The FastDay Forum

Hi all, I am looking for a buddy too. Anyone interested? I am 47, 5'1", 130lbs -want to lose 10 lbs and keep it off- tried just calorie counting but just couldn't manage it long term. Am new to this fasting, just two weeks in but am doing alright, especially since I was inundated with responses on my newbie thread! One on one buddy - ship would be terrific as well, though.

@stephd - if you haven't already got a response, I would be happy to be your buddy and help you along the way. I am in maintenance at the moment, experimenting with different approaches on how to keep the hard work from not being un-done.
I am 5"3 and 54 years old and my current weight is 110lb down from 127, so you seem to be at roughly the weight I was before 5:2.

I think I'm in need of a buddy, I've been maintaining for about 15 months but I've put on half a stone recently which I can't shift, mainly because I stopped fasting. I've got very lazy about it and I mess up every time I try to fast, now and then I'm successful but I've lost any enthusiasm I had when I first started 5:2.
I'm a vegetarian and eat mostly vegan foods but I'm not a 'foodie' - anything will do. I have an addiction for chocolate and biscuits lately. I'm one of the 'senior' members in this group, 69 in a few weeks.
So would anyone like to buddy up with an elderly veggie with very little will power?

Edit - My buddy doesn't necessarily have to be vegetarian

@coffeetime, whilst I have replied to stephd to help her along as she is a newby, I would also quite like a maintainance buddy. I have only been in maintainance since August but so far I am OK with it. It's early days for me and I don't know if/when I will slack. But at the moment I have plenty of enthusiasm to help anyone along.
I am not a foody either and like you it is sugar and chocolates that are my downfall rather than overeating at meal times however, I have found that sugar cravings are definitely reduced when I fast, which in itself is one of my greatest motivators to keep going.

leramul I'd love to be your buddy! do we send pms to each other? I don't know quite how to do that. I am fasting today, "Thursday" in my time zone . I didn't eat as much as I thought I would yesterday on my non fast day and actually, mostly, ate only when I was hungry. Something quite new for me as I usually eat everything in sight till I have stomach pain and sometimes even nausea. Crazy. I'm hoping today will go well. I am going to a friend's for tea after work today and she always has cake which I will somehow have to resist. I plan on bringing some clementines so I have something to eat if I get peckish, although I also plan on having a big salad before I go to her place. Maybe I won't get hungry at all which doesn't necessarily mean I won't want some cake LOL. I WILL resist .

How often do you fast to maintain? and do you have to keep within 1400 to 1600 calories on non fast days? I'm not very active so 1400 is my limit. Very easy to go over that. Having to relearn how to eat properly.

Hi @stephd thanks for accepting me as your buddy. I am pleased that you are planning/thinking ahead what might want to trip you up. You seem to be very motivated EXCELLENT. You will find that you find your hunger spot as time goes on and eat more mindfully. Taking some fruit along to friend is brilliant idea. I don't always tell people that I am doing 5:2 as I don't feel like explaining and justifying myself all the time. Then I just say: "You know how much I like sweet/cake, but I have to reign it in a bit so I have decided to have "good" days and"indulgent" days and today is my "good" day. "
I find that on fast days I don't have sugar cravings but I do still eat a bit of sugar on eating days. My TDEE is only 1300 sedentary but I do walk most days which probably adds another 100kcals.
In maintenance I have decided to keep fasting 2 - 3 days a week for 20-24 hrs and then have a meal of up to 600-700 kcals in the evening which is a luxury compared to when I was in weight loss mode and I only ate 350kcals on fast days. 600-700kcals is nicely filling for bedtime and it makes me go to sleep and feel less cold.
I'd rather keep fasting at a slighly higher kcal than fast only once week at a lower rate, because psychologically I would feel I stopped 5:2 and I want it to be a life-time solution.

Hi @Ieramul, thank you for the buddy offer, it will be great to have someone to help keep me on the straight and narrow. I hope that I will be able to be of help to you too, I seem to have lost my confidence lately. As you are buddies with @stephd, will that make us a threesome? I'm worrying that I might be a bad influence on somebody just starting out on this WOE I've got into some bad eating habits - not a good example to follow! What do you think?

Hi @Ieramul, thank you for the buddy offer, it will be great to have someone to help keep me on the straight and narrow. I hope that I will be able to be of help to you too, I seem to have lost my confidence lately. As you are buddies with @stephd, will that make us a threesome? I'm worrying that I might be a bad influence on somebody just starting out on this WOE I've got into some bad eating habits - not a good example to follow! What do you think?

@coffeetime - That is great!!! We can support each other with different experiences. I don't think you are a bad example whatsoever. I have had motivation issues in the past. Lets face it - this is a Way Of Life and we are all of an age where we know that life is not always straight. I believe you are a great example to everybody in the way that you have been fasting for a long time and not given up for good/came back.

I started in August 2012, reached my goal by Christmas of that year and could just not get back into it after the festivities in January as I was feeling too cold. In June 2013 I went back on the wagon having gained a few pounds and reached goal weight again by the winter. In June (2014) I started my third cycle and for some reason I found it harder this time. Maybe it was because I had less to lose 8lbs and I almost started to accept the weight I was. The reason I did give it another 4:3 push in July was that I worried that I might have reached a time in my life when I could not lose weight any more so it became a matter of proving to myself I could still do it. Since I found the last few pounds more difficult to shift, I am determined not to give up this time over the winter period. I just don't want to ever have to lose more than 3-4 lbs (or one or two months worth of serious fasting). I am trying to do three 24hr water fast followed by an evening meal of 600-700 kcals. It is no too cold as yet but I am hoping 600-700 kcals will give me enough fuel to sleep well and not to feel too cold.

@coffeetime we just need to experiment and find our individual way of how we can sustain this WOL. I look forward to being your support and I am sure you will be a tremendous help to me, too. I might not have given up in previous years, if I had had a fasting buddy and @steph can remind us of the time when we started and maybe learn that it is OK to sometimes struggle - we all do. And she won't be totally shocked but comforted that this is normal if/when she hits a bit of a rough patch.
I am fasting tomorrow (I really have been a bad girl on the sugar front on my eating day today) must repair the damage. Look forward to hearing from you.

Hi @skinnylii have posted your buddy request on post 1 now

@coffeetime, @stephdand @@Ieramul....congratz on being our new 3some you are buddy set 19

Thank you @Ieramul, now I really must try harder - see, it's working already! At least in my mind. I might join you and fast tomorrow but I couldn't go all day with just water, I do like to start the day with breakfast or I feel ill. I enjoy breakfast a little too much which is my undoing so I will try to eat a little later and eat less.

Hello @stephd, nice to be your buddy too

A big thank you to @Juliana.Rivers for setting this up, I'm sure it will be a great help as it must be to all the buddies.

@coffeetime - thanks yes lets give fasting a go today. Yes I am glad that on waking I am rarely hungry. Yesterday I had a bit of a binge (whole packet) on Jelly bears and I have a mental vision of how they all expanded in my tummy. so that makes me full.

If I start eating I get hungrier so I have no option but to fast as long as possible. Thank god for coffee. What a saviour. @coffeetime judging by your name you are a bit of a coffee fan too? I do however start drinking herbal and green teas in the afternoon to not completely overload the system.

@steph how did your fast go yesterday ... and did you manage to resist? Don't worry we understand. Where do you live?

Got to go to work. It's always easier at work since the stuff in the fridge is not mine no temptation apart from a Lidl next door (massive temptation) speak later.

Hi @Ieramul, I hope everything is going well for you so far today, I had a small (for me) late breakfast which was less than 150 calories so I have at least 350 left for later, I'll be having a bouillon drink at lunchtime and probably a homemade soup or stirfried vegetables with some veggie protein for dinner. I just have to keep my chocolate addiction at bay after that - which is the hardest part.
...And a big hello to @stephd, I hope your fast went well yesterday, I look forward to hearing about your progress in the coming months, and along with @Ieramul, helping to get you over the many teething problems which we all have at first. Wishing you good luck with this WOE, I'm sure you will do well.

There is a Buddy Chat Tent in the Fastonbury Glamping Grounds section, perhaps it would be better for us to talk there and keep this thread free for anyone searching for buddies?

@coffeetime well done so far, KEEP STRONG. I know the real challenge is always in the evening - on fast days because of hunger and on eating days because of cravings (although for me a bit reduced).

You are right this is not the right thread and we should find other options. I have not been doing much in this forum apart from respond to the odd topic so I am not quite sure what the options are, how we can have our buddy chats. I have tried pm with @steph yesterday and that worked very well. I am not fussed how we communicate - whatever is most convenient and your option might be easier?? Just to keep you in the loop I will forward my correspondence with steph so far and then we can decide how we want to support each other. @steph what do you think/prefer.

Hi Coffeetime, yesterday went well. I wasn't even tempted by the cake my friend had on the table, not that is until I was leaving when I thought, maybe I could take a piece home for tomorrow. I know myself too well, though. I would have eaten it the minute I got home and then my fasting all day would be moot. I had forgotten all about bouillon, that would have been a nice change from all the tea I drank .

How is your fasting going today leramul and coffeetime? managing to resist the chocolate? I'm wondering what the time is in your part of the world. Where are you? I am in Ontario, Canada. I am like you leramul, I am usually not hungry in the mornings at all. I don't eat until 1:30 or 2 in the afternoon. On my work days not until 3ish. This morning, though, I am hungry but I will be heading off to work soon and that will keep me occupied. I can't wait to have a beef dip sandwich. If I eat now I won't be hungry at all after work so wouldn't splurge on the sandwich which I VERY much want . I know it isn't the best choice but I don't care lol. I just went out and bought groceries, lots of veggies. Oh, my, just had a thought. I shouldn't be talking about food with you two fasting! Hard not to think of food, though lol. Resist, resist, resist that chocolate and the shop next door. Is it a bakery or sweet store beside your work leramul?

leramul is attempting to correspond through private messaging so hopefully we will be able to exchange messages that way.

Happy fasting!

Hi all,
I'm looking for a fasting buddy to help with my motivation.
I've been fasting for a few weeks but since last week I've lost my motivation and my weight is creeping up by the day

Help please