The FastDay Forum

I seem to have lost the will & the plot with not having regularly lost weight since January. I am going to try going back to basics with sticking to two fast days a week & to my daily TDEE on eating days. I have wobbled around trying to compensate extra eating & wine with an extra fast day & all I seem to do is stay the same or go up a couple of pounds & then down again but never getting closer to getting below 12 stone. I know I must continue to lose weight & not allow myself to go up any more but seem very inconsistent with my motivation at the moment. It seems so much easier to not monitor what I am eating & to reach more often for a glass of wine

I am in exactly the same position @Isis so I wish you well. I'm planning doing 5:2 and 4:3 alternately (starting Tuesday) so I hope that will help.
Good luck xx

Isus and Bean...Me too..are we merely undisciplined or is it really just that difficult to stay on track?
My guess is we are so " good" some of the time,its humanly impossible to keep it up 24/7/365..
And all those psychological and physiological unavoidable factors come into play too - which we cannot help!
My friend @mahalo reckons we unconsciously sabotage ourselves calling IF "WOE" ..woe meaning misery,unhappiness etc...she reckons we should think and say WON ( way of nutrition) to give ourselves the mental message this way of life is a winner! X

I do think that I have in a rather childish way been sabotaging myself with a sort of can't be botheredness with thinking that an extra helping of something I like or a glass of wine won't add many calories! I think that I am now so fed up with not losing weight that it is time to give myself a mental shake up & really try again. What do you think?

I know just how you feel @isis - I returned to fasting in early March after months of self-sabotage....and a 2 stone weight gain. I undid half of my progress....& I still don't really know why I did such a dumb thing. Other than the fact that for me, food is directly tied to emotions & unhappiness. As I see it is for some others.

I am now back in the swing of fasting, seeing the benefits and trying to fix it in my head that this is the permanent way forward. I can't tell you how cross I am with myself for messing things up. So, if you are getting fed up with your current situation, then my advice would be to harness that emotion & get back to some serious fasting. I am on a short break away next Tuesday to Friday, but once I return, I am going to try @nursebean's latest idea.......alternate 5:2 & 4:3. Might even just go with 4:3 all the way as I still have shed loads to lose.

Whatever you decide, Isis, you know you will get plenty of support & encouragement from us on 'ere! So please keep in touch xx

I was full of good intentions at the beginning of the year but 5:2 never stood a chance what with the combination of really bad weather and lack of willpower. I was making more healthy food choices - but kept eating too much! Recently comeback to 5:2 about a week ago and have been reading so many different topics, especially those about motivation and those who hve completed 2-3 weeks fasting, hoping that my current good will power will keep going! Lost just over 3lbs this week, and now hope to register a slow and steady weigh loss in May. Not setting myself too many goals or targets at this stage - just intending to stick to the rules. I'm supposed to eat approx 400-500 cals on my fast day - just aiming for the higher figure. Good Luck everyone

@isis i think its like most things in life...duality...we have highs and lows,peaks and troughs,good times and bad. Me and @nursebean have already made a pinky promise not to go mad over this long weekend and then to get right back on track on Tuesday if you want to join in..onwards and downwards! All we can do is try,try again! X

[wildmissus]

How spooky @Isis, I was just thinking about you this morning, wondering how you were getting on.

I've completely lost it - self sabotage is in full swing, I'm now 12lbs up on my lowest weight! I think my sub-concious doesn't believe I will ever succeed at anything. I seem to have lost all motivation and willpower. Mon. Wed and Fri I start a fast and by 2:30pm when I come home from work I eat like I will never eat again. I have also noticed how physically weak I have become and believe I have lost a lot of muscle rather than fat so I have just started to do a bit more exercise. Hopefully I'll get my head in the right place and firstly stop putting on weight and secondly start losing weight again. I've done it before without too much difficulty so I can do it again.

I have to say that it makes me feel better knowing that I am not the only one like this but I do wish I could get into the heads of the people of have successfully lost their weight and kept it off.

Hi @wildmissus and also @galexinda..well done on yr weight loss galex and i think youre wise not setting too many goals right now...just getting back into the basic swing of it x
@wildmissus it does help that we're all in this together and to know we're not alone with our setbacks!
Good luck everyone ..we all know we can find that focus we need..but what is the secret to keeping that focus? Its very elusive isnt it! xx

This is whats happening to me as well now and my weight has gone up by 9LBs and Im struggling to get back in this WOE again
Its not helping that we keep going away in our own caravan and eating the rubbish even though I know its bad for me, and we go away again on Tues 11 May for another 10 days and in June for 3 weeks to Hampshire :O.
So I keep telling myself every day thats its a fast day and then it goes out the window grrr but Im going to try a fast on Monday as I know that I can do it and just need to get back on track.
And today I even managed to do a 10K run on my treadmill and so happy that I got through it as I have never ran this far b4. My knees are a bit sore now but going to try another run on Mon morning

Well done @mariondot40 on yr treadmill run!
A friend of mine reckons we give ourselves a negative message calling our fasting WOE..she said this subconsciously makes us sad and suggests we try saying WON ( Way of Nutrition ) for a more positive message
I' m giving it a try as i need all the help i can get.i just keep falling off my horse again and again Gahhhh! X

[wildmissus]

@CandiceMarie, I'm not convinced that referring to fasting as WOE is negative, to me anyway, but I do wonder if deep down I still consider it a diet which means that I when I stop dieting the weight goes on again. If I can get rid of that thought and remind myself that I am happy to fast for the rest of my life then I think I'll be sorted...and remembering to not go OTT on non fast days...and remembering the benefits of exercise....and remembering not to stress out about things...you get the picture!

[carieoates]

I personally prefer to see Way Of Eating as we all know that woe is a negative thing.
Like all things if it breeds negativity it can have a negative affect on some, not all people.
We all know it's not negative, apart from the loss of excess weight, but it's a winning woe in this case.

Good morning girls,@Isis, @Nursebean @Wildmissus, @Candicemarie, @galexinda, @Mariondot40@Hazelnut20and anyone else who is struggling with this, I wish I could help you all but it is such a personal mind over matter thing, I always said that I obviously had more matter than I had mind, hence my weight problems! How to get over it? I wish I knew but I am sure you all remember how motivated you felt when the weight loss was in full swing? How wonderful it felt when clothes began to feel loose, when people complimented you on how well you looked, how proud of yourself for doing what was the one great thing for your general and future all round good health, how much more energy you had.........you do all remember those feelings.......don't you? Although I have been maintaining at slightly under my target weight now for over two years ( I NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER believed that I was capable of this, does that ring a bell? ) I still have moments where scabby dogs are in mortal danger, horses have to stabled securely for their own safety and Tunnocks Caramel Wafers are hunted down and devoured in industrial size quantities but mostly those moments are not hunger driven and I have to remind myself of that. HUNGER is easily assuaged by lovely, nutritious, delicious and healthy food, the rabid, mind numbing, anything edible will do sort of gluttony that grips us all on occasions has NOTHING to do with food. How to control those moments of madness, for that is really what they are, stuffing food which you don't even particularly want into your poor bodies till you are on the verge of nausea is a form of madness, it certainly is not a sensible or rational way to behave, is it? Been there, done it, many, many times so I do know how hard it is and I have no magic formulae but if you can mitigate the damage on most occasions then you will be some way to conquering your food demons.

Right then girls, this is my anti gluttony modus operandi......NEVER eat before lunchtime........NEVER eat late in the evenings............have one day EVERY week with little or no carbohydrates............( Come one, it is only one day once a week and it doesn't mean you cannot eat, just think cheese omelettes, roast chicken or a steak with salad or some nice fish, yuck, fish, sorry, some nice fish followed by berries and cream, lovely!) ...........the rest of the time I eat whatever I want but I have greatly reduced my overall consumption of SUGAR, food of the devil that one, which in turn means that my carbohydrate consumption had dropped considerably whilst my consumption of things like double cream, full fat milk, butter etc has increased and this naturally ensures that I am rarely hungry. If you can satisfy your hunger with food which will not increase your weight then you are at a huge advantage, if you keep yourself hungry you will never overcome your moments of Caramel Wafer madness. If you are hungry in the morning then a low/no carb breakfast like cheese or some cold meats or even just a coffee with cream should tide you over without breaking your overnight fast.

Anyone still with me? If you are, then I apologise for rambling, I am sure I have said nothing which you were not already aware of so sorry for that and I did not mean to sound as though I was teaching my granny to suck eggs, you are all intelligent women who can do this, as many of say, you have done it before so you can do it again. Intermittent Fasting is NOT a diet, it is a do-it, so, DO IT and good luck, here endeth todays sermon.

Ballerina x

[carieoates]

As usual @Ballerina, you speak the truth, sermon or no sermon, the likes of you successful goal reachers and maintainers is like gold dust.
Keep it up and don't change a bit.

Cheese, butter, cream steak, fish. Great stuff. Once you've shrunk your appetite and know that your body works equally as well with less baggage inside that tum that's when the light bulb moment happens. But like I've said before, you've got to get your mind fit for this stuff, like you Bal, when we've sorted out those pesky little brain cells which say eat that bread, chocolate biscuits whatever it is that's upsetting your apple cart that's when we can face this thing head on.