The FastDay Forum

Thanks Steph, I can't really go for a walk, it's pitch black outside and I don't fancy walking along the dark country lanes alone. Maisie won't go out after dark, she's a strange little thing, doesn't like the rain, damp weather or the dark. I'll be OK for the rest of the evening, I'll just keep drinking coffee. Enjoy the sunshine.

Coffee I'm so used to all the street lights and go for walks at all hours. Wasn't thinking about dark, moonless, country life
Well, I made it through! Yippee! So I CAN do it. I just have to remind myself of that when I fast on Friday. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be but honestly part of the reason is that my stomach was complaining all day and I just couldn't face eating for a number of hours. The stew I just ate, though, seems to have settled it somewhat so I'm hoping I get a good night's sleep.
Have a great morning guys and I'll catch up with you in the afternoon!

Hello Girls, I am back!!!
I have avidly been reading your posts just now which was lovely. It is great steph, that you have been able to do your first fast. You both seem to have had a good time seeing loved ones and relaxing. The overeating around Christmas unfortunately is a fact of live.
I had a very lovely Christmas with my husband and sonwho is so chatty, we have lots of wonderful discussions about life and everything. On Saturday we drove to Bristol, which took us about three hours, to visit my daughter and boyfriend. My oldest daughter who had spent Christmas with her boyfriend and in-laws, joined us and I spent a lovely day with all of them. We had intended to drive back on Sunday afternoon, but as the weather was absolutely glorious with blue sky and brilliant sunshine, we went for a three hour walk and a lovely visit to a cafe after which we decided to stay another night as I asumed that the return traffic would have been horrendous and would have taken us at least five hours. Luckily I had cautiously taken Monday off work to factor in bad weather so we drove back yesterday with no traffic problems which is unusual in the South East of England.
Of course I have also been overeating - mainly chocolates and biscuits - and I haven't weighed myself yet. This is partly cowardice and partly that I had the scales in the guest room my son sleeps in and I didn't want to wake him this morning.

I wanted to fast today but at our morning break a colleague tempted me with a nice chocolate croissant and I weakened. I am not sure if I can completely fast this week. My son has invited three friends who arrive today who want to see in the New Year in London so tonight will be a stew with dumplings etc - no fasting for me. I am just trying to not overeat and deal with the fall out of Christmas at the end of the week when everybody has gone.

I am sure next week we will all get back to serious 5:2 fasting and hopefully lose any pounds we have accumulated. Have a wonderful day. The weather is very cold but again glorious.
BIG HUG

Ok, I weighed myself this morning and whilst it is a little bad it is definitely not ugly. Two pounds up from pre-Christmas celebrations and just at the upper level of my maintenance range. We have visitors right now and there is no way I can put in a proper fast but I have been doing 16:8 for the past few days. All I am concerned now, ist that I don't put on any more weight, so that I can get to the middle of my range by mid January. I think we have to remember that this is why we have a range - in order to factor in life's challenges - and they don't come much bigger than Christmas for me.

I am trying to reduce my chocolate intake but we had sooo much and as long as it is in the house, I find it difficult to ignore. But hey ho, this too shall pass.

I hope you are both well and look forward to the New Year.

Wishing you both a very happy and healthy and slim New Year.

Hello my buddy friends, a happy New Year to both of you and here's to a healthy and successful year to us all.

Cheers!

I forgot to say it's lovely to see you here again Ieramul, Steph and I have been popping in now and then over the Christmas holiday. Now we are all here together again and ready for 2015 which I hope will be good for us all.

Glad to see you back Ieramul. Your day sounded wonderful. Did you two stay up to ring in the New Year? My sleep habits have gone to pot this past week. Staying up till 1 or 2 and sleeping in. Today I didn't get out of bed until 11:30! I will get back into the swing of things tomorrow as I have to work.
I just weighed myself and am so disheartened but determined to make some major changes. I now weigh 136.8 lbs! When I joined this site I was 128lbs! How on earth have a I gained so much? Tuesday after my fast on Monday I was 134.4 and now two days later I have gained another 2 lbs. I don't understand it. But, I have been eating crazily. I was thinking of making banana pancakes for our little New Years Day special lunch/dinner whenever Adam wakes up, one last hurrah before I eat normally again. I don't have any desire to eat, though, at the moment. We'll see where my stomach's at when Adam wakes up. I intend on fasting tomorrow and today I will do some healthy cooking, actually making, at least one real meal. No more snacking all day! So perhaps I shall make a few goals.
1. No more sweets, I will NOT buy any junk and I will NOT eat any of Adam's.
2. I will make at least one "real" meal each day, whether lunch or dinner.
3. I will lose at least 3 lbs by January 31st.
So, today is a new beginning. Now I just have to think of what to make for our meal today. I have lots of chicken in the freezer.
It is sunny here today and I'd love to go for a walk but I have another sinus cold. The cold really makes my cheek and ear ache terribly. So, no walk There is an arena with an indoor walking track at a local arena which I could go to, oops, maybe not today. I imagine it will be closed. Another day, then. I have no excuse not to walk even though the arena is so ugly and boring.
Ok, time to do some dishes and get on with the day. I think I will take down the Christmas decorations.
Happy New Year to the both of you! May it bring peace, beauty and joy. And may we all be successful in our weightloss/maintaining goals.

Just popping in to say good morning to my two wonderful buddies. Hope you are both doing well!
ttfn

Hi buddies, my New Year's day was rather miserable, it started badly before I had opened my eyes and gradually got worse, but yesterday made up for it. All of the family, Glynn, Helen, her OH and all of my grandchildren came to see us, it was noisy with lots of laughter and messing about and I loved every minute of it, even hubby couldn't spoil it. I didn't have much in the way of food as I shop for two but I managed to find enough for jacket potatoes, salad, boiled eggs, cheese and chutneys - nothing very special but we finished off with a large birthday cake which I bought at the last minute for my daughter's OH. So nobody went home hungry.

I've tried only one fast since Christmas which was a total disaster, I've discovered that I have to be in the right frame of mind to fast and as I've been a bit stressed recently I should have known that it would go wrong. However I'll try again next week and hopefully will do better.

So sorry that your weight is going up instead of down Steph, now we have a new year and a new start so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you to lose the weight which you've put on and hopefully get to your goal soon.

That's all for now except to wish you both a happy new year yet again.

Hi Coffee. What a lovely day you had with all of your family!!! I'm so glad it went so well and I'm sure the food was appreciated by all. Food always tastes better when prepared by Mom
Last night in bed I was thinking, "What do I really want to eat when I wake up?" Well I decided on pistachios and grapes. So that is what I ate and then added some spinach spanikopita. I should have looked up the calories first! and I should have known the pistachios would be high, nuts always are. My "breakfast" was 600 calories! I should be able to keep under TDEE though, if I take care for the rest of the day. I am full right now but am back to that feeling of wanting to eat everything in sight. Time for another cuppa. I invited my neighbour up for tea later so he'll be a distraction. He usually talks on and on for hours LOL. I'm not sure what I shall cook for supper. There are some Thai chicken breasts in the freezer or I'll just stick to eggs and potatoes. Either way I WILL cook an evening meal
I agree Coffee that we need to be in the right frame of mind in order to achieve a good fast day. No need to force it if it isn't working. Will you try again on Monday? jump on the bandwagon with all the newbies and old hands? I think I will try Mondays and Fridays from now on. The Fridays seem to be the easiest for me.
Enjoy the day!

Hi Girls
It was good to read your posts and very glad you both are keeping well. I had my son and three of his friends here for the new year as they wanted to welcome the New Year in London. I didn't have any time off work so life seemed to be very busy.

Today I went wedding dress shopping with daughter nr 1. It was great and a beautiful dress was found.

Tomorrow we need to go shopping for a new sofa as the current one is causing DH a lot of back ache. It will be very difficult to find the right one - we only find out if something is (un)comfortable after a longer period of testing.

We are still finishing off food - especially sweet stuff. I had so much cream left over that I made fudge... What a monumental mistake... It is absolutely delicious... I have not yet managed a full fast and I have gained three pounds.

Next week will be cruicial for me. In the past few years I have managed to lose my weight before Christmas, given up fasting and not managed to get back to it in January. This year I need to get a grip of myself and get back to it again. I need your help!!!
Here is my pledge. i will do three fasts next week and get myself mentally back into the frame which coffee rightly pointed out was important.

Take care you two - maybe you want to join me next week?
BIG HUG

Welcome back Ieramul! You've been with family too. How wonderful, or not? with so many young men partying Congratulations on your daughter's engagement. You must be thrilled. Do you like her fiance? I'm sure that dress is lovely! How many children do you have? or have I already asked that, or is it too impolite to ask on a public forum? I feel I don't know the rules on here
We can support each other through our fasting efforts next week! I aim to do Monday and Friday. When will you two fast? I'm impressed with myself this evening. I actually waited until I was hungry tonight to have supper and what a delicious supper it was! Thai seasoned chicken (oh how amazing some frozen food can be ), rice with a bit of sweet chili sauce drizzled over, and my Oma's butter lettuce, garlic and dill salad which I haven't made in ages. I then went into my usual, "I want to still eat, tho I'm not hungry" mode so I ate some peanuts and raisins. Not many but enough to finally feel really full so I actually STOPPED eating! Yippee. My pattern has been to gorge on everything in my cupboards and fridge on "feed" days as I've moaned about ad nauseum on here. I resisted the urge to have some sweet canned pears. I am really trying hard not to eat any sugar (the raisins really didn't count, at least that is what I am saying to myself LOL) and the pears are packed in a light sugar syrup. Now I am sipping on some almond milk and will not eat until tomorrow. So! after a crazy start to the day I have nevertheless stayed under or near my TDEE.
I hope you both did well today and don't worry too much about the sweets Ieramul, you'll lose those 3 lbs quickly with your 4:3 lifestyle. Ttyl

Hi steph and coffee
Well done steph for exercising such restraint,steph Once we manage tha,t we will slot into fasting again. I have been all right in the mornings these past two weeks. It is just the evenings znd the volume of (unhealthy) food in the house that was/is a problem.
Steph, i have two daughters, a son and a step son. Unfortunately, we all live quite far from each other but my oldest daughter lives the closest, an hour away on the motorway if traffic is good (which it rarely is around London ). Yesterday my second daughter joined us (two and a half hrs away) which was lovely.

The wedding is in June and will be about three hours from here. This makes it difficult for me to help with preparations.

It looks like we are going to have a miserable, cold and freezing day today and we will probaably delay sofa shopping. We have been meaning to do this for a long time but DH hates shopping and I hate shopping for anything we have to agree on as we have such opposing tastes.

Take care the two of you. BIG HUG

Hi steph and coffee
Well done steph for exercising such restraint,steph Once we manage tha,t we will slot into fasting again. I have been all right in the mornings these past two weeks. It is just the evenings znd the volume of (unhealthy) food in the house that was/is a problem.
Steph, i have two daughters, a son and a step son. Unfortunately, we all live quite far from each other but my oldest daughter lives the closest, an hour away on the motorway if traffic is good (which it rarely is around London ). Yesterday my second daughter joined us (two and a half hrs away) which was lovely.

The wedding is in June and will be about three hours from here. This makes it difficult for me to help with preparations.

It looks like we are going to have a miserable, cold and freezing day today and we will probaably delay sofa shopping. We have been meaning to do this for a long time but DH hates shopping and I hate shopping for anything we have to agree on as we have such opposing tastes.

Take care the two of you. BIG HUG

Hello buddies. It is difficult to see family on a regular basis when they live so far away Ieramul. My older sister lives a couple of hours away and we only visit her on holidays. She made a special trip out for my birthday, though. I was so happy to see both my sisters.
I'm afraid I didn't exercise much restraint last night Ieramul. I ate a big meal of rouladen and mashed potatoes and veg and didn't wait for my stomach and then my mind to get that full feeling. I just tucked into the crackers I bought for Adam's school lunches. I probably ate 3 or 4 hundred calories worth! I'm fasting today, though, and hope to make up for it. For some reason last night before I ate I got the shakes again and checked my blood sugar which was very low. Had to have some juice to get it back up. The same thing happened on Friday although not so low. I haven't had such low blood sugar in years. From my reading my diabetic medication shouldn't cause low blood sugar so I don't know what happened. Oh well, we shall see if I go low today. Perhaps I will forgo my pills today as I am fasting. I plan on having salad, a boiled egg and two little butter chicken samosas for lunch. A total of about 230 calories leaving enough room for a nice supper of chicken and veggies. Time to make another cup of tea and read a book or start knitting a scarf. I discovered that people knit mitts, scarves and hats for the schools in town so that children who've forgotten theirs have something warm to wear. I'm thinking of doing the same. It will keep me busy while I watch tv. Just have to find the needles and yarn and my instructions. Haven't done any knitting since last January.
My, oh my, I do go on LOL. Stay strong you two, if you are fasting! and even if you are not. Resist those goodies!
ttfn