The FastDay Forum

Just coming up to first year anniversary...

The Benefits..I lost two stone,regained one...ok still a long way to go.but if not for IF may well have been three stone up instead of one stone down
Learnt a lot about nourishment whereas before i mainly only knew about calories
- also learnt a fair bit about physiology and why it isnt all down to lack of willpower when i dont lose

The " Downside" - a year on,my memory is definitely worse than it was last year, ...so,am not totally convinced as yet as to how IF helps prevent Alzheimers..but twelve months in,its still early days i guess!
Also, as have always had to watch the calories on non fast days,ive never quite got that great "free of diets" feeling that others talk about.

OVERALL CONCLUSION ..tho right now i feel a bit bored of all things 5: 2 and related..i DO find fasting quite doable,will keep on keeping on despite setbacks..after all,where else to go from here? Will never go back to paying the multi million pound diet industry by joining their clubs,buying their literature and their food products..and i don't want to settle for staying fat and wearing bigger and bigger clothes!
Best of all,have met so many great people on here,and had lots of laughs
Thanks to all of you for yr friendship and support! X

[carieoates]

Candy....my dear Candy where to start.
It's been a massive year for me as well. Lost 1 stone and have another stone to go.
When I'm not being mindful about food I quickly go back up to 12.9. It's like my go to weight for some reason.
Monday is a big day for me usually fasting and feeling fantastic about it. The best feeling is the morning after that fast. The light, flat stomach is amazing.

Also the knowledge about food, nutrition, the science behind the nutrients I am consuming. The addition of fat back into my life and the chucking out of all things labeled low cal and low fat. Yipeeeee.
I don't get the shakes if I haven't eaten for a few hours. Yipeeee again.

Vegetables and fish are a bigger part of my families diet and improving my Fitness means I'm leaner, not necessarily lighter yet but I like being this toned.

My quality of life is far improved, but most of all I love this place and all those who dwell here. I love the camoradory (can't spell it Pft, you know what I mean) I love the honesty, I love the welcome we give to newbies.

And Candy you are a beautiful, very loving special person.

See ya tomoz in the Monday back to basics tent.

CandiceMarie, Happy Fastiversary whenever exactly it is (I do not understand why the date the diet was started is lumped together with the top secret stuff like weight lost and BMI).

You are one of the VIP s on here for your lovely supportive posts and sense of humour, as well as the hanging in there which I find so inspiring. I hope the next year brings you better results.

By Grabthar's hammer and the sons of Warvan
Never give up, never surrender!

A few second to drool over Alan Rickman. - OK done.

Ohhhhh yes Barb....Rickman well worth a drool! X

Happy Fastiversary Candy. I'm 11 days away from mine and still compiling my thoughts, but I agree with you that if I had not fasted, I probably would have been even bigger than I am now. I lost a stone and gained it all - so pretty much back to the beginning. So in many ways I feel I have wasted a whole year - even though I fasted twice a week. But I'm not going to give up!
This forum would not be the same without you m'dear and even though you are fatigued with fasting, you have lost a stone and you are always ready to cheer others on.

Happy Fastiversary Candy. Yes, I agree about learning so much about nuitrition. I didn't know a calorie from a TDEE before coming here, having never dieted before. I think it's probably more important to be well informed than how much weight you have lost because at least you are eating more healthily. Yes, agree with what Carieoates said.

Rawkaren, I bet you will be back on it now you are sorted with a trainer. I would find it difficult if I lived with all that variety of food.

Oh, and as for me........ I am 17 months into this now. 9.5 months to lose 21lb slooowwwly to get to goal weight and been maintaining for the rest of the time. I still enjoy it. Have learned such a lot, made new friends here, got a Fitbit, started planking and as a family we all eat better. More veggies and salad. They make up the bigger proportion on our plates now. I have hardly any carbs from pasta, rice, bread or potatoes. I have bought vegetarian books and am enjoying new and interesting ways of preparing veggies and salads. I am in size 8 trousers, 10-12 tops, so still a bit top heavy. Hopefully a bit of toning will sort that out. I have bought lots of clothes recently as all my others became too small, didn't spend too much, got them in New Look and Primarni. I have more clothes now than I ever had. I recently posted before and after pics on fb and have been asked by some friends to share with them how I did it. Apologies if I sound smug. I am just lucky that this woe suits me so well and I want to encourage any one who is struggling or any newbies. This can be done but it's a different road for each of us.

Great thread Candy, thank you x

Getting through a whole year of any diet not weighing more than you were a year before puts you WAY ahead of the pack! Congratulations!

I'm headed for 6 months, in another two weeks, and that amazes me. I have been a very knowledgeable dieter for more than 15 years, with many years of low carb dieting and maintenance to my credit, and have done quite a bit of research into weight loss over the years. So the only thing new to me about the 5:2 diet has been how much easier it is to stick to and how helpful it is to older, post menopausal ladies like me with already diet-like TDEEs.

But as posted elsewhere, I am now past the honeymoon stage and am entering the part of the diet where things get real, and far more interesting. That there are so many people here who have made it through a year and weigh less than they started at says a lot about the sustainability of the diet. You don't see that with most diets. The number of diet books that were written by authors who actually ate the diet they propound in weight loss mode (rather than maintenance) for more than a few months can be counted on a thumb and perhaps a finger or two. The number of diet books written by menopausal ladies who ate the diet for more than a year, can be counted, at best on a single thumb.

So you ladies are far more successful than you think you are, and should be very, very pleased.

Congratulations on your Fastiversary and associated achievements.

Results: I started ADF/4:3 in 2011 and overall have shed approx. 60lbs. I tend to say that I'm in maintenance but, for reasons mentioned in my signature and discussed elsewhere, I've shed an additional >20lbs below my original goal weight of 130lbs.

Conclusions: although we share a destination, it's a different path for each of us and we all learn to design a plan that works with our lives (at this time). We need to be flexible enough to adapt that plan/schedule when circumstances change or there's a new piece of relevant information.

Being a member of a forum can be essential for some of us as there will always be difficult days and it helps to know that others have been through those without drastic consequences.

Maintenance is its own challenge and it's good to plan for that as soon as you start seeing your goal on the horizon. That way, you've made a plan for navigating your way through previously uncharted territory with fewer familiar landmarks.

Happy Fastiversary Candy!

I am over a year in. Roughly 4.5 st (63lbs) down; still fasting twice a week doing basic 5 2. I eat lowish carb nowadays but it suits me and I don't feel remotely deprived. I don't find fasting difficult really, though some days are obviously harder than others, but I do it when I am working (where there are NO temptations in the way of food - unless you feel the urge to gnaw on a teabag) and I also just eat once on fast days; in the evening. I've had ups and downs - I haven't lost as quickly as some, but because I see this as doable and not a diet but just how I eat now, I don't care. I gain weight on holidays (mostly because I find it harder to eat low carb) but when I come back I just start again. I think my insulin resistance has improved - my blood sugars were veering towards pre diabetic before (my brother has type 2 diabetes and is on insulin) and now they are normal. I don't feel great physically if I eat loads of carbs now though. I still have treats, eat out etc. but I am eternally grateful to MM and this way of eating, because for the first time in my adult life I am not overweight and I feel in control of my eating and not the other way round. I don't feel the need to binge anymore, and my appetite is nothing like it was. I have been able to stop taking omeprazole for heartburn, don't have pain in my ankles any more. I am now a clothesaholic - a size 10 (which amazes me). The other thing I have realised is that I am in reality quite a petite person with a smaller frame than I ever had thought (because it was covered with flab). I'm not quite there yet but I feel great; healthy and happy and so much more confident in my own skin. It used to really bother me what people thought of me and now I don't care - because if they don't like me then so be it and I have stopped being apologetic about who I am. It's taken years, I tell you

And I doubt I could have done it without this forum so thank you all! Seeing how other people have had successes with this and also seeing the perseverance when the weight doesn't come off as one would like is really motivating and makes such a difference when you're having a wobble yourself.

A bit of an essay, sorry!

@Candicemarie my heroine in determination {{{+}}}
All the time we have all spent here, learning, laughing, reading, experimenting, has been a joy to share and taken so many of us onto new and better paths. Long may we continue to pep each other along the ways

Forums like this are, in my experience, essential for supporting long-term weight loss and maintenance. There was a wealth of online expertise available when I first started getting serious about nutrition in the late 1990s, but the shift to blogging eroded that, and replaced interaction with the kind of top down "expert tells you what to do" model that has taken over most of the web by now.

You learn a lot more from a forum like this where everyone has an equal say and people are more willing to share their experience.

And posting frequently, I find, keeps me accountable. So I am grateful that this forum exists, and hope they don't make any more "improvements" that drive away any more participants!

Congrats on making it a year, @CandaceMarie. Your sense of humor, frankness and turn of phrase have given me new perspective on many things in my time here, thanks.

As so many have said, the fact so many people are here after long time frames and still staying with what they have found works for them speaks for itself. This is a quite amazing place & the support, science & silliness are much appreciated.

Happy Fastiversary my little Liverpudlian
You've done a great job @Candicemarie well done on the weight lost so far and don't ever look back at what has been omitted.
be proud of yourself for that stone down then build up on that from this moment especially with that enormous "tool " box you've picked up this last year, learning along the way.

I won't bore you with my "story" because you've all heard it before many times.
What have I learned? To eat vegetables.
To get back into my walking, to skip breakfast without dying of hunger, yes I now listen to my body for the first time in my life.
My biggest snippet from this forum I've learned that carbs create water retention> my biggest problem. I'm luckier than you Candy because my memory is far better plus this WOL has never felt like a diet ever plus I enjoy doing it,
But I suspect I've got loads more weight to lose than you appear to have so I'm thankful of all those plusses, made loads of "virtual" friends across the world who've taught me all I now know. I'm loving my new look, weight, confidence and happiness that has now descended upon me.
You'll also receive all the above sometime soon never give up on this WOL it is the ONE to WIN with eventually.
Most of thus year I've struggled and almost forum bored because every Monday I had a new plan every Friday another disappointment on my scales, I had no idea what was going on nothing I did had much of an impact but I never once thought of quitting fasting just kept plodding on, I'd read about set point etc and confusing the body and now I know I've won that battle although my losses are small ones I'm OK with that I know I'm doing it right and always was I just needed to stick with it.

Onto phase 2 for you Candy and we'll all be here to help you win this battle because you can't do this alone you just keep forum motivated whichever way you need to yes even badgering me on a daily basis I can take it. and give back. Lol

Happy anniversary and many congrats to you @CandiceMarie. Oh gosh, I get so touched by peeps journeys - they are all so rich, here I go welling up again - in a good way .

Candice you are a truly compassionate and determined fastday diamond and I thank you for that! It's time for your lovely anniversary present @:present: sent with lots of love and to tickle your mojo, a blooming big pony giddy up for the year ahead. - now who has got that whip? and a big hug of course! What colour is your pony? I think it might be pink!

Like others, I'm astounded how much I have learnt from the forum over the last 8 months - thanks to you all, this is a life journey (not a diet) and it takes different courses. I'm almost approaching goal/maintenance, so I'll share with you all soon.

Drat wrote this heartfelt reply and dang just lost it.

Suffice to say congrats Candy, you are a inspiration and make us laugh with your wonderful sense of humour. It is the journey for long haul most of us are on and the company along the way not all about how much we lose.

Hang in there and don't you dare get too bored as we would be bereft without lovely you