The FastDay Forum

Well done Caroline and 150lbs. Re the choc, it's amazing I went shopping today walked past the biscuits and sweets with a SMILE coz I was thinking, I can eat you if I want, I just don't want to right now.

Bee, I am noticing the same feelings in the supermarkets. I have just found 3 bars of cherry chilli chocolate in my cupboard which I was so partial to last year. They will be out of date next week, so decided to have a couple of squares. You know, I didn't enjoy them one little bit. I don't even feel like passing them onto anyone, because really, they are not proper food. My husband just says BIN the lot, and I may well find the strength to do that!. I am on a fast day tomorrow, so that may be a positive move to prove to myself that I am in this for life. I have never smoked, thankfully, but feel that the chocolate may have been a real addiction that I have finally broken. I get support from people like you commenting on things that are matching my own experiences.

Well did weekly weigh yesterday and weight had stayed the same but 2cm gone from waist!!

2cm purdymadame...fantastic!

150lbs and Bee....I'm getting the same thing as you two. I adore chocolate/biscuits/cakes/sweets but now when I know that I can eat them I just don't crave them so much...at all really. Yesterday I filled my car with fuel and stood and stared at the choc bars by the till but couldn't decide which of them to buy. Much to my own surprise I didn't buy any at all. I do suspect that part of it is because I value the calories I eat now and know that sweet items are very calorific and I am trying to keep to about 1400 on my feast days...I think the first week or so I was finding that I ate more than that and so my loss has been quite slow.

The weight is coming off, thankfully, but I am still a bit concerned about %fat not shifting like I would like it to. All chocy now out of the house, which was no great deal at all, and appetite fully stabilised. No wish to eat any rubbish, which amazes me.
In the 5 months prior to starting 5:2, I lost 4lbs following an exercise regime, which I was doing to improve flexibility and mobility of a stiff shoulder joint, so the 4lbs off was a nice bonus. My GP has never been concerned about my weight, "just have to keep taking the medication for the common threesome--- type II diabetes, raised cholesterol and hypertension" seemed to be the only care offered. But after seeing Dr M's Horizon programme this year, it really made me think that the NHS is being complacent about the likes of me, and it was not sufficient to continue like I was doing. As the news this week has shown, diabetic care is not as good as it could be, and I am so thankful that I have found another direction to improve on my health situation. So.....8lbs, YES 8 lbs off in 4 weeks of 5:2ing, just goes to show there was something else I ought to have been doing to improve my well being! Shame the health professionals are not shouting this from the roof tops. I am just so pleased, and do hope my story will encourage others along the way.

Well done, and yes it is encouraging to read so keep posting.

Hi CaroRees and everyone using this forum. I've been on the Fast Diet just over six weeks now, and I thought I'd send in a progress report. I've lost 10lb altogether (about 4.5 kilos) and I'm delighted. I hope soon to be exiting the Obese zone ...

Here are some of the things that made a difference this time. First, the book, the forum, and the progress tracker. Lots of thanks to all you guys. Second, my diagnosis as Type 2 diabetic - not good news in itself, of course, but it's my opinion that my insulin mechanism has been up the creek for years, and the medicine I've been prescribed (Metformin) has I think made a big difference. Third, it's only a day at a time, and that I can manage - and I haven't noticed any increase in appetite on feast days. All these factors have made me trust the process more: I don't panic when the weekly weigh-in is disappointing, and I'm managing to fit in fairly regular exercise (my bike is my best friend here!). I think, for the first time in my fairly long life, I've found a way or eating which I can stick to, and which has major benefits to my health and wellbeing. So - thanks again to the 5:2 community.

I 'm reading round other diets today, and catching up on postings here. It strikes me that people are looking for a way of modifying The Fast Diet to suit themselves. Whilst a personal modification may indeed work in the end, I have gone back to actually find the principle theme of The Fast Diet, and I really think the answer is to totally fast, except for calorie free fluids, for about 16 hours, on 2 non-consecutive days per week. To do something different, is another diet, isn't it? In fact, I have had to re-read the book to realise that the researchers seem to say that to achieve the benefit of reducing the insulin response, and thus switch to fat burning, the stress of a FAST is required. Otherwise, we are doing a calorie reduced diet, which we know may inevitably cause weight reduction on its own, but not change the body over to fat burning, needed to remove fat deposits around our middles. Am I being too pedantic, or are others seeing it this way? I have lost weight over the last month, but I know I have been spreading my 500 calories over the duration of the fast days. I now intend to really try to do actual FASTS, and see how I manage.

I've just completed my eighth fast, so not very experienced, but I find it easier to just go completely without solid food for 24 hours. So whatever time I have my last meal the night before a fast say 6pm, I don't eat again until 6pm the next day. It works well as long as I keep busy and hydrated. My digestive system is coping and so far the weight is coming off. I feel great!

I am pleased to hear from Catscratch that you are following that process, because your weight loss is quite significant. Has your waist measurement reduced as well? I do worry a little about implementing the full fast as I take my diabetic medication at 12 hourly intervals, and a 16 hour spell may prove problematic. But I will just have to see, won't I. Well done, and I thnk keeping hydrated is an important factor as well.

After only 5 weeks, I have broken through a barrier this morning. Just another 1lb off this week, (9lbs in total), but waist measurement cracked the 50% marker, albeit 49.92%!!! But never mind, it is in the right direction. The best news is my fat % has dropped from 39.3% to 36%, and I think that is fantastic news for me, along with a healthier BMI of 24.7. I am loving this lifestyle, and finding it so straight forward to follow. Next week I have all my 6 monthly bloods taken, followed by 1st appointment with diabetic consultant, after 15 years of being diagnosed as type II diabetic. Should I tell him how I have achieved this new state of well being?

Love your post 150lbs.
Hope your improved results will speak for themselves, then you can pass on the benefits of 5:2 to the professionals!
Good luck with the bloods.

Thanks Bellalou, and even if the bloods are not that remarkable just yet, I know how much better I am feeling in myself. I have a new lease of life at 65, instead of sliding downwards on the cusp of my dotage.
Off to pilates and aquafit now.
We all have to keep at it, supporting one another. Cheers.

I love reading about people's progress especially yours Caroline. Gives me renewed enthusiasm for this WOL.

I am absolutely fascinated by this reduction in sugar consumption/cravings. I have been exactly the same, I actually do not want to eat chocolate or sweets, I am wanting to eat fruit rather than buscuits or cake. I am finding cereals oversweetened and today OH made me my usual coffee with two sugars and I couldn't drink it. This is weird!!

Well done 150lbs. Your positive attitude and better health is so good to read. I have not lost weight but feel so much better after starting the 5:2 WOE. I wish I had measured my waist, hips, chest, thighs and upper arms before I started the 5:2. My clothes feel looser around the waist and particularly around the hips. Also my jeans are baggier around the thighs and dresses feel comfier around my upper arms.

I am going to get my bloods done at the surgery in April and I'll compare the results with the December blood results.