The FastDay Forum

I'm curious why others stopped and what are/will you doing differently this time around? What's keeping you motivated this time? Did you learn anything from your break from 5:2? Curious minds...

I stopped and returned. I'd had success at losing weight and feeling better on 5:2 and yet a week long vacation and taking a break from these forums was enough to break the habit/routine I had for fasting. Now on this 2nd go round with this WOE, I'm determined to keep it going. I've committed to posting on this forum at a minimum on fast days but try to visit daily even if I have nothing to post. I haven't come up with a good plan for holidays/vacations except to maybe skip breakfast and maybe lunch. I've lost most of the weight I gained and some health problems have improved since I restarted 5:2 so that is motivating me for the moment. That and some of the smaller warm weather clothes I bought when on 5:2 before that I'm determined to fit into this spring and summer.

Hi O' Dell..i never really stopped fasting but during 2014 i managed to put back on all the two stone i lost between Sept - Dec 2013....why? because i ate too much on feed days and maybe wasnt as careful as i should have been on fast days

In 2015 ive lost about a stone and a half again so far.
How did i regain control in 2015?
I think for me and others the reasons are too complex to put down in simple sentences.
I put weight back on because ...food is a crutch to me and a comfort..because some part of me doesnt believe i can get slim again..because at times i think, youre 65, accept yourself just as you are( but then i think of the health benefits of fasting and slimming down)
Why did i get back into fasting? I got back into fasting in 2015 ( really December 2014 ) coz i gave self a good talking to and it worked...i still slip sometimes tho,specially at holiday times ..like these last few days over Easter..
why? Coz i' m human and sometimes the reward of something i' m addicted to like sugar,fat,carbs, is simply too irresistible!
In a nutshell. I think :- Eating unhealthy stuff that surrounds us everywhere we look is temptation...and at times i' ll succumb..but sooner or later the wish to feel and look better will win out and i' ll start looking again at how to lose weight...
5:2 seems to be the best choice out of a bad lot..i cant say i like to fast but i prefer this WOE to the conventional diets that only work in the short term for me..
On a grim last note,5:2 is my last hope..if this doesnt work for me, i' ll always be fat and lumpy!
I havent done anything different except now i write a daily journal on how the day's gone,cals eaten,how i felt etc..and i' m trying back to back fasts which i find a little easier to do overall. X

Well Ilost the weight in 2013, then got the hump with restricting myself, well years of ut. I also had people saying OMG u r sooo skinny, I thought I was looking sh*t so thought best put a couple of kg on, well that went to 7kg. I got the wet fish out slapped myself, lost the 7kg, now I realise you HAVE to keep an eye on things. If u don!t, hey resto, fat again. Now I do 1000 cal fasts 3 days or 2 x 500 xal if I want to lose or if I can!t manage 3 days for some reason. There are 2 types of eating, when u r hungry and when u r not (gluttony, hedonism, addiction, emotional, cultural, day of the year, custom etc). Mostly we get fat from 2. Then there's fasting to counteract it all. I just think of it as dieting half the week.

I've been wondering this, too. For all the talk of IF being sustainable, there do seem to be a lot of people who quit. I think it's important to understand the reasons.

As for holidays, I'm trying not to worry too much, unless I'm away for awhile. I always fast the day I get back though. I think getting right back into the swing of things is important.

Well now, there's a question! And one I find very complex to explain......mainly because I have no real idea!

I started fasting in Nov 13.....lost nearly 4 stone by July '14......looked much better, felt marvellous......but then gradually let myself off the hook and returned to mindless eating. Stopped visiting the forum and holding myself accountable. Definitely stopped weighing myself. Cue a gain of 2 stone....silly girl. It seemed to creep back on, until suddenly one day, my jeans didn't want to do up and my thighs were attempting to burst out of the denim! What a shock.....and a wake up call. I had started to feel second class again for quite a while before that...but I just ignored the feelings and carried on eating, which I do for comfort.

I cannot be sane - for no sane person would swap all the great feelings and boosted self-esteem I enjoyed whilst losing the weight....for the depressed, excuse of a human being I became again. Yet I allowed it to happen....only I can take the blame for it. I have been told that deep down, maybe I was testing everyone around me to see if anyone cared enough to notice how unhappy I was, how much I was back to eating, how much weight I was piling on. But, nobody did notice! Nobody said anything!

I came back to fasting in March '15 because I realised that if I carried on the way I was going, I would soon gain all the weight back that I had lost...and then some. I also thought that if I acted "now" I could salvage part of the summer and maybe look halfway reasonable in a dress....

I have joined @nursebean's DODO challenge (which starts today) in an attempt to truly kickstart the habit...and make a difference. Personality-wise, I like a challenge...but I love belonging even more, so am hoping that being part of a group of challengers will help to keep me on the straight and narrow! The funny thing is, like many on here, my problem is the non-fasting days....so I have finally realised that if I minimise the number of days I can sabotage myself (by fasting more often) then maybe I will be more successful at losing the weight. Well, there's the theory!

Obviously, I have massive regrets about letting myself off the hook, fasting-wise. Where might I have been by now if I'd carried on? It's almost torture to imagine what I might look like by now if I hadn't been so stupid. I suppose the point about being human is to do what I have done:- "well, you are where you are, no point in wasting any more time thinking about it. The question now is: what are you going to do about it?".

So, here I am, back in the fasting groove. I say that, though I abandoned it all last week for some dumb reason. Guess the scales will be cruel today....but there you go. I am only human. I am a work in progress......

I agree with all your stories. And indeed "where might I be now if only I hadn't stopped" comes into mind a lot. Anyway, we're all here now and we know that fasting works. We just have to be careful on our non-fast days. I must say that I'm struggling at the moment because my ME symptoms are worsening. I'm already wondering if I should have some soup for lunch. I think its going to be a long fast day for me...and its only Day 1!
The best thing we can do, though, is to encourage each other. Giving up this forum would be the worst thing, wouldn't it!
Keep on keeping on everyone. Just think what we'll be saying at the end of the year.

You can do it, dear leader! Put the kettle on...that's what I always do when I feel hungry!

We are counting on you @nursebean! As you say, it's only a month! We can...and will, do it. Keep the faith!

Best of luck xx

Ive just made myself a one-egg omelette with 1oz cheese. Hopefully that will tide me over until tomorrow lunch time (although I may have some rice later!)
The calories contained in eggs always confuses me. I get different answers from different places. According to MyFitnessPal a duck egg is 130 calories. A chicken egg 70? Is that what you guys give them?

This is an interesting issue for me as a second time 5:2er, so I thought I'd share my story...

Last year my OH and me did 5:2 together to halt and hopefully reverse the weight gain caused by happy, lazy cohabiting. It was the first time we had both committed to a serious change in eating habits together and it worked really well. Over 6 months we both lost weight and reached our respective target weights. Then a combination of factors got on the way - first we bought a house, which was busy and stressful (but great in the end!) At the time I thought that was the reason we fell off the wagon, but looking back it was more that we never really sat down together and agreed a maintenance strategy. My OH was adamant that he wouldn't be doing any more 600 cal days now he was at goal weight, which ruled out 6:1, and whilst we dabbled a bit with eating windows we didn't really commit. And so we let things slide...

In January this year, after just over 6 months of settling into our house, plus my OH having big health issues (now thankfully resolved) we realised that nearly all the weight had returned and so got back on the 5:2. We're trying to build in good exercise habits too this time. I'm also being less picky about counting my 500 cals so exactly - last time round I counted all my splashes of milk in tea etc but this time I'm cutting myself 50-100 cals of slack on a fast day! That also gives me something to tighten up on if I hit a persistent plateau, as I don't feel that 4:3 or ADF would be a good fit with my life right now.

I'm a bit disappointed that our first go at 5:2 didn't seem to teach us many lasting good eating habits that apply outside the 5:2 WoE, and that the weight nearly all came back on. My OH and I are motivated to do 5:2 again because we know it worked last time so it can and will work again, only this time we will sit down and talk about maintenance before we get to it!

[carieoates]

Hi O' Dell..i never really stopped fasting but during 2014 i managed to put back on all the two stone i lost between Sept - Dec 2013....why? because i ate too much on feed days and maybe wasnt as careful as i should have been on fast days

In 2015 ive lost about a stone and a half again so far.
How did i regain control in 2015?
I think for me and others the reasons are too complex to put down in simple sentences.
I put weight back on because ...food is a crutch to me and a comfort..because some part of me doesnt believe i can get slim again..because at times i think, youre 65, accept yourself just as you are( but then i think of the health benefits of fasting and slimming down)
Why did i get back into fasting? I got back into fasting in 2015 ( really December 2014 ) coz i gave self a good talking to and it worked...i still slip sometimes tho,specially at holiday times ..like these last few days over Easter..
why? Coz i' m human and sometimes the reward of something i' m addicted to like sugar,fat,carbs, is simply too irresistible!
In a nutshell. I think :- Eating unhealthy stuff that surrounds us everywhere we look is temptation...and at times i' ll succumb..but sooner or later the wish to feel and look better will win out and i' ll start looking again at how to lose weight...
5:2 seems to be the best choice out of a bad lot..i cant say i like to fast but i prefer this WOE to the conventional diets that only work in the short term for me..
On a grim last note,5:2 is my last hope..if this doesnt work for me, i' ll always be fat and lumpy!
I havent done anything different except now i write a daily journal on how the day's gone,cals eaten,how i felt etc..and i' m trying back to back fasts which i find a little easier to do overall. X

Very inspirational candy........
Keep up the good work, I also believe that your head has to be in the right place to truly do this. Not everyone can do it.
Back with you at the end of the week @CandiceMarie

As someone who has not lapsed (yet) in my fasting journey (Thursday is my 100th light day!), I must say that all the leavers/returners have made me a little nervous, that perhaps I'd fall off the wagon myself. Although currently my plan is to try 6 weeks of FastBeach, as soon as I get used to work hours again, possibly next week. I've been on a plateau and would like to lose for the summer.

Another topic: I read somewhere that carnitine can help with belly fat; does anyone know anything about that? Keeping in mind I'm ovo-lacto veg....

@fancyacuppa, the maintenance plan in Krista Varady's ADF book has you eat 1000cals on fast days instead of 500-600. It's definitely good to have a plan in place for when you get there. Maintenance is the downfall for so many dieters. It's kind of shocking that most diet books either don't bother or barely give it a thought.

Thanks @MaryAnn, I'll definitely look into Krista Varady's maintenance strategy, that sounds very workable. I'm hoping maintenance will something that happens in the next 2-3 months, so it certainly won't hurt to do a little planning now! I could be cynical and suggest that diet books don't go into maintenance because they want you to regain and then buy another diet book...

Sorry this is horribly long !
Hi @hazelnut20.. Nearly word you said could be echoed by me! But you write it a lot better than i can!
The only thing i would say different is where you say,nobody noticed you put on weight,nobody said anything.
I think people really do notice but say nothing, either from kindness,politeness,whatever. But i find that silence deafening and embarrassing! its so sad that so many of us do put weight back on, and like @MaryAnn said,it does make me wonder, is IF really sustainable,is any other weight-loss regime?
I think @carieoates hits the nail on the head,she's said it before and she said it again here.. Your head has to be in the right place.
Are we totally in control of where our head is? I think we would need to be superhuman to always have that focus and determination we need to stay on track..so we're not always totally to blame when we gain weight again- tho of course, its nobody elses fault either.
Its a real conundrum really isnt it..to be slim and healthy is something we all want,but no matter how much we want it,its difficult to attain and even more so to maintain!
My sympathies are ver much with fasters like myself,@nursebean @mountainmystand others on here who have health probs which mean they arent well enough to do adequate exercise on a daily basis to work the heart and lungs and tone the muscles and burn calories. We have even more obstacles to get around or over as best we can! X

Oooh good thread. I lost 10kgs in 2013, I'm now back up 5kgs without wanting to be.
I'm eating real food 90% of the time after 30 years of processed stuff while I was working full time bringing up a family. At least retirement has brought me the time to read and think this out properly and look to attain balance and better health.
I was watching 'Back in Time For Dinner' on TV and could relate to each decade and remember how that was true for me. Microwave meals came on stream just as I was a single parent full time working and became the way to go.
The menopause is a physical fact of every woman's life, it adds a stone virtually overnight, something about the extra fat needed to produce oestrogen to make up for the hormone drop off elsewhere?
Each of us must fast the way our life allows, balance the body to find good health.
Keep up the good work my friends, we're in this for our lives :0)