The FastDay Forum

Thanks debbiejgb,
Best of lunch with your fast today

Loved it, made me smile. This fast seems a little tougher - I'm wondering if it is because I did not eat up to my TDEE - about 300 cal down, each days. Seems when I do eat more, it is easier and I lose the weight!

Take care all - I have about 3.5 hours till supper, and I have a hardboiled egg to eat in about an hour to hold me over. Not long now! (But I do have to pick up a couple things - food - on the way home! YUCK!)

Morning team Marvellous,

How are you all doing today? Fredi: hang on in there, we've all been there and any 'damage' can be undone with a couple of fasts. We're all here to support you, so please don't give up. Legoman: sorry to hear you had a bit of a struggle yesterday. Hope you came through ok and congrats on the new clothes. Dhana, curious to know how your veggies are doing, so please keep us posted. I've sown kale approx a week ago, but no sign of germination yet. My parsnips are doing fine, which is good, because I love them. It's a fast day for me today, which hopefully will undo part of the calorie surplus from the lovely Italian dinner I had last night. May this be another Marvellous May day for all of you!

Good morning everyone,

And it’s good to hear from you again Hummingbird. Oh you where in London over the weekend - we might of bumped into each other and not of know it..

Anyway yesterday had it's up and down's but the records will show a successful fast day for me. Feeling great this morning. I am meant to have training later but I have a tight hamstring and might just rest for one more day.

Yeah the clothes is just for work, as I can no longer wear some of my old clothes. The ones I bought are a little tight but in a few weeks they will fit just fine.

So to answer your question Humming bird (love the question)

Out of interest, do any of you have family/friends/office mates etc in 'the real world' that are fasting? Do people know that you're 5:2'ing? If so, what do they think?

For me the only people to know about this way of life is my close family. I have not told any of my friends or anyone in work. I just don’t want to deal with all the questions.
For example the other day in work, on one of many trips to water cooler (must of been a fast day). Someone noticed that I lost weight(whoop whoop). They then asked how I was doing it, I just said eating a little less and exercising more. She did not like that answer and kept trying to drill down – as if I had found something magical. I feel bad sometimes as there is a girl in work who is always on some crazy diet and it’s just not working for her. I know 5:2 would be amazing for her.

I get loads of marvellous support from you guys, which really does help me.

I love that question Hummingbird - I noticed that you have not answered it either, and how about everyone else. I think most people are not very open about it – but happy to be proved wrong

And yeah there is loads of Marvellous May left so one weekend does not really mean anything. Enjoy your fast today, and if you need an encouragement you know where we are

[janeg]

Morning Marvellous May aMigos
good luck with your fast today josie and hope everyone else has a good day.
Hope your hamstring eases off Legoman
I kind of thought about doing 4:3 this week and sort of planned it in my head last night then remembered I have passionfruit to use and they are so yummy and I really wanteda smoothie. So, it's 5:2 again. It's about 6 weeks til I go home so I'll see how things are looking and might do 4:3 in June if it's not shifting.
Managed another shred with water bottles for weight- they're really not offering enough resistance though so might try sand in the bottles...
the yeast demon has been banished and I have bread proving finally- potato and herb...more yum.
And I am feeling very energetic (wakened up air pumping and singing/rapping :0) so cleaning is about to commence- not a very exciting life is it?
I've cross posted with Legoman!- My beloved and 2 daughters know but I haven't told anyone else basically because there is no one else to tell. I have one friend here and otherwise don't really see anyone- sounds pathetic doesn't it.
But, like you all, get loads of support on here - which I really appreciate. The escapade with the trees really helped show how much support is on here for which I am truly grateful.
OK , nuff soppy stuff- the hoover is calling
have fun amigos
x

Hi Guys,

Hummingbird wrote:
Out of interest, do any of you have family/friends/office mates etc in 'the real world' that are fasting? Do people know that you're 5:2'ing? If so, what do they think?

I forgot to answer your question sorry, Hummingbird (love the name!). I've told three people, two of whom are doing 5:2 as well; one quite overweight friend had me explain the whole system (as I like to call it), asked about umpteen questions after which she heaved a deep sigh and said words to the effect of 'I don't think this would work for me'. Said friend is quite overweight, prediabetic, has high cholesterol, high blood pressure and a couple of other health issues which imo would improve greatly by 5:2, which is why I took the effort of sending her a link to Dr M's website and to a couple of articles which I found in the Resources section of this site. Everyone has to decide for themselves what they do, but I don't like to deal with negativity or with loads of critical questions. Therefore in future I will not discuss it but refer people to said sites. This Marvellous forum gives me lots of support and information and friendly exchanges with fellow fasters, so I keep my cries of jubilation and/or lamentation (delete where appropriate) for you guys. Another view seems among non-5:2-ers to be that by adopting 5:2 we are denying ourselves something, while in fact we are doing something very beneficial and positive for ourselves. That's me two pennies worth. It would be interesting to see what other people's thoughts are. Good luck to all of you.

On the subjects of friends 'in the real world', yes, I'm doing this with my husband (who has lost over two stone so he's over the moon)

Our close relatives know we're fasting and of course our sons know. They now know whether we are on a 'diet day' or not. They are very proud of what we've lost. Between us we've lost more than our youngest weighs and he's five next month! Looking at him it's quite amazing to think that all that volume was somewhere on our bodies!
We always eat our evening meal together as a family, so whatever we are having, they just get some carbs (noodles/pasta/rice) with it and we stick to the veg and protein.

My book club friends know I'm doing this and as I only see them once a month they notice the difference each time. A couple of them have tried it, but have struggled as they haven't quite got the idea of 'normal' eating and tend to binge on their other days. I do think that's one of the things not made clear in the book. For people in the obese category, most no longer know what normal is. Certainly my concept of it was far higher before I started this WOE. It has come across in some of the media that you can carry on bingeing and snacking as you were before on the non-fasting days whereas the reality is that to be properly successful you need to eat more mindfully. Cake isn't excluded, but you shouldn't be eating a whole one in one go!

Anyway, another fast day completed yesterday and so far on non-fast days, I'm stopping the snacking successfully. I think having a bigger window between food every day of the week will keep my fat/carb burning more in balance. Tummy is rumbling now as it's nearly lunchtime, but today is a day when hubby is working at home too, so we get to enjoy a meal together without having to supervise children!

Wow - I am loving all your responses!

Wow well done No_More_Mrs_Michelin and congrats to your other half too. You are both doing amazing and its good to hear that you guys are flying the flag in the real world too!

Looks like we are similar josie50. I have thought that I might know someone else doing it and we are both keeping quite... I think that be funny.

Hi debbiejgb and good morning to you - How you get on yesterday evening with your fast? Did you enjoy that fast lunch

Good morning all! I made it through the fast - the hard boiled egg waited until 3 PM, then supper, a chickpea soup, was at 7 PM. Stayed up a bit then off to bed. Now back to work. Today I'll have lunch out with a friend (who knows), so I'll go over my TDEE, then balance out tomorrow. Love the way this works.

As to who I have told, my family (Mom, sis, brother and son) and a couple people at work. No real response either neg or pos, though brother (who lives with me) and son were a bit concerned how my diet would affect them! As I only see Mom and sis once a year, it'll be August before they see me. So, as with the rest of you, the forum is my support system and all y'all are wonderful!

Good evening

Today's fast is going well - I've had my dinner (went for a classic 'jacket potato, beans and salad') :s - I'm attempting to be more vegan than normal and didn't have time to make more effort, hence the slightly random meal! I'm totally stuffed from the JP! I also prepared myself some totally vegan fajitas for the next couple of days and some bircher museli for tomorrow morning, which I'm thoroughly looking forward to!

I've fallen in love with these food blogs:

http://mynewroots.org/site/

and

http://www.greenkitchenstories.com/

I pretty much want to make everything on them!

It's been good to hear how you're all treating our way of eating, in terms of telling people or keep schtum!

In my case I've been relatively open about it - I'm a ballet dancer in my spare time and I'm not overweight so I didn't want to people to worry about me having an eating disorder or something if they noticed that I wasn't eating lunch, so I figured it would be best to just let people know in passing... although, having said that, my circle of people that I have got chatting to about it is fairly small.

My other half is very supportive (he even bought the book so that he'd understand!) and the people at work are intrigued by it, but not negative - we're all 'scientists/academics' so the fact that there are peer reviewed papers available to read on the subject makes them respect the information to some extent. Two other people at work are now 5:2'ing, having watched the documentary online and chatting with me about it. I find this really handy, especially as I live with one of them and quite often we end up fasting on the same days.

Outside of my group of friends here though, very few people know - my best friend knows and is interested in it. Apart from her, the only other person that knows is my sister who, interestingly, started off being pretty negative about it - making eating-issue related comments, but then I sent her a link to watch the documentary in a 'I'm not trying to brain-wash you, but this is what made me change how I eat, at least if you've watched this you won't be worried about me' kind of way and guess what.... she watched the documentary... and started fasting the very next week so I have her support too which is brilliant.

Can't bring myself to tell my parents though. I feel like they'd actually both benefit from the information but I think they're both pretty closed-minded about these kinds of things.

I feel like not that many people are 5:2/4:3'ing, which surprised me a bit as I found the evidence for improved health so compelling... but perhaps there are lots of us, we're all just too secretive about it to know who the others are. I feel lucky that I know 3 other people doing it.

How have everyone's days been? No exercise for me today - the weather here is appalling!

H x

Good Morning Team!

Yesterdays normal day went okay. I did eat a little too much (I think). I went to training but did not do much, I just did some coaching and got very wet. Then I got a text of a friend I had not seen in over a year and it basically said I cooked loads of food and beer want to come over and play FIFA. I had a really good evening.

So today I am hoping for a better day. Work have started up a personal trainer, so will going to that tonight. My hamstring is feeling better today too. (I just need to take it easy as the last thing I want to do is hurt myself more seriously)

Wow I really enjoyed reading your post Hummingbird. You are lucky to know other people in the real world doing 5:2. If I notice one of my friends losing weight and starting to look more healthy I might quiz them and tell them that I am 5:2. I wonder if there is a way of telling if someone is on 5:2? - We need a secret hand shake or something....

Looking at my desk calendar we have reached our half way mark today. How is everyone doing? Are people seeing some results from Marvellous May? (On a side note this is the 100th Post )

Morning all

Half way through May!! *eek*... I weighed myself this morning and the combination of granola-gate and a rather extravagant weekend in London = 1lb up from last week!! So now my Marvellous May total has fallen to -1.25lbs in two weeks. Grrr. Anyway, this is the motivation I need to get back on it!

I have removed the bread, granola and cereal bars from my house and have stopped buying big pots of yoghurt, so - as these are the foods that I tend not to be able to resist - hopefully the snacking with decrease! I also STILL haven't bought a single 'bad' bit of food since I decided that I wouldn't buy any more on April 28th! It seems that, at the very least, this way of life has reminded me that I do actually possess will power (or hummingbird-power... either way).

Day 15 started with me (waaaiiitttt for it...) going for a run *in the rain*!!!! This is commitment! a) I used to hate running and b) I still hate getting wet, so this is a big deal I swear I don't even recognise myself any more My C25K runs have now started to include 5 minute running intervals and I'm nearly half way through the program. I really should start leaving a bit more time between runs because my shins are getting increasingly complainy during and after the runs, but I'm enjoying it... hmmm.

Now for my usual potter to and from work...

I get to look at a new house later too very exciting

Have a Wonderful Wednesday,

H x

Hi Team Marvellous,

Yes, halfway through and what a Marvellous May it's been (and still is). Legoman, good to hear that your hamstring is improving. FIFA? I am hopelessly behind the times. My kale has started sprouting, sown some 9-ish days ago. Have any of you who don't have gardens ever considered growing veggies on windowsills in so-called hydroponic systems? If you're interested you could take a peek here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroponics. YouTube have some clips about DIY hydroponic systems. Someone I know used such a system AND had a bigger tomato crop than I did with old-fashioned methods. Not that I'm jealous or anything

Did a fast yesterday and it went really well. As usual the day after a fast is great: loads of energy, irritatingly cheerful mood and so on. This 5:2 is great imo. Finally something I can stick to, and the forum is a great help in this.

And now we have to come up with an adjective starting with J, well, two in fact. Jubilant? Joyous? Just a few proposals, open for amendments, of course. Plan ahead that's my motto. Off to do some uninteresting household chores, run (well, limp) a few errands and such like. Have a great day!

josie50

PS Hummingbird, I just read your post. Granola-gate eh? Love that one. Don't worry, you'll be on track after your next couple of fasts.

Hummingbird, well-done, your rainy run. Good luck with the new house!

[janeg]

Morning ,actually afternoon, Team Marvellous amigos
Hope all are well
Kudos hummingbird for running - IN THE RAIN! Be a wee bit careful with your shin splints (pain in your shins) it can end up quite debilitating. Sometimes it's a sign that your shoes aren't quite right for you. My daughter had quite a bit of bother and got it sorted by having orthotic insoles. A bit drastic so please ca' canny (go carefully) Love bircher muesli but haven't made it. I'll have a look at those cooking blogs even though it's a fast day! Do let us know how the viewing goes too- very exciting.
Legoman, sounds like a good night was had by all- it's great how we can still do all the
foodie things even though we're reducing (although my reduction isn't stunning...) Look after that hamstring
Josie I saw a programme yeaars ago about a hydroponic nursery in the north of Scotland and their yield was amazing. Can you do it organically? I used to feed my grobags with comfrey juice. I don't have windowsills! Needing a greenery fix- I may end up with lots of houseplants although I can't really be bothered with them. I went out to play in the garden and playing inside just isn't the same- can't get as dirty!
SO, yeast demon banished and made very good potato and herb bread yesterday and ended up having that for lunch and dinner...not the most balanced day of eating but it was good. Think that's maybe why I'm hungry today. Managed day 7 of the shred; thought that it would end with a bad dip but, despite being a bit headlight before I started, I was fine and manage to keep up. Just couldn't do one wee bitof the cardio- so, no shame.
I need to get messages (shopping) but as it's over 45C out there, and I need to walk that isn't going to happen. So, shut in. Thankful for the interwebs!
Have a good day amigos
j

Thank you I really hope we'll get it - although moving is exciting, it's also super time consuming, expensive and stressful!! I can't even imagine what it must be like to actually buy a house!

H x