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

Hello everyone!
Hope you're all keeping well and had great Xmases and New Years.
I've been very quiet for a while as I slid off. Not 5:2 but forums in general. But still here plodding on, and glad to see so many other names are still about.

Great to hear from you again, Eat Moustache
I'd forgotten your new handle.

well I was nicely back on track - good FD yesterday - until I went into the kitchen in the early hours and ate half (yes half) of a panettone . On the plus side - it was the last half, so that's the last of the christmas goodies to be disposed of.... onward and downward .

Started again today and have just had hot drinks - will have something nutritious around 5pm and hope that does it for the evening! still the damage on the scales was not evident, panettone are VERY light after all!

Aha, moustache - I too had forgotten your new name. Any chance of your inspirational pics into a post on the inspirational thread .... you could name change for it and then back again

cats it must be the time of year - I just tidied the last of the Christmas cheese

am being strong. must not have a glass of wine with dinner. going to try to last a whole month being dry ....

ah yes - the christmas cheese, lovely dd2 got me the most amazing cheese board as my xmas present - the offspring declared it the best xmas present I had ever been given but there was still loads left after their ravaging of it. I took the hard cheeses and grated them all, mixed it together and froze it in portions for use later. I still have to work through that last block of stilton - though I could make a batch of soup I suppose and freeze it....

My French OH hates cheese (yes, really). So I rarely eat it now. If you hate cheese, you really dislike kissing someone who has eaten it. I do sneak a little cheddar now and then when he isn't around, though. Haven't had any Camembert in ages now because I couldn't eat a whole one and it doesn't last as long as hard cheese. And we have some very good local unpasteurised Camemberts in Normandy.

OK - a very indulgent weekend with lots of good food and - back on track this week. The scales are showing at just under 10st again so onward and downward - will be away for work for a few days next week so should be able to throw in some fast days!

How's everyone doing?

Good, thanks, Cats!

Still maintaining, doing a 24hr LOF once a week. Planning one starting tonight, so I need to make sure we have an early dinner and start the fast around 6pm.

This time I intend to do a 36hr vlow-cal fast - having around 150 cals for dinner tomorrow night. Then I'll have a breakfast of about 300 cals on Wednesday, so that'll give me about 48 hours on

Had to laugh at this unfortunate juxtaposition on a billboard: a diseased lung (anti-smoking ad) and McRib.
OK, lungs are probably one of the few organs not directly damaged by too much junk.

Interesting article in the Guardian today about the scientific evidence for fasting
Fasting one day a week, and not losing weight obviously. Stuck at 59kgs even though running a lot of miles each week. Would love to be 2kgs lighter but lack willpower and need the energy for training.
Well done B&W on your success at maintenance, and good luck cats on getting back to where you want to be. I hope you do better than me! Although reading the fastday forum there are a lot of people who seem to have regained the weight they lost originally on 5:2. I guess it is just like any other diet, you need to change your WOE/exercise routing for life, not just until you reach your goal weight.

Reasons for regaining weight

1. Returning to the bad old eating habits that made you overweight originally
2. Failing to recalculate intake for lower weight
3. Failing to recalculate, if activity level is decreased or (longterm) for age
4. Lost muscle reduces TDEE - but 5:2 or ADF should retain muscle, unless you went crazy with the deficit. In other WOEs, especially crash diets, up,to 25% of lost weight may be muscle.
5. Metabolic change reduces TDEE e.g. menopause, thyroid, medication, disability etc
6. Adaptive thermogenesis, which means that anyone who loses weight may have a TDEE of 5-25% lower than someone who is naturally that weight without prior dieting. The % depends on amount of weight lost, type of diet, metabolism etc and is in addition to any effects of lost muscle. This effect can last a year or a lifetime, according to Varady.

So many folk are unaware of 6) including many "professional" trainers and dieticians.

My advice: weigh at least weekly amd have an FD whenever you exceed Happy Weight. Don't let it pile on and become a mountain to climb.

Thanks for interesting link, Anglaise IF seems to be more scientifically based, but so many vested interests against it
"...Research into fasting isn’t generally funded by organisations that stand to profit from other means of losing weight or maintaining health, such as the diet industry or big pharma"

Also trainers and dieticians, who've made their living for years advocating a completely different approach, would have problems admitting there is something better.

Hello everyone

Slowly catching up with thread.

All is chez Florrick. Still maintain. Not doing an awful lot of FDs tho.

The DC have reached new levels of ear shattering loudness. My brain hurts by the end of the day. They don't seem to realise that I am not deaf and can in fact hear them (and so can everyone within 3 miles radius).

Bigchoc. You'll be pleased to know the guinea pigs are still doing well.

Glad to see Moustace is back with new name (waves).

Uh oh. I've killed the thread!!
Yikes.
Hope you're all doing well despite the dreadful weather.

January has felt so loooong.

It's the first January since the DC came along that I've not been on a "diet" ie actively trying to loose weight. What an utterly fab feeling. Enough to cheer anyone up on a wet cold day.

Fear not, MrsF we're all busy munching just enjoying endulgent Saturdays on maintenance.
Great to hear you are feelong so fab

Feeling and I even refused the gratis ouzo this evening

Phew. Bigchoc. You're here.
Free Uozo. No thanks. It smells lovely though. Wouldn't drink it.

To be fair I'm not much of a drinker. Don't think I've had a drink since New Year's Eve. Just not overly bothered.

My vice is tea. Endless lurvely cups of tea. Can't get enough. I've been known to regularly drink 8 cups of tea day.

Well, websites like this have now made it into the Scientific literature for weight loss
rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/12/104/20140686
as reported here
www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21641136-even-friends-you-have-never-met-might-help-you-lose-weight-burden-shared?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/pe/aburdenshared

Am fasting today but my biggest change is that DH has stopped drinking for a bit so I am cutting right down.

Ouzo is great but can only be drunk in the sunshine

In today's D Telegraph 12 simple but unconventional rules of fat loss - few of them 5:2 related!

Those are really encouraging links, tip
Great to read the RS svidence that threads like ours can make such a difference

How long is your DH abstaining from - a definite target date or just until you threaten LTB ?

He's been getting abdominal pain : we rather overdid it at Christmas and in Berlin
so he's stopped for a while and I just had the odd can of gut-rot cider over the weekend - about 1000 less calories than normal!

I need to lose weight before my easter hol so its no great hassle

Oh, do send him my best wishes for a comfortable tum

:-) had fish pie with apple squash instead of white wine this evening. buffs halo !

< collapses in >

Thanks for those links, folks. Hope hubby recovers soon, TiP.

I did my first 24hr WOF (water only) today - just to see how it would feel. And, TBH, I didn't miss coffee at all.

Ended my fast with a large plate of Spanish omelette (using gram flour batter instead of eggs), 2 pieces of cake, custard and stewed apricots. I always make a large pan of the omelette, hoping I'll have enough for two meals - but it always seems to work out that I eat 3/4 of it for dinner and have the remainder for supper, which I've just done. It's my favourite meal, ATM - it's absolutely full of flavour! It's a bit of a shame I couldn't have my usual glass of red with it - but I don't have any alcohol on my FDs.

In town for my P4C class tomorrow - and afterwards I shall price a 12kg kb (as you forecast, BC), since I'm nearly up to speed with my 9kg model.

We have intellectually analysed it and found it wanting to the point of irrelevance. Right on, TiP!

Do you ever get the feeling that you are arguing with children?

"And when I became a man an adult, I put away childish things."