The FastDay Forum

Hi @Wendy Darling, I was just looking at your progress tracker, and I see that we are remarkably similar. I started out at about 150 and am now at 130, after 7 months being on this carnival ride. I see that you hit a sort of plateau at about 130....what did you do to kick it to get down to 125 (which is my goal, as well)?

I am interested, because I think we are very similar, as I said before.

thanks!

Hmmm, don't think I did anything differently. It just sort of happened, I just kept on keeping on. I wouldn't mind losing another 7lb but am happy to stay here maintaining for a while and then set off again. Interestingly, each time my weight has increased it has been at vacation time and I mostly had no access to scales. I weigh every day and track on the True Weight app but I track here weekly, so wherever you see a gap on the tracker it is when I was on vacation. It took me 9.5 months to lose 21lb. I didn't mind that slow loss because I never felt as though I went without and I will always eat this way now. It has taken me back to the way I ate as a child and young adult, before there was so much variety available. I think it has the effect of making you feel as though you are missing out if you don't choose it all. I am an old hand at 16:8 and I fell into it naturally because I found that I wasn't hungry the morning after a fast day, so I used it to my advantage to extend the fasting period to approximately 36 hours with less than 500 calories in one meal. Easy when you think how long you are asleep during that time! @ballerina has a whole thread about it, the URL is in her signature. How tall are you @melinda_in_nc?

Edited to say...... I know what was different, I just had a look at the dates in my tracker. It was Christmas when I stuck at 130lb so I was not fasting and was overeating for a week or two and as soon as I started fasting again the weight dropped off. I do remember that I was still mindful about what I was eating but didn't hold back. I wouldn't recommend that you overeat, but it might be worth thinking about. If you do try it, just keep a close eye on your weight. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Hi Melinda,

Good to hear how well you are doing, as Wendy darling says, the link to the 16/8 thread is in my signature, hope it helps,

Ballerina x

Just dropped in to join you all, if that's ok. I started on 5:2 nearly a year ago, plateaued for about 3 months, fell off the wagon (finishing up my thesis). Then came Christmas, and before I knew it I had regained 5 of the 6 kilos that I had lost on 5:2. I've been on 19:5 now for a little while, and have relost half of the falling-off-the-wagon gain. 19:5 seems to suit me much better than 5:2, it just seems to be easier to keep a constant regime that includes a decent dinner.

well, my first day of 16:8 started better than it ended. I went way over 8h (I got roped in to a work dinner that didn't start until 7pm, and my window was supposed to close at 7:40). Still… skipping brekkie probably meant I had 500 cals fewer than I would have otherwise, so I won't think of it as a fail. Also… I resisted having any alcohol, which wasn't easy at this restaurant.

Yesterday's lunch was very early though wasn't it MaryAnn? I would find that strange to eat so early and work so late too. I rarely eat before 13:00 and sometimes later so that I can nibble something during the evening. We usually have dinner at about 19:00. I think yesterday sounds ok. No brekkie nor any alcohol at the dinner? Good start. Are you gong to have a go at it again today? Let us know how it goes. Hope you enjoyed last nights dinner.

Oops just seen your post in the fasting today thread. Hope it goes well

OK. A few things.
First. Reporting back. Remember I was going to wait till I was really hungry till I ate. I've done this and prefer it.
Second. Why have the scales not shifted in 2 months? I've put it off for a year but I thought I'll log my calories into myfitnesspal and eat and drink normally for 1 week and see what I'm actually consuming. Well instead of eating 1830 cals like our progress tracker recommends I've been eating between 2100 and 2400 on non fast days. But guess what ? I fell off plateau big time even though eating too much. Lost 2.3 KGS on 10 days. Ab fab but weird huh????
Third- remember my 'compliment from doctor' thread on 13 Jan? Well I just saw her again and she said that I should feel really good about just staying the same weight if I need to ( or it just happens as in a plateau) on the journey. She said that is a real achievement to maintain your weight. I never looked at it that way so I wanted to pass that on to all of you especially @Sue.Q and @Maggiee.
So @carorees any theories as to why I lost weight like that. ( I was also doing my 2 x 400 cal fast days not eating till dinner)?? Was it a ' set point' weight that's now ready to finally go lower?
Lastly I'll say, of course I'm not gonna push it. I'll stick to my tdee except on w/e and also- I love MFP. Once you've done it for 2 weeks its super easy as you tend to eat the same meals and I LoVE that it tells me what carbs I'm having and I have been having around 100 grams of carbs or less a day. Yay!
Sorry for long post but I hope its of some help to you.
Xxx julianna

Probably the decrease in carbs? But Caroline might have other ideas. Very sensible what your doctor said too Julianna. I've not lost much this year, having gained over christmas but lost it in early January, and hovering around 10stone since then. I'm prepared to wait it out and see what happens ...

Thanks for that @Julianna I did have a small drop I weight when I had my "refeed" week plus a very small one the week after but about 3 weeks ago I actually couldn't get a true reading so I banished the scales from the house until Easter the tape measure isn't changing and the top that was "snug" last weeks still is so no change.
Having read everything I can that Caroline posts I realise I just have to sit it out and wait eat healthy food and yes sometimes over my TDEE I don't calorie count on non fast days so maybe I should but I've just done 2 weeks of very good 500 cals fasts I'm staying on 5:2 for now and making them really good ones
I don't mind waiting if I knew I Would lose eventually but like you I do become demoralised wasting three months.
Glad though that your plateau seems to have been busted that is a real confidence booster, thanks for thinking of me with your post and I hope I can follow your lead.
Hoping Maggiee gets some encouragement from it also.
Sue

Yesterday's lunch was very early though wasn't it MaryAnn? I would find that strange to eat so early and work so late too. I rarely eat before 13:00 and sometimes later so that I can nibble something during the evening. We usually have dinner at about 19:00. I think yesterday sounds ok. No brekkie nor any alcohol at the dinner? Good start. Are you gong to have a go at it again today? Let us know how it goes. Hope you enjoyed last nights dinner.

Oops just seen your post in the fasting today thread. Hope it goes well

I posted a long response to this yesterday, but my phone ate it.

Anyway… thanks, @Wendy Darling, for your encouraging words. Yesterday, another non-fast day, I had a much smaller window of 6.5 h which I started at 1pm (as long as you don't count the cheeky cappuccino I had before my dentist's appointment). I'm not doing it for the fasting so much as the calorie reduction of not eating breakfast and evening snacking. In that respect, I would say the first day was a half-success and the second one was a full success, if that makes sense. This (16:8) may actually be the answer to the overeating problem I've been having lately. It's worked better than some loose rules I've put on myself not to eat sweets, etc. I'm hoping this weird inclination I've had lately to sabotage my hard work passes, but in the meantime, I'm happy to do 16:8 on non-fast days.

Hummmmmm, the eating window is not going well for me, I have put on a bit of weight over the last couple of weeks of no fasting (well no 5:2), though in fairness fasting wasn't going great either.
Have come to the sad conclusion that a mix of factors, such as working and therefore sitting on my bum a lot more now that my daughter is at the crèche all day, have led to a big drop in TDEE, so am going to track calories for the next week or two as well as 16/8 (or less!) and one proper fast and see if I can get back on track.

How things are going on 16:8, etc. everyone? I for example was doing 1 full fast and 3 16:8 this week and gained a bit. It is alarming , so I do a full fast today.

I am so happy to find this tent. I started 5:2 in August last year and was doing great until I went to Mexico on vacation. I kept trying and trying to go back to 5:2 with no success. At some point I remembered that there are other methods that I hadn't tried and it would be great to give it a shot. Last year I read about Fast-5 and was fascinated by it but since 5:2 was working I didn't mess with it. Now that the situation has changed it is time to try something new while staying with the principal that fasting is good.
I started Fast-5 last Wednesday and so far so good. I like the day to day consistency and I really don't miss breakfast. I start getting hungry around 2pm but I just keep busy and wait until 4pm. My window goes from 4-9pm.
My main concern are social events and holidays because this method is not as flexible as 5:2 but I will try and hopefully I can stick with this WOE.

[carorees]

Hi @Iztla

I find the eating window method is very flexible. Don't be too hung up about keeping to the 5 hours on days when you have social commitments. As long as you can get away with skipping breakfast, you can generally manage a 16-hour fast / 8 hour eating window. I try to have a couple of days with a 5-hour eating window each week but otherwise I just aim for under 8-hours. If you have an evening social commitment, then if you don't open your eating window until 4 usually, you can go through to midnight and still keep an 8-hour window! Similarly, if it's a lunch date, open your window at say 12 or 1 and close it at 8 or 9.

I would also say that the science suggests that eating late at night is not the best for our health due to interfering with the natural changes in leptin levels that occur at night so I would try to bring your eating window forward a little if it fits in with your life. I try to go for 1pm to 8pm as a rule (so 17:7) and 2 till 7 on my 19:5 days. But I would also say that whatever routine fits best with your life is the best so ignore this if it won't work for you.

Do keep popping in here and let us know how you get on!

I am so happy to find this tent. I started 5:2 in August last year and was doing great until I went to Mexico on vacation. I kept trying and trying to go back to 5:2 with no success. At some point I remembered that there are other methods that I hadn't tried and it would be great to give it a shot. Last year I read about Fast-5 and was fascinated by it but since 5:2 was working I didn't mess with it. Now that the situation has changed it is time to try something new while staying with the principal that fasting is good.
I started Fast-5 last Wednesday and so far so good. I like the day to day consistency and I really don't miss breakfast. I start getting hungry around 2pm but I just keep busy and wait until 4pm. My window goes from 4-9pm.
My main concern are social events and holidays because this method is not as flexible as 5:2 but I will try and hopefully I can stick with this WOE.

Hi @Iztla I am so glad you have posted on here. I have been doing Fast-5 since just before Christmas. Would you like to be my buddy in the Fasting Buddies tent?


Barbara