Morning y’all!
I spent the day yesterday cleaning and putting all Christmas related items back in storage! Whew! I’ve also completed my new streak of 7 days logging. Feels incredibly different to start over..... Like restarting your mojo!
Awesome loss Meghan! I’m not surprised though your dedication is exemplary! Kudos gal!!
@cdurston50523 what do you think made you fail before??? I lost quite a bit (don’t weigh myself, but went from 37” waist to 29”) then I got complacent, maintenance is what ruined it for me. So here I am starting over at what I think is a 32” waist... but I’m not measuring yet, I’ll wait until the first of feb. For me, what helps to stick with it was telling myself “I can have that tomorrow” and also I already drink lots of water, but drinking extra water before I eat anything... just keep a glass on my kitchen window sill all day.... and to keep thinking that if I do not do this way of eating I will not see results! All this is so much easier when you see a muffin top over your jeans!
Well let’s see if I can practice what I preach!! ;-)
Off for a walk by myself! I’ll take the dog later.... it’s raining and will be raining all week!!! I’ll check back later, have a great day people!

I think I keep failing because I come home and then eat after being good all day for example I done so good today came home and my mam had baked me a pie

@cdurston50523 - Does your mom know that you are trying to change the way you eat? If not, you may want to sit down with her and explain what you are doing and why it is important to you. It would be great to have her on your team if possible.

^always hard to resist pie!

I caved too... watching tv I had some chips that the hubs was having... I don’t normally eat chips but I just had salad for dinner. I actually had a large chicken breast for lunch topped with fresh salsa which was very different for me ... thought I’d try filling up on protein! Well it did work, I was still full by dinner hour so my plan of just having a bowl of cesar salad worked! Should’ve just gone to bed at 9:30 and avoided the tempting chips!! Oh well all in all it was a lighter day and no alcohol!
Good night!

@mamainthekitchen - While the chips were not part of the plan, it looks like you found a good strategy for yourself on you light days! Good news for your future light days.

@cdurston50523 - Wishing you well today. You are stronger than you know. You got this!

Oh Ryenday! good for you and thanks for the update! I too have difficulty when pre-planning and mostly because I also have grown children still at home which make most days a challenge for their meals as their schedules between work & school are so varied. This leaves me kind of feeling pulled at all ends some days which is why I can choose a bottle of wine for dinner & forget the food! I'm also thinking your headaches may be from this and not your humidifier. I sometimes get headeaches on a fd. I suppose I would say to drink your water, but you're probs already on that. Can't believe you're on day 3 already! Keep us posted

Meghan, your willpower is inspiring. Most days are really not my own... that's just my life though, having grown kids (21 & 24) at home can be so wonderful some days and yet other days I want to strangle my daughter the older one! She works 12 hr shifts (nurse) and can be quite irratible with me at times....she also does not eat a lot of meat, no pork, is lactose intolerant, doesn't like tomatoes or beans or whole eggs! The son & husband likes all those items, so dinner around here is not necessarily a one meal deal... I've become a short order cook!! Chicken (which my husband does not like btw) is cooked every day - even if I just cook it, chop it and store it C'est la vie.... everyday is a new opportunity!

It's a glorious sunny day today... but I have chores for others today so unable to walk, I'll do a short walk with my dog now though. So far I'm also doing a fast day today, but I'll have to account for my banana bread I've already had! whoops.

I was thinking of using my 500 calories for lunch about 5 and drink tea and water up until then I find if i ear early I'm hungrier x

@cdurston50523 I think @meghan509's post was spot on. I would add to lean towards nutritious food especially protein and veggies. They will keep you fuller without messing with your blood sugar and leave you feeling great the next day. I encourage you to experiment to find out what works best for you. As time goes on, the fast day get easier because the body adjusts and you know the best way for yourself to approach it. I try to do whatever makes me comfortable and does not break with the plan. Generally takes me two weeks to a month for the fast days to become second nature. If you have a bad fast day, learn from it and know that you can try again the next fast day. I would also recommend having some things you really enjoy lined up for the fast day, i.e. a good book, a special tea you like, a hot bath, a walk with you man, a good movie etc. Find non-caloric ways to treat yourself so that you have something to look forward to, something that will take your mind off of the fasting part of the day. Hope your day went well today!

@RBXChas - Wishing you well with IF! Will miss you around here but hope the keto will be a good change for you.

One thing we don't really talk about here regarding the fasting day is the other benefit which is it shrinks your stomach a bit. I find the regular days are easier because I don't require as much food. Easier to stick with my regular day calorie levels. Anyone else had a similar experience?

@cdurston50523 Good Advice there - mostly I think the best Thing to remember is it gets easier every time.

@Meghan509 Aren’t the resolutioners so funny! I love to watch them but I do hope that some of them become regulars. We all were newbies once and some of us stayed. So I’m always hopeful but realistic. And it is funny to see some of them do everything except work out!

@RBXChas hey I will miss you quite a bit but definitely stay on the path that seems to be the best for you. However please don’t hesitate to come on over here if you want a nice encouraging word. Actively 5:2 or not, you are one of us!

@jknight001 Well I consider myself to be pretty successful with the 5:2 way of eating, that is one side effect that doesn’t really seem to have occurred for me. I do find it easier to get through my fast days but I am still as hungry as ever on my non-fast days. My stomach seems to stubbornly have remained it’s same size. I’m hoping that adaptation will occur, though.

———

So today’s the last day on the Fast Mimic Diet. An emergency took my mind off of things this morning so I didn’t weigh myself. But the weight was down about 2 pounds since I started this. I suppose that’s water weight but it is happy thing to see at any time. I’ll let you know tomorrow what the overall weight loss was.

Unlike most accounts I have found, my last day on this fast is the hardest one. I’m pretty hungry and unlike the other days I’m not finding it easy to just switch my mental focus. The only other side effect I have really had to deal with is a headache. It was only in the morning on day 3 and four but it has been omnipresent today.

Of course tomorrow is not exactly a normal eating day. The recommendation is to follow a very strict Mediterranean diet. That means much less protein than I usually partake also minimal animal products ( so pretty much vegan with fish and I don’t do fish). But I will get to eat a lot more food so I am happy that the FMD has come to an end.

So the question is will I do this again. I think so. It wasn’t particularly easy, but it really wasn’t all that difficult. The science is still out on all the potential positive effects - but I certainly don’t see how it does me any harm and it’s probably a little kick in the weight-loss shelf anyway. The real advantages – lower insulin levels cholesterol lowering etc. would not be seen until I had a blood work up anyway so I think I will continue to do it – probably every other or every third month – until I come up with a good reason not to. :-)

I am definitely looking forward to next week! It will be my first week at a maintenance level diet since I have lost the weight. So that will be continue my 5:2 but up my calories to about 1750 for a month and see what happens. That sounds likes so many calories!

I hope everybody had a good light day and I will let you know what the scale says tomorrow after the ‘fast’ is done. And if you have any questions let me know I’d be happy to fill you in on the experience.

@Meghan509

My electrolytes might have been out of whack but I had plenty of salt and drank lots of water. I adore himalayan sea salt and have a big container of it in my kitchen.

I’m done! Most interesting thing (that I read about but didn’t believe) I’m really really not very hungry today. I heated up some light day soup at lunch (had oatmeal and some chia crackers at breakfast) and ended up eating only about 1/3 my typical serving.

So Sunday when I started my scale read 151.9. This morning it read 148. Probably mostly water, but I’ll take it. The Fast wasn’t mostly about the weight loss, but it is nice to see.

So back to the regularly scheduled 5:2 and weight training today. I’ll FMD again in end of Feb beginning of March I think. Now to see if this weight rebounds when I start eating normally again!

Happy weekend all!!!

Ok, Normal hunger and appetite returned by the end of the day yesterday, so any appetite suppressant effect of the FMV was minimal for me. Same thing for 5:2 so I should not be surprised. Even at maintenance and doing 5:2 I’m going to have to keep tight rein on my appetite in order to not gain weight.

It is not actually that I eat (or want to eat) tons and tons - I just want human size portions and fries with that, lol. For instance our favourite gyro place. If I ordered a gyro and fries there, I want to be able to eat it for lunch or dinner AND have enough calories for another meal that day. Unfortunately the gyro is 900 to 1200 calories (depending on whether I eat the pita or not). so with fries that is pretty much a whole day’s food. And that is NOT enough food for me for a whole days worth.

Very chilly today in Texas, but no wind. Since I don’t have to work ( first Saturday off for three weeks) I was thinking of walking (2 miles) to the goodwill store to get some exercise in. I have only a few clothes that fit well, and deserve a treat! But I don’t want to spend too much, because I think I’ll slowly end up one more size down in the long run.

Did I tell y’all what my goal weight ‘treat’ for myself is? I am going to go to the Master Taylor shop down the street and ask him to make me a pair of pants. Properly sized for my figure. . I don’t think I have ever owned a properly fitting pair of pants. See I’m VERY curvy but have quite short legs. My waist is usually about 13 inches smaller than my hips, and I have some big, prominent hip bones. If they make off the rack clothing for my size and shape, I have never stumbled across it. Stretch pants (dressy and casual) fill my closet. So I thought it would be fun to own a pair of properly fitting trousers!

Ok, time to start the day! Happy weekend all!

Hi! I'm new to the "community" and thought this was the best place to pop in as i've started the 5:2 last week. I lost 1.5 stone 19mths ago and put 2 stone back on