The FastDay Forum

Hello everyone!
I'm new to this forum and also new to this lifestyle; having done two fast days, who probably would have gone a bit better if I'd learnt a bit more before I started

Anyway, here's my story:

27 years of age, 163 cm tall and 56 kg at present.
In January, I decided to make a lifestyle change, since 2012 contained a lot of drinking and a lot of comfort eating because I was generally unhappy.
Truth be told, I was depressed and anxious, which I've been all my life! I also have massive mood swings and other mental problems. Tried everything and have been given all diagnosis there is, but I don't really care anymore. I'm ME! Not a diagnosis.
I quit drinking, which was hard, and quit eating naughty things like chocolate, which was even harder!! I also cut out most carbs and tried to eat less fat.

4 kilos in 4 months!
I'm short but with long, skinny legs, so almost ALL of this was belly/back fat! However, I want to go down a few more kilos, because it still looks like my fat is tied to my upper body with strings. I would want to be able to have jeans and a tight t-shirt without worrying about my back flopping out.

However, more important, I feel so much better! Both about myself and my body, but also about life in general. Stable bloodsugar, nutrient food and exercise is THE SHIT for a moody cow like me.

However, I'm bored now, and I needed something new, and found this diet.

I want to loose around 3 more kilos but I'm not really that bothered. I'm more interested in the effect on my mood, stress, anxiety and of course all the health effects! My grandparents all died young, and my mum has already had a stroke at the age of 53 so I really want to beat the family odds and live til I'm 101.

My boyfriend watched the documentary with me, and he is also interested in the health effects. He will need to watch his weight though, because he's already borderline underweight. We will still do this together. He used to be a heavy drinker&smoker, but he's much healthier now, however not as good as it could.

My next fast day is tomorrow (I shall count that as my first!), and I will have lots of new topics coming up about different stuff.
(but now I'm gonna eat a cookie!)

Hello fasterstronger and welcome to the forum! Great first post with lots of info, I'm sorry you've been having issues but it seems you have tackled them and you are winning!

I'm wondering what your waist:height ratio is because you don't sound like you are overweight. A better measure for health than weight or BMI is this ratio, and apparently we should all (whichever side of the bed we sleep) keep it under 0.5. Less than 0.4 is considered too thin. There's a simple diagram called the 'Ashwell shape chart' which you can find out about by suing the Google Custom Search box on the left here if you are interested. I just don't want you to lose too much weight, but you seem to have a good attitude being more interested in the health benefits.

Definitely worth upping your exercise as well as doing 5:2! Lots of benefits for health and general sense of well-being. At the least consider some HIT / HIIT (again search here for topics about it).

People here are great so just post when you have a question or need some support!

I will definitely measure my waist tomorrow (don't have anything to measure with at home - will have to do it at work!). Me and my female relatives all look the same; skinny legs and bellies, so I think the waist/height ratio will actually be more interesting for me.

I do a lot of exercise normally (have a very active job) so there will be a post about workout+fasting days in the near future.

Thankyou for your welcome! I hope this will be interesting.

Welcome to the forum, I suffer from depression and I have found that I have felt more motivated for things, I have even started walking to work, which takes around 45 min

Amazing! Thankyou.

My waist is 72 cm, if you're meant to measure where you are thinnest. I don't know if that is good or bad?

Measuring at the narrowest point is fine, you should be breathing out at the time, and you might have to take several measurements to be confident you've got it right.

72/163 is 0.44, which suggests you don't need to lose any more off your waist, and you should beware if it falls below 65cm.

So you can do 5:2, but as you say you don't really need to lose much weight! When those 3 kilos have come off you probably want to try 'maintenance' (like me now, and some others here!) - maybe 6:1 or eating more on non-fast days.

SHORT??? SHORT??? Noooooooooooooooooo!!! You are 3 cm taller than me, you can't be short!!!

Welcome aboard, you'll love it here!

Hi and welcome...I'm usually as mad as a box of frogs, so you'll have company

I've never seen a box of frogs...

Thanks everyone! Managed to go through my first fast day with no problems so yay - I'm on it!

Today was a bit of a failure though, because I brought a ready to eat meal for lunch and it was discusting so I didn't have it! Had some homemade cake in the afternoon (banana cake, so that's at least one of my five a days yes?), and now when I came home I munched down half a packet of ricecakes and now I'm full!
I was going to have a balanced, healthy diet full of vitamins and protein on my non-fast days but eh... did not go very well.

Oh well. Better luck tomorrow. I was going to have tomorrow as a fast day, however if I haven't managed to eat very much today, maybe I should have it on friday instead and eat properly tomorrow?