I F - 5:2 - 4:3 - Maintaining the healthy weight

[TalkinPeace2]

This thread is for those who have been doing IF for quite a while and are now at or nearing their target healthy weight.

How do we experience fasts and balance a stable food intake while having little or no weight to lose?

How to we ensure that this WOE does keep us at the healthy weight long term rather than revert to yoyo games?

I have now been at the same weight for a month. I'm happy with that. I'm also still enjoying the 24 hour fasts because of the clear mindedness I get during them.

How about you?

I'm shredded.

No fasting for me today so I'm of to make some mash to go with my trout, almond croissant for afters yum! (well half an almond croissant I've already had the other half because I couldn't resist )

Filly I meant to say earlier.. my good wishes for the results of your mother's biopsy and thanks for your nice words about my snit about the job..which was so especially kind given what else you have on your mind .

keeping my fingers crossed for you and your Mum

laska how are you feeling today?

filly I hope the biopsy wasn't too difficult for you all.

ATB I have no experience on juice fasts ,although I do have a juicer and have in the past enjoyed making my own juices (ive not been doing so since starting 5:2 )

Fruit Juices can be quite high calorie (I cant imagine anyone would just want to have vegetable juice) and I think that if you are going to eat fruit then eating the entire thing is better for you s the Pulp/Fibre helps slow the digestion helping you feel full longer and slows the blood sugar rise and insulin resistance which helps stops big swings which can lead to feeling hungry.

According to a source on the net carrot juice is 94 calories per (US) cup, apple juice is 117 per cup. So would be hard for a fast day (although of course you may not be wanting to combine the two), but I think the main problem would be the hunger swings..
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Below Ive found a few articles which may help. (but they are all negative)

Livestong
Dr John Briffa
an article about juice detox

But In the absence of TIP(who is very good on the science stuff ) ill ask (as I think she would) Why do you think this approach will help? (I also think she?d be with me on what i?ve said above) you can ask her though ..shes here

And perhaps unlike TIP... ill say .... if you want to give it a go for a few days .. then why not? But It doesn?t sound right for me and I don?t think I would in your position as I think i?d just be constantly wanting more and could see me feeling acidy and faint on this ( which I don?t on5:2),also if you are using up a lot of energy cycling.. that might not be good. But then again a few days of liquid fast might help you feel a bit better ...and you can always come back to 5:2.

Right, I read the stuff about Setpoint TIC and that very interesting..I?m wondering if that?s where I am , right now.. if so I can live with it ,as long as I can maintain for a few months.. then maybe have another push then..

I?ve gone over a bit again today (about 650) , but that not too bad .. Just off to Shred..and will put extra effort in ..maybe up the weights to my 2lbs ..I?m also finding it easier and quite looking forward to shred level 2 now ..

Hi After8s much more positive thanks.. must go Shred though!

I agree not to get down if fast days are sometimes hard. That was me last Monday - I just felt hungry all day and a bit grouchy. Then was full of cold all week so maybe my body was just looking out for itself .... This week, Monday was a doddle (totm too) and on WI a full 3 lbs loss after a 4-week plateau. Hasn't it been mentioned that often hunger precedes the weight drop (Ezzza?)
Interestingly I have lost the magic 10% body weight so could have been another reason for plateau.... Hopefully not due another one yet!!

The highlight from the Dr MM You and Yours programmes on exercise and 5 a day were repeated this week. Someone on there described fruit juice as "bottled obesity" so might not be the best route to go down if you have been doing 5:2 to lose weight!

I have also lost 10% of my original bodyweight and am now stuck. But where did the 10% idea come from? It is not in the article ThinkICan linked to.

Interesting worldwide obesity map in the guardian:

www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2013/feb/19/obesity-map-of-world-weight

The comments are as always worth reading.

Wonder what they eat in the Cook Islands and Nauru? No wonder we are destroying the planet, not only far too many of us but we all appear to be eating for 2 or 3 !

Not sure where the 10% idea came from!

Hi all, haven't posted for a couple of weeks but feels like ages. Great to see so many still maintaining the lost weight and in some cases still shredding the pounds. I suppose one of the keys to this WOL is realising when you no longer need to lose weight but keeping this WOL going in one form or other to keep the health benefits. What makes it harder I think is that a lot of the motivation comes from seeing the pounds off on the scales and when that stops you need to find another 'motivator'. Yes health can be that but it's not as visible as ever decreasing waistlines.

For me things are a lot harder now than they were, concentration was always difficult on a Fasting day and a lot more of my time is now spent having to concentrate at a computer.....unfortunately sitting at a table in my kitchen........and we all no where that leads

Still my eating habits are much better now (ie what I eat) than they were and I'm not putting on any weight, but I definiately don't feel as healthy as I did when doing 4:3, and although I haven't put any weight on my stomach is not as flat as it was

BUT as I've said a hundred times before, unlike a diet this is a WOL and you can't really 'fall off' as it were.......there's just longer between Fasts

My aim is to get back into the swing of things from Sunday and see how things go.

Good luck to all of you out there

Hi all I too seem to be on an tough bit!! Fasting has been hard but I have managed to stick it out. I'm exercising more and feeling much better than I have in years. I am back at my prechristmas weigh but cant seem to lose anymore in spite of doing 4:3, exercising at least 4 times per week and not going mad on regular eating days.

Was a little disappointed pouty last week and more that a little I can't seem to get past 10 stone 3 (started at 11 stone 12) and never though 10 stone anything would ever be possible

This week I'm not worried and will continue as I have been safe in the knowledge that the weight loss will start again. I seem to have got caught up in the diet mentality and forgot that we are all experimenting with lifelong way of eating. Thanks for the timely reminder Laska With all the diet hype going around at the moment I lost sight of why I'm doing this and couldn't see the benefits for the fat so to speak.

When, and if my body is ready to lose more weight I am happy to do so but not stressing about it. This time last year I was almost 12 stones and hating myself for failing on yet another diet, not feeling comfortable in my body and too scared of failure to try again. Now I love myself again and am never going back there for you all. We been through a lot together and there's still a way to go .

well done for maintaining cyclist your right I think the weight l loss is tangible proof that something good is happening even if general health benefits were the initial goal.

I think there are quicker ways to lose weight than this to be honest, at this stage in other diets I would probably have lost twice a much weight but I am keeping with this because it may have extra unseen benefits. .

BCL the 2 day in a row thing is from doctor Harvey and the focus is breast cancer prevention app but to be honest I haven't read the research and just know the basics I have seen outlined on the other forum. There was also another doctor on the horizon programme who recommended 3 day fasts but they were nearly total fasts rather than vlc. To be honest the main reason I tried back to back was someone said they found that more effective for resetting appetite. I think the problem with science and research around nutrition exercise its that a lot if it its contradictory and has its own agenda. Def the most interesting diet I have ever been on!

laska really interested to gear how your veg fasts go! Kind of like America I have been thinking about juice butt maybe green veg, don't have a juicer thigh and not sure I want another gadget!

Well let us know, Giraffes, if 2 consecutive days does help in any way at all. I will happily give it a go if it resets my appetite or anything else useful! Sounds as if lots of us are struggling a bit at this point after several months of exhilarating progress.

Welcome back Cyclistist!

Today is so much easier than the last day or two, I wonder if I just really needed more food after pushing myself on that massive bike ride and hopefully the more used to distance cycling I get the less ill have the need to eat several horses afterwards!

To be honest the juice thing is more about a full body cleanse, not weight loss. I bought DH the juicer primarily because he always skips breakfast (he's never hungry enough) which is fine except it means he eats a horribly unhealthy snack later. He also get sick a lot (colds, flu, stomach flu), his immunity is just shit and getting worse due to the long hours and cramped office space, I've read up a bit on juicing and also going on anecdotal evidence of friends they all reckon their immunity has gone up in the last year of just adding one juice a day to their diet, and I'm getting him to focus on veg juice not fruit. No way could he sit down and eat the amount of vegetables for breakfast that go into a juice!

It's probably quite a "now" thing to be doing, but where I live in California it's been massively popular for a long time. We've also found that the combination of him working longer hours and me doing 4:3/5:2 means he's not eating as many veg as he was - if this gets him putting more greenery into his system and ups his immunity, tis no bad thing!

I'd just started looking vaguely at the juice fasts, to give myself a bit of a cleanse (would prob do just 3 days and not calorie count) and to try to readdress my current shitty attitude towards cake!

And finally we have a glut of oranges and lemons in our garden, I need to do something with them all.

Def not looking to replace 4:3 with a just diet though, how bloody boring life would be!

Juicers do seem to be one of those things that science would say no to, but people who use them really swear by . I am pretty rubbish and never eat 5aday so do think about it from time to time.

I think bcl it possibly did reset my appetite a bit to be honest, but only in the short term. I won'tdo it every week but def from time to time.

Hi cyclistist good to see you here again .. A good motivator? How about skinny jeans bro? or in your case , no wobbly bum or beer gut hangover in the lycra on your big bike ride

giraffes ,you want a juicer thigh? Wow to get those you'll have to follow Evil Jillian to the letter! . I'm not sure how much you've lost but for me 5:2 broke the Weightwatchers plateau of about 18months..

I've had a look iwearblack and it seems people have said that 'several studies' quote 10% as the setpoint This paper - it might have been posted before seems quite comprehensive though I admit I haven't read it all yet.. but several things I have read say that if you get to 10% (I'm at about 14% right now) loss .and can maintain it for 6 months , then you will have lowered your 'top range' set point and should be able to lose more then... id like to lose about 7lbs more , but ill be happy to maintain this even if it means I wont lose any more for a while .. like id said earlier maybe our bodies do need to 'catch up!' .

I've never got to 'maintenance' on any diet before or rather never allowed myself to think that I'm maintaining rather than trying to lose just a bit more, and so this will be a period of retraining my mind for me..

I'm the past i've lost so much, then started to put it back on and just felt like such a failure i've ended up putting more back on.. ( although i have lost 3.5stone overall now so must be getting better at it..).

so i've decided that although id actually like to lose that last bit , I'm going to continue to work on staying the same right now as my goal.(still fasting twice a week) and if (that's when,... of course) it edges down again that will be the cherry on the cake..

AmericasTB Have you watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead? It's on US Netflix - it puts over a very convincing case for juicing in terms of micronutrients. I juice sometimes and though it's fab I do think about why I'm throwing away all the fibrous parts of a plant! It is quite a pricey endeavour but I prefer it to taking vitamin supplements and great for getting the kids to ingest some alternative veg and fruit that they might normally turn their noses up at. I read somewhere that you can use the pulp to make muffins so doesn't have to be wasted, I've not tried it myself yet.

Just remember to peel those citrus fruit first, the skin makes the juice really bitter! I learned that the hard way.

My personal favourite sort of juice is carrot, celery, apple & ginger with a squeeze of lime - heaven in a glass and the kids love it too, gives a real zing to the day.

laska

Weighed myselfthis morning after 2 normal days the scales are showing good 2 lb weight loss from this time last week, so from that point of view 3 days in a row and exercise does seem to have worked. Not sure it would be a good idea for people to do it every week though. I have now lost a stone over 5 months, hopefully its off to stay though! Am 11 7 now and 5 ft 4.

I'm Shredding this morning... anyone joining me? I'm pleased to report that I didn't feel like I'd been run over by a truck after Tuesday's session so maybe I'll even try and do proper pushups today . I think I do all the harder versions of everything else.

I'm where Laska is wrt keeping some stability but wanting to lose another few pounds. I have to know what my body needs to stay here, now.

I suspect In the past I have gone too low to sustain without feeling I was permanently on a diet - so of course it crept up again - and it was a creep up for me rather than huge gains - I just steadingly ate more than my body needed. By incorporating fast days "mindfully" I hope I never do that again but can occasionally eat fish n chips. Ironically I hadn't eaten them for years and still put on weight eating largely healthy food - just too much of it

Shredded... didn't manage proper pushups (well a couple, sort of, before I reverted back to the easier ones) but I did 'phone it in,' as Jillian says, with everything else. I'm fine with plank but getting up and down in plank position is not yet possible! I'll get there.

Fasting today, feel great compared to Monday. However, just realised I need to get cooking now (delicious curries) ready for later - will be easier to resist now than after school when I need to avoid the kitchen as much as possible - 4.30pm is a major danger zone for me fast day or not.

mmm...Betsy I'm fasting, stuck in my office in the city, with nothing appropriate in the fridge for my dinner tonight....can I commission a portion of your curry please?

thank you to everyone for your support and good wishes. it has truly been a shitty few days, and I am struggling to stay on top of everything at the moment. actually, who am i kidding? I'm not staying on top of everything at all....work, in particular, is taking a hammering, as my concentration is shot to pieces...

the biopsy went well - it took a long time (nearly 3 hours before she got back to her room last night), but she seems to be in good spirits again this morning....I'm really struggling to find the balance between work, children and parents (didn't get home in time for dcs bedtime again last night) but I suspect that's a whole other topic and thread....just not quite ready to head over there yet....

I can't work out how this is affecting my approach to IF....there's a loud voice in my head yelling 'sod it, you don't need more stuff to deal with right now, just eat normally and as healthily as you can for the time being', but I also know that I won't feel any better or happier (probably the opposite) if I regain the 6lbs I've lost...and in fact, at least I feel reasonably good about my body shape right now, so there's one less 'negative' factor in my life.

So trying to stick at it for now - and keep on reminding myself that this is a) an experiment (so a day where i eat 650 cals isn't a 'failure') and b) I can always stop and try again another day if it all gets too much..... Need to start excercising again though...it's nearly 2 weeks since I came back from boarding and I've done nothing in that time, but that's more to do with time management than anything else, and I guess some things are going to 'give' a bit at the moment....

Filly you have big things to deal with at the moment that need your attention. Whether you carry on with some modified form of IF while you cope with it all won't really matter as you know you can come back to it at any point.
I think that what you have achieved so far helps to give strength in times like this.