Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Fasting / 5:2 diet

Talk about intermittent fasting and 5:2, including what’s worked for others. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

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

999 replies

Talkinpeace · 19/07/2013 13:03

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?
How do we ensure that we keep ourselves looking great rather than just thin?

Many of us have been maintaining at our original goal weight for a few months, and others are joining all the time.
Obviously, the more the merrier!
It is also worth considering whether a second, leaner target might be achievable.

You'll find the first two maintenance threads and all the main 5:2 threads for posters practicing IF to lose weight here on the Fasting / 5:2 on the diet forum. We're currently on thread no. 23, but there is a new main thread every 2-3 weeks.

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!

PS thanks to Breadandwine (proof that this forum welcomes everybody, not just Mums) for setting up the last thread while my old name that set up the first one was on 'holiday' Grin

OP posts:
Breadandwine · 10/09/2013 20:55

Hi Laska - you'll get back in the swing of things in no time, I'm sure!

Oscar Charles is the name of the new arrival!. Everything is going swimmingly - DD's milk came in on cue after 4 days and the babe is feeding like a good 'un.

He's changing all the time - I need to get a new pic up on my blog now he's 8 days old! Smile

AmericasTorturedBrow · 10/09/2013 21:23

Need some time to reply properly and thoughtfully Laska but am also grateful this little thread has become supportive beyond weight loss.

On our way to the airport, I am resigned to my fate. Please god don't let it be as bad as last time when DD either vomited or had explosive diarrhea at least every hour for 8hours of the flight....this is the 6th time I've done the transatlantic journey with the DC, 3rd time without DH and I can hand in heart say all that gumpf about thousands of new plastic tat wrapped up for them to cause mayhem with is NOTHING compared to trying to take just one piece of hand luggage with several changes of clothes for everyone, loaded up iPad, horrible snacks for bribing and Benadryl to make the kids sleep....

Bacon butties await

Talkinpeace · 10/09/2013 21:25

ATB
Have a good flight.
Bacon butties, proper sausages, mugs of tea and proper cheese await !

OP posts:
mumofcrazynamedkids · 11/09/2013 13:51

tip your supper last night sounds delicious, and a day off from being careful is one of this WOE's great freedoms!

.....shame i'm taking off every day at the moment, but I at least managed a 16 hour fast today, so am going to attempt to do that every day until next week and see if i can minimise teh damage.....am now emptying my bf's cupboards of all chocolate, but the new house will already be empty, so i will not re-fill with rubbish!

laska thanks for your comment, I won't get to buy the house as it has already been sold, i'm going to rent off the new owner, but i'm not going to be in a position to buy for quite a while anyway. I went yesterday to sign contracts and collect keys, and to be honest, I do feel really sad that it won't be ours to keep, still feels just perfect for us, but I will endeavour to remain optimistic, it obviously wasn't meant to be! I'm holding onto small achievements - i made a decision to get me and the children relocated and into school for September, and i did it, and they seem to be really enjoying the new school, early days, but I need to remind myself of the positive achievements and that is definitely on of them.

also really appreciate this thread and it's support more particularly non fasting, we've built a lovely community

ATB I really hope this time your long flight will be much improved, really couldn't get any worse could it? hoping you meet some helpful souls on the way over and the dc's got engrossed in a movie (or slept!) How long you in the UK for?

B&W ooohh new babies just change so fast don't they? my friend came over with her 16 week old today, it's just astonishing he is such a big sitting up chattering monkey already, makes you just want to freeze time!

Laska42 · 11/09/2013 19:28

FlowersWELCOME BACK HOME ATB Flowers

I hope it went well and you and the kids coped ok ... (I dont know if you've landed yet . but the banner is there waiting for you..

Well feeling a less maudlin now .. and today have fasted (ta Taaa0 only thing is i saved it all until this evening and am now sitting here quite stuffed and slightly sick feeling full of aubergine courgette and lentil curry

Laska42 · 11/09/2013 19:55

B&W Oscar Charles is a lovely name ..

TiP have emailed you back.. Bacon butties, proper sausages, mugs of tea and proper cheese . Sounds like lunch!! Grin

frenchfancy · 11/09/2013 21:57

Hi everyone just checking in.

mumofcrazy so pleased you got the house even if it isn't yours, you will enjoy it at this stage of life, and then life changes any way. Well done for getting everyone settled into new schools etc

ATB enjoy your trip, I don't get back very often but when I do it tends to be none stop visits etc, try and take a bit of time out for you.

laska you are allowed to be maudlin. Death is a difficult thing to deal with, especially as it makes us question our own lives. Of the 4 GPs our girls only have one left, so we are now the eldest only just into our forties (well I am DH is a little older)

Back into fasting this week, I never actually went over my original target all summer which is great, and now I'm back on my quest for 10st. In other news we have a new addition to our family too, only ours has 4 legs - our new horse arrives tomorrow and I am ridiculously excited.

LikeaHurricane · 11/09/2013 22:16

Laska, because it's totally off topic I have PM'd you regarding the recommendation you made re the Mindfulness book. However I will publicly say thank you so much Thanks

catsrus · 11/09/2013 23:52

I too know what you mean Laska - disconcerting to find ourselves moving up the rankings to senior family member. Great that you're getting back into the 5:2 groove - I had a veggie lentil curry tonight too - and last night, I can be boring like that - mind you if there were no dcs around the pot I made last night would easily do 5 meals for me!

This woe is still working well for me, I keep mainly to "eat real food, mainly plants" only do a low cal fast if the scales are showing I've been a bit over indulgent - i do generally manage to do a few days of 16hr + fasts which effectively limit calories but I don't count them. I must have been at around 9.2 for 6 months now I think - so far, touch wood, it seems sustainable.

mumofcrazynamedkids · 12/09/2013 11:33

thanks frenchfancy really impressed with yours and cats maintenance, I'm hoping this next 6 months will allow me to regain control and find it all easy again, i'm pretty confident though. But I've found the summer really tough, mostly being off with the kids, and I suppose all the moving etc and being camped at other peoples houses for the past 4 weeks is what has done the damage, I'll be so very glad to be in a house of my own and able to have all my food/spices/kitchenware, just a shame that work gets in the way!

french what's the new horse like? sounds very exciting, does he/she have a name?

laska glad you're feeling a little less maudlin, all these ageing stages have significant moments while we adjust to where we now fit into the world, can't say I'm looking forward to it, but the upside is like you and B&W and cats there are the grandbabies, all the new younger ones to watch grow, thank goodness!

Fillybuster · 12/09/2013 16:13

Marking place and sending love to all and special Thanks to B&W

Blush Sorry for the belated congratulations and generally poor form showing up on this board....job, mum, back to school, baby starting pre-school and religious holidays are combining in a perfect storm of 'no time for MN' :(

Still working a combo of 16:8 and 6:1 (mostly) and generally sticking around 9.3-5 (mostly).

I will be back....

frenchfancy · 12/09/2013 20:11

mumof new horse is called Nougatine, she is 16.2hh cob x trotter and she is a complete babe. Pic on my profile (not the best pic I took it when we went to see her, I'll take new ones tomorrow)

Talkinpeace · 12/09/2013 20:31

french that is a SWEET dobbin - must not let DD see

weighed myself today and back under 9 stone after the holiday.
won't make five pounds in a week to hit target for Mum's party next week, but will be comfortably size 8 so can't complain.

I enjoyed today's fast. I'm good at number crunching in the 16 - 24 hour slot!

OP posts:
AmericasTorturedBrow · 13/09/2013 12:34

hello everyone! we made it, survived the flight with no illness incidents, children were generally well behaved (DS total angel), slept for about 2-3 hours which isn't too bad. Battling jetlag with DD (quelle suprise) but woke yesterday to a proper bacon butty!

Thankfully Mum and Dad 5:2 so today is a FD, but I'm going to do 16:8 as much as possible while here so I can indulge a bit and not worry too much minimise the damage but at least FD today and on Tuesday. Have to say 16:8 is much easier when DD doesn't go to bed til 4am so we don't get up til midday!

Then I think we celebrate with curry tomorrow night, whooop!!

Talkinpeace · 13/09/2013 13:08

ahhh, proper English curry : something the East Coast US have not got the hang of is a slap up curry dinner :-)

OP posts:
Abra1d · 13/09/2013 13:32

I think I've been posting on the wrong 5:2 thread about my stalled weight loss. But here I am now.

Basically, I started over a year ago and shed nine pounds or so, just what I needed. I never cheat on fast days but somehow I have put back on four/five of those pounds. It might be partly hormonal or water retention, but I was just wondering why this might have happened. Perhaps I'm eating too much on my NFDs.

Has anyone else found this? My exercise levels have been consistent--am fairly active, with daily dog walk, plus Body Balance, tennis, a bit of cycling.

AmericasTorturedBrow · 13/09/2013 22:12

Yeah you might be overcompensating on NFD - I definitely occasionally fall foul of this!

First Brit FD drawn to a close and weirdly I did 22hours without even thinking about it, I normally have to cave at 16. Clearly ate way too much during the travelling!

Breadandwine · 14/09/2013 00:48

Way to go, ATB!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday and I for one would love to hear about it (I'm sure we all would!) - but only when you have time, of course!Smile

Abra1d · 14/09/2013 11:04

Easy to go mad when it's a NFD. I am trying to moderate myself, with some success.

Talkinpeace · 14/09/2013 20:12

been at Goodwood all day - came home and ordered Chinese
STUFFED

OP posts:
catsrus · 14/09/2013 20:26

I went down briefly to just below 9 st TIP - not sure it's sustainable for me, I probably need to keep to around 9st 2lb - 5lb, but I've been doing lots of socialising recently and am still 9st 2lb so pretty happy. Have been keeping to the mantra "eat real food, mainly plants" so am pretty much Vegan in my main diet, will have cheese about 1-2 times a week (eggs a bit more often, but we keep our own chickens) and meat / fish maybe twice a month - when I'm out for a meal and the meat option is nicer than the veggie one (sadly too often!)

Had to buy new bras recently and have come down from a 36 to a 30 since starting this WOE last August!! could believe it when the fitter said the 32 was too big Grin

Talkinpeace · 14/09/2013 21:27

catsrus
that is a very interesting point : everybody's 'lower limit' will be different
because of millimetre differences in the muscle anchoring points on our shoulders and hips that affect our frames.
I'm under 9st but can still pinch over 3 inches around my hips ...

When I was pregnant a lovely nurse told me to stop being vegetarian (clinically low blood pressure (80:50) and iron levels ) - poor lass looked horrified when I told her I'm a confirmed carnivore
but we get all our meat from Uptons of Bassett or Waitrose - so I have no guilt at all as I know I'm helping to save hedgerows and woodlands.

OP posts:
Anglaise1 · 15/09/2013 07:50

How tall are you catsrus? And yes body frame size has an effect on everyone's lower limit. I've got a small frame so am better at a low BMI (I look chunky otherwise). I'm currently at 8 stone 11 (56kgs) at 5'8" so still not fasting at the moment as I need to put on a little more.
I'm thrilled you have got a horse French Fancy it has always been a dream of mine. Enjoy her!
ATB Have a great holiday
TIPGoodwood sounded fun...so pleased you were able to enjoy the food properly after the fast the day before. That's why this WOE is nice! Self regulation and all that. Once you learn how to do it, it's easy Smile

southeastdweller · 15/09/2013 08:19

Hi everyone. Just realised it's been three weeks since I posted Blush.

Still maintaining fine and not been up to anything exciting unlike some of you! But on a mini-break to fabulous Bristol next weekend so that should be good.

B&W I have to say that 'Oscar Charles' is one of the most charming combinations of first and middle names I've heard in a long time for a boy.

America Have you had that curry yet? If it's in London and it was good I'd love to have the name of it.

catsrus · 15/09/2013 18:35

I'm 5'8" Anglais and size 8 feet Grin - but when I do the fingers around the wrist test I come out as small framed. At 9st 2lb I'm a size 10 bottom and 12 - 14 top.

The thing is, I'm comfortable with this level of eating and fasting - I really do eat what I want and a couple of fast days put right any damage caused by a bit of over indulgence Smile

Swipe left for the next trending thread