5:2 diet

kittykat500

I've done two weeks of the 5:2 with 24 hr fasts each time and the brilliant thing that I can report is that my annoying lower back pain (from slipped discs some time ago) which had been bothering me since Christmas again, has disappeared, as has early morning stiffness (I'm a woman, so don't get excited here!). That alone is spurring me on to continue because I can't tell you how miserable it is when you feel you can't walk for long periods, or get off the sofa without feeling you're about 80!

lessonlearned

I have back and joint pain too but oddly enough mine seems to be easing a little.

Re the exercise - I currently attend physio on a regular basis and so do keep up with the homework exercises. I also try and do a bit of yoga. I've also gone back to using my Swiss ball to try and strengthen my core muscles (hopefully improve backache).

I have cleaned out my garage and set it up as a mini gym, with my exercise bike and my son's multi-gym. I can manage about 2kms on the bike and 10 reps of each exercise on the multi-gym. I know it's not much but you have to start somewhere.

I'm also walking more - plus lots of decorating and gardening at the moment.:D

Hopefully it will all pay off and I will get fitter, leaner and healthier.

murphydog999

lessonlearned wrote: »

I have back and joint pain too but oddly enough mine seems to be easing a little.

Re the exercise - I currently attend physio on a regular basis and so do keep up with the homework exercises. I also try and do a bit of yoga. I've also gone back to using my Swiss ball to try and strengthen my core muscles (hopefully improve backache).

I have cleaned out my garage and set it up as a mini gym, with my exercise bike and my son's multi-gym. I can manage about 2kms on the bike and 10 reps of each exercise on the multi-gym. I know it's not much but you have to start somewhere.

I'm also walking more - plus lots of decorating and gardening at the moment.:D

Hopefully it will all pay off and I will get fitter, leaner and healthier.

That's what we like to hear. :T :T

Just_a_Girl_2

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

If you haven’t satisfied the usual IF “pre-reqs,” like being fat-adapted, getting good and sufficient sleep, minimizing or mitigating stress, and exercising well (not too much and not too little), you should not fast.

Totally agree with this! There is no way in hell I could fast successfully if I wasn't fat adapted. As a sugar burner, fasting would have had me a shaking wreck huddled in the corner with my face buried in the nearest carb source!

lostinrates

Just_a_Girl wrote: »

Totally agree with this! There is no way in hell I could fast successfully if I wasn't fat adapted. As a sugar burner, fasting would have had me a shaking wreck huddled in the corner with my face buried in the nearest carb source!

And yet some people do manage it quite well, ramadan was posed an example of established fasting practise for example.

Gloomendoom

euronorris wrote: »

Ahh, she looks ace! I'm almost there - getting there, bit by bit. But I am also aiming for a bit more abs definition as I really like that. I want my abs to look like Jillian Michaels.

Oddly enough, Mrs G's next challenge goal is also better abs definition. The the problem is that to do that you really have to drastically cut down body fat. However, you have to be careful that doing so doesn't make your face look a bit gaunt. Unfortunately, genetics will determine whether or not this will be a problem. IMHO there's no point in having a toned tum if your head looks like a wizened skull!
This pic was taken a couple of weeks ago and although you can see that she hasn't exactly got a lot of fat on her tum, the abs still aren't visible... yet.

I think you posted a pic of your wife once before, in a DT thread (or similar), and that was before I had really kickstarted my health regime. I've dropped 2 sizes since then!

Yes, I did. In fact I think there are a couple floating around... all faceless. BTW Mrs G gets motivation to stay in shape by entering challenges on a fitness and body building site. The participants are all ordinary women in all shapes and sizes 8-18st. You have to post up progress pics and measurements every month (hence the reason she isn't bothered about me posting a headless bikini pic on the web, she does it herself every month.) You set your goals at the start and the winner is the person that gets closest to them at the end.

Well done on the dress size drop.

~Chameleon~

lostinrates wrote: »

And yet some people do manage it quite well, ramadan was posed an example of established fasting practise for example.

You cannot compare Ramadan to IF, it's completely different and those undergoing Ramadan end up incredibly dehydrated as a result which has a massive impact on their physiology. Don't forget, they are fasting for religious not health reasons

lostinrates

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

You cannot compare Ramadan to IF, it's completely different and those undergoing Ramadan end up incredibly dehydrated as a result which has a massive impact on their physiology. Don't forget, they are fasting for religious not health reasons

Of course its different reasons, and the regime is different to what is being discussed, but most Muslims i know do not become gibbering wrecks because they eat carbs when not fasting!

I am also not upopposed to the idea low carb eaters might find this easier, i am just saying that it is not necessary that all people who still eat carbs would find a fast leads rhem to being ' a shaking wreck' though i quite agree it would leas many to become so.

euronorris

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Oddly enough, Mrs G's next challenge goal is also better abs definition. The the problem is that to do that you really have to drastically cut down body fat. However, you have to be careful that doing so doesn't make your face look a bit gaunt. Unfortunately, genetics will determine whether or not this will be a problem. IMHO there's no point in having a toned tum if your head looks like a wizened skull!

Good point. Not sure how I will look yet, but the OH will tell me to stop if I start to look ill/gaunt.

This pic was taken a couple of weeks ago and although you can see that she hasn't exactly got a lot of fat on her tum, the abs still aren't visible... yet.

I completed the 30DS recently, and there is *some* abs definition now, but it's still behind a small layer of flab so doesn't exactly look how I would like it (especially not when I sit down! lol).

Yes, I did. In fact I think there are a couple floating around... all faceless. BTW Mrs G gets motivation to stay in shape by entering challenges on a fitness and body building site. The participants are all ordinary women in all shapes and sizes 8-18st. You have to post up progress pics and measurements every month (hence the reason she isn't bothered about me posting a headless bikini pic on the web, she does it herself every month.) You set your goals at the start and the winner is the person that gets closest to them at the end.

Well done on the dress size drop.

Ahh, fair enough. Sounds like a good, supportive site. I started a blog about my health and fitness journey, as a way of tracking things and being able to share my progress with friends and family (I was getting quite a lot of repetitive questions on FB). I'm not ready to share it with the world yet, but it does help to have it all there, recorded, I think.

Thanks

OH managed to find a downloadable copy of Jillian Michael's 90 Day Body Revolution, so I'm starting that tomorrow (though I won't be using the diet plan part I don't think - I already have a good diet now).

Just_a_Girl_2

lostinrates wrote: »

Of course its different reasons, and the regime is different to what is being discussed, but most Muslims i know do not become gibbering wrecks because they eat carbs when not fasting!

I am also not upopposed to the idea low carb eaters might find this easier, i am just saying that it is not necessary that all people who still eat carbs would find a fast leads rhem to being ' a shaking wreck' though i quite agree it would leas many to become so.

I don't recall saying all people who still eat carbs would find fasting difficult :huh:

I did say that *I* personally would suffer though I may have dramatised it a little Before I adapted to fat burning, whenever I got hungry I would get dizzy, anxious and trembly and for years, I believed this to be "hunger". It was only after changing to a higher fat, lower carb diet that I realised that isn't what hunger feels like at all, just my body not dealing with the blood sugar highs/lows very well.

However, there are plenty of people out there that do eat higher carbs and not have a problem fasting. In fact, I belong to a group of amazing women who IF and lift heavy - most of them follow the leangains protocol which cycles calories & carbs according to training/rest days and they have no problem eating high carbs. I just do.