Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

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:
Talkinpeace · 04/12/2013 20:30

Breadandwine
whereas I put on 9lb last Christmas in New York so am allowing at least 6 for this Christmas.

frenchfancy and anglaise
Laska is right : we could easily meet you from a supercat ferry and have a very "English" girls night out Wine[wineWine - I've even got spare rooms and my kids and DH are relatively accepting of my "imaginary friends"

By the way, did y'all spot the party frock challenge on the main thread
ALL OF US
to post a pic of us looking glam before Crimble (men included, frocks optional!) Xmas Grin

OP posts:
Laska42 · 04/12/2013 21:56

non fast day and just back from a Malaysian meal .. yum yum ! FD again tomorrow,If im to look christmas glam in a photo, (and birthday glam - not till next week ,

But happy birthday to you cyclisist bro ( but you never said when it was ,is.. late November i think now? ..)

I definately want to be no more than I am now after new year, so ill be 4:3 up to then, and will try a few 'no lunch' days during the festive season ..actually that shouldnt be too hard. the problem is never the food but the Wine

look, I want that girls weekend!! ....

TheCyclistist · 04/12/2013 22:07

Doh!!!! All my glam frocks are at the cleaners TiP. Evening Laska , yeah fellow Sagittarian the 30th Nov. Went out for a meal with the kids had a great day. Hope yours goes well and doesn't fall on an FD.

Laska42 · 04/12/2013 22:41

it wont bro! I'm planning Pizza!Grin

What even that nice little red number? I always liked you in that .. Oh yes ..but of course it'll be too big now!....Grin but How about you in a nice DJ.. 007 style? Reckon you could carry it off now you are 60lbs down Grin..

TheCyclistist · 04/12/2013 23:34

Now 70 lbs if you don't mind Xmas Grin
Sadly as I'm now self employed no black tie Christmas dos so no tux to hire. But I'll prob update my profile photo and swap the ever present T shirt for one with actual buttons on it....that's about as 'glam' as I get Xmas Smile

AmericasTorturedBrow · 05/12/2013 05:23

Aw Christmas glam do's!! No such thing for is though I am going to a wedding on Sunday but have absolutely no idea what to wear - been told it's partly inside partly outside so no stillettoes, it's a bit chilly here now but is it ok to wear a coat?! Argh

Yay FD complete, was so busy and out the house I'm only really hungry now (9:20pm) and about to head to bed. Well under 500kcal (around the 300 mark) as I had a croissant with a Brit friend and some pesto edamame with the DC

DH is out Friday night so think I'll do second FD this week then, although I have both the kids all day so will be a bit harder

Laska42 · 05/12/2013 18:17

Another FD .. so much easier today , 2 bowls of h/m veggie soup so far , and now I just need to keep myself busy until bed time , but the house is a tip after the week of turning stuff out so lots to do ..

Talkinpeace · 05/12/2013 19:43

Well DH and I lasted all day with no food and then said 'stuff it' and had a 1000 calorie supper - so a mini fast.

Planning our works Christmas do
I'm his Company Secretary and he's mine and the kids are shareholders so we'll think of something Grin

OP posts:
Breadandwine · 05/12/2013 19:50

No time to snack then, Laska!

I've got a busy few days ahead of me:

Works do tonight at Somerset County Cricket Club - 8 until 1.00am. I'll probably sneak away around 12.30 to avoid the taxi rush.

(I'll get someone to take a pic at sometime - smart casual [I hope]!)

But not before I consume about 3 pints, possibly a glass of wine, and I generally have a Jaegerbomb with a couple of young carers (the guy throwing the party runs several carehomes).

There's a live band - and I hope to be on the floor all night!

Then I'll be at work tomorrow morning as usual, and it's my weekly session at the carehome in the afternoon.

On Saturday, I'm teaching a dozen students in a village hall all day - 10.00 'til 4.00, on a Christmas breadmaking workshop:

Day off on Sunday, but on Monday morning I've got a Thinking Minds session - it's an off-shoot of a U3A philosophy course - then in the afternoon I have a one-off Family Learning session in a local primary school.

Then I have 3 days off! Grin

AmericasTorturedBrow · 05/12/2013 22:25

Oh I so badly want to met you and take a baking class with you then go dancing B&W!

Breadandwine · 06/12/2013 02:00

Oh, that'd be lovely, ATB! My two loves - dancing with pretty young women and breadmaking!

I've just returned home - after 4 pints (no wine) - and I've had a fantastic time!

It was an 8-piece band, and I danced with both female singers!

There was a period when the floor was empty, and I said to the guy who was doing the mixing from the sidelines on his iPad, that I'd love to get up and dance, but there was no-one to dance with - and that I wished I had the guts to dance on my own.

As I said that, I thought, "Sod it! I'll will dance by myself."

So I was dancing in front of the band and getting some approving smiles from them, when I said to this pretty young blonde singer, shrugging my shoulders, "There's no-one to dance with."

"I'll dance with you," she said! And she stepped out from behind the mike and we danced for the next 5 minutes or so! It was wonderful! Not only did she dance with me, but she copied my moves!

I was the only bloke on the floor for 90% of the evening - and I was the oldest guy there!

I was singled out for dancing with quite a few women - some I had worked with and some I'd never met before.

When the band had finished and were packing away, I asked the other singer for a dance to the Christmas records that were being played - just for a few bars, I said, since I could see she was busy. So she danced all of Noddy Holder's 'Do they know it's Christmas!" with me.

Here she is a few photo's in. The young blonde singer isn't featured, which is a shame!

I've just eaten over half of the veg curry which was supposed to be my dinner tomorrow - with a very tiny drop of wine (the last thing I need is more alcohol!) - and I'm off to bed.

Have a good one, folks!

Laska42 · 06/12/2013 09:09

blimey b&w you put me to shame, i hardly ever go out, let alone dancing..(lack of confidence, you might not believe it but its true) this is something i really need to address.

anyway on a brighter note... I finally feel in truly back into fasting. Feeling great after yesterday not broken it yet and thinking ill leave eating until lunch now

TheCyclistist · 06/12/2013 10:44

B&W well done mate you sound like the kind of person every party needs. Wished I had your courage on the dance floor, I love music but have always had two left feet, they'd be more likely to call me an ambulance and switch the strobe lighting off than admire my dancing!

Fantastic news Sis glad to see you're back in the flow of things. One thing For me that's really struck home is over the past year or so it's become clear that what seems so in unachievable suddenly becomes very do-able after just one or two good FDs.

Having said that, yesterday's FD was pretty hard but managed to dodge the negative head games until the end was in sight and got there in the end. Probably one more week of 4:3 now then will have to reassess

Have a great weekend all, be you a Faster, Feeder, Wineer, Poster or Lurker

AmericasTorturedBrow · 06/12/2013 13:52

Cyclistist you're my poster boy ATM, to have struggled so much with it all only a month or so ago and now to be back in the swing of things, it's inspiring.

B&W your night sounds awesome, I would have loved to have danced with you! On bread making, DH has now perfected his white loaf in the bread maker, I'm going to point him towards your blog and suggest he now expands his repertoire a bit.

FD today which will be harder than Wednesday as it started at 5:15am. Thanks DD....

AmericasTorturedBrow · 07/12/2013 02:04

Yay 2nd FD down this week! And I'm stuffed - home made veg soup, home popped popcorn, a fish finger and an egg

We're at a brunch tomorrow so will be 17 hours til next food, have a friend staying though so will prob have dinner late. At a wedding Sunday starting at 4, can def make it til then to eat!

Anglaise1 · 07/12/2013 12:19

TIP Your suggestion of a meet up sounds great! I'm 45 mins from St Malo and 90 mins from Caen and when I go to the UK I usually always pass through Portsmouth (my parents live near Bath).
I hope your workshop goes well today B&W
I think dancing is a wonderful thing to do. I'm planning on starting in the New Year as there are some classes in the area.
No fasting this weekend...just skipping lunch and trying not to eat too many almonds.
Kids are decorating tree later - for the first year I've gone for an artificial one. It isn't nearly as nice as a real one but they are expensive so I'm using the fake one I usually put in the gites (sadly no Christmas bookings this year, which is a first.)
Tomorrow running with club then repainting the front door again as the colour I painted it last week is not at all what it should have been according to the sample.
Bon week-end...

Fillybuster · 07/12/2013 15:39

Sorry....work has been insane, childcare has been bonkers and family stuff has been full on. My mother was given the all-clear 4 weeks ago, which is obviously both entirely unexpected and completely amazing, and I started a new job (at the same company) at the same time (end Oct), working for someone who actually seems to be fairly sane and balanced. So things are on the up...

But I do need to say:

12 months and 12 days ago today I turned 39. Life was generally quite good, but I had spent the previous 2.5 years since dc3 was born carrying around a stone of excess weight and the increasing baggage that comes with growing self-loathing.

Last January, I found the 5:2 threads and by June had lost the stone and was figuring out how to maintain this WoE for the long term. The maintainers thread was a massive support, especially as my personal and work life imploded around this time.

I'm still weighing daily, and suspect I always will. But I've gone from 10.3 with a target of 9.7 to floating around 9.1-9.4 and feeling really good in myself. My eating habits have completely changed; I still overeat too often at the weekend sometimes, but for most of the week I listen to my appetite and simply don't eat if I'm not hungry. The tyranny of mealtimes ("you have to eat breakfast/lunch/dinner") is passing.

Mostly, I'm on a loose 6:1, fasting every Monday and then fitting in another mini-fast when I can. So far, it's working.

Thank you all for your support, time and friendship over the past year. I've missed the companionship of this thread lately, and will try to come back more often. I turn 40 in 12 days time, and (shockingly) I'm actually feeling good about myself, largely thanks to 5:2 and all of you. Thanks and love to you all.

Talkinpeace · 07/12/2013 15:54

(((((( Fillybuster ))))))
Good to hear from you. And SO SO pleased that things are now panning out a bit.
Enjoy your last few days of being a thirty something :-)

OP posts:
TheCyclistist · 07/12/2013 22:15

Hi ATB Thanks for the kind words. Yeah I really love this WOL and totally believe in the positive effects it can have in so many ways on peoples lives. And the key is realising (as TiPsays) that the battle is not in the stomach it's in the head with this. And over the past 18 months or so I like everyone on here have had times when this amazingly simple thing, seemed so complicated and hard.....but believe me if I can make it work long term ANYONE can. All I want everyone to know is - It doesn't matter where you are with this, one or two FDs and it all turns around. Something no doubt I'll have to remind myself of the other side of Christmas.
Fillybuster really great to hear from you and very inspiring to hear where you're at Xmas Smile

Laska42 · 09/12/2013 07:34

Morning all, hope you had a great weekend.. just checking in before i go to work.

Anyone joining me on this Mondays liquid fast?

I'm hoping to make more than 24hrs this time,

It was a good week for fasting last one as well as last Mondays liquid fast I also managed 36hrs Thursday am through to Friday evening on less than 500 - but the scales haven't moved down any more .. (but then it was a good weekend also Grin)

On wards ,upwards and out of the door to work... im lucky though compared to lots who have to sit on a train or the motorway .. its a nice commute as long as i dont get behind a tractor or a herd of cows..Smile

Breadandwine · 09/12/2013 10:20

I'm in, Laska - 15 hours so far.

Hi Fillly - you're a fine example of how this WOL works! Brilliant!

About the big 4 0 - just tell everyone it's actually the big 2 0, only twice! Grin

Workshop went very well, thanks, everyone went home with a basket of good bread, enthusiastic about breadmaking and looking forward to doing their homework - which is to find someone who doesn't know how to make bread, and 'teach them what they've learned today!'

About dancing - I was in the same position as you, Cyclistist, until I went to Cuba about 13-14 years ago. I never learned to do the salsa out there, but I remembered the basic steps, practiced them over and over in my kitchen, on my own, and gradually - very gradually - I got it. And I've never looked back.

I'm thinking about putting some simple instructions on my blog - I really think if I can do it, anyone can! (Now where have I seen those words before? Grin)

I'd better go - I've a class to prepare for this afternoon!

Happy fasting everyone! Smile

Talkinpeace · 09/12/2013 15:03

Another one fasting today : lots of tea, 3 hours at the gym and DH and I managed to walk right through the "German Market" in town without cracking - even though everybody else was eating.

OP posts:
AmericasTorturedBrow · 09/12/2013 16:05

Um, I had snicker doodle cookies or breakfast and friends for dinner tonight so I'm FD tomorrow....

Laska42 · 09/12/2013 18:26

Tip well done for resisting the bratwurst stall .. and the pretzels..

OK.. have had a liquid fast fail, but managed until about an hour ago so did my 24 , but have been suffering from acid reflux most of the day ,which just wasn't going .

So have just eaten a little poached white fish on a bed of mushrooms and wilted spinach and yoghurt ..so still under 500 and feeling better already ..

Laska42 · 09/12/2013 18:37

I just had another fantastic selling weekend on ebay over £150 for just some second hand clothes .. and a follow on from last weeks similar success as well .. It amazes me sometimes how people go a bit mad out bidding each other ..

Good for my Christmas finances though! Grin

So for my next ebay sale in the new year im going to line up all my many WW and and other miracle diet books (I must have the lot)for the new year (and that old slendertone and a certain well-known practitioners 'ill make you thin' hypnosis cds that I'm ashamed to admit I own. Blush Oh yes, and all those exercise DVDs I never used .. Davina anyone?.. (I'll keep Evil Jillian though, it does work if i can just be arsed to get it out of its box)Grin

Cake anyone? (oh, tomorrow of course )Grin

Well, better go wrap some pressies ..Xmas Smile