The FastDay Forum

I've never done anything other than 5:2, it's sustainable and it has worked for me. Now I am maintaining and tweaking to do that.

@Sue.Q & @CandiceMarie
haha now now ladies, I didn't mean to set you off again, but glad I did

Don't you two go anywhere, this place really wouldn't be the same without you both

@Sue.Q & @CandiceMarie
haha now now ladies, I didn't mean to set you off again, but glad I did

Don't you two go anywhere, this place really wouldn't be the same without you both

I have always kept to 5:2 and resisted all pulls to complicate things. I don't want to count calories - except twice a week and now that I have a pretty good idea what 500 calories looks like, I don't bother with that either. Except for now and again when I feel I may have got off track. I especially like the 5:2 WOL because it isn't a diet and I don't want to turn it into one. I refuse to restrict certain food groups because I know that as soon as I'm not allowed to eat a certain food, that's the food I want to eat. I try to listen to my body and eat what feels good and as much as feels good. I have found that I eat less on non fast days since doing 5:2. I am accepting of my slow weight loss. Now that I have lost 13kg since the start, (different from what it says on the tracker because I changed scales), and have lost a few sizes in pants, I'm happy with this weight. I'd like to lose more, especially get to under a BMI of 25, but I can't do anything about it. I won't diet. I don't believe diets work. So it's one day at a time for me. 5:2.

It is possible that I have been abrupt. I do have a tendency to tell it how I see it and am not known for tact. I can see that my sons are somewhat autistic and now I am wondering if I might be too. I always thought they got it from their father! Debs - I did correct you recently when you made comment about the northern hemisphere time zones but I thought I knew you well enough to do that and it was not meant to be really serious. I hope you weren't offended. If anyone is offended by anything I have written, I'm sorry. It is sometimes easy to misread the tone of a post without the body language, that's true.

Good comments on this thread. We all have to find our own way. Let's do it.

I do love the way most threads include a laugh or two or three
I'm another who has always just done the basic 5:2. Sure I've put back on some weight that I'd lost but that's my fault not all the weight so I'm still ahead. I look on this now as a lifestyle, especially as hubby thinks of it this way too.
I hope all the extra stuff people do and chat about isn't confusing anyone. I find it all interesting reading.
@Sallyo I've never found you abrupt.

I have always kept to 5:2 and resisted all pulls to complicate things. I don't want to count calories - except twice a week and now that I have a pretty good idea what 500 calories looks like, I don't bother with that either. Except for now and again when I feel I may have got off track. I especially like the 5:2 WOL because it isn't a diet and I don't want to turn it into one. I refuse to restrict certain food groups because I know that as soon as I'm not allowed to eat a certain food, that's the food I want to eat. I try to listen to my body and eat what feels good and as much as feels good. I have found that I eat less on non fast days since doing 5:2. I am accepting of my slow weight loss. Now that I have lost 13kg since the start, (different from what it says on the tracker because I changed scales), and have lost a few sizes in pants, I'm happy with this weight. I'd like to lose more, especially get to under a BMI of 25, but I can't do anything about it. I won't diet. I don't believe diets work. So it's one day at a time for me. 5:2.

It is possible that I have been abrupt. I do have a tendency to tell it how I see it and am not known for tact. I can see that my sons are somewhat autistic and now I am wondering if I might be too. I always thought they got it from their father! Debs - I did correct you recently when you made comment about the northern hemisphere time zones but I thought I knew you well enough to do that and it was not meant to be really serious. I hope you weren't offended. If anyone is offended by anything I have written, I'm sorry. It is sometimes easy to misread the tone of a post without the body language, that's true.

Good comments on this thread. We all have to find our own way. Let's do it.

Loving all the responses to this thread and glad some people are in agreement. @Sallyo I love all your posts and views. Nobody should be offended by anything you have said .. this is a really friendly place and its good to be told if one is wrong, whether in jest or serious. I've probably offended a heap of people in my 14 or 15 months here. Sometimes I'm taken aback when someone says something curt in a reply to one of my inane posts or just say i'm just plain wrong but I know i need to respect everyone's opinion too and dont dwell on it.

If you want to find offensive comments in a forum type place, check out comments in facebook on really anything in particular things of a political/social nature. People can be vicious and i just dont see it in this forum which is why if really feels like home.

I'm another one who has stuck to 5:2 since I started in January 2013, apart from a couple of 4:3 weeks which happened almost by chance. I have read with interest the varieties of ways which other people have used but, like @Sallyo, have never restricted or removed any food groups. I haven't counted calories since the end of my third week and, although my weight has gone up and down during these eighteen months, I still feel happy that this WOL has stopped my yo-young obsessive, calorie counted dieting forever.

I have seen the occasional abrupt comment on here but most of the comments are helpful and friendly and there seems to be a real sense of community. It is possible that newbies (and maybe some of the old timers) feel that the regular and more active posters are members of an exclusive club which they cannot join. All I can say to that is that if you post more you will soon belong too!

hmmm… given that the human studies done before MM's documentary and book were on ADF, I would consider ADF and its close cousin 4:3 to be more basic than 5:2. Quite a few of us here find 4:3/ADF easier than 5:2. So… as long as back to basics includes those options, I totally agree.

I've never struggled with the fasting part (it's not always easy, but in almost 1.5 years of fasting, I've only ever really had one failed fast). My problem for awhile is non-fast days. Unfortunately, getting back to basics doesn't really help here, since the only rule on non-fast days is "eat what you want or eat normally". If I don't introduce something like low-carb or mindful eating or eating to TDEE, I'll gain back even more than I have already!

[I'm nowhere close to my starting weight, btw, I'm just struggling to stay at my goal weight. And for the record, most of my gains have happened during holidays when I wasn't fasting at all. But fasting, even 4:3 and ADF so far haven't gotten me back to goal weight]

hmmm… given that the human studies done before MM's documentary and book were on ADF, I would consider ADF and its close cousin 4:3 to be more basic than 5:2. Quite a few of us here find 4:3/ADF easier than 5:2. So… as long as back to basics includes those options, I totally agree.

I've never struggled with the fasting part (it's not always easy, but in almost 1.5 years of fasting, I've only ever really had one failed fast). My problem for awhile is non-fast days. Unfortunately, getting back to basics doesn't really help here, since the only rule on non-fast days is "eat what you want or eat normally". If I don't introduce something like low-carb or mindful eating or eating to TDEE, I'll gain back even more than I have already!

[I'm nowhere close to my starting weight, btw, I'm just struggling to stay at my goal weight. And for the record, most of my gains have happened during holidays when I wasn't fasting at all. But fasting, even 4:3 and ADF so far haven't gotten me back to goal weight]

Yes MaryAnn I reckon 4:3/ADF is one of the "basics"
And agree with what you said about non-fasting days and needing to be mindful. I found that following 5:2 or 4:3 one just becomes that way without planning it. The extreme mindfullness of fast days affects our thinking on other days. My only real exception is Saturday night which is the culmination of whatever has been planned for our "gourmet Saturday" and we can eat till we drop. This weekend we are taking turns at entree, mains and desserts.. for mains, i think its Maggie Beer's Quince Glazed Quail stuffed with pancetta, herbs and chicken livers. My sis is doing dessert and its a toss up between Tiramisu and Lime pie. OH has entree and he says its eel done in a fancy way. Bring on Saturday!

Initially, fast days affected my eating on non-fast days, too. I had a reduced appetite and was generally making better choices about food. But lately… I don't know. I don't think it has anything to do with this WOE, I'm just in a bad place now psychologically (essentially, I've been fired, and given 2 years to find a new job (though I only learned that last bit fairly recently. I'm pondering a career change, since academic science isn't the easiest thing to be doing these days, but you know, I'm not exactly happy about how things have gone/are going.), and I get into feeling sorry for myself mode (aka self sabotage mode) too often. Logically, I know it's ridiculous, but often it doesn't stop me from eating some crap (almost always sweets) I shouldn't be eating. It has nothing to do with hunger, so it should be easy to get around. should be.

Initially, fast days affected my eating on non-fast days, too. I had a reduced appetite and was generally making better choices about food. But lately… I don't know. I don't think it has anything to do with this WOE, I'm just in a bad place now psychologically (essentially, I've been fired, and given 2 years to find a new job (though I only learned that last bit fairly recently. I'm pondering a career change, since academic science isn't the easiest thing to be doing these days, but you know, I'm not exactly happy about how things have gone/are going.), and I get into feeling sorry for myself mode (aka self sabotage mode) too often. Logically, I know it's ridiculous, but often it doesn't stop me from eating some crap (almost always sweets) I shouldn't be eating. It has nothing to do with hunger, so it should be easy to get around. should be.

I know exactly what you mean. When "bad things" are happening around you, the mindful eating can go out the window and its not hunger. Just 1/2 hour ago i reached into the fridge to eat some leftover chocolate cake that i made earlier this week. didnt need it.. just ate it cause it was there but after the first two bites I put 1/2 back. Its the sort of thing i reckon i wouldnt have done 6 months ago, but interestingly the discussion on the forum in last day or so was what made me put the 1/2 back. Thank you forum!

What initially drew me to 5:2 was the uncomplicated freedom that comes with this WOL. I know from past experience that I won't keep to any sort of diet that demands complicated, constant thought and actions to lose weight; because in the long run I will stop losing weight and gain again. I want and need something that fits me, not that I have to bend myself to. I too am losing weight very slowly @Sallyo, it is my hope that this will be stable weight loss and off forever from now on. So, keeping it simple is just exactly how I want to live. There are enough complications in life without making what I eat one of them. Been there, done that...not anymore!
chinchin

Great thread @Juliana.rivers. I will try to reply in a thoughtful manner, so that I get my meaning across. Firstly I have read the books by Mosley, Varady and Harvie. I take my view of fasting from them, not from people's views online. Like MaryAnn, I feel the scientific research (on humans) is ADF. The only rules in those books were 500 calls for women on fast days, 600 for men and to 'eat normally (I.e eat as you usually eat, not how an imaginary normal person eats) on feed days. No TDEE was mentioned. However as I have always said, it's all about the mind. Whatever you believe IS your way of doing things. If like @SueQ for example, you find your rhythm and whether it is basic or any other way, you find it suits you, then keep doing it. People have different amounts of weight to lose, different jobs, lifestyles etc. Some people are more impatient like me and 'want the job done' then onto maintenance, some people can imagine doing this for life. Some people believe there are health benefits, some more sceptical (my blood tests were worse after fasting than before). All in all people need to find THEIR way of fasting that works. For me 'back to basics' is back to when I found fasting easy. I have had MANY failed fasts since I hit goal weight. I am starving most of the day with rumbling tummy, I feel like it's a diet and yes feel WOEful at the thought of it being forever (I dream of 3x1000 cal maintenance a la Varady).

I think this forum is really useful for getting people back on track, providing recipes for those who want or need them and to have a bloody good laugh, because I like to go through life feeling good. Listening to too much of THIS IS HOW YOU SHOULD FAST, can be counterproductive. I think each individual should find what works for them and try to stick to that and when u go off the rails, try to go back to'your basic' not anyone elses. Of course everything changes with time, so there is no guarantee you won't feel differently about your fasting down the track.

I'm relieved to have someone start this conversation which has been brewing I my mind for a while and so glad to start reading today with @Juliana.Rivers and all posters. I too have been doing 5:2 plain and simple since well before Jan 2013 ....whenever MM's book came out, having seen the first TV programme. For me, that was a Ureka! moment after a lifetime of unhappy different diets. The fact that my diet-sceptical scientific husband suddenly got enthusiastic and has also been unfailingly practising 5:2 ever since, speaks volumes to me. Quite a turn around. (So we both are 'oldies' in age and 5:2-time, living naturally and successfully with 5:2).

I have like the others here, been finding that the myriad of varieties of threads around here are difficult to navigate. I don't have time to trawl through it all and the new forum is not faster or more efficient for me, just more frustratingly complex. Thought it was my old age but others apparently find that too, so imagine a newbie.....The Buttons used to be great. I need to know where information is to be found quickly instead of starting out wondering if I will stumble on it hours later. I enjoy the wit and fun and the the sound advice that go with it and the overview of successes. That includes the tracker and forum stats as well as the running total we used to have of numbers joining! And who's on the forum.....The challenges do help me to keep focus, though I am wary of becoming obsessive. I always find the attitude on the challenges supportive.
Through this forum I have been made more aware of the health benefit of low carb intake and I use 16:8 when I feel the need. I take notice with interest, of the research that is pointed out through links and comments. But I recently felt the need to calm it all, read MM 's book again and say to myself " it's not complicated, just get on with life, you're doing fine, have made great progress and have kept the huge buzz from feeling and looking so much better."
It does take time to achieve proper weight loss especially as one approaches goal weight. I am working on that but have been getting bogged down wondering how to hurry it along. My fasting buddy @Sallyo wrote some while back 'just look at the broader picture.' She is right. I would add 'just keep it simple'. So having written about two of us, my OH is testament to that and after ages being very patient and sensible is off a long plateau. I am amazed he has stuck with it quietly with a no-hassle-"nothing-abnormal" attitude certainly doesn't need the forum, unlike me! He is adamant that on holiday he will continue 5:2 as before on his various hang-glider flying trips. Likewise friends, work colleagues and relatives not using the forum are all happy in this WOL.

[janeg]

Great post and responses. I have been 4:3ing for what seems like forever.Initial 5:2 loss was slow but steady and I wanted to kick it up a bit and started 4:3. I just don't want to count calories. I'm now stuck. Maybe a plateau, but after a holiday and some thought have decided just to keep doing what I've been doing.
I contemplated carb reducing and did it for nearly a week - not long enough I know- and thought 'why janeg?'. Carb intake has reduced anyway just with the way I eat now. Made a loaf on Monday and it's still sitting uncut!
I did windows on holiday and don't know if that was successful as I haven't done the excise bit yet- Saturday is the day for that. What I have noticed though is that it's easy to miss lunch on normal days. I'd rather that than miss breakfast. Missing breakfast puts me into 'fast mode' and I tend not to eat until tea time .
So, simple 4:3 for me along with changes that have 'just happened' make it a way of life for janeg.
And I understand that we have to find what suits us- fast wise, food wise and lifestyle wise.
I like to KISS (keep it simple, silly!)