The FastDay Forum

Wow Sarah! Big Congrats on your amazing transformation! You sure have come a long way mom23kids, since we first met last year JUDDing together on LC friends. I remember back in 12/12, when we both weighed 155 & had the same goal of reaching 135. I still hope to this April - a whole year after you did. lol! I honestly never would have recognized you, if I didn't see your before photos along with your old profile name on photobucket. Just curious how you got so skinny (from 128 to 118), after you had stopped doing IF up to now?

Best wishes on your maintenance! ~ Ann

I stopped JUDDD last spring, after hitting my original goal, but I didn't totally stop IF-at that time I experimented with 5:2 and 16:8, then did some straight calorie counting over on MFP, and I also started exercising for the first time in my life The last few pounds was a big hodge podge of stuff lol.

"The last few pounds was a big hodge podge of stuff." Sounds like it could be the title of your own book.

Do you mind me asking, how much did you weighin this progress photo? ~ Ann

Edited: To delete duplicate photo.

"The last few pounds was a big hodge podge of stuff." Sounds like it could be the title of your own book.

Do you mind me asking, how much did you weigh in this progress photo? ~ Ann

I bought the swim suit late last spring-so probably 125-30ish? Let me see if I can find the exact date (might be on photo bucket?).

ETA: couldn't find date, but I'd guess in the high 120's-my stomach has a bit of weight yet, as well as my arms (and my chest is bigger ). I had forgotten about this picture-it's neat to see me in the same swim suit, and to see how a few pounds and strength training can make such a difference!

Also, are you able to see my full photobucket album? If so, the pictures of me in the black pants/pink sports bra were taken last November, at 119.5lbs. These were my strength training 'before' pictures. It's really cool to see the difference that program has made in my arms and back, and a bit in my stomach. My latest swim suit pictures (what I have posted in the first post of this thread) and the purple tank top back picture are at the same weight (119.5lbs/120lbs), but there's definitely a difference-these were taken about 3/4ths way through the strength training program (I now have 2 weeks left of that program and then I'll be starting a new one-will take new pictures then!).

ETA: labeled my photobucket pictures

Thanks Sara,

Your skin tone really looks terrific! You'd never guess by looking at your most recent photos that you've had 3 kids & lost almost 60 lbs. I'm also 5'6", but I'm 20 yrs. older than you and would look like skin & bones below 130. I agree totally about how important strength training is for firming up your muscles, especially while doing IF. Your photos are proof of that.

What program have you been following? I see it's called, Body By You Strength Training Program. Best wishes on your continued progress! ~ Ann

Thanks Sara,

Your skin tone really looks terrific! You'd never guess by looking at your most recent photos that you've had 3 kids & lost almost 60 lbs. I'm also 5'6", but I'm 20 yrs. older than you and would look like skin & bones below 130. I agree totally about how important strength training is for firming up your muscles, especially while doing IF. Your photos are proof of that. What program have you been following?

I'm finishing up with Mark Lauren's Body By You program (book was under $20). I've got a couple weeks left of that and then I'm on to Mark's other program-You Are Your Own Gym That will bring me through spring/part of summer and then I'm tentatively planning on starting Convict Conditioning late summer/fall. At some point I'll probably start building a home weight room too-maybe doing that for next winter with the program The New Rules of Lifting for Women.

Had a decent repair day yesterday and this morning's weigh in was 119lbs-happy with that, especially since tom is wrapping up and that is probably causing a bit of a bounce yet on the scale.

Looking forward to a lazy weekend with ice skating tonight (and another concession stand lol).

Wow SJ i would be more than happy to look like you do in yr before pics! Your waist looks tiny!
But of course yr after pics are even more fab..so toned and slim and healthy looking
Like others have said here, i only wish i had sorted my probs out while still young enough for everything to snap back into place!
Well done SJ x

Wow SJ i would be more than happy to look like you do in yr before pics! Your waist looks tiny!
But of course yr after pics are even more fab..so toned and slim and healthy looking
Like others have said here, i only wish i had sorted my probs out while still young enough for everything to snap back into place!
Well done SJ x

Thanks I'm very fortunate that I had some unexpected blood work done in the fall of 2012, that picked up a high glucose number. If that hadn't happened I would have not decided to lose the weight and the pounds would have kept creeping on. At that time I was content to be overweight and it took a medical scare to knock some sense into me!

This post is a bit of a ramble! Spent some time this weekend thinking about where I'm at right now and where I want to go over the next few months. I'm entering the last week of my current (first) strength training program, Mark Lauren's Body By You, and last night I ordered his other program, which is a step up in difficulty-You Are Your Own Gym. Both of these programs use body-weight exercises and I'm really loving these types of exercises, and I'm very pleased with my results so far. So on that front I'm excited to be wrapping up one program and starting another one.

However, I was at the store yesterday trying on some clothes and was confronted by the dreaded fluorescent lights/dressing room situation On the positive, it really is amazing how far I've come since the fall of 2012. Not only have I lost almost 60lbs, my body composition has also changed and I no longer have hippo hips But, that's come with a price. Because I carried a lot of my extra oomph in my hips/bum, that was the last place to improve and I had to lose more weight than I had originally planned, to get to this point. While my lower half is now where I want it to be at, my top half has lost too much. I really dislike how my rib area looks, as well as my chest So what, if anything, can be done about this?

I spent some time online this weekend reading about if it's possible to have new muscle gains with body-weight exercises, if you're also eating at a calorie surplus. Most of the 'experts' seem to think it's possible, at least for a small amount of new gains. I think at this point I'd like to really focus on the strength training and try and fill out a bit (and hope some of it sticks to the top half of my body). Eating at a calorie surplus goes along with this, which is something I need to read more up on, and I also will probably have to start doing daily food tracking again for calories and macros (blech!). But, I'm at the point where I think things need to be adjusted, and I think adding a few pounds is part of that. My hope is if I'm doing strength training and also doing a controlled gain, then I can minimize the gain from going straight to my rear end

I joined a weight training forum this morning and hopefully it will help me reach the next step So, what does this mean for IF/5:2? I don't really know at this point. I think I will be stepping away from repair days for a while, but I may begin 16:8. Lots to think about, but I'm excited about moving forward in this process

Quick check in-have been doing 16:8 for the past few days and have been enjoying it. I set up a new account on MFP but haven't started tracking yet-we're heading out for a long weekend so I want to get that out of the way first, before I start doing anything.

Played with numbers and using the weight gain calculator over at freedieting (very cool site btw), I should be eating around 2,183 calories a day, with a macros split of c250/p132/f72. This is calculated based on factoring in 3 days of weight training a week/no cardio. I'm doing strength training, 3 days a week with bodyweight, but I'm always progressing in difficulty, so I think I'll be ok for now. So, starting next week I'm going to start tracking on MFP and aim to hit that calorie/macros split, along with starting my new strength training program, and also doing 16:8

Tomorrow is my last day doing my current strength training program and I'll try and take some new progress pictures

Checking in-
completed my first strength training program this past Friday and tomorrow I'll be starting a new one. Spent some time writing out the schedule and it's 4-5 days a week vs. the 3 days I was doing, so that will be a bit of an adjustment. I also started looking ahead to what I want to do after that (summer), and have decided that I'd like to do a program using kettelbells at that time, as a way to ease into weight training. I've found a program I'd like to do, Lauren Brook's Kettlebells for Women. Kettlebells are pricey so I'm going to start buying one at a time, and work on having a set by June

On the IF front-I've been doing 16:8, with an eating window of 11am-7pm, and it's been working great. My weight has gone up just a bit, which I'm happy about and I'm now in the 120-122lb range now. I think this is more appropriate for my frame.