The FastDay Forum

@Lilmy "pudding" was so stinking good! I will make it over and over again for special occasions of course. The presentation was beautiful and got lots of ooo's and ahhhh's. It was a checkerboard cake of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry with raspberry jam between the three layers frosted with strawberry buttercream. Any way broke my fast with chicken salad sans bread. Did you make good choices today?

@Lizbean I am back and ready for the Solstice Challenge following a chocolate-filled weekend. I normally don't approve of hurting animals but if anyone sees that damn Easter Bunny please tell him to stay outta my way!!!

I have also adjusted my end goal, more ramblings on this to be found in your Inbox.....

Have a lovely week, hope it's not too much of a shock after a nice break from work xx

Good morning @Lil I am fasting today and attempting the 24 hour fast as usual. Not sure if you will check in today but have a good day.

Hi @clairemarieI it's going OK for you. Sorry I am not really keeping you company this week. I fasted till around 7.30 yesterday but quite a lot of alcohol was consumed after that!Are you going to join the Solstice challenge. I have decided that I am just going to pootle on at my own (slow) pace and not put myself under pressure. Back to the routine next week.

Pootle, pootle, pootle is that a real word? I know you are enjoying your week. Todays fast was a bust. Oh well. I am frustrated though. My last adventure with fasting went so much better than this time. My weight just won't budge! I am going to have to resort to a food diary I'm afraid. Had a laugh this week when skyping with my son in Ireland. I told him that I was watching Coronation St. and he broke out laughing that all his roommates watch it too! I sure miss the evil Karl, what a great part he played...Back to fasting, I will be adding the idea of high fat low carb to my plan.

Hi @Lizbean!

It seems your week back at work is keeping you occupied! Don't you just wish holidays could last longer?

I think you might be fasting today so good luck with that and the official weigh in tomorrow.

I have completed my back-to-back fast and surprisingly it went well Although not sure it is a habit I want to get in to as I think the benefits of spacing out the days are far better and it did make both days seem quite long.....Still as an emergency measure and also a punishment for Easter naughtiness it was satisfying!

Hope you are enjoying your builders tea in london somewhere, the skies are blue here but there is a slight chill, lovely spring weather!

Catch up soon buddy xxx

Hey @spanner, you are so right! I walked into a wall of work after my lovely week off. It's taken me right off track, for the first time I forgot to sign up for the fast thread today, though I remembered at lunchtime after a 3 hour long meeting and treated myself to Pret salad box 220 cals - prawns, lettuce, half an advocado and French dressing. My tracker says 344-500 cals, so a small egg salad is on the menu later this evening.

Back to back! You are clearly on mission to get to your goal. yeh, I can feel it's in your immediate reach. I think I'll be spending the next two weeks 'coasting' and drawing on my reserve (physically and psychologically) in order to reach a realistic Solstice goal, which I will set this weekend.

Seen your PM and will reply later this evening. Next task is to prepare for my annual appraisal tomorrow, then eat, then water the seedlings!

Lizbean

@Lil today has been a very sad weigh in day. I am up to 180lbs! I woke with a pounding headache and sinus pressure. God bless forsythia. I expected some gain this week given the carb loaded holiday. Honestly I did not overdo just enjoyed. I failed both fasts. Not sure why the big increase unless I cannot tolerate all the salt in ham. I do not eat it that often. Sometimes I wonder if fast days are messing me up. I start and go most of the day and the eat a little beyond the 500cals. Am I not eating enough? Time to reassess my motivation. Exercise? Oops! Now my tummy feels sick. Bye for today.

My buddy needs a big, big hug to make her feel better.....welcome back to fasting again @rawkaren and I am sure I am not the only one who's missed you being on here regularly.
Come on buddy I really want you to join me in the maintaineers tent. Here's to your new resolve.

@clairemarieI am sure not all of that gain will be 'real' You would have to have eaten an awful lot of extra calories for that to be the case. Some of it may be fluid related to the salt.I notice your waist is still decreasing which must mean something.
I think sometimes you try and cut down too much and then you have a backlash. I know you want to get back to where you were when you stopped fasting and you will it may just not be a quick as you want. I think to start with you should aim to eat all your 500 cals or even a bit more on your fast days. Try and plan something nice to look forward to in the evening. I like to fast on Mondays and Wednesdays because it fits in with my working pattern but the majority seem to do Mondays and Wednesdays. Do you think having a 2 day gap would make it easier. I would prefer you to stick to Mon and Wed so we are matching but you need to do what is best for you.
Also what about changing your weigh in day to a Monday. You will probably weigh a bit more to start with but I think that is a truer weight not affected by the water loss or empty bowel after fasting and therefore less likely to go up if you have a bad week. A weight gain can be quite demoralising but you need to keep your eye on the bigger picture.
As regards pootling
English definition of “pootle”
pootle
verb [I, + adv/prep] /ˈpuː.tl̩/ US /-t̬l̩/ UK informal
› to move somewhere slowly and with no real purpose:
So I wasn't really using it in the right sense because although I am moving slowly I do have purpose

@clairemarieI am a bit confused about your Coronation street watching. The other day you said you were up to Carla's pregnancy which is quite recent but the evil Karl and the pub fire were ages ago. Are you watching 2 separate threads?

Hi @Lil! Thank you for such a lovely new word. Amazing that I have been a pootler all my life! As for Coronation, I am current but I meant to say I miss the Karl character because he played such a good part. I went out today with one of my boys and he treated me to a Butternut squash/Mango smoothie with kale and it picked me right up. I used to drink a daily green smoothie but stopped maybe this is why I am doing poorly. It dynamically uplifted me today. You are right about being less severe with the calories. My new motto will be to keep it simple. Mon/Wed was always my routine so I will stay with that. I find it tough to eat on Tues/Thurs because I have no desire but I will plan nutritious meals on those days instead of picking on whatever because I am supposed to eat. What is your opinion on calcium, VitD, and fish oil supplements?

@clairemarieI have taken a spoonful of cod liver oil daily ( now 5 days a week as not on fasting days because of the cals) for years since my sister who is a pharmacist told me about a study which she thought was sound that showed it helped to protect cartilage from degenerating. I also take vitamen D daily as a sublingual spray . I have an underactive thyroid and saw an endocrinologist a few years ago who recommended it. She said most people in this country are deficient to a degree . A blood test at that time showed my level was low although not extremely so.
I also take glucosamine for my joints and read recently that a study had showed it had other benefits in the elderly - can't remember what though. I am taking sage for hot sweats although will stop when I finish the current pack. I take a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement and a probiotic capsule, the last to try and alleviate constipation caused by 5:2. Finally I take low dose aspirin as that has been shown to be protective agaist several cancers. I only take that 3 days a week as I have a tendency to bruise easily and I don't want to cause a haemorrhage anywhere significant. All this on top of my precribed medication!!!!

@Lil are you dealing with arthritis? I just started taking these supplements because it seems to be advised when your over fifty. Good news I think I weighed myself this a.m. and back to 176. Just one day after my weigh in day. Can I change my tracker or is that cheating? How was your Shakespearean event?

happy Monday @Lil.Fasting is where it's at today. Made some bone broth yesterday so I am ready for today. You are so right to plan a nice satisfying meal for the end of fast. Picky here and picky there does set me up for sabotage.