The FastDay Forum

This is a great thread!

I will be here for as long as this forum lives. I have finally found a way of eating I can live with and lose weight without much fuss, and I'm in for life.

I relate to the above poster, talking about Weight Watchers and being brainwashed that we have to eat every few hours. It amazes me, on my fast days, how just drinking several cups of coffee with nonfat milk (I put a lot of milk in my coffee, counting the calories of course), really fills me up.

I do take fiber as well, psyllium to lower my cholesterol, and I'm noticing that it really fills me up as well. I goggled this, and found out there is a study going on about pysllium and satiety. So...between my coffee, pysllium and eating my remaining calories to equal 500 on fast days, I'm good to go.

I was stressing so much that I was eating too much on feed days, but I lost 7.5 lbs. my first month, and I think I was being too hard on myself. I weigh in again on Monday.

Why in the world would I ever want to go off this wonderful way of eating?

Isn't this just a great, good news thread?!
Yet, despite all these lovely stories, there are still 'experts' in the media unwilling to accept our statistics. They use the same old excuse when they are lost for a valid explanation, e.g. none of the results have been achieved under purely scientific conditions, so can't be accepted by the boffins. Why not? Or are we all being branded as delusional, or, worse still, liars?
This is the way for me and my husband for ever- (he has lost 24lbs, --11Kg--down from the 15stone he was adding to as every month came).
I say to him, and all of you out there-----ONWARD AND DOWNWARD!!
(Variation based on Francis Kemble -- sorry!)

Loving the comments on this thread!
Personally I hope to be on this woe for life! 25 years of trying to follow every fad diet that came along ended up with me being the heaviest I have ever been (apart from when pregnant!). All that sad, self destructive deprivation led to binges and soul-destroying hatred for my own body and I was ready to give up and resign myself to being fat and unhappy - until this.
My 9 week weigh in is tomorrow and even though I haven't lost a great deal of weight I have lost more doing this than on any other so-called 'diet' over the past 25 years!
I love the flexibility and pure freedom I have now with food and even though we went away for a few days over Easter I did not pig out like I usually do, I amazed myself at how I only ate when I was hungry and even missed a couple of meals!
This really is a life-changing woe for me and it is as though I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel which is inspiring and very liberating!
This forum is a wonderful place to catch up with other people's experiences with this woe and everyone that keeps it ticking along should be very proud, thank you! xx

I wish you well, Cakegroupy. I find the forum encouraging too, and have unburdened a lot of my woes to the readers about the diet and food industry, and the stale attitudes of some of our medical profession. I am pleased to find that other people have similar points of views as myself, and that has helped me to realise that this massive problem of obesity and poor health is not a personal failure on the part of the individual, but an international scandal of catastrophic proportions. I have followed leads suggested by other contributors that have greatly informed me about nutrition and health that I would not otherwise have had access to.
5:2 Fast Diet can help most people with a weight problem, in fact the very same folks who, year in, year out, join slimming clubs, schemes, etc, sucked in by the big merry-go-round of money extractors, purporting to solve our problems with their unique style, gimmick, food product, supplement, etc, etc, etc. We are free of all that now, once and for all.

Planning to stick with this along with my OH and son. I've lost over a stone in a month - husband has lost about 12lbs and son has gone down a trouser size... All good news here. finding it relatively easy to fit in with every day life

My hubby and I both intend to stick with this for the forseable future. We are 8 weeks in and find the fast days so much easier now so see no reason to stop. Both have lost about 1lb a week and new doctors medical showed our blood pressures as good. For the last month I've switched to online grocery shopping which means I don't get tempted by all the bad junk foods they stick on the end aisles plus I'm spending less as you can see the total as you go along.

[wildmissus]

I am still here after 3 months and I'm 1st 3lb lighter. I have no particular weight goal or time scale to achieve it in. Equally I have no reason to stop 5:2. Will I be here in a year - I expect so, its my way of life now.

Wow, what an inspiring thread

I'm only on my second fast, so new to all this, but reading all the comments on how easy it has been to stick to, I'm hoping I've actually found the right diet... sorry WOL lol, after years and years of trying different ones (which work, but then you put it all back on, and usually more in my case!!)

I was obsessed with thinking about what to eat all the time, that I'm really looking forward to only having to "think" about food on my two fast days.

Long may we all continue our journeys...

PS - yes, I plan on being here in three months time

Well, here we all are two months later and it looks like most, or all of us, are in it for the long haul, I know I am.

I know the hypothesis of the long term health benefits has not yet even proven with this way of life but I really hope it turns out the be true and this is what will keep me doing this for the rest of my life. I've never felt better and my maintenance regime is fabulous so, I'm in!!!

Ballerina x

Still here, 17lbs lighter, another stone to lose. Discipline is equally good for the soul as the body so onwards my friends, we can achieve good health and happiness together :0)

Hi, I have been a bit shakey the last few weeks. But you have all inspired me to keep going. It isn't that hard and even though I can't seem to shift off the plateau I am getting compliments so something must be working. Keep the faith!!!

6 weeks in and I'll be doing this WOL for the foreseeable future. Before I began 5 2ing my weight was stable during the week (might drop 1lb) but then I'd put it back on at the weekend. Holidays and Christmas etc saw a weight gain which I never lost so gradually, over the years, my weight went up. Since I began I've lost 6.5 lb and its been fairly easy.
52 forever!

Well I'm still here 13 weeks in. I've been on a plateau for the last month or so with just a little up and down fluctuation. I did go on holiday last week didn't fast at all and gained 1kg but promptly lost it again within a few days of being back which is great and different to my usual holiday experience when I would put on a couple of kilos and never get rid of them again.
Sometimes I get a bit dispondant when I don't loose for another week but hey I'm 7kg lighter than when I started and do think my appetitie is being re-educated about the amount of food I actually need. I've become aware of just how much food there is available all the time, biscuits, crisps, snacks and junk food at every turn and always the temptation to eat high fat high calorie food. I'm quite happy at work when lunch is provided (which always seems to be on a fast day) to just ignore all the food and drink a diet coke instead, previously I would have over eaten because it was all there for the taking!
Long may 5:2 continue

I'm still here after 11 weeks. My milestone is 28 fasts because I find doing something 28 times makes it a habit. That'll be about 3 months. Then I'll feel confident to say I'm doing this for life. I'm losing weight like a good'un and feel great so I love this diet! Long live all 5:2ers!

I started almost immediately after the Horizon programme because I saw it not so much as a weight losing diet but as a sustainable way of losing weight/maintaining weight with a possible health benefit.

By sustainable I mean a life style that I can keep to. I was always very uncomfortable with the weight control mantra that you had to eat every couple of hours in order to keep your metabolism going. I really could not understand that.

Also lots of diets are very, very prescriptive (faddy?) and I really could not be bothered with that either. I have never been 'obese' but I have certainly been between BMI 26-30 since 40. So overweight!

Since losing weight and following 5:2 I have not suffered heart burn or bloaty feeling. I have about another 14 pounds to lose but if I don't and keep this weight and cothing size (16) I will be very happy.

I can MAINTAIN 5:2 without feeling deprived.