5.2

Good morning. I had been procrastinating about sorting my weight out for almost a year and after realising just how much weight I had to lose I was/am very motivated to end the downward spiral.

So these last two weeks I have been doing intermittent fasting almost daily (sometimes 16:8 or 18:6) eating very healthy and fillingmeals twice a day and being careful not to eat sugar (or even fruit). The weight seems to shift at an encouraging rate. Normally on a low fat restricted diet I lose a couple of hundred grams a week and I never feel satisfied. This way I have two healthy but filling meals one around 6pm which helps me sleep well.
How are you all doing.

Hi, I only managed to fast one day last week, so this week I'very decided to do three days.I've been okay, just very hungry for breakfast, so I'm in awe that you've been able to have such long fasts, but it's obviously suiting you, were all different.I'll be getting weighed tomorrow for the first time, wish me luck !

I have completed my first week, fasting on 3 days and eating within an 8 hour window every day. I can honestly say I was never hungry and hardly thought about food. I have managed to lose 4 lb. I know I can't expect to lose the same amount every week, but it is encouraging.
Good luck for tomorrow Katyj. I shall only be weighing myself the morning after a fast day so I am always at the lowest.

Well done shysal that's amazing.Wish could say I haven't been hungry, I'm starving right now waiting for tea time ! What have you been eating on fast days ? Maybe I'm not eating the right things.Today I've had a banana at 10 am , lunch was slimmer soup with three rice cakes, tea will be an egg on toast and an orange plus half a pint of semi skimmed milk in coffee.

I like to eat filling foods if possible on fast days. Twice in the last week I have eaten a ham and crisp sandwich for brunch (291 cals), with a mid-afternoon snack of Asda wild mushroom soup (81cals), and for dinner a home made cottage pie made with turkey mince and lots of veg (414 cals) If I crave something sweet I eat a couple of M & S sugar free rhubarb and custard drops at 8 cals each. The pack warns that excessive consumption may cause laxative effects!

Well done shysal! You’ve done amazingly well in your first week.
Katyj don’t you find some fast days are harder than others? I’m fasting today and had:
11am bowl of porridge
2pm an apple
And just now sardines on 2 pieces of toast .... reckless me didn’t even count the calories in all the white pepper I put on!
So that’s me done for eating now till breakfast.
As you say Katyj life gets in the way sometimes. I thought I’d fast Tuesday & Friday this week but events changed so I’ve done today and will do Monday (can’t do Sunday it’s DGD 2nd birthday ... and there will be cake and Prosecco!)
I gained 2lbs after my great start.
I shall weigh myself tomorrow morning, like you Katyj and report back.
MOnica inspired me by reassuring me a bit of yo-yoing is normal. It made me determined to keep it up!
Good luck everyone.
We can do this!

I am enjoying sardines on toast some days too, at around 200 cals a can they are healthy and filling.

Shysal, your diet sounds a lot more appetizing than mine ! I'll have to have a rethink. Urmstongran, the sardines sound tasty, must try them ( mind you everything sounds lovely at the moment ) Glad to hear about the yo yo ing that sounds reassuring.We will see what happens on the scales tomorrow.

I have done the 5:2 and managed it but I don’t really need to lose weight so started eating 800 cals on fasting day ages ago. I find it just gives me a bit of wriggle room. It makes meal planning so much easier but is also a reminder that I have to be aware of what I put in my mouth.
I try to eat healthily but eat carbs and fat, the only ‘food’ that I try not to eat are unnecessary sugars. They are very necessary in wine and chocolate!

Oh PamelaJ1 how focused are you? I’m only doing this cos I need to lose weight. But absolutely you have the right mindset! I’m determined not to let myself get this fat ever again. Once I’ve done the 5:2 I will do a 6:1 as that’s supposed to help maintain your weight. Oh the joy of only doing this one day a week and not feeling poured into my clothes! A woman can only dream ...

Actually Sunlover I’m sure I read somewhere that the fast days shouldn’t be back to back. It’s honestly not a case of getting it over with. You need your food after your ‘fast’ day. Plus you exercised too. I don’t think it’s wise. Maybe you could ask Dr Mosley on the Q&A forum that GNHQ has set up? They are putting our queries to him on Monday next.

Hi everyone, Since 1.1.19 I have lost 6 lb.

In the past I used to lose about half a pound per week at best. I am eating mainly salads and vegetables with meat, fish or eggs. This lunchtime at 12pm I had four rashers of bacon, an avocado, and a big plate of green salad with an olive oil vinaigrette and tonight after coming home from work (7pm) I had 3 scrambled eggs (cooked in a tablespoon of butter) with another big plate of salad - oh and at work at 4pm I treated myself to two apples.

Drinking lots of mint tea and coffee when I feel like I want to eat.
Luckily I don’t feel hungry just empty. ?.

What a good phrase Lumarei. ... ‘not hungry just empty’. Describes it exactly! I shall remember that.
It helps knowing we are all doing this together.

Urmstongran.
My first job after college was on a health farm. I treated an enormous woman who had to have padding at the top of her thighs to stop her stomach chafing against it.
Lovely lady, she told me that she’d not noticed the weight going on- just a few pounds every year! That has stayed with me.
The thing with diets is that although it may have taken years to acquire the pounds everyone wants them gone quickly. Even one biscuit a day over ones body needs can add up over time.

A sobering thought PamelaJ1. A nurse at the hospital I worked at once said to me ‘you don’t just wake up fat one morning. It creeps on slowly and that is why it’s better if it comes off slowly too - it shows you are not on a crash diet but a sensible change of lifestyle ‘.

Woohoo! Just weighed myself while the kettle is on. I’ve lost 2lbs after my fast day! I love seeing a different (lower!) number on the scales don’t you? How did you get on with your Friday weigh in Katyj?

I do realise that I shall now be eating normally until my next fast day on Monday (heaven) and so I expect to gain a little but if each time I fast I lose 2lbs, that’s 4lbs a week so maybe 1lb of it is a realistic figure to ‘drop down’ every week IYKWIM?

Good morning ladies.First weigh in and I lost 1 lb ! A bit disappointed, that's with a three day fast , and sensible eating the other days.I shouldn't be surprised really.it always seems to take a while for my body to realise what's going on. I'm going to carry on doing the same,next week three fasts, and more excersize .Good luck to you all, it's not easy losing weight as you become older.

Katyj, you speak of 'getting weighed'. Do you belong to a slimming group of some sort? I can't resist weighing myself after every fast day.
Don't be discouraged, you will have good and bad weeks but the end result will be a good loss.

Shysal.No I'm just getting weighed at home, every Friday.I don't want to be on and off the scales all week.Carrying on regardless see what happens.I am enjoying the diet, and not finding it too difficult, it's teaching me to eat more slowly and enjoy every mouthfu, I wasn't tasting anything before, and eating far too quickly.

I have always eaten too fast, goes back to school dinners when if you were quick there would be seconds! I would add that I was too thin in those days!

Urmstongran. Well done on your weight loss, you'll see i haven't done too well.Have you lost 2lb this week ?

Will join you ladies if I may. My days are going to be Tues and Friday. The cold weather makes me want to eat and just sit and knit. Am a type 2 diabetic and my weight is definitely linked to my hbaic. Goes down by 1 for every lb and a half I lose. So to put on 4 lbs over Christmas not good. Have bought new trainers so must go out for a walk ! Many thanks for this thread.

Welcome Loopy, I love this thread.I'm with you on the cold weather, I can't get motivated at all, plus I have a Headcold, that's making me feel lethargic.You certainly have every incentive to loose weight with your diabetes, although I suppose it doesn't make it any easier. Not too cold today here in Yorkshire, we have to babysit later ,so I'm going to walk there and back about 20 mins each way.Need to excersise more, and it should help the weight loss.Good luck to you, keep talking, good or bad Weight losses, were all here to support each other.

Welcome loopyloo the morethe merrier on here!
Yes Katyj 2lbs loss after my fast day yesterday. I do realise now I’m eating for 3 days I’ll probably gain a bit but will fast Monday.
I think I will expect to be a bit up and a bit down every week.
Perhaps a Grand Weigh In on the 1st of every month might be motivational. What do you all think? Hopefully see a steady downward trend.

Oh that's fab urmstongran.I'm eating now for three days too, fasting mon, Tues and Thurs next week.The Weigh in sounds a great idea something to work towards.

I started doing the original 5:2 diet 6 years ago and am still continuing, I lost 3 and a half stones which I have kept off. I still fast 2 days weekly, 500 cals daily although I sometimes go a little over. I never feel unable to fast, it’s just a way of life for me now, I don’t even think about it. I do think it’s become quite confusing with the apparently different versions of Moseley’s diet - I thought the 800 cals was indeed a daily diet, lasting 8 weeks, specifically to allow the body to improve its ability to utilise and metabolise carbs (=glucose), especially high GI ones, and aimed at those with diabetes or pre-diabetes (metabolic syndrome). But I believe he’s given varying advice recently so maybe it’s changed...

Just wanted to add, variation in the amount and frequency of weight loss is par for the course - I belong to a Facebook 5:2 group and many contributors have the same thing. Sometimes you can go for 2 or 3 weeks and lose nothing on the scales but will often find your shape has changed or you’ve lost inches. This way of eating is undoubtedly the most sustainable I’ve ever tried, I’m expecting to continue for the rest of my life, just for the health benefits even if not for weight loss.Once you get the first few fasting days over it definitely becomes easier, especially if you plan in advance.