The FastDay Forum

A you already know, there's nothing wrong with having a weekend off every now and then, @cblasz. As long as you get back on it as soon as possible there will be no long term effect, so look back at your birthday weekend with pleasure and delight!

I fasted yesterday and the scales are showing an increase today ( ) but I am not letting it bother me and am still on track to have soup or a salad for lunch and a relatively low cal meal tonight.

Hope you enjoy your snow day! It's forecast to rain here today (again!) so I may pop out for a walk before it starts! Stay strong!

The snow day was yesterday. It is not enjoyable anymore since it is April!! Also, we are now losing a day from our April vacation next week!! But, nothing you can do about it. I did get my taxes done, at least!

Tues Apr 3
Weight: 169.1 (168.2)
Eating Window: 11:30-7:30
Calories: 1141
Net Carbs: 96
Water/tea: 5
Steps: 9443
Other Exercise: none

Well, it looks like the holiday weight isn't going to go without a fight! I have a good plan for the week. Next week I'll be on vacation from school (we get the whole week - yay!) and am going to visit family in Florida for part of it. But hopefully I'll be able to still stick to my plan.

Weds Apr 4
Weight: 169.4 (168.3)
Eating Window: 12:00-8:00
Calories: 1447
Net Carbs: 139
Water/tea: 6
Steps: 7368
Other Exercise: none

Well, as I said the weight is not going to come off without a fight. Apparently for me, there will be a long term effect from taking a 3 day weekend off. And yesterday wasn't a great day. I was very tired for some reason and so I gave it to 2 mini reeses peanut butter cups that our principal puts on the tables during meetings and I was also still hungry after dinner, so had some hummus and chips. I'm going to fast today. I'm going to try to make it until dinner, but I am bringing a banana just in case. I'm meeting my cousin for a late birthday dinner, so I will definitely be going over 500 calories, either way!

Oh cblasz, your body isn't making it easy for you, is it?! I do admire the way you keep on keeping on. The daily diary seems to be helping, at least?? Here's wishing a change in your "fortunes" soon...

Thanks @Sassy1! I do think that what I'm trying to do makes sense. I guess I still need to work on being stricter on weekends and also I hope that when I'm exercising regularly again that will help. I do think my age could be a factor as well. I will just keep plugging along though and eventually if I need to, change something up. The daily posts really do help me. As a result I try to meet the goals I have set and I think twice about eating something if I know I'm going to have to track it and post the results. Of course it doesn't always work, as in yesterday's case, but still it keeps me from not thinking about it at all!!

Thurs Apr 5
Weight: 168.7 (168.4)
Eating Window: 12-10
Calories: ~1500
Net Carbs: ???
Water/tea: 7
Steps: 6678
Other Exercise: none

Well, my fast day did not go well. It's really hard for me not to have lunch on a school day. Not because I'm so hungry, but I look forward to it after teaching all morning. It's a break for me. So I ended up eating my banana at lunch, so then I was very hungry after school, but wasn't meeting my cousin for dinner until 7:30. So I had a chai and a small bag of kettle korn at Starbucks. Then I had a really good cheeseburger and sweet potato fries at dinner. So, my calories were pretty high.

But, the scale is slowly going back down. Today should be better!!

Fri Apr 6
Weight: 167.8 (168.3)
Eating Window: 12:30-7:30
Calories: 1143
Net Carbs: 152
Water/tea: 5
Steps: forgot to wear fitbit
Other Exercise: none

Well, the scale is creeping back down slowly! Just in time for me to be on vacation. Today I'm going to NYC with my friend and her family (another birthday celebration for me.) We are going to a place called Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar for brunch, so as you can imagine I will be "off plan" today. I did want to have breakfast this morning, but am fighting that urge, so I at least fast a little longer before I indulge! After that we are going to an "escape room" which I'm very excited about. I'm hoping we get some walking in too!

Sat Apr 7
Weight: 168 (168.2)
Eating Window: 11:30-9:30
Calories: ???
Net Carbs: ???
Water/tea: 4
Steps: 12,359
Exercise: none

Had a fun day yesterday and didn't do TOO bad with the food, but I didn't track anything to know for sure. We did get a lot of steps in.

So I am officially on vacation and can't decide if I should try to track everything all week or just try not to go too off track? I do know that I will walk/run every day.

Well, I guess I've decided that I will take a "vacation" from tracking and posting too. Today I had a very frustrating work situation come up (even though I'm supposed to be on vacation) and it has really stressed me out. I did go for a walk and hoped it would help, but it really didn't. And then I resorted to Starbucks for comfort! Hopefully the whole week won't go this way. I am feeling a little better now and have dinner plans tonight.

I am realizing that I am either on a diet or not. I've actually had this problem before, but am just thinking about it more. I'm either on a diet and making calculated decisions about everything I eat and drink and track everything. Or I am not and eat whatever I want, whenever I want. Granted I've made some small permanent changes, but I have to really work on making life changes that are the norm, not the exception. I'm probably going to continue trying to get to my preferred weight by tracking, etc. but when I get there I really have to figure out how to just eat healthier normally!!

Dear @cblasz

Don't wait until you reach your preferred weight!! You know that. Make the changes NOW that you want/need to make to retain the weight you want. You have been able to make some changes - think now about what others you are prepared to make and start making them!!! You don't need me to tell you this, I know.

What are the poor eating behaviors you most want to change? Perhaps we can help with ideas - though I don't think there are ideas that won't already have been mentioned in this forum at some stage that I am sure you will have read.

NB Good for you being willing to post about what you are experiencing and how you are feeling. I do hope it has been useful to you.

@Sassy1 - basically I am making the changes I want to make, it's just that in order to make them right now it requires a lot of effort (as we've discussed before) and it requires me tracking everything and posting it here for accountability! I'm going to keep doing that until I lose the weight I need to lose. Then when I'm ready to maintain that weight I can focus on doing it without having to be so rigid about it.

Apologies, cblasz, I misinterpreted what you meant by figuring out how you are going to eat normally once you have reached your desired weight I thought you meant you would be doing something different to what you are trying to do now.

PS Btw I don't think life should be about being on a diet or not, it should be about aiming to eat in a healthy sustainable way from now on. All the time. Or as often as you can!

Yes. That is my point.