Credit to Mr P ( and whoever has been ‘encouraging’ him day-to-day!) as well as MM and those who discovered, developed and taught us a new and healthy WOL!
This topic contains 11,627 replies, has 174 voices, and was last updated by hermajtomomi 7 months, 2 weeks ago.
What would it take to get the inspirational Mr P posting on here? That’s a disgrace about your amputee friend having to show cause year on year. Bureaucracy.
FFS, I walk with a friend who weighs around 93kgs. We’ve tried all sorts of incentives to shed weight over the years. She sees that I’ve found something that works well, has watched me drop 23kgs with ease but still doesn’t give it a go. Her OH has diabetes, two young daughters 19/20 are morbidly obese (100+ kgs a piece) and heading for all sorts of health issues. 5:2 would be perfect for the whole family but she has more excuses than I have hot dinners so I’ve given up now. We still weigh in every Thursday as we have for 15 years – me maintaining my 60kgs and she maintaining her 93kgs.
Dr M has shown in the Fast Exercise book why we cannot sustain weight loss by going to gyms. I suspect these slimming programmes are similar – designed to keep you coming back for life. This same friend lost a lot of weight on WW but promptly gained it all back and more.
Although all of us on here have conquered food with 5:2, I believe that not everyone can do it. So really, we are all to be heartily congratulated don’t you think?
I think we all know those people who although witnessing our weight loss and desiring the same are not compatible with 5:2 for a number of reasons (according to them). As we all know the biggest barrier to weight loss is the head. People can come up with a thousand excuses because their mind won’t let them embrace the concept of 5:2. I would say your friend Thin either really doesn’t want to lose weight or wants to lose it without putting in any effort. I wish! And your friend Fast obviously finds calorie counting or restricting more compatible than the concept of 5:2. Some people dream of losing weight but when it comes down to it don’t actually want things to be different. They feel very safe and comfortable the way things are. as we all know we have had to embrace the changes in our body, people opinions of us, comments, our relationship with food etc as well as a new wardrobe. So although people may like the concept of weight loss in reality it is highly unlikely to happen for them.
I think we are lucky we have found 5:2 works for us and that we find it reasonably simple to adhere to. Maybe it was our mindset to begin with that has helped with the success.
It is very much in the head, isn’t it? I guess we were all lucky to be in the right place, mentally, at the right time. Thanks Dr M!
Mr P would never post but often suggests things for me to say!!!
Thin, I watched the Catalyst program, ‘Why am I Still Fat?’ (Sorry UK folk, it’s an ABC program). There was some interesting research on it… particularly about the hunger suppressant value of purple carrots and Queen Garnet purple plums! However, they did not consider intermittent fasting in the “famine effect” research which is a bit of a shame. Also, the woman having lapband surgery ‘for medical reasons’ seems to have been led into it by the doctors. She could have lost a similar amount, in the same time, if she had been guided through IF. Pity. She still seemed to mentally desire large quantities of food. Her head space hasn’t changed.
All fascinating stuff. P
I watched with fascination two separate documentary series from the UK which featured several patients before, during & after bariatric surgery. One showed gastric band surgeries, the other gastric bypass surgeries (the procedures themselves were very interesting to watch). Entire wards had been constructed to accommodate the size and weight of patients now presenting in hospitals. I understand in Australia we have specially fitted out ambulances to accommodate morbidly obese patients. What struck me as odd was that one of the criteria for suitability for the procedure was that the patient demonstrate the ability to lose a certain amount of weight in the months leading up to the surgery. So the motivation was to reach a pre-determined target weight by a specified date, at which point a silver bullet would be applied requiring little further effort on the part of the patient. As you say, not much focus on getting into the right ‘head space’.
My friend wanted lap band surgery and was told she wasn’t big enough-by 8 kilos. Silly girl put on 8 kilos and had the surgery. She never wanted to have the tightening done and ended up only losing….8kilos!! Now she has lost a lot more weight sort of doing the paloe diet. She’s given up carbs, sugar and dairy but not alcohol. But she ‘breaks’ the diet so often. I love with 5 and 2 there’s no ‘breaking’ -just postponing lol
‘My friend wanted lap band surgery…’
Words fail me. I know she won’t be alone, but… Isn’t it bizarre when invasive surgery, in most cases at the expense of taxpayers, which comes with risks and complications, in many cases requires further surgery, and which requires a change of habits after the event to result in long-term success (and ensure health), would be anybody’s preferred option.
This is a great quote from an Australian pioneer of the gastric banding technique… It “offers an effective, reversible, long-term solution for weight loss as long as patients get good follow-up care and are willing to carefully control the way they eat.”
Interesting conversation. I must admit, I need to digest your conversation a bit and try and understand what happens to someone who is willing to take on so much discomfort and sacrifice only after agreeing to major surgery.
What a tragedy, it reminds me of any other drug abuse, where people seem to feel so helpless that only pain inflicted by someone else will get them into the right head space. Very sad.
I’ve had two work colleagues undergo gastric banding. One I haven’t seen since she had it done but have been told she has lost a lot of weight. BTW she previously lost weight of her own accord by exercising and reducing food intake. The other one is overweight still but not hugely. What I have noticed with both those people is they choose all the highly calorific food ie carbs, sugar such as coke and pastries. Their mindset hasn’t changed, so how can this be a successful long term maintenance plan!
I think I am now starting to sound extremely pious, so no more on the subject, but as I said – all in our heads!
There was an interesting report out earlier in the week. A researcher in South Auckland (large Maori and Polynesian population), looking at about 20,000 5 – 7 year olds, found that if the child had lost five or more teeth to decay they were twice as likely to suffer rheumatic fever. Apparently the bacteria feed on the glucose. Another negative to the sugar epidemic.
Interesting Barata. Evil sugar.
We are rearranging the house for house guests, including changing bathrooms. Mr P wanted his scales brought upstairs as mine weigh .3kg heavier. I brought them up, and he’s asked for them to be taken back as they are weighing heavier upstairs too! He’s most upset as he keeps strict bloodsugar and weight records ?
I’m off to buy purple carrots this morning. P
P, do your scales weigh lighter downstairs? And have you tried the travel scales both up and downstairs?
Mr P needs to weigh himself downstairs, bring the scales up and weigh again, and adjust accordingly.
Who knows which is right? And does it matter? Unless of course he is heavier further from the ground…
Carolann, one of the ladies on the bariatric doco was addicted to ordering chocolate and sweets (lollies) on the internet. She had cupboards full of them. What upset me most was that she was feeding them to her dog who was also obese. All she had to do was lose a certain amount of weight in order to qualify for the surgery. Afterwards she was eating less of the same ‘diet’. There was no real attempt to educate or change. I’ve read of people melting chocolate to get it down after surgery.
Although the surgery is costly, the NHS considers it a cost-saving measure when compared to associated medical costs, frequent GP visits, welfare payments and lost productivity. By 2050, it’s estimated that 50% of the adult population of Britain will be obese. So it’s hardly a solution is it?
I’d like to try the purple carrots and those plums too PVE. 30C forecast here in Perth and we’re off for a bike ride at the river.
haha- you girls make me laugh!
Last night I was going to movie with a friend. Movie was at 6.30 so i assumed we’d eat beforehand, but when we met up, she was hoping for a dinner out. We went to a pizza restaurant and I though Id get a small pizza but they were all one size. My girlfriend didn’t want to share as she hadn’t eaten so silly Judy ate pizza at 9.30pm last night and has a sore tummy today. I planned to fast and now a girlfriend I dont see very often wants to do lunch. Ill try and just get a salad and then veggie soup for dinner. The weekends kill me!!
Hi Judy. Sympathies!! There’s a postwar baby deep inside me, still, who would find it really difficult to leave half – or three quarters! – of that pizza – though one of the things this WoE has managed to teach me is that sometimes food is ‘better wasted than waisted’. Goes against the grain – I hate waste – but I’ve realised the hard way that turning excess food into fat on my tummy isn’t exactly good use of it, either! I find it equally difficult to ask for a ‘doggy bag’ in those circumstances – and in any case, we all know where that leads, don’t we, so it’s not the answer.
Only sensible answer, I guess, is exactly what you’ve already reached – choose as healthily as possible (says she, whose Weds/Thurs posts illustrated exactly how well she did this week with that one!) and fast tomorrow! Weight maintenance would be so much easier if you had no friends – but since friendship is one of life’s greatest gifts, we just have to go on finding inventive ways to manage both, while keeping the priorities balanced. People first, every time – but not consistently at the expense of your health (which is what this is about – it’s not just a vanity project, so don’t be afraid to protect it!)
Hope you lunch was good, and your friends are precious!
Ah, Judy! Welcome to the real world! I hope the pizza was a really good one, to be worth the belly ache…?
I think we all have to have these experiences every once in a while to remind us why we’re mindful most of the time and why we fast. Because overeating leaves you feeling like sh*t!
Good luck today 🙂
Poor Judy. FFS, I’m, with you, a childhood forced to eat everything on the plate has left me with a inherent distaste for waste. For many years in the USA, I found it hard not to reach across the table and save someone else from wasting their food too. I really struggled with the concept of ‘all you can eat’ buffets and watching people greedily return for more only to leave it on the plate.
With 5:2 I do now leave food on my plate recognising that I’m full for the first time in my life, but even then it usually becomes leftovers. Call me weird but I have no hesitation in taking food home and freezing it which enables me control over whether/when to have some more. It’s deadly if it’s just in the fridge because it nags at me until I do something about it!
Hi CharliesMum, a very warm welcome, the more the merrier because everybody’s experience is valuable and important to reflect on because as I have found that despite our differences the there are a lot of similarities in our experiences and the food traps we experience as you can see by JudyF post above. We can all relate to that and help each other.
I am fasting today – anybody else? Have a great day.
There’s something suspiciously infectious about this thread! I’d been merrily bobbing along, nicely under my top weight, reading tales of being 1kg over top weight and needing to get a grip…
On Monday morning the scales showed me nearly 2kg heavier than Saturday! It’ll just be water weight… Nope, yesterday morning the same! Yikes. I fasted yesterday, and am down 0.5kg but still over top weight… 🙁
Hopefully it’s just the onset of winter and my body trying to lay down reserves?
Another reason to wish we were hibernating creatures, Happy – permission to get legitimately fat, plus an effortless way to lose it…
You may be onto something- Our bodies don’t know it’s 2015 and the supermarket shelves are full – they just sense that winter is coming, plants and nuts may be in short supply, hunting will be harder and we might not want to go far from the cave. (Same reason my freezer is packed out, ‘in case it snows’!)
Can we do a head-count, as a rough guide – how many of us regulars are ‘up a bit’? I’m within range, but 2lbs up on where I was 6 weeks ago. Anyone else?
Oh, and welcome from me, too, Charlie’s Mum!
Fast,
I didn’t enjoy being illegitimately fat, so I’m not sure about being legitimately fat!
If you did hibernate, you might find that you weren’t actually slim for much of the year (specially now you’re past the breastfeeding stage of life!). Add on the period feeding up and the period slimming down around hibernation and you might not be left with much!
Also, there is a danger that if you entered hibernation underweight you might not have the fat reserves to bring yourself out of hibernation, and you could die. So I’m sorry, but if you’re looking too skinny going into winter we’ll have to keep the lights on, the heat up and stop you from falling asleep…!
Thanks, Happy, for that really encouraging picture….I think I’d better think it out again…
Lights on, heat up, sounds good. Not sure about stopping me from sleeping – I seem to have my own mechanism for that. Tracker tells me this morning that I had the grand total of 30 minutes’ proper sleep (ie without twitches, spasms or restlessness) last night. ( and no, I hadn’t fasted and couldn’t blame hunger – but I had eaten an awful lot of nuts…Probably best to leave off the tracker and not know – but an excuse to drop off for a while after lunch!
I’d still like to do a (totally non-valid, statistically!) survey, to see if your theory about pre-winter weight gain holds water. (Sorry, pun unintentional but too good to delete!) it makes sense to me.
Have a good day. I’m going to Yeo Valley (home of yoghurt) with a friend for lunch. Will report back..,
Hi Fast and Happy, I am the one who has been 1kg over goal for the past 2 months (half a kilo over for longer) and I started to think maybe this is my set weight. But after thorough birthday celebrations last weekend, (with the depressing news by the tracker that I am now allowed 6 cals less per day) I found myself another kg over on Monday.
That tells me hat once I sort of accepted this extra kg, instantly another kg is lining up to be regarded as part of the “set weight”. The problem I have is that my goal weight is totally arbitrary and at BMI 19.5 so 1 or even 2kg more really doesn’t make much of a difference – it is just the slippery slope that concerns me and the fact that I don’t seem to have the will power to tackle this one kg.
So, I really lay into myself and gave myself a stern talking to. A good fast on Monday got me down to 3lb over goal. A bit of panic really seems to produce some very good fasts, but why can’t I just do a good fasts routinely like some people seem to be able to? I am doing my second fast today as I am going abroad on business for two days tomorrow and there will be lots of eating out. There seems to be always one thing or another why the fasting routine is upset.
Oh, I also wanted to say that I felt that my dithering about tackling this kg and seeming inability to focus my mind has had an effect on how much I wanted to post here, which is a shame and makes me wonder if Auriga is struggling with her few kgs too. If this is the reason, please Auriga, come back because it helps just by writing here to give us resolve and stay on the path, even if it is a few kgs over. We are here for you.
I’m visualising all of you chasing stray kilos of fat around your houses! Zombie like as you are in a deep pre winter sleep. ?
I have had that extra kg on all winter (remember we’ve just come out of ours) and it seems to have shifted with the warmer weather, so there might be something in the hibernation theories. Trouble is the kilo went on the waist, but has come off the chest ? P
Hi Lichtle, I support you and all of what you’re saying makes sense to me.
Auriga, come back. We need each other for mutual support.
Yes, Purple, it is happening to me too. It always goes back on stomach and central area, while it comes off elsewhere! 😉
Hi Fast, Happy and Lichtle, Many thanks for your support freely offered when I was reluctant to post. I offer mine back to you all. The price of slimness is eternal vigilance, and lots of mind games. 😮 😆
Let’s get back on the wagon, team!
Cheers, all. Bay 🙂
In the good old days when I was slim naturally I always put on a kg or two over winter and then lost it in the summer. As I aged though I began to notice the drop off wasn’t as effective so started to include more exercise in my routine. I think seasons do play a part in weight. Look at our hair for example, we all moult in spring and autumn so why wouldn’t weight be doing things too?
Lichtle don’t beat yourself up over the weight. I am still on holidays and did a FD yesterday because I had begun to feel the size of a whale! Clothes don’t tell me different but I feel overweight. I struggle still with FD now that I’m on maintenance. But that’s part of my personality – I like to get the rewards without doing the work 🙂 However, I don’t EVER want to put extra weight on again so I do the FD. Once I’ve started it, it’s easy and I feel good the next day. It’s just my thoughts leading up to it that let me down. Maybe it’s a bit the same with you? I help myself through the day by imagining the food rewards I will have the next day. Of course I never have them but it helps me get through. Keep trying Lichtle because there is a process that will work for you. You have done it before you can do it again.
PS all my weight goes on around the middle too. Starts from just under the boobs.
Bay, given that ‘longer than that’ takes us straight into Christmas, I think not! But 4 weeks of preparation should do a good job of getting the feasting into proportion, as well as being valuable in itself.
Carolann – yes – roughly from just below boobs to just above bikini line – just where it’s most dangerous! All the more reason for those of us with our shared body shape to encourage one another to keep fasting.
Lichtle – good on you, to recognise that that 1kg, while not a problem in itself, could form the foundation of one. That level of self understanding – and the resolve to tackle it before it gets any colder and darker! – is just what we’ve come to expect from you. Those of us also carrying, like you, those extra couple of pounds, will join with you in losing them now, OK?
Lovely lunch with friends today – and, once again – illustration of how fasting affects the appetite. Thought I’d eaten a huge amount – venison terrine, sourdough, salad and some amazing carrot and almond chutney, followed by a chocolate brownie and ice cream – but when I added it up, plus my breakfast of fruit and yoghurt, and the apple and nuts which were all I could eat tonight, I was well within my TDEE. But lovely as it was,it won’t do anything for that extra kg, and I’m still looking forward to a FD tomorrow, to reset my sugar-stat after that brownie! (New word, but I like it – think that might be a useful one to keep…).
Well I may have slightly undone yesterday’s fast… I remembered I’d bought buttermilk a couple of weeks ago, and it was use by yesterday, so I made soda bread at lunchtime today… The recipe said to let it cool for two hours before eating… Yeah, right… I did manage to freeze some of it before I ate it all, honest 🙂
This might be the first week since April 2014 that I do two fasts…
Oink.
Hi Fast,
Your lunch does sound good! Yeo Valley natural yoghurt is my breakfast staple, and I really miss it when I’m away from home (or actually if I have something else even for one day).
Re: the sugar challenge. I think the build up to Christmas will be much more of a challenge than Lent! Would it be cheating to ‘save’ your days off each week and cash them in at the end? You could then dive in to Christmas goodies on the 21st?!
What a brill idea, Happy! I shall have to give that one some thought…..But given people’s propensity to celebrate Christmas way before it comes (and then sadly, think it’s over by Boxing Day!) I guess swapping it for one day each week might be a way of not looking like an utter party pooper?
Yeo Valley is my default breakfast, too – but wish I hadn’t discovered how much even more I love the Greek- style version, which has twice as many calories!! I compensate by eating less of it, and tell myself all those good bacteria make it a daily essential…
Guess the soda bread means you’ll be joining me in a FD tomorrow??
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