The FastDay Forum

[Tracieknits]

Welcome back princessstarburst.

There's lots of great tips here to help you out

Welcome @princessstarburst!

You will find lots of support and ideas on this forum, so do keep in touch with how you are going. With such weight loss on your first attempt, hopefully you will quickly get in the swing of it again.

I have a lot in common with @Chris P - certainly the fear of all the weight going back on. Not sure why I should fear that tho when I have been around the same weight now for 8 months despite some serious overindulgences and many minor ones... A few good fasts has always remedied these excesses (so far). Tho I have had to stick to 2 fasts a week - only going to 3 when I have really had too much.

I also have not had any reduction in appetite, nor do I crave any foods less, but the fear of putting the weight back on and liking how I now look are what stops me indulging as much as I would "like". I think. But since on maintenance I do have the constant battle of putting on weight above my goal, then having to get rid of it. This is mainly due to overeating in the evenings - for absolutely no reason that I can account for apart from the instant gratification of the taste of the food - even when I know I am not hungry and don't really want it - and it being a reward for getting thru the day (not that I need a reward, as my days are generally good).

So I am still searching for a maintenance strategy that I can stick to that means I don't need to fast as often as I do.

Glad I found this thread. 2013 I did 5:2 and lost 11kg over the year. Towards the end of the year, the weight loss slowed right down, but I consoled myself with "at least I'm not gaining". I fasted 2 days a week, 36 hour liquid fasts mostly, and didn't find it onerous. I still wanted to lose 5-6kg, but because it was relatively easy and I just thought I would keep going and in another year or two I would be at goal weight and still fasting 2 days a week, and all would be fabulous.

Then this year I had a tough start to the year with my Mum dying, and I've become very erratic with fasting. I've cut myself slack, because I figure I don't need the added stress of beating myself up. I still fast when I can, but for the first time, I'm not finishing fasts, or backing out of fasts when I wake up hungry on a day I'm meant to be fasting. But now I've noticed that I'm not just staying the same weight, it's slowly creeping up, and I'm now 2-3kg higher than I was at xmas.

No, that's not a lot, but it's making me stressed. I've suddenly realised that my "perfect solution" isn't so perfect anymore, it hasn't stopped me putting on weight, and my reaction is what has always happened when I've tried to lose weight in the past - I start binge eating. I did also go sugar free for a month, and that was the first trigger of my binge eating (think it was in March?) I just haven't stopped, so it's no wonder that I'm putting on weight.

I do a lot of exercise, always have, so I'm fit and have muscles underneath the fat - but I am just so frustrated at this self-sabotage.

Hi katamac

There are are quite a few of us here who got the weight off last year by fasting and then regained and are now struggling
I too lost and then maintained for quite a while just eating sensibly but slowly the
weight came back and now I am really struggling
This seems to be a common theme
I see people who have fasted and lost and then maintained a low weight but I see many who have regained and then struggle to get back into it
Like you I only have a few kilos to lose
I,too am quite fit
And used to binge eat years ago but haven't for many many years and then last Friday.....
We need some advice from those who have lost and are now happily maintaining

This is a great thread,, thanks for that Peebles. I'm afraid I'm one of those who has slid off the fasting tight-rope. Looking at some of these posts, it seems that holidays have a lot to answer for...and that was true in my case. I went on holiday for 2 weeks (for the first time in many years) and stopped fasting during those 2 weeks. When back I had to set up my new business venture and because I have ME felt I needed to stop for food now and again. Well, now I can't get back into and I just feel the blubber returning. I know I did a lot of comfort eating too which is so frustrating...why do I do it?!!

Anyway, I'm determined to get back into it, having read some posts on here that make it sound easy. I mean I gave up doing 5:2 in favour of ADF because I ate too much on non-fast days (like you Karen @RawKaren) Anyway, on Monday I am going to try getting back on the ADF wagon. If I struggle, I'll turn it into 4:3.

Perhaps those of you who are also struggling could join me? Come on...support in numbers. Together we can do it. We just need to get back in the saddle don't we. (Lets get slim for Christmas!!)

[carieoates]

@nursebean, why not try 16.8 until Monday, ease yourself in gently. Then you will still be doing a mini fast and not putting too much pressure on yourself. So, if you have a wobble you will have restricted your cals a little already.
Just a thought. And that goes for anyone thinking about re-starting.

As @carleoates says, if part of you is rebelling against doing a fast day, however much your better self wants to, you may be able to do an eating window for the time being. You get up and only have to fight the hunger until twelve or one or whenever you have decided to have your first meal, and you tell yourself you can eat proper food once you start.

Many people love 5:2 because they only have to discipline themselves seriously on 2 days out of seven, but I found out I prefer doing the same thing every day and not having a mountain of a 'fast day' ahead of me to tussle with.

I am with you nursebean,I need all the support I can get
I am fasting today and will try for a mini fast on Friday (going out for dinner)
Then next week ,serious 4/3
Ps I just made a huge pot of soup from free veggies .and am having that now
It's helps
Good luck
Why don't you join me on Friday for a half day fast
Eating fruit and veg thru the day and normal dinner

I definitely love the "only think about it 2 days out of 7", and think a feeding window will feed my binge eating behaviour. That's actually why I liquid fast - on fast days I don't have to think about food (I'm just not eating) and non fast days I don't have to think about food (I'm just eating). But obviously that's not working right now! Maybe I should do the 500 calories on fast days. I also got my myfitnesspal account open again so I could calorie count on non fast days, not in a "keep to X amount" but just to see what I am eating generally, but I can't actually do it for more than a day.

My headspace has just moved. Anyway, I'll be fasting tomorrow. I have some cottage cheese and some veggie soup and some ready boiled eggs, so if I do opt for the 500 calories, it's all there ready to eat.

I have to say it again, it's all about the mind. Those who aren't struggling can't really help, because they haven't felt the pain of the struggle. I am back into it (God knows if I'll flounder again), 3 fasts a week, some days I can't remember if I'm eating or fasting LOL. I seriously understand the fear of those who are still at goal weight, but think they'll put on, easily done. Clearly when we all started, it seemed miraculous and it was, then for whatever reason, we fell off the wagon and struggled to get back on. I have gone back to what I did when I was losing weight and not finding it difficult but I am being more cautious on feed days, tho I just ate ice cream and I have a glass of red beside me but initially I went mad on feed days...and lost weight, but when I fell off the wagon, I was eating like a beast to counter all those years of deprivation and I wasn't fasting, so the weight gain was fairly rapid. I implore you all, who are struggling, to ask yourself why. Ask yourself how you can go back to fasting without it feeling like another sentence...we all know it's unfair that we were born to struggle with weight when we see friends chowing down on so many calories and being slim still. Man I fear the fat! The answers are within us, we just have to bring them out.

@Sarahg and others

Do have a look at the "maintaining this month" threads for info from a range of people on how they are successfully maintaining (don't just read this month's but read back across the months). There may be some ideas there that will be of help to you.

I guess many of us will always be battling against the beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that caused us to be overweight in the first place. I am always in awe of people who do seem to have been able to change these.

Best wishes for success!

I am having to be content with 10 kg loss but had taken my lowest loss to 13kg around Christmas last. I found that I seemed to get nowhere even though I kept fasting trying all the variations. So you could say I plateaued or was in famine effect far too long eg 6 months. Then hair loss kicked in. That was it for me and I pulled back as I felt my body was fatiguing in some way and sending me a clear message. Meanwhile my BMI was still higher than I had hoped.

I have found since I can more 'easily' retain at the 10 kg weight loss by daily weighing and fluid fasting to chase down any gain. I intermittently fast now at once a week or fortnight when I know I am at home for the day and can successfully fluid fast without distractions and temptations.

So though not where I expected and hoped to be, my hair loss has settled, I am still excited to have lost and retain a 10kg weight loss back to a more ideal weight and am size 12-14 again after not being than for 20 odd years with a completely new smaller wardrobe. What is not to like. I am accepting this is how it has settled......for now

Hi peebles
Yr thread comforts me as it makes me feel not so alone!
@rawkarens first line says it all for me..
( quote)... "I have regained 14lbs since Christmas....My reasons for the gain are simple. I overeat beyond my TDEE on non fast days. " me too,karen!
From sept - dec last yr i lost two stone on basic 5:2
From jan til now,have managed the 2 fasting days but struggle on inbetween days to stick to / below TDEE..one stone's gone back on in a horrible lumpy way!
Now i am also starting to find i struggle with the repair days...the discipline is fading fast...!
Reasons for all this?
your lines explain it all for me..
Quote A)"Were you derailed by life problems that sent you back to comfort eating? "
Quote B)"Dealing with wrinkles, ropy necks, batwings and fat aprons that come with significant weight loss or weight loss post-menopause can further demotivate previously successful dieters. "
Yes!..to A)On the surface i am cheery and positive - deep down i am a little depressed and more than a bit frustrated...Have only recently become aware of how insidious this is on a day to day basis..leads to overeating and self sabotage.
Yes to B) ..gahhhhh ! So true! Over sixty,low thyroid,poor health..all means weight loss doesnt result in smooth firm slimmer flesh! So,at risk of sounding too negative,there isnt the same incentive ( tho of course,better health sh'd be incentive enough...!)
However! I am with@nursebeanand @princessstarburst..i want to keep trying..i' ll join you both next week..and will take @carieoates advice between now and Monday's fresh start ( thanks for that Carie) x

Oh Candy @CandiceMarie I agree we don't get the bounce back to youth look. That takes some getting used to as well.

I have the feeling that we get hooked in with the first flush of weight loss but only then does the real journey begin and it is the keeping on keeping on which is the main event in between some normal eating patterns along with a lot less indulgences

When I started on 5:2 I read a book called Making habits, Breaking habits-How to make changes that stick-by Jeremy Dean.
It is not about dieting but I found it useful and I do seem to have made the habit of fasting stick reasonably well.