FastDay User Blogs

I’m writing this as a record for myself really as I’m sure in years to come I’ll look back and really not remember the chain of events in the correct order.
Can’t believe it will be of any real interest to anyone else, but am leaving it open for viewing because anyone with a lot of weight to shed may find a bit of help/support from my ramblings!

I’m coming up for 55 and have, since the birth of my 3 children steadily put on weight. I’ve tried various diets like SW and WW over the years and yes they have been good and helped me – but the weight has always gone back on again and more. About 2 years ago now (or thereabouts) even size 18 was getting too tight for me and the scales were saying that I weighed almost 15stone / 210 lbs – and at 5’6 that's not good.
The thought of going up to a size 20 and weighing 15 stone was – for me – a real questioning point about what I was doing to myself. My poor organs, how were they coping, how long would they last out – what on earth was I thinking !!

At about the same time I started to have quite severe pains in my right hip. Off to the GP I trotted, or rather slumped, – he suggested I shed some weight as it wasn’t helping me but at the same time referred me to a consultant with suspected arthritis in my joint. I put myself on a calorie restricted diet and told myself to start sorting it out!! I saw a consultant who confirmed osteo-arthritis in both hips, the right quite a bit worse than the left. He advised that I was quite young to have a hip replacement and his advice would be to try and manage the pain with pain killers when needed – and I should shed some weight. (He was a private consultant through my husband’s work, so the fact that he advised against surgery straight away gave me confidence that he was considering my whole situation). I struggled for nearly a year – the pain got worse and worse – I was on a lot of painkillers daily and had started to have acupuncture to try and control the pain in a less intrusive, pill-popping way. Although the acupuncture helped it still wasn’t giving me a good enough quality of life at a relatively young age. All this time it was getting more and more difficult to walk for long lengths of time and I was struggling to simply maintain my weight without putting any more back on - and I certainly wasn't getting lighter. Eventually I couldn’t even walk down to the local shops – it was just too painful. At that stage (April 2012) I decided enough was enough. The consultant had said that when I couldn’t cope I should go back and discuss it further. As soon as I walked in the room I just said that it was almost unbearable and I really wasn't coping – he said, straightaway “that’s fine, don’t struggle any longer – come in in a fortnight and we’ll do a full hip replacement”.

Very apprehensive, was I doing the right thing? – but what choice did I really have ? – at age 54 I wasn’t prepared to be in so much pain and have so little mobility. At that stage of having the hip replacement I’d lost nearly a stone (over the course of a year) and weighed about 14st so I’d made quite a good start considering the lack of exercise/pain I was in.

Well, the hip operation was a life changer (little did I realise that a second life changer was just around the corner!) - I recovered fairly quickly - started regular walking for exercise. I've always enjoyed walking and being outside - and the fact that I'd not been able to walk painfree for quite a long period of time meant that I was delighted to walk everywhere and anywhere just because I could !!!

Then came the summer and the infamous MM and the Horizon programme. My hubby knew how I was really working on shedding weight and is, and always has been, very supportive of efforts that I make. When I saw the programme on I said I was going to watch it and OH said - I'll come and watch it with you.
At the end of the programme he looked at me and said "well, it's a no brainer.... I'll do that with you". We'd got a holiday booked in September so wanted to wait until after that before starting 5:2 - and we also wanted to see our GP to have our bloods done. We finally got to see out GP late October who was supportive in as much as if it was going to help us shed weight then give it a go (OH only had about 2 stone to shed - me over 4 stone). He agreed to take our bloods and he'd then do them again 4-5 months later to see if there'd been any change. We then realised that our scales at home were nearly half a stone too light and we were both heaver than we'd thought. In hindsight that had put me at 15.5 stone when I thought I was approaching 15stone

We obviously both realise that the other benefits of 5:2 are not proven and may not be proven one way or another for quite some time (maybe not even in our lifetime). Having said that the weight loss in itself is enough of a benefit to promote it - if there are other benefits regarding alzheimers and longevity well they're an added bonus.

Come 1st November 2012 we started 5:2. I weighed in at just over 13st (so 2 stone lighter than 18 months previously). I struggled initially with headaches and couldn't go through the day without having food - so my calorie intake was over the course of the day. OH went straight in and only ate in the evening. I have now overcome headaches and I also go all the way through to dinner time when we eat our main & only food of the 36 hour period.

We both put on a few lbs during our September holiday away and also over Christmas - but we really do see this 5:2 as a WOL now so at special times like holidays/special occasions we can continue to enjoy our food (without going OTT) and know that afterwards we go back to 5:2 and carry on to reach goal weight and, finally, a Maintenance Plan.

Hubby has now lost nearly 2 stone and is only a few lbs off of his target weight of 12 stone. My weight loss is slow but I'm not worried about that - this is not a quick fix - it's something that I certainly need to adopt for life. This is so much easier than WW and SW - you really only have to watch what you eat on your fast days - on feast days I'm aware of what I'm eating - but if I want chocolate, some crisps or similar 'evils' then I make allowances for eating them and enjoy them. I don't feel deprived of any food whatsoever 'cos I can eat whatever I want, but just not on fast days and obviously not as much as I want - which is where I think some people are misunderstanding this WOL. Yes there have been a couple of times since November when I've been stupid and binged, but the next day I eat a bit less than my TDEE and my trend of shedding weight seems to be continuing.

I've still got 2 stone to shed - I'd like to get down to 10 st which will be the first time for a long, long, long time that I've weighed so little. If I can manage that then I would have shed a third of my weight (originally being 15.5 stone) - and that thought is quite amazing. So I've got some way to go as yet - the app on my phone tells me that I should achieve 10 stone shortly before Christmas (just in time to put on a few lbs over the festive period !!!) but I'm OK with that. I know I could exercise more (I do very little apart from walking) and my sedentary desk job (receptionist) doesn't help - but the summer's on it's way - long evenings etc., so I've started getting off the train a stop earlier and walking the 2.2 miles home to up my exercise a little bit.

I LOVE food, always have done - and if I can really manage to shed a third of my original weight I will be over the moon. I truly find this very easy and, as I've said, just don't feel that I'm depriving myself of all the things that I love - yes even the occasional McDonalds and IKEA meatballs (who cares about the horse meat maybe that's why they taste so good !!!)

I'm experimenting with a true 36 hour fast with no food at all at the moment (but that's another story for maybe another time) - there's a current thread on the forum (trying a 36 hour no food fast). May write about that another time

If anyone has got to the bottom of these ramblings then well done - as I started off by saying, this is really for myself to look back on - but if it does encourage anyone with 5+ stone to shed then I wish you well - it can be done - it doesn't have to be painful and make you feel like you're depriving yourself. Good luck to everyone on this forum - this has been a real life changer. Support and information on this forum is fantastic - congratulations to everyone who makes it work - it's a wonderful success story - long may it last.