managed to get down to 67 kg in about 4 months, I was very happy about it.
Then I moved to Singapore in August 2016 and kinda stopped dieting although I managed to keep my weight between 67 and 69 kg all the time. I even stopped smoking one year ago (yay!) and my weight didn’t creep up like I was afraid it would. In general I have been doing 6:1 all the time and a bit of 5:2 to get rid of extra 1-2 kg after holidays etc..
I reached a low of 65 kg in 2017 but that was because I was too busy too eat and I was smoking a lot, not very healthy right? I liked how I looked like, but I’m not happy about how unhealthy I was.

So now I am 69 kg and would like to lose some kg to reach my final goal:
1. Intermediate goal: 65 kg
2. Ultimate goal: 62 to 60 kg

As I said above, I have been trying to pick up the 5:2 again but keep slipping on fast days: one night I am pissed off about work and I have a (big) glass of wine, one day I am sitting at my desk and can’t resist the chocolates the colleagues brought in, another day I go to the gym in the morning before work and I get crazy hungry during the day… Long story short, I have been stuck at damn 69 kg for 3 months now.

What worked for me was 2 days at 500 Kcal (Mon,Thu), two days at 1200-1300 Kcal (Tue, Wed) and Fri, Sat, Sun between 1600-1700 Kcal. I adapted it like this because I have very “social” weekends, this gave me an average of about 1200 Kcal/week and I was losing 0.5 Kg/week steadily (my goal weight TDEE is about 1600 Kcal). So I’m thinking to do a similar pattern now.

Do you guys have any tips to stay motivated on the fast days? I honestly don’t remember how I did it 2 years ago…
And for those who exercise, how do you keep the hunger at bay during fast days? I drink really lots of water and green tea (like 2-2.5 liters/day outside of meals) and it helps a little but I still feel crazy hungry sometimes.

Help!!!

Thank you all in advance! xxx

Fuvvie

2:46 am
23 Jul 18
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Hi Fruitcake3, I haven’t been online for some time but had saved this thread all that time ago. I went way off track and regained all I lost plus about 5 kgs. It is hard to get back when it was so comparatively easy the first time. I’ll try and relaunch myself as inspired by you🤗
I don’t have any tips right now but your previous plan sounds ace. If I get going, I’ll let you know what is working. Are you still in Singapore? I saw FrauB in one of the challenges a few months back but not sure how that went for her. Talk later. Regards, Fuvvie

Fruitcake3

3:17 am
25 Jul 18
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Hi Fuvvie, so nice talking to you again!

Yes I am still in Singapore, and currently plotting my return to Europe for next year 😉 It’s been a great experience here the last 2 years but soon it will time to go back for us I think, we miss family and friends way too much.

I tried to re-start the 5:2 many times in the last couple years with minimal success. I was usually doing it just for a month, managing to lose those 2 kg gained during holidays or so, but that’s it. I was quite happy being stable at about 67 kg but never really reached my goal weight in the end!

Now I really started it seriously, but it wasn’t easy to find the right motivation. I am officially 6 days in, but have been sort of restricting calories already for 10 days. I went on the scale today and I have lost 1.2 Kg since my first weigh-in 10 days ago… It’s great but I assume most of it is water weight :p Still… Pretty energizing feeling. Last time I did 5:2, I noticed that the first 2 weeks the weight loss was pretty fast (1-1.5 kg/week), while it stabilized at about 0.5 kg/week after that… Which is still great!

You should try to start 5:2 again too, we can motivate each other!

xx

fasting_me

1:07 pm
25 Jul 18
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Hi, Fruitcake + Furvie.
We’ve been Fasting for 5 years, lost the weight we wanted and stayed there. Perhaps we have a more even-keel life with no great stresses, but we just stayed with 2 days Fasting/week. We do have a glass of wine with dinner, sometimes 2, and even have wine on Fast Days.
One tip is to get rid of snack food in the house — it will call to you, no matter where it is!
Now you KNOW you can do this. Analyze your motivation and lack of it — what’s getting in the way of your success? What is different this time? There are some Fast Days when I’m just hungry and want to nibble with no self-control. But that is just a day or two and then I get back on track.
I weigh myself daily. This keeps me from getting too far off the rails.
Good luck and keep posting.

Fuvvie

10:37 pm
25 Jul 18
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Hello Fruitcake3 and fasting_me.

I have just read back through this whole thread. Trying hard not to beat myself around the head and kick myself up the backside. I can recall the excitement of losing the weight. It seemed to happen daily back then and I shed 20 kgs all up. I can feel a bit of a buzz though as I read your posts. I’m going on a bus trip today for Christmas in July. It’s a set menu so shouldn’t be too hard not to go over TDEE.

Will you go back to Belgium or Italy, Fruitcake3?

It is true that snacks call to one if they are in the house, fasting_me. My motivation at present is that I have a lot of heel pain from a plantar fasciopathy. I had started back at the gym and sustained two injuries, so have pretty much become a couch potato. So this week I have taken on a couple of low key exercises in the form of gardening and starting a big spring clean. I know it is not spring yet, but the house needs some TLC, a bit like myself really . I keep thinking of the saying…if it is to be, it’s up to me.

Tomorrow will be a fast day. I haven’t weighed myself yet but will fill in the tracker tomorrow. I’m looking forward to some good fast days. Thanking you for revving me up, Fruitcake3 and for your good example and advice, fasting_me.

daisybouquet

3:26 pm
20 Sep 18
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I tried 5:2 for approximately three months from autumn last year, 2017. I found it quite easy to do but that was doing the ‘fast’ part from dinner to dinner the next day, and not until breakfast the day after that as Michael Mosley preferred to do…. so his fasting period was longer than mine. I lost weight and looked slimmer very quickly. Actually I was chuffed to see that my mid-section was sleeker, and my chubby neck was less chubby. But over Christmas I ate well, indulged in a few treats, and found I was heavier than I’d ever been before, yet I’d maintained a stable weight over previous Christmases despite the festive indulgences… and whilst not doing a fasting diet.

So I stopped the intermittent fasting but tried cutting down severely carbohydrates apart from vegetables, fruit, and dairy products (no added sugar) but soon felt unwell, and went back to eating smaller portions of carbohydrates (approximately 20 – 25g porridge oats/rice etc) wholegrains as often as possible, and plenty of vegetables, plus fruit, nuts, cheese. I still eat fish and meat and legumes too. The wholegrains help me to feel full and when I stick to this and avoid added sugar/sweets my shape begins to change and I look slimmer.

I am trying to keep to this more Mediterranean style approach to diet, and am also trying out the advice of another doctor/writer, Michael Snyder, whose book, the Full Diet, came out early 2012. He emphasised the importance of 5 steps in digestion, and the effect of feeling ‘full’ (on a scale from 1 to 10, with 5 being the optimum). He advises that feeling ‘full’ is not the same as feeling satiated because we can eat a great deal more than we need in order to feel satisfied. Fullness is aided by fibre in food, by protein, and by fat. He recommended eating at regular intervals, and not going hungry. He also recommended drinking water because that helps the body release fat for use as fuel. It goes against the focus of the Fast Diet which emphasises the benefits of a period without food and letting the digestive system rest. Perhaps there are benefits in both approaches to health and weight management.

Dr Snyder also recommended portion control linked with our feelings of fullness, and also suggested a plate distributed as follows: half the plate for vegetables, two thirds of the remaining half for animal or vegetable protein, and the remaining part for carbohydrate, so quite a small portion – and similar to the arrangements on the low-carb Mediterranean diet. But Dr Snyder’s diet is not intended to be a diet as such; the ability to know when we’re comfortably full is what’s supposed to help us lose excess weight and reach a healthy weight suited to our individual needs.

I’ve barely begun and as usual my weight fluctuates but I weigh a little bit less than when I began eating again. I do still skip breakfast if I really don’t feel hungry, but it isn’t deliberate to diet, and generally I eat fairly regularly and try to have a little bit of protein throughout the day, from eggs, nuts, cheese, and so on.