The FastDay Forum

Really appreciate all your support - thanks for all the very encouraging and kind posts. Am going to have a long hard think over the weekend about what on earth I have been doing.....with a view to getting back on track next week.

Thanks @peebles for the scientific insight too - it really gave me food for thought.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend xx

Oh @Hazelnut20, I feel for you! You must be so annoyed at yourself, as well as frustrated and upset at not being able to pinpoint the cause of your food indulgences.

But it is great that you have come back to the forum and have been willing to tell us what is happening for you.

I am sure there will be lots of supportive and helpful replies from others. I have to go out now so don't have time to write more, but will check in later and see what has been said.

Thinking of you.

Edit: Oops, didn't see that there had been a page of replies already!

@peebles thanks for that latest piece of info re leptin etc etc
I wish these things were more widely known so that those who assume overweight people are fat,lazy and even dirty(!) would have more to think about.
I've been so baffled as to why ( aside from greediness and falling easily back into bad habits) for the last thirty years i've lost and regained so many times..it helps to know there are forces at work that i can barely comprehend but that still explain a lot!

@Hazelnut20 - oh yes you have been missed. I thought you must be on your hols as the forum did go very quiet some weeks ago. So, sorry to hear you've had a hard time of it but as others say there is lots of support here to help you regain your resolve. I'll be on Monday fasting thread too, so let's go for it.

Come by the walkers tent, @janeg is going to take us all on a fabulous holiday to Indonesia in 3 days ............ we are counting down.

So glad you made it back to the forum - big hug to you

Well actually@Hazelnut20, you WERE missed. I had wondered where you were but just assumed you were on holiday (plus I read a lot of the posts on here and post reasonably regularly but have never posted on the 'who's missing' thread). I have always found your posts to be cheery and encouraging, and the pic you posted with your daughter was just a testament to how good this way of eating can make people feel because you looked so happy. I understand the 'self sabotage' thing and god knows why we do it but I have got to the stage now where the thought of putting the 4.5 stone on that I have lost is just so depressing it acts as a really good brake on my desires to binge. And you should be the same - you've lost such a lot in a short space of time and it would be such a shame to (as you say) sabotage all that.

Do hope you're feeling better soon. I do think the 'self sabotage' idea is a valid one - maybe people feel they don't 'deserve' to feel good/happy/in control because it is at odds with the self image they have of themselves as worthless (and I am being general here - though I do think it used to apply to me).

Anyhow - please don't give up!

@hazelnut20. Sorry you have been MIA. Now come on - look at how much you have lost - it is so fabulous!. Great that you have changed your eating patterns though.

I suppose you know that crappy carbs and sugar can trigger low moods http://wellnesswordworks.com/food-and-mood/. So you have got yourself in a doom loop. It's not too late. I have not been around here much either, but I do miss your posts so come back to us! @juliana.rivers will soon be whipping us into shape for the Christmas goal in no time

Aaaa yes, @rawkarenI was just thinking the same the other day when reading some of the less than positive posts of late in this community. We just cant have that when we were all so raring to go last Christmas and together we got over 30 reaching their goals if i remember rightly. I'm just waiting for the fall into spring challenge to be finalised and out those whips will come..

dont worry, the whips are soft but assertive and always fun... with a great goal in mind... a beautiful body, a positive mind and room for Christmas feast wiggle. hope you are all ready for the fun challenge... late September is when i will start.

Want to change up the challenge but still thinking about how. Was thinking of a crazy idea of "group challenges" groups based roughly on how you do your IF.

so we will have ...
the 5-2ers
the 4-3ers
the low-carbers
the fast fivers
the 16-8ers
the ....... etc

i like tallying numbers though some personal crises didnt let me finish the job in 2013

Anyway this year I was thinking of some group tallying... which group got the most people through the challenge and reaching their goals.. total weight lost etc etc. . means you have to stick to a certain method from the beginning of the challenge and no skipping from one to another just during the challenge

it wont be a war of the methods or anything .. just a way of getting some group comraderie so to speak. as we all no that NO METHOD is the best method. whatever method you choose to get healthy and at your goal weight is the right method.
i will finish the christmas challenge dead on December 20. anything after is just too close to chrissie and no extensions.

whatchya all think?

@juliana.rivers. I like the idea, not to make it competitive as you say, but the data itself might be interesting, although we might not be able to generate enough for it to be statistically significant.

From a collation point of view, I'm wondering if @moogie could help you via the progress tracker by adding a box which lets you select which fasting method you choose. Then the reporting could be done by the forum within a date range rather than you being bogged down with numbers. This method might have longer term use as we carry on collecting data.

We all need a goal and 3 months is enough to make a real difference. So I would start mid September so we are ready for the festive season. I did not join the other challenges as I got fatigued after the Christmas one and life got in the way, but for me, this is the big one and I will join in.

@Hazelnut20 I did miss your posts, remembering your beautiful smile and those before and after photos were so wonderful, I called OH into the room to see them. He was astounded!! But, like others, I thought you must be on vacation.

Such good suggestions, here. I like the idea of a counselor, at least temporarily--it's so good to talk things out with another person who's on your side but still doesn't let you get away with any self-deceptions.

I'm also very intrigued with Peebles' comments about chemical stuff happening in the brain when we've lost weight--even if we don't understand it, at least knowing about it lets us forgive ourselves so that we can work on finding out what to do.

I hope you will keep posting--many good wishes and

@Hazelnut20 Well I did miss you and actually said this on my reply to you
"Where have you been Hazelnut 20" when you left me that lovely reply to my post, alas mine to you must be in cyberspace

I've not participated with this very interesting post @peebles Because your question was I thought aimed at people who have regained after fasting.
I don't consider myself having "gained" as such but the xmas challenge was becoming difficult to meet/make and I thought oh well I've just set my goals far to high considering the festive season however, I then went on not meeting any of the following challenges, there's light at the end of the tunnel regarding the springing into fall one and I will meet this one deffo.
Question::: What's different?
Answer::: No idea as far as I was aware I was doing nothing different from my previous 8 months yes a little cheat her and there just the same as the year before and with my TDEE dropping I should have become more aware of this coz I got away with LOTS for the first 8mths making this WOL the easiest to actually do and more importantly keep doing for life yes I'd decided very quickly into my fasting journey that I could do 5:2 for life and to maintain my goal weight once reached. I quickly started 16:8 skipping breakfast because I was listening to my body for the first time in my life waking up not hungry don't eat == to save calories for later!!!
Yes my b/fasts were the deadly cereals which made me even more hungry thus wanting lunch at 11-30am ish then a sandwich adding further carb cravings, unlike other members I don't actually feel those horrible hunger pains/pangs luckily for me because I've still got a very long way to travel on my journey.

@Hazelnut20 You've reached that same point as I did earlier this year when I was bouncing 3lbs around yo yo yo yo yo
Take another look at my tracker then reread that post you made to me and you'll quickly see the comparison, OK I didn't binge
(well not really) but nothing I did helped at all BUT I wouldn't give up because this WOL deserves my full attention as its simply the best opportunity for us all to beat our weight problem,
this I know for sure because I've tried them all over the years lining the pockets of the clubs making them even richer
and me poorer and miserably fatter.
Set point or carbs craving monster whatever the reason we need to keep fighting back and show who's going to win this battle.
Me and if its only half pound each week that's fine coz my poor old body's had a big shock and does need time to pull all the flab a little bit at a time, and @peebles even that sight and thought of worse to come doesn't make me depressed weird yes
why I've no idea maybe I've turned "that" corner in my weightloss fasting journey, because I'm a totally different
person today and forever.♥

@Sue.Q,

What a fine attitude! However much more you may want lose, you have lost a very significant amount already, and just maintaining it going forward has to have a great impact on your health!

Half a pound a week is a very reasonable rate of weight loss. Keep at it and you've lost another 50 lbs in two years!

When I used to see that "1 lb a week" message in the announcement section of the forum, I used to think that that rate was almost certainly characteristic of people who had only been on the diet for six months or less.

The big weight loss studies where they had large groups of people doing all different diets--Ornish, Zone, and Atkins, for example, found that at 6 months weight loss slowed WAY down for all the groups. It didn't matter what diet it was they were following.

I read an article (I believe by Gina Kolata, but may be misrembering) where she was following several highly motivated dieter in the Atkins group in one of these studies, and documented how the weight loss slowed down and how upset these people got because they had lost so well over the first few months.

From what I'm seeing 5:2 seems to preserve that honeymoon period a bit longer than these diets where you are eating less every day, but it makes sense that eventually you will see much slower loss.

In those big studies, it is important to note, that people who stayed on the diets DID continue to lose steadily, but just at that much slower rate. And a huge number of people quit because of that frustration of not seeing the weight loss they expected. I think if people were told the truth--"It is likely to take you three or four years to get to your goal, and it will be very slow after the honeymoon period" they would be much more successful.

But no one is going to make the bestseller lists with a diet book that says it is going to take years of very careful eating to get to your goal. They all make it sound like the weight drops off like magic (as it often does for the first 3 months.)

And NONE of them tell you that maintaining that weight loss means eating pretty much what you ate to lose weight during the last few months of the diet!

@Sue.Q,

Half a pound a week is a very reasonable rate of weight loss. Keep at it and you've lost another 50 lbs in two years!

When I used to see that "1 lb a week" message in the announcement section of the forum, I used to think that that rate was almost certainly characteristic of people who had only been on the diet for six months or less.

Yes.. ive been saying something similar for 12 months here. the 1 pound a week message would always carry with it feelings of failure when many were experiencing much slower rates than that. and its dependent on the the total amount of weight one wanted to lose. I think i had some inane thread that its all about percentage loss. I will dig it up when i have time

@peebles oh I so believe what you say is just so true. I started 5:2 in March 2013 and I think my honeymoon was over just 6 months later in July 2013. It has taken ever since consistent application to just sustain my weight losses within a respectable cooee of my lowest low. That was why I got so disappointed when people posting would indicate I must be eating over my TDEE when in actual fact the scales just didn't budge unless I did ADF or every day a daily wIndow. I was going to be bored or giving up IF if I had to persist at that level of fasting. So it was not "the less I eat the more I lose" but likely that my body chemical conspiring to make me put the weight back on.

I started 'Taking the Scenic Route" to create a haven for those of us for whom this WOE was a more arduous journey. I was not alone as many other Forum members had the similar issue.

While I feel like I ought to do more fasting however I am successfully maintaining and hope this remains so over the next 3 years or so and my body gets with the program

Back from a two weeks holiday to find there is a lot of 'catching up' to be done. Took some time to read this very interesting topic, with lots of interesting stuff. I need more time to sort out my thoughts on the topic, so I will make an additional contribution later. I'm a faster for a bit more than a year, of which over 9 month of successful maintaining. So what can I say about regaining? Perhaps not a lot, because I never did. But comparing situations of those not facing these issues with those who do, will be part of really understanding which factors play a role.
Some initial thoughts:
My 'honeymoon' of losing weight was short (3 months), as fasting works very well with me and I did not have a lot to lose. So I did not fast long enough in 'weight lose mode' to get really bored with it (and really enjoyed the honeymoon feeling!).
The 9 months since then can be seen as 'a happy marriage'. And perhaps that metaphor contains a lot of the things we are looking for: there is no way that you can return to your pre-fasting frivolous and 'careless' days of your life as a single. Yes, there are some days where we can do the 'crazy things' that we used to do, but for most of the other days we need to behave in a more orderly fashion.
So, fasting and maintaining mean you will need to change your lifestyle. And depending on how much 'sex, drugs and rock and roll' you were used to, the change will be bigger.

@julianarivers, I too like your ideas for the Christmas challenge. I am not doing too well on this one, but am determined to tackle it full on after our holiday next week. We are going to visit our son in New York for Christmas and so the deadline of the 20th December is just great for me as that is the weekend we fly.
X B

I haven't regained but, yes, of course, I have an apprehension that I'm 1x [as yet unknown trifle] from a 70lb+ gain in an eye-wateringly brief amount of time.

I've been in maintenance for some time but I still have that apprehension, even tho' I've shed an additional 20lbs after reaching what was my original goal. But, my original goal was scale weight and I've since realised that I need to modify my body fat level because I have very low muscle mass.

That said, having read some people's struggles, I realise that I'm very fortunate not to have to contend with COE or a tendency to binge. I wasn't drawn to over-eat on non-fast days and my appetite underwent a massive down-regulation that hasn't reverted during maintenance. (Of course, I keep wondering if this will happen.)

My greatest apprehension is that injury or further deterioration in my lean body mass will reduce my sports activities (I'm a keen kayaker) and that a more sedentary lifestyle would lead to a substantial body fat gain that would also have inconvenient metabolic consequences (related to sarcopenia diagnosis).