I am also new. I just signed up now and have been spying all day on this forum, seeing how it works and IF it works! I would like a buddy as well, and am planning on doing a TUES/THURS fasting plan.
I live in the western part of the U.S. 🙂 I don’t know how phoning can happen but I have an app on my phone to text one of my best friends who lives in England? We could at least text….

Hi There!

I started on Monday so I’m a newbie too! I am in Australia and aiming to lose 6-7kg. I’ve been spying on the forums, but a lot of people are well on their way on their 5-2 adventure, but it would be good to chat with people who are also just beginning, and swap tips and motivation.

I decided to give it a go because I have a friend who has been overweight all his life. He started the 5-2 at the beginning of the year and has lost a fair bit of weight, so he recommended I try it.

I am doing Mondays (because I suspect I will have more motivation after misbehaving on the weekends!) and Wednesdays (fits in better with my work schedule).

Before you start, I would suggest that you write down everything that you plan to eat (with calories) on the evening before. I did that for Monday, and sailed through the day. I didn’t do it for today and ate a couple of things that had higher calories than I realised, so I used up nearly all my calories in the morning.

I am rambling on aren’t I? Trying to distract myself from the choccie in the fridge! Good luck to both of you on your first day…..

Hi Jeannie!

I lived in Scotland (Glasgow) for a year. I was sent over by my work and was worried I would be bored, not knowing anyone, but made lots of friends there and loved it! That was in 1990 and I’ve been wanting to go back for a visit ever since.

I also used to work long hours and be skinny! I thought I was naturally slim but now realise it was cos I often didn’t have time to eat.

Stick with the tea. I have a cup of coffee (with milk AND sugar!!!) when I start work and was thinking of giving that up on fast days but I start at 5:45 AM and decided the coffee was staying or it wouldn’t work.

I hope you have a nice break!

Hello Natty and Jeannie!
How are you doing so far?
I am 29 years old, and was at my healthy and lean goal weight 3 years ago but though emotional eating put on about 25 pounds, and have struggled to get off the last 10-15 pounds for a while now, and I’ll stick to a certain calorie plan but then I end up blowing it and staying right where I am. I am told I look “healthy” but I feel still uncomfortable and not at my personal best. I am 5 foot 6 inches, 140 lbs–63 kg and would like to be around 58kg! have a history of non purging bulimia(where you binge and then go through a while of restoration and exercising…) which I got help with in the past and now and then it creeps up especially when I am sad lonely or stressed. Yesterday was not a good day eating, but today is my first fasting day. I have my coffee with milk and 1 teaspoon sugar, and I will be eating tuna with spinach shredded carrots and broccoli with some olive oil and spices for both lunch and dinner. I will probably buy a kombucha tea( fermented tea thats usual only 60-70 calories) later or just tea at home. Natty, it’s a great idea to have a plan! I have found meal planning is a great way, and am going to do that each week for my fasts. I plan on Tuesday and Thursdays at 500 calories and the other days at 2000 calories. I don’t want to go any lower than that because my TDEE is 2150, and I know from the past that keeping calories low all the time slows the metabolism down and makes one cranky and lethargic and ends badly 😛
Anyway, I’m glad to see others on this and am excited to see how each one does! Do you guys want to maybe have a weigh in on a certain day? Maybe give ourselves a week and a half and see how we do?

Monday weigh ins sound good to me. How about we all just weigh in a week from THIS Monday?
I just started and want a more than half of a week, and it would be a nice goal to look forward to: seeing a little change on the scale 😉

Today I had coffee with milk and a teaspoon of sugar(I cannot take it black…), veggies with tuna and a TBS dressing, another small coffee, and snacked on a bowl of little red tomatoes to curb my snacky feeling in the evening. Ending the day with water, and tomorrow it’s a more ‘normal’ day. and back to fasting on the following day. I have to NOT chew gum like I did today, as I end up chewing too much and it doesn’t make me feel that great anyway. That’s something I’m going to change.

I would really like to be at my goal at by the middle of summer…and it seems like people are having great success with this kind of approach, so I’m hoping we all can too!

How did everyone else do?

Welcome Elkster – glad you can join us! We are all in our first week, so we understand the “yikes” feeling.

Wow – we are getting quite an international group here. I think we are all from different countries!

I started off grumpily today (non fast day), but it turned out well. I ate a little packet of biscuits that my OH left out for me and felt bad about it. But then I thought “Hey – they were there all day yesterday (my fast day) and I didn’t touch them, even though I really wanted to”, so yay for me. (and it was only 4 biscuits). Then it turned out really sunny (it was supposed to rain) so after work, I went for a lovely cycle (double yay) to the library and found they had the Fast Diet book, so I got it out and am now going to read it on the back deck with a cuppa.

Hey Spressogirl – sounds like you did well on your first day! Did you plan what you were eating the day before? I’ve tried both, and realise that I definitely need to write it all down the evening before…

Hi girls and good morning from my side of the world 🙂 Well I’m on an NFD but I’m going to try to stick well within my TDEE which is apparently 1674 cals. I’m hoping to keep to 12 to 1300 but I wont feel so bad if I’m a few over. It’s funny but I’m neither here nor there when it comes to breakfast now and the fast days have been surprisingly ok. I felt I ate loads with my big plates of salad and chicken and I actually left the bulk of my cals for my dinner.

I was looking back at my weight diary and I was actually 10st 4.4 on the 10th of May when I started to put the brakes on so I have actually lost 2.4 before I started on Monday 18th and that was without a plan! But a plan gives me structure and encourages me to be disciplined so I’m sticking with it. It’s not all about weight for me as I want to make my insides healthier too!

Don’t feel guilty about the biscuits Natty as this plan says you can eat what you like on NFD within reason. Restricting nice things too much only makes you crave them. Well I will see how today goes and report back so good luck with your day girls 🙂

Yesterday we took mum to Largs on the Ayrshire coast and had a long walk (mums in a chair). For once I remembered my pedometer and I managed to get 15000 steps in! Today it will have to be the exercise bike.

Hi all, today is my first day and, having read some of the posts on the forum I could see that there were some really great groups helping and supporting each other andI would love to join you all. I am in Buckinghamshire in the UK and have 4 children (not little ones though), I juggle three part time jobs and find fitting exercise really tricky. I am afraid I don’t do kilos so will need to update you all in pounds – I am hoping to lose about 25 pounds so will need all the encouragement I can get! I have started my very first fast day with porridge ( made with water of course). What I will miss most are my lovely large cappuccinos.

Hello Sianyn!

We are all starting this week so we will all be able to support each other. I think for the first couple of weeks, we will be trying to figure out what works best for each of us. I am going to try a small lunch with a larger evening meal and see how that goes. I know what you mean about missing cappuccinos. The advantage of the 5 2 diet is that on a fast day, you know you can have a cappuccino the very next day!

15000 steps is a long way Jeannie! It’s going to be cold and raining here tomorrow so I’ll be on the exercise bike too. I usually listen to a podcast or watch a TedTalk while I’m doing it and find I go further that way (cos I have to get to the end of the talk!).

I’m only logging my calories on fast days, but I’ve started a (sort of) food diary on NF days. Logging what I am eating and why, to try to identify my eating triggers.

It’s now lunchtime and I shall be indulging in water – I am going to try a really long fasting window of 12 hours to see how that goes. Tues and Thurs will be my FDs. I sing in a choir on Mondays and, believe it or not, it is actually quite physical and I wouldn’t want to pass out through lack of sustenance! I am happy to weigh in on Mondays though if that suits everyone. I am feeling quite excited to do this with you all 🙂

BattyNatty,
I love your idea of a food log and how you feel with the foods. What do you guys all think of following in her footsteps and trying that as well, and if there are certain triggers perhaps sharing and getting feedback and support from one another?

I at times feel like I will be stuck forever at this weigh. It’s like I subconsciously sabotage myself and blow it when I feel like I’m getting close to losing! I struggle having sweets around and things like peanut butter or nut butters because I end up overdoing it 😛 Luckily I live alone so I can just omit those things from my house!

What is our age group? I feel really happy about this 🙂 The support will be so helpful. I was going to go see a dietitian about losing weight, but decided to give this a go first, so I hope we all have great success.

I have the book, I also know Michael Moseley but am too embarrassed to let him know I am following his programme!!!

Hello Ladies, I just finished my first fast day I did it yeah! I had 533 calories. Batty Natty I took your advise and wrote everything down it did help. Jeannie960 that is a great site for calorie counting. I will try to count my calories on my regular days. spressogirl85 I do think we have the same goals that is pretty cool. I am not as cranky as I thought I would be, just getting ready to go to bed. I am missing having a glass of wine b4 bed but think I will enjoy my glass more on friday. I went for a 3 mile walk and am going to try to walk at least 5 days a week. Sianyn I hope your first day went well. I am ok with the monday weigh in it will keep me honest on the weekends. I think having to be accountable to you all helped. Thanks!

Well done Elkster! I think getting started is the biggest step. I think other diets haven’t worked for me is because I end up feeling deprived every day. With 5:2, you know that you can have that glass of wine, or cappuccino, or whatever the next day, so it doesn’t feel too much of a hardship.

I have been keeping my food diary for less than 2 days (focussing on when and why I eat, rather than the number of calories) and it is already showing some unexpected patterns! I’ll do it for another week and then share my thoughts with you all.

SpressoGirl – I am 52. I think a couple of the others are similar age. I am guessing that the 85 in your name means you were born in 85? That means we’ll get ideas and viewpoints from different age groups as well as different countries!

I was looking on the net for low calorie alternatives to rice. Someone suggested cauliflower (you pulse it in a food processor until it forms “grains”). I tried it to make a fried “rice” dish with steamed veggies and prawns and a little laksa paste all stirred in. It was REALLY GOOD!!!! Even my very carnivorous OH gave it a thumbs up. Then I worked out the calories and it worked out at only 150 calories for a very big serving which means I can make it for a fast day. Yum yum…

I will!

Are you doing your jog on the morning of your fast? I do a fair bit of exercise and was worried I wouldn’t have enough energy on FDs but I went for a mountain bike ride on Monday (my first FD) and had heaps of energy. I was quite surprised!

Do you jog on the road or trails? I don’t really like running on the road, so I tried trail running (I live in a National Park so I have some good choices) but found I couldn’t get a decent rhythm up as I was too busy watching for rocks and tree roots.

Enjoy your run!

Oh and yes–going to run definitely on the morning of my fast. I will have my coffee then go run 😉

That sounds delicious Jeannie! I am going to cook it on my Monday FD. Regarding the running…I must confess that I am sitting in front of the fire (it’s cold and raining outside), with a glass of wine and a pussycat on my lap while I watch Eurovision (cheesy but very entertaining!) so I am all talk and no action. I think your 1800 calories for a NFD is a really good effort, I’d be pleased with that!

It must be difficult looking after your Mum full time. You obviously care about her, but you should make sure you enjoy your break. Please tell me you are not going to count calories while you are away!!!! Finland is performing at the moment….it’s a middle aged punk group singing about how they always have to do the washing up..I think I need another wine….!

Spressogirl – it sounds like you live in an area similar to here, lots of steep hiking trails. Have you heard of the North Face 100? It’s a 100km race on trails and was held near here last week. They had to run up and down all these lung busting hills – they are seriously good trail runners!

Jeannie-
1800 is not bad at all! Don’t be too hard on yourself. That extra 200 calories will easily be burned off in a workout session today! 🙂 That has got to be stressful- getting a parent settled in and taking care of them. Tiring too, I’ll bet…

Natty-
I have not heard of that race! That is insane though…I used to know a lady who would run 50-100 milers and that is crazy to me. The most I have ever done was a 15k- 9.3 miles and after that I put the competitive running to rest and started to not care about my pace and run outside nice and easy at my own pace 🙂 I get my intensity fro cycling when I take a co-workers class or teach my own(the yelling commands and pushing others while trying to be ahead of them for a good example can really make me sweat and burn a lot of calories).

Well I slept a little later than I anticipated, so I missed the chance to run, but after my final(I’m going back to school right now and today I have a 2 hour final with 97 questions on it) I will try to fit in a quick jog before I go to work, but if I don’t then I’ll just make sure to get it in tomorrow and Sunday 🙂

Today is FD 2 of this week, and I had my coffee this morning and water. I don’t feel hungry after having 1900 calories yesterday, so today I’m sure will be an easy day(I hope…).
I am going to roast broccoli and green beans with spices and olive oil before going to work today so I have that to look forward to tonight with some tea and protein added in. water water water…..

Hello All!

Well, I’ve thought about our weekly weigh-ins (we are starting a week on Monday, is that right?) and thought I might change my scales to pounds instead of kilograms as that’s what most of you seem to use. The only problem is my weight in pounds looks soooo much bigger….triple digits instead of double! The advantage is the numbers will go down faster though.

My local fruit shop was selling kiwifruit cheaply today so I bought a bagful and have chopped a pile up so I can put them in the food drier to make little kiwifruit chews that I can nibble on when I get the urge to eat something sweet. Not ideal, but better than a chocolate binge.

Sianyn…if you know Michael, I think you should talk him into posting special tips, just for us! Or maybe he could put up a motivational post for us in a couple of weeks, when we are starting to flag? Naaah – we’ll still be going strong!

I was thinking you were all being a bit quiet today, then I realised that you are mostly at the beginning of the day, while I’ve been up for 12 hours. Which country do you live in Elkster? The rest of us are spread out all over the world. Isn’t the internet amazing?

I am on Fast Day 3. I’ve learnt from my mistakes and have written out my full day’s eating on the evening before!

I am finding miso soup with a serve of steamed veges mixed in to be a good fast-day lunch. It’s very filling, easy to make and comes in at less than 100 calories.

I have also been weighing myself every day although I was only going to do it once a week. I lost quite a bit immediately after the 2 fast days, then gradually put about half back on. I am guessing that it shows a low weight initially because my stomach is almost empty after the fast days so only half the weight is actual lost weight, if that makes sense. As long as it goes down a little bit each week I am happy! (Aiming for half a kilo/one pound per week).

Jeannie – I am probably too late but…have a fabulous break!

Hi girls

Just a quick post as I’m going away for a few days today 🙂 and thanks Natty I will try 🙂 Didn’t think we would get away as mum threw a wobbley in the home yesterday and was all confused and distressed 🙁 I phoned and managed to settle her down and hopefully they wont need to contact me again….. god knows what they will do Mon thro Wed nights as I’m on an island and there’s no way out at night!

Welcome to our wee group Nads and better luck this time around lol. I also plan to fast Mondays and Wednesdays although I fasted Sunday (yesterday) because I know I’m away until Thurday. I plan my second fast day for Friday and then I will begin again in a more normal pattern for me on Monday when I will weigh in 🙂 I must confess I’ve been tripping on and off the scales all week too 🙂 I also see some loss after fast days but I know not to be fooled lol! From Mon 18th to Monday 25th this week I have lost (according to my post fasting weight) 3.02Ibs. I find keeping an eye on things day to day keeps me motivated and I don’t get too worried if I see a small increase in my weight as it increases my motivation to do better.

Tebby I went a little over my 500 too but I think it was the added stress of what was happening yesterday…I could have quite cheerfully chucked the fast day out of the window and went for the biggest bar of chocolate I could find! Oh the willpower I don’t know where it came from! Still onwards and downwards people 🙂 Will check in again on Friday! a wee bottle of vino awaits me ..not much of a drinker but seriously thinking getting plastered myight not be such a bad idea 🙂 Good luck all!

Hello Nads and welcome to our international group! I was thinking you were from the Scotland Dunedin, but if you are going to Stewart Island, it must be the NZ Dunedin. If that’s the case, hello from across the ditch! (And happy birthday for Monday!)

I tried your mushroom casserole today Jeannie and it was DELISH!!! I tweaked it a bit so it had less sour cream, and I had it with the cauliflower rice. I’ve also had a big bowl of miso soup with veggies, an apple, my morning coffee, some kiwifruit slices and a low cal hot chocolate and I am STILL under 500cals. I had to double-check to make sure I hadn’t made a mistake.

I think I’m going to be alright with the fast days. As long as I plan them the day before, they seem quite easy. I probably need to keep a bit more of an eye on my NFD eating though….

Hello Ladies, Welcome Nads77! My weigh in day went well down 1.5 lbs to 137.5. Today is my 2nd fast day so far so good. I went for a long walk this morning and am trying to eat well. Last Thursday I made a chicken dinner with roasted carrots and rice for my family and just omitted the rice for me. I will try something similar today. The evening meal is very important for us so I am going to try to cook meals that we can all eat but will be easy for me to follow the 5:2.