The FastDay Forum

... Most of all I am enjoying it!
I am so glad to be back here!! x

You sound so happy! I couldn't be happier for you

Yesterday was the best i.e. the easiest fast yet. It has only been a couple of weeks but I seem to have settled into it. So far lol. Huge salad at 5pm with a bit of cheese for protein, 1 desert spoon olive oil/lemon juice/vinegar dressing and later a small bowl of ice cream and a little bit of dark chocolate. Oh and an orange. Although when I count up the calories it was a close call! x

Welcome back. It helps me to hear you and all the replies. I used to think black and white. Every diet I tried worked, till I 'fell off the wagon' and quit. Then I regained all I had lost, plus more. Here I am, heavier than I ever believed possible, with osteoarthritis, diabetes, edema, on many meds (including low thyroid med.) I can no longer swim, run, do many things I used to love. I want to live and enjoy my senior years, so here I am, with all of you.
Good luck, and keep inspiring me.

Absolutely! One thing I am very aware of now is I decided not to make use of the support we find in these forum posts. I know now reading other peoples struggles, successes and everyday thoughts helps with the process. Even mundane non important things matter. x

Absolutely agree, @drilakila, about the forum support. I come on here most days, even after just over three years of this WOL, and find that it helps to remind me that I don't want to waste the effort that I put into losing my weight initially by eating mindlessly now that I am maintaining.
It's a shame that a lot of the long-term members from the early years of this forum no longer post and I often wonder if it's because they have regained their lost weight or if this WOL is now so much part of their lives that they can manage without the support. Who knows!!!
Anyway, we're here and staying strong, so all is well!

Hello again @drilakila - a lot of what you're saying resonates with me too!

I have returned to fasting for the third time (though the second time was very half-hearted). It worked brilliantly the first time around...I became a 5:2 bore! Trouble was, I never really got to grips with the psychology of food - being the classic comfort eater that I am.

Must say, I really miss some of the old regular contributors. The forum used to be really active, but I am finding that not much is happening these days. Then I realised that I ought to post more! So here I am...

I've just had my Tracker reset. I've put on absolutely all of the nearly 4 stone that I had lost. I'm back to square one, needing to lose around 5 stone. I'm doing 5:2 with some 16:8 thrown in whenever possible. The big difference this time is that I'm trying not to stress about any of it. My comfort eating habits had become so bad that I too was facing the need to move into size 20 clothes - having achieved a size 14 last time...grrrrr! Anything I can do to reduce my intake will be an improvement. Every day that I don't splurge will be hailed a success! I've also decided not to be a slave to the scales, which is a huge thing for me. I weighed myself when I started on 1st Feb this year.....and I only intend to weigh in once a month on the 1st. So far, I haven't been remotely tempted to jump on & see how I'm doing. Don't want to be derailed in any way by monthly fluctuations....which in my case is often twice a month anyway. I measured everywhere too...and will re-measure every month to see how it's going. The thing is, I have to convince myself that I am in it for the long haul...so daily weighings at this point are not helpful to my psyche - even though I'm sure they'll have a place if I ever get as far as the holy grail of maintaining....

I'd like to say how helpful I found your post @bordergirl. I often can't see the wood for the trees on my own, so it was great to read such sensible advice - thank you!

Hope I haven't blathered on too much for you all! Have a great weekend, whatever you're doing xx

The last few posts on this tread really struck a chord. It helps to no end to hear other people's trials and successes. It's important to have support of people who genuinely understand. I'm struggling right now, kind of going in a weekly wave, up and down. I believe that if I keep coming back here, checking in, reading, piping up, I'll benefit and maybe I can help someone else in a small way.

To my utter astonishment my Dr has put me back on HRT!!!! I cannot be more pleased at what changes it might bring..even if they are psychosomatic as he said it may help with my joint pain which has really got to me lately. I also have an ear canal infection which I have a steroid spray for and has eased it within 24 hours. Also it seems I have tron the cartilage in my right knee joint when I fell off my horse a while back...so a scan is being arranged and possible surgery.
Impatient person that I am I was struggling very quickly with fasting again. So I have been trying 16:8 or at least my version of it. I am very much an all or nothing person so eating one evening meal a day and nothing else but water or coffee seems to be working for me at the moment. I found that once I started eating I couldn't stop and was too focused on how hungry I was feeling!
By the time I have cooked and eaten my evening meal I am full and not thinking about food. I don't eat past 9pm and by then I am still full and also too tired lol. Does that make sense?
It's very early on as this is the first week I had a rest over the weekend and ate breakfast but I am hopeful the weight will start to shift. I have decided losing 10kg will be enough for a goal for now. x

Hallo fasting folks around the planet, loving the positivity in this thread.
Keep on, day by each day, evaluating how you're feeling in your body and in your mind.
I've discovered a daily teaspoon of extra virgin coconut oil does it for me, could it for you?
A drizzle of organic extra virgin olive oil on salad or cooked vegetables also hits the spot.
I've eased off the double cream in coffee as I was enjoying it far too much (and hence too often) so it's down to 3 or 4 times a week, not a day!
I've been having gluten free porridge for breakfast recently, which is nicely warming on a cold morning, but feels like too much (organic) milk for me. Maybe it's the amount of sugar in milk, maybe it's too great a hit of carbs, but I'll be returning to the soft boiled egg and small avocado from tomorrow.
Looking forward to warmer weather soon, after sun+sleet+hail+snow+rain today, salad days are coming :0)
Take care and find the smile in your day \o/

I am feeling with you...
Just a thought - my thyroid is underactive but my blood results always came back perfect. Then my doctor decided to do an ultrasound and found that my thyroid was growing. That's how we found out... sometimes it's not in the blood results...
Unfortunately my doctor here in down under is only doing blood tests although I told her.

Lose 2kg, gain 2kg. Pfft x

I'm back,again. Have been around for three years. Like many others I lost weight the first time...although it did take a few months . Then I stopped fasting and although I tried three or four times ,I just couldn't get back into fasting. I gave it all up for a long time . Meanwhile all around me the world is catching on to fasting . Even my husband is doing 5-2 . Easy for him,I make him a salad for lunch and a low cal dinner..but just can't do it my self. Then I tried on my jeans and they don't even come over my thighs. So here I am. I read the blood sugar diet book and have decided to do 16-8 and eat a Mediterranean diet...so today is day 2 and I feel really good So nice reading all these posts and seeing some of the familier names and faces from my previous times here Hazelnut, I'm with you on the scales ban. I will not get obsessed again with weighing. I can see from my jeans.....

Well into my second week of 16:8 and I am cautiously optimistic that it's working. The first week my weight yo yo'd as much as 2kg and on some days I was back up to 92kg and I almost gave up! I have weekends 'off' where I eat breakfast but the rest of the week I only eat an evening meal.
It's sometimes difficult to manage the hunger pangs but they soon subside if I go and do something lol.
This morning I feel quite positive. I hope it lasts x

Here we go again!
I'm back!! Again.

So much has happened I don't know where to begin. I got very very depressed. Nothing new there, story of my life. The novelty of giving up work/closing my business and moving to a quiet village wore off. Or was it a period of mourning the loss, who knows. I came close to 'giving up' but therapy has helped. Sadly I had to have one of my dogs pts. I don't know if I said that already but I'm still missing her. My eldest son got made redundant so isn't moving up north now for a few years yet but he has made me a grandma! I am still feeling the loneliness overwhelming sometimes but I keep busy as best I can.
So I moved house again to a town not too far away and found a great place for my horse. Got depressed again, had a brief cancer scare, fell off a mounting block at the yard and further damaged my knee, quite badly this time. Put on a ton of weight and decided I should come back here and try again.

I am very happy to be back although I was deeply skeptical and expected it to be really hard going again. I am delighted to see I have lost 4cms off my waist and a kilo or two in a couple of weeks. To my great surprise, this time I am finding fasting easy and enjoyable. I am eating better than ever and although I don't eat a lot of crap I do have a habit of eating the same thing for weeks if not months on end so variety has reappeared in my diet and it's turning out to be fun.

I am totally skint and struggling with that so fasting has cut my food bill too which is no bad thing lol. The arthritis in my hands is not getting better hahaha and combined with the fibro and ongoing menopause...surely 12 years is long enough???...some days I really struggle to even get out of bed. Thankfully the dogs need walking and my horse needs hay and feeding so I don't get a choice. I've even started to ride again but my knee is making it difficult.

It's good to see some familiar 'faces' still here but it's very quiet eh?
Perhaps I will manage to liven things up a teeny bit?

Hope you are all well.
Love cilla xxx

[Tracieknits]

Oh my goodness Cilla -- while we are happy to have you back I sure wish it was under happier circumstances for you. It sounds like it's been a rough year.

Oh I agree, fasting does wonders for our budget as well as our waistline

I've been having trouble with my knee. I got diagnosed with arthritis. I went to physical therapy and that helped an awful lot. I was surprised that most of the exercises suggested seemed to have nothing to do with my knees! The first one was lying on my back and doing single leg raises. The next was "clamshells" (you can google clamshell exercise). Even just doing those two (worked up to 3 sets of 15 on each side, for both exercises) really helped a lot. Perhaps you can give that a try?