Monday 19th Jan weigh in.

Oh, Nellie - the joy of 'getting a bit worried' that you were losing TOO MUCH weight! (assuming that you don't have an eating disorder, that is!)

I'm trying so hard at the moment, but it's proving very difficult to shift anything weight-wise. I'm exercising more - and as a result my Achilles tendon probs, which I thought had cleared up, have flared up again. I thought it was DVT and went off to the GP this morning in panic. So much for healthy exercise! What's a girl to do?

I need to get going on the 5:2 again Christmas got in the way.

During November I had kitchen refit which was chaotic for making meals and my weight went down so I was getting a bit worried that I was losing too much weight.

Christmas has proved to me that this is not the case. One stollen left to be eaten up, most of the chocolate and the Stilton has gone. I don't need to lose much just stop putting it on all the while.

rowan

When, if I forget about the 5:2 on the other 5 days, I pay the price . My weight bounces about all over the place but doesn't go down steadily unless I watch my eating a little on those days. I didn't think that was meant to be the case, but I can't afford to ignore it.
I too like easy stuff, but I get a bit fed up with plain grilled fish and bland green veggies, so I make soups and it does help to have ideas of recipes I can adapt - at least I then have an idea of the calories I'm consuming. OH is doing it too, which helps, except that his weight has gone right down effortlessly!

glassortwo - so is my problem. Height- related, I mean! NOT FAIR!

Thanks when
I always said if I was 6ft I would be thin so my problem is height related its taken me all these year to work it out!!!!

Rowantree, I just forget about the 5:2 on the 5 days, and when I started it, I found that I was actually eating a bit less on those days anyway, without trying. I can't see the point of all the recipe books and so on which have appeared (except for making money for someone, of course). As you are just restricting yourself for one day at a time, it doesn't matter what you eat as far as a balanced diet goes. If you want 10 bananas or 2 Mars Bars it doesn't matter. It seems to me that if you spend time cooking low-calorie recipes it just makes you think about food all the more, but I suppose if you enjoy cooking, maybe it's a diversion! I eat easy stuff like fruit and salad, with half a tin of sardines, a boiled egg or a slice of ham just to make it more interesting. Then on other days I just eat normally, including the odd meal out or take-away - one of the points of the 5:2 is that your body is never left feeling that it should go into starvation mode, when it tries to protect you from losing weight.

As for exercise, I too have found that it's a good way of thinking about something else, and in fact helps me not to feel so hungry. Go for it!

I love baking, jings and my OH loves what I bake - but I am tempted to join him in a slice when we have tea or coffee together.
We went for a walk round our local park today - then I was panicking because I needed the loo and the local park ones have closed down so we had to go home again instead of extending it into town as we were planning to do. Never mind - at least I clocked up a few thousand brisk steps and I'm going to do 20 mins on the exercise bike later today (Anya 's idea of walking or exercise when you hit the muchies is a good one - though that happens more at night!)

. It's a right bummer though. Going to force myself to do the weekend baking now. Listen out for the yells.

I'm reminded of my next door neighbour who ate a whole cabbage at one sitting jingl and wondered why she had terrible wind for days.

I went or a long walk on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. Yesterday I had a bit of back pain. Today I can hardly get out of the chair.

Oh God! I hope that's not just me!

Should you go on the height you are now or the height you used to be before your middle bit sort of sunk down on itself?

It depends on your height. I'm 5' 4" and a size 14. As I'm 10lbs overweight that is a plus size....isn't it? And sizes 16 and 18 definately plus unless you're 6'

I heard that galen and also heard the splutter from Jenni Murray

Did you hear on radio 4 today, somebody describing + sizes as 14 16 and 18?

A good tip Rowantree if you have one particular time of the day when you get The Munchies then make that the time you get out of the house and go for a walk. A friend agreed to walk another friend's dog in the afternoon. Since September she has lost half a stone because not only is she walking more but afternoons were the times she would hit the biscuit tin!

threshold the nearest shops

Rowantree I am lucky in that I live about half a mile from our shops, up a hill. I force myself to shop daily - even though sometimes it's only a loaf if bread and could wait till tomorrow.

The hardest step is the first one outside my front door because, especially in this weather, I'd honestly rather sit down with a good book. But I wrap up warm and go. That journey to threshold shops, round the town and back the longer way home, takes about 4,000 steps.

The extra 1000 just mounts up around the house and garden. On days I do the school run or go into Birmingham then the total easily shoots up to 8,000+.

Tegan are you sure that icing flower was horrible.?! I bet it was delicious.

It takes so long to stop hankering after Xmas cake and mince pies.

I HAVE to continue because, officially, I am in the obese category (five foot nothing and around 78 kg!) When I weigh myself after fast days, I lose between half a kilo-one kilo, but then it creeps back up again till the next Fast Day.
On the 5/2 advice website the advice is to restrict calories on non-fast days as well (though not fasting, obv) - you can calculate your own individual limit based on your stats and age - but in Mosley's book it's implied that you can eat what you like on non fast days. So I am a bit confused!

Wheniwasyourage, what do you eat on the other 5 days? Do you still have to be really careful calorie-wise?

my scales have stopped working!!

Thanks glass and Anya. Realised in the middle of the night that I hadn't said thank you to you, glass for your encouragement last year when I was a regular; it certainly spurred me on, and so you are at least partly responsible for the fact that I feel much more comfortable now than I did this time last year! Thanks and more for you.

Rowantree, keep it up - weight loss done slowly is more likely to stay off than a quick loss which often bounces back. I find the 5:2 is easy to vary if you have something on when you might be due a diet day, or if you just can't face doing a really low day. As for counting steps, I have a friend who did it with her work colleagues recently as a competition to see which office could get closest to 10,000 steps per day. She walks to work and quite a lot at work, but found it hard to reach 10,000 most days. She still felt better for it though and thought it was worth it! Good luck!

I'm proud of you. I even ate the icing flower from the top of the cake..it was horrible but I didn't let that put me off. Just finished off the last of the cheese biscuits.....

Tegan, I took a leaf out of your book and finished off the Christmas cake today. It was a bit dry and the icing was brick-hard, but I was very brave and now it's all gone.....