Re: Day 13
27 Sep 2016, 05:08
This is in response to wmr309's comments on the fasting today thread.

Yes, I can be obsessive... I totally agree about the benefits / approach of 5:2. My blog from today might explain my issue a bit more?? Or probably just more obsessing!!! Ideally I don't want to have to fast at all to maintain my weight - maybe just a window approach but a wider window, but only to have the benefits of fasting, not to reduce how much I eat (I read somewhere that 14 hours without food can be enough to get benefits for women, so if I can stop eating by 8.30pm then have brekkie at 10.30 - most days - that would work).

My main challenge remains to stop the mindless eating in the evenings. Doesn't happen too often now, but still happens, and once I get into that pattern, it is hard to stop without having a fast day to break the pattern. I also have the situation that once I start eating I want to keep eating, especially with processed carbs of course. I have had some success with following the Amanda Sainsbury-Salis Don't go hungry diet approach, where you focus on just how hungry you feel before eating, and how full your feel afterwards. I also have some success with distractors which can divert me from eating when I don't need to.

I don't have a problem with the evening eating if I am genuinely hungry, but I do find it much harder to assess my hunger levels in the evening. I guess I am not too concerned about what I have been eating in the evenings lately, apart from feeling that it is a bit more than I need, hence a fast to compensate.

The bigger concern is when I keep eating when I KNOW I am full, and even when I am not enjoying at all the food that I eat. What IS that about??

I guess all the above just confirms how much I am obsessing!!

I don't weigh myself anymore but I can't fit into the clothes I bought when I was at goal, so I expect I am 3-5kg, maybe more, over goal. Although I would like to be the size I was at goal weight, it may be that that weight is in fact too low for me. So I want to focus on healthy eating habits as the goal, and making what I eat about a choice that I consciously make, not something that is driven by some other force. If you follow.

Wmr309's point about obsession is a very good one. A discussion thread that I have thought may be worth raising is how much time many of us spend thinking about diets, eating, weight and all associated things. Not healthy, I don't think. Prior to starting 5:2 I rarely gave these a thought; now, as you say, I am obsessive, spending far too much time each and every day thinking about it. I don't think I am the only one. (Mind you, having retired, and with generally a very good life, I do have time to think about this as I don't have a lot of other things to worry about..... Lucky me, I know.)

And I think this has alerted me to a solution - I need to fill my life with more positive experiences.