The FastDay Forum

I am enjoying reading this very interesting thread so thank you for starting it Peebles
I am back from a five day 40th wedding anniversary celebration having gained 3 & 1/2 lbs that I feel confident will quickly go. I am fasting today & can feel my body's relief at having a rest from too rich food, although smallish portions, too much wine & with eating out for most meals very little fresh fruit & vegetables.
I have lost 3 stone since starting this WOE in Jan 2013 & since then have always gained weight whilst on holiday but the flexibility of fasting & being able to in a guilt free way enjoy celebrations has me always returning to it & enjoying the feeling of control over my life. I have, I suspect, at least another year of slowly losing weight to eventually reach my goal weight & as a lifelong loser & gainer of weight using Weight Watchers & Rosemary Conley's low fat calorie counting failed way of losing & maintaining my loss of weight will stick with this WOE. I am now 4:3ing & 16:8ing on eating days & I have learnt so much more about myself, my relationship with food & am trying to eat fewer carbs & have kicked out all low fat food & eat very little processed food apart from some M & S Fuller Longer meals I have read that it can take 1-2 years after reaching goal for ones body to readjust to the lower goal weight so when I get there I have built this in to my own aspiration & expectation of myself. I am a little frustrated that I haven't managed to more quickly lose weight to be even slimmer for my sons wedding in September & practised wearing a shorter on the knee dress last weekend & my legs really are still a disaster area. But I have just done my Jane Fonda exercises this morning with heavier weights, for the bat wings!, & will keep cycling on my exercise bike.
I am still glad I found this WOE & this forum despite my ups & downs so come on everyone be pleased with what you have already achieved & keep on going!!

@isis do you have a link to the JF batwings exercises pls? X

No I have her DVD called Prime Time Fit & Strong & three other DVDs that she has made for over 60s like me. She includes weights in her exercises to improve shoulder & arms strength & flexibility. I find her witty comments about ageing amusing & motivating because she looks amazing & I think she was aged seventy when she made these DVDs & has has knee & I think a hip replacement. The DVDs are available from Amazon.

[carieoates]

Glad to be of help@nursebean and @CandicemarieSlip in gently that's what I say.
So how did you get on with waiting till lunch?

I have been doing 5:2 for a year and a half, since the New York Times did an article on it, which got me looking for the documentary online. I had also succeeded & failed on WW, South Beach and whatever else over the years.
At first, I was very successful. OH joined it, as did other family members and a few friends. I love being able to fit going out and socializing in without embarrassing diet restrictions. I love having treats on other days. I was SHOCKED that I could fast, that I was able to do it at all. I was never very good at dieting. I lost 25 lbs in a few months.
But then everything just stopped. I continued doing 5:2 but I just got stuck on this never ending plateau. I know it is because I eat too much on my non-fast days, and yet I haven't been able to make any significant changes. I've been at this weight for nearly a year, and of course I'm so happy not to be gaining, and this is a real low for me after years at a higher weight. But it's still overweight and not where I want to be. I try exercise or eating windows, but I don't really stick to anything on the nonfast days. I often binge on sugary treats.
I play to keep at it. I'm afraid to stop, because I don't want to gain.

Not sure if this info helps - but Thanks for starting this thread!

Never did reach my goal and I have fallen off the wagon twice. I start to fail when I try to get fancy. This time around I plan to keep it simple. Two 24hr fasts and limit white carbs. It really is a simple plan. A reoccurring mantra on the threads has been 5:2 a way of life. And its true if I just accept that two days a week I don't eat and accept that as a lifestyle I will be all set. I cannot panic and dive off the deep end when life brings me birthday cake. I will enjoy it and fast two days a week. My past experience proved to me that a strict 24 fast with a preplanned dinner was most effective for weight loss. Trying to figure out how to spend my 500cals throughout the day was disastrous. I am completing my second fast this week . Right now I am not hungry but the little sugar devil is whispering in my ear. I am thinking of ways to remain strong before I go to sleep. A glass of orange Metamucil will fill me up for 20 cals...

Hi @nycnyc2013

I understand your problem with the sugary treats... They are my downfall too (tho of course I have been fortunate to be able to reach my goal weight).

I am sure you have read lots of posts with suggestions for how to deal with this challenge. Would a fasting buddy help keep you on the straight and narrow - someone to discuss different strategies with you and support you as you try them? Of course, general members will give you that support too. What strategies have you tried to help you eat less sugary food, stick with eating windows etc?

You have done wonderfully with 5:2 so far, I am sure there is a way for it to continue to work for you.

Good luck!

Hi @Sassy1 tonight I would be satisfied with a nice piece of fruit but my fastday feed is over. Boo hoo. I do have a wonderful buddie, her name is @Lil. She likes rasberries or almond milk cocoa. Good choices but I must get out of the habit of late night snacks. Self discipline is what I keep saying to myself right now. Almost bedtime for me anyway. Our summer has been very nice this year how is winter going for you? Also, I have been following All Saints that's to the wonderful internet. Are you a fan?

Hi @clairemarie

Hope you managed to resist the late night urge to snack! It is difficult. Sometimes I resist, sometimes I have one piece of chocolate just before bed, and sometimes I have several pieces of chocolate, dried fruit and nuts, an ice cream, cheese and biscuits, an apple, savoury snacks... Despite many logical sounding theories, I still really don't understand why we sabotage ourselves this way.

How lovely that you had a nice summer. Our winter is grey, wet and miserable, but I have been lucky to miss 7 weeks of it on holiday mainly in Queensland, where clear blue skies in the low 20Cs were the norm.

I must admit I have never seen All Saints. I do watch quite a bit of TV tho; the American shows I enjoy are Modern Family, Mad Men, Elementary and of course Revenge!! Probably the Aussie shows I watch may not be available for overseas viewers in the internet?

Hmm, this is a bit off topic!

Good luck with staying on the wagon!

I'm really appreciating the candor and honesty of everyone posting here.

Everything I've read and all the years I've spent involved with online diet communities tells me that what you are describing is normal. The people who maintain for years without huge struggles are extremely rare. But they are very vocal, and set the tone for all discussions of diet because the 90% of people who regain do feel shamed and slink away or keep silent.

My strong belief is that until there is more honesty about just how difficult maintenance is on ANY diet, we won't advance here. But I have also learned that most people do not want to think about this problem and if you write books about it, people will complain that you are a downer. They want diet books that promise them easy weight loss not books that tell them weight loss gets tough after the first few months and that maintaining any weight loss a continual struggle!

But every single academic study I've read verifies just how tough it is for even the most motivated dieters to prevail. Which leads me to believe that any one who has managed to shift more than 10% of their original weight and keep it off for several years should be very proud. Maintain 15% lost of starting weight you are a diet star.

And with this in mind, it may be very wise to choose a very modest weight loss goal (somewhere around that 10-15%) and to stop at that level and maintain for a while before working on losing more. Because if you can't maintain that modest weight loss, how are you going to maintain an even bigger loss which requires that you eat even less to maintain it?

Ideally, a stair step diet program where you would lose 10-15% of starting weight, maintain for 3 months, then knock off another 5%, maintain for another 3 months, etc, is probably the way to go. But none of us has the patience to try it. Self included. When I'm losing, I get all revved up and dream of weighing what I haven't weighed since 1987. Settling for the reality that I'm a whole lot older and my metabolism a whole lot slower is very tough.

I'm coming to realize I probably should go into maintenance mode very soon, because I have learned, the hard way, that just as the books say, if I lose a lot and then regain, I end up with more blubber at the old weight. I was much slimmer at 145 five years ago before regaining up to 151 than I am at 139 now as I seem to have put on nothing but tummy blubber during that regain. I certainly don't want to do that again.

BTW @candicemarie and others, I had read for years about taking Chromium for sugar cravings and never got around to, but about 6 months ago started taking it. Amazingly I do NOT crave sugar the way I used to, it was always my preference and I used to say I'll have dessert for entree, main and desert. Now I find myself fancying savoury stuff. I still eat sweets, but just don't feel like I could gnaw thru rope to get at sweets! Worth a try?

@GMH I have been taking one Higher Nature True Food GTF Chromium tablet daily for years as part of avoid diabetes if at all possible strategy and it never occurred to me to mention it on here. I definitely do not have a sweet tooth, but whether that is down to the chromium I could not say. If anyone else gives it a go I would be interested to hear whether they think it makes a difference with the sugar craving.

@peebles thanks - that is really interesting. I gradually put on weight over 20 years and this is my first attempt at weight loss and maintaining so this thread is really useful for me, thanks to everyone!

I feel I'm naturally entering maintaining as the weight loss has slowed. I think my body is telling me I have arrived. If I continue just plain old 5:2 which is now a comfortable and easy way of life for me I should be fine? Let's see...........

I am wondering something which may sound silly but still. What if you didn't see it as a diet would it switch on something ? I mean, I don't see 5:2 or fast as a diet and never have. I see it as a deep change in how I deal with food and so I never feel cheated or frustrated. Even during the Christmas period I still did fast twice a week, it's part of a routine.

Could it be a psychological effect with how we view it ? Could it be that the body reacts to the "diet" idea and is more relax if the idea is not so restrictive ?

As I said, just an idea....

Thanks @GMH yes i' ll try it x!