The FastDay Forum

Just heading to bed. I did have some crepes but am proud of myself for keeping the calories at about 800 for the day. That's well under the 1450 TDEE. Not a complete fast day but not a complete disaster after all.
Have a great morning!

Freezer saga ---
Saturday is my food shopping day, I must have been in a trance when I walked around the supermarket this morning, I've been unpacking the bags and when I put the cheese in the fridge realised that we already have some - SOME! We now have 7 large packs! There are only two of us and I eat very little cheese. We were talking about freezers a couple of days ago and I knew that mine was full so why did I buy so much frozen food? I managed to re-arrange everything to make a space and fitted it all in, then I found a pack of frozen peas at the bottom of a shopping bag. I got rid of a pack of veggie burgers (which I bought a while ago and didn't like) to make room and re-re-arranged everything but couldn't close the door. I resorted to hubby's tactics and tried to force it shut but no! Then I sat on a chair in front of the freezer and gently pushed one of the drawers in with my foot. Voila! The door is shut but I dread opening it, all the frozen food will be falling out on to the floor. If something doesn't work, hubby forces it, or kicks it, or slams it. All of the freezer drawers are broken and the box thing at the bottom was in two pieces and had to be thrown away, so food easily slides out of the non existent front of each drawer.
I still haven't unpacked the rest of the shopping, I had to sit down and warm myself up after playing with the frozen food. I don't know what I'll find in the bags, we didn't need cat food and I remember piling it into the shopping trolley and I think we now have enough loo rolls to last until the new year......

roflol! I laughed out loud at the mention of loo rolls, sorry coffee . And your poor abused freezer.
I weighed myself this morning and I'm up another lb. I'm now at 132.4!!!! fasting Monday, eating to TDEE on Wednesday and doing a sort of fast yesterday did nothing for me. I guess I've been eating too much on the other days? I'm discouraged all over again but I AM going to eat greasy take out chicken, fries and cake today regardless. I can work harder on keeping under TDEE on Sunday, then fast on Monday and Friday and eating to TDEE on the other days.
How goes it Ieramul?

Good morning Steph, I'm sorry to hear that your weight is heading in the wrong direction. Big hug for you too! Could you just have small portions of the greasy food? This is where you need the sensible advice from Ieramul who hopefully is having a lovely time with her family. Hi Ieramul (waves), I hope you can still join us while you are away.
Sorry to rub it in but I lost a little more weight yesterday, this is too good to be true although I do put it back on just as quickly. I'm going to try to carry on fasting for two days each week until I get to about 3 pounds below my goal weight then that might stop me getting a fright every time I put on a few pounds.
Enjoy the rest of the day, speak soon.

I've been thinking Steph, as you are fairly new to 5:2, the reason that you are gaining weight while staying under your TDEE might be because of water retention. Did you take measurements when you started? And have your clothes started to feel loose? Many people on this forum have lost weight in the strangest places such as feet and fingers - my wedding ring which was so tight I had to get it altered a few years ago is now very loose and my wrists are much thinner. If you haven't already measured waist, arms, thighs etc. it might be an idea to measure them this weekend? If you find that you are getting thinner but not losing weight then you might not be so disheartened with your results and you will feel much better about this WOE and want to carry on and on with it.

Hello you two, just dropping in to say hello from my family gathering. Everybody is now relaxing and snoozing from the huge amounts of food at lunch time. I even had some chocolates with my afternoon tea.

Coffee, you definitely need a new freezer and a good shopping list to stick with!!!!! I think your closing freezer technique was spot on. If in doubt kick it.

i can see that shopping is not your favourite chore in the world. I also have to hold back on stocking up on not so essential "essentials". These 3 for the price of 2 really annoy me because they make you buy far too much stuff than you have storage for. With so little freezer space I am wondering if I should resort to tins for basics and leave the freezer for ready cooked meals and meat/fish.

Well done steph for not over eating on the delicious crepes and sorry to hear about your gain. Don't feel despondent but use it to become determined.

Got to go back soon....

...back again... Just wanted to say coffee how wonderful it is that you lost a little bit more. Whatever it is you are doing - it is obviously working. You probably managed to stay within TDEE on non fast days and that is as crucial as the fast day.

Steph, it is difficult to advise you because we don't quite see the how much you are eating on non fast days. The calorie saving of 2 fast days for me is only about 1600kcals/week It means that I only need to over eat by about 320kcals on each of the non fast days to negate my fasts. for me that would mean under 1700kcals. For you it would probably be a bit more but not much.

Try and note down how many calories you consume on non fast days so that you have a bit of an idea what you naturally eat. It would probably help you a great deal.

I am off to have supper. Speak to you soon.

Thanks to you both for your suggestions. I hadn't thought of taking all those measurements but will do so. I keep having to change pant sizes throughout the week so I must be losing and then regaining quite rapidly. I will be more diligent in maintaining my TDEE on non fast days. I haven't gotten out of the "I can eat now" mindset where eating means eating everything I want. I know that is what is stalling the weight loss. I have to commit to this WOL as I have just been doing it in half measures.
Congrats on the 1/2 pound loss! The two of you are my heroes LOL. I have the best buddies.
Adam's friends have started showing up, there are two here already and according to him there should be 4 or 5 more. I just made a regular sized cake which can be cut into 8 slices. If they all show up I won't be getting a piece of cake but maybe (one less fattening treat). I've already eaten more than I have in days by this time- an actual breakfast and then lunch. We shall see if I am hungry for chicken later.
I hope your celebration is going well Ieramul!

Hi @steph, simcoeluv has re-posted a collation of "The basics for Newbies your questions answered" with links to very useful info which could be useful to you.

I haven't been 'good' this evening, I had junk for dinner and junk for desert, then chocolate biscuits, but not so many as I used to eat. I expect that I'll be putting some of the weight back on but hopefully not much.
I hope you are having a good day with your son and his friends Steph and that you get to have a little bit of the cake. I think writing down everything you eat and seeing how many calories you consume on non fast days as Ieramul suggested will be helpful. That's what I did for a couple of weeks when I started 5:2, then I became aware of what were the best foods to concentrate on and what to cut down on - but not cut out completely as then this would be like any other diet, I wouldn't have been able to continue with it for long if there were too many restrictions.

The freezer is not old Ieramul, the drawers are broken but the rest of the freezer is OK. I found some replacements on Amazon but they are about £60 each, if I were to replace them all it would cost nearly as much as a new freezer. Then in no time the new ones would get broken.

I've had a strange day, it feels as if I have my head in the clouds and I'm feeling weary with pain in my back, hips, left knee and shoulders. Now I have some idea of the pain my husband permanently suffers. I hope mine will disappear by tomorrow, I wish I could do something to stop his. I should have had an early night but it's already getting on for 11pm and I have the usual washing up to do and still have some of the shopping to unload.
Back again tomorrow....

Hi buddies, I hope everything is going well for you and you are both enjoying the weekend. I've been feeling a bit poorly so haven't done much today, I'm not ill but not quite myself. My weight is still about the same so yesterday's rubbish food didn't really do any damage.
Are we all fasting together again tomorrow? I hope to bounce back by then so I'll definitely be making it a fast day.
Cheers

Hi Coffeew and steph
Coffee, whilst writing, your post just came in and I am so pleased that you are feeling a bit better today and that your weight is still the same. I will definitely be fasting tomorrow and if you can fast too, then it would be great however, if you are not feeling well, maybe you should not force anything??? let's see how you feel tomorrow.

steph, did you survive Adam's party? And did you manage to get some cake? will you fast tomorrow?

Our family gathering went well and whilst I did have great food and a few chocolates, I hope I did not over eat by too much. At least not enough to undo last week's fasting.

Take care both of you. Big Hug

Hello Coffee, Ieramul,
sorry to hear you aren't quite feeling quite like yourself coffee.
I hope you enjoyed the chocolate Ieramul! and good for you for being careful about what you ate in terms of not eating too much. I didn't do so well yesterday. I ate everything in sight, chicken, fries, biscuits, cake and lots of it. Today, though, I still feel full from yesterday's bingeing. I may just fast today, I'll see how I do in the afternoon. I am going to a Kris Kindle Markt this afternoon with my friend and there will be slices of cake for sale, of course. A German afternoon isn't quite complete without cake. I will attempt to abstain, though and wait until I get home to eat my tagine which is cooking in the crockpot at the moment. I ate the rest of the last batch last week. Oh, forgot to put tofu in it! better do that now lol.
Take care! feel better coffee,

Hi guys, I resisted the cake! so I fasted today. It hasn't been too difficult except that I'm hungry now, at bedtime. This is the first time I've been so hungry at night. Forgot to take my diabetic medication today but my sugars are fine, thankfully. I'd be surprised if they weren't, actually, as I didn't eat much other than vegetables and rice. At the Christmas market today I bought some Oblaten (like the little hosts served in Catholic church at communion Coffee) because I love them and they take me back to when I was a child and my Oma sent some to Canada in our Christmas parcel every year, ostensibly so that mom could make Lebkuchen but I and my sister would always get a box to eat as is. I discovered that half a box was only 45 calories so that is what I snacked on at the market while Ille ate cake. It was a great treat and tided me over until I ate my supper at 6. I am pleased to have managed a fast today. Sorry I won't be joining the two of you tomorrow. I'm sure you will both do well, you are so dedicated to this WOE.
I'm off to bed, I have a big day tomorrow LOL. I am going to look for a new car in the afternoon. There is a used car dealership in town which has payment plans. I'm hoping I can find a decent car and that I qualify for monthly payments. I am excited but nervous too as is the norm for me when it comes to making such big decisions.
Be well.

Well done, steph for resisting the cake at the Christmas market. I don't think I would have been able to. i remember the melt-in-the-mouth Oblaten very well. I preferred to eat these without the toppings too and used to play with them.

Good luck with your task of finding a new car. Will you take anyone with you who understands cars? I would be very nervous too - it's a lot of money.

Coffee, I hope you are feeling better today. What a rotten weekend you had. If you can't fast then do it another day. I will fast today but strangely, like last Monday I am hungry again. I have been thinking if it is because the last two Sundays we had the main meal so late (4.30) that I didn't have anything after that. At weekends we tend to eat brunch and then an early dinner. I'll see how it goes and I won't force anything. It is one thing to be hungry in the afternoon or evening but in the morning is quite another matter...

The good news is, I lost another pound and I am now at the bottom of my target range. So for me it is definitely only two fasts from now on unless I do something very silly. Have a great day both of you and take care. BIG HUG. Speak later.