"Two stone off" 2013

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  • Need to go get some nuts + seeds to up the calories 

    on nonfast days, noticed poundland had some in the other 

    day much cheaper than supermarket stuff

     

  • mr fmr f ✭✭✭

    Well, first ever fast day is here. Lets see how I go, not tried anything like his before but I'm very I retested to see what happens and how feel! Plenty of green tea and water today I think....

  • I've restarted this week. I read on a forum something that sums up the thoughts above, someone said that 'fasting reset their apatite'. I also think that as you tend to take in lots of fluids such as fruit teas and water it helps flush out the system. Obviously high calorie alcohol is out which also helps cleanse.

    It can be hard at 1st but in a strange way some people look forward to the fasting days. It does seem to have a positive effect on my metal state.

    Last weekend 14 st 4 lb

    PS this might be useful http://thefastdiet.co.uk/

  • mr fmr f ✭✭✭

    So far so good! Not keeled over just yet..... 

  • Hi everyone,

    I know I am joining this somewhat late in the game but I am hoping this will help me with my motivation.

    I have been running for about 5 years and have done 4 half marathons and quite a few 10km runs. I mix up my training with 3 classes at a local studio (kettlebells, body pump and boxercise) which helps my strength. Over this time I have lost 2 1/2 stone. To some people this may not seem a huge amount however I am only 5ft so has made a big difference to my life and my confidence. Since it has been so gradual it is easy to maintain the loss, however I want to lose a further 10lb and I seem to be stuck!!

    I think the key is with my diet. I seem to either be very strict with myself (and therefore lose the weight) or I lose it completely and eat crap. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground with it! I am aiming to lose 1lb a week so not too quick but I am hoping you guys can help me with motivation and pass on any tips to help me stay on track.

    Look forward to being part of this forum

     

  • I have the same problem with either being strict or off the waggon, and I'd imagine a lot of others do too.

    It's not easy and todays food culture seems based around cheap and seemingly addictive processed food and takeaways. I don't blame people (or myself) for getting fat with those pressures to contend with.

    I don't think people today have any less willpower or are more lazy (even though there is more opportunity to drive rather than walk) than they were 30 years ago. The reason I believe there are 10 time more obese people and the average weight is rising is what we eat and when we eat.

    Good luck and eat fresh, natural and unprocessed.

  • NessieNessie ✭✭✭

    Today I am back to my pre-pregnancy (1st pregnancy) weight for the first time since October 2007!

    imageimageimageimageimageimage

    Ok, still another stone and a bit to lose, but a great milestone.  It's given me a boost too, having been a bit static for the last couple of weeks.

    Totally agree with the processed v fresh debate.  I made a conscious effort when breastfeedng to eat as well as I could - at least 5 portions of F&V a day (often more) and cooking from scratch as much as possible.  This was helped (if you can call it that) by my husband being diagnosed with Coeliac disease in 2009, which means a lot of the junky ready meals we used to eat when we had no energy to cook was suddenly off the menu.

    I can honestly say I've never felt better - even with the sleep deprivation of 2 small children.  And my blood pressure was perfect all the way through pregnancy number 2, whereas it had been nudging the upper end of the normal scale first time round.  I put that down to the reduction in the salt content of what I eat now, compared to 2007.  And I feel less hungry after a healthy meal than I do on the odd occasion I have something quick when hubby is away.

     

  • I am glad it's not just me who has this problem. I think in my head if I treat myself to something I think the day is written off so I may as well eat what I like and then start again the next day! Not a good attitude to have.

     

    I agree, fresh food is so much better. I love cooking an making things from scratch (although it can be a nightmare some night's when I don't get home until 8 after the gym!). I definately feel more satisfied when I have put more effort into a mealn

  • mr fmr f ✭✭✭

    Evening folks! Hope we are well? Have had one day on the 5:2 plan so far and I think on going to get on with it! A second day planned tomorrow too. Welcome aboard Jen, sounds like you have already achieved loads in your weight loss, here's to you meeting your new goals!

  • Thanks! I am contemplating the 5:2 plan but am a bit sceptical about the effects on our longterm health. how are you finding it mr f. ? I am also wondering how it fits in with exercise- presumably you don't fast on days where you are training?

     

    So much for my fresh start- I had a bad weekend of picking (generally through boredom when trying to study!) so feeling the need to get my head back in the game. Hope you all had good weekends!

  • For the science behind fasting try and find Michel Mosley’s Horizon programme 'Eat Fast and Live Longer' on You Tube.

    It's true that more human trials need to be done to back up the claims that seem too good to be true but they might take a long time. One of the contributors to the documentary, who was researching dementia in mince though said in his opinion the current data suggested the implications for humans would be 'very good to excellent'.

    As far as training goes if it’s true that fasting doesn’t reduce lean mass (muscle) then it seems better than constant calorie restriction. But I think you’d have to fast on rest days.

  • mr fmr f ✭✭✭

    Hiya, had one fast day so far and actually found it relatively easy. Work Naha been very busy since though and have been doing really long hours so have not fasted since else it would have ment me beinwithout minimal calories through the day, evening and then till around 4am so didn't think that sounded too sensible, or bearable! I watched that documentary and found it really quite interesting. It's online should anyone else fancy a look, incidentally there is a feature on the 90+ year old Indian gentleman who still does marathons, sorry I forget his name.... It's a similar approach to his diet too so that can't be a bad advert for long term health can it!!

  • Hi,

    I think I need to watch this documentary.

    I have been thinking about it for a while so I thought I would just get on with it and I tried my first fast day yesterday. A colleague of mine has been doing it for about 2 months and tends to have her first 'meal' of porridge at lunchtime and then snacks on celery or miso soup through the afternoon until she has her dinner. Personally I need to eat first thing to get me going so had an apple for breakfast, grazed on a couple of apricots, some strawberries and a few nuts throughout the day then my main meal about 8pm. Although it was tough not to eat more (more thorugh habit than hunger) I actually felt okay until I was cooking my tea when I felt a little dizzy (this may have been down to the heat as well). I was pleasently surprised. I am going to attempt day 2 on Sunday since it fits with my plans so fingers crossed for a little weightloss this week image

    Happy Friday!

  • NessieNessie ✭✭✭

    How are we all doing today then? image

    No movement in weight for me this week - but I have been "compensating" for giving blood so have had to keep my blood sugar up. image  No gain though, thanks to MFP, as I make sure I don't go overboard even if I don't hit my weight loss calories target.

     

  • Hello All,

    Well last week I tried my first week of 5:2 fasting. I am still not sure what I think about it but I thought I would give it a go. I lost 2lb so am really happy. In all honesty this may have been down to being more aware of my food overall. Apart from 2 meals out I have been pretty good with my eating this week. I have got a lot more on this week but will try my fasting again and see if I can maintain or build on this loss.

    Finally getting back to doing some exercise too- boxercise last night for the first time in ages and felt brilliant afterwards. Perfect antidote to a rubbish Monday! Hope you're all doing well?

    Jenny

  • mr fmr f ✭✭✭

    Hiya Jen! Well after a ten day break in proceedings I'm back on board tomorrow! Been on holiday and firmly fixed to the injury bench cos of two different problems that have been causing me grief. Tomorrow is. A fast daaudit also a night shift so not sure how that will work?! I guess the hunger will just subside?! 

  • Yay - I am now at my lowest weight since 2007. imageimageimageimageimage

    Still a good bit to go but I've lost 12lb since 1st January.

    Pass the cake............

     

  • Half a pound to go to hit 11st.  Can I do it by Monday?

     

  • Well done Nessie!

     

    Have barely drank alcohol through Spetember and haven't lost a pound! I was convinced i was the booze that stopped me from losing any more....

  • mikasamikasa ✭✭✭

    Hmmm, did everyone throw in the towel before winter/christmas?

    How about we start another one, this year I'm serious about losing weight....

  • I've seriously gone off the boil since last March (2013). I'm feeling pretty bad this Monday as last week was spent on holiday in Tenerife.

    I was doing ok up to this time last year then I had an upset stomach while on a skiing break. I ended up not really eating for 5 days. I had been doing really well up to then and I lost even more as a result of the illness. When I was back home though, and confident that I had a toilet to myself rather than on a plane, I started gobbling comfort food like mad and found it hard to stop.

    I need to get back to it. Part of my problem though is that I had a knee op and was advised against running. While I think exercise doesn't burn significantly large calories, compared to what you eat, I do think it is key to losing weight because of the positive lifestyle choice you are making and the general feeling of wellbeing. It helps to focus you in other areas, namely the most significant part of what you eat. Hence I'm considering having another go. I think in the long run it would be better to get the constant weight off my joints even if that means doing a bit of intense exercise 3 or 4 times a week.

    On top of that I think I'll get back to 5:2. I know it seems radical but I found it helpful and the theory seems quite logical when I looked into it. Some research suggests that it targets only fat where as traditional diets tend to also lose a small amount of muscle mass as well, although only 3-5% from memory, but that wouldn't seem ideal for runners.

    I think the other big thing is avoiding any processed stuff. I think a lot of damage has been done by products that are marked as 'Low fat/calorie' or diet.

    Starting today 15st 1.75lb. Gasping for breath even when waking and about 80bpm resting heart rate, quite high for me.

    Mikasa, how much do you want to lose? Your picture doesn't suggest any great excess. Though mine probably doesn't either, it was taken on my only 10k about 5 years ago.

  • Well I am still struggling on, think I am same weight as I was this time last yr. having spent the last yr yoyoing between 170-190 lb. I am 180lb now so have lost 54lb from my heaviest but still aiming to get under 140lb, so still a way to go. I exercise lots, currently running 30-40miles a wk and doing 30 miles on exercise bike, but still struggle to lose weight. Running EMF marathon at end of May and Lochalsh dirty 30 mid June so really really really want to get as much weight off before then as possible. Will make the runs so much easier. Trying to eat 1400-1500cals per day and usually have 2000cals on long run day. Need to try the 5:2 thing again, I too agree the science behind it sounds good so would like to do it on nonrunning days for the health benefits. It is essentially how children eat, they tend to have days of hardly touching anything.
  • Hello all, can I join in? I'm currently 14 stone and am hoping to get down to 12. I am running the London Marathon this year and was hoping I'd shift a bit more than I have done through training. Trouble is, I've been hitting the carbs hard to make sure I have the energy for all my runs. My training has gone really well and I've definitely shifted a little bit of flab from around my face and chin, but not the belly. After the marathon therefore, I want to concentrate on getting some weight off. My plan, once recovered from London is to try a paleo diet for a month and to do more short interval training and hill runs for a while. If the paleo thing goes well, I will try to keep at it (although definitely not religiously) and maintain some interval training in my running, something I've only done sporadically before. I thought I might use the goal of a sub 20 minute 5k as my motivation to keep at it, although long term, my goal is an ultramarathon.

    Agree with you on the processed stuff Jbit. Even if I don't end up sticking with paleo long term, cutting out crap (and everyone knows it's crap at the end of the day) is definitely something to strive for. Unfortunately, like many others I suspect, I'm an all or nothing person so I'm either eating really healthily or I'm eating total crap all day. No middle ground. That's something I am slowly managing to change - losing the idea of either being on the wagon or off it. One biscuit does not mean I may as well abandon everything and gorge on rubbish!

  • CR, I've heard people sometimes say that they actually gain weight while training for a marathon. I think it might be something to do with a theory that long slow exercise tends to increase appetite.

    I think the Paleo diet sounds plausible. We haven't evolved at the same rate as our diet has changed. I suppose adding refined grains and processed food stuffs is a bit like putting Formula 1 high octane fuel into a 1930's diesel tractor. I think some of that is also true about the fasting ideas as well. We weren't designed to have a fully stocked fridge/freezer or 50 odd takeaway deliveries at the end of a phone line.

    I think all of these diets, however valid; tend to be up against a tremendous problem. We have so much freedom to eat whatever and whenever we want and an industry taking advantage of that fact and the compulsion we have to binge. Have a look in any big supermarket and consider how much wouldn't be there if we all suck to 3 meals a day that we cooked or prepared from whole food ourselves and had a pint in the pub instead of a 24 pack of Carling in the fridge.

    Check out Zoe Harcombe. She seems to have some heretical ideas on the food industry and some of the advice we've taken for granted for the last 40 yrs.

  • I lost weight training for marathon last yr, but promptly gained all 10 lb of that lost weight during taper, carb loading few days before and lower mileage in 3 wks after.
  • With marathon training it's always the long runs on Sunday that do me in. I'm always ravenous afterwards and eat with abandon, usually on the Monday as well. That's why I've decided not to go straight into Ultra training as I want to get my diet and weight sorted first.

    A lot of the paleo thing makes sense to me, cutting out processed stuff, sugar etc. I have no idea whether the stuff about grains is entirely true though, but I have avoided bread today and definitely feel a lot less bloated. Between now and the marathon I'm going to be paleo lite - avoiding crap and just cutting down on grains and dairy, but not eliminating them completely. If I start feeling any ill effect at all, I'll be back on the refined carbs and forget about until afterwards.

  • I've had a really bad week. I think coming off holiday and going straight back to work didn't help. I was self-medicating with booze and total rubbish food.

    I'll hopefully get into it now that's out of my system. I'll try and fast but also borrow a few of the palieo ideas and avoid bread, potatoes, milk and anything processed. I'm also planning on cutting alcohol out for a few days and then try and stick to the recommended units.

    On the exercise front I'll start the beginners program again tomorrow and start cycling to work a few days as well.

    All good intentions, I’ll see how it goes and hopefully report back with some progress next week. I’m feeling positive though and I think getting back to a program of exercise will be good for my focus.

  • Still 177lb, at least it hasn't gone up. Still 37lb to lose.
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