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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.

Countdown to Christmas

318 replies

ItRainsItPours · 01/09/2024 15:10

All welcome!

Supportive thread for setting goals including self care and fasting, and chat in between!

OP posts:
GameOfJones · 04/10/2024 07:56

Well done @Amazonmulu and I totally agree. If you had told me before I could quite easily go over 24hrs without eating anything I would not have believed it. I do need to look at the nutrition in my meals though if doing OMAD to make sure I'm getting what my body needs.

EmbraceTheBeans · 04/10/2024 11:32

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EmbraceTheBeans · 04/10/2024 11:36

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imperialqueen · 05/10/2024 08:43

Amazonmulu a 27 hour fast is amazing. Well done. Sorry I don't know how to manage plateau's but I have heard that if you keep going you will get a whoosh in a week or two.

I have been trying to cut out snacking, when I have to snack I am keeping it healthier. Have swapped to dark chocolate, fruit etc.

I am managing to not eat until 1pm and stopping about 9pm and am very impressed with myself. I lost half a pound last week. I know not the best but I was away over that weekend so I am more than happy with a wee half pound.

My aim is to just keep at it and not get disheartened.

Blanketyre · 05/10/2024 09:02

Hallo!

I've lost a stone since last Christmas by eating between 12pm and 7pm.

Need to get back into it! Have at least another stone to lose.

I stop and start. I drink coffee with unsweetened almond milk and water, and then usually have something eggs at 12. My downfall is sugar.

Blanketyre · 05/10/2024 09:04

Also I drink too much wine. Only at the weekends but even so.

ItRainsItPours · 05/10/2024 16:37

@Blanketyre welcome, and well done on your weight loss. I think we are all trying to cut down on things like sugar and alcohol so you are in good company here.
I am having a lovely weekend, though not sure it will be good for weight loss.

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Fouramclub · 08/10/2024 22:56

Oh lord I'm having a belter. Have been hovering steadily around the 73-74kg mark for the past few months. Went away this weekend and weighed myself tonight and was 75.8kg - which is almost 1kg more than when I started 16:8 in August 2023. I was averaging more than 20k steps a day while away. The main difference in my eating habits was having breakfast and drinking two beers and a glass of wine a day. Urghhhhhh

I had been trying to count calories but it's harder when you make big meals like soups and have to guess how many portions you've made.

holiday is over so back on it tomorrow. Also going to calorie count. I think it will help me to eat the same things every day.

tomorrow I'm aiming for a low calorie day with:

coffee with a splash of oat milk
boiled egg at 12pm
spinach and chickpea soup plus some sort of extra protein for dinner
fruit

i'm hoping I can combine 16:8 with fast 800 and do two 800 days a week to shift this weight 😵‍💫

Fouramclub · 08/10/2024 22:57

@Blanketyre great to hear about your progress, very encouraging!

GameOfJones · 09/10/2024 07:58

@Fouramclub I always gain on holiday too! But it does tend to come off quick if I get straight on plan when I'm back so I'd say be glad you enjoyed yourself and your holiday and now back to it as you say.

Very slow and steady for me still but my weight is finally going in the right direction. And this way of eating feels totally sustainable to me now so I'm ok with it taking a while to lose the excess weight as long as I'm on the right track.

SW: 15st 1lb (Jan '24)
CW: 13st 11lbs

Amazonmulu · 09/10/2024 08:54

I always gain on holiday but do lose it fast - I think booze and salty meals are to blame. At least for me 🙈

I'm a bit deflated. I did 33 days of excellent fasting - feeling great and losing weight. On Sunday I got a vestibular migraine and couldn't fast or cook. It's still not fully gone and I've been back to eating crap and craving chocolate.

As I type this I'm looking at how much my tummy has inflated in just 3 days 🤦🏻‍♀️

The migraine may be due to my period (which is late (wonder if fasting delayed it?)) so I'm hoping to jump back in the saddle after this fiasco is finished.

EmbraceTheBeans · 09/10/2024 15:44

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ItRainsItPours · 09/10/2024 18:07

I have had both Covid and flu jabs this month and now have pmt. Not the best month, sleep really disturbed by sore arms but feel like things are starting to settle down.
I agree with everybody about what works, low upf, low sugar, little alcohol etc I also find if I am busy I don’t get hungry. I don’t seem to need to exercise per se but being generally busy and active really helps. In fact if I do something like swimming I am generally starving afterwards.

OP posts:
Fouramclub · 09/10/2024 23:49

@EmbraceTheBeans i agree I definitely eat better on the whole, and have a generally much better diet than I did 2 years ago so for that reason alone 16:8 has been great. I do, however, slip up frequently!

I also find if I'm busy I don't get hungry. If I have breakfast, I am absolutely ravenous by lunchtime. I am also starving if I go for a swim @ItRainsItPours

@GameOfJones well done On the slow and steady!

@Amazonmulu well done on 33 days of fasting and I hope you feel better soon!

Fouramclub · 09/10/2024 23:53

Ps today I broke my fast at 1:30 and stopped eating at 8:30. I had a two egg cheese and spinach omelet with steamed broccoli and a pear and a green pepper as a snack and a little chocolate wafer and for dinner I had a chickpea and spinach stew with lamb meatballs. All home made (apart from the wafer) but I reckon the lamb probably pushed me over the 800 calorie mark as I don't feel the slightest bit hungry. Maybe the chickpeas were filling!

ItRainsItPours · 10/10/2024 07:55

Chickpeas I think do have protein in them. When I make a big batch cook I try to throw in a tin of either chickpeas or lentils. Wasn’t there something in the news about it being good to eat a wide variety of plant based foods? I seem to remember us discussing our numbers at one point.

OP posts:
HarpQuartet · 10/10/2024 11:18

Good to catch up on everyone's messages and yes, thirty different plants a week is the thing to aim for (don't remember according to who, but it made sense to me at the time).

EmbraceTheBeans · 10/10/2024 17:27

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EmbraceTheBeans · 10/10/2024 17:32

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HarpQuartet · 10/10/2024 18:29

Nice one @EmbraceTheBeans and I have conversations with myself too sometimes about work situations (e.g. "I know you're worried about this deadline, and it's nice that you're concerned, but I'm just reminding you that you've never missed a deadline blah blah") so perhaps I can turn it towards some of the other, more personal self-talk that goes on.

GameOfJones · 10/10/2024 18:53

That really is inspirational @EmbraceTheBeans! I'm very interested in your PF disappearing, I've suffered with my feet for about 18 months but it definitely is improving.....so that gives me hope maybe mine will finally be gone one day!

The 30 plants a week figure is quoted by a few different sources and does seem to be linked to scientific research. From memory they were researching bowel cancer and found those patients that ate 30+ plants a week fared much better than those eating fewer than 10. It is to do with the gut microbiome and different microbes like different plants so trying to get more variation in our diets.

I do track how many plants I eat each week as I have to be mindful because I'm only eating two meals a day and I do tend to repeat a lot of the same meals.....so variety is something I'm lacking a bit.

Luckily tea, coffee, olive oil, herbs, spices, wholegrains and brown versions of bread, rice, pasta plus nuts, seeds, pulses etc all count towards the 30. I try not to get too hung up on it but it has changed some of my habits. E.g where I would have broccoli on the side of a meal I'll now have broccoli and peas. Or when making bolognese I'll now always chuck in some lentils, or I'll sprinkle nuts and seeds onto porridge, hummus, salads. Or where I would have added one herb to my cooking I'll now always add two or three etc. I think the focus on variety over quantity is interesting and more helpful than the 5 a day because 5 is thought to not be enough and I was very guilty of keeping my rubbish base diet but then also eating some fruit and thinking that was ok 🙈.

A 16 hour fast for me today

Lunch was oatcakes with hummus and some pine nuts

Dinner was roasted vegetable cous cous with feta

EmbraceTheBeans · 11/10/2024 09:38

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EmbraceTheBeans · 11/10/2024 10:02

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Clearingaspace · 12/10/2024 10:01

Sorry to be off thread - I am so off the wagon and have gained half my weight back so a stone since the beginning/ mid of summer hols. I seem incapable of calorie counting or fasting, getting to bed in time, or even eating healthily. Any way I have felt I might derail the thread or something so stopped posting.

i think I need to address my long term attitudes to food so have started reading atomic habits but I still feel a bit lost as only a couple of chapters in. Fingers crossed something will click. I have a lot of habits to change Blush @HarpQuartet any time I read a diet book with a section on the internal type voice stuff I just want to skip that section so clearly this is what I need to do this time.

@EmbraceTheBeans very inspiring to hear all the changes you have experienced to your health - amazing. @GameOfJones i also found fasting worked on my pf so fingers crossed for you. I have some foot twinges this morning so maybe that will be my motivation. Apparently pf can be caused by hormonal imbalances so depending what caused yours diet and fasting might help.

By the way, talking of nuts and Zoe etc - I am lurking on a Źoe weight loss Facebook group and apparently 20% of people gain weight following the recommendations and those people need to do exactly as you describe @EmbraceTheBeans and weigh nuts etc. I haven’t gone on to do Źoe despite lurking on some groups as I couldn’t afford it and the results don’t seem to be there for everyone. oh a tip on the Źoe mix is that you can get it as part of a lunch meal deal in Waitrose so I bought it once when dh was having a sushi craving!

@ItRainsItPours i would love to hear more about your batch cooking. I made a batch of a healthy meal for dh but he has decided it gives him indigestion so it’s down to me to eat it. I was cross as it’s not the most delicious, but I got a tub out of the freezer yesterday for my lunch and loved not having to do anything to get a good veg rich meal. Make it easy seems to be one of the recommended in the habit changing books so this would probably be the way forward?

@Fouramclub well done on getting back to it so quickly after your holiday - your food sounds delicious too!

@Amazonmulu i hope you are feeling better? X

EmbraceTheBeans · 12/10/2024 10:43

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