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

899 replies

TalkinPeace · 21/07/2014 12:22

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

OP posts:
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BigChocFrenzy · 14/06/2015 15:52

Seriously Blush at all the compliments, you lovely bunch !
Also Blush that I'm too old out of date to have started a blog, but since B&W has one, I've no excuse (I think he may be the most modern in outlook of us all !)
I'll have to look into it. I handle massive banks of supercomputers, so I must be able to figure out how to start a blog.

I ordered some online powdered pnut butter after I spotted it online. Much lower calories, but probably best in shakes or porridge etc rather than on toast.
Unfortunately, the site also had cashew butter and almond butter in tubs.
Big tubs.
In fact very big tubs.
So, I'll have 1kg of each. That's about 6,500 cals per tub. I will NOT empty a tub in one go. Or even in two goes.
I may post for moral support !

Anglaise1 · 14/06/2015 19:56

BigChoc 6500 calories isn't too far off my almond calorific intake per week. Well, maybe 1000 calories, but not a lot. Does an Almonds Anonymous support group exist?
Seriously, a blog would be a great idea for you. They aren't hard to set up at all, and I'm sure you would have no shortage of subscribers.

BigChocFrenzy · 14/06/2015 21:48

Crikey, Anglaise I thought MrsF and I were the queen nuts, but at 5000 cals weekly, you thrash us. Maybe I should post you one of the tubs !

I suggest you portion out the amount of almonds you plan to eat, say max 200 or 300 cals per day and then put the rest back in the cupboard - remember you can have it tomorrow

I'll report back on the powdered stuff, which has far fewer cals. My guinea pig, HelloKitty, loved it in her Total.
I'm so looking forward to the cashew butter. Yum, but difficult to find. I'll decide in advance how many tbsp and then put it back in the fridge Hmm Well that's the plan

BigChocFrenzy · 14/06/2015 21:50

You know, we could try an all-nut NFD or two, to get the urge out of our systems for a while < calculates how many tbsp cashew butter in TDEE >

Hellokitty105 · 14/06/2015 22:17

Happy to oblige as guinea pig for PPB. I have yet to try it as a spread and tbh I can't imagine that will replace proper peanut butter but it defo works for me mixing it in total with a sprinkle of stevia/salt and I use a sprinkle of cacao nibs. I was just saying on the other thread how my taste buds have changed. Sweet crap food does nothing for me (I've cut out sugar). The whole total thing started for me as a Ben and jerries cookie dough replacement and tbh I can't imagine B&J would be as satisfying anymore.

Breadandwine · 14/06/2015 23:12

Anglaise, I wrote that around 2am last night and posted it this morning without checking - so I can only plead insanity tiredness!

The conversation about nut butters should have been a dead giveaway! Confused

BC, it is simplicity itself to start a blog. Search for "How to start a blog", and it's all there. You'll need to decide whether you want to go with Blogger or Wordpress.

With Blogger you can literally be blogging within a couple of minutes - Wordpress is a bit more complicated.

If you need any help, you only have to ask - but it really is easy. Smile

BigChocFrenzy · 15/06/2015 00:09

Thanks, B&W but it really is laziness and atm I say all I want here Smile
I'm sure I will get round to it eventually, but I'd need a lot of free time to decide my aims for a blog and plan what I want.
My holiday this year was mostly used up with the horrendous repairs after my burst pipes.
MrsF You would have been very useful cracking the whip over the different firms. I'm so impressed you thrive on that. Drove me mad.
As for dealing with the insurance < @@**@@ intended remarks censored >

btw, strange how so many maintainers have cheese & nut issues Grin I must do a scientific study !

MrsFlorrick · 15/06/2015 00:41

Bigchoc. Burst pipes are a mare!!! And insurance companies are not worth what we pay them.

Cheese and nuts. Oh yummy!!! I can eat tons of both.

I think your scientific study will find that both products are so delicious people can't help themselves. Wink

Should be asleep. Can't sleep. All that stuff with the stupid school is keeping me awake. Hmm

Perhaps if I ate some nuts it would help?Grin

Breadandwine · 16/06/2015 13:06

Fair enough. BC - wouldn't want anything to take you away from these threads! Grin

I've just had some good news about my hernia! The surgeon thinks it isn't one - which is a good start! Grin

She thinks it's possibly scar tissue from my previous ops - and I'm to have an ultrasound scan. Since it's causing me no discomfort - I don't even know the lump is there unless I touch it - I should resume all normal activities immediately! [whoopee!]

So I shall (gently) reintroduce all the activities I've recently foresworn!

I've already resumed my HIIT regime - feels good! Smile

BigChocFrenzy · 16/06/2015 17:11

Oh, that's great news Grin
But do build up gradually, taking say 3 weeks to get up to your full exercise program.

Breadandwine · 17/06/2015 01:27

Thanks!

Couldn't decide for a while whether to start today with my press-ups, etc, or with the kettlebell. Went for the press-ups as an easy option, completing 4 sets of 10 (unweighted).

It'll be interesting to see if I can get back up to speed in three weeks - it's exactly 2 months since I rowed back on my routine.

Had my weekly 24hr LOF today, followed by a low-cal curry of 137 cals - for a change. I'll probably eat tomorrow lunchtime, giving me a fast of 40+ hours.

It was tricky for a while tonight, knowing I had over 450 cals to spare, but I managed it!

I was presented with some tiffin this afternoon, by the care company I teach two sessions a week for. It was free-from: gluten, wheat, dairy, egg and hydrogenated fats! 488 cals for 100g!

I might weaken in the morning and have some for breakfast! Grin

Anglaise1 · 19/06/2015 07:12

New research from the University of Southern California on the benefits of fasting in the news today 5 day fasting slows down aging

Breadandwine · 23/06/2015 00:28

Thanks for that link, Anglaise. Nice to see Prof Longo's name in the research. But all these variations are just IF with a bit of tinkering. I'm very happy that 5:2 (6:1 when you're maintaining) is sufficient for good health.

Plus a certain amount of exercise, of course!

Had a brilliant day at the Anti-austerity march in London on Saturday!

I met some wonderful people - health workers, carers, educationalists…too many groups to list here.

So good to be with like-minded folks.

One march isn't going to change anything, I’m aware of that - but it's a marker for future protests. This is just the start.

We left Taunton at 7am and began the march around mid-day, ending up at Parliament Square around 4pm. We left while the speakers were still on stage, but, as we couldn’t hear a word they were saying, we left after about 20 minutes.

I headed over to Leicester Square to meet my family and have a meal somewhere. I’d only had coffee and water during the day, intending to eat out with my family (son and 3 grandchildren) before seeing a show in the evening. The meal was part of my Father’s Day treat, but in the event, it wasn’t the greatest meal I’d ever had.

Leicester Square, as you can imagine, at 5.30-6.00 on a Saturday evening was heaving. Then it began to rain quite heavily and everyone made a beeline for the nearest restaurant, of course. We tried to get into TGI Friday, but it was just too crowded. Everywhere was the same, except for an Angus Steakhouse, which is where this vegan ended up for a celebratory meal, after not eating all day! Grin

It’s a good job I’m quite zen about food these days, thanks to this WOL. All that could be found for me was some bread, a serving of chips and a tomato and onion salad (with olive oil).

But it was absolutely fine! I’ve been reading The How of Happiness* by Sonja Lyubomirsky, who recommends ‘savouring’ as a technique for increasing your happiness. So I just sat there with my lovely son and his three kids, completely enjoying (‘savouring’) the moment – the food assuaged my hunger, and that was all I needed.

Afterwards, we took the kids to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which they absolutely loved!

The first half I found quite boring, TBH (but, since I was listening to the exciting England v NZ one-day decider on my radio, I was quite happy - especially when we won!)

The second half perked up a bit and was actually quite enjoyable.

*Thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who's interested in improving their happiness level. I thought I was a pretty happy guy before reading it, but there are several techniques from there that I'm finding useful!

BigChocFrenzy · 23/06/2015 17:01

Well done, B&W You protested responsibly and in the right place, so the politicians got your message.
< relieved we don't need to pass round the 5:2 hat to bail you out Wink >
You coped brilliantly in the steakhouse, no drooling, fainting, vomming or otherwise letting the sound down.
The cricket was your pud.

BigChocFrenzy · 23/06/2015 17:16

There's a 5:2 thread started, which asks about Longo's "Fast Mimicking Diet". It is basically a buffered 5-day fast each month.

As you know, I'm very cautious about safety when fasting. I think that's too long without medical supervision and the specified macronutrient schedule is complicated for an amateur to achieve.
I suggest that anyone tempted should seek out a specialist fasting institute (there are two I know of in the EU) that provide board and supervision @ 2-3000 € for a 1-week stay.

With 5:2, ADF, 16:8 we've a good variety already, imo.

eachpeachbarebum · 23/06/2015 23:04

Hi everyone. I've not read all of this thread but wondered if I could jump on board please. I'm a very occasional poster, mainly a lurker, but have found the support on here invaluable in making changes.
I am in week 12 of my journey. I have dropped from about 9st 10 to 8 St 13 and think that's about enough now. my bmi is 19. I am continuing with 2 fds for now but want to plan how I may change that to maintain. I am finding it hard to eat up to my tdee although I don't calorie count. I just feel my appetite has decreased. I have eaten a portion of cashew nuts to try and up it today.
I wondered if I could ask for some advice. for exercise I've been focusing on swimming (dodgy joints cope with this best). I am going 3 times a week and swimming a mile each time. I've got it down to 36minutes. I've improved my front crawl so I can now do bilateral breathing and am decreasing the number of breaths I need to take. I am busy and a bit stressed at the moment so really feel the relaxing benefit of it as well. However I have the start of a cold, bit achey but not too bad. I really want to go tomorrow but would it be counter productive? think I've got a bit addicted to how good it feels but this time last year I had glandular fever and am a bit paranoid about getting it again.probably irrational but I'll stop rambling now...

eachpeachbarebum · 24/06/2015 07:10

Please ignore my question about swimming. I have my answer; I feel properly poorly this morning so there's no way I could do it.
I will post again when more compus mentis!
bandw I hope your return to exercise continues well. you've been an inspiration to me.

Breadandwine · 25/06/2015 00:19

Why thank you, eachpeach - and welcome to the thread. I do remember your nickname from before, nice to see you again.

I'm progressing well with my press ups - up to 20 x 4 sets now. When I can do them with just a minute between each set, I'll stick a weighted rucksack on my back. My kettlebell exercises are a bit mixed, in that I've slightly strained my left shoulder, so I'm sticking to a 6kg kb for that. For the rest, I'm almost up to sets of 20 with the 9kg kb.

I'm another with dodgy knees, so, for my HIIT, I practice running on the spot in the pool.

About being an inspiration, it's a bit like the ripples spreading out from my breadmaking. I absolutely love it when one of my students tells me they've taught someone else how to make bread. Here, the credit really belongs with BC, who is an inspiration to us all! Smile

Bit of a FD fail for me today! Well, I did 22 hours of an LOF before I succumbed to the lure of a jam doughnut - the first time I've done these in oil in over a dozen years! It was to mark my last day working in a local care home, where I've worked for the last 8 years. In fact, I've known some of the students for getting on for 15 years, so leaving there was a bit of a wrench.

I was presented with a farewell gift of a bottle of rather nice champagne - Taittinger Brut Reserve - which I'll save for a special occasion. I'm thinking Christmas with all the family. (I reckon it'll still be in date by then! Grin)

BigChocFrenzy · 25/06/2015 08:30

Lovely farewell gifts, B&W
Everyone has the occasional donut shattering an FD. With your easy maintenance, that's just part of a relaxed WOE
Smile
I hope you feel better very soon, peach
Well done on achieving your goal; BMI 19 is excellent for petite women.
Flowers
I recommend against exercise or deliberate fasting when you feel unwell, certainly on maintenance, when you want to maximise health benefits.

If you want to keep 2 FDs and have problems eating up to TDEE ( and a bit extra each day to equalise the FDs):

Nutritious high cal food:
. Oily fish like salmon & mackerel
. avocados
. unsalted nuts
. almond / cashew/ pnut butter
. hummus, taramasalata, tzatziki
. full fat Greek yoghurt, e.g. Total
. olive oil (NOT standard veg oil) drizzled over salads or baked veg
. 85-90% cocoa chocolate (v high antioxidant and v little sugar) e.g. Lindt Mild Excellence
. Dates or figs with cream

eachpeachbarebum · 29/06/2015 10:40

Thanks for the welcome B&W! I am a sporadic poster as you may have gathered, but I think the pace of this thread will suit me better!
Your exercise routine sounds amazing. I'd love to achieve a press up let alone sets with a weighted rucksack Grin
your running on the spot in pool is a great idea- may try that myself. I hope your shoulder is improving.

8 years is a long time. Keeping bubbly for Xmas sounds like a good plan.you can raise a glass to all your students.
I completely agree about BigChoc. How she keeps up with motivating and advising people on all these threads, I don't know. I read all the old threads (currently working through the exercise one) and Bigchocs advice is amazing. I feel I should take notes. You stand out B&W as I can read the progress you've made and it spurs me on, as do other regular posters.

Thank you bigchoc for your advice. I may print out that list to stick on the fridge!

I'm glad to say I'm feeling much better. I gave myself a quiet week on the exercise front. I was organising a charity event which took place at the weekend so I was busy with that.

I may go for a swim today or maybe tomorrow. I really need to get into some lifting and muscle building routines so that could be today.
I have one more event to orhanise then I may treat myself to a set of weights. I have a link to a set you previously recommended.
fast day for me today. I must confess to having gone back to bed this morning for a doze.don't know why but felt I could do with it. Need to get on now!
Thank you for all the information and support.
hope everyone has a good week.

grannygrotts · 30/06/2015 14:01

Well it turns out my few weeks of lapses hasn't done as much damage as I thought. After a successful FD yesterday I have only half a kilo to lose. Phew. Today will be a bit of a test though as Tuesday has officially become jam donut day whilst I catch up on my homework before evening class tonight. That would be a bag of, ahem, 5 .... Blush. Am planning on taking a peanut butter sandwich with me and some carrot sticks - they'll probably survive the horribly hot tube journey better than me.

Settling down now in front of the tv to watch the tennis. When I say settle down, will be doing that with medicine ball, weights and a workout.

TalkinPeace · 05/07/2015 18:26

Well weight wise I've held it together after my three months of loads of work, stuff all gym, but toning wise its been a disaster
and chatting to various friends who have been getting a bit leaner I think that after the summer holiday I'll try to drop body fat a bit more - LOTS of HIIT and toning time Smile

OP posts:
Breadandwine · 07/07/2015 22:22

No LOF for me this week - just a 600 cal 6:1 day.

I wasn't intending to fast today, until I realised I had to be out of the house before 12, to shop for the first of the three teaching sessions I had this afternoon and evening. I hadn't had breakfast (rarely do, these days), so I simply missed out lunch and only ate when I returned after 7.

I wanted something quick, so I had stuffed mushrooms with pan-fried curried wedges and broccoli. This only amounted to 424 cals, so I had some strawberries dipped in dark chocolate for dessert. All in all, I was pretty stuffed.

Never mind "You can have it tomorrow!" With this WOL, you can have it today! Grin

I'll put the mushroom recipe on the recipe thread.

BigChocFrenzy · 20/07/2015 23:47

So many folk are being conned by crash diets, without scientific research, that are great at losing weight in the wallet. Unfortunately, they also risk losing muscle, health and BMR.

I keep seeing the occasional thread in our fasting topic about expensive detox magic potion diets, or asking about unsupervised prolonged fasts, all potentially dangerous.

There was an Aibu thread recently from someone who wanted to starve herself and exercise 2 hrs daily to achieve a 4 lb weekly loss - which she insisted would work.

Why is everyone so desperate for an extreme fix ? What happened to calm patience and prudence ?

Healthy sustainable weight loss is a process over several weeks and months, preferably also teaching new healthier habits that become automatic.
I suppose that sounds boring.

BigChocFrenzy · 20/07/2015 23:47

And breathe ....

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