The FastDay Forum

Hello fasters! I'm here! Very unusual to be fasting on a Saturday: in fact, I've never done it before. I am strictly a Monday/Thursday girl. But this week went pear shaped. I didn't realise it was Thursday until I'd half done the day. Stressful time with family. But I really want to get back on board for 2015 so I'm not missing a fast. I didn't sleep well last night, woke up worrying about my son, the other one. The family is all in my face this week! Most of the time I try to pretend they don't exist but it's not happening this week. I have to deal with it! So I got up, went for a walk and now I'm going to have a black coffee and the day will unfold. It's a day for making cucumber preserves - sweet gerkins and dill cucumbers I think. I am growing pickling cucumbers - 2 plants - and trying to keep them small so lots of them have collected in the fridge. Time to process them. Also yesterday we arrived home with buckets and buckets of ripe apricots, picked from our friends' orchard. So I have to get onto them as well. I wonder if there are any other fasters today?

Sorry to hear you're having family problems @Sallyo. I really admire you though for undertaking a Saturday fast...well done! I'll be joining you but at the moment it's still Friday!

Feeling lonely. Feeling that it is very difficult today. Not enough sleep. Too many worries. Now I have written a worried letter to son and I'm very frightened about his reaction. I want to eat I want to eat I want to eat. Better get out of the house!

Dear @Sallyo, saw your thread earlier today but no chance to reply until now. I have a few days of forum reading to catch up with too!

Very sorry to hear that your family is causing you stress. I hope you have gone for a walk - doing something active helps with all sorts of stresses, including wanting to eat! Keeping busy is certainly the key.

I am joining you today. I do Saturday fast from time to time because I have things to keep me busy until mid afternoon, so it is a good day to use if I need an extra fast day or want to change my days.

I have not fasted for over a week - in fact, I have done the opposite of fast... As I have mentioned elsewhere, it was very hot where we were camping (we got home yesterday) and all we could do in the afternoons when it was far too hot to be outside and there was really nowhere to go was sit in the caravan, watch TV.... and eat, purely from boredom. Hot weather does not dampen my ability to eat, I am afraid, quite the opposite...

I am not going to get on the scales until I have done 2-3 fasts, then will see what damage is remaining. My clothes, plus how I feel, plus knowing what I ate, tell me I have put on several pounds. Some hopefully is water, due to the high carb consumption, but it is certainly more than just glycogen and water.

Now that I am home, it is much easier to fast and consume a healthier diet, even with uneaten Christmas foods still in the pantry...

I am trying to work out what I can do to avoid this in future... On other camping trips, we have been able to be a lot more active, which has had the double bonus of requiring more calories but less time to spend eating them!!

Enough of me. Hope you manage ok today Sally - and see you in a couple of weeks!

Very best wishes

Thinking of you Sally, take care - looking forward to catching up with you and giving you this BIG HUG {{{++}}}

Be gentle on yourself.

Maggie xx

I sympathise with you @Sallyo with so many things swirling around you. The emotions and worry around family are hard enough to live through, let alone the mounting jobs with the fresh food produce, which you are not wanting to waste, as well as the fasting (on an unusual day) with your mindful approach to that. I find that it helps me to tackle just one routine thing at a time. It not only makes the fast day pass quickly but also gives me a morale-booster as I achieve something. I hope that the bigger issues around your son will ease soon. Thinking of you!
And have a satisfactory fast day!

Sending hugs @Sallyofamilies can be the best and the absolute worst ,my own is like an egg shell roller coaster ride so crossing everything for you that you manage to get things sorted out x
I'm not usually a Saturday faster but had to abandon yesterday due to needing huge doses of painkillers but we ended up having fish and chips with friends last night which will definitely be over my TDEE so pain or no pain I have to fast today as I am semi convinced that being heavy doesn't help my spine problems.
Also when I weighed in on Tuesday my BMI finally hit 25 for the first time in years and I sooooo don't want it to go back up !

Good luck to all

@Sallyo I hope the family issues resolve themselves soon. Families can be hard work. I hope your fast went well. See you here Monday xxx

I'm just starting my fast day, you Aussies have probably already finished! I am fasting today as my husband is working and it is much easier to fast when he is not home, though as the kids are with me I will have a light lunch with them then a light dinner this evening.

Sallyo, sorry to hear about you family stress, try asking yourself how eating will change the situation, i find that sometimes helps me to see things more rationally when i want to eat for emotional reasons.

Am nearing the end of my fast day. Has been a bit of a struggle, and have gone over the cals a little. But a vast improvement on what I have been eating! Best wishes to those still fasting!

@Sallyo, I'm sorry that your children are upsetting you. I've never been in that position but I can imagine how bad it must make you feel. Sending virtual hugs and wishing you well. I hope that you dealt with your produce, if so, it must have made you feel really good. If not, there's always another day! I envy you the apricots!

I'm doing a sort of half fast today because yesterday I was home alone all day, which doesn't happen very often, and I decided to have a few of the left over nuts and crisps (it wasn't a fast day). All was fine until the 'few' turned into a 'feast'! Why didn't I just stop eating earlier?!!! Although my weight on the scales this morning doesn't reflect the amount I ate yesterday, tomorrow is weigh-in day and I want to try and balance yesterday's splurge. My plan is to fast until this evening and then have a reasonable dinner, although not necessarily less than 500 calories. Let's hope that tomorrow I am still at target!

Oh my darling forumites. Thank you all for your hugs and care. This is a problem which I haven't shared with the OH because I didn't want to deal with his reactions as well so it is wonderful to have been able to dump it here! My son has responded defensively to my communication so that's ok. I started to have dreadful fears for his safety - like would my email push him to suicide!! Now that he has responded with his usual defensive attitude, I realise how silly that was! Talk about Catastrophising! I was just so scared about speaking my mind! So I was very gentle with myself today, slept on the couch, cooked a lovely meal: lettuce, parsley and egg omelette, cut up in strips, and prawns and cashews with a dressing of honey, red wine vinegar, olive oil and masses of fresh basil. I didn't eat most of the day, except for that little break out with a THIN slice of bread and butter about 2,30pm. Now the fast is over and I am ready to go to bed with the expectation that I will sleep soundly. 'Egg shell roller coaster'! Love it! Didn't manage the produce today but tomorrow is another day. Apricots here we come!

Hi @Sallyo (sleeping Sally I suspect!) I'm glad things turned out slightly better than you'd thought. I hope you manage to get things sorted with your family. Well done, too, for getting your fast in on what must have bean a very trying day xx
I am half-way through my fast. Currently sitting here with a red hot face thanks to my bleaching hair experiment At least my hair is white now and not green
I was a bit worried that I might experience weird after-effects so I decided to eat my meal at lunch time. It was a beef casserole type thing with roast potatoes (from M&S for just 357 cals). This leaves me with 143 calories so I have some time to try and decide what to have. I was going to have a Cuppa Soup but I'm really not sure now. Anyway, at least I'm not hungry at the moment
How's everyone else' fast going so far? Not that theres THAT many of you

One protein bar down and not too hungry at the moment, I've got to go and dye my every greying hair shortly so @nursebean hope I don't end up with a red face too though I usually make a good job of dying my ears !

Undecided on dinner yet , might be Covent Garden Supergrain and Veg soup or possibly a baked Indian lentil burger and some extra veggies ..since taking up this WOE I have noticed I eat way less meat than I used to which has to be a good thing !

Late joining you, yes I'm in. Like Sallyo the week pushed me from my normal Thursday fast.
I'm in heaven as DD returned from 3 weeks in South Africa this morning and we are having a girlie day at home. The fridge is full of healthy food so I'm spoilt what to cook. Leaning towards a bed of beansprouts and baby spinach, with warmed goats cheese and beetroot topped with a homemade herb and garlic salsa.
@Sallyo I'm glad to hear you are feeling relief and hope the family issue is resolved soon. Isn't stress downright mischievous
Presently monitoring a colleague who is in Nairobi - she is feeling achy and is concerned it might be malaria. Fingers crossed a fever does show - she is checking her temperature regularly and instant messaging me.
Lots of housey things to do - in fact they are starting to scream at me, so they just can't be ignored any longer.
All going ok so far, two hours to dinner and then the kitchen closed - feeling it might need a lock with it being Saturday night
Hope you are all having a good day