The FastDay Forum

I reckon Mimi was forced to do the diet because she wrote the book. She couldn't write her bit and say I didn't need to diet now could she.
Maralyn Munroe was 5'10" 10st 7lbs - fashion changes.
Curves or straight, you decide.
When should I stop - how far do you go, is this a feminist issue?

Having a family member who has an eating disorder it always worries me when I read about people wanting to be at low weights for their height.
Sorry I can't help it having lived through it. I don't always think the thinner the better always looks best either.
Not trying to be confrontational just makes me a bit panicky.

Yes I know what you mean Bellalou, I get a rising anxiety when people are very driven, but most people are very sensible and just doing a good thing for themselves, I realise that. Still very interesting to hear about others who are 5ft 4" like me. I am a real pear, I dream of having skinny thighs but will probably accept defeat on that eventually as it will be the last place to go and I will start to look scrawny in other places. My waist is already less than half my height but the size 12 jeans still allude me! Mimi looks nice I think but not much in reserve for an emergency......

It was the section by mimi that inspired me to try the diet.I am very short ,with a bmi around 21 and don't look good.i used to have a bmi just under20 which is perfect for my small frame
I think bmi isn't that important.its how you feel and look
An athletic person with lots of muscle can have a higher bmi and a small framed person can have a lower bmi
I am inspired when I see people who manage to loose the last few stubborn kilos.especially hard for me as I am older.

I kinda hate BMI. I smile every time another study comes out showing that 'overweight' people live longer than 'normal' people. It shows how meaningless the designations are. We DO have other tools, even some easy-to-do at home ones: measuring, if we must, or looking at ourselves, or how our clothes fit, or most importantly, how we feel. If we go to a clinic, we can get other more meaningful, objective numbers with a few blood tests.

Having said that, I rejoiced when my BMI dropped below 30.

Having said that, I just calculated what my BMI was at the height of anorexia. It was 13.3.

I understand if you know someone with an eating disorder why it is worrying, but I don't necessarily think it is wrong or it means you have an eating disorder to be at the low end of the BMI scale. As has been said before on this thread, some people look better at the mid range and others with a slim frame look good at the low end. I'm at the low end and I don't look 'thin', but 'slim'. I was a size 14 when I had a BMI of 23 several years ago and that was fat for me. But it is a personal thing and depends on your body frame, shape and muscle - others I'm sure are very happy with their size at that BMI.

Talking about being thin in the 60's (Twiggy and the Shrimp) I was a teenager and yes, if memory serves most people were "thin". I remember my mum used to start off her day with a glass of hot water with lemon (plj) so I would say, even then, that women were fairly body conscious. If you look at vintage clothing the sizes are never more than a 10-12, most are much smaller. Body shape in general was different in that waists were tiny, compared to now. What has happened? Food then was, relatively speaking, much more expensive. A chicken was a treat on a Sunday and after every bit of meat was off the carcass it was simmered with barley and vegetables and became a huge pot of soup. Cheap fatty cuts were the norm, bulked out with vegetables and cakes were treats for when you had visitors. Same thing with chocolate - a rare treat! I grew up in Glasgow, shipbuilding, industrial but also lots of parks. As kids we practically lived there, and almost no-one had a car so you walked for miles every day. No supermarkets meant lots of walking to the grocers, the butchers etc. carrying home all the shopping etc. Aah..the good old days - no washing machines or dryers, no car, small black and white telly. Obesity was practically unheard of (my mum and dad are in their 80's and still very trim!) We can't turn back the clock and I suspect most of us wouldn't want to, because life is so much better now in lots of ways but some of the habits we had then, such as no eating between meals (very much frowned upon) and much smaller portions of meat, chicken and fish bulked out with the cheaper veggies is probably a good role model. Not too sure how I would cope now with loading up a week's washing and carrying it a mile to the "steamie" to wash and dry it and then carrying it home!

I agree - I think in the last 20 years it has become acceptable to be a size 16 but for me it isn't. I've lived in France for 11 years and although obesity and fast food are becoming more of an issue, in general French women are still more careful about maintaining a slim figure. Until recently it was very difficult to find clothes bigger than a size 42. Maybe that is why I want to be at the lower end of the BMI - because most of my friends are and that is the norm. It wasn't so much when I lived in the UK.

I am interested in your journey,franglaise,as I have just started and only have a few kilos to loose.i have tried many diets but have been unable to get back to the weight I like,brining my bmi back under20
I am considering 4:3 instead of 5:2
I think I wouldn't loose on 5:2 ,please tell me what you did
I am mostly interested in how you ate on feast days.i get very confused as some people say if I don't eat enough on feast days I won't loose,but I feel I need to still watch what I eat every day
Would love to hear how you did it.
Thanks

Hi Sarahg,
A few people have asked me and I put all my eating habits on my blog post, so you can read them there if you like I didn't do 4:3 because I don't have the willpower and all the stats show that weight loss isn't any more with this than with 5:2. Funnily enough, I did consider it in weeks 2 & 3 when I didn't lost weight but was advised by other members to stick with 5:2 for a while longer and I'm glad I did. I never counted calories on feast days but with the exception of weekends was probably more careful about what I ate and drank as I didn't want to undo all the good work of the fast days.
Good luck with your loss!