The FastDay Forum

I am a TERRRIBLE influence

Tis' a moderator's duty to trip up those making too much progress....

[carieoates]

Wine is my chocolate too. A nice NZ cab sav B will slip down very nicely indeed.
But I'm back in T'zone so with a 4.8 loss this week with no alcohol and chocolate in sight. Being lowish carb, two meals a day less meat but moderate fat. I'm having a naughty sat night with red wine but no chocolate I'm a savoury lass. Onwards and downwards.

Tracie you naughty choco lover.

[Debs]

Nice work there Carieoates. does that make me both a chocaholic and an alcoholic?
How are we all doing there out there in virtual friend land?!
I've had a bad couple of weeks struggling with a lot of hunger which may coincide with an increase in stress levels. I'm going for a short term fat increase to see if it helps, apart from being tasty of course! I need a good fast but it's not going to happen for a few days until things settle down a bit so I'm just concentrating on eating properly, especially when the sugar cravings bite.

[Tracieknits]

I think that's a great plan @Debs! Yes, stress is hard. Do you see a light at the end of the tunnel? Is the stress expected to end at any time in the definite future? Or is it more of an "I have no idea what's going to happen or when" kind of stress? The first means it's okay to allow yourself to just hang on and maintain until the stressful period is over (like the holidays, or getting my mom through her surgery). But if it's a stress without a set time frame, well that requires developing a set of coping mechanisms.

Where is our dear Pernelle @Hazelnut20 ?

[Debs]

Yes, where's Hazelnut again? Hopefully she's still cruising on her BSD.

I'm managing between 800 and 1000 calories a day and maintaining at 57.2kg. I've upped my fat to try and avoid the sugar which is going ok. The stress is ongoing and the light at the end of the tunnel is probably an oncoming express train I can't see a release at the moment, especially whilst in this stupid country!
Taking each day at a time, two holidays booked so there's something to look forward to. Hey ho, means to an end!

Good luck @Hazelnut20! May the force be with you

Returning to 5:2 after nearly four years, (painful foot problem resulting in long recuperation after major foot reconstruction), I read this thread with great interest.
Not wanting to develop diabetes like my Mother, towards the end of last year I read Dr. MM's BSD book with forward by Newcastle researcher Dr. Roy Taylor, (and bought the BSD cookbook with great recipes), and was inspired to once again try to reach a healthy weight. Reading BSD made me much more aware of the effect of carbs., and logging into FastDiet again made me realise that perhaps I did need to weigh my foods and calorie count for portion control with the effect that increasing age has on TDEE. I thought I would find this a chore but it isn't now am using the Australian Easy Diet diary (thanks to @merrymelb).
I did debate whether to do BSD or return to 5:2, but decided at this stage to do 5:2 - I had lost over 8kg in 4 months back in 2013. My TDEE means fast days about 350 calories and I rarely reach my TDEE of 1400 on non fast days, but at this stage without much effect so am considering whether to give BSD for eight weeks to try and kick start an inspirational loss. Admittedly it is early days (today is only the fourth fast but must check my earlier diary to see how and over what time period the figures changed).
I do eat 'good' food and since the beginning of the year cut out bread, potatoes and pasta etc., which wasn't a problem and I haven't really missed them. I was a little concerned when I read @carorees 14 Jan 2016 interesting post about 're-feeding syndrome" http://forum.fastday.com/resources-links-f3/blood-sugar-diet-by-michael-mosely-t14749.html but realise that I can take those concerns on board if I do decide to move to BSD.
Anyway thanks for all the interesting insights from those doing BSD (I am new to tagging - thanks to @Sassy1 - so to do all those names would probably mean I would make lots of mistakes ) - Anyway I will continue to read with interest while I work out what might be best for me.

[Debs]

Hi all,
It's been a bit quiet on this one for a few days, how is everyone? Especially Hazelnut who started this in the first place

I hit my lowest in decades at the beginning of last week and promptly went on an eating rampage, how the hell does that work? Anyway, it is certainly cyclical as far as I can tell; hopefully things will calm down now and I can embark on a fast or two to augment my BSD.

I decided to give myself an incentive as my dear OH is going back to Aus to check on the house so if I can shed the last couple of kegs I shall treat myself to a day spa. See, not a food treat!!
I've been doing BSD since the end of July now and sometimes it wears a bit thin but I've realised that if I don't restrict myself the weight will pile back on, especially as I have little opportunity to exercise currently.

What is everyone else up to, or is life getting in the way?!

[Tracieknits]

Well @justdee posted in another thread that's she's struggling with BSD, finding it too restrictive and causing her to binge. I told her that I don't think Dr. M thought people would last much longer than 2 weeks on the 800 calorie a day version, and perhaps she might do better on the plain med style version.

I haven't heard from @hazelnut20and hope she'll come back!

I'm hanging in there. I was plateauing most of the month, but i just lost a half pound so that's good news. I was behaving too, so I was a bit confused by the lack of progress.

Thanks for posting @Debs!

[Debs]

Hi there,
I thought 8 weeks was about the realistic time from the book, but yes, it does get harder the longer you do it. Some days I think I've overeaten but it only adds up to about 1200 cals! I must look up @justdee post on binging so see if I recognise that in myself. I wouldn't say I binge per se, but I'll give that some thought!

[Tracieknits]

yes, wasn't 8 weeks the outside limit though? He said do it for two weeks, evaluate it, and see if you want to do it 2 more weeks, repeat, repeat?

Of course my memory is crap, so there's that >.< lol

[Debs]

You are right Tracie about the 8 weeks, I checked the book. I guess I kept going as I tend to go on quite a few trips from Qatar and make the most of the local food and wine when I'm there, so it was better for me to get back on it when I returned.

The long and the short of it is, it has improved my weight, my blood sugar, my eating habits, my sweet cravings (mostly!) and is generally sustainable for me over the longer term. Its taken me a long, long time to find what works and I hope other people manage to as well.
If I could do more exercise, it would be even better, as soon as I can escape Qatar for somewhere more sensible perhaps that will happen!

Debs xx

Hi @Debsand friends..i did 24 weeks of 800 cal BSD and lost 4 stone nine i think...have continued since then,another 10 weeks so far i think,keeping to 50 grams carbs but not worrying too much about cals..anything between 900 + and 1200 cals. Ive lost a total now of eighty pounds. I dont think going beyond the 8 weeks has done any harm. BP and blood sugar results,cholesterol results all better. My GP said cholesterol is good coz tho i eat full fat now, i' m not eating any trans fats and theyre the problem.
Love reading everyones comments on Fast Day but feel a bit of a fraud, coz i dont fast any more..tho on Monday i gave it a go and fasted til 4 pm
ps @debswhen you said lowest i assume you mean lowest weight not lowest ebb? Congrats! I wonder if the binge is anything to do with famine reaction? Lately ive found that i want to eat,even when i' m not even hungry....tho only more good stuff..nothing carby or sugary ( tho i still fancy a piece of toast or some tooth aching sweets sometimes) ..i just want extra nuts or more full fat yog,that sort of thing. I do wonder if its anything to do with famine reaction as we both have kept going on BSD for many wks with ( apparently) no ill effect xx or possibly just boredom!

Gee,you get logged out of here quickly! Had to log back in after only about twenty mins away....
@debsjust looked up Amanda Sallis to refamiliarise myself with the famine reaction..she says,"when you suddenly stop losing weight and you start feeling really hungry.
That's your Famine Reaction, a survival mechanism that protects you from wasting away."
I' m still losing and sounds like you are too,so i guess its not FR x
@hazelnut20where are you buddy,we wd love to hear from you x

[Tracieknits]

Yay! Glad to see you back @CandiceMarie! 80 pounds -- dang!! That's awesome!!

That's weird about the forum logging you out automatically. I am always automatically logged in. I use google chrome on a PC -- not sure if that's what makes the difference.

I think the sugar is a vicious cycle -- eating it makes me crave it. I do sooooo much better when I avoid it completely and limit my carbs.

Anyway, I'm so glad to hear you're still doing so well Candy!!