Re: fasting frequency and eating whatever.

I do miss the discipline of 5:2, but am only just managing to do one fast (and that not at 500 cals) per week without further loss.

I’m not counting calories on nf days, or depriving myself in any way though, I just don’t crave very calorific (or ’empty’ calorie) foods on a regular basis. And I can’t overeat. But I really enjoy my food, cook from scratch every night, and use high quality ingredients (many home produced). There’s a lot of Mediterranean/ middle eastern and Asian influences in my cooking (but OH is the Sunday roast specialist).

What 5:2 has helped me realise is that enjoying my food doesn’t have to mean eating until I’m full to bursting or having seconds when I’m already full. It’s still the same food, just the correct portion size now!

Good morning from a lovely sunny South Wales everyone,
Happynow this for you! I swear by garlic capsules they are odourless and they do keep the foreign bugs away, it’s years since I have been to Scotland but I remember the little buggers well. I take my capsules every day because I play bowls and there are some bowling greens near rivers and trees and we get the little blighters too. They cost about £1 for 60 one a day.
I hope you have a great holiday and the weather is kind to you.
I love the new name for us, I am sure it will attract the new maintainers as well as 5-2 ers coming in to have a look how we are doing. I do think I will be doing this for life. 5-2 will be waiting when I get back from my holidays, (nothing booked yet) we do not go away in the bowling season usually from mid April to mid-early September. Then we tend to get 3 x 2 week holidays but we book on the spur of the moment when we see the right price or place advertised.
Not fasting today bowls tea away game and you/we cannot but indulge when the other club have gone to all the trouble to put it on for us. It is going to be lovely day for it. Back later. JIP

Thanks for sharing that detail Auriga. Sounds not dissimilar to our experience. I’ll give more detail tomorrow. Good drama to watch.
Happy fasting those who are just coming in to Thursday. P 🙂

Good night Purple. JIP

Have a fabulous time in Scotland HappyNow – wondering if the Scottish midges are anything like the Greek mosquitoes in that they do seem to prefer a nibble on people who’ve had a little tipple, but you gotta have a wee dram whilst in the land of whiskey. Wishing you a well earned rest:-)

Hello can i join your thread please ,
my name is ken and i started 5:2 14 weeks ago i have lost 17lb and also 5 inches from my waist , my bmi has fallen from 28.6 to 25.8
accorning to my GP for my age (i am 61) my target should be 12 st 3 lb
this morning i am at 12st 2 lb
So i hope this qualifies me to join your gang lol

I post a lot in (my progress exciting ) and will continue on there as i have met some fantastic ppl and made some lovely friends and we all help each other
ok thats enough for now

ken x

Hi Auriga and welcome Ken….glad you came over and well done on reaching your goal!
I’ve been out and about all day today. Hubby had a day off, so we did some business, then took a long tour into the country, walked along beaches and lakes and ate in a very old pub (for Aust) by a river. Ended with pizza with the kids and grandkids. Heaven.
Thank goodness I did a pretty good fast yesterday.
See Ken, once you are maintaining, you really can enjoy the normal days. We still fast 2 times a week though.
Been pretty quiet all round today, must be the UK heat and the sunny Friday here. Keep cool over there…
Cheers all my maintenance buddies.
Purple

Well done, Purple
Good to know thyself! You must be feeling satisfied with your WOE. Congratulations. I was too harsh yesterday on my fast day, not even getting to 400 calories. My body has reacted today and had a little indulgence, including dark chocolate and falafels. So I will try not to be that harsh again on a fast day 🙂
It is taking a while to realise I am actually at target. 🙂
I have finished all our online bookings for a trip to Rome and Ypres later this year.

Hi PVE, Your findings are interesting because I’m finding pretty much the same. I’ve maintained at 58 kgs for the past five weeks, pretty much without effort. I am doing the odd fast day but probably have only done 3 of 500 calories over the past month. I continue with 16/8 but that’s a normal routine for me and I’m capable of gaining on that but I haven’t since having started the 5:2. I think the 5:2 retrains us – I enjoy all my food equally now be it a plate of greens or a plate of steak and chips – and I too seem to ‘know’ when to stop eating in a way I didn’t prior to the 5:2. I now know when I feel full and satisfied and I’m sure that’s down to the experience of fasting where we allow ourselves to experience hunger, conversely, I believe it also allows us to experience satiety, perhaps one of the main causes of obesity is that some people seem to have the ability, and the desire, to gorge endlessly on food without ever becoming satiated or satisfied and never ever allowing themselves to feel hungry. It’s early days for me on maintenance but the 5:2 has definately guided me onto an eating path that I’d never been down before! Happy Weekend everybody from sunny Greece:-))

While cooking cauliflower rice…..
the Fitbit Ken is wearble technology. It measures your movement, day and night and sends the info via bluetooth to your phone and computer.
If you enter your food and drink into it you can see accurately your calorie deficit (or not!)
It has access to foods and their calorie count, but as they are US processed foods and I cook from scratch so I add custom foods I work out.
I’ve used it for a few weeks to guide my maintenance but will lend it to others now as I don’t want to count cals. I have a hood handle on it now.
It has been an interesting exercuse though.

Hi Elaine. Greece sounds lovely as usual. As you say, we are a work in progress. ..trail blazers!
Had better get back to the cooking.
Cheers PVE

So nice to see there is a maintenance thread started! This is the end of my fist year on the Fast Diet. I used 4:3 at first…tapering off to 5:2 and after April have been doing 6:1. So excited that it really really does maintain the weight loss!

Before and After Photos

http://mymorningcup-chc.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-5-2-fast-diet-after-one-year.html

Will check back in to chat more often 🙂

(((hugs)))

Carla

Hey Happy….I thought we’d lost you to the wilds of Scotland. Just saw you on another thread keeping someone’s spirit up. Still with us?

Welcome Carla. Love your photos. You must be very proud of yourself.

Hi to all the other Maintainance Mates…such a big happy band now.

Had a relaxing Sunday eating up big before tomorrow…looked at the scales and in the mirror and decided I could go for it. VERY cold, drizzling and just plain grey here today, so what the heck! Homemade vegie and panchetta stack for brunch. Veg soup and beautiful stoneground wholemeal bread for a late lunch and planning on chicken, cashews and chilli jam with rice stick noodles for dinner. Then….Monday fast 😉
Enjoy your Sunday western hemisphere. Sleep well those of us in the east. Happy fasting Monday. Purple

Hi Carla, welcome aboard. You look amazing well done – how much weight have you lost?

PVE mmmm, stop it with the food – I’m salivating here! So right about the 5:2 teaching us self-control – I can’t believe the change its made to my eating habits – neither can my other half, he now gets to eat the nuts and crisps that accompany the drinks here in Greece – I don’t touch them now, I’m much more interested in preserving my new body:-))

Sorry Auri 🙁
😉 P

I’ll be at the airport to pick you up…..only a 23 hour flight from Heathrow. Good night. P

Good evening and good day to all of you and welcome Ken, I told hubby I had just been sent love on a post. LLOL.
Purple, count me In on the get together. I did it on LOACA, it’s a bit further to travel but what the heck! It would be worth it, it’s my first day of a B2B and I am drooling too.
It’s 9pm and I have been beach and coast walking again yesterday and today so I am very pleased with 18k + over 7 miles today. I love this 5-2 WOL and WOE.
bayleafoz what is falafels please?
Got to go ladies and ken, I still have 2 pints of water to drink before bed. Byeeee
JIP

Hi JIP

Falafels are a little patty or ball made of ground chickpeas and cooked. These are part of a Turkish meal when eaten with salads, and flavoured with garlic and chili sauces. In Australia, we can also buy them in a Turkish wrap with salad and sauces. One of my favourite takeaway food. 🙂

I’m telling you all this on a fast day 🙂

Yes Bay. I can’t cope with 350 but hubby does easily. I prefer brunch of 100 odd and dinner of 250 to 300.
Mmm…felafels with lettuce tomato and hummus. Quiet suitable on a fast day if you choose your felafels carefully. Give them a go JIP.
Have a good fd. P

Good to hear more of your adventure Happy.
It certainly is easier lugging less weight around. SO embarrassing how dumb we were before. I too now skip breakfast to overeat later.
Could you really put up with Dr M experimenting with his body all the time? He’s a sucker for punishment, but we are all grateful.

Elaine, I’ve just watched an Aussie Greek boy (in his 20s 😉 ) in his documentary called Greeks of the Sea. Ah, the beautiful aqua seas and white buildings. I’ll have to catch the next episode.
P

PVE, it’s not all cool breezes wafting through the olive groves here – I spent most of yesterday lounging by the “aqua sea” came home hot, red, sweaty and tired with sand in places I never knew I had – yeah, it can be a hard-knock life at times in the vally of the Greek gods!
HappyNow, I love your one-liners “how cld I ever have thought it was a treat to over eat and be fat”, just about sums it all up in a nutshell. I admire your trudging and trekking – I’m more of a horizontal exerciser myself – turning a page whilst on a sun lounger counts as exercise don’t it…