IF, 4:3, 5:2 - Maintaining a healthy weight - Chapter 2

[Breadandwine]

This thread is for those who have been practicing IF (Intermittent Fasting) for quite a while and are now at or nearing their target healthy weight. It's also for anyone who is doing it for the health benefits alone.

How do we experience fasts and balance a stable food intake while having little or no weight to lose?

How do we ensure that this WOL keeps us at the healthy weight long term rather than revert to yoyo games?

Several of us have been stable at our goal weight for a few months, now, and others are joining all the time. Obviously, the more the merrier!

Here is the current main thread for posters practicing IF to lose weight.

There are two other associated threads:
This one, which is an absolute goldmine of Tips and Links on how to practice IF, and the research behind it.

And here is a treasure trove of 5:2 recipes, mostly low calorie for fasting days, but there are also recipes for when you want to treat yourself. And, now we're maintaining, we'll need more of these!

Hope you're ok literarygeek, good to see you back

I'm 30 today and it's American Mothers Day so I think I'll take myself and my DC off for pancakes then it's an afternoon at the beach with a picnic planned then it is back on the wagon with the last three weeks ahead before my 545mile charity bike ride. 4:3, no alcohol, no refined sugar, some form of exercise very day. Eeeeeek....

FYI if anyone is interested, the ride is to raise money for those suffering from HIV/AIDS in California, I'm cycling from San Francisco to LA in 7 days and am a bit scared! Have set a birthday challenge, 30 donations of $30, so if anyone has some loose change knocking about, feel free to sponsor me! You can spread donations over how ever many months as you want (eg $3/month for the next 10months)

Can't work out how to do links on my phone so apologies for cut and paste link!

Http://tofighthiv.org/goto/feloy

Happy 30th Americas!

ATB
your profile pic on that page is WHY people do 5:2
you look great
and wave to my cousins as you pedal through Santa Cruz - lots of them live there!

Happy Birthday ATB jealous of afternoon on the beach .pretty wet and yuk here .

Brilliant challenge , I'm sure you'll do brilliantly..and yes you look great . if that's what 133 looks like I want some! (and I'm only 7lbs off,having now lost my temporary gain from water retention or whatever )

So I'm with you on the 4:3 and daily exercise as from this week for the the start of the 'bikini' fast this week .(though not sure if I'll be giving up my Friday and Saturday , il see how strong I'm feeling then ).

I usually do Sundays Tues and Thurs but this week planning to do Mon Tues and Thurs as today has been shot in the foot rather by the ambush of some h/m lemon ice cream which leapt out of the freezer and forced its way down my throat just now ! .

literarygeek ((( hug))) from me too, please do post on here if you need to talk , Tip is right i've certainly found everyone on here really supportive .

Mintyy Hi good to see you , how are you getting on?

Thanks both - and thanks Laska for the donation! tis the biggets motivator, I really appreciate it

Well 6:1 obviously isn't for me. 6 days of eating and drinking has seen me put on 3lb. It was a holiday weekend so I probably drank a bit more than normal but still.

I'm hoping some of it is bloating and will come straight off. I think I'll stick to 5:2 for a bit.

frenchfancy, 6:1 + bank holiday = bad for me too!
I'm going to go back to 5:2 this week I think as another excessive weekend is coming up.
Aiming for 500-600 cals today, although I must eat gluten and have calcium due to health ishoos atm.
Good luck if you're fasting today, I know Monday is a popular choice!

Good morning all.

Well basically had 2 weeks off (again ) from fasting up until yesterday. Was taking some teams on a football tour over the Bank Holiday weekend and thought rather than get the train I'd cycle there but with the trip being 136 miles thought it probably best not to do any Fasts in the build up. The furthest I'd done previously in one hit was 95 miles, until a pedal arm snapped off going up a hill however that was ten or so years back before the grey hairs started to set in.
In the end the journey was relatively easy apart from some pretty painful sweat sores....but no need to go into more detail there.

Got back last Tuesday after having had to catch the train back for part of the journey due to increasingly raw butt and some Aldi cycling shoes that decided to fall apart near Ipswich . Although I'd intended to get straight back into 4:3ing a combination of feeling a bit man-fluey (like flu but obviously much worse ) and a will-power crash meant that Sunday was the first day back on this WOE.

Isn't it weird how in your head the thought of fasting seems so daunting after a week or two away, but once you've had one successful Fast it all becomes mentally achievable again. From August to December last year I found this WOE really easy, then fell off over Christmas, got back in the swing after new year, fell off again when I reached my lowest weight got back on again and now having to get my mind back in gear after 2 weeks of slipping away. For me 'mindset' is everything about this WOE. When I'm mentally pointing the right way it's a breeze, when I'm not it feels like a pretty steep hill.

HOWEVER 1 of the huge strengths of this WOE and the health benefits of it as far as I'm concerned anyway, is the way you can fall off it for a fortnight or month or so, but then get back on and very quickly be back feeling great with really great results. Yeah I admit that maintaining IS going to be harder than I anticipated last year but it is achievable and more than that can be a very enjoyable, healthy way of living.

If you're like me initially finding it quite easy but now frustrated by falling on and off the wagon, this forum is an amazing help. To be honest I don't know where I'd be without it, so thanks to everyone out there for sharing their stories, tips, highs and lows etc...it really does make a difference.

Hi Mintyy, good to see you still on here. With your husbands stalling; rather than calorie count on Non-Fast days is he drifting away slightly from the 600 cals on Fast days. Personally I was pretty strict early on about sticking to the 600 last year but can go over a couple of hundred nowadays. It might just be me or a coincidence but I found weightloss very fast before despite eating everything I wanted on Non-Fast days but not so fast now, as I'm drifting more towards 700 to 800 hundred rather than 5 to 600.

A belated Happy Birthday ATB and thoughts are with you LiterayGeek . Congratulations Sis on your 5 day challenge, I don't think you'll be looking a lump of lard in the face for a while...Lard now there's a blast from the past. And hi ThinkIcan great to see you still out there.

....now off to eat my post-fast Toast

Happy birthday ATB - hope you had a fantastic day and enjoyed wearing those size 4 jeans?!

(((((Literary Geek))))))

B&W you are an absolute inspiration :) :) I sooooo want to come along to one of your classes!

Still trying to work out how to maintain, and what level of fluctuation I'm happy to live with....Friday morning weighed in at 9.2.6 (my lowest ever) but indian on Friday night, guests for Saturday lunch and an absolutely mammoth black tie dinner on Saturday night, complete with the biggest and best cheese selection I have ever seen on display anywhere outside of Neals Yard, and I felt utterly bloated by Sunday morning (and scales said 9.7...eek!) :(

So not sure I have quite figured out the right balance yet! I won't fast in front of dcs (and had quite a hangover) so had 2 small slices of pizza for lunch with them and super-healthy leftovers from Saturday lunch last night (lamb stew, couscous, salad) - back at 9.5 on the nose this morning.

Feels like I'm maintaining well on 5:2, so I finish every week in a good place, but then just 2 or 3 days 'off' and it all piles back on. Now, I know that's not strictly true, and that overall my eating habits are waaaay better and I'm even leaving food on my plate when I'm full (including the thoroughly delicious but way too rich dessert on Saturday night...I had 3 spoons and stopped ) but I'm not sure I want to be 5:2ing forever...any thoughts?

Filly since you've reached goal weight, week on week since then is the overall trend still downwards (ignoring inevitable mid-week/post weekend gains)?

I'm still losing on 5:2 (I only weigh weekly, the morning after my 2nd fast, so I have no idea about post-indulgent-eating-day gains) even though I've officially reached my target weight. But for now I'm happy to keep losing a bit more to give myself a comfortable bounce margin. If this is you too then continue with 5:2.

But if you definitely don't want to lose more then what about 6:1?

belated happy birthday americas pancakes, beach and picnic sounds pretty damn perfect to me, shame your OH not there, but your DC's will no doubt keep you busy....(so much for a break on Mothers day eh? we hopefully have that to come when they are older!) (ps your photo looks great!)

literary so sorry to hear of your sad losses, I echo the others, anytime you need to chat, we're here!

cyclist you and I regular faller offers and get back on agains, but maybe the more times we do this the more it'll confirm that this is the best WOE!

I spent quite a while trying to talk a good friend round at the weekend, she is about 3-4 stone overweight, is a yo yo dieter, is claiming the menopause and now HRT is preventing her from losing weight, said she tried fasting for 2 weeks and lost nothing, but I suspect she is eating way over her TDEE on the other days, so think she should start on 4:3 and not expect fast results, but she's very impatient, I think I may have got through to her in the end, I hope so, think she'll be re-energised by it, and I've promised next time she visits (hopefully in the new house) we'll have a totally healthy few days of beach walks and no chocolate or wine!

hi minty good to see you here, how are you doing with it all? I think the re-calculating TDEE now that your OH has lost a fair amount is good advice from tip I think a long while back someone discredited the idea of your body holding onto fat once it got used to a way of being, and honestly, i think oher than a week or 2 blip, if it persists as a trend then it's more likely down to simple maths, but maybe he has other health concerns etc that have an impact? but in honesty, I do 5:2 and havemn't lost for ages, but I know it's becasue I eat too much on non fast, so i am using 5:2 to maintain, to lose I'd have to do 4:3 or reduce intake on the non fast days. good luck whatever he decides.

breadandwine wow, very busy week, and it's got me thinking I should learn to bake bread as well as cakes, maybe rather than teaching people to bake and decorate cakes as my new vocation up north I should widen my repertoire to (healthier) breads and maybe get trained to do similar classes to kids like you. You are certainly very inspirational!

have a good week all.

mumof I'm on HRT and have lost 30lbs

thanks for birthday wishes and donations to the ride everyone...had a lovely if hungover day on the beach with lots of other families so only had to do 75% of the childcare I would have done on my own!

Back on the wagon today, contemplated a WI but thought it might depress me top much and would rather start off on positive note. DD down for her nap, faced with a choice between Shred and packing...I'm choosing Shred...

Oops failed fast .. dont care though so obviously heart wasn't in it today .. Was good all day , but as soon as I walked through the door it all spectacularly collapsed ...

Note to self.... try not to make yummy lemon ice cream again..and if you do , dont eat it all in two sittings ( luckily it wasn't that much - about 300ml - and being H/M wasn't too bad being half 0% Greek yoghurt , and fairly low sugar ) . but having had dessert first I'm on the and cheese now.. I must endeavour to keep ATB as my inspiration .. I even failed a free invite to Zumba this evening

But hey....Tomorrow (as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, said ) is Another Day!!

Filly I do intend to 5:2 forever, I think its the way forward for me , who has lost and gained so much in her life and now never wants to be big again , but does ( as you can see) want to enjoy her grub and drink - even if its dessert first!

Bro glad to see you here again but that was quite a lot of information there! Ouch! poor you Do you still have plans for John O groats? If so, you'll have to get 'saddle hard' again

MONCK how are you doing? , have you recovered your missing rent money? (that was pretty darned low of your ex-lodger) . Do you do cakes now or is this to be a new venture? I do think bread making is a good way to go though..people often seem to be scared of it and so its a great skill to pass on .

I've been looking at more wood fired outdoor ovens , expensive though, think ill have to go down the DIY route, and see if I can source fire bricks instead.

Actually, what I'd really like to build is a sort of garden chalet and sauna with an adjoining smoker/wood oven type thing .. Wouldn't that be great? What parties eh? Sadly though am not lottery winner though and only mere local government worker so it would definitely have to be home made! Anyone got any spare pallets?

maybe rather than teaching people to bake and decorate cakes as my new vocation up north I should widen my repertoire to (healthier) breads and maybe get trained to do similar classes to kids like you.

MOCNK that's a very worthy ambition!

If there's anything I can do to help turn you into a breadmaking tutor, you only have to ask. I have some good teacher info on my blog - I'll see if I can collect it all in one place for you.

Laska have a look at this wood-fired oven forum:

ukwoodfiredovenforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=2ndwebcambuild&action=display&thread=1174

I know Terry, the guy who runs the forum - he's a great guy and very keen. He (and everyone on there) - they're very helpful.

filly i def intend to 5:2 forever, the biggest selling point is I never have to go on a "conventional" or crash diet, can continue enjoying red wine and green and blacks and cheese guilt free. It's the first time I've finally managed to stick to "everything in moderation"

ooh B&W this looks interesting, will have to spend sometime looking this forum over..I do like the idea of a woodfired oven building course ..are you thinking of going?

Yep I'm hoping all this falling off will make me better at staying on in the end MOCNK. I can see myself doing this in a years time, but can envisage plenty of blips along the way....but maybe that's one of the strengths of this WOE, it's flexibility.

And sis, sorry for all the gruesome details re saddle sores . In the end decided I couldn't afford to do the Lands End to John O Groats stint as even in Bed and Breakfasts and Youth Hostels the costs would have been too great. Going to do the 200k Hackney to Dunwich overnight run instead in July. Nowhere near as much of a challenge but should be a laugh and hopefully will raise enough to buy all the kids at the club a tracksuit each for next season. Any advice on avoiding saddle sores would be gratefully received

Well due to Fast tomorrow, so got to go and hide the bread so it doesn't sabotage me first thing in the morning.

Have a great day all

Thanks for the comments back about maintaining on 5:2....I guess I still haven't worked out where I want to stop at, which will probably easily inform what I need to do to stay there. To be fair, I only ever want to lose 7lbs, to get back to 9.7, which was what I weighted through most of my 20's and which I passed a few weeks ago - so in theory everything since then is kind of a bonus.

I don't mind sticking on 5:2 forever, but really I'd like to re-align my eating habits sufficiently that I don't need to from a weight perspective, just a health one, if you see what I mean. So I get a little dispirited and cross with myself when I all piles on again over the weekend because it indicates I'm not excercising quite enough self-control. Hey ho. But you're right MOCNK and Laska - my weight it still going down slowly. As I said, I just need to figure out where I want to stop, and then what to do about it...I'm utterly terrified that 6:1 won't cut it.

Sorry, this has been an entirely self-centred post....I won't do it again :

Hi folks

Coming up to 30 hours fasting, ATM. Although (at the insistence of my wife) I had a meal tonight, I kept it under 200 calories.

Danger time coming up, though, as I have a chocolate and beetroot sourdough loaf in the oven as I type - and a batch of Chelsea buns to go in when the sourdough is baked. These are for a men's coffee morning tomorrow.

Actually, there's no real danger, though, since I'm well in the zone - time enough to taste these two at the coffee morning. And I won't have breakfast - which will leave me plenty of scope!

B&W you are an absolute inspiration I sooooo want to come along to one of your classes!

Filly, you'd be very welcome. I've just got my 2013/14 schedule and I've got 7 courses lined up - in Minehead, Bridgwater and Taunton.

Sorry, this has been an entirely self-centred post....I won't do it again

Why not? This is the very place for you to sound off. And 6:1 isn't so bad - not if you love chips the way I do, anyway!

No, seriously, just as you had to get used to 5:2, you'll get used to 6:1.

I'm coming round to the thought that, since our ancestors never exercised self-restraint when they were feasting, neither should we. I think we should have one day a week when we really let ourselves go - especially when we're maintaining.

Laska not sure about the workshop - looks bloody good, though! On second thoughts I'd better not - knowing me I'll come back from there all enthused and vowing to put one up in our tiny garden!

(Thinks, "Still, there'd be less lawn to mow...")

Oh filly you absolutely should be writing posts like that! All the sharing of experiences and aims and achievements has really helped me. And I do see what you mean.

No advice on saddle sores - I am yet to experience that but have been armed already with some random
American butt cream courteousy of some major sponsors of the ride. The very thought terrifies me! have you ever had sore toes? My left toes are starting to be in agony after only 30miles which worries me greatly

Right today I'm fasting

YOUR'E FASTING, Ok, Laska? ,Thats not stuffin yer gob with everythinginthe fridge as soon as you get in..

Try to Remember..

Morning Sis, yeah you and me both, important to get a full day in today. Focus on what you are gaining by having a successful day, not what you are depriving yourself of (i.e. the contents of your fridge and home made lemon ice cream).

ATB, what's in the 'random butt cream' (never thought I'd be asking that on-line)!!! I've had a problem with my little toes as well, started on the left foot then on the right. Pretty painful when cycling and then a purple colour afterwards. I cut a slight slit in the shoes I was wearing at the time and it seemed to help. The Aldi cycling shoes I bought the other week didn't cause a problem as they fell apart before my toes even touched the side.

Morning Fillybuster, yeah I think maintaining is always going to be a lot harder than the initial losing (but time will tell). Like you what worries me is how I'm eating when I'm not fasting. Fine as long as I continue to Fast and according to all the early research not harmful at all...the problem comes when I keep those habits but can't fit in the Fast days.

Cyclistist that sounds scary about toes! Bugger, I need to get this sorted pronto, it becomes so painful, relieved if I take my shoes off at rest stops but I am quite concerned about coping with 7days constant riding in that much pain. I'll find out the name of the "butt butter"...only in America!! (sorry everyone for OT randomness!)

I have the same fear about non fast days, the old "fuck it I've eaten a slice of toast now, may as well write the day off and eat everything in sight" mentality is hard to get rid of. Had a successful fast day yesterday after my week off but ashamed how often I still go to bed on non fast days painfully bloated.

It's 3:15am, DS woke me up after a nightmare half an hour ago and I can't get back to sleep