The FastDay Forum

[wildmissus]

I decided to write this after reading @rawkaren's comments in the chatterbox thread.

I've been beginning to question whether fasting is for me. It is the start of a new year and I should be full of motivation and enthusiasm to lose the weight I put on over the festive season - actually I'm still trying to lose the weight I put on over my holidays last August! The weight is slowly creeping on and I'm not happy. My size 12 trousers are getting tighter.

I can fast - been doing it for 2 years and most of the time I have no problem at all. My problem is that I eat too much on non fast days. I know I do, I often don't feel full and even when I do there is almost a 'panic' thing going on knowing that I won't be eating in a day or so's time. The majority of the time it is just mindless eating and dare I say it there is also the thing where if I don't eat some of the nice things in the house then the family will and I'll miss out!

I'm not sure where I go from here as I can't lose weight by conventional dieting so there isn't an alternative to losing weight. I know I need to get the non fast days under control but I can't seem to stop the self-sabotaging. Unlike @rawkaren I am not under any stress, I am pretty happy and content in my life at the moment - except for the stress caused by the weight creeping on. I can't use the excuse that it is winter because I started fasting exactly two years ago and I lost a pile of weight.

Anyone else having similar problems or had similar problems and found a solution or I am on the slippery slope to 13 and a half stone!

I'm sorry that things are not going well for you@wildmissus. I can't offer any useful tips, but my immediate thought was that you would be in a much worse situation if you were't having any fast days. Just think where you would be if you weren't fasting at all.

I hope that you are able to recapture your enthusiasm

Bracken

Hi @wildmissus x
I think i felt like you more or less throughout most of 2014 resulting in me putting two stone back on,despite quite a lot of fasting. Too much eating on feed days like you said.

I understand the panic you mention too..the last half an hour i'm feeling panic coz have finished today's cals and tomoz i fast.

I dont know the answer..if this WOE doesn't work,i dont know where else to go.

All i can say is,be careful..dont allow yrself to put weight back on,coz you' ll just end up very regretful.
Ive sort of gritted my teeth. Out of desperation i think. Am back 5:2 ing.
All i can think of for someone like yrself who is quite slim now,is to give yrself some treats on your feed days..replenish yrself with what you need..protein,fat,minerals and vits..but factor in some goodies. Say you gave yrself 200 cals of whatever you fancied,five days a week,do you think it would give you heart again? And would only be 1000 cals per week,not enough to affect yr weightloss?
I know exactly how youre feeling....i am so sick after thirty years of struggling with weight issues
Am trying to give myself tough love and get on with it. Thinking of you and sending hugs,its not fun is it!

I eat too much on non-fast days too - and drink too much. But I'm happy just to be back in size 12 again. It took almost a year to get from size 16 down to 12, then I've maintained that for another 6 months. I don't think I'm losing any more weight and will probably need to keep doing 2 days most weeks just to stay where I'm at ... but I've never stuck to any other "diet" in my life so this is the best thing going, as far as I'm concerned. I certainly won't be happy if the size 12's start getting tight again though... Still the fact that it is winter for you actually isn't a bad excuse - you may well feel more motivated when the spring flowers start appearing!

[carorees]

Sorry to hear you're struggling @wildmissus. But thank you for coming forward about it. It can be tricky for forum moderators to say that it is not going swimmingly for them.

Do you think your carb intake has gone up compared with when you were losing? You mention eating too many treat foods.

I have found, throughout my life, that I easily fall into bad habits. For example, having some chocolate after dinner. Maybe I had some chocolate as a gift and started having a little after dinner. When it runs out I have to be really strict not to buy more so that I can continue to have the after dinner treat. I think that Christmas and holidays are bear traps designed to cause this kind of derailment.

I don't think that more fasting is necessarily the answer or cutting down on calories on non-fast days so that you're too hungry to fast on your fast days. I think Candice Marie is right... aim for high quality nutrition.

As for missing out on goodies that the family eats before you... I feel your pain! That happens to me too, but I have to remind myself that the carb laden treats just raise insulin and put my body into fat storing mode...am I that keen on them?

Good luck with finding your way.

Tagging @SSure and@peebles who may have insights.

@Wildmissus I had drafted a long response to the maintain thread, it was lost. Need to write tomorrow folks.
Part of it was - I recall reading a very pertinent thread from 2012 that rung a bell for me when I started fasting. The key message was lose a bit, maintain a bit, lose a bit, maintain a bit (showed a stepped graph - may have been Ken?). Too much, too soon is not sustainable? Does that make sense to you? x

Oh dear. I agree with Lizbean, I have noticed that after a refeed, holiday or christmas, the weight seems to drop off. However, like you and Caroline, I don't like missing out on the goodies that the family are tucking into. Thing is....... you only have to miss out on them 2 days a week. You can have them tomorrow as they say.
I don't want to lead you up the garden path but how about taking a break for a couple of weeks and then coming back? Better than disappearing all together. Good luck with whatever you decide.
The thing that should tempt you to carry on is looking back to that thread when you were in the supermarket holding your lost weight in something. Turkey was it? That was a great motivational thread. We should resurrect it

@Wendy Darling - wondering if those like me who only need to lose 25lbs or less can fast over a year to get to goal - great! But more than that I think I would take Ken's approach and advice. @Carorees Do you recall Ken, apols if I'm talking rubbish - welcome your input.

Well remembered @wendy darling!
Here it is@wildmissus and you look great!
http://forum.fastday.com/chat-f12/a-chr ... 10139.html

It was@julieathomes idea!

Well done Candice. You beat me to it. Thank you x

Lizbean, that's exactly what I meant. I easily maintained from February to July, went on holiday, gained a bit and then magically lost more and maintained easily at a slightly lower weight, giving me christmas wiggle room. I wish I could show you a pic of my daily weight data so you can see what I mean but I am rubbish at resizing (pics, not myself!) it was Kens threads that encouraged me to weigh daily.

{hugs} @wildmissus, it's very hard to be trying hard but not succeeding, so take a deep breath ... And ... Relax.
Maybe try this :-
Low carb, that's under 50g a day - log everything you eat on myfitnesspal to know;
Medium protein, that's 1g per 1 kilo of your current weight, per day;
high fat, that's 70% of your daily food intake, taken as grass fed butter and cream and avocado and extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil and fat in real meat and fish, nothing processed at all.
Keep fruit to one piece a day, no fruit juice, too much fructose will spark hunger gremlins up!
Don't count calories, just go by your hunger.
Try it for 2 weeks, then just eat real food, not too much, mostly plants, and see how you feel. Rest fasting until then.
Eat when you actually feel hungry, stop when you start to feel it's enough.
Check out primal and paleo ways of eating on the web too. It makes interesting reading and they are also fans of IF. For example :- http://www.marksdailyapple.com/7-common ... more-51416
Good luck m'dear, ignore all this if you like :0)

If you a) dont want to get back to your start weight (just imagine the pain and disappointment and b) cant do restrictive dieting and exercise every single day of the week, then, Im afraid there is no choice but in Taylor Swift's words, whatever it is you are going through "shake it off"as soon as possible.. get back to a really good fasting regime and just watch some of the excesses on non fast days. It's words said that sound cruel but it is meant well...
Dont take a longer break than a week and stay here on the forum for more support and the inspiring stories of many who have got there. Dont try to lose weight quickly.. slow and steady is good enough.

OH.. and weigh daily whilst you are feeling this way. Keeps your focussed particularly after feast days.

@WildmissusI think this week's weigh in has been tough for a lot of us. Like you I find that no sooner do I get things going in the right direction than along comes another holiday or party to send me off track again. Giving oneself a bit of slack at these times makes the thought of fasting again seem hard but you will get back into the swing of it .
I also sometimes 'panic' when I see others eating up 'all' the nice stuff. I am gradually trying to teach myself that a small taste is enough to satisfy and I try and savour it.If 'they' eat the rest luckily in this country it is not hard to get more of whatever it is and that is not your last chance ever to have it. Sorry that sounds a bit garbled !

I think for all the talk here of IF being sustainable, we have to accept that this isn't always true. One of the criticisms you see in the press is that it can lead to overeating/binging. We don't like that when ppl, especially ppl who haven't tried it, say that, but clearly sometimes it's true. So...thanks for being so honest!

I'm totally struggling with most of the same things. Somehow the fasting part has remained easy for me, but I really don't like that I'm still doing so much if it! But I know the reason I'm doing so much fasting just to maintain is that non-fast days are out of control. Lately, I'm trying to apply fast day tricks to non-fast days, without actually counting calories. If I feel peckish, I drink water or coffee first to make sure it's not just thirst. I try to eat the same sort of healthy foods: lots of veg, protein, good fat. I also have treats, but I plan them so that I don't overdo it. It's a struggle, though.

edit to add: as I was writing this, I was wondering if I'd get any chocolate from the box of chocolates someone brought into work yesterday on my fast day. I not only got a chocolate, but a date, too! (And I was naughty and ate them outside my eating window)