The FastDay Forum

I'm pretty sure most people on this forum would agree that the 5:2 or IF way of life holds the key to successful and sustained weight loss and management, plus the added health benefits of course, but how many other previous diets have you tried? What made you give up and why didn't they work?

(just being nosy!)

I've tried cal counting, atkins and I'm an ex weight watcher. I did really well on ww and got half way to goal. After having a break from it I found it imposable to get back on track, which then started to effect my mood. Hate that guilty feeling. I have heard of people finding it really hard to get back on this wagon after falling off, it makes me more determined to hold on tight.
Dee

[Betsysgr8]

Nothing really formal, low-fat back in the 90's but not much came off with that, some calorie counting for a week or two and that didn't really do much. I lost 85+ lbs about 10 years ago, but that was nothing formal, alot of exercise and not eating very often and hyper-thyroid. I did lose 10 lbs just before starting 5:2 and not really sure how that came off, I think it was shear panic because I was almost 200 lbs and scared I'd be right back where I was 10 years previous.

Love this WoE, so healthy and easy to follow. Really, this is a lot like the way thin people eat without knowing they are doing it (cutting out a meal or two once in a while).

Just looked at your progress tracker @justdee and you're doing really well so this WOE definitely seems to suit you!

Good question Callyanna! I guess I've pretty much been on a diet since my early 20s. I did Weight Watchers years ago and did manage to lose weight relatively easily. For some reason I gave up (I think I got fed up with counting points). I did go back to it a couple of times in between trying other diets which included: cabbage soup, Atkins, Dukan, Slimming World (-and the last one which was Paul McKenna's "I Can Make You Thin". The weight fell off quickly with the Dukan diet and indeed the cabbage soup...but they're just not sustainable and so I piled the weight back on. I was doing well with Slimming World but then got ME and put on 2 stone. Actually I do think Slimming World is pretty good because it teaches you to make healthy choices but without the need to count points (just Syns)

I think I hit the jackpot when I stumbled across the 5:2. This is so etching ai really think I can stick with forever...and therefore keep losing weight

NO MORE WEIGHT SWINGS...pleeeeeease bugeyes:

Hi Cally..this will be loooong..
my mostly miserable ventures into the dieting world began after i gave up smoking
Til then, smoking and no appetite kept me slim..also sadly a brief episode of anorexia in my teens

Anyway,Ive joined and rejoined Weight Watchers and Slimmers World time and time again
One of the times i joined Slimming World,i went in and registered,won the raffle and never went back
I have been on the Cambridge diet where i had nothing but shakes for three months.. I did another shake diet too whose name now escapes me and ive done the Slim Fast diet also,more than once
Ive been on the seafood diet ( see food and eat it) and been on two diets at the same time coz didnt get enough to eat on just one diet
I' ve been a member of an informal so called Slimming Club for most of this year,where we meet up,get weighed,then invariably at least two people have brought goodies and booze,not to mention birthday cakes,easter goodies etc...so we eat,drink and laugh all evening...there's a Club Christmas party next week and a " knees up" which includes a crimbo lunch the week after. Funnily enough tho,several of us have lost weight over the year but not thru our Slimming Club! (Mainly Weight Watchers ...none of them are interested in 5:2)

I have tried reading Paul McKennas books and listening to his cds..and just before i started 5:2, i bought all the Slimming World bumph from ebay to make yet another attempt at shedding weight...then fortunately, i bought the 5:2 book and cookbook on ebay too..

Hopefully i' ll never again give my money to the giant diet industry whose only interest really is in me losing but regaining,so that i am always a potential customer!
And i will be reselling the Sw stuff on ebay after xmas.

OMG! Nearly forgot,have done the Limmits diet biscuits diet ! Several times! Oh and Energen rolls..anyone remember them!...and have done a few times to raise money for charity my own calorie counting diet!
Have lost stones and stones and put it all back on,a bit heavier each time .. but on a brighter note,this time thats not gonna happen x
Pps and the Rosemary Conley high fibre diet also!

Great topic Carol!

I have dieted since I was a teenager. I was a ballet dancer and we lived on boiled eggs and raw carrots to stop us from growing. It flourished into a full time occupation:

Grapefruit and black coffee (showing my age)
Classic calorie counting (1000 cals a day)
F Plan (High Fibre)
Slimfast
The Hay Diet (the one where you don't mix carbs and proteins)
Low Fat
Gluten free/dairy free
The Kensington Diet (posh version of low carb)
Atkins (high protein, low carb)
Montignac Method
Weight Watchers
Cabbage Soup Diet
South Beach
The Zone Diet
Paul McKenna
Hypnosis
Dukan
Raw Food Diet
Homeopathic HCG
Paleo (pretty much now with 5:2)

I'm sure I will think of more later on. Bit embarrassing really

And how could I forget The Lemonade Cleanse (maple syrup, lemon and cayenne). Also on my bookshelf I have found (which means I have tried):

The Holford Diet, Patrick Holford (this is good actually)
The Fat Flush Plan. Ann Louise Gittleman
Perfect Weight. Deepak Chopra
The Business Plan for the Body. Jim Karas
Clean and Lean. James Duigan. This one is the cookbook and its very good for 5:2

Dont be embarrassed Karen,we were just trying to do our best and they say God loves a trier!
Oh i had forgotten all about the grapefruit and black coffee diet..surely the most miserable diet of all time!

Great posts, many thanks, quite an insight into the dieting 'industry' eh?
@nursebean and @CandiceMarie, I've got a few friends who seem to be permanently on the Slimming World diet but once they've lost a certain amount they find it really hard to maintain or stick to a lower calorie intake. I've suggested 5:2 to them only to met with shocked horror at the thought of fasting. Given up now and let them get on with it!

@rawkaren, a few there I don't recognise Karen!
Just think what we have put our bodies through all these years whilst the diet food manufacturers have laughed all the way to the bank!

Hi, Yes I've been on nearly all the diets mentioned above, except for Slimming World and yes, CandiceMarie, I really do remember Engergen rolls (weren't they "delicious" ) and Limmits too - when they told me 4 custard creams were a meal, I would eat 2 and think I was being clever - that was back in my anorexic days!!!

Thankfully, after 5:2, never again!!!!!!

My gran who had type 1 diabetes used to eat those Energen rolls. Can picture the big box they came in now, they tasted like cotton wool as far as I can remember.

Yep in fact it was prob cheaper and just as effective to buy a bag of cotton wool balls! ;0)

Great posts, many thanks, quite an insight into the dieting 'industry' eh?
@nursebean and @CandiceMarie, I've got a few friends who seem to be permanently on the Slimming World diet but once they've lost a certain amount they find it really hard to maintain or stick to a lower calorie intake. I've suggested 5:2 to them only to met with shocked horror at the thought of fasting. Given up now and let them get on with it!

I have now given up too on mentioning 5:2 coz of the negative responses from blank looks to sarcastically raised eyebrows and lots of head shaking and smirking...
Whats funny tho is that those who do decide to comment love to point out " but its not really a fast is it?"
I happen to think that resting your digestive system for 36 hours on 500 cals or less is not to be sniffed at!
AND i sabotage myself enough without others adding to it with unhelpful remarks.".
* climbs down and walks off carrying soapbox*

Great posts, many thanks, quite an insight into the dieting 'industry' eh?
@nursebean and @CandiceMarie, I've got a few friends who seem to be permanently on the Slimming World diet but once they've lost a certain amount they find it really hard to maintain or stick to a lower calorie intake. I've suggested 5:2 to them only to met with shocked horror at the thought of fasting. Given up now and let them get on with it!

I have now given up too on mentioning 5:2 coz of the negative responses from blank looks to sarcastically raised eyebrows and lots of head shaking and smirking...
Whats funny tho is that those who do decide to comment love to point out " but its not really a fast it? "
I happen to think that resting your digestive system for 36 hours on 500 cals or less is not to be sniffed at!
AND i sabotage myself enough without others adding to it with unhelpful remarks.".
* climbs down and walks off carrying soapbox*

And you are living proof !