This topic contains 11,642 replies, has 174 voices, and was last updated by Pollypenny 3 weeks, 5 days ago.
What a dilemma! I suggest trying them all on, and admiring yourself from all angles. Then decide it doesn’t really matter which one because you look amazing in everything these days!
If I forget later, Many Happy Returns for tomorrow.
Just off to the office today. Boo hiss. Wearing size 8 though. Hooray!
Happy maintaining, all.
Oh Lawks, have you ever looked through a cookery book and thought you’re living in the wrong country? I’ve just been looking through Rosetta Constantino’s Southern Italian Desserts: Rediscovering the Sweet Traditions of Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, and Sicily.
One of the recipes for an almond cookie includes 2 Tbsps of limoncello for inclusion in the batter but the directions state, “plus more for forming the cookies” because “[m]oistening your hands with the limoncello keeps the sticky dough manageable and also adds a lovely flavour”.
More cookery books should have bon viveur directions like that. 🙂
Happy birthday @purple. Hope you have a lovely day.
@ssure, My sort of recipe. I love alcohol in baking.
Sorry @elliptical can’t help you there. I think there is a thread on this forum that deals with exercise etc.
P, my OH doesn’t like breakfast in bed either. Once he’s awake he has to get up and get busy. Honestly, I do worry that I married my Dad…
And how was my day? How long have you got?! My day in the office was a sorry tale of miscommunication, misinformation and mismanagement.
And it’s poured with rain most of the day. So I got pretty wet this afternoon cleaning up after the chooks (how can they poo so much?), while they sheltered from the rain…
My day perked up though when I went to fetch logs from the barn. My new coat had arrived and was in the wood store. Of course! Where else would the courier leave it? As it turns out, he would leave it on the front step. In the rain. Our local farmer had kindly moved it under cover.
Anyway, enough of me! What plans for the birthday girl?
Your day sounds very much like mine when I lived in the bush! You’ve got to love the way couriers don’t think. Ours rings the doorbell and runs before I have answered so that I have to go to the PO and carry the heavy parcel.
Off to the city by train for an exhibition I had booked months ago. Sunny on the station. And my egg was lovely. OH us having the day of to help for tonight. Darling! Sleep well. P
Hi everyone, thanks for the reassurance! I would have replied sooner but had no internet for the past two days – now that’s an experience!
I’m just going to hang in here, keep on doing what I have been and see what happens. I know what you mean HappyNow about waking up one morning and it’s all back on 🙂 Stuff of nightmares!
It’s been a bad week this week because lots of social activities, so have decided I will do a fast day tomorrow to try and get some control back. Like you Lichtle I want my goal weight to be my maximum not minimum (which is what it is cutprrently). Bit more work to do!
Can’t believe people haven’t commented on the amazing weight loss some of you have experienced. Would it be because it was very gradual weight loss?
I think I mentioned this before only a couple of people have noticed mine but someone who hasn’t seen me for a while definitely notices.
Have a good weekend everyone! Thanks for all your positive comments and information – they really keep me going
Carolannfud,
“I know what you mean HappyNow about waking up one morning and it’s all back on 🙂 Stuff of nightmares!”
Someone on another forum has shed approx. 250lbs and maintaining that for >4 years. She says that she’s one brownie away from gaining 300lbs and still fears that she can wake up one day and the laws of space and time will be suspended and she will find she’s >400lbs again.
Maintenance – it’s own set of challenges and nightmares. 🙂
Hello everyone, this is voice from the past or should I say a Maintenance Chatbox poster from the past.
I thinks it’s 3 months since I posted but I have been lurking sometimes. I have just come back from a 2 week holiday in Malta and felt it was time to get back in touch with you all.
I see I am just in time to wish PVE Happy Birthday hope it’s a good one.
I have still been doing my usual 5-2 B2B Monday and Tuesday and have kept the weight off. I have put on a couple of pound on my holidays but still within my WW limit of 5 so I do not have to pay. Yipeeeeee!
It’s 3 years that I got to my WW goal and I do think going to my class every Tuesday morning and now with my 5-2 since April this year I have got my head and heart into it. (Nothing tastes as good as slim feels) I am still Nordic Walking Mondays mornings and running for my buses if you can remember my way of life that I have bored you all with. enough for now, back soon JIP
Before I forget, Happy Birthday, Purple. Just because I forget my own I have no excuse for forgetting anyone else’s. Hope it will be/has been a good one with a fantastic party.
Great to hear from you again, JIP. Looking forward to further news from Wales.
We may well be in the south of your lovely country next weekend. We’re visiting my cousin and his lady – a compatriot of yours – in the Forest of Dean and there may well be a cross-border excursion. During our visit in the summer we drove over the border to the St Fagans, the Welsh Folk Museum outside Cardiff which was fascinating, but what really struck me was the beauty of the valleys, through which we detoured on the way back.
@jipwgp hello to you, It’s so great when people come back and report how they are doing. Even better to hear you have kept the weight under control.
Having joined the maintenance crowd relatively recently, I only now begin to see what people mean by it being difficult. All the way during the weight loss period I kept thinking how easy it must be when I didn’t have to save around 2000-3000cals per week and how much more I could eat on non fast days. When your TDEE is low that means a lot.
But alas now comes the little voice in the head trying to convince me that I have done so well and deserve a fast day off ‘just the one’! I have tried two and a half days this week 2×500 cals & 1x 800. I am afraid I went a bit off the rails (carb and sugar wise – way too much) yesterday and today’s fast day disintegrated for reasons too boring to mention. Well maybe 2 fast days (really disciplined) would be better for me than attempting a 3rd easy day.
Still experimenting, though I presume this as part and parcel of of our changing moods and circumstances.
No FD or week are ever the same.
G’day JIP 🙂
Fantastic to hear you are still maintaining! I knew you could. All that nordic walking must be wearing your dear little shoes out. Well done mate.
Thanks for the birthday wishes. Had a great party last night. Just lying down to recover before Scottish dancing tonight. What a life.
I hope you enjoyed your break in Malta and haven’t forgotten us all. Keep on touch, we’ve missed you. You were never boring :). P
Hi Purple, Happy that your party was fun. 🙂 you were right in that the last 10 days of indulging didn’t add any weight, except the usual 1.5 kg variation, that goes in the first fast day. I think my stomach has shrunk so much, that it simply doesn’t want and cannot take a whole lot of food. Woohoo ! What a wonderful WOL.
Hi JIP, so glad you’re back and still maintaining on 5:2. Look forward to hearing from you now that you’re back with us. Cheers, Bay 🙂
Why is my weight stabilized? I’ve been doing 5:2 since Aug. 2013, lost 20 pounds, and although now at a “healthy” BMI (24.9) would like to lose another 5 lbs. I exercise regularly and at high intensity (60-90 min. running, biking, swimming 4 or 5x/week). My food preferences have changed in that I eat virtually no junk (chips, candy etc) and I feel great, but…………maybe this is my place? I intend to continue 5:2 since it makes me feel good to have a day of rest from eating. Any thoughts?
Hi rocke,
Could it be that your body is telling you your weight is fine? You are obviously – deservedly – fighting fit and largely avoiding the junk food. Congratulations, by the way.
If you look and feel good at your current weight, perhaps just be happy to maintain, but leap in double quick if the odd pound or two return. Those last few pounds may be a bit tough to shift.
All good points hermajtomomi. I guess I expected to keep losing weight as long as I followed the diet at 5:2, then shift to 6:1 for maintenance. I wondered if others had the same experience or not. It was interesting that I reached my current weight about 9 months ago, and have occasionally dropped down briefly to 78 kg (now 81) after backpacking where you have to carry all your food and can never get enough calories in your pack, so I guess the equation of fewer calories = less weight does work.
As an aside, I have tried doing fast days where I eat no calories until supper, then consume about 200 calories for dinner (steamed vegetables with some low cal salad dressing for taste) and it seems easier than eating breakfast and lunch as well. Anyone else have that experience?
Hi everyone, thanks for the welcome back,
hermajtomomi I live about 12 miles from St Fagons and play away bowls games there in the summer bowling season.
I am from the valleys until my twenties and I agree they are wonderful views if you get a chance go to the
Ogmore valley the views from the top of the mountains are great. If we had the weather I would holiday in Wales more but we love the sun so we chase it.
Litchle: I know that this 5-2 WOL is what is going to keep me at or near my goal I like my B2B and I eat as late as possible in the day I can usually get to 3 or 4 pm with just black tea and PINTS of hot water until then.
Hi again Purple. I am sure you all will remember my lovely sister who is 9 years older than me, she is still within her goal after losing almost 3 stones and doing really well, I love her dearly and I am very proud of her.
Nice to be back. JIP
Hi maintaining mates from a superb sunny Sunday morning in South Australia – alliteration not quite there 😉
JIP how good to hear things are going well for you.
Purple, glad your party went well. … and dancing every dance at the ceilidh! Super couple!
Rocke, all the comments make perfect sense. Additionally, I’m sure you know that the BMI can be misleading, especially in well-muscled males because the scales can’t distinguish between fat and muscle. The sure-fire way is with an impedance test such as scales which calculate fat%. Anyway, keep up the good work and don’t fret about the slow loss. It’s probably sneaking away imperceptibly in the form of fat and being replaced by muscle due to your activity. As you know, volume for volume, muscle weighs much more than fat.
Keep up the good work everyone!
Salutations from super sunny Sydney Nicky! Been for a dip now drying off in the sun. So good.
Rocke, Nicky is spot on. Once you reach the healthy range you will plateau massively. .we have been here for 7 months now. ..but your body continues to change and I think you naturally eat slightly more, but good stuff, on normal days. We find continuing fasting twice weekly keeps us healthy and food aware. If we continue to learn loose slightly, ok, if not, that’s ok too.
Nice to have you on board the Maintenance wagon 🙂 P
Hi Rocke, I think you answered your own question when you described what happened when you were hiking. I think we do have a ‘set’ weight, where to go less than that we really have to put in a lot of effort.
I haven’t lost any weight in the past 3 weeks, I have been maintaining. I sit between 60-62kg which is my ideal weight I think and also the weight I was for my entire life until menopause. So I think this is probably my ‘set’ position.
However, like Lichtle I have noticed the little voice now, encouraging me to slacken off on my non fast days. Sadly I listened and believe that’s why I’ve stabilised.
I find 5:2 much easier than doing half days or low cal days because the rules are clear, you follow them and there’s no being tempted by adding in a few calories here and there. What I love about 5:2 is its simplicity and what I also love is the fact I can eat pretty much what I want on non fast days. I want to be able to eat the olives, the cheese, the dessert etc. Mind you, it’s my head that needs that food not my stomach!
I believe if I start to eat well again on my non fast days and not listen to the little voice it is possible for me to lose more. I don’t think I really need to lose more but would like a little wriggle room just in case I can’t ignore that little voice again!
The question we all need to answer is how much are we prepared to give up to be a certain weight?
You’ve done a fabulous job Rocke! If you want to lose more sounds like more drastic measures are called for to achieve it. It’s the same way for all of us and whatever we all now weigh we’re a bunch of champions. A lot of people just can’t do this. Good luck!
Morning (for me at least!) All,
I met up with friends for a meal recently. One of them struggles to maintain a healthy weight, but has been doing 5:2 for a few weeks with some success. He says the fast days are really hard and not getting any easier. I can only think the litre of diet coke he drinks may be at least in part responsible. Interesting also that when the waiter took our order, my friend quizzed him as to which of the pasta dishes would be the most amount of food! I had to point out that any dish was likely to be a sufficient amount of food….
JIP, I can’t believe that you would need to leave South Wales in search of sunshine! I continue to be reliably informed by Dad that there is no better, or sunnier, place on earth….
Hi HappyNow
Samm has posted on another thread that Diet soft drinks actually work against weight loss. I think it is the aspartame or artificial sweeteners interfering with the digestive system. Some of us have also found that having processed carbs on nonfast days make the fast days worse. I am sure your friend knows to drink enough on fast days.
Hi Carol, Good for you recognising the effect of the little voice. Well done.
Cheers, Bay 🙂
Hi Bay,
Thanks. I had read conflicting stories about diet drinks so wasn’t confident in the facts, but I’ll perhaps point my friend in the direction of the science.
When he first started 5:2 we did have discussions about food choices and I did say that whilst no food is off limits provided you count the calories, I perhaps wouldn’t have a bagel for breakfast on a fast day…! And that I certainly find it easier to low carb. You can only take a horse to water though! I’m hoping the supersizing and diet coke habits aren’t too deeply ingrained.
Hi all. Hope you are having a good Sunday, it’s a lovely sunny autumn day in South Wales.
I have been for my 75 minute walk on my empty stomach because it’s one of my 5-2 days B2B and the only down side of these two days is, I cannot take my steroids on an empty stomach and need them for energy because of my Polymyalga and of course I do not want to eat until as late as possible. Tomorrow is my Nordic walking day but I am out from 9 am and I’m back home 1pm just with a cup of coffee after the walk with the others and a bus home.
How are your energy levels on a fast day? Is it more my lack of steroids and of course my age? I still have to get my 3+1/2 lbs off form my Malta holiday ASAP because we have booked another holiday, we are going on a cruise to the Caribbean on the 8th November and I would like to get a couple more pounds off so that I can make sure I will fit into my clothes on the second week of my holidays. So I need a bit of wiggle room too. LOL
I find my non fast days harder than my my fast days, I need discipline on these days it’s the snacking and my mentality of ( come on you have been good and you deserve it why not have it ).
Purple, I do admire your way of eating on your holiday. I did walk and walk and travelled all over the island by the local bus but I did consume some very nice food and lots of my usual drink, Rum and Diet Coke. LOL.
(I do stay off the diet coke on non-fast days too)
It’s ironing time now, a few more calories off with a bit of luck. It’s 2 pm and I have only had 3 pints of hot water, one black tea and a coffee, not bad. Be good everyone fasting or feasting. JIP
Hi MCs
House guests again for a few more days so little free reading time.
Fasting today, although I am still only 58.6 this morning after a big few days of eating. I was wise to cook the party food myself as all the leftovers were salads!
Went for a lovely ramble along a waterway through a National Park ten minutes from here yesterday. There is evidence of Aboriginal occupation in the middens (oyster and cockle shells embedded on the side of the embankment about 4 metres above water level). They would have been left there after big eating fests when the sealevel was at that height thousands/ 10s of thousands of years ago. A wonderful connection with the past history of this place.
Happy times folk. P
Good morning maintaining mates.
JIP: ‘I find my non fast days harder than my fast days, I need discipline on these days it’s the snacking and my mentality of (come on you have been good and you deserve it why not have it).’ That says it all – there’s still such a long way to go for me so interesting to read that you still struggle with that inner voice. I too have trouble with tiredness on FDs but can’t separate fasting from lack of sleep because I get up at 6am for work days. Mondays especially hard because never ready for sleep at a reasonable time on Sunday nights after weekend sleep-in.
Purple, your NP sounds like a lovely spot. LO salads are good, especially now weather warming up.
No movement on the scales last week after 1 FD and very poor non-FDs. One bright spot is smaller bra.
First of my b2b days today with yoga at lunch time to enjoy. Hope don’t fall asleep and snore during relaxation 😉
Happy Monday all.
Hi JIP and Nicky
I’m the opposite re tiredness. Before I started 5:2, early last year, I used to always fade at 2.30 every afternoon. I’d often have a lie down after work. Now I rarely do. On fast days I expend huge amounts of energy. ..avoiding food…walking, gardening, even ironing!
I am also having little trouble with controlling eating on feast days as I really prefer the type of food we eat on fast days and I seem to have developed self control. Quite a surprise for a girl who could eat absolutely anything and not gain weight until her 40s. It was a very hard habit to shift, but I think I’ve done it! Good luck with your inner voices. 🙂 P
@PVE well done to DIL.
When we are young and especially if we have been naturally slim we don’t appreciate how much harder weight loss is when we get older. So for her to be vigilant and ‘not putting weight on’ at a young age is soooo much easier than trying to lose it later on.
My best friend who is about 5’11 was very slim all her life but veeeery slowly the weight has crept up over the years. being tall it was never that obvious. She has reported that she has reduced her daily calorie intake considerably now but just can’t seem to lose weight. I have told her about 5:2 but she is scared that she will faint (various health problems). I think many people are scared of ‘not eating” Maybe it is a human instinct.
Morning/ evening maintenance mates 😆
12 months ago, this week, the Blue Mountains, the hills just west of Sydney, were burning. Hundreds of homes were burnt down. Last night a ferocious storm closed the only 2 roads going over the mountains and stopped the trains AND snow fell! Crazy weather. We were enjoying a gorgeous early summer of swimming last weekend. It was 9 deg when I woke this morning. Never a dull moment.
57.8kg this a.m. despite the gnocchi yesterday. Yeah! Hope the world is treating you all kindly. P
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