I thought I might try to move the hot topic of the new 5:2 diet a few of us long timers are trying here, rather than in the "Gonna Get to Goal, Wanna Join Me?" Thread, so that that thread could go back to its original topic.

I do not have access to the book or video or anything that some of the other 5:2ers have, but I've been to the website and read up and today is my fourth day; so far I've done Fast Normal Fast and now today is a Normal. I aim for 500 on the fasting days but don't seem to make it under 600, and I aim for 1600 on Normals, but don't seem to make it past 1200, so I guess I'm not the poster child for this. Also, the morning after my first fast day, I was down 4 lbs, but the morning after my first Normal day I was up 3 lbs and this morning I was down 3 lbs so - no progress.

Since today is a Normal day I will do my cardio. I will report back what the scale says tomorrow morning!

Fast days, no sugar or junk. Normal days, I eat everything in moderation. Always have. I make sugar free low fat chocolate pudding from scratch most normal days, with regular peanut butter and chocolate chips on top. No kidding. I add it to my eating plan first thing in the morning, because I want to make sure it is something I can look forward to and not be tempted by anything else during the day that has less protein and that I have less control over the ingredients. As long as I cook most of my meals, Im OK. Its the boxed cookies, donuts, potato chips that get me in trouble. If I could just eat a single serving I might be ok, but its a slippery slope. I make my own granola, mug cakes and pancakes and the like, and I control all the ingredients and keep it mostly sugar free, low fat and whole grain. Maybe this is one reason I have been such a slow loser, but Im still in the game, and eating in a way I can live with. The 5:2 is a refreshing and short break. I have lost about .1 pounds this week, but was on vacation and eating out most of that time, and only did one day fast this week. We will see how it goes in the long run. I went out and walked 3 miles today in some wetlands near by, took pictures, and the heat was not that bad, I have to say losing weight has made it so much easier to tolerate heat! Love that.

Thanks for the pep talk, lovely 5:2 friends. :wub: I haven't usually needed a pep talk at ALL, so the fact that I was feeling down and discouraged was, in itself, discouraging...if that makes sense. It was a big party weekend with the Zurich Fest last night, so I drank my weight in wine I'm sure. One fast and one failed fast last week, so let's see if I can pull it back together this week... Upcoming weekends have more parties on the agenda, including a whole weekend at a resort for some friends' birthdays, so I am going to have to watch things carefully...

How do you guys deal with "not perfect" food choices in your house? Are most of you all or nothing or are you similar to me in this? I'm just curious where we all are.

I do wonder, if much like oregondaisy, I'll find my fourth year more challenging with respect to maintenance and moderation.

~Cheri

I do take a "in moderation" approach, sort of. I cannot have anything in my house. If it is there, I will eat it. I have tried to resist, but I just can't seem to make it happen. So I knew if I wanted to succeed, I would have to choose to not keep anything in my house. I really didn't before either, so it wasn't a really hard transition. I also tend to stay away from the white stuff as much as possible (sugar, rice, Pasta, bread). If we are out, I will have stuff that I do not eat at home. I will have a piece of garlic toast or a piece of cake.

I have spent my whole life having so much guilt around eating, that when I got the surgery, I didn't want that anymore. I know that naturally thin people watch what they eat, but they also allow themselves to have "treats". It has been a bit more of a struggle since I had some regain not feeling guilty when eating anything, but I can honestly say that I cannot go my entire life never having a piece of cake again. And like I mentioned before, I was maintaining easily with the way I was eating until I started a medication. Now the pounds are stuck and I can't seem to shake them.

I am sticking to the 5:2, but I have to say, that it has been a bit of a struggle. Not so much the fasting, that is not too bad. But my normal days have been all over the map. Between a lot of special occasions, having company over, and my period, I am having trouble reigning in my eating. Plus, my scale has been fluctuating wildly, and it is driving me nuts!!

Well, tomorrow is my fast day again, 1st one of my fourth week. My weight jumped up this morning thanks to an evening at a backyard party and lots of grazing. Things are getting back to normal for a few weeks before we go on holidays, so I am hoping I can get some control!

There are so many temptations in life! I lost another pound... Yeah! But have a birthday party out at Olive Garden tonight....and Im a vegetarian, so no chicken breast choices for me... most likely salad and ?(cake!) I have taken the position that I go out to dinner for company, not the food, but it is disappointing where there is nothing I can eat that is on my plan. Makes it that much harder. Maybe soup? I will have to go on line and look at the menu. Usually in a place like that the veg choices are pasta. Well, I do have fast day tomorrow, so that will pull things back in soon! Hope I can keep that one pound off!

There are so many temptations in life! I lost another pound... Yeah! But have a birthday party out at Olive Garden tonight....and Im a vegetarian, so no chicken breast choices for me... most likely salad and ?(cake!) I have taken the position that I go out to dinner for company, not the food, but it is disappointing where there is nothing I can eat that is on my plan. Makes it that much harder. Maybe soup? I will have to go on line and look at the menu. Usually in a place like that the veg choices are Pasta. Well, I do have fast day tomorrow, so that will pull things back in soon! Hope I can keep that one pound off!

During our many veg years, the portobello ravioli or minestrone was the go-to choice. They have two apps that we've done, too - a hummus with pita and the bruschetta. Eh. Nothing great for a sleever but you won't feel awkward and have to avoid food.

Down 2.5 pounds for the week and I now seem to be steadily losing at a pace slightly faster than my previous loss.

Thanks for all the input on food choices. I really do agree that it's easier somehow to avoid poor food choices when I make things myself. Not only do I avoid intentionally addictive chemicals/ingredients but I think that things taste so much better that less is more satisfying. For instance, I made Smores Cookies for the 4th and have had one and it's no big deal. I know there's a tray of them in the kitchen but it's not a temptation the way it would have been prior to surgery. And I also had no trouble maintaining with this approach, so it's worked thus far.

There are days when even though I can sigh and lament that this is so challenging that I just have to admit that the sleeve has really been liberating in a lot of ways. Food matters and I still love it and I still have to make good choices but it really doesn't control me like it used to. I really don't have to think about it all day long. It's wonderful. I think planning and logging my food for the day first thing helps, too.

Today we did the touristy thing with the stepkids and saw a museum, then had a picnic on the National Mall. I probably won't work out today but I did walk (albeit at a slow pace) for four hours, so I'm okay with that.

Hope everyone else is enjoying the last bit of weekend!

~Cheri

looked up the menu, lunch size eggplant Parm for 620 might do the trick. Ministroni is only 100 as well...

looked up the menu' date=' lunch size eggplant Parm for 620 might do the trick. Ministroni is only 100 as well...[/quote']

Yeah, I was going to recommend salad and minestrone soup or one of the flatbread pizzas with lots of veggies.

Hope everyone's Sunday is going well so far. This has been an interesting few weeks for all of us in the sense there seems to be lots of social functions and vacations.

Today I'm getting back in the swing of things including dusting off the treadmill.

Oh good job Cheri!

And yum Cookies

I'm done with diets. I swore off diets.. out of my life for good and I'm officially a member of dieters anonymous. My body has suffered enough abuse over the years. It's eat healthy w/excercise all the way or it just wasn't meant to be.

Lol.. Ok, sorry, carrying on ( I just hate the word diet)

Amen! 4 yrs ago when I decided to get banded, I decided that I'd never diet again. The band would do all the work. For the first 2 1/2 yrs, I didn't diet. I ate whwatever I wanted to and as much as I wanted (very little due to restriction) and never counted or weighed anything. Then my slip happened. I got 1/2 my Fluid out and gained 20 lbs in 14 mths. I still refused to diet. When my band has "fixed itself", I will go back to eating whatever I want to and lose weight. That didn't happen. Actually, my band herniated 3 mths ago and I got all my fluid out and it was recommended that they take it out (where I am now, waiting till July 16 for sleeve revision). i saw my scale creeping up more and more everyday. I have very minimal restriction now and still eat whatever I want. In Feb, I actually tried Atkins induction for 4 weeks. Never cheated once. Hubby is a low carber so I had someone going thru the HELL with me. I would've killed my mother for a cookie (if she had been around!). At the end of the 4 weeks, I had lost 12 of the 30 lbs I had regained. I was so miserable. I majored in nutrition in college and know how silly Atkins really is. Especially induction. The body wasn't meant to survive on basically 0 carbs. While I can't argue the fact that I lost 12 lbs (my husband reminds me daily, still), I gained them back within the next month. Went back to eating whatever I wanted, however much I wanted (I mean, it worked for me while my band was working, why not now?)

So here I am 18 mths after being within 9 lbs of my goal, 30 lbs heavier. And "never dieting" is still my mantra. I'm expecting to go thru the sleeve surgery in a breeze and automatically lose weight eating whatever I want, however much I want (knowing that it'll be very little). Every bit of research I do tho recommends actually eating healthy foods and cutting back on junk. Wow. What a concept.

I"VE decided that I'm actually gunna give it a try. I'm not gunna cheat on my post op diet (like I did with my lapband), I'm gunna cut back (not eliminate) on simple carbs (sugar, bread, Pasta, rice) and focus more on health and not on being skinny. Heart disease runs in my family and I already have hypertension so I really do need to eat healthy.

Anyway, I just wanted to agree with your non dieting tactics. however, going overboard hasn't worked for me for the long haul. yes, it did bring me within 9 lbs of my 135 goal, but I couldn't maintain it. I want to get on the scale everyday and see the same number (now it's 130) without breaking a sweat. Thats not gunna happen. I have to earn it, I guess. And it breaks my heart to admit defeat. Guess I have to "diet" forever.

I want to get on the scale everyday and see the same number (now it's 130) without breaking a sweat. Thats not gunna happen. I have to earn it, I guess. And it breaks my heart to admit defeat. Guess I have to "diet" forever.

I swore off "diets" at one point. To me that meant not paying attention to what I ate or how much I exercised. I went to India, ate whatever I wanted and lost 35 pounds in 6 months. When I got back to the states I continued to eat whatever I wanted, and gained 50 pounds in a couple of months. Its almost like I woke up one day 50 pounds heaver. It was a terrible battle after that. Its like my body just wanted to weigh 50 pounds more... permanently... lose a few, gain them back, repeat.

Part of that was NO COUNTING CALORIES! Well, humbled...learning... I have found that counting calories, staying conscious of input and output, even when I'm not eating well, or moving much, is a good tool along with the sleeve to lose, and then maintain to some degree. I still am learning new tools to be successful at being healthy. One of them is I am seperating my feelings of hate from the hallmarks of dieting, and replacing it with excitement and determination with getting healthy and learning about my body and reaching and maintaining my goals. I have also learned not to get all bummed out OR too excited by the numbers on the scale. Its just a tool, information, not ME. Doing what it takes to remain conscious about diet and health is not failing, its succeeding.

Well, humbled...learning... I have found that counting calories, staying conscious of input and output, even when I'm not eating well, or moving much, is a good tool along with the sleeve to lose, and then maintain to some degree. I still am learning new tools to be successful at being healthy. One of them is I am seperating my feelings of hate from the hallmarks of dieting, and replacing it with excitement and determination with getting healthy and learning about my body and reaching and maintaining my goals. I have also learned not to get all bummed out OR too excited by the numbers on the scale. Its just a tool, information, not ME. Doing what it takes to remain conscious about diet and health is not failing, its succeeding.

I've been reading this with interest. I wish I was, but I am not one of those people who can "eat what I want" and "not diet" at all! But, like your statement above, I just look at it as information. I don't have to work that hard at restricting my intake, my sleeve does some of that for me. However, my sleeve does not make good choices for me. I can't get by on no or very low carbs, but I have learned that simple carbs (white bread, rice, pasta) absolutely inhibit my weight loss. So, I do count calories and protein, and I don't count carbs, but have found myself naturally limiting processed, simple carbs. I will continue to count calories for the rest of my life, and I will also need to continue to weigh and measure my food. I think my stomach may hold more than some people here report, so I could over eat. Another thing I do that is akin to dieting, is I don't graze. I limit myself to 3 meals and 1 or 2 planned snacks. I don't resent the "diet", I am just grateful to have a small enough stomach that helps me succeed.

Fasting today after a weekend of hedonistic social occasions. Oy my weight is all over the place, as always...but isn't down yet so far that i can tell. But again, the fasting reset is helpful for me nonetheless. This is my fifth 5:2 week...

For lunch I just made a bunch of fresh carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, cooked it in Water with very nice buillion, pepper, chili powder and a small spoon of ghee to make a sort of brothy-sauce. Delish! 250g for 100 cals and I'm stuffed. Still have 350 cals left for dinner, my favorite meal of the day. i will have a Protein fest... :-)

ETA: This thread never sends me notifications -- anyone else have that problem? I have to remember to check it more often...

While it's true that 5:2 has two fast days, I do not look at this as a diet.

First of all - I get to pick my days, and it's only two of them. There's a tremendous amount of flexibility in how I do my fast days and what I choose to eat on them.

Second - this is what I was already doing in maintenance. This is what many woman do, to some extent. No, the stricter fast days might not be the norm. But restricting what you eat a few days here and there versus restricting every day? Absolutely. Even my "never been fat" friends do that by taking in much reduced calories the Friday before a holiday weekend or a nice dinner out.

I would rather "diet" if you want to use that word, ONE day a week for the rest of my life, than risk regaining the weight and being miserably unhappy again.

Time and again we see regain posts here and there is almost always one common thread: a lack of accountability, not tracking food, just eating what you want to eat and eventually regain happens. There are the here and there regains due to hormones or a new medication, true. But many more post that they regain due to a far too relaxed approach to food.

If you've ever read anything I've posted over the years, you'll see that the way I eat hardly counts as any type of diet. I've crowed about moderation for a long time, and on my non-fast days things like homemade bread, pastries and Cookies are a part of my life (baking is my zen place) as are large meals with my family and yes, a (mostly) daily glass of wine or maybe a hard cider.

This is no diet. Am I accountable to myself? Hell yes. I have to be. I'm a food addict that loves to overeat and has a past history of emotional eating and eating in secret and I have in the past avoided the scale for YEARS at a time. The sleeve doesn't fix that for anyone. We can simply find ways to cope and do the best we can while relying on restriction for that first year or two to help us through.

Whether or not it's part of the strict definition, the word diet to many implies that it ends someday. You achieve your goal and then go back to whatever happens to be your normal.

Well, that's just it. Many of us here can't go back to our normal. Normal is an ingrained habit of overindulging, eating pure crap and using food as a coping mechanism.

We have to make a new normal. And if this is it, so be it. I can attest that this method, while more structured that what I was doing, definitely works for maintenance.

~Cheri

Lecture over.

Swizzly - hang in there. Go to the top of this thread and hit the "Follow this topic" button or go to your settings on your profile and ask to be notified about your threads so you don't lose out on the support we have going here. Good luck on your day!

Cause I must say, we're an awesome group.

Fast day! I think that mentally this one might be a bit more challenging. We'll see how it goes. I have my food logged and I'm not feeling hungry. I just mentally woke up with a case of the Mondays and seriously thought, "Eh, Monday stinks and I don't want to fast." Oh well, I'm going to do it, anyway!

Down 6 tenths of a pound from yesterday, though. And with a fast day today that scale will surely be lower on Tuesday. It'll be a lie, of course, because I'll probably see a bounce the day after. But for a brief, shining moment I think I'm going to see a weight right smack where I used to be.

Keep on plugging away and I'll lose these last couple pounds!

~Cheri