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

[Talkinpeace]

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'

Hi ZipIt I think most of us who have lost weight just played around a bit with either having more fast days or making sure we stuck to a sensible amount of food on most of the other days (not every day of course, the great thing about this is that nothing is forbidden!) you will find more hints and tips on the main thread - again, most of the people on here are now trying to work out how to keep the weight off rather than lose more so this thread tends to be a bit quiet compared with the others.

Stick with it and just find the balance that suits you - I found the actual fasting easy so throwing in another fast day or two was what worked for me. I went from 11.4 ish to 9st.2lb between August and Easter last year - and have stayed around 9 - 9st7lb since then. LAst week was a big eating week (visitors) and I went up to 9.7 - I did two fast days and I'm back down to 9.2 - but these days I understand that those 5lbs are fluid caused by too many carbs so I knew they would go once I'd had a bit of a detox.

good luck!

cats I didn't know fluid retention could be caused by too many carbs, thanks for that info!
Zipit Are you eating a little more than previously on your non fast days than when you started the one day fast? What is your TDEE? Maye if you know that then it will help you work out what your calorie intake should be on non fast days to ensure you don't lose weight.
I know I didn't maintain on 6:1 - I usually had to chuck in another half day fast in order not to put on weight!

Hello all, a very indulgent 5 days traveling cross country, every friend produced a cooked breakfast and it went down uphill from there! Enjoyed it more though knowing I can get back on track so back to 16:8, fasting tomorrow and Friday. Fasting unlikely to happen at all next week as I'm in London on my own so lots of dinners and drinking planned

Hi all, hope all is well.

I'd beg to differ with you Cats about Carbohydrates causing fluid retention. Salt yes, but I've never seen any medical evidence that carbohydrates lead to water retention. Refined Carbohydrates are of course high in sugars and high in calories . However it does explain why all that chocolate cake I'm eating often leads to weight gain, must be the high water content

Finding 2 Fasts a week a bit of a problem at the mo, sometimes managing it but mostly just the one a week recently. Have tried hard though to keep to Bread&wines advice of getting at least 1 Fast a week done and the weight on the whole has stayed off. When I do manage two in a week got to admit I feel brilliant....until of course the chocolate cake or take away Curry calls . Still, no real movement upwards in clothes sizes though after over a year so I can definitely see this being a long term way of life for me.

Have a great day all

Yo! Cyclistist good to see you are still here.
I'd agree that carbs are not known to be linked to fluid retention
BUT
if you are used to a relatively low carb diet, they can make you feeel that way.

Not fasting very well at the moment - but keeping to 1 a week and lots of 16:8 - so not gaining either.

Hi B&W My reasoning is that true weight loss is fat loss anything else must be either water or 'food in the system'. Last monday I weighed 9st 1lb by Sunday I weighed 9st 7lb, by yesterday I weighed 9st 2lb (2 fast days) this morning 9st 1lb.

Its just not metabolically possible for that to be fat gain and loss. Without giving TMI about my bowel habits - I eat mainly vegetables usually so do not have a 'concentrated' diet. I don't think much of that was food in the system (well no more than normal!).

My experience is definitely that if I am indulgent on carbs the weight gain looks to be disproportionate to the actual amount of food eaten - i.e. if you weighed me and that food it would not be that much weight - but if you added the liquid I drink that would explain it. But, as you say, that may be down to the salt in the carbs rather than the carbs themselves. I suspect high carb often = high salt anyway (thinking of the 3 takeaways I had ).

Cats ,yeah Takeaways are my weakness too

Yeah Talkin, still here following this amazing WOL, to 'various' levels of success. But that's the great thing about this, with a diet sooner or later we'll fall off with all this easily available and 'relatively' cheap food. With this WOL the initial effects are striking which is great. But more importantly as long as you don't loose total sight of it (Fasts), the benefits both health and weight-wise can be maintained. In other words, it works well with human nature AND the world we live in

........What more could we ask for

A friend at the gym today told me a fab story.

She and I have both been 5:2 evangelists for a year.
She has a friend whose Cholesterol had reached really high levels (6.3 apparently) and the quack had told her to give up sugar, booze, meat and butter to get it down, or face a lifetime of medication.
The lady is a cake maker so that was a horrible thought.
After 6 months of strict 5:2 she has lost over a stone, her cholesterol is down around 5 so no medication needed
and she still bakes cakes
and she's still losing weight and enjoying it
RESULT

(Laska peeps round the edge of the door)

Hello , can I some in? ... sadly I've rather lost the plot and have been a bit embarrassed to post on a maintainers board ....and yes that unattractive wobbly wodge coming through the door before the rest of me ^^is my stomach .. back to 10.7!! (it was 10.9 at the beginning of the week ).

I think I mentioned that a few things have been a bit shitty recently and I haven't been feeling that positive

But here I am getting back in the fray ..

The lovely Cyclistist has reminded me today that 'how we feel about our lives and success and failure is so often governed by the internal conversations we have in our heads'.... Wise words... ( such great people post here).

I'm rather ashamed of my wodge.. especially reading how great you are all doing.. But have managed 2x 500 fasts this week.. ( well I will if I take myself off to bed early and not eat the egg and veg bake made ready for tomorrows fasting day )

Everyone here seems to be doing so well which is great , I'm hoping to be able to rejoin 'maintainers' properly shortly

Laska
we need coffee ... when are you in beastleigh?
I'm in snoton chewing the head off a bank manager tomorrow ....

the thing is, you know what you need to do that will work
so when your head is in the right place, the body will follow

• unlike most eating systems that mess with the head and stuff up the body's chances

Great to hear from you again Laska, have just PM'd you again

Fast day tomorrow for me. Trying 2 again this week so have put off everything I can chore-wise until tomorrow to keep me busy. I'm gunna have one clean organised house tomorrow with the best kept garden for miles......

Hi Cats! Would you believe I've never measured a carb in my life!

Laska, nice to have you back on the thread again.

About a shitty life - there's not much we can do about that sometimes except roll with the punches. [hug]

But the one thing we know we can control, is our weight - if we put our mind to it, right?

That's your task, while life goes on around you!

Glad to see you here as well, Cyclist - and that you're just about maintaining. Be a bummer if you had to buy bigger trews!

'Nah! That's never gonna happen', I hear you say!

Good!

TiP Tuesday? have emailed you..

B&W it has its ups and downs certainly .. much better today , Seeing The Most Gorgeous Grandson in the World Ever Who is not called Oscar tomorrow!! (TMGGITWEWINCO!!) (Yay )

Love it!

Have a lovely day tomorrow - we're going up to see Oscar for the weekend!

Laska Tuesday lunch ... you have email

I'm jealous - in many ways I'm ready for grandchildren, but I know my children aren't ready to be parents yet .

Have fun!

Have a lovely time visiting your grandson Laska and don't worry about the extra few 1bs, they will soon come off when you are feeling better and ready to fast again.
It must be lovely to be grandparents - my dad loves being a Grandpa. Not sure if I'll ever see any (or be fit enough to enjoy them) - especially if my children wait as long as I did to have kids themselves (DS is 6 and I'm nearly 48).

Another fast today .. so I'm back on track and feeling better all round .. I bought a pair of slim 'cigarette' trousers today ( need something black and formal for funeral Monday and the old ones were too big!! ) and yes I'm still sz 10 and it wasn't a squeeze. (though i can still feel that unwanted tum)

Now I have a few days off and really needed it ..

Away for the weekend but will do no breakfasts (or no lunches I think)

We are going to see the Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition at British Museum on Saturday , its been ages since I bought the tickets as its been so sold out I could only get this , the last weekend , so really looking forward to that , then possibly an Italian after (or something yummy, I'm sure we can find a nice restaurant in the Smoke ..

Any one got any recommendations for somewhere good to eat near the museum or Euston way? doesn't have to be Italian .. we like anything!! )

Sunday will be chilling out (or maybe not as driving to Stansted to pick someone up ). Then Monday the funeral in Leighton Buzzard but that will be a family occasion and though a sad occasion ,will a celebration of our dear aunt's life and will be nice to see everyone all together again .

and TUESDAY!! Tip and I will not be fasting (I hope ) unless shes chosen a 'diet' place ! . Looking forward to it , will be great to see at least one of you 5:2ers in the (not much ) flesh !!.. maybe the start of some more of us getting together?

B&W dont forget to post some photos!! (one of you with Oscar maybe?)

Have a great time. Marcus has two teeth now and is standing ! (when he forgets to hold on!)... But baby toys , how horrendous are they? I wanted to buy him one of those old nice fashioned trolleys with bricks in as a baby walker today .. but everything you see is all bright plastic with bells and whistles and faces etc.. OK call me old fashioned ... but I like trolleys and bricks .. .. I couldn't even buy stacking rings without 'all the extra extra bits' on ..

Hi Laska, hope the Fast day went well.

^We are going to see the Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition at British Museum on Saturday , its been ages since I bought the tickets as its been so sold out I could only get this , the last weekend , so really looking forward to that , then possibly an Italian after (or something yummy, I'm sure we can find a nice restaurant in the Smoke ..

Any one got any recommendations for somewhere good to eat near the museum or Euston way? doesn't have to be Italian .. we like anything!! )^
For my money there's loads of choice in Covent Garden and it's only a couple of stops on the tube from Euston. Some larger restaurants and even a couple of Italian ones down the side streets towards The Strand.... or failing that there's a 24 hour McDonalds close by

My fave restaurant ..... worth the detour
bistro1.co.uk/cheap-eats-meal-deals-offers-london/covent-garden/

laska. I recommend the museum restaurant. Especially if you can prebook a table that overlooks the library. It's lovely.

Hello everyone, still here, mostly lurking as loads of life stuff going on at the moment and it's hard to keep up.

TiP that's one my favorites too!

But can also recommend the BM restaurant

Have a lovely time Laska, I head into London tomorrow for 5 child free nights - thankfully my parents are young and healthy and adore their grandchildren and it's one of the few benefits of me having mine at 25&28 (mum was a Nana before her 50th birthday) and can't every tell them enough how grateful I am.

So hope Laska and B&W you have some grand times with Marcus and Oscar

Did back to back fasts to attempt reversing the damage of last weekend visiting Cornwall, Bristol and Shropshire and all the inevitable cream teas, curries, fish and chips and WINE

Next week I shall probably be constantly drunk, tomorrow alone brunch and cream teas are booked in, so in a vague attempt to at least not go too heavy I'm attempting 16:8 (in food calories) every day or at least just two meals a day and no snacking, which should be doable. And maybe just drink gin....

Hello all, thought I'd check in here since I've reached target weight of 9st7. I started 5:2 in July and I've lost 17lbs on that, plus another 7lbs before that since April. Down from a bmi of just over 25 to just over 21, and my lowest weight and slimmest build since I was 17.

I'm also doing shred to tone up, over half way through the last level so going to move on to other Jillian DVDs after. Plus loads of walking and chasing after my two boys.

I'll probably mix and match for maintaining- some full fasts, some mini fasts, some 16:8. Plus keeping an eye on the scales and tape measure to make sure I don't creep up again.

welcome wriggle bum, congrats, sounds like a brilliant victory and a good plan to maintain, you'll get good suppport here when you need it.

hi everyone else! been hiding, like laska last week, I've not been having a good time maintaining, I did finally manage one full fast last week and a 16:8 day, so am 11 2 today instead of 11 3 last week, but I seem to struggle with keeping off this 5 pounds, I think i really need to get down to low end of 10 so when it jumps up and down 5 pounds it doesn't tip me over into the 11 stone mark as that i find too depressing and still seems to signal my oh sod it mentality, which even 5:2 can't combat!

I think working from home alone without human company since my move doesn't help, and feeling lonely just triggers eating, so I do know why, but today I am making a fast day after having a housewarming/birthday afternoon tea party at home yesterday (b'day coming up on thursday, but will be in london from next fri for the weekend).

I had fun baking scones with cream and jam, almond cake, choc cherry cupcakes with choc ganache, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and fruit tea loaf as well as cucumber sandwiches, ham slow cooked in cola sandwiches and tuna mayo, but annoyingly forgot to take any photo's. I have sent everyone home with lots of goodybags, but have to now resist the tea loaf until tomorrow!

americas sounds like you are having a great time, and yet still exercising some control! amazing and well done, really lovely that your parents can give you a break and you get to have some well earned time out, enjoy!

thanks to all for the continued inspiration, both from those who work hard and successfully at maintaining and also those who struggle, so good to see the range of successes, and know that you are not alone with struggling - both food related and life!