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!

mumofcrazynamedkids Definitely turn it into a positive - you'll feel so much better for it!

Lovely, lovely story about your brother! That's worth the admission charge alone!

Is he going to carry on fasting now his bmi is down to normal? Let us know how he progresses. Give him a hug from me!

And have a hug for yourself re your house selling!

mocnk
I swim 200 metres in 5 minutes : head up breaststroke. Normal swim is a mile = 1604 metres. One three minute break half way to natter. I write emails and reports and plan my day while swimming.

Brother - so so glad its working for him. The pattern and control approach is probably spot on for his brain.
House - oh bugger. No, save the wine. You'll be happier with yourself tomorrow. Just make sure you have the Moet in the cupboard for when it does sell.

Tip & mocnk, I have access to a small pool - and my usual routine is 70 x 3m in 5 minutes. My PB is 225m.

I then walk/jog/lope around the pool 100 times - which, at my best, takes 12.5 minutes. Then I swim in the counter-current until it slows down - about another 2.5 minutes.

So, 20 minutes fairly intensive exercise daily.

I can certainly tell the difference if I go away for a week or so!

thanks breadandwine I think he is going to carry on fasting, he finds it easy and he wants to lose a bit more, and he really likes the extra energy he has.

lol he'd hate a hug from me or anyone though, but maybe an email congrats will work, I'll try!

"Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" is on Ch4 at 8.00pm tonight - brilliant and inspiring!

Well worth watching!

tip one of the better (anonymous) quotes i learned is " if you only drink fizz for celebrations then you'll never drink enough, so drink fizz for the best times and the worst to balance things out " but i will hold off until tomorrow!

Oops! Ch5 at 8pm - sorry!

Oh mumof sorry about the house, what a palaver - def hold off til tomorrow on wine, high I do like your fizz quote. On the other hand great news about your brother! Must be wonderful to see the mental as well as physical change.

All this talk of swimming - I've managed shred ONCE this week and power yoga once, but booked into the YMCA pool tomorrow morning for the first time since pre bike ride, and so so looking forward to it

FD but on my todd with DS who is calling me to play Lego...then he wants to bake. Joy.

Back again and back on track thanks for your kind words everyone. Doing much better with eating and exercising - I think I just needed to touch base again to remember the progress we've made. Getting back into my running (never thought i would ever say that!!) and Badminton (always hoped to play again one day and now I'm playing twice a week.) Life is good when the sun shines and the wine is cold .

Wherever you are now stop and think about how much your life has changed since seeing MM last August. A lot of you will be approaching your first fasting birthday I was a late comer I didn't start until September we have come so far in our first year and now we are learning how to maintain, just as we learned to fast. My most valued lesson has to be that fasting only works when you are doing it LOL I know it's hardly rocket science but I had rather hoped that there would be some residual magical changes to my eating habits , tastes and food/alcohol choices even when I am not fasting. Now I've learned there's not. If I fall off the wagon I put on weight Seemples and what goes on comes off again at roughly the same pace as it goes on. I'm still learning and everyday is a school day

mocnk fingers crossed for third time lucky

Skinnyeye wise words.

Breadandwine thanks for reminding me about that documentary. I'm recording it now.

Good post skinnyeye

Yum. eating day..a h/m lamb burger beetroot hummus and grilled goats cheese with salad ( no bread) for lunch at a cafe .. then a whole grilled plaice with caper butter and fresh garden veg for dinner plus two glasses white wine.. yum ..

Thats probably it for me now until Friday am .. (unless i raid the garden courgettes and have them grilled with lemon juice and a little olive oil and garlic tomorrow evening)

I love this WOE and Yep skinneye it only works if you fast , but the last year has taught me that the eating days are so great and guilt free!

DR MM you probably dont read this but if you do , let me say that you have changed my life so much for the better in the last year

I think i will join you Laska i have a nice chilled sauvignon in the fridge and a fast day tomorrow so I'm going to have a night cap cheers

Came in from dancing and watched 'Fat, sick and nearly dead'. What an amazing journey those two men went on. The programme was so amusing with the cute graphics and it explained about fasting in a clear, easy way.
I find it incredible that they both fasted for 60 days, drinking only fresh, raw juices. It has now made me feel ashamed of myself when I think of how hard I sometimes find it to get through my fast days and they are only one day.
I hope to be able to think of these guys in future and think myself lucky that I am not starting at over 400lbs!

thanks to breadandwine for the tip to watch the 'fat sick and nearly dead' doc. was really enjoyable, loved the community juice programme the second guy started up.

I baked 2 banana and choc loaves last night, but didn't eat any and didn't drink wine either, also managing 16:8 and was considering a 3rd and back to back fast today, but there were free sandwiches at work, so ate 3 quarters and drank a cup of chicken stock and will just have a healthy ish day instead, with maybe a gin and tonic tonight!

We have a new buyer in reserve wanting to buy, but my solicitor erring on caution and so we are waiting to see if we can sort very complicatd lease/probate stuff out before attempting sale number 3!

skinny i emphatically agree!

and now I'm back in the fasting zone it feels so easy, i can't quite understand why i stopped/struggled as I do actually feel better, I gues sometimes life just gets in the way of our best intentions, and old habits die hard!

Oh I forgot to mention that a while back I did Jason Vale's 14 day juice programme and lost 9lbs. This was just one of the many 'diets' I've tried over the years. I must admit that it was hard going but I stuck it out to the end. Most of the drinks were really delicious and from what I remember there were around 5 drinks per day. I did feel very healthy and pleased with the weight loss but of course, unlike 5:2, it wasn't sustainable for me. So real respect to the two guys in the programme.

I do a juice only day once a week when maintaining and do a periodic 3 day juice cleanse but have to admit to getting bored of it for longer than that

OK, this is getting silly now.
One fast this week, huge bowl of pasta for supper last night etc etc
and this morning I'm down another two pounds - BMI is now under 20.
Lucky I've got a food and booze weekend lined up!
Then again I'm back to shed loads of exercise so that will have an impact.

TIP I can't think of a better reason to have a really indulgent weekend :) How are you looking at under 20 BMI? If you look fine then you are fine.

Yeah I'd agree, having got myself down to a BMI of 20 and now aiming for around 19 I've Realised more than ever how arbitrary it is, I don't look too thin at all and especially for someone like you who works out a lot, tis bollocks frankly....

I can still pinch an inch under my arms
I can still grab a handful around my waist (its rock solid behind that bit of flab / stretch marks though)
I can still pinch an inch on the back of my hips.
My ribs do not show above my boobs (an utter no no divorce moment in DHs view!!)

Therefore I have no problem with seeing if I happen to get a bit lighter but am not trying to
am now solidly size 8 rather than 10 (hit the charity shops this week)

I'll take another pic at the end of term and see what people think

For anyone who missed the Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead prog, it is repeated tomorrow on Channel 5 at 5.00pm

TIP I had a similar moment on Monday after a seriously indulgent weekend was down to 56kg so now really under 9st (I am 5"5"). My BMI is 20.5 ish. I think I look gold definitely not too thin, still have fat on my abdomen and upper arms. My thinnest ever was 54kg (BMI 19 ??). Subsequently I told myself this was too thin, I really don't think so any more.

I am very small boned. Only did one fast this week will do 2 next week.

I wonder, if they had BMI charts in the '20s, '30s, '40s..., if the threshold for underweight to normal would have been lower - so 16 or 17 would have been considered normal weight? Certainly you three can go lower and not consider yourself to be too skinny...

bssh
the tricky thing with BMI is that it can hide malnutrition
so I suspect the 20 was set as a lower limit in the days before supermarkets and snacks
BMI first came in before 1910
it was a serious problem for the WW1 army getting severly malnourished laboureres

I think I'm now aiming at NSV stuff : ie looking fab in an unexpected reflection... to tidy up my tummy may cost a lot