The FastDay Forum

I am 40 this year. I've done thousands of diets. I have done only eating healthy food. I have done only crap food. I have done all sorts of diets and I always end up a bit fat. The only good thing about it: My face. When I lose weight my face looks too skinny, strange.
I am a bit fat everywhere. I have big boobies which are in my way and my legs are like Ham legs or trunk style. Now I am learning to laugh at them or shall we say laugh with them. In a bath I play with making my tummy talk...or I pretend I am drowning and I am wearing a buoy. My legs are the trees on Lord of the ring...
Anyway, it's not as easy as that to have accept your shape, but I'm 40 this year..and that little dress would have been good on me at 20years old so I have to be realistic. I don't really care anyway, I only like comfy style Joe Browns clothes.
My husband loves me as I am...A few pounds down and the he'll ask me to stop losing weight.
In April I'll weigh myself. Then August. I feel confident. It will be only a few pounds down hopefully but soon I will be in a healthy range ( not the dream shape so?!)
I am 40 this year. Life is good.

[carorees]

I think you are right to learn to accept that your shape is what it is but not to accept the health issues that might arise from being overweight. So, by taking up 5:2 you are addressing the health issues and losing some weight. I completely agree that it is best to be happy with whatever weightloss 5:2 results in and not get hung up about how much you lose each week or whether you will reach some target or other. In fact, I read a scientific paper the other day that was analysing the factors that result in people being able to maintain weight loss and one of the factors was not having unrealistic expectations of the diet. So, your attitude is perfect! Well done, and here's to a healthy future for us all!

Hi Pashcaline,

What a great post, you're so right and we should all adopt your postitve attitude.

Like you, I've become a diet 'expert' over the years, but have to accept reality that at age 58, even if I lose all the weight I want to, there's only so much you can do to improve your body at this stage of life! So, okay I'll never have a beach body again, (not sure I ever did actually, even in my 20's), but as long as I can look reasonably okay in my clothes and feel healthier, I'll be happy.

Evie

Well I am 50 this year and I agree. My mother always says face or figure and since getting close to goal I can see she is right. I am not going to go too low on bmi, happy to stay just inside healthy range and work on maintenance.

There are a lot of overweight people in uk accepting that is their fate. Some of their children will also become overweight and many of their lifespans and quality of life will be affected as a result. In my opinion, nothing worth doing is easy and its worth persevering with the 5:2 eating plan. We have been doing it since January. My partner has lost more weight than me and has noticed that his arthritic knee is no longer painful. He is doing a lot more exercise which has probably burned off more calories.
Stick at it and enjoy the benefits!!

Everyone says stick with this for a month but my wife has done that and lost nothing. Perhaps she needs to just accept that she is the weight she is. She has all those same wobbly bits, Pashcaline. At least she is fit and healthy.

I think it is very important to feel good about yourself and it is means you are at the bottom or top of the healthy BMI then it doesn't matter - you should aim for whatever you are comfortable with. Good luck Pashcaline!

I agree with Franglaise that being within a healthy BMI is important.

When I started this diet aged 50. I weighed 18st 5lbs. I can remember being told by WW when I was 20 and 9st 11lbs that I should be 8st 11lbs. I thrashed myself to get down that low (I'm 5ft 7) and you know what? I still thought I could do with losing a bit of weight on my thighs! 30 years later I've learned to accept that I am the shape I am and to just aim to be healthy and fit.

It's weird, I'm much happier at 14st, at 41 with a OH that truly loves me and 10 years of Pilates, which has given me tone under the overcoat, than I was at 21, 9st and thinking I was fat and with not much muscle anywhere.

Work on tone and muscles, don't worry about micro-managing a wee bit of curve...

I did the "try to get to x weight", getting there made me so miserable I gave up and put 4 stone on! Should have just been happy at 11st!

It's not all about being happy and overweight. Any fool can achieve that! Be HEALTHY!!