The FastDay Forum

High on carbs... and I only managed 240 g or so. Very weird! I had to skip the dates and figs as I learned they have fructose. While I know they are with fiber and okay, it won't do any good in carbo loading. So it was maple syrup, Dextropur, sportsbar and pizza. I don't know the exact calories in the pizza but I probably didn't pass 2000 kcals in total. What a sad binger I have become on 5:2! I see now a lot of my former too-many calories came from chocolate. And I didn't go for chocolate since the fat part is totally useless for this purpose.
According to some research I should have had about 500 grams of carbs. It says that's a massive amount and I failed at that. May the "runing-on-fat-Gods" be with me Saturday.
Tomorrow I'll gulp down some more maple syrup. Sunday I wil tell you if it made any difference at all. If not it will probably have added a week to reaching my goal weight. The curse of research...

[carorees]

I don't know much about carb loading but I believe that you have to expand your glycogen stores through training otherwise any excess carbs are turned to fat. So I don't know if you can be sure that the 500g figure is appropriate for you as the amount of carbs needed to fill your glycogen stores will depend so much on variables such as your muscle mass, previous exercise, respiratory quotient, previous carb intake etc.

So, good luck with it and I'll be interested to hear how it was.

Today I went totally wheat buns! Super quality flour, but still feels "wrong".
This is becoming quite an experiment. Good thing it's back to normal rations after tomorrow.
About the carb loading. According to this link they "supercharge" with glycogen and somehow gets this:

the mean glycogen concentration in the quads, which had been just 109 mmol.kg-1 wet weight before the trial, soared to 198.2 – an 82-% increase – afterwards!

I didn't do it all by the book, but I think I'm fairly low on everyday glycogen due to 5:2, training and in calorie deficit Monday-Friday.
We will see!

Yesterday was the big race day and it went really well. I set a new PR (Personal Record for those not into running or other result obsessed activity *grin*) with a time of 1:44:33 for the half marathon. I think my amateur "carb loading" helped as I ran very close to my max all the way and had really good legs. My breathing and pulse set the limit which is the way it should be. The worst races are those where you have no drive in your legs and they seem to be made of rubber. Weight wise I peaked yesterday at 70,5 kilos which is a gain of more than 2 kilos by stuffing myself. Today I'm back at 69,5 even if I ate a LOT after the race and feel pretty swollen. Tomorrow it's back to the more controlled eating again and we'll see how things even out. I have a marathon in 7 weeks and I want to reach my weight goal at 65 kilos before. (I do expect my "real weight" today is below 69).
I'm not satisfied with the carb load experience and I might want to try next time without. Changing the food really upsets my stomach and I felt really weird (a bit dizzy). I think next time I will only add maple syrup.

@RunningOlsen Well done on your half marathon and thank you for your interest in my own humble efforts. I shall follow your progress on your full marathon

70.9 kilos, what a bump up! I take it as another proof of how much weight fluctuates. My legs are really sore today from Saturday's run. The ongoing muscle repair and the salty foods in the weekend explain the weight gain and I expect it to drop during the week. After all I'm sure I didn't eat 14.000 extra kcals - I can't even imagine what it would take to eat 1.5 kilo chocolate in a day.
Today is fast day and I have been hungry from wake up, which is unusual. I guess today will take every trick in the book. I will try to focus on getting to goal weight, 65 k, before next big running event in 7 weeks. I really want that marathon to be a great experience (sounds a bit sick, I know) and the only thing that helps here is preparation.
Running is my drive for weight loss. I see others have drives like a special occasion or event, seeing themselves in a certain dress (I could go for that too, or maybe even combine with mine by running in a dress, but then again...) - What matters is that the drive, or seeing yourself doing something meaningful in your new body, really helps on the hard days.

You haven't posted on the runner's forum, but well done on your half marathon time, that's excellent. So you wouldn't recommend carb loading?

Thanks @Franglaise, I've posted about carb loading in the runner's thread.

Today I must admit I failed yesterday. I was really hungry from start of the day, and I mean like never before. Then at work one of my colleagues comes beaming, carrying THREE different gorgeous cakes from his wife's birthday in the weekend. I couldn't resist... I'm a big fan of learning from your mistakes so I went analyzing. I found:
- It was stupid to start with to fast just one eat day after a tough exercise challenge. Why put yourself up for fail?
- In our western culture we connect a lot of feelings with food.

Obviously he was happy to bring the cakes and like us all probably expecting some positive reaction for bringing "food to the flock". Imagine if all had turned down the cakes? So not alone are we up against ourselves when fasting/dieting, we are also up against a lot of social unsaid patterns. When we break them it makes people nervous and they go "Come on, just this once" or "One little piece doesn't hurt". It's a deep pattern to meet and eat and it strikes me again and again how food and drink is the center of our social bonding.
So what could I have done? I have earlier gotten away with:
- "Replace strategy" - Getting a light beer or the like (almost no calories)
- "Postpone strategy" - Saving the cake (or candy) for the day after by saying so, "Thanks, I will love to have it. Is it okay I save it for tomorrow? That's one of the beauties about 5:2, you can have it all tomorrow!
- "Cheat strategy" - Saying I will bring it home for later and then don't eat it at all.

But I didn't so today it's fasting!

The last 4 lab birthday parties have fallen on fast days for me. I attend the party with a cup of coffee, take my slice and store it in the fridge for the next day. It is hard, though, and everyone thinks I'm a bit crazy.

After fast day Thursday the weight showed a new low, 67.8 k! I'm now below what used to be my wildest dreams. Partly because Marathon is now 43 days away and I'm really locked on that target. I find it very motivating to hook a weight target up with a special event.
There are two challenges to overcome first, though. This weekend and next weekend I'm with two different groups of friends for some "male bonding". This usually involves loads of beers, snacks and candy. My plan is to stick to red wine and sugar- and salt-free snacks, which is unsalted nuts and fruits. I will probably take some heat! Once in maintenance I think I'll allow for occasions like this, but now I'm on a deadline. It's also typical how more events align up closely and you get these weeks where you are "chain-social". Not very weight loss promoting.

Really well done, that's a GREAT half marathon time

Congratulations also on the fab new weight. Mixing it up is clearly working for you.

I love your way of always posting what I call positive analysis

After fast day Thursday the weight showed a new low, 67.8 k! I'm now below what used to be my wildest dreams...

Well done @RunningOlsen! You are fading away. You need to get some wilder dreams though!

[carorees]

Hope you enjoy your male bonding sessions! If you're fasting or low carbing you can become sodium depleted so I would say salted nuts are OK too...but be careful of the fruits, especially dried fruits, they can be high in sugar.

Thank you @Winsome, @scubachick and @carorees!
Heh, in some ways I'm fading away and in another way it feels like I'm appearing. It's a nice feeling.
Thanks for the tips about sodium. I have noticed a slight craving for more salty stuff and once it gets warmer combined with running it will be even more important.
I know dried fruits are full of carbs, they are my "last stand". I grab one (e.g. dried apple or dried apricot) instead of a full dive into a bag of wine gums or a candy bar. While the dried fruit aren't "free" to eat, I managed the weekend on maybe 10-12 dried apricots and 50 grams of dried apples or so. A total of around 500 kcals max. Maybe it's just a coincidence but the dried fruits are full of fiber and it seems to help my digestion quite a bit.

At some point along your weight loss road, you may realize you have "won". I came to that part in the weekend and yesterday. It was kind of a slow revelation and I didn't jump around in full Hare Krishna happiness mode. It was more of a deep, silent satisfaction.
- The two-sizes-smaller trousers (who never lie) are beginning to be too big too.
- I can pretty much predict my weight pattern and the direction is the one I want.
To me, this is big in a way that surprises me. I started this journey two years ago because I wanted to improve my health and "shred some kilos". I never realized it was a symbolic battle of "who is charge of your life" or that it would be so difficult. I thought I knew what it took, but age had changed me in more ways and I had to re-learn and re-engage in, well, myself. I never imagined the positive overflow from this victory into other parts of my life. Much of this is because of 5:2 and joining this forum and trying to share and support others.