5:2 thread 103: life is short. Fasting makes it feel longer 🤣

[harriethoyle]

Welcome to the continuing thread for those following 5:2 or other forms of IF (Intermittent Fasting) such as 4:3, ADF, etc.

Basically it is 2 very low cal days ("fasts") per week - which need not be consecutive - and eat "normally" to maintain on the other 5 days.
For those who have dieted or maybe overeaten for years, eating "normally"
means roughly the number of calories your body needs to maintain - NOT reduce - its weight (see TDEE calculator below).

IMPORTANT
If you have had past diagnosed Eating Disorders or serious MH problems you should NOT do 5:2 or any other kind of fasting.

JARGON alert
16:8 is a different type of fasting, which can be combined with 5:2.

Daily zero-cal fast for 16 hours and eat within an 8 hour window. To lose weight, this needs a weekly calorie deficit as well

b2b (optional) back-to-back / consecutive fast days, each with an increased allowance of 650 calories instead of 500

BMI (Body Mass Index) healthy range is 18.5 - 24.9 for Caucasians. Upper limit may be 22 for some of Asian origin.

FD = single Fast Day: aim for 500 calories (600 for men or 25% TDEE whichever is higher) or 1000 cals for BF

No alcohol or junk on FDs

Even if you exercise strenuously, do NOT increase FD cals to allow for exercise

MFP = My Fitness Pal, a useful App or website to track food & drink calories

miniFD = MiniFD, tel:850-1000 850-1000 calories, no alcohol or junk

NFD = Non-Fast Day, averages around TDEE

NSV / LSV = Non Scale Victory / LifeStyle (change) Victory, e.g. compliment, smaller waist, clothes size

SV = Scale Victory

TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure, the average number of calories you burn in a day, is calculated from your current weight, height, age, activity level.

Aim to average about this for NFDs.

WOE / WOL = Way Of Eating / Way Of Life. We say this instead of "diet", to emphasise that we must make a permanent change in how we eat, to maintain our new healthy weight long term.

Jump in and say hello!!

Welcome back @tryingtomakesenseof - use whatever measurement or scales or clothing check in that works for you!! You know this WOL works so dive back in 😀

morning @SmellyMe - I was saying to DH yesterday that I was pleased our busy summer was drawing to an end. It’s been manic!! Here’s to a bit of steadiness…

Im doing a mini today, aiming for under 1000 to undo last week’s holiday frolics. Was supposed to be out on Thursday but that’s been postponed which I am secretly quite pleased by 🤣

Morning everyone. @tryingtomakesenseof nice to meet you. @SmellyMe I cant wait for back to school, DS went back today but DD back tomorrow and is currently lounging around making a mess and driving me up the wall! I cannot wait for some peace and quiet and just being ON MY OWN!!
@harriethoyle how on earth do you have sufficient energy for PT sessions when you are fasting?! I have been considering looking into PT so I'd love to hear a bit more about it. Roughly how much is it and what do you do / how often do you go?
Kitchen closed on about 500 yesterday after some delicious pasta and salmon thing for dinner and feel ok so am going again today. Really keen to get rid of this holiday excess so I can get back to getting down 😁. Keep it up everyone!

@MsBertieBoo I find them easier in the mornings because I would generally skip breakfast even if it wasn't a fast day - so when I do PT and add in a little post-session breakfast it feels very luxurious! 😂So sad...

I go to a weights/Hyrox based gym. Very keen on the mental side of fitness as well as the physical fitness and looks to make holistic changes as well as just gym sessions. My membership is £200 a month which includes one PT session a week (they are £50/session if you want one offs), all classes, of which I tend to go to 2-4 depending on weekend plans, and then free gym usage, and I will do 1-2 free sessions a week. At the moment I am averaging 3-5 sessions a week including 1 x PT. On days I can't get to the gym, I get out for a walk of at least 45 minutes to make sure I get my steps in. I have to say whilst the weight loss and firming up has been very welcome the biggest change has been in my mental health - I feel far less stressed, more relaxed and less anxious than I was pre-PT. I started this in February so have sustained it for 7 months now and it's just a way of life. I am a total convert!

Thank you for the greetings. Was delighted to have lost a few pounds over the last week. Beginner's luck!

Kids are back at school now - which should help with constantly being exposed to and picking at their food.

SW: 209.4lbs

Fast 2 Start: 01/09 20.30 💛End: 02/09 18.30 (22hrs)
Fast 3 Start: 02/09 17.00 💛

CW

Finding it easier to drink black coffee if its not too strong.

I'll try and bring back long walks starting this weekend but scared that any form of activity will make me ravenous!

Thanks @harriethoyleand @MsBertieBoo!

is it ok to drink diluting juice during fast days? I remember big choc frenzy saying to try to wean off it. Shall I try to wean back or just stop?

wow @harriethoyleyour exercise routine is impressive!

I have health conditions so suffer from post exercise malaise. I’m hoping to get back to the gym and do weights twice a week and just go for walks on the treadmill the other days. It’s raining here in Scotland and often is so walks outside aren’t consistent enough. I decondition really quickly so need to start and stay consistent.

day 1 - eating to TDEE. I’ve just had a huge shop bought baked potato with chicken curry, three cheese mix, spiced onions and green chutney and reckon I’ve hit TDEE already. Oh and lashings of butter. It was so big I couldn’t eat it all and I’m stuffed. As I can’t measure properly, I will assume I have and will aim to fast the rest of the day.

any tips for preventing constipation ? 😳

Hoping to have a fast day tomorrow. I forgot to weigh myself so willl do that tomorrow.

What does CW mean? Sorry just joining back after a long break!

@tryingtomakesenseof

CW = current weight.

I now see that I didn't put my actual current weight in.

As at this morning, I was CW = 207.2

Kitchen closing on 999 - couldn’t have achieved that if I’d tried! 🤣 another mini tomorrow with PT first thing 💪🏻

@tryingtomakesenseof I drink diluting juice on fast days. I have a little drop of a supermarket quadruple strength one. They’re usually sugar free. I like the occasional caffeine free Diet Coke, too.

I’m fasting tomorrow. Easy options: 100g smoked salmon for lunch and and omelette for dinner.

Hello everyone, feeling motivated by all your posts and tips. Havent done any gym classes again unfortunately just not in the mood somehow. Going to try and find something more local this weekend - it’s the yearly club promotions day so confident I can find somethingl

After a small last week I lost a kilo so have thankfully made up for it. The secret for me seems to be two fast days and two careful days ( no bread).
Just over a week before my holiday so hopefully a bit more. Fast days done for the week.
good luck everyone.

Yes @tryingtomakesenseof i also drink squash and diet sodas on FDs. I really don’t think they make a huge difference to me although I know purists do ! I figure getting through a FD is more important than limiting zero calorie drinks.

Scales static overnight despite yesterday’s virtue. Humph!! Will try and continue with today’s planned mini and PT and see if they drop a bit. 🤞🏼

@Journeyto180ah I see! Thanks!

@SmellyMedo you have diluting juice on NFD’s too? Thanks for sharing that.

@Lucylurkerwell done on your SV! Where are you off to on holiday?

so I’ve woken up with a splitting headache. Probably because I had the huge baked potato at 12:30 yesterday with a can of Irn bru, then had a twirl around 9pm 😳 I was planning to fast but I think I’ll be better having a strong NFD today instead.

Planning to have an omelette for brunch.

I did remember to take SW - 10st 9.4lbs.

This gives me a TDEE of 1590.

thanks for the info @harriethoyle - I am well impressed with your consistency and also how much you do. About 10 years ago I was super overweight and lost about 4-5 stone with getting into running and cutting calories. However, I damaged my knee doing a long distance multi day event and since then I havent really run. I have been looking at gyms for a while but we live in the middle of no-where and it's about 25mins each way for me to travel and I am just dithering about whether I will be arsed to do this especially in the dark in the winter! I do walk quite a lot as we have lovely woods where I live.
Kitchen closed last night on I have no idea what but am assuming not too far over 500- I had some stir fried rice with kale and tofu which was nice and DD made some cookies and I had half of one (they smelled SOOOO good I couldn't resist). @Lucylurker really jealous of your upcoming holiday- are you going somewhere hot? Feels like autumn has well and truly arrived this week and has been absolutely sheeting down with rain here. Although as of today both kids back to school whoop-de-whoop 😂

Morning all,

Starting day 4 on OMAD (One Meal A Day - or more like a small eating window 22/2)

Fast 3 Start: 02/09 19.00 💛End: 03/09 18.00 (23hrs)
Fast 4 Start: 03/09 20.00 💛End:

Had some Salmon, prawns, broccoli and mixed peppers. Was de-li-shus! 😂
And then a couple squares of the Dairy milk - salted caramel. Have a few more for later on this evening.

Good luck for today all

Kitchen closing today on 1118, which I’m really happy with. Have a dinner party tomorrow and a birthday lunch on Saturday so I’ll be back in the saddle on Sunday 💪🏻

Do you all track your calories over the week and then factor in mini FD’s if you so wish etc ?

my tdee is actually 1617 (just checked again).
SW: 69.2kg height 159cm

two fast days a week at 500 calories will give me a deficit of 2234 so not quite a pound. I’ll try some mini’s where possible to boost this. Otherwise progress feels so slow!

im going to try to work up to 16:8 on nfd’s as well.

@Journeyto180 sounds like you’ve really got into the swing of it!

Signing off on a successful NFD today.

Exactly @tryingtomakesenseof - so a week like this week where I know I have a heavy weekend I front load my virtue!

Yes, I track my calories on my NFDs or the week is wasted. I averaged slightly more than 1lb a week for April, May and June. For such sacrifice, you hope for more bur slow and steady wins the race. I losf a stone in 3 months and my starting weight was around fhe same as yours.

I have been all over the place since moving house in early July, though. I went on holiday too. I have maintained my weight and not gained. This week, I am determined to crack it and get back to seeing some results on the scales.

kitchen closed on target today. 👌

i drink fizzy water with a splash of diluting in it all day everyday.

Thank you, this is motivating! Well done you for losing it and also maintaining during stress.

What height are you? Is your tdee similar to mine and how many cals did you aim for per week to lose on average a lb or so? I would be well chuffed with that.

sorry for the questions but did you combine this with 16:8 or anything?

@tryingtomakesenseof I am 5 foot 5 and 67.9kg (this morning!). My average daily cals that I need stay under if i want to lose is 1527 so I think you’d be slightly less than that because you’re a bit shorter than me. Hence why front loading virtue helps me stay within the overall weekly limit!

@tryingtomakesenseof - Its bizarre, but I'm actually really tapped into the 'Delay not Denial' mindset.

And by the time I get round to eating - I cant even stomach as much as my mind wants. I do have to get better with my water drinking though. Tomorrow, I have to drop the little at Tennis for an hour, so will make sure I get some steps in then.

Starting Day 5

Fast 4 Start: 03/09 20.00 💛End: 04/09 17.00 (21hrs)
Fast 5 Start: 05/09 22.00

Yesterday my eating window started early as I was making dinner and ended a little later as I needed wanted a cuppa and 2 oreos. Not mad at it, just mindful that I'm like a pringle. I can close my mouth, but as soon as I've started eating, its so hard to stop!

How does everyone tackle the weekend?
Tomorrow we have plans and so will be fasting till we go out.
Sunday, no plans yet, but I'm so used to having a caramel latte when i take the kids to football matches.

@Journeyto180 I plan it in advance. So for example, I know that tomorrow at the birthday lunch I am going to, I have limited control over my food but I am going to drive so no alcohol calories. I will probably stay sober when home for the same reason.

Sunday I am making roast lamb and will have that at 4pm - will have yoghurt pre-gym and then push through to late lunch, lots of green veg and a handful of potatoes. Will split a bottle of wine with DH but no other alcohol. That will likely do me until bedtime but worst case scenario, a piece of toast c.8pm. So I am anticipating being up to my TDEE calories but hopefully not over them.

I definitely do better with plans in place - if I try and freestyle, the snaccidents come thick and fast!

Thanks @harriethoylelove the term “front loading virtue”! and well done for your progress. What’s your goal?

@Journeyto180 that’s a great idea about delaying and not denying. It’s just being mindful as well isn’t it. Are you planning to keep up with the long fasts everyday opposed to a 5:2 regime?

I forgot I was doing this woe today and so I’ve probably gone over NFD. I was kicking myself but then thought I just need to pick myself up and brush it off. Tomorrow is a new day and it’s ok if it takes me a bit of time to get into the swing of it.

@tryingtomakesenseof I’m pretty happy with where am I tbh. I’d probably like to shave a couple more kgs off so I have more wiggle room for high days and holidays but I’m a size 10 now and that was always my goal. Maybe I’ll concentrate and get down to 66kg as my ultimate goal but as long as I keep toning up, that’s more important to me.