IF / ADF / 4:3 / 5:2 / 6:1 / 16:8 ~ Maintaining at a healthy weight ~ Chapter 4

[TalkinPeace]

This thread is for those of us 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 many 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 three maintenance threads and all the main 5:2 threads for posters practicing IF to lose weight here Fasting / 5:2 on the diet forum. We're currently on thread no. 35, but there is a new main thread every 2-3 weeks.

There are three 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!

Since I started the last Maintainers thread the importance of exercise has come to the fore, as part of our general health and to help weight loss. BigChocFrenzys thread is here

Off topic, but bad news for me.... I've had knee pain for the last 3 years since I sprained it. I finally decided to go to the doctor to check out how serious it was and had an MRI scan this evening. It is a torn meniscus and a meniscal cyst?? (not sure if that is correct in English). I shouldn't be running and need surgery urgently. But I've been running for 2 years with the pain so am not planning to stop (except for the rehabilitation after surgery). Still want to do my half marathon next weekend.
I can't imagine not running now, I'm addicted. Not to mention the reduction in food required if I don't burn off all those calories!

oooh ATB that is so huggable

anglaise yoga and pilates time : build up the little muscles to support the cartilage

Poor your Anglaise . A very good friend of mine went in for knee surgery here yesterday. Just had a text to say all went well, she is due out Monday so it isn't a long stay, but you might want to wait until Autumn if you can.

oops meant to post this yesterday but got distracted!:

morning all, well ff I can sympathise, 6 weeks 5:2 and I only lost 3 pounds, then 4:3 and I lost an extra 2 pounds, but this monrings weigh in after another 4:3 week and i am still exactly teh same as last week and that's despite TOTM last week too! bugger

but did have a NSV in that 2 different friends at the school gate commented that i had lost weight, and my clothes starting to feel more comfortable, but do just wish the sodding scales would get with the programme!

started NFD today healthily with 2 scrambled egg on one slice of toast, but now back from my driving lesson and I just devoured 3 biscuits!

off shopping with my mum soon, some retail therapy should cheer me up!

have a good weekend all, we've got some gardening planned if the weather allows and another walk in wales, with kids this time.

Great news ATB as you say, a real honour, when is the ceremony?

Anglaise sorry to hear about your knee.. earlier on betsy I think recommended C25k to me .. I didnt answer that i realise.. I do do a sort of 'walk run' intervals on my walking trips but when i was running before I was plagued with back spasms, which at one point led to me being severely bent over to one side and hardly able to move.. which is why I now feel that running isnt really for me . I hope you can overcome the weakness in your knee. Pilates has been recommended for me also .. but its so expensive and im just so naturally loathe to exercise at all..(what a sloth) but I must try and get more positive about exercise i know . I do like cycling and hill walking though

Well I found out why I was feeling so crap... yesterday I keeled over with a grim tummy bug which ive only just started to feel that im getting over now. Bleugh! ( the upside is that the tight dress hanging prominently in my wardrobe isnt tight any more! however NOT the best way to lose weight.. (still havent weighed though) ..

MOCNK 5lbs is not to be sniffed at! Well done.. and you will be getting the other health benfits of fasting .. someone said up thread to me ( was it you?) that its the keeping on with this WOE thats important ..I let things slip , but despite not really fasting , I now am pretty much maintaining even if its at a higher weight that I originally wanted.. I was nearly14 stone once! So think about whare you were and how far youve come.. its nice to think you are at or near goal , but at least the scales arent going the other way so you ARE in control even if your body isnt rewarding you has much as you'd like yet ..

Holiday homes.. we've been going to the same place now for our main holiday for 8 years! renting someone elses holiday home , but we love it - a beautiful little cottage in a bay all on its own in Greece -but with the advantage that we can go every year and know lots of people there now but dont have the worry of maintaining it and worrying about the taxes and state of the Greek government which is making holiday homes so expensive to maintain there . We used to talk about buying somewhere of our own there if we could ever afford it, but now think the campervan idea is better .. we shall have our 'snail home' and if its rotten weather where we are or we fancy a change , well we can just go somewhere else! Also I can see us taking more short city breaks.. (Copenhagen was so great last year, and I loved Lisbon.. fancy Bologna now)

FF I don't think the knee op is too difficult, and if possible I'd like to fit it in between my two half marathons in April and May, lol. I'll see what the surgeon says about the timescale but being in France I think an op in the next few weeks might be possible. My worry is that after the op I'll have to be on crutches and as I'm on my own with the kids I'm not sure how get them to school, get to work in Rennes let alone clean the gites, cut the grass, clean the pool etc. No time is a good time!
Laska running isn't for everyone, that's for sure. Re holiday homes, I have repeat guests every year, some people like the reliability but if I took holidays I'd be like TIP and go somewhere different each year.
mocnk I have a feeling that I won't be with on off B/F much longer, same old stiff happening. I hope you have more luck with yours and you have a good walk in Wales, weather permitting.

)))))) Knee surgery (((((((
I've avoided it for 30 years and plan to stay scar free for as long as I can
my most recent surgeon admitted that I am better doing yoga than disturbing the joint more

are they inverse hugs TiP?!

boo to the surgery Anglaise though sounds like you're not too worried about it - my DM had surgery on both knees last year and the op and recovery was so much quicker and easier than she'd anticipated, and hers had got quite bad. Since then she's been doing fairly gentle yoga too and it has really helped (she also does 5:2!)

Wedding is next January - we're so excited!

SO I didn't get to do my big ride today, my friend was going to lend me her car (it's an hour drive away and DH had to take the DC to a party today) and neglected to tell me her plans had changed until I double checked when I could pick it up last night - I spent all evening begging everyone I know to lend me their cars and asking total strangers also doing the ride for a lift but nothing worked out (I'd have hired one but we're skint this month) so I couldn't go - then TOTM arrived and that just set me off!!!

I'm wrestling the negativity back though as tomorrow we have another kid's party but it's just beyond my normal Pacific Coast Highway route so I'm going to bike there and back again. And get a very early night after last night's sleep was badly disturbed by period pains. God I wish female sterilisation was simple and easy

aye, out ward brackets = reverse hugs as in NOT like

(((ATB))) Im so glad im over that now. female sterilisation is not that bad .. i had it done 20 years ago, keyhole and got over it fairly quickly , but sadly it DOESNT stop period pains . Unless you go for total hysterectomy (which is another thing entirely and i dont think they do routinely)..

However my friend ( who being disabled seems to be able to get anything she asks her doctor for related to her disability or not ) had a hysterctomy for period pains... though whether they took her ovaries out ....I dont know .....I imagine if they didnt you would still get pain? and definately hormonla fluctualtion? (Why dont i know this? .)

anglaise you are worth more than that . can you find the stregnth to end it yourself now?

Just stopping by very quickly....will try to post properly tomorrow but wanted to send ((((hugs)))) to Anglaise Fwiw, I've had 4 meniscus ops now, 2 on each knee, and recovery isn't too bad. And it's amazing to get rid of the horrid 'catch' when the torn bit gets caught....

anglaise Sorry to hear about your knee but on the positive side I've read that yoga and pilates can have great effects on this type of thing as Tip suggests. I guess it depends on the individual, though. Do you still think you can do the half marathon next weekend? It's these stories that make me question whether running is a good thing or not, though the author of a book I read says it's all a myth .

Filly 2 ope on each knee, wow! How did you damage yours? How long was the rehab after each op, weeks or months and did you need crutches? South I messed up my knee by falling off a stool when trying to get a big spider out of my daughter's bedroom 3 years ago, it wasn't the running that caused it, but it probably hasn't helped fix it;-) thanks for posting the book link, I hadn't heard of it and I'm going to get it, at least I'll have time to read post op if I go that route
Still planning to do the half marathon on Sunday, so back on topic, so having a week off fasting.

Anglaise I have no idea, really. But I'm massively hypermobile (as are my dcs) and the likelihood is that most of the damage was done through many years of sloppy snowboarding because I simply didn't need to bend as much as most people - I could just flex my knees to move my board. But that's guesswork. The second tear on my right knee was due to poor physio following the first op: they made me stand on a wobble board and I felt it pop when I over-extended (I can't stop it happening). No idea how the first tear on my left knee happened but I do remember the 2nd one was triggered by driving a manual car in heavy traffic in central London.

Oddly, all 4 ops took place over a 2 year period. My surgeon threatened to resign if he ever saw me again but ever since I've been ok....and I still have (some) meniscus left. I'm much more careful about supporting my knees properly these days: I was never a 'heels' girl (lousy balance) but I also avoid super-flat shoes (like pumps and flip flops). Careful stretching pre- and post-exercise help, too.

Good luck with your run. I really can't imagine how you've been coping with that...I was in agony every time I tried to run when I had a tear :( Respect!

MOCNK and others...I've been thinking about the way we respond to weight loss whilst in 'maintenance' mode (or back on 'one last push'). Even though we've all come a long way in terms of how we think about our diet, our weight and so on, we still look for those 'instant' results whenever we get back on the wagon - and find it disappointing and challenging when the weight doesn't fall off as fast as we'd like. But of course 5lbs in 2 weeks is actually an amazing result, and on any other 'diet' you'd be happy with it, it's just not enough now you now what you can achieve. And similarly, I find I have to keep reminding myself, even now, that this is a WoE, and not a diet, so 'undoing' any bad behaviour can take a bit of time: it's not an instant fix.

I have also noticed that it can take a lot longer these days to drop a few lbs, and my body seems less keen to let go of the weight than when I first started on this WoE. But then, there's less (as a % of the whole) to lose, so maybe that makes a difference?

Anyway, stick at it :)

ATB so sorry you didn't get to make it to your ride...I'm so frustrated for you! But how lovely to be an 'eid' (witness) for your friends ketuba: that's so special! I'm very impressed :)

FD today - anyone else? Back on the vegan wagon too

Sorry filly total cross post!

Yes, FD here ATB I'm going on holiday on Friday and will be wearing scary summer clothes for the next 2 weeks. I've had a total Shred fail (somehow I don't think managing to Shred 6 days out of a possible 15 is going to make sufficient difference to the 'bikini body') and am a few lbs up on maintenance weight, but not too bad. WI this morning at 9.4 after a fairly full on weekend, so hopefully can get back to 9.2/9.3 before we go.

Feeling virtuous now after having nothing until dinner which was cauliflower, broccoli, sardines, tomatoes and a few mixed nuts followed by a banana and a glass of unsweetened almond milk. Virtuous and very full - may skip breakfast tomorrow.

Where are you going filly ?

I'm sitting in the waiting room of the orthopedic surgeon. I've got 2 DDs in plaster so I might be spending quite a bit of time here in the next few weeks.

Wow, lots of stuff going on with everyone - been a while since I was on here. Best wishes to all of you! (((hugs)))

FF what happened? You been beating up your kids again?

Just been watching Oscar practicing sliding off the bed on Facetime. He's growing up fast!

Trouble-free maintaining here - if I do have any excesses I counter them immediately.

I had breakfast this morning, unusually, but as soon as I'd finished it I put the timer on for 20 minutes, trying to avoid more nibbling. It mostly works.

My exercise routine is definitely improving. Graduated to a 6kg kettlebell last week, which I'm slowly getting used to.

I'm on Twitter a lot these days, there's a lot of vegan-based activity on there, and I'm gradually building up my followers - 72 as of this morning.

ATB If you're around between 7-8pm BST tonight, there's the weekly #veganchat going on.

Right, off for a swim and some HIIT.

No B+W I haven't been beating them up, though I am getting some interesting comments from people.

DD3 broke her wrist on Tuesday night whilst roller blading on the terrace (actually she was wearing roller blades whilst looking for the protection pads so not really roller blading as such). This happened whilst I was helping DD2 to pack for her exchange trip in Germany. Dh set off for hospital with DD3 while I took DD2 to catch her bus (via the hospital once I realised the passports were in the car glove box!)

DD2 then rang from Germany on Thursday with the good news that she had been roller blading, fallen over and broken her arm!

She gets back tomorrow. You couldn't make it up.

sorry FF that is slightly funny!!

I need to remember the timer trick - did so well yesterday, just a handful of raspberries and a banana until dinner then a delicious African Peanut Stew (DC had it with pasta, I had it with a massive bowl of spinach)...but then I made vegan chai cookies for a picnic today and ate FOUR of them...and then some trail mix...and a few dates...

grrrrrr

I'm out at that time today B&W but do let me know about others, I don't even know how to watch a live chat on twitter, how does that even work??

ATB it's #veganhour, not #veganchat

twitter.com/hashtag/veganhour?f=realtime

I think you'll be able to access the feed later on - you may have to click on 'all'.

Oh filly if only losing the weight now was as easy to do as it is for us to put it on! I take some comfort, however, knowing I finally have the tools to lose the weight when some of it comes back on, as it will what with life and stuff.

Quiet on here this week isn't it?

I finally got some movement on the scales. Only 300g but I'm taking it as a positive. We are working really hard in the gardens at the moment so hopefully that will help burn some calories.

Have a good weekend all.