Intermittent fasting (as promoted so confidently by Gransnet)

I find the daily recommended calorie allowances are far too high even though I am physically fit and lead an active life.

They are merely a guide and then each individual has to eat more or less until they find the right balance. For many older people the right balance is a lot less than they like to think and if we wish to stay healthy and fit many of us have to accept that we will need to adapt a policy of healthy self discipline and self restraint. In the past these restraints were thrust upon us by the financial constraints of lower wages, higher food prices and restrictions in supply.

As I might have said before on here, the idea that exercising as a way of losing weight will sort out a lot of obesity is just not right.

We really do have to stop consuming more calories than the daily recommended amounts. The 5:2 allows us to still enjoy our favourite foods in reasonable proportions.

I also find diet days quite manageable hunger wise.

Just having been on a holiday I need to get back on track.

golden girl you didn't quite understand my point. Initially I did just cut my portions, I cut them drastically, but with no effect. That was why I started looking at changing my eating patterns.

Why eating the same amount or possibly a bit more but changing the pattern of eating should be effective when it didn't work when the same intake was spread evenly over every day I do not know. All I know is that it works and that, surprisingly, I have no feeling of hunger or deprivation on the 'fast' days.

I was also fortunate enough to have an almost problem free menopause, but the menopause, just like puberty, can affect your body's metabolism.

Sorry for a slow reply. I have been on holiday for the past fortnight.

Maggiemaybe, Just seen your message, hope all is going well with your 5:2? I am trying to keep at it and at last some weight coming so slowly off! However I feel much better for cutting down, but if I am out I just eat and drink as everyone else and it's so much easier only having two days every week when you need to be strict !
Good luck,

MaggieP, I know you're not me, but our stories are as similar as our names at the moment! I've just got back today from a 4 week holiday in Australia and New Zealand and have heaved on 10 pounds . Two of the weeks we were cruising and the food was of course just too good to resist, and I haven't had a single day without alcohol for a month.

I'm not as strong willed as you - there'll be no dry month with no cheese, thank you very much - but as of Monday I'm back on the 5-2, and as of Wednesday I'm giving up sweet stuff for a late Lent. I'm having the late Pancake Day this Tuesday.

I'm glad it works for you FlicketyB. I just couldn't face dieting in any shape or form - but smaller portions are fine by me. Funnily enough a group of us were talking in the gym about the menopause and I think I got away with it very lightly. So at least something health associated has been in my favour but then hospitals weren't involved!

I am among the group who are always on the look out for new recipes, I do not particularly enjoy cooking, still less baking but I enjoy eating and savouring food. For me there is nothing new about that. My mother was an adventurous cook and a peripatetic army life gave her plenty of opportunities to incorporate dishes from a range of different cultures into our family meals. So from the time I moved into my first bed-sit, I was trying new foods, new ways of cooking.

Is this an obsession with food? It is no more an obsession than taking an interest in the clothes you wear, the décor of your home, or enjoying gardening.

goldengirl until the menopause I thought just like you. If I put a few pounds on, I cut back on portion size, took a bit more exercise and within a week or two I was back to normal. I couldn't see the problem. Then with the menopause my weight began to rise and my usual adjustment method ceased to work. The usual excuse of being less active didn't apply as about the same time DH and I bought a large neglected house with a large neglected garden and much of the labour intensive work, inside and out, was done by me.

In the intervening 15 years I tried a number of different eating patterns. Low carb diets made me ill. None of the others worked. I tried the 5:2 in a very half hearted way because I didn't expect it to work, but it did and I lost 2 stone in 4 months.

One of the joys of the 5:2 is that you do not have to be obsessive about food. You just eat normally, assuming your normal diet is a good diet, 5 days a week and on 2 you cut back drastically. It didn't take me long to build up a repertoire of about 20 recipes, which if the recipe is followed meticulously, provide a meal with a known calorie value on the fast days. I do not even think about it now, it is just part of my usual weekly menu planning.

I tend to agree with Anya in that we are becoming more and more obsessed by food. There always seems to be a 'What are we having for dinner' or similarly-titled thread on the go.

Whilst I appreciate that some GNs are always on the lookout for new recipe ideas and enjoy baking and cooking, I'm with the member who said she'd be quite happy just popping a pill!

The problem can be that we are too busy.

I know that when I was at work breakfast was very early then when I did stop to eat 4 or so hours later, at break. I was so hungry I ate highly calorific snacks, then lunch was on the go. I was then famished by 5 so I had tea and a cake, then dinner at about 7.30. All this was completely wrong.

I feel that I am now in control of eating sensibly through the 5:2. x

goldengirl, you're right; ideally we shouldn't ever need to go on diets, but over time, if you take in more calories than you expend, you will, inevitably, put on weight. There are many ways of taking it off again, including going in for lots of exercise and all the kinds of calorie-reducing diets you can think of. It just happens that for many of us, apparently, who have got to a weight at which we feel uncomfortable, the 5:2 seems to work fairly painlessly. It needs thinking about for only one day at a time, and it does seem to make people feel like eating less on "normal" days. Nobody says that it, or any other eating programme, is for everyone, but if it works for a person, why shouldn't she go for it?

We are told that we are in the middle of an obesity epidemic and surely anything that will help to stem that must be a Good Thing. I for one am delighted to have gone from an overweight BMI (yes, I know that someone will say that BMI is unreliable) of 27 to a normal one of 24.

We've becoming more and more obsessed with food. As a child meals were something that simply interrupted play and were to be got over with as quickly as possible.

It still remains true that if we are busy and occupied we forget about eating until our stomachs tell us we're genuinly hungry.

There's nothing wrong with feeling hungry - when we really need to eat. If someone is feeling hungry inbetween meals then perhaps the answer is to do something that occupies their mind.

Why do we have to go on a 'diet'? Why don't we just eat 'sensibly' and 'less'?

I agree with what another poster said - it makes people think very hard about what they are to eat on that day. You have to get maximum benefit nutritionally and lots of protein to get you through the day without feeling hungry.

Once you have mastered that, it becomes easier to diet when you feel you need it, and you soon lose the taste for things like crisps on a daily basis. I never thought I would see the day when I spurned a mars bar, but I haven't had anything like that for years and don't miss them. If you can eat them, and stay fit and healthy and be happy with your weight, then wonderful, you are very lucky, but sadly I cannot.

Males seem to prefer this form of dieting, too. I know quite a few OHs who are on the 600 5.2 diet. I even know of a couple who, once told that their lab needed to go on a diet, used a similar method on her - she does look very good on it.

But that applies to any diet. At least the 5;2 diet isn't conducive to anorexia or malnutrition.

Well no, they are all dead. Obviously. Or too weak to tap out beseeching posts on their keyboards.

Like I said before - we are not going to hear from the ones for whom it really didn't work. [nods head sagely]

I've lost over 2 stone on the 5.2 diet. I find it's very flexible and easy to follow. I know quite a few people who have also had good results with this diet. And none of use have suffered side effects.

jbf Sorry, Senior moment
ana Yes, I have, I am on maintenance at the moment. See my post further up the thread.

just testing why that smiley above didn't work....

Me too, Nelliemoser. I've put on a few pounds recently, but am sure I can easily lose it again when I resume the 5.2. I lost one and a half stones over the course of last summer, and didn't really need to lose much more.
This cold weather sure does sharpen the appetite, I agree! {smile}

Henetha I have found the need to eat more in this very cold weather but I do want to get back to my pre Christmas weight and I will start again.

Before Christmas I had reached what I considered to be a sensible weight for me and did not want to lose any more.

Are you following the 5:2 diet, FlicketyB?

FB I've already put a link up to that article. As you yourself did before.

But we can read it three times if you like. [shrug]

jbf Here is the reference.

www.nhs.uk/news/2013/01January/Pages/Does-the-5-2-intermittent-fasting-diet-work.aspx

work that sentence out for yourself. if you want to.