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

[TalkinPeace]

This thread is for those of us who have been practicing IF (Intermittent Fasting) for quite a while ( it being nearly 2 years since the Michael Mosely TV programme aired ) 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 mix fasts and 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?

More and more 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 four maintenance threads and all the main 5:2 threads for posters practising IF to lose weight here Fasting / 5:2 on the diet forum. We're currently on thread no. 46, 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 even more to the fore, as part of our general health and to help weight loss. BigChocFrenzys thread is here

Welcome home, tip Time to chill

Take it easy too, Betsy Sounds like one of those nasty bugs doing the rounds, so don't train until you feel fit again

Poor MrsF That sounds totally horrendous
I agree 100% with Tip that for your sanity you need me-time.
Since knobhead won't look after his own DCs, he can at least pay for some sort of temp child-minder or baby-sitter a few hrs per day. He apparently has little respect for any of you.

Maybe you can take the piggies out somewhere nice, since they at least deserve it and they are cheap dates

My total respect for all mums, coping for years with this horror for years. You are all amazing

I can't stand noise, dirt, smells, housework, interruptions, chaos ... oh, sounds like the definition of small DCs !
< I'm fine with puppies or kittens, though >

Good to hear your iron is ok now, Anglaise
You should be fine, so long as you keep to the nutrition / rest guidelines after races.

Oh BigChoc you can keep puppies. I have one - a border collie, he is 6 months and still not 100% house trained although we are getting there. Despite the fact we have 2 other dogs he is petrified of any strange dogs, cars, cows and anything else that moves or makes a noise. He has a shoe fetish and any gite guests who leave their shoes outside regret it as at least one of them is taken by him. I have to clean the house every other day at least. I can't remember having to do that with the DC . I've had other dogs from puppies but all have been easier to train than Sam. He is a very good running pal, though.

Hi guys!

MrsF!

Agree with the rest - get yourself some help.

NFD for me today, and I decided on a 22:2 - in that I had no breakfast or lunch and just had an evening meal with some biscuits and chocolate afterwards.

I've been debating all evening whether or not to have something more to eat, but I've nothing prepared, so it was easy to resist.

I've virtually given up breakfast, it just sends me in an eating frenzy unless I'm very disciplined. Lunch doesn't seem to have quite the same effect, but I was going out just after one so decided not to have lunch.

Did 48 hours on 300 cals last week - 24hr LOF followed by a 150 cal veg curry, then the following morning I spent another 150 cals on my flaxseeds+fruit juice. Then I didn't eat until dinner. Felt absolutely fine, no probs.

I like to do something along these lines every now and again as I don't think the

B&W I usually Fast 5, but I often do a 22:2 where my meal is either lunch or supper. I eat really big meals (presumably my tum hasn't shrunk) ,but it works for me.
I basically have quite long daily fasting periods, with an occasional FD to maintain.

If you feel ok on a stricter fast, I'm sure that is fine, but I would recommend not more than once per week, especially for the over-60s. You know how paranoid cautious I am wrt health !

Also, when maintaining, we have no net weekly deficit, so that makes FDs less stressful.

Personally, I find I usually need 500 cals for optimum exercise performance and to avoid feeling exhausted the next day.
However, my tolerance for lower cal fasts has definitely improved over time: it initially took me months to get below 900 cals and now I can manage 4-500 cal FDs without problems.
The zero-cal BCAA (Branch Chain Amino Acid) drinks were a great help, too, for maintaining fuel to the muscles.

DCs pumpkins duly scooped out and eyes and mouth cut. Tea lights in and pumpkin pie in the oven.

Raining here today and I couldn't face another museum so stayed home. Squabbling and whining has been order of the day I can only wish they would shut up. My ears are bleeding.

Wonder how my pumpkin pie will turn out. It's my first ever.

MrsF Filthy weather today wasn't it
are there any school friends they could meet up with for a de-bounce in the park tomorrow?

They've already had 6 play dates with school friends this half term. We were supposed to have one this morning but they had to cry off because the youngest was ill.

DC school half term is 2 weeks so this half term we have been London Zoo, Science Museum, Leeds Castle, Maritime museum, Hornimann Museum, soft play x 3, Crystal Palace Park (playground, City Farm and Dinosaurs and flew their kites for good measure), Swanley Park (with the ride on Diesel train and bouncy castle), Natural History museum, Bluewater shopping for a treat for them (Disney shop- same day as Swanley Park) And 3x play dates at other houses.
We still have a Halloween party on Friday with more or less half of the school (the whole of pre-prep) with dressing up and a soft play birthday party on Sunday.

I'm knackered!! And if I have to go to the smelly stuffed animals at Hornimann again anytime soon I will scream.

What I would like is for them to go back to school next week and not be ill or off school before Xmas. Fat chance of that happening this time of year.

Anyone fancy a spot of baby sitting ??

I'm amazed by the fantastic outings that MrsF and others provide their DCs
When I was a kid < violins > I don't think outings had been invented ! No clubs, music lessons, coaching or other activities either. I was chucked out from the age of 3 to play with friends until dark (so my parents had some peace) and we roamed miles.
Probably B&W had a similar childhood.

Oh, B&W, I don't have breakfast either. I've found breakfast can add 1500 cals to an NFD, because I eat MORE lunch and often then want 4 meals that day.
So, my FDs are 40 hrs or even 44hrs, if the previous NFD was Fast 5. I need my 5-600 cals for that time, though.

I suspect there may be a gender difference, specifically wrt calorie needs to retain muscle: men can build much more muscle, do so more quickly, retain it more easily.
It could also be a vegan thing being able to last longer on less.

Big choc. I was ejected to play in the countryside. And museums and zoos were something the school would take you to once a year

My DC are extremely well looked after and their minds stimulated in every way. (Tomorrow is collecting leaves and pine cones to add glitter glue to to make autumn pictures and Xmas decorations).

Besides I can't keep them at home or they squabble and wreck the place.

It's all compounded by the fact that I have been trying to toilet train DS (now 3yo) for a year. He has refused.
However I have made a breakthrough (bought him a Thomas the Tank musical potty) and he is now dry during the day. It's been a very very very long slog.

Basic issue has been that DS would rather soil his pants than stopping playing for 2 seconds. He would wail and refuse to go and deliberately wet himself and announce he therefor no longer needed the toilet

It's been shocking. DD was dry day and night in 10 days (bit sooner at day).

A whole bloody year!

DC didn't like the pumpkin pie. Luckily DH and I did so we ate it

And sorry
I don't really have breakfast either. Just as well. If I eat breakfast I will just keep eating continuously.

Hello everyone, unfortunately the last 2 weeks of undisciplined junk food eating (including too many crisps and Haribo) means that the scales have tipped at 60kgs , despite the fact I'm running around 50kms a week. I've signed up for the same 10k race that I did last year, my first one, and in order to see if I've improved at all I need to get down to the weight I was then, 57kgs. The race is 30th November so it is possible to lose the 3kgs, but I'll need to fast 2 days a week seriously. I briefly looked at the Paleo diet as it was in the news this week, but no tea, coffee, wine, bread, cereals, beans (haricot, kidney etc.) chocolate, cake, dairy products ....with an overload on meat is definitely NOT one I could stick to for more than a couple of days.
Hope you are all cold free and eating more healthily than me!

Fasting strictly today and Wednesday as DH and I are off to Brighton on Thursday to check out theatre hire - which is bound to involve lunch!

Good luck with your fasts this week TIP and enjoy your trip to Brighton. I'd forgotten how cold you get when you don't eat, and it isn't warm today either

Anglaise I'm not a fan of cutting out food groups: we evolved and thrived as omnivores. Sugary crap is not a natural or healthy food group, though, so cut that out if you can.
Maybe just try to eat nutritious food with minimal processing and cut out the alcohol ?

I have a major objection to diets that ban beans, legumes, starchy veg, complex carbs like quinoa and brown rice. These are all very healthy for most folk.
Cutting down bread often accelerates weight loss though, even if you normally just eat wholegrain.

Can some good cooks pop over to the main thread to answer a question:
Jelly needs a recipe for low-cal mash, i.e. not just dry mashed potato or other veg.

Sorry BCF and B&W - this is a better article, based on the book by Matt Fitzgerald. I couldn't get the link yesterday (rubbish broadband!) and there are references
www.runnersworld.com/race-training/train-at-the-right-intensity-ratio#

Please excuse my last post, it was meant for Big Choc's excercise thread (although TIP will probably like it as I know she isn't a big HIT fan!)

As I explain in my answer < leaps to the defense of HIIT >:
This is nothing to do with HIIT, which is intermittent high intensity, not the prolonged high intensity sessions that most runners do, which may over-stress the body.
That is analagous in IF to the difference between 2-3 FDs per week, which is beneficial and 6FDs per week which is probably harmful.

HIIT is great - there are a couple of classes a week at my gym and people love it
I'm not one of them
I do not enjoy "quick" exercise - partly because I cannot run or jump but things like RPM are just an utter chore for me

and yes it is probably to do with the low pulse rate / blood pressure and green circulation

Hmm, HIIT compared to HIT is probably more like IF compared to severe daily CR.

Hello everyone
I'm back on this thread after moving from France to Hong Kong over the summer.
I did not fast much during the summer because it was too complicated, what with the holidays, the moving, the stress of finding a new home etc. But I didn't put much weight on and since the beginning of September, I've been back on the wagon. I'm at my target weight so I am happy about that and I have found a gym I like to go to although I can't cycle anymore.
I bought on the same day two dresses, one in Marks and Sparks here in Hong Kong and one in a Chinese shop. To M&S, I was a size 34 but my lovely Chinese dress was an "L" (In France I was an 36 or a 38). It goes to show that dress sizes in the UK are seriously distorted to accommodate the growing "growing" population.

Hi Vie : ooh, dim sum - you lucky thing.