The FastDay Forum

[Tracieknits]

Well the holidays are over and it's time to get back to work!

2016 in review. Well the year was really crap in very many ways, from international news to elections to celebs dying and my mom ending up in the hospital with heart failure. Thankfully, she's had surgery and is recovering quite well.

As for weight loss - the end of the year report is that I ended the year down 21 pounds -- and that's despite gaining back nearly 15 over my stressful and busy fall and holiday season. So losing 21 pounds in a year is not a bad thing at all.

Bruce and I were totally ready to start the new year on track. We exercised yesterday and are about to go out and get more steps in a few minutes. We started tracking our food on WW again, as it's really the only thing that seems to work for us. We modify the WW principles to go along with 5:2 and find the combination works better than either one alone. So yes, we're going back to light days and carrying points. Yesterday was a fast day for us -- hangovers and fasting tend to go well together

I'm enjoying the fresh grapefruit that is in season. I don't know if it's particularly good this year or it's just that I've been very hungry when I ate them today and yesterday.

I have another trip to Paris booked for April break. Bruce and I are going without the kiddo, as his grades were not good. If he manages to pull them up enough before the end of the year, we will take a family vacation to Ireland in August. Otherwise, we won't. So anyway, my goal is to lose as much as is reasonable by the trip in April. I'm currently wearing US size 14 jeans, and would love to get to a 12 or maybe even a 10 before the trip. I'm not sure if that's realistic. We will see

Onward and downward!

21 pounds in a year is fantastic!! I think my grand total was 3 lbs. lost! But, I feel I started to make some good changes from Sept. on and now that the holidays are over I'll get back to it! For a while, we couldn't even get grapefruit here, so I'm glad you are enjoying it.

[Tracieknits]

the pink ones from Florida have been great this week at Price Chopper - I think you have that chain in CT.

I just made 16 quarts of zero point veggie soup: onions, carrots, celery, leeks, zucchini, cabbage, tomato, bell pepper, garlic, black pepper, thyme, crushed red pepper and beef broth. The stockpot is so full there's no room for the green beans LOL! This should supplement our meals nicely. I have a basil plant on my window sill, so I can garnish the soup too.

Good to see you back with gusto @Tracieknits! It will be lovely to have regular posts from you again, and hope that some others will do the same, now the New Year is here.

I share your feelings about the state of the world, and just hope that at some stage (soon) all that is good about the human race starts to prevail more at a global level.

Best wishes and good luck!

Congrats on your great year, @Tracieknits. That soup sounds amazing

[Tracieknits]

Thanks! It was pretty great. I put some in the freezer because I knew we wouldn't go through 16 quarts before it went bad.

We pureed some with an immersion blender and that became a very nice veloute - especially when we added a tablespoon of sour cream/creme fraiche.

I haven't had any chocolate yet this year, except a taste of the meringue I made for tonight's dessert. It's my SIL's birthday party and I made mini chocolate pavlovas with a lightened chocolate creme patisserie/mousse concoction for topping them. There are also raspberries and strawberries.

I've stayed on track and already lost 4 lbs of my holiday binge weight. I had successful light days on Tuesday and Thursday and saved up some points for Champagne tonight at the party. Thankfully the dinner planned is sushi, which is very low calorie - to compensate for dessert and champagne.

[Tracieknits]

Well this morning is official weigh in at weight watchers, but I don't know if I'll go. Roads are bad due to snow and ice. I have about another hour to decide if I'm risking it.

But the home scale has me down 64.9lbs, so I'll take it! I had a weekend in NYC with a friend, and I tried to be good. We tracked every bite, walked a lot and really kept the treats to a dull roar (1 croissant for breakfast one morning and one cupcake Sunday night - I brought Sprinkles cupcakes home to the family). We ate vegan sushi, thai food (twice), a burger wrapped in collard greens instead of a bun (meh, don't recommend, actually) and a lunch a Pret a Manger (which I love!)

I had a proper fast day yesterday - the first in a long time where I actually stayed below 500 calories. Usually I'm a lot closer to 800.

So I'm feeling really good about being back in the groove and feeling confident

Wow, you've done really well in NYC.
I love Pret a Manger! I first discovered it in London, when I visited my brother - and then I was in NYC for New Year's weekend and didn't realize it was there too until it popped up in front of me! I was so happy to see it. (... have to say, I haven't done nearly as well as you during MY weekend there, lol)

[Tracieknits]

Well @Zesty, it was the first time, possibly ever, that I have behaved so well in NYC! It really helped that I was with a friend who is also doing weight watchers.

Yeah, I totally love Pret. Their tomato feta soup is pretty amazing for 110 calories! I wish they had it upstate

[Tracieknits]

Good news - weather cleared up enough so that I could go to my ww meeting. I showed a 1.4lb loss, which always feels great.

It feels good to be back on track. DH and I went out for Indian buffet for lunch, as is our tradition when I show a loss at my meeting. We're having a pasta dish for dinner (mostly beans and veggies with a bit of chicken sausage and a bit of pasta -- not sure why I still call it a pasta dish) and I'm roasting a big bunch of broccoli rabe with olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper

Woo-hoo, congrats on the loss! I swear, there's nothing as exciting and motivating as seeing those numbers go down. (Ok, perhaps there are more exciting things... but that's a different topic )

[Tracieknits]

Well, I indulged within my points allowance this weekend, including alcohol and a wee bit of chocolate.

Yesterday was a proper light day for my plan - no eating until four, then 2 ounces of lowfat deli turkey (0 points), 1/4 of a melon (0 points - I don't normally like melon, but I was very hungry lol) and a grapefruit (0 points). I had a bowl of beef chili with some avocado and sour cream (12 points) and after dinner I had espresso and a very small sliver of sicilian nougat (lemon flavored - so good with espresso) ~ 2 points and a pear. Combined with my espresso and cream in the morning, that's my targeted 15 points for the day.

Today I'm down 66.4 pounds So I'm feeling very much in control and headed in the right direction.

breakfast is espresso, 1.5 tablespoons half and half cream (1 point), black tea, 1/2 cup of whole milk yogurt (3 points) and raspberries (0).

Lunch will be a turkey (1 point) wrap (2 points - I get low calorie low carb wraps) with mustard, salad and a teaspoon of light vinaigrette (0). If I am still hungry after that I'll have baby carrots with 2 tablespoons of cedars garlic hoummus (1 point)

Dinner will be chicken taco salad. so 3 points for chicken, 3 points for black beans, 2 points for the oil I'll use to sautee onions and a bell pepper, 2 points for sour cream and salad greens and salsa (0). If I'm feeling like it I may add avocado *or* cheese for 2 points worth.

Aiming for 20 points or fewer today.

I can probably page back and find the info, but I figured it's easier to just ask
You said you're down 66.4 lbs - that's freaking awesome!! Did you do follow WW all that time, or how did you start?

[Tracieknits]

I started with straight up 5:2 four years ago, and probably the first 40 pounds were straight 5:2. but then I regained some. I had some issues with my thyroid during that time, which made my weight fluctuate as well and made fasting sometimes impossible (a hyper thyroid makes me absurdly hungry) or sometimes ineffective (a slow thyroid makes it nearly impossible to lose weight, no matter how little you're eating, or at least it feels that way).

I only started weight watchers last April, after my weight had gotten back up to 235. I was struggling with 5:2 by itself, and overeating on my normal days. I knew I needed to rein it in and that I needed more control on days I wasn't fasting.

Hope this helps, @Zesty!

I had a good light day yesterday. I made a lovely lentil soup with onions, carrots, celery, a large tin of tomatoes, chicken broth and 1 cup of lentils (well 1/2 cup of small French lentils and 1/2 cup of green lentils). for seasoning I used something called "grains of paradise" that Alton Brown recommended, as well as four or five cloves of garlic. It was fabulous and two cups was only 4 points. That was my dinner together with two hardboiled eggs that I had deviled/mimosa'd with some dijon mustard, light mayonaise, salt, pepper and hot paprika.

Off to my weigh in soon. I think it should be a respectable one

Thanks for the recap, Tracie! It's fascinating to get to know everyone's stories and just proves again how different we all are and how we have to find what works for us. What I love about fasting, it leaves room for so much experimenting and altering to fit personal lifestyles.

Everything I read on this board, is definitely helping to keep me motivated. I have to admit, 3 weeks in, and I can honestly say, this WOE is something I'm really excited about.