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?

don't worry too much America maybe you just need a carb day and a fresh start on mon. Maybe decide to enjoy food for the rest of the weekend and ear what you like but ear slowly and enjoy. I thought I was having a reaction to fasting and exercising last weekend but turned out I had a virus.

Eat not ear!

Hi there chaps and chapesses - am now a few sheets to the wind but nicely relaxed.

Managed to get the kids up and dressed in time for supper (yes really)
and have poached egg and black pudding on toasted muffin booked for tomorrow breakfast
and have made the kids promise to do real Mothers day cards (as against the 'psychic' ones I got last year)

I lost another 1/2 pound this week : will try to get down to 120 lb for my Easter holiday in the sun. But holding steady is fine really. Am cutting calories to take account of work days (which was the bit I never clicked before understanding TDEE)

And for any on these boards who have worked out where I might be next Saturday and can make it (with their kids / grandkids) call me TiP or himself Mr TiP and you'll get a grin and a welcome.

ATB What the hell do you think you're doing? Get your hand out of that cookie jar, right now!

Now then, get yourself a drink and put the timer on for half an hour and do some deep breathing!

You know that, as soon as you stop eating, your 'hunger switch' will slowly reset itself to the off position. It takes a while, but it'll happen. But every time you put something in your mouth, you keep the hunger switch firmly on!

After half an hour, reset the timer for another half an hour, then another. And, before you know it, the hunger switch will be firmly off.

If you're tired, take a power nap - if you can!

Forget last night - it's behind you, and has no relevance!

Good luck!

Who me, yeah you, jackolin stole the cookie from the cookie jar
happy times in New Jersey as a kid
ATB : B&W is right
git yer paws out

Greeneggs - must catch up with you on email or FB as to where in the US your links are

Thankyou! The timer idea is brilliant! Just annoying cos I'm actually quite full but slapped wrist point taken. Will only eat again today if I actually get hungry, otherwise I'm going to feel horribly uncomfortable too.

Not fasting this weekend anyway so will also take Giraffes advice and at least enjoy food today and tomorrow and the gin and tonic I have lined up for later

Enjoy the G&T! I went a bit over the top with my eating last weekend but I also caught up on a lot of sleep and perhaps thats why I feel like I lost have weight this week - maybe B&W's idea of a powenap will be the ticket if your hubby can look after the babas! i am sure you will be back on top form soon ATB!

I have fasted and shreded today had a yummy breakfast after shred of poached egg and leftover butternut squash and some refried kidney beans and guacomole for early dinner. Lookingforward to some mothersday treats tomorrow, dc snuck a box of celebrations on to the checkout at tesco and I pretended not to notice. They are also planning to make me chocolate cheerios and a glass of water for breakfast yum....

I'm staying up again until 5am listening to the cricket (in NZ) - and I'm thinking about treating myself to some supper - and perhaps a glass of stout and/or red wine. Well we are in maintenance mode, right?

I'm surrounded by food - I have some lentil and potato curry which either needs using up or going in the fridge. I could fry it up with some slices of tomato I have in the freezer. (Towards the end of the tomato season I just slice up loads of tomatoes, freeze them on a tray and bag them up. They're not much good for salads, which I don't tend to eat anyway, but for frying, they're perfect!)

It would go well with some of the curried soda bread that I dug out of a loaf whilst making a bread bowl filled with the above lentil curry yesterday.

Or I could have the remains of a vegan pizza I had for dinner - along with a couple of large curried potato wedges which are still sitting in the frying pan?!?!?

I'll have that glass of stout while I think about it - to celebrate Finn's first test 50! (Sorry to go a little off topic there! )

snort TIP wonder if that cookie in the cookie jar song even exists over here? Happy to talk US things, my family is a very American mix of first generations and DAR snobs.

Another happy one here. Might have had a lot of wine this evening, but as I've probably mentioned, it's rare for me so no excuses.

At the moment I'm pondering these high heeled suede boots and wondering why I don't wear them that often. However, it's almost 1am so there's no 4 yr old running around. If it were another time of day, I'd have no doubt as to why I never wear them.

Mother's Day, what's that? DH is awesome, I have no complaints, I don't live the harried life so many of my friends do. I suspect he's mostly forgotten so my 4 yr old will have as well. We've been so busy with the move I forgot to nudge the card making process along. oh well.

Oh funny thing, a friend tonight took me aside. I'd told her about 5:2 and she's given it a go. It's fallen by the wayside at the moment though as apparently she's discovered crunchy peanut butter! She says she's taken to eating it by the spoonful, and thinks of me every time. I told her I told her about 5:2, not about eating bloody peanut butter by the spoonful. lol. I'm the only American she knows, though. Anyway, she's a perfectly healthy weight so she's hardly being hurt by it, it's just funny that she's picked up the habit and blaming me!

Hope everyone's having a good weekend out there.

Hi GE

Mother's day, eh? I was very lucky when my mum was alive, she'd have no truck with it, so I was off the hook.

My wife is a different kettle of fish! (I could probably say that in any context that came up! ).

Earlier today, when the postman had been and gone - there was nothing from our son! (Our daughter, you won't be surprised to hear, has never missed! We had a card from her days ago.)

In the afternoon, my wife said, get on to him, see if he's forgotten. So I rang him up, and reminded him, "You haven't forgotten it's mother's day, have you mate?" "No, dad, I've got a bunch of flowers on the way!"

And, literally, 10 minutes later the doorbell went, and it was the local florist, with a huge bouquet of flowers!

But I'm with my mother - MD is an invented celebration, IMO, to raise money for the card and florist industries! AIBU?

Yay you're all up for a change, and I get the exemplary company of B&W through snacking hour! I would go for the lentils and the stout. Sounds delicious...

Whipped up a very healthy stir fry for the family so I partook of that and DH and I have decided to make tomorrow a juice and raw food day instead of Monday so have decided to allow myself some mushroom infused Brie with a glass of wine infront of Mad Men tonight. Prob good to not do a feast day tomorrow as I'm taking DC to a bday party so will have more willpower to avoid the inevitable crisps and pizza.

Brilliant about your peanut butter eating friend GreenEggs....happy to Americanize as well. Actually I think I find IF much easier here than if I'd been home as the Warmer weather lends itself to healthier eating, and you can't avoid all the lentil weaving vegan yogis in SoCal (no offence LG and B&W!)

Yes you are B&W...I quite like having a dedicated day where children are taught to show appreciation for their mums, hopefully it then infiltrates into life.

American mothers day isn't til may though but it falls exactly on my 30th so I told DH aaaaaages ago I wanted a British mothers day (just a cheap lunch out, card signed by DS and some flowers from the market!) but he's been sick and he's crap at the best of times, and we've got this birthday party then I have an Expo for the charity bike rudiment and now we're juicing so I reckon nowt will happen. Ach well, preschool will whip DS into shape in May!

My mum does what your DW does B&W, I've already emailed dad to Ask him to Remind mum I'm 8hours behind - she gets sniffy when she hasn't heard by 9am on mothers day!

But I know her Chocs have already arrived, card should have got there today and the new David Bowie album arrives Tuesday. Oh dear, seriously OT!!

ATB I went for the lentils and the stout - and the wine! And you're right - it was delicious!

About MD, my mum used to say that children should look out for their mums every day - not just one day every year.

About juicing, I saw the film, Fat, ??, and Nearly Dead(?) where an Aussie guy who was about 350lbs started juicing and really turned his life around. Very moving, I found it. Was that where you got the idea?

Never tried the method myself, but I'm sure it'll do you nothing but good!

I totally agree about MD and to be honest don't feel unappreciated by my family at all but it's nice to have a totally unapologetic self indulgent day to celebrate being a mum as opposed to the other 364 days when I feel stupidly guilty that I'm not a better one. And I like making a fuss of my mum on MD too - and my dad and DH on Fathers Day.

Yeah we watched that documentary - I was pointed towards it by several friends who'd all started juicing after seeing it. Juicing is MASSIVE here but what convinced me to get one was the number of people who reckon their immunity has increased because they now have a freshly prepared raw veg juice every day. DH has a terrible immune system and often works long hours so I saw it as a way to get more veg and fruit down him and hopefully increase his immunity - its his juicer and he does all the recipe searches/shopping/planning/making etc. we did the 3day juice cleanse tbh because I wanted to get him quickly into the habit of using it!

I really like our one day juice and raw food day (sometimes I just juice but others I'll eat a salad with DC) and have in essence replaced one of my fasting days with it. The mentality feels quite similar to IF to be honest. It's easier mentally for me than doing a half or semi fast but feels ridiculously healthy so not a feast day even if I eat/drink loads.

Not sure if I'd have even bothered trying it if I didn't live in LA though - I'm horribly easily influenced like that!

Still losing weight but wanted to pop in & say hi to you all. History of Mother's Day/mothering Sunday (just to be boring) en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothering_Sunday#section_1

Looking forward to my breakfast in bed this morning. Though dh & dcs have colds from hell (& I don't really want their germs) so I may well go & make my own.

Oops, started the day with some MD chocolates... really got to get my act together next week. Also, note to self - stop eating cheese on every feed day, and please ignore the wine unless it's a weekend.

Sigh.

thinks about having to wear a bikini in public

Hi all im just popping in again just so you dont forget me!! .. (as if you would eh?

bit of a stressful time going on here adult DS wise (unemployed , dropped out of college a few years ago so unqualified for anything and has now made himself homeless again) and although I'm trying hard to remember that he is an adult and responsible for himself and that I shouldn't leap in to bail him out .. I'm having to a bit and its been causing some stress at home..)

Anyway we dont do mothers day here (my My Mum never has wanted to either) , so at least i dont have worry about that .

I haven't fasted but haven't pigged out ( stress makes me lose my appetite ) , and tomorrow ill be shifting Ds stuff out of where he is to here temporarily , ( but its got to be temporary .. I just cant live with him sadly and DH even less so.. ) .. so tomorrow - though not a proper fast - will probably end up being one..

.... As for the course work i'm supposed to be doing .. nilch! ( ah well)

Ah kids..should have stuck to cats.. but enough of my woes .. hope you are all fine.. ill be back soon..

I don't juice but did do a lot of green smoothies a couple of years ago. It probably works with juice too and should be good for the immune system: if you add green leaves to a small amount of fruit juice or even almond milk you can drink a surprisingly large amount of greenery without tasting anything other than the fruit juice. Just have to watch out for not eating too much spinach this way as it can impede the absorption of calcium.

Meant to sat that you then have to blend it into a drink!

Say not sat.

Laska : we'll do lunch ... West quay or IKEA : my shout.

Greeneggs
PM
am intrigued to know that you know it too - as I only spent my summer hols in the US

TIP that would be great .. give me a few days and ill email you.. Lx

Just had a fabulous roast dinner which plus pud and drinks adds up to over 1800 cals . Made me laugh when I logged it onto MFP and once I added in the days exercise it told me if I ate like that for five weeks I would LOSE 10lbs . And yes I did have breakfast and lunch as well.

I going to crawl onto the sofa now ( I can't walk I'm too stuffed)

Had my first proper mothers day, the children made me toast burnt with a blob of butter in the middle but they were so happy. My dp its blind so can't take them off buying stuff at mo but they were so happy with themselves and ds told me he loved me rare occurrence recently so meant a lot! Went to my mums and ate way to much but unfortunately my youngest bumped her head and I need to wake her every 2 hours tonight could be a tiring night!

Oh Laska that does sound hard, hope it's not too stressful.

Happy Mothers Day all. No celebrations here, DH has promised on my birthday (and American Mothers Day) he'll make a special effort but actually I just can't be arsed with the fuss. Turning 30 is so meh.

Is anyone else jealous of Laska and TiP's lunch?! Le sigh...,just generally feeling a bit homesick and now I'm even getting envious at people I've never met meeting up IRL. Pathetic!