The FastDay Forum

Every week we will have a challenge thread where you can set a challenge/goal for yourself for that week. Anyone is welcome to start the thread or join in. If someone else's challenge sounds good to you, you can do that one or create your own. It should be a habit that will help you reach your goal. (It can even be unrelated to weight loss if you want!) Then during the week and at the end of the week you can report on your progress.

Well here is my unimpressive report card for last week:

1) Limit sweets (especially during the week) - 1x
2) Green tea every evening - 4x
3) 15 minute walk every day - 3x
4) Glass of water in AM - 7x
5) Stick to 7 or 8 hour eating window - 3x
6) Read for 15-20 minutes per day - 3x
7) Glass of water in PM - 5x

That's a total of 26/49. So I obviously need to step it up. I have more challenges I want to add, but I won't until I get these down. My birthday is in a month, so for the next month I want to try to be very good. My goal will to be to do each of these things at least 5x this week.

Thanks for starting the thread for this week.... I was just about to do it and you beat me by a couple of minutes!@@cblasz

I have an unimpressive report card too....

Last week Friday was a big fail.... I didn't stick to my 500 cal. I'm thinking I'll now just resolve to make it a Monday & Wednesday challenge to stick to 500cal, and Friday becomes a quasi fast whereby I fast all day and party all night! Woo hoo!
I guess I'm adapting my mind to what I'm actually capable of sticking to.

Good luck all with your challenges!

Hi @Cblasz, you did okay with some of your challenges! Well, the drinks of water at least... I know you have reflected on the reasons why you haven't been able to meet the other challenges. Have you thought of ways you can overcome these reasons eg by getting more precise, such as saying that you will read 15 minutes before bedtime.

@Wakki22, 2 "proper" fastdays and one day of going a longish time before eating does sound more manageable. As you say, you do need to find something that is achievable for you. I don't think you have much weight you want to lose, if my memory serves me right, so a slightly more gentle approach sounds sensible.

As mentioned in my fasting today post, I would like to get back on track with my eating challenges this week. I took a week off from those last week. It is only 2 weeks until we go away for 3 weeks holiday, and I know that fasting or any sort of food restriction does not happen for me on holiday...

Surprisingly, I managed to do better with my non-eating challenges last week, and will keep those up (these are lifetime changes I want to make).

With eating, it's back to limiting the amount of sugary processed foods (generally chocolate.......) to an average of 200 cals per day.

I look forward to reading how everyone went last week, and plans for this week.

Best wishes and good luck.

@sassy1 - yes I often place high expectations on myself, and end up falling well short...
Good luck with your challenges & the non-eating ones! 2 weeks will go by quickly and you'll be holidaying in no time! (I so look forward to holidays )

@wakki22 - I think that sounds like a great plan. This WOE needs to be something that you can stick with and I think 3 fasting days is really hard. But, it's a good idea to fast part of the day on Friday, to prepare for indulging later!

@Sassy1 - I'm glad you are back with us this week and that you did well with your non-weight challenges! Hopefully you can do well leading up to vacation and then reward yourself a bit. As for me, I just need to buckle down and commit to my goals. Part of it is definitely that I work two jobs, so much schedule is a little crazy and because I'm tired a lot. But that's no excuse for some of the things (like having sweets when I shouldn't!) I think it's better for me if I don't make them more specific and keep them flexible. I think I have a better chance of accomplishing them that way! I also think that by setting my goal to meeting them 5x a week instead of 7 will help too.

Well, have a great week everyone and good luck with your challenges!!

I'm happy to say that I met ALL my challenges yesterday! I know it's just one day, but it's a good start!!

oooh well done @cblasz!!

I did ok - my meal on Monday came to 734 Cals - working on it. Today, I hope to kick the 500 Cal goal

PS - what is your acronym WOE stand for?

Thanks! Today I didn't get my walk in, but I am allowed to miss 2 days, so that will be one of them.

734 is not too bad!!

WOE = Way of Eating!

Unfortunately my week got sabotaged again, and I decided (again) not to worry about food restrictions, but am trying to keep up the other challenges.

I having been thinking more about food as a comfort. I think it was @loversghost who prompted me with one of her comments. Although ideally (?) food "should" only be eaten in response to hunger, that is not realistic for most of us. And depending who/what you read, there are positive arguments for food meeting other needs. The problem for me is that eating for reasons other than hunger can easily lead to eating too much - and continuing to eat when the eating is no longer giving particular pleasure.

It is hard to find other "comforts" that are as accessible and rewarding (at the time) as food. I guess it is about reprogramming the brain. That's difficult.

Any thoughts anyone?

Hey @Sassy1 - I'm sorry you are having another tough week. I think it is very hard not to turn to food in times of stress or as comfort. It is still better than smoking or drinking or things like that. I think sometimes you have more important things to worry about and if that's what's helping you through, than so be it! The only other suggestions I have are maybe a nice walk if you are able to or calling a friend or maybe a hot cup of tea instead of food.

But, you are certainly not that large that it's going to be THAT big a problem and just try not to let it get too out of hand. When you are able to, you will get back on track.

I think that if it's a temporary thing, it's ok, but if it's your regular WOL then you have to worry about it more.

I hope that helps some?? Good luck!

I did come here to brag a little. I'm still doing well with my challenges this week and knowing that I have to do them 5X but get 2 days off from each is very helpful. So today was a co-workers birthday and I stopped and got her 6 cupcakes from a bakery on the way to work. And then a group of girls got together with her afterschool to eat them. I joined in the gathering, but did not eat one. I already used one treat day yesterday and I know Saturday will be one, so I didn't have any days left! But I was happy that everyone else enjoyed them!

@Sassy1 I get you. And this week was another fail for me in the hours when I'm not fasting. I can't seem to get my head around the idea that I'm smaller now, so I don't need so much food anymore... Its part of my identity to guzzle large quantities of water/beer and devour a whole bag of Kettle chilli chips in one sitting...


And Hi Five to you @cblasz Champion!!!

I'm wanting to be a winner next week too.

I was wanting to modify the fast from 3:4 to 5 days - but without worrying about calories everyone of those days - just like my Fridays. I can cope with not eating all day long until dinner time.
But the truth is that I'm just running away from having to limit myself to 500 cals on the two fast days. I have to face that fact.

So 5:2 + modified Friday fast it is. They say successful people are the ones that pick themselves up after they fall and try again.

Thanks @Wakki22! I'll be back later with the final results of my week. Mostly good, but still needs some work!

I'm wondering if you should consider eating windows instead? And you can make your window as short as you want, but not worry so much about calories during that window? Just a thought, if you are struggling with the 500 cals!

But also you say you overdue it with the snacking and such, so sort of opposite to what I said, I wonder if tracking calories or even just journaling your food would help with that? If you have to write it down, sometimes you'll choose not to eat it? Or maybe limit yourself to one or two days that you can have chips or some other indulgence. That worked so well for me this week. Knowing I could have sweets twice, made it easier not to eat them the other days.

Just some thoughts. Of course you need to find what works best for you!!