The FastDay Forum

Fantastic! It's so great to read these success stories, they help keep me motivated!

I had to laugh at your description of lying on the bed struggling to zip your jeans, StowgateResident. I hadn't thought about it, but it's been awhile since I had to do that--a very good thing!

It also made me think of my friend who talked about being a teenager in the early 60's when all of the girls dressed in really tight western pants (rodeo wear) at the dances in El Cajon, California. They all carried pliers in their purses so they could lay grab hold of the zipper tab and (struggle) to pull it up.

Oh the things we do!

Update on our progress! Last week I lost four pounds! This sounds great but it was because I had an allergic reaction to some antibiotics and hardly ate anything all week! Consequently, this week I was fully expecting to regain most of that, despite having followed my usual pattern of 5:2 eating. However, I was pleasantly surprised to have only put back on half a pound, giving me an overall loss of three and a half pounds over two weeks and a grand total over thirteen weeks of twenty and a half pounds! My husband has lost seventeen and a quarter pounds in the same time, including three quarters of a pound in the last fortnight. I think it is safe to say that this WOE is working for us!

Our next big challenge is a fortnight's cruise, starting on May 1st. I haven't yet decided on an eating strategy, although my husband has declared that he is eating everything, all the time! Last time we were on a cruise, for only eight days, I gained nine pounds using his strategy, so I may have to try something different this time! Any suggestions, anybody?

It's a tough one with buffets laid on! My best suggestion would be to keep it to only 2 meals per day but then eat whatever you want!

I think Bethan has a good plan there!

Not really-the food is so tempting on a cruise,but at least you have the tools to loose it again when you get back!

Thanks, bethan and Madeyemoodysmum, for your suggestion. I'm not sure if I would cope with only two meals a day. Although on fast days I only have dinner, in the evening, and that's no problem for me, on non-fasting days I can't wait to get my breakfast, lunch and dinner, so I'm not sure how that would work out. I may have to try it, or just take each day as it comes, maybe?

Merlin, you are absolutely right. If I do succumb to the many temptations, then I know that there is a way to sort my weight out, provided that I get straight back to this WOE on our return. I have this (very unscientific) theory that it is easier to lose recently acquired weight, than that which has been there for years, so it should be relatively easy, although I'm sure that it would be better not to put it on in the first place!

"I have this (very unscientific) theory that it is easier to lose recently acquired weight, than that which has been there for years, so it should be relatively easy, although I'm sure that it would be better not to put it on in the first place"

I absolutely find this to be true for me; I've believed it for years.

Your progress and that of your hubby is really inspiring, well done and thank you

Thank you all for your suggestions on how to deal with the 'cruise food' problem. However, I'm ashamed to say that we dealt with it in the only way we know how. We ate too much, too often! Don't even ask about the alcohol!

My apologies if, when reading this, you sense that you may have read some of it before. It is a slightly more detailed account than the basic version, which appeared in another post of mine entitled ' Nine pounds on in fifteen days! How bad is that?'

Weigh in this morning (19th May) and I am pleased to report that I have already lost four pounds of my nine pounds of 'holiday weight' and that's since Thursday the 16th May. So, that's the excess fluid retention dealt with, and now I have to deal with the longer term problem of the fat that is still sitting around my middle! Five pounds of it to go before reaching my pre-holiday weight! Then only two and three quarter pounds to reach the target weight that I originally set of ten stone seven pounds. I may re-think that, if I ever get there, because it is only just inside the 'normal' range for my height of 5' 7".

My husband has lost seven and a half pounds of his 13 pound holiday weight gain in the same length of time and he too has five and a half pounds to get back to his pre-holiday weight. He then still needs to lose another seven pounds to bring him down to 13 stone 7 pounds which is just inside the normal range for his 6' 4" height.

Thank goodness for this WOE which has given us the tools to deal with weight gain so easily. We were back to fasting on the Thursday following our return on Wednesday evening - helped by the fact that we had very little food in the house anyway!

I am hoping that it won't take us too long to get back to our pre-cruise weight and then settle into losing the last few pounds. The true test will be when we need to maintain our weight - something which we have always found impossible to do. However, with this WOE, I am hopeful of success!

Happy fasting, everyone! Onwards and downwards!

Thank you for confirming that this way of life is sustainable in the long term. How many of us, in our past lives, have come home a holiday and never got back to any kind of weight management? This is where 5:2 s revolutionary. I just LOVE IT!

Ballerina x

At weigh-in this morning my husband has stayed the same as last week - 14 stone, 6 and a half pounds. We know why - there are chocolate biscuit bars (Tunnocks Wafers and Penguins) and ginger nuts (for dunking) in the house because he went shopping, instead of me, on Tuesday! He has been hitting them quite hard - and the chocolate-covered, ice cream lollies, which he also bought!

I have succumbed a couple of times but still managed to lose another two and a quarter pounds of my 'cruise' weight - only three and a quarter pounds before I am back to my pre-cruise weight and then only two and a quarter until I hit my ten stone seven pound target. Five and a half pounds to go - that seems quite manageable when I look at it like that!

Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend everyone! I'm off into the garden now to tackle the mountain (well forest, actually!) of weeds which are enjoying the sunshine!

Onwards and downwards!

Target weight achieved! I set my target at 10 stone 7 pounds when I started this WOE at the end of January. In 23 weeks I have lost 23 and a half pounds, despite a two-week cruise and a ten day holiday in Germany (combined weight regained on those two occasions 13 pounds!) and all the other social occasions which are part and parcel of everyday life. I got on and off the scales three times this morning to make sure that they were correct and the weight just didn't change!

However, there is a 'but' coming along! I have been here before, many times in the last forty years (I am a brilliant dieter!), and each time I have regained the lost weight when I returned to 'normal' eating after following a strict calorie-controlled diet. I couldn't begin to count the number of times the same twenty five pounds have been on and off! So, my real target it to maintain this weight for at least six months and then forever. Only then will I really believe that I have sorted out my eating habits forever.

I feel very hopeful this time because I have not had to deprive myself of any of the foods which I love (cakes, pastry, chocolate, wine, puddings etc.)whilst on this weight-loss journey. After previous diets there has always been an insidious little voice in the back of my mind saying, 'Do you really want to never have a piece of cake, meal out, etc. again?' and because I couldn't imagine a life without those things, I have only maintained my weight for a few weeks before the scales started to show their inevitable rise. With this WOE I can have my cake and eat it and not put my weight back on, so fingers crossed I will still be my current weight in six months time!

My husband has been less careful with his eating since we returned from Germany and is still hovering around the 14 stone 4 pound mark. However, he has still lost just under a stone and is now within the 'normal' range for his 6'4" height, rather than 'obese' when he started. I will keep him company doing 'classic' 5:2 while we nudge him down to about 13 stone 12 pounds.

Good luck to those of you still with weight to lose. Onwards and downwards!

Hi, all! I haven't been on the forum for a few weeks - apart from one flying visit, but I have been thinking about you! I saw Moogie's 'confession' of a few days overeating on another post - well, I have had a few weeks of over-eating (big-time)! That means that, despite deciding to allow myself 2lb either side of my target weigh (which I achieved in July), I have managed to regain nine pounds since the end of September!

All is not lost, however! I fasted last Tuesday and Friday and had lost an amazing five pounds on yesterdays weigh-in. I've fitted in another fast today and feel as if I'm back on track to regain my target weight.

The positive side to this is that I have actually taken myself in hand and got back to this WOE. On my many previous diets, it would have been ‘game-over’ and I would have continued to eat until I could barely fit into my clothes, which would then trigger months of strict dieting – only for the pattern to repeat itself – over and over and over again!

So,hurrah for 5:2 and this wonderful forum!

Since my last entry my weight had gone back up again to 11 stone and three quarters of a pound, but, after a week of 5:2, I weighed in at ten stone, nine pounds (149lb) this morning, so back to within two pounds of the target of ten stone, seven pounds (147lb) which I reached in July.

At that time my long term aim was to keep within two pounds of my target weight, so I have achieved that! Now I intend to have a couple of careful weeks, in the run-up to Christmas/New Year, in order to provide a little buffer for the Holiday feasting!

Where would I be without this WOE? Heading for eleven stone, seven pounds, I suspect! Keep the faith, people! Onwards and downwards!

[Betsysgr8]

Well done SR! Love hearing how the maintaineers maintain. You've nipped that gain in the bud before it could get out of control and start you back on the diet roller-coaster.