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'

Glad it's not just me then.

I think it's why I, for quite some time found 'maintaining' challenging. In a way it was easy getting down to a new shape and weight doing 4:3. But one of the pitfalls of doing 3 FDs most weeks is that you can eat anything and everything you want on NFDs. So when I went down to 6:1 trying to maintain I brought with me a feeling that I could eat everything I wanted, which of course is not the case with 1 FD a week.

But strangely although you can eat everything you want on 4:3, especially if you're pretty active, the pattern of nearly doing one day on, one day off seems to suppress your (my) compulsions to over eat crap. However I knew that I could if I wanted and did so on occasions.

So what I think I'm trying to say is 4:3, 5:2 is great, really effective at improving health, losing weight etc. But if you're not careful it can almost train you to eat in a poor way when you decide to start maintaining. It's clear for some that this isn't a problem but for me with a more compulsive personality than I'd like it was and I wished I'd been more mindful of this whilst initially doing the 4:3.

On the up side though, this is a new WOL and I think we've all learned a lot from the first year. Personally I don't beat myself up if I fall off the wagon, I try and take things as they come. Secondly I know what's going to happen over the Christmas and New Year period this year so I've been doing 4:3 to prepare for that. And although I could probably eat a lot more on my NFDs I've tried to be a lot more mindful of my habits and not just eat because I can but just when I need to

Apologies for all the 'I's in this post but what I think I'm trying to do is share things from my perspective and see whether others that have been doing this for a long time can relate to it

Have a brilliant weekend all

Don't apologies, I think you're articulating something that me and mocnk and sometimes Laska all struggle with occasionally. I think we should all give ourselves a bit of slack though - didn't B&W a while ago say this is almost like prehistoric eating, eating a lot then eating not much.

I get really down when I get into one of those too frequent gorge phases but jumped on the scales the other day after my first successful FD in two weeks and was back to a low weight! I know when I'm going through a period of failing fasts I get the fear of the scales but I do always seem to come back to fasting again.

I hear you about wanting to combat Christmas excess in advance though - and I have thanksgiving to get trough first!!

Yep them turkeys in the States start looking over their shoulders about this time of year and don't relax till January.

Cyclist chapeau to you for managing 4:3, 5:2 is hard enough for me!
I weigh in every week and if my weight goes up to 58kgs then I know it is time for a serious fast week. Losing 1 or 2 kgs is a lot easier than losing 6!
The nice thing about fasting is that it is so easy to do (and cheap!) and yes, your appetite does decrease on NFDs. I can't eat the portions I used to anymore. A 3 course meal is difficult (unless it is very nouvelle cuisinish).

Merci, In many ways though Anglaise 4:3 is easier than 6:1 as you kind of get in the swing of things

Yes, I'm a great believer in the odd blowout every now and again.

As I said in my last post, I (we) have learned a lot in the last year and I'm a lot more aware of what we can and can't get away with. For instance. I know that the effects of a 3/4 day binge can be overcome in short order - but if you were to keep it up for a fortnight you'd need to take some drastic action to get back to where you were initially.

So, over Christmas I shall build in mini-fasts where ever and whenever I can - whilst making sure that in social gatherings, etc, I shall eat to the max!

I tell you, Cyclist, no stuffed mushroom en croute will be safe when I'm around!

On reflection, over the last two years, I've gone from:
Losing excess Christmas weight in Jan/Feb; to
Losing the weight before Christmas; to
Integrating fasts of varying lengths/eating low-carb when necessary, into the Festive season so that you come out the other end the same weight as you went into it!

B&W

YO peeps ! .. Laska is just popping her nose in and waving briefly . RL is really busy right now , have been ' studio flat to static caravan' moving with son (who is really enjoying working and like a new person)..but not such a reformed character that I haven't had to scrub the flat to get the deposit back ; . Have also been breaking up and rebuilding patio walls after the devastation of the Great Storm of 2013 (well the one that hit round here a couple of weeks ago) and I have done so much hammering of really hard old cement off bricks this weekend that my arms are really aching ( that'll learn me not to go to the gym and lift weights..)

But well i've not eaten that much , as have been so busy , but as for the scales.... haven't looked at em for a few days . ! Ah well.. it will be what it is .. I have in hand right now and which i'm about to down and then toddle off to Bedfordshire as well knackered and I dont care..

ho hum.. hope you are all well, ill try and catch up on you all and to post something sensible in the next couple of days .. but im back at the flat tomorrow evening finishing it up

( btw I know I should be caring ,I need to fit into that Christmas dress shortly... but actually , things still are loose so I think i'm doing ok )

but whilst I have been doing all these things . I've also been wondering what the likes of Pippa Middleton and Victoria Beckham have been doing this weekend, and perhaps wondering if I may have gone somehow wrong in life?? .........

LOL Laska

hi all, so I realised this weekend that waiting in vain for the weight to stabilise with thyroxine is just damn crazy, I've fallen into wearing comfy/stretchy jeans, and avoiding the scales like crazy, and my tummy just will not be sucked in at the moment, so properly attempting a fast today. tea/coffee/2 boiled eggs so far, with my fave chicken arrabbiatta meal soup already stocked up for dinner later. it's 5 weeks til christmas, my youngest brother is dropping from 4:3 to 5:2 as he's at 11 stone 3 (down from over 14 stone 5) so he's gone from bmi 33 to 23. Which means he's the same weight as me.....I can't have this! and my other brother is coming fro christmas from canada, so I'd like to lose about 7 pounds by then and go into christmas feeling a bit better. If the medication does start to have an effect then great, but indications so far are no!

to cyclistist and atb yes, I am also in the club of not having reset my hunger switch, or not all the time, but do know that when I was fasting twice a week I was much more aware of it, and now doing 16:8 or in honesty, just failing at fasting altogether has put me back into eating all the time. I want to go back to the pleasure of eating guilt free, and tasting everything. so back on wagon, and i'm pledging not to stop this time, i will do 2 fast days a week going forward. it works for me, so I should bloody well stick to it!

the success stories are very inspiring, i want to be one of them!

Hello all.
I have a question.
If you're fasting for health benefits (not wanting to lose weight), do you think eating loads of chocolate, etc., on non-fast days will counteract the health effects of the fast?
I'm near the bottom of the healty BMI range (below 19), and don't want to get all skinny. Now that I'm doing 5:2, I'm making sure I don't lose by eating chocolate and crisps between meals on the NF days. Does anyone else do this and still feel it's doing them good?
Many thanks.

ZipIt Wine, cheese, chocolate, icecream.... all that lovely stuff. Just only on a couple of days a week :-)
Anglaise is a skinnymalink and an avid runner but her cheese recipes are wonderful!

MOCNK Ohh that is a bummer about the Thyroxin not settling yet. Definitley get back to the fasting if it makes you feel better in your head. THE pills will jjust have to work round it. And SO pleased that your brother is still feeling in control.

Yes, Talkinpeace, I think I need to find a way to make it not 5 days a week that I eat junk. Nearly 3 months in and I'm still adjusting to all this...

Many thanks for the reply.

ZipIt
Most of us are pretty abstemious four days a week, relax a bit another two days a week and let rip once a week or once a fortnight.

I ate lunch today (on expenses) - it felt very odd. Will have a small bowl of soup tonight and call it a mini fast.

Hello again Talk. So do you mean 1 day full fast (

I try to do
2 x 500 calories
2 x 1500 calories (ie TDEE)
2 x 2000 calories
1 x goodness knows
and I'm staying stable quite easily

when I need to shift down a bit I do 3 x 1500 calories
but my Sunday Roast is always in there !

Ah, thank you Talk, that makes sense.
Ooh, the thought of a Sunday roast is so lovely (am on a FD...).

ZipIt For what it's worth, I do much the same as TIP,

Monday : 500 cal fast
Tues-Fri :TDEE
Sat : minor feasting (wine, dessert)
Sunday: major feasting ( cake, wine, crisps etc etc)

and this keeps me level at a BMI of 20, (with the Monday fast quite easy as I'm still so full from Sunday!!)

You just have to find what suits you, obviously.

(My blood tests are all normal too)

Hi all

Zipit I would imagine it'd depend on what kind of health benefits. By eating loads of snacks between meals you'd be making your pancreas work overtime producing the insulin to deal with the constant supply of energy. Personally I eat a lot of chocolate but mostly dark (at least 85%) I have twice yearly blood test results and they've improved markedly since following this WOE despite my inability to cook anything without microwave instructions on it.

If I was in your situation I'd probably try and up my calorie levels at mealtimes rather than eating more snacks. For me one of the problems, albeit all of my own making with this WOL is teaching myself bad habits by eating too often as, as long as I get at least 2 FDs in in a week I won't put on any weight....but when I go back to 1 FD a week I tend to keep the same eating patterns.......

Next week..... next week .. ill be back (promise) may be even Sunday but this week I just seem to have soo much on right now im just not getting any time to be here .or at least to be here and make any meaningful contribution

Alls well, Chez L ( but no proper fasting has been accomplished though this week but been at or under TDEE each day i think (and so theres been no big blow outs (yet) , though I'm away for the weekend)

..So .. .Might be leaving it a bit late for a new smaller christmas dress though ..

Hope all is well Chez vous.. see you soon Xx

salad bar at John lewis then

Just finished a 46 hour liquid only fast - well, a mug of cocoa whilst listening to the cricket in the early hours, and I broke my fast with half a litre of stout before eating mindfully.

Thoroughly enjoyed the fast - and I shall enjoy all the NFDs to come!

46 hours is getting pretty darned hard core B&W

I had an interesting thing this afternoon. From about 4pm onwards till I ate at 7.30 all of my abs felt really "tight" as if about to rumble but deciding better of it
and now after my 600 calorie supper I am literally too stuffed to move!

Can't really claim any credit, Tip, since I find it so easy.

But, of course, I'm now starting to wonder if I could go on to the next day - and would I gain any advantage by doing this?