The FastDay Forum

A nice piece about successful weight loss and weight maintenance in Lifehacker. I've quoted part below but the whole is a decent read:

The phrase “going on a diet” is a bit misleading. It implies a journey, with a defined beginning and an end. In reality, there is no end.

This insight stems from a very dark, personal experience. My first fitness “transformation” relied on pure willpower to get through. My spartan regimen was made up of perfectly timed meals consisting of chicken and broccoli, as well as an hour of cardio every morning. I did this for four months, lost 20 kilos, and placed in a bodybuilding competition. I thought I was finally finished dieting…and things began to unravel.

Like most competitors, I celebrated by a (perhaps excessive) dinner. I woke up the next day 10 kilos heavier. While I knew it was water, the overwhelming sense of guilt created a vicious cycle: I would console myself with food, then feel worse, eat more and begin the cycle again. Within a mere two months, I regained all 20 kilos (and then some) and was back to my original weight.

The above is a cautionary tale, because it’s not uncommon for those who think that diets have an “end”. In fact, most people who lose weight return to their pre-diet weight within three years.

If you rely on willpower, rather than learning the “language” of fitness, sure you’ll reach an “end” — but it won’t be a happy or sustainable. Everything you do should be sustainable and pass the litmus test of “Could I live like this forever?”

That’s because if you’re successful, there is no end. You’ll always have to work to incorporate fitness as a part of your new life — one where fitness is as important to you as eating, sleeping, and sex. But you won’t regret a minute of your journey, because it’s a better life.

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/03/fo ... ight-loss/

Over my acceptable range for the second weekly weighing in a row. By 1/2 pound, which I'm aware is nothing. But I'm still aggravated. Probably I need more exercise. I haven't been running lately. Mostly it's been cold and snowy. But that's not an excuse as I could go to the gym. Also yesterday was 26 degrees C (a record here) and I didn't run then either. Aargh! Back to 5:2, methinks (from the 6:1 I've been following for a year or so).

I am in my second week of not fasting and glad to report that the relentless hunger has abated. I'm eating quite a lot of carbs but not excessive amounts of food. Weight was 142.6 this morning which is in the range I've been in for a while. I want to lower the carbs some as my blood sugar is a bit higher than is good for me, but first I want to keep on calming down that starvation response. Apparently it wasn't the carbs so much as too much dieting which caused the dominating hunger. I am also losing a lot of hair which suggests I had stressed my body too much. This happened to me years ago after a prolonged period of dieting.

I'm glad the relentless hunger is calming down. That was disturbing. And I'm glad that so far I'm maintaining okay without the fasts.

That's good news @peebles you must be feeling relieved.

My current challenge is (still) to keep to TDEE (rather than fast) but, although I am not going way over quite as much as I used to, I am exceeding by a couple of hundred cals. The problem continues to be eating in the evening... I have managed to reduce this, but not quite enough.

I have reintroduced some fast days, prior to going away for a month. This is not so much as an antidote to the excess, but to ensure I start the holiday as light as I can be!!

I have decided not to weigh very often. At this stage in my weight maintenance, weighing myself does not result in improved eating behaviour... I will weigh just before going away though.

I have updated my progress tracker, at last. As well as the increased %body fat, I do seem to bloat much more quickly than I used to - though I have always had a tendency to do so. Even after a fast, I seem more bloated and don't get the same sort of empty tummy feeling that I used to get. When I get back from holiday, I will look further into avoiding the foods that increase bloating - unfortunately these include some of my favourite fruit and veg.

I am finding this month's posts very interesting. They resonate with me. I have long had the (what I thought silly) notion that changes in diet seem to confuse or challenge my body in some way and I seem to be able to counter any gaining and often lose a bit of weight.

My problem has always been carbs - more importantly carb-sugar-fat combintions. I am currently trying to eat no-sugar for 6 days a week and on the whole I am feeling so much better and eat so much more healthy food. I am lucky that naturally I am not a foody. Until 5:2, I never experienced hunger (just hypoglycemic attacks) and I experienced the feeling of hunger as liberating. Since the Michael Mosely programme I have been doing 5:2 over the summer period getting to goal and then stopping just to gain about 1lb a month over the winter/spring period just to lose it again by Christmas. I joined this forum because I didn't want to fall off the wagon this year and start again in the summer.

Your posts have made me thinking that I might not be as silly as I thought. Whilst I am still maintaining at the top of my range (I was 2lb lighter before Christmas), I am thinking that my weight does not come down as easily as before.

I am glad that I started the no-sugar lent as it makes me eat more "good food" and at the same time more filling food. The change in diet has certainly shifted my weight into the right direction again. Even a total one-off sugar binge on Sunday did not show up on the scales. I have been thinking of doing 6:1 and combine it with a way of eating that suited me years ago but found too difficult to sustain as a WOL but now I am wondering if I can't allocate certain days to it.

What 5:2 has taught me is that sustainability is possible as long as we give ourselves permission to eat what we enjoy on certain days, as long as it is not a life-sentence. We need to have good and bad days. The bad days just need to be a lot less.

So maybe I should attempt my WOE of years ago (Food Combining) for 4 days a week including one 24hr fast (preferably after a good splurge day (Mondays) and have a couple of days I will not monitor or restrict in any way (weekend) I dont want to give up the Monday fasts as I find them good for re-setting my system and not very difficult (as opposed to Thursday ones).

Today is an eating day for me, which I started with 2 scrambled eggs for breakfast and a 50g of mixed nuts for late morning snack. I will probably have some fruit (apples) for lunch and then a normal supper tonight. I am trying to keep processed carbs as low as possible to fend off my sugar craving and in the last three days it has worked. I love when I have this feeling that I give my body good nutritious food - it is a motivator in itself.

My high this week was 2 lbs over my limit. But today, after fasting yesterday, I'm back down to my goal weight of 135 lbs. What a WOE!!

I'd like to have a lower range, more wiggle-room, but then, I feel comfortable and my clothes fit, so what's not to love? Actually, I'm going to try to rein in the evening snacking by adding carbonated water to feel full and substituting some almonds, or veggie sticks for carbs and sweets--I have been overindulging a little.

I know that daily weighing is nervous-making for some people, but I find it keeps me on top of knowing what's going on all the time and feeling able to correct whatever needs correcting right away.

Ugh! Food control out the window all week, courtesy of a new no-knead bread recipe. (I know, I know, but I hadn't baked bread in literally decades and this one made bread that was so delicious!)

So I'm up to 143.8 lbs (two pounds up since I last posted) and back to fasting today (5:2) after two weeks of no fasts. I'll fast for the next two weeks, then we are going on vacation and I will be enjoying my food for the next two weeks. After that, fasting again. We'll see how this works. I really don't want to regain everything I lost over last year.

Good luck, @peebles!

I'm also here to report going over my upper limit Today I weighed 65.4kg. I'm really annoyed with myself. Not that long ago I was at 63.7kg. And since I decided to set my window as 63-65, I haven't gone over 65 until now. Hopefully a fast or two will sort it out. There have been a lot of leaving parties lately, that involved a lot of drinking. If I cut down on alcohol, in addition to fasting, I think I'll be ok...

@PeeblesI love no knead bread too. For a few years I had a sourdough starter and made weekly sourdough no knead bread. Unfortunately, we don't eat enough bread any longer and the starter was like a pet that needed looking after, so I gave it up. But I still bake with yeast at the weekend. It isn't much work, just needs a lot of time.

Have you come a cross the web site breadtopia? The rye bread there is to die for http://breadtopia.com/sourdough-rye-bread/ It is made with with caraway, anise and fennel seed, mollasses, and zest of orange is the most aromatic bread in the world. (I half the amount of seeds though and grind it in a mill)

Ieramul, I had actually seen that recipe, and now with your recommendation, I will have to try it. But not right now! First I have to get rid of those 2+ lbs that came join me when I was baking.

The fast yesterday went really well. I wasn't at all hungry and today eating is quite contained. So that's good.

[carorees]

My maintenance report for the last week.

Max 64.4kg (today), Min 63.2 kg (Friday), trend weight 63.8kg. Maintenance range 63 to 65kg. So I've been both near the top and the bottom of my range this week, showing how important it is not to fret too much about what the scale says on any one day.

Had a good long fast today of nearly 20 hours, so expecting a dip tomorrow.

I've done one fast this week and will probably do another half one (no food for 22 hours until normal family dinner on Thursday) as I keep hovering at the top of my range (66.5-68.5kg).
I weigh daily but haven't seen it dip below 67.8kg I n a few weeks. I do like the wiggle room but have not had to fast seriously for quite a while - mindful eating has been my mantra, 1-2 alcohol free days a week, few desserts - but snacking in between meals has become a regular habit again. Even though they tend to be healthy, it's probably too much.

Hey there maintainers (im not one ....yet).. but wow what a vibrant and informative conversation you are having. i must eavesdrop more as i found it very useful. thanks.. and im another that doesnt like eating windows every day.

Having got over my fear of jinxing myself by mentioning how well I was doing earlier on I will tempt fate again and say it's still going well, I have been in my maintenance range all month and have discovered I can get away with occasionally having a bullet-proof coffee at 10 am. I am too much of a purist to want to do this often. I think I will let myself off my daily 10,000 steps requirement on a Tuesday so that I am not a lethargic drag on my jogging partner when we go out on Wednesdays.

Belated update. The new physiotherapy is doing its stuff: the downside for now is that it takes up a lot of my free time as it's x2 a day.

As a (presumably temporary) effect and an interesting example of fluid shifts, I have to report that I've dropped below the bottom of my maintenance range (105-110lbs) to a current low of approx. 100lbs. I expect this to right itself back towards the maintenance range over the next couple of weeks so I'm not taking any unusual action for now - as I did when I had the unexpected bump up to the top of my range, I shall opt for watchful waiting.