The FastDay Forum

Even though I am doing the June Solstice Challenge, I still want to do a weekly challenge. Except I want to do it like I originally intended and focus on ONE thing each week. I'll be focusing on a lot of things each week in general, but this is the place I will especially work on something new or something I'm struggling with. So, this week I will be working on reducing my carbs. My goal will be under 100g each day. I've already done my grocery shopping and planned my meals for the week, so I should be in good shape! I'm not going to worry about it as much on the weekends, but still going to try to make lower carb choices.

What is your challenge/goal for the week?

I like the idea of weekly challenges too, @cblasz, thanks for getting this going again. And I like the idea of concentrating on one strategy. Though not sure if the one I propose quite qualifies as a strategy?!

In line with my Solstice challenge, this week I want to really try to tune in to my actual hunger, and eat accordingly.

I am feeling quite good after a reasonably light day yesterday, and would love to have this feeling every day!

It would be great if our other Solstice challengers also used the weekly challenge to concentrate on particular eating behaviours to help them reach their goal...

I certainly thing your challenge for the week is a "strategy!" I think it makes sense! I do think it is hard to track though. But hopefully you will know. Good luck with it!

My first day of reduced carbs went well. I even got in some veggies! I made delicious shrimp fajitas that were extremely filling!

Have a great week!

Thanks @cblasz

I did have a good day yesterday in terms of eating according to hunger. It certainly helps not having chocolate In the evening... unfortunately!!!

I do find it harder to judge hunger at the end of the day, especially as I do not want to go to bed hungry. Will see how I go.

Great to hear you ate veggies!!!

My challenge for this week will to actually stick to three fast days after months of only doing the occasional fast - and eating anything and everything in between! One down and two to go for this week! Fingers crossed and good luck with your challenges @cblasz and @Sassy1

@Sassy1 - I know you said you don't like dark chocolate, but I wonder if you couldn't get used to it, if you started switching over. It's good for you and it's very hard to eat too much of it.

Many years ago, I drink regular coke like crazy. I NEVER thought I'd switch to diet soda, but when I started Weight Watchers for the first time and realized how many points it was I decided I had to. I started with diet Dr. Pepper, which tastes almost like regular soda and now I don't even like regular soda. (BTW, I don't drink that much soda in general anymore, but when I do, I drink diet.)

I have pretty much given up regular candy/chocolate, but every so often a square or two of dark chocolate does the trick.

Just a thought!

Good luck with your fasts this week @StowgateResident. I think even if you got 2 in, that would be a good accomplishment after so long!

I don't disagree with what you say at all, @cblasz - maybe after all the Easter choc is gone I could try switching to dark chocolate - again... I have given this a go in the past, but certainly didn't like it as much (it's the creaminess of milk chocolate I like) but I guess I would get used to it, as so many others have. (I can however eat a whole block of dark chocolate at one sitting...!!)

Am still going okay with hunger driven eating this week, though I did have some choccie late last night, after a stressful evening. I decided that a small amount of chocolate for comfort was fine given the circumstances.

Hope you and stowgateresident are going okay too.

@Sassy1 - good luck with whatever you decide to do. You must not eat too much as you've maintained your weight pretty well. My boss keeps chocolate at school and brings it to meetings and stuff, and it's just easier for me to swear it off altogether. I buy the really dark chocolate - like 70% cocoa or more and I find that I can't eat too much of that at once. Regular dark chocolate, like Hershey's special dark, I could.

I'm doing pretty well this week, but may have gone over my carbs a bit yesterday. I had to be at school all day until after 7:30 last night. I brought my lunch and a banana for snack and thought I'd be ok until I got home to have dinner. But I had some students volunteering for something and we bought them a pizza. Well, after resisting for about 2 hours, I ended up eating the last 2 slices (cold!) They were small slices though and I didn't have anything else. So I feel ok about it. If I did go over, it wasn't by too much.

Hi again @cblasz

You are right, if I bought really high content cocoa dark chocolate I doubt I could overeat it. But not much point eating any of it if I don't like it!! Will see...

As you say, I have done okay re weight "maintenance". As you know, I no longer weigh myself, but based on the measurements I had to take for a costume, I think I am around 60kg, possibly a bit more. This is an okay weight for my height. (Though if I had never got to 55kg (and lower) I would have been more content with 60 ...!!!).

However, as I have said quite a bit of late, it is not my weight but my eating habits that concern me, ie the overeating and finding ways to minimise this. (Also going on holidays where I can't get enough veggies and fruit to eat are a problem for me, I find it very hard to limit the amount of carb food I eat when there are not healthy alternatives available. I eat a lot of veggies compared to most people I think, and quite a lot of fruit, though I have cut back on the amount of fruit I used to eat. Veggies fill me up, which no other food does.)

I maintained my goal weight pretty well for the first couple of years after losing weight (easily) on 5:2. But I came to realise that I was only able to maintain that loss by continuing with 2 fast days a week. This meant I was overeating on other days. Since then I have been trying to find ways to limit the overeating... And, as I have also said elsewhere, I find I just "cannot" do a fast day anymore, unless I have really overindulged the day before.

As per the challenges, I have decided that I need to try much harder to concentrate on eating according to hunger, and to give up some habits that I know are bad (eg snacking and reading).

Time will tell if I can manage this...

Good luck and best wishes as usual for sticking with a way of eating that you are happy with.

Hi again @cblasz

You are right, if I bought really high content cocoa dark chocolate I doubt I could overeat it. But not much point eating any of it if I don't like it!! Will see...

Well, the point would be that it would be a healthier substitute for milk chocolate, that you might actually grow to like. (They have a lot of different varieties that might help.) I guess it's kind of like you thinking I should eat more veggies even though I don't like them! But, it is not really a priority right now for me to eat more veggies (although I do try to eat some) and so maybe it's not a priority for you to give up milk chocolate!

Also, as we get older we have to accept that we might not get to as low a weight as we once were and it might be better not to. If your BMI is accurate, I wouldn't think you should be much lower. The first time I lost weight on Weight Watchers (about 15 years ago now) I got down to about 135 lbs. I have no expectation of getting back down that far and I know if I did it would be very hard to maintain. I would like to get down to 140 maybe, but I'm going to play it by ear and see how it goes.

Anyway, I'm doing pretty good with the challenge this week. I resisted many baked goods and candy bars yesterday at school and managed to successfully fast. It did help that I came home a little earlier than I normally would after report card conferences and was ready to eat. It might be harder next Thursday, if I stay at school until 5 or 6. I'm looking forward to splurging a bit this weekend, but not too much, so as not to ruin my hard work!

Good luck with the rest of the week!

Hmm, not sure about equating veggies with dark chocolate, but I do understand the point you are making!!

The BMI shown is not my current one, it is from when I was still weighing which is ages ago now, when I was close to goal. I did say that my current weight is an okay one for my height, maybe that was not clear - I have also made the point elsewhere about us accepting that a higher weight might be what we have to do as we age.

But I am not alone here with liking being a bit slimmer, there have been quite a few forum members who are around my age or older who (try to) maintain lower BMIs. I still have plenty of padding around my tummy and thighs!

However, as I said, the more important thing I am trying to achieve is to have more "control" over my eating. And, you are right, eliminating milk chocolate may need to be the way to go to help with that! And you are also right that I am not ready to do that yet!