The FastDay Forum

[carieoates]

Great post @jools7 I had already seen your blog, it was very interesting indeed, and yes @Juliana.Rivers there was a bloggers category. You naughty selective clicker you.

I suppose, as was said before, the simplest way to avoid binge eating is to make sure you don't have tempting food in the house. Mind you, that doesn't always help. At my worst, I can Woolf down a couple of bowls of cereal (sometimes Branflakes because I kid myself it's healthy ) I think you also need to occupy your mind in order to shut out the "evil voices" that put naughty food in your brain. I'm usually trapped in front of the telly for large chunks of the day and that's the worst thing. I guess it's boredom.

I'm looking forward to getting my new Paul McKenna book on emotional eating and see if he can hypnotise me successfully...watch this space

Thanks for the useful info @jools7 I hadn't heard of the Kausman fellow before but his site looks interesting (and he has a cute face) so I will definitely have a lengthy peruse. I guess he's the Australian equivalent of Paul McKenna is he?

Hi @nursebean, I'm not familiar with Paul McKenna, so I can't really answer your question. Rick was for many years, head of the Australian Medical Association's advisory group on obesity, and was quite counter-cultural there I think - a voice crying in the wilderness. I have known him personally & professionally on & off over the years, and I know he has a great deal of integrity and is a very decent human being, as well as looking cute!

Right...I'd better get reading!

[wildmissus]

Well, like many of you I also overindulged quite a bit (but not nearly as much as last year). I did a liquid fast yesterday, on a Saturday, and I feel so good from it. I didn't like how the overindulging made me feel. My digestive system felt 'dirty'. Oh yes, I enjoyed all that chocolate and puddings with cream and ice cream but my body doesn't like it. TBH it never did but since 5:2ing for almost a year I now know what it feels like to have a 'clean' digestive system.

Last night when I was fasting I had a serious moment when there was bread baking in the kitchen, daughter was passing Christmas sweets around and I was planning a food shop for today. I almost felt a bit panicky! So I put everything down and came on here. Wow, that distraction technique was really powerful, within a few minutes I felt relaxed and the cave in moment had passed.

Over the year I have tried banishing certain foods from the house but I have a family and that isn't fair on them and I also want them more knowing I don't have them. So what I do now is make sure I have 2 or 3 bars of good quality chocolate (Green & Blacks 85%) in a drawer in my bedroom. Yes, sometimes I can disappear in secret and eat half a bar but most of the time I just have a square every now and then (once a day). Because it is always there I can it as much of it as I want when I want and that takes the excitement/naughtieness and the craving away from overindulging.

I am one of the few people on here that has taken a long, long time to get any change of appetite etc from 5:2ing but I've stuck with it and things have changed slowly. I still have a long way to go. I am currently reading The Low Carb Revolution which deals with the body and the mind. Low carbing a few days a week would appear to be the way forward for me to reduce my pot belly and to deal with cravings/overindulging.

Sorry about the long winded post but it almost feels like therapy .

Perhaps when everything is back to normal it'll be your time to take back control.

I think there's something in that, for me anyway. Once routine gets back to normal there won't be chocolate in the house, winking at me round every corner! Yesterday evening I managed to eat my way through most of a box of chocolates and downed a fair bit of wine, and the day before it was a similar scenario. But I've decided it's Christmas and you know what - a few days of indulging isn't going to undo the work of 52 fast days, and tomorrow is always a fresh start.

This morning I could have got up and had breakfast but there's no-one around, and I have a rule these days which is 'never eat breakfast alone'. So today is shaping up into a 16:8, my clothes still fit fine, the novelty of being surrounded by rich food will soon wear off and the New Year is on its way - onwards and upwards!

Wise words @lizzieh! Life would be very boring if we felt we could never have the occasional binge or allow ourselves to indulge in 'naughty' foods. Think it makes you appreciate the normal healthy stuff even more. Love your avatar pic by the way!

Wow @wildmissus I am most impressed with your distraction technique as well as your "squirreling" method! It must be so hard for those of you with a family because, as you say, you can't deprive the kids. Having a secret "posh" choccy bar around is ideal!

Very interesting post @wildmissus matching Jools for self-awareness,

I think these few days are very difficult for a lot of us because we're in that limbo space between the celebration of Christmas and the upcoming celebration of new year. A lot of us are off work too and have the added pressure of having filled the house with tempting goodies for the festive season. Of ALL the time in the year, these few days are probably the worst. And I have that "Well, if I don't eat the goodies, who will?" because some of the stuff I bought, Dom doesn't eat. Both of my (grown-up) daughters got a "goodie bag" of some of my excesses so I have reduced them a lot but there is still a lot of stuff in the house that will "need eating"..... There is also the temptation to try to eat it all before NY Day so that I can "start afresh" on January 1st....

Conflicting times.... but one I will learn from. I won't buy such excesses next year!!!!

Sorry about the long winded post but it almost feels like therapy .

I love long posts as you probably know as i write a lot of them. And yes its great therapy.

Feel so blessed to be able to share with "friends" even if I havent met you all

Oh I don't think we need to worry too much about Christmas now. What's done is done and hey, we've got 12 months til the next one. Just think how slim we'll all be then!

One thing that helps me if I think I need that other biscuit or whatever is to put the timer on for 20 minutes. If I still want it then, I'll have it - but 9 times out of 10 I don't want it anymore.

Other tips - drink a glass of water, or go and clean your teeth.

Here's what I wrote back along about how the appetite works:

http://nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/52-diet-intermittent-fasting-aand.html

I can understand all of these feelings, also the 'dirty' digestive system.
So instead of having the fast I was planning today I am having a high veg day, salad for lunch with some protein and a stir fry with chicken for dinner. Just to get my roughage up (Constipation has reared its head with all the different foods over the hols).

I did try to fast after a high carb day and failed by 4pm. So today is getting back to low carb in preparation for tomorrow. It will also enable the mindfullnes to kick back in. But when oh when am I going to get a chance to eat all the treats still left over?