The FastDay Forum

Slightly apprehensive but still sure I'm making the right choice. I am taking a week off from 4:3, no fasts for 12 days.
The main reason is that my brother who I very rarely see is coming to stay for a week, and it is also TT week. For anyone who has no idea what I'm talking about, which is probably everyone, it's a week-long series of motorbike races here on the Isle of Man. Now I'm not into motorbikes but it really takes over the whole island, it's sort of a week of madness and events and entertainment.
With the combination of so much going on, and I think its a little bit rude to be on a restrictive diet with a house guest - not very hospitable, the easiest thing to do is take a week off. Trying to do 5:2 or 4:3 would be too hard and I feel would make me miserable and grumpy.

Funnily, apart from being slightly wary of over-doing it, I feel OK about it.
I've decided that life is for living not dieting, and having come so far I can take a week off and not stress about it. I started losing weight just over a year ago (April 2012) at 14 stone 2 lb. Yesterday I weighed in at 10 stone 13.

I could obsess about how awful it will be to put some of that weight back on, which is pretty much inevitable. However I have decided to take a long-term view and look at the bigger picture. I know that I have the tools once I get back on plan. Looking at this positively I can enjoy my week, then enjoy getting back to my normal routine and see the extra weight come back off again.

I want to do 5:2 (actually I usually do 4:3) because I WANT TO, not because my world will end if I don't, and that means making it fit in around my life. So what if I take an extra few weeks to reach my goal, I have confidence that with the help of this diet I will get there. The extra few weeks it may take are not important. Living life is important.

(but wish me luck anyway.....?)

Very sane thinking skykitty, you're right yur world won't come tumbling down around your ears - just enjoy yourself, and as you say you now have the tools for when life is back to normal.

Having said that, yu always have the 16:8 version if you fancy it for a day, that's much less restrictive (& less obvious), in fact you may find yourself doing that anyway!!

P.S. there's gotta be something wrong with your stats, 10st 13 with a BMI of 114.49

That's because she has a recorded weight of 1092 lbs, I think!

Ha! Ha! Glad that's been cleared up (the bmi) I did wonder about that! Actually we have an almost identical starting weight and loss and like you I am quite relaxed to miss a fast day and am doing 6.1 and 16.8 at the moment. I know now that it is possible to lose the weight with this wol so any break from it will not put me into the usual "sod it" mentality when I would veer off Atkins, WW et al. Just hop back on! Enjoy the races, sounds great fun. The Isle of Man is on my list - my granny and grandpa loved their summer holidays in the 1950s in Douglas. I still have the postcards!

Excellent frame of mind. I'm sure this woe is better if you take a more Zen approach. This is first time I'm confident that I can achieve my goal, not minding quite when.

Have fun with both visit & TT.

I might read up on 16:8, but I usually do 3 meals a day on fast days so I think it will be quite a leap for me if it works how I think it does. And yeah my stats are waaay out. I entered myself as 6ft 10in tall and 78stone. Ooops!! I think it helps that I just barely got down to a healthy bmi, like 24.5 so upper range of normal but still within normal. If I hadn't gotten within normal by this week off I may have been a bit more stressed. It will be interesting to see how much I really do put on and then how long it takes to come off again.

Take a week off, enjoy the TT (I'm sooo jealous!) and get back on track the following week. The beauty of this WOL is that it fits in with what you want to do, and not the other way round. You've already lost 4st (Wow! Well done!) and there is no way that you'll put all that back on in 1 week. You may put a lb or two on, or maybe more, but you know how to remove it again afterwards.

Don't worry about, relax and enjoy it.

Oh, if you PM your starting stats to Moogie she can sort out the Progress Tracker for you.

[Betsysgr8]

Oh Wow! TT! My OH is from Essex and still remembers and talks about his times at the TT. We watch it on TV here, usually shows a week to a month after the races but no biggie, really enjoy the scenery (he also points out which pubs he went to and what fields him and his friends watched the races from) and what a lovely place to live. Isle of Man is on my bucket list, a week with TT and a week without TT. I would definitely NOT 5:2 during TT lol Enjoy!

"Looking at the bigger picture"....... Yep, me, looking bigger in the picture is what got me started on this way of eating.

Enjoy the TT,

Ballerina x

Well just over halfway through my time off (last fast was Friday 31st next fast is Tues 11th) and it's time to check in.
I am now 5 lbs above my lowest weigh in. I have been exercising nearly every day and vaguely watching what I eat. I've eaten more fast food in one week than I'd normally eat in a couple of months. I'm hoping to put no more than 7 lbs on in total before my next fast, maybe going to a BBQ tomorrow, cooking a full Sunday lunch tomorrow and have a very long day out on Monday.

The best thing is that despite the 5 lbs several people I haven't seen in maybe a year or so, commented on how much weight I'd lost and how much slimmer I looked. Yay!!

For anyone interested in bikes I have to say TT is amazing this year, the speeds are sooo fast and the weather is unbelievably good. It's probably my last TT as I'll be movig off the island later this year, so even more reason to make the most of it, and that means NOT worrying about fasting.

I took a week or so off last month - I was a bit poorly plus myself and my family were moving in temporarily with my mum while we have work done on our house - I was too stressed out to worry about food as well. I survived it and found it quite easy to get back into the swing of it again.

Glad to hear you're enjoying yourself

Congratulations on your amazing weight loss and for breaking into the 'ten stone, something' range.

I'm pleased that you are enjoying the TT. I have a nephew living on the island, who is into bikes, and he is really enjoying it this year - I think the weather is helping with that!

I wouldn't worry about those few extra pounds that you have regained. When I went on holiday at the beginning of May, I put nine pounds back on in a fortnight (no exercise and lots of eating and alcohol!)but I was straight back to fasting the day after we returned and they are almost gone, within three weeks. I could probably have shifted them more quickly but I have a very relaxed approach to 5:2!

Enjoy the remainder of your brother's visit and make the most of the rest of your time on the island!

I'm on holiday for the next ten days, so I will be taking 1 1/2 weeks off. I'm going to go back to recording everything I eat and drink for a couple of weeks after I get back because my weight loss has been very slow, especially over the last two months. It will almost be like starting again, with all the enthusiasm renewed, I hope. Enjoy your break, as I intend to