The FastDay Forum

Good morning everyone

I am trying so hard to stay positive and not give in but I am fed up. When I started this everything was fine, it was summer and stress and problems were little. The weight loss was good and I was sure I had finally found a WOE that could be maintained long term.

After 5 months I have lost a total of 8.6kg. Sounds like a lot but it's not when you consider that this is the weight I lost in the first 3 months. In August the stress of school like came back to our family and since then I am not moving forward at all. Sure one week I'll loose a pound but the next it's back on.

I was on a plateau for 3 weeks then ping ponged the last 5 weeks.

I have tracked what I eat fast days and feed days, I have tried to chill and get to grips with my arthritis and IBS, but still nothing is happening.

I feel better, physically and mentally than I have in years but the weight needs to come down.

My OH is struggling in same way. He's staying put with a weight loss of 4kg to date.

Our stress levels are high as we are parents of 2 teenagers, 1 at uni the other being home school and trying to re-establish him at school. As he is autistic that is not easy.

We have a bouncy hyper dog who I walk which in turn aggravates my arthritis. The colder weather doesn't help either, both increase my intake of cocodamol which is then having a knock on effect on my IBS.

I am ready to scream...

Sorry for the rant but I am at my wits end. Do I continue or do I give up

Poor you! Focus on the improvements though, which you have felt as well as the weight lost so far I am back to 5:2 this week after a break & already feeling better, but I found it hard to get back to the mindset, it took me a couple of weeks, for that reason alone I'd say stick with it. It's hard to stay positive with outside stresses but this is actually making you feel better! The alternative is possibly re gaining the weight & not feeling so good against eating what you want when you want- is that worth it to you?
Re IBS, I have found my symptoms flare with alcohol & carbs, not just bread. I try lots of water, lo Gi foods as much as poss & controlling the stress!!
Good luck whatever you decide.

[Moogie]

Please don't be disheartened Alex, that will only add to your stresses. Look at it this way, despite the stresses and eating what you want most of the time, you're not *gaining* weight, and that's a positive - plus you're feeling better all round, that's great!

Many of us have been through plateaus of up to 2 months, although some say it's usually around the 6 month mark I think it can also come at times of stress (which doesn't aid weight loss) and also when your body gets to a weight which at some point in your life has been your 'normal' weight for some time. For example, I've often been around the 70kg mark as an adult and plateaued around that figure.

Maybe you need to mix things up a bit to kick start things? A week off? Adjusting how you do your fasts? (how do you do yours generally?), keeping a food diary for a week or so to see if you're going above your TDEE over the rest of the week?

Please remember that you're on track with average weight loss - you've lost around 19lbs in 20 weeks. A lot of that may have come off in the early months but remember some of that larger initial loss will have been water weight, which rebalances as you regain water and lose fat.

If your plateau doesn't break in a week or two, try changing something about your fast days or your feed days. I'm sure you can get going again. Just please don't stress about it, that won't help.

Big hugs,
M
xx

No. Don't.give.up. I'm so sorry to hear about your difficulties. hug It sounds like everything is all layering up one on top of the other, and the effect of course is cumulative. Life gets in the way all of the time and we all need to find ways to cope, but food is not the answer. If you both give up now it will be yet another layer of problems on top of everything else and it will make you feel worse, and then with Christmas coming too, it makes the climb back much harder. I suspect most people on this forum have been there, including me.

Be proud of your loss. By my maths you are actually bang on track Even if you maintain for the next few months, it's better than nothing. Try a few different ways to fast, and mix it up a bit. Stay close to your forum buddies and feel free to rant away.

I also think that stressful situations have a repercussion on the weight loss so if I can give you a tiny advice, try to relax and find something that you enjoy. It shouldn't be a chore, but something you are looking forward to.

Maybe try to not go on the scale for a while ? Or not track down everything you eat ? Maybe you could try the dukan attack phase ?
http://mydukandiet.com/dieting/attack-phase.html


It seems to have worked for some people here who were on a big plateau. It can be worth the try..

Also, don't hesitate to rant, we also are here to listen and give as much as support as we can

Just hang in there and do the fasting when you can. It would be such a shame for you to give up. It is hard when the progress is slow but I think the alternatives may not be as easy as this WOL. There a few of us who have been plateauing and I think it is just a matter of plodding on through your plateau phase.

All the best with your kids and getting your son back to school. As has been said stress stops weight loss as well Sending you

Hello Alexandra, first of all thank you for sharing your thoughts with us - my, you certainly are having a tough time and it looks as if there aren't any short term solutions what with dealing with university,school and health issues. Most people lose weight at first and then the dreaded 'plateau' occurs - this is a natural response by the body to a change in what it thinks is 'normal'. It is saying, 'hey,I'm not getting as much food as usual, maybe there isn't any more on the way, so I'll conserve what energy/fat stores I have'. Rather than think of it as a struggle, perhaps both of you could look at keeping the weight off as being an achievement, which it certainly is! Can't offer you any advice, only support and hopefully in a few weeks time your life will be more settled.

As someone who has been up and down the same kilo since JULY!!!! I can say I've tried a lot of things to start losing again. Just this week I'm down over a kilo and into 63 something, before I was 64-65 forever (though official weigh in is tomorrow).

The big thing that changed this week is my mindset, in July/Aug/Sept I was a bit stressed, disorganised, things kept happening to stop me from fasting etc, and I kept starting fasts, stopping and moving them to another day, trying to start exercising at the same time, worrying about what I was eating the rest of the time...

I gave myself two weeks off, and decided that I would return to 5:2 the way I did it at the beginning, with set fast days, a meal planned in advance, and that's it, I've forgotten about adding excercise, or worrying about what I'm eating the rest of the time, just 5:2! It seems to be working, so I would say have a break, think about what you did in the beginning, and start again when your mindset is right!

Good luck!

Thank you for all the kind responses.

Moogie asked what my typical week looks like
Monday - Food day
Porridge with banana and honey for breakfast,
lunch - sandwich, probably granary with ham, cheese & tomato
OR Weight Watchers frozen dinner
Dinner - left overs from Sunday, Roast, potatoes, vegetables

Tuesday - Fast day
no breakfast
no lunch
Dinner - frozen WW, or something prepacked with less than 500kcal
drinks - sparkling water, sugar free dilutable, rarely broth
Always staying within my calories

Wednesday - Food day
Porridge with banana and honey for breakfast,
lunch - sandwich, probably granary with ham, cheese & tomato
OR Weight Watchers frozen dinner
Dinner - something quick and easy, tortillas with chicken and salad, or stir fry with wok noodles, chicken in a bag with chips (Actifry)

Thursday - Fast day
no breakfast
no lunch
Dinner - frozen WW, or something prepacked with less than 500kcal
drinks - sparkling water, sugar free dilutable, rarely broth
Always staying within my calories

Friday - Food day
Porridge with banana and honey for breakfast,
lunch - sandwich, probably granary with ham, cheese & tomato
OR Weight Watchers frozen dinner
Dinner - take out, usually chinese

Saturday - Food day
Chaos, breakfast or lunch never both
Dinner - pizza, sandwich something simple from the freezer

Sunday - Food day
Breakfast or lunch very rarely both
Dinner - Roast, vegetables, potatoes, yorkshire puds

I don't drink alcohol as some of my tablets don't mix with alcohol. My drinks tend to be Shloer, if I am looking a treat, 2ltr Coke (over the entire weekend), 1 Nescafe Late on food days, Tropicana tropical juice 2 glasses on food days, dilutable sugar free juice and sparkling water.

I rarely eat crisps, cake or chocolate but if then it will be on food days and not excessive as they don't agree with my IBS and it just isn't worth the price.

What a boring life, but with our youngest autism, someone always has to be able to drive and routine is very important.

I don't really like fruit or veg hence the juice. I am starting to introduce Activia drinks as the doctor recons it might help.

Hi Alexandra. You have quite a lot of carbs here (might be worth recording on something like myfitnesspal to check as some of them (takeaways for example), can have a lot of hidden sugars). Carbs can often adversely affect your mood and slow your weight loss. Could you ditch the sandwich at lunch and eat more proteins like a tin of tuna with a little salad? Also no carbs at night and up your protein intake? Still eat your TDEE though.

[Moogie]

Thanks Alexandra, looks like a fairy sensible intake in terms of calories. My suggestion to you would be to swap out those WW meals and and sugar free/low fat options for real natural fats & foods. It sounds counter intuitive, but the body is more geared up to deal with natural fats than all the processed stuff, and it can actually lead to better weight loss if you stick to natural. I know it can be difficult to cook a different meal from the rest of the family for your fast and so the WW meals are a nice simple option, but perhaps you could look at using some less 'diet' meals, something from the M&S fuller for longer range or the finest/special ranges from other supermarkets. They shouldn't be much more expensive than WW but ought to have less added chemicals/fake food Even something simple like bunging a chicken breast in the oven/grill for half an hour and serving it with a bag of steamed veg & some gravy is fairly quick and easy but reduces the amount of processed foods in your diet.

One other observation is the cheese in your lunch sandwich - cheese is so full of calories, it could be a good idea to sometimes go for something like chicken salad instead.

Try totting up the calories on an average day and see how it compares with your TDEE. I used to drink a lot of fruit juice years ago until I realised there were about 200 calories a glass and I was having several glasses a day! It's easy to let just enough extra calories creep in throughout the week to negate the deficit from your fast, especially if you have a low TDEE.

Thank's for the tip

The sandwiches are a maximum of 3 times a week, the slice of gouda is 92kcal and the deli ham is 20kcal. I would alternate between WW meal or sandwich depending on weather etc. I love chicken taco with salad for sandwiches but they have to fresh, so that is not always an option. I would sometimes have these in crusty bread on a Saturday instead of dinner

I am cutting out as much processed as I can, changed back to full Coke on weekends, not buying diet drinks etc. The only exclusion is my Miwadi Dilutable Juice it's sugar free as I am worried about the effect sugar in it would have on my teeth and my sons (he drinks loads of it). I take Actimel yoghurt drinks not fat free yogurts and other than a pizza or the WW meals the processed stuff is reduced as much as possible. I've never shopped in a M&S but will have a look at the alternatives you suggested.

[Moogie]

As mentioned by other posters, less carbs may help too, I know I very seldom eat bread as it bloats me (uncomfortably so) and makes me retain fluid. It's great you're getting fresh ingredients in your sandwich, but I wonder how big they are? It's amazing how many calories are in the bread. Do you have butter and/or mayo? If you have both, you may find it's just as tasty without one or the other. I don't believe in totally cutting out things you like or ruining your fave foods, but if you can find little changes you can make which don't detriment your enjoyment of the food then that can only be a good thing If I get a big deli style roll I can never manage the whole thing and usually cut it in half & save the rest for the next day. I've found it's all too easy to scoff it down and feel overfull afterwards, small bites, savour it and stop when full is my cunning plan

Have you ever measured out how much porridge you're having? That's really calorific (and pretty carby, although a good wholegrain) too and a surprising amount in even a small bowl, particularly if made with milk and honey (my fave combo though!). Maybe you could mix things up a little so you're not having porridge & a sandwich on the same day - you could swap your breakfast for a nice bowl of full fat yogurt with berries (and maybe a little granola) or some eggs - both of which will fill you and then have your sandwich for lunch. If you have porridge for breakfast perhaps you could have a different lunch, like a salad. That way you're not only cutting down the carbs (but still getting to enjoy your favourite meals) but also adding in some great micronutrients from the berries and salad.

Just suggestions

As for the M&S meals, I've not tried them myself as I don't often get into town for M&S, but everyone here raves about them. Any good quality ready meal is probably better than WW if you check the ingredients list you should find they have less additives and reconstituted things - for example:

WW Lasagne Ingredients:
Water,Beef (13%) ,Diced Tomatoes (Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Salt, Firming Agent - Calcium Chloride) ,Lasagne (9%, Durum Wheat Semolina, Water, Egg, Rice Flour) ,Concentrated Tomato Puree ,Onions ,Mushrooms ,Red Wine ,Cheddar Cheese (2%) ,Modified Tapioca Starch ,Skimmed Milk Powder ,Milk ,Modified Maize Starch ,Whipping Cream ,Basil & Garlic Blend (Basil, Vegetable Oil, Garlic Puree, Milk, Oregano, Dextrose, Salt, Red Chillies) ,Garlic ,Cheese ,Salt ,Flavourings (contain Milk, Smoke Flavouring) ,Sugar ,Pecorino Cheese ,Thyme ,Basil ,Yeast Extract (contains Barley) ,Black Pepper ,Spice Extract

I've underlined the things which sound a bit unpleasant/unnatural.

Compare it then to:

Tesco Finest Lasagne Ingredients
Milk,British Beef (17%) ,Tomato Passata ,Free Range Egg Pasta ,Pork (10%) ,Carrot ,Onion ,Tomato ,Celery ,Italian Merlot Red Wine ,Tomato Purée ,Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese ,Mature Cheddar Cheese ,Vegetable Oil ,Sundried Tomato Paste ,Wheat Flour ,Beef Stock ,Sugar ,Basil ,Garlic Purée ,Salt ,Thyme ,Oregano ,Black Pepper ,Cornflour ,Bay Leaf ,Nutmeg ,White Pepper ,Mustard Powder ,Free Range Egg Pasta contains: Durum Wheat Semolina ,Egg ,Water ,Sundried Tomato Paste contains: Rehydrated Sundried Tomato ,Vegetable Oil ,White Wine Vinegar ,Garlic Powder ,Salt ,Black Pepper ,Rosemary ,Basil ,Beef Stock contains: Beef ,Water ,Cornflour ,Sugar ,Salt ,Beef Fat ,Onion ,Tomato

Pretty much everything looks more like 'real food' than in the WW meal.

[carieoates]

Very Interesting reading this thread thanks guys. I have also learnt a thing or two. I have to say that I'm a home cook and a ready meal is never on the agenda, Moogie I have used a few of your fast day meals and you still manage to lose even with the carbs. So I think Alex should maybe follow some of your recipes.

Hi Alexandra
All good advice from everyone, so all my pointers have been covered, you've done verywell + know that, and feeling better so it is working as you've lost weight, try not to get to down, yes focus on your achievements so far
My tips were to mix it up a little or take a break to give your body something to think about, also when I thought I'd hit the plateau I reduced my carb intake on all days, especially bread I now rarely eat bread it takes longer to prepare my salad lunch without the bread but its worth the work because it kickstarted me into losing again, I ate bread rolls again at lunch last week on holiday amongst other rubbish and came home 5kg heavier !!!
However did you measure ?? Because you may have lost inches instead of pounds. Good Luck with all your problems + hoping you manage to find a solution to a few of them soon
Meanwhile we're all here for you when needed Sue