The FastDay Forum

Ok, let's try again!

@Tracieknits and @Sassy1 - good job on sticking to your goals this week (so far!) I have to decide where to put the stars, since our goals are longer this time!

I've done pretty well. Yesterday my routine got thrown off a bit and I didn't get my exercise in and went over on my carbs. I did resist a brownie from my mom and made a reasonable choice when I went out to dinner with her unplanned. Luckily, The scale was still down this morning.

This weekend is going to be a little tougher. Today I'm going to a picnic. I can skip the buns for the hot dogs and burgers, but the chocolate cake might be hard to resist. Tomorrow is going to be worse. I'm taking a friend to the NY Botanical Gardens for her birthday and afterwards we are going to dinner on Arthur Ave. a.k.a. "Little Italy", so I WILL be having bread and pasta and probably dessert. I guess the best I can try to do is maybe get a salad with it and some protein! I do have my 2 "splurge" days, but of course I don't want to undo everything I did this week.

I'm planning to get my walk in this evening after the party and we will get plenty of walking in tomorrow!

Good luck to everyone this weekend!

Thanks @cblasz

Sounds like you did well during the week, and I hope you manage(d) both of your weekend events in a way you are happy enough with!

Sticking to our ideal eating plan is always tricky when we do not have control over the food being offered. That is my other main remaining challenge - not so bad when it is a meal here and there, but when on a catered holiday I have real problems. Don't do many of those, just as well!

Although my first week of the challenge is not officially over until tomorrow, it is now nearly bedtime and so I think I can safely say that I have gone a whole week without overeating in the evening. Must be a first - well, a first for quite a while. And I do feel so much better for not having over eaten. And I managed a fast/light day as well!

The commitment aspect has certainly helped. I have still had a small piece of chocolate every night with my after dinner cuppa, but been able to limit myself to just one (did have two one night). Feeling pleased! May this behaviour continue!

Hope others are happy with their progress.

Hi all, can I join late? I've been 5/2ing this time since 18th June, the day I weighed in over 'normal' weight for the first time since my last 5/2 (goodness knows how long ago). For some reason I thought this forum had closed - great that it hasn't as I need all the extra motivation that's going.

My goal by 31st July is to weigh 11st 5.5 - that'll be 7`lbs dropped in 6 weeks. There are no other goals and I'm going well so far - just under 11st 8 on Sat, so under 1lb a week to lose for the next three weeks.

Hope you'll have me!

[Tracieknits]

Great job @Sassy1!!!

Glad to have you here @WarriorPrincess! And it's great you came back and got back on it with only 7 regained. So many let it balloon out of control before they decide they need to intervene. Well done!


Cblasz - any reduction is a good reduction. Repeat after me, any reduction is a good reduction. *deep breath* How often do you plan outings like this weekends? If it's a couple of times a year thing, then be satisfied with enjoying yourself, having the foods you wanted and reducing the quantities that you ate. Now if this is a monthly event, then it's time to be stricter. But in all my many many years of dieting, I've found I do better when I have one "FIA" day per week. Maybe I don't throw the rule book entirely away, but I have what I want, I don't stress so badly about the calories and I try to enjoy what I wanted *in moderation* I might take a piece of chocolate cake, but instead of having the whole thing and maybe getting a second, I'll share it with Bruce or just take a tiny piece. But I'll have it and enjoy every bite. I think that's one of the reasons 5:2 was so attractive to me. The times I've done best at losing weight, I've had lighter days and a splurge day every single week. Sometimes two splurge days, but in those cases I need to be stricter, not so "F it all" and not have everything I wanted.

Good morning!
We are about a week into our challenge. I've added a place for stars. Please update me on your progress if you haven't already!

@WarriorPrincess - welcome aboard!

I'm very disappointed that I ruined all of last week's hard work with my indulgent weekend. I am down 1/2 pound, but I'm up almost 2 lbs. from where I was on Saturday morning. So no stars for me yet. And truth be told, I'm not sure any of it was really worth it!

But I will get right back on track again today. I will weigh myself again tomorrow, in hopes that some of it is just water retention!

Thanks @Tracieknits! I'm still very disappointed. I do think it is good to have a bit of a splurge day, but I need to be more careful. Unfortunately, it is summer vacation. I am off from work, so I will be doing a lot more weekend (and weekday) things. My sister and her 2 small children are coming to CT next weekend, in a couple of weeks I'm going to DC for a few days. I need to be more committed and find a way to stay on track despite these "special" occasions.

[Tracieknits]

Thanks @Tracieknits! I'm still very disappointed. I do think it is good to have a bit of a splurge day, but I need to be more careful. And it is summer vacation. I am off from work, so I will be doing a lot more weekend (and weekday) things. My sister and her 2 small children are coming to CT next weekend, so that's going to be difficult too. I need to be more committed.

well look at it as a learning experience. If it's not making you super happy, don't eat it because it's not a treat. When I'm having something naughty and I'm having a good week, I make an effort to taste every bit. For example, last night I had plenty of carbs left in my allowance. I decided to splurge on a bit of Friendly's Forbidden Chocolate ice cream (17g carbs per 1/2 cup). I got a small scoop into my 1/2 cup ramekin, actually it was a bit less than 1/2 cup. I added a small squirt of whipped cream, got a spoon and sat down to enjoy it. I took my time and tasted every bite, checking each time "is this still worth it?" That's the key for me. if you take the bite and it's delicious, it's worth it. Often though, after the third bite, something indulgent isn't nearly as good as it was 2 bites ago. I can often put the fork down after a few bites and decide "nope, not actually worth it".

Tell your sister that you are making these changes to be healthier. She should be willing to support you. I'm more than used to young kids needing their own special meals anyway. My niece and nephew never like what we're having.

And if all else fails, reduce portion sizes of the worst offenders and have more salad. Or more cheese. We do what we can.

It's not about my sister. She's like a size 0. It's just about me being able to eat right, when I'm not at home, not making my own meals etc. So, yes, I'm perfectly fine with being disappointed and trying to learn from it. I couldn't really decide dinner wasn't worth it and stop eating it and that was more in hindsight anyway. It was good, it was just not great.

[Tracieknits]

Well I wish you lots of luck!!

So my weight is down a bit more today -- which is surprising because while I was careful over the weekend, I was allowing myself 125g carbs, not 60. I was kind of thinking I'd only lose on the days I really restrict (Mon, Tue, Thurs). So this morning I was down to 70.5 pounds down from my high. I'll take it! It inspired me to behave this morning too. So far today, I've had roughly five carbs. three were in a reduced carb wrap that I filled with scrambled eggs and cheddar (Trader Joe's reduced carb tortillas), and 2 were from some deli ham that I just ate with sliced swiss.

Tonight we're having burgers and I set aside 30g carbs for the bun. I'm still hemming and hawing over whether I"ll have it, or whether I'll do something a bit lower in carbs. In any case, keeping it under 60g should be hard today.

Tonight we're having burgers and I set aside 30g carbs for the bun. I'm still hemming and hawing over whether I"ll have it, or whether I'll do something a bit lower in carbs. In any case, keeping it under 60g should be hard today.

Why don't you split the difference and just have half a bun? I usually pick the best looking bun half and place the burger and lettuce, tomato . . whatever on top !!!!

[Tracieknits]

OOoh, that's an idea!

I saw a typo - I meant "NOT" hard today. it's 4:30, I just had a wee snack of 4 olives and a few slices of salami. I've only had about 5 carbs today so far. Even if I add grilled onions to my burger and a side of string beans, I should be definitely under 60. (3 in a trader joe's reduced carb tortilla and 1 in two eggs. Who knew eggs had any carbs? My Fitness Pal claims there is 1 carb in 2 eggs. My salami has a carb in 1 oz, and I've probably had about an ounce).

Tonight - burger with bun (30g) some grilled/sauteed onions (5g ish), mayo, hot sauce, cheese and a side of string beans (about 8g). so about 48. I may add half of an avocado for a few more carbs.

I was at a meeting with a friend today and she does not remember when we worked together on Kirsten Gillibrand's first campaign for congress. So I just found an old photo. Or two. Definitely before photos. sigh.



and me more recently, about 72 pounds lighter, with only 1 chin

Wow, @Tracieknits, what illustrious company! How you must despair of the current situation...

And what a difference in you, you must be so pleased with what you have achieved. How long ago was the photo with Hillary? I can't remember whether your weight has yo-yo'd a lot, or whether you just gradually gained?

You look great - do you really need to be so severe with the carbs?? (Though I would still ditch the bun in favour of wholegrains and starchy veg... Unless the bun is wholegrain!)

[Tracieknits]

Despair could be correct, but it seems a little weak for what I feel, frankly. Sigh.

Thanks for the comments! Those photos were 2006. I've been on a downward slope since about 2011, with my regains limited to about 12 pounds max (twice). There have been plateaus and there has been maintenance. Each time I've dropped a bit, I've loosened up a little in order to simply practice maintaining and teach my body a new setpoint for weight. I gained the first chunk of weight in about 1995 after a boyfriend tried to kill himself (seriously, bastard). And I gained the second chunk while my husband was deployed in the gulf war in 1998. Sigh. He came home from that heavier too (Navy).

The 60g carbs is actually my new endocrinologist's request. My first endocrinologist told me "aim for 125g/day, but anywhere between 100 and 150g/day is fine" The new one said that's only good for maintenance and if I want to lose weight I need to stick to 60g, and he showed me the dietdoctor.com website and told me to use it for recipes. Sigh. So I'm compromising - 125g (ish) four days per week and 60 for three.

The bun is actually a gorgeous (white) bun baked by a local Italian bakery and it's really high quality and lovely - it's not supermarket crap. I actually don't know where to get any high quality comparable wholemeal buns. High quality wholegrain bread? yes. Buns? Nope. The ones at the supermarket that are wholemeal are not worth the carb count, imho. I do like whole grains generally. But for some reason there's a hole in the market where decent whole grain hamburger buns should be.

Lovely photos, @Tracieknits. Appreciated the story of your journey to this point as well. Good luck.

Hi @Tracieknits

I do know what you mean by good white bread/rolls. For me, a crusty French stick is hard to pass up, and I know what you mean about finding equivalent whole grain rolls - most of them just don't cut it. That being said, we do have a store called Bakers Delight that I believe has good quality bread. I checked their ingredients for their cape seed loaf, which they also make as rolls, and they look good. Taste good too. But there is something about crusty white bread, especially just out of the oven and smothered in butter, that is hard to beat!! I do love bread but considerably reducing the amount I have is one of the changes that I have been comfortable making to my diet. Bread is one of those carbs that I find hard to stop at one piece...

Thanks for the other info. The contributing factors to your weight gain are very understandable. Those events must have been very traumatic for you. You must be very pleased with the results once you decided to change your eating behavior - good for you for sticking with it for so long, and being able to (more or less!) maintain at each "set point".

I do recall you saying that your endocrinologist recommended the 60g of carbs a day - but I do think your plan of having higher carbs some days is reasonable. I know that low carbs is optimal for weight loss, but (nutritious) carbs are important for our overall health. So it's a balance. How much weight does your doctor want you to lose before s/he is happy? I can't believe that you will only lose weight if you limit carbs to 60g a day, but I guess time will tell.

Good luck!