The FastDay Forum

[Tracieknits]

That sounds like a great idea!!! This is exactly the sorts of things people need for their physical and mental health

How is the alternate day fasting going? Sounds like you did really well on Monday.

Has your weather calmed down at all? It was so incredibly hot when I was in France earlier this month.

Today's fast is going great actually. That's the beauty with being really busy, you don't have time to think about food
For now I had a big bottle of water (can't drink the tap water), 2 black coffees and 2 glasses of ice tea, without sugar added. It's a bit bitter but I don't mind.

Tonight will probably be a soup you can eat hot or cold. I like the pistou one
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Soupe-au-Pistou-Provencal-Vegetable-Soup-with-Pistou

About the danse lessen/class, it was just fantastic. 30 minutes warmup and 3 hours danse, a bit of searching what to do at the beginning and I have to chose between 2 musics but it all came back as if I stopped a few months ago. It's just wonderful to express feelings, even anger or frustration. Next time will be tomorrow but either earlier in the morning or in the evening.


About the heatwave, yes it's still here. In my town, which is fairly north, it's around 35°C but I am lucky as I live in a small town. In Paris, even there are a few degrees less, it's way worse because of the pollution

[Tracieknits]

Well may I make a gentle suggestion? Perhaps, since dance is going so well, perhaps you should *not* do the alternate day fasting.

I have to admit, I didn't realize you had said you were already underweight. When I came and saw there was a new post, that sort of jumped off the page at me. It is a *very* bad idea to do alternate day fasting if you are already underweight.

My mom had anorexia when I was a kid. She did it because she felt like she was losing control of her life after a very bad, very abusive marriage ended. She got so skinny she started to grow fur on her stomach and had to be in the hospital for a while. I remember having to visit her there, in the psychiatric ward.

If you developed anorexia and had to go to the hospital, what would happen to your animals?

Also, you mentioned that your skin and hair are quite dry right now - that could be a result of excessive dieting and it happens when people don't consume enough calories and enough fat.

I'm only saying this because I'm worried about you. Did I misunderstand? do you already weigh less than what you are supposed to weigh? Or did something get lost in translation?

I understand perfectly where you come from and your worries and I know, well, I believe I have an idea anyway, how easy it is to fall in the dark side of the force. It"s true that, since november 2013, my life is in chaos and I have a craving for control and over something, anything and food is maybe the easiest way to gain control when the situation is so slippery. However, I like my food. I even have my milk chocolate square every day, even on a fast day, and I love my carbs, especially pasta and pizza. I guess stress related situation make me lose weight or not gain weight anyway now, I have no idea really.

About the facti that I am underweight, technically I am, yes but only slightly. When I was 49.44 kg my BMI was 18.61 so in a normal range. Now, I am 48.352 kg and my BMI is 18.2 so in the underweight range even if there is just a little more 1 kg difference between the 2. I am careful but don't focus on it. I am the same weight for months, even when I gained a bit of weight a few weeks ago, I bounced back to that exact weight so I guess my body find it comfortable that may. About the IF, it's just an experiment I decided to do, for a short time, because I have that need for discipline and control. It goes well, but it's only my second day of dancing class so there's no way to say really. Dancing 2 to 3 hours a day should make me gain muscles so it should put me in the normal range again, hopefully.....

I am a pure aries girl, it's all or nothing, black or white, love or hate, no grey area. It's great but it can be a curse sometimes. If you take the dancing class for example, I can only do it every day, not once or twice a week, I NEED that discipline. Riding a bike, walking, even yoga or pilate bore me. Dancing I feel..... alive. You know, I feel like I found an old familly member I lost touch with, it's familiar, easy, we understand each other without a word. I saw a friend of mine last night who barely recognize me. Sure I cut a lot of hair so I look very different but he saw my eyes sparkling, I had a huge smile on my face all evening and I was passionate, excited like a child who's waiting for Christmas morning to open his gifts. Today I couldn't wait to go back and practice, I even began at home with some warmups ...

And tonight we're going for a pizza

[Tracieknits]

Well that sounds great. I know BMIs are lower in France than in the US, so 18 is not abnormal there. But I'd be careful to not go any lower.

I hope you have a lovely time going out for pizza, and I'm so glad to hear something is putting a sparkle in your eyes. You deserve it!!!

So, after a week of 2 to 3 hours a day, a fast every other day, the feedback is really positive. As always, with an addictive personnality, I go a bit overboard but I guess it's because I didn't find the right balance, yet.

Here how goes a usual day. I wake up at 5:30AM, with the same music that played in the background all night - yes, I am weird like that and if it stops working during the night, I will even wake up automatically - a little walk with the doggie and 2 strong coffees before going to the rehearsal for 6:00AM. 30 minutes warmups, 2 to 3 hours rehearsals and back home where I'll have coffee or tea, a shower, and do all the things I have to do during the day, mostly working in my parents house.

At 6:00PM there will be the 30 minutes walk with Happy before going back home and have dinner. A bit of pratice here and there during the evening, as I listen to a lot of music and watch a lot of concerts and it can lead to dance routine impulses. The only bad thing of the day is that I can't usually sleep before 1:00AM which means I don't sleep more than 4 hours to 4h30

I have no issue whatsoever with fasting and dancing, I have no more hanger pangs than usual, it's even the opposite really, I just drink a lot more. As I am now in the kind of very active category, my TDEE is actually my birth year, 1974. As I don't want to lose weight, my IF are becoming kind of a one meal deal without counting calories. So I will have a dinner with meat or fish, veg and a bit of pasta, rice, boulgour and let's not forget my chocolate piece of the day.....

When it comes to alcohol, I only drink something during the weekend, a bourbon shot or a glass of red wine and I think it's reasonable.

I don't remember when I was here last. Several weeks, for sure. Those new beginnings are tough and I had some set backs. Long story short, 2015 is NOT my year...

I stopped fasting, I can't do it without knowing the reason. I don't feel like it, it doesn't give me the peace of mind it once did. Instead I kind of 16/8 but it's more a 18/6. I tend to skip breakfast, except during the weekend, and won't eat anything before 2:00PM. It seems to work, for now, but I do want to go back to 1 to 2 real fasts a week.

Being short on cash I am trying to find some solutions to eat well but cheap. I learned to use my bread maker properly and even did a brioche for the weekend and oh my, a bit toasted with a tiny bit of raspberry jam it's just heaven ! I also make one bread a week which is enough for me and it's defenitly cheaper than to buy ready made one.

I have a rice cooker. Did you know you can cook a lot more in there than rice ? I did some lentils dish, potatoes, steamed veg, pasta dish, etc. The washing up is minimal and I don't have anything to do than just a few minutes prep.

My newest finding is pulled pork cooked in a slow cooker. It's cheap, tasty and I have for 6 meals of meat for just a few euros (less than 1 € a meal) ! I put some onions on the bottom, rub some pork shoulder meat (without the bone, my slow cooker is too small to leave the bone) with salt, pepper and smoked paprika, add some garlic and 1 cup of chicken broth and let it cook on low for 9 hours so the whole night. After that I took the meat out and shredded it with 2 forks, put it in a foiled covered dish in my oven on very low (90°C/194°F) until lunch with some of the cooking broth to keep it moist With that I cooked some sauerkraut and steamed potatoes and voila, I had perfect meals for the weekend !

With the leftovers of the meat and potatoes I did a crustless quiche which will make dinners. Here is a base for it
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/20876/crustless-spinach-quiche/ but I didn't put that much cheese, add some heavy cream and the meat leftovers, put that in my oven for 30 minutes and here was a wonder....

I am sorry to have been so off these past months. I still have a lot to deal with and, I must say, I tend to kind of react like a man and go in my cave....

Welcome back @manderley. We have missed your posts. That brioche sounded divine, but so did the rest of it too!

Great tips for life on a low income! I sold my slow cooker, but I guess you could do the same in a very low oven. Glad to see you back.

You can defenitly do the same with a low heat oven but the good thing with the slow cooker is you can leave it the whole night or whole day on and be sure everything is safe. I have a bit of OCD when it comes to safety so it's great plus there's not a lot of washing up to do so it's all good

I also cook enough to have leftovers to freeze so I have it handy whenever I need it. It's as easy to cook for 2 than it is to cook for 1 and there's not a lot more needed so.... I need to find more cheap cut meat that can be cooked the same way than the pulled pork I made. The only meat I will never eat as I hate the taste and the smell of it, is lamb. It was kind of a struggle when I was in England because people around me ate a LOT of lamb and I just couldn't. They even try to trick me but I know exactly how it looks, how it smells so I can recognize it anywhere even under a mountain of sauce.....

Today is my first try of a real fast in weeks. I need it as it's the only control I can have in my life right now. So tonight I 'll have a Japanese noodle soup. It's ready made (not good, I know) and I have no idea if I will like it or not but it's just because I want to try something new and exciting for a change...

[wildmissus]

@Manderley, what about this recipe using chicken -

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/531628/mexican-chicken-stew

Goes down well in our house, quick, easy, not too many ingredients, cheap and easy to freeze.

@wildmissusThanks you so much for the idea, I will give it a try. bbcgoodfood is one of my go to site to find recipe ideas

So, after what felt like ages without any internet and a bumpy switch to windows 10, I am back, at last. There was another death in the family so it's a bit rocky but I found some new ideas to deal with all the negative energy, things, whatever. It may only be superstitions but I talked to a dowser (?), a family friend, to know how to deal with things. There's no miracle here but, even if it's a placebo thing, I feel a bit calmer even if still not in control.

When it comes to the fasts, I did my first 2 proper ones this week after weeks without being able to deal with it. It's a victory and a relief as fasts used to be so comforting to me. I have a new (well, not new, it was my father's) bend and cook thingy (you put your veg, some liquid, push the quality of the soup you want and it's done after 15 minutes, warm and all) and woaw.... I did the most luscious cauliflower soup ever on Monday and yesterday. I had to get rid of the cauliflower I had in my freezer and it was just easy and awesome even if it makes a bit of noise but we can't have it all, can we ? So, yesterday and Monday I only had 2 coffees and 60 cl of soup and I felt full. I did my monthly grocery shopping yesterday and I wasn't tempted at all to cheat or buy anything I didn't need. It may sound crazy but I am really happy to be able to fast again. Everything is so crazy around here that it really gives me a bit of peace. Fasting was never a chore or a punishment for me but since my dad passed away, I just couldn't.

Since March I gained a bit of weight, even with the dancing lessons. Not a crazy amount but still. That was a proof that I need to fast 2 days a week for the rest of my life if I want to maintain my weight and be able to eat what I like. I gained around 5 kilos and I saw the difference in how I move, how I feel, how I sleep and even how I deal with things in general. I guess that weight gain was because of the empty calories in alcohol. Not that I drink a awful lot but more than before. I decided to go back to my old ways. One shot of bourbon and 2 to 3 glasses of red wine a week.

This weekend will be a pulled roast pork in the slow cooker. Again but a different piece of meat than the other day. with 700g of meat I should be able to have some tasty leftovers. And tomorrow will be another fast. I want to do a Monday, Wednesday and Friday thing and leave the weekend out.

I am here to stay this time. I am ready. And I am really glad to be back what I consider a home

Good to get an update, @Manderley. Come over to the Fasting today threads on your fast days, to get support and offer it, since you don't seem to find fasting difficult. I had a bit of an experiment with fasting one day only but I'm back on 5:2 because I put on about 5kgs. too. Hope life starts to feel a bit more manageable soon. xxx

Hi there @Manderley *waves*
Sorry to hear of your sad times, glad to see you back amongst us.
I would only ask please don't over-stress your body just yet, maybe 5:2 would be enough this time of year, with winter coming on, and a little more body insulation isn't a bad thing.
Come Spring and you could go for the extra day then :0)
Take care m'dear x

Good to get an update, @Manderley. Come over to the Fasting today threads on your fast days, to get support and offer it, since you don't seem to find fasting difficult. I had a bit of an experiment with fasting one day only but I'm back on 5:2 because I put on about 5kgs. too. Hope life starts to feel a bit more manageable soon. xxx

Thanks. I'll come over on the today threads gladly. It seems that my weak moments are around 02:00PM and it's not that I find fasting easy just that I don't want to be on a "regular" diet and I am kind of stubborn so I won't give up . I guess it proves that fasting really works as we put on weight when we stop or change how we deal with it.....

Hi there @Manderley *waves*
Sorry to hear of your sad times, glad to see you back amongst us.
I would only ask please don't over-stress your body just yet, maybe 5:2 would be enough this time of year, with winter coming on, and a little more body insulation isn't a bad thing.
Come Spring and you could go for the extra day then :0)
Take care m'dear x

Tommorrow will be a kind of experiment, if I can go through the fast, fine if not, well it will be a win anyway as I won't have anything at least before lunch. Funnily enough I find fasting when it's cold outside easier than during summer. I tend to have a big soup on my fast days so autumn/winter is the ideal time.

The good news is I won't put on Christmas weight this year. They already have everything out in the shops and I don't find that appetizing to say the least. I don't see the point to celebrate Christmas this year anyway, it will be a day like any other