The FastDay Forum

Last night turned into a bit of an OTT session, too much food, too many snacks, and no doubt, too much alcohol This (unfortunately) seems to be a bit of a regular thing on a Friday lately, probably because it's weigh-in day and the inner conversation is that 'there's the rest of the week to get over it'.

Felt a bit rough this morning, so did the obvious thing, and again went to the gym. The goal was to have a very easy session, so lowered the levels for most of the cardio machines and also reduced the times to 15 minutes for the first three.

Exercise Bike: 1 minute, no pedalling, pulse at the end = 76
Exercise Bike: 15 mins, 130 calories
Stepper: 15 mins, 120 calories
Cross Trainer: 15 mins, 120 calories
Treadmill (walking at an incline): 20+ mins 330 calories
Total Calories: 700
Time in gym: 2 hours (just under)
Status: Cool and chilled!

The main goal was to try out all the new stationary weight machines (they were all replaced this week with new, improved and very different models). So, between each of the cardio exercises above, I did 3 or 4 of these, with low settings, just to figure out how they worked. One good thing today: No Nicky Minaj tracks in the background music!

Today is a feed day and tomorrow the first of this weeks 3 fasts...

Just weighed and my weight is again exactly the same! But thats ok as its after two feed days in a 4:3 week. All my other weighins have been carefully placed after fast days and never after a feed day let alone two feed days! Here's hoping I can now punch through this platteau this week!

Just got back from the gym:

Exercise Bike: 1 minute, no pedalling, pulse at the end = 80
Exercise Bike: 15 mins, 130 calories
Stepper: 15 mins, 120 calories
Cross Trainer: 15 mins, 160 calories
Treadmill (walking at an incline): 24 mins 340 calories
Total Calories: 750
Fixed weight machines: About 12 (4 between each of the cardio).
Time in gym: 2 hours (just under)

I managed to pace myself OK throughout the session, until the end that is, when I put the treadmill to max gradient, which I backed off after a few minutes, when all the warnings about "pulse too high" appeared. But it was up around 156 for a while

This was the third trip to the gym in as many days. The pulse reading at the start has increased slightly over this period. So tomorrow will be a rest day from the gym.

Today's a fast-day - Yippeee !! Why do I look forwards to these so much?

Probably because brunch is going to be lean bacon, sausage, poached egg, and a portabello mushroom on a large bed of spinach. This is now becoming a regular feature on Sunday's!

Good luck to all those fasting today...

Weighed this morning and was down a little over 1 lb from yesterday morning. So this brings my weight back down to 0.4 lb off my lowest reading a week or so ago. Fingers crossed for the rest of the week!

Water: I've been reading lots of articles and watching you tube videos about weight loss plateaus and one thing that kept coming up was drinking lots of water.

Here's one of many:



Well with nothing to loose yesterday I drank 5 pints of water in addition to my usual tea, black coffee and herbal teas during yesterday's fast day. I'm not sure how whether or not it contributed to the loss, but clearly it didn't prevent it.

Cravings: Got lots of 'cravings' yesterday afternoon and throughout the evening, firstly I started planning this morning's breakfast. What I wanted was Walls Microwave sausages (1 minute in the microwave) and some real nice baps. These are just so BAD, that they're good:





Went to the Co-op then Tesco express and finally Sainsbury's but couldn't find any So to console myself, I seemed to spend the evening watching loads of you tube videos on how to make Tiramisu, Welsh cakes and a variety of savoury and sweet breakfasts. ....
OK I just checked my 'Watch history' and it was 36 food vids!!!!!! So I guess that this most definitely was a craving.

Today's breakfast: I didn't sleep well last night, I kept glancing at the clock and it was 01:30, 02:30, then it was 04:30 and I normally get up at 05:30. In the end for breakfast, I just couldn't make up my mind, so I thought I'd just have beans on toast ('cos I'm a bloke and can't cook), but without my glasses on, and it was still kind of dark at 06:45 I picked up a tin of Heinz 'sausage and beans' by mistake.



God: So this clearly proves that I was wrong all the time and that God does exist and that he/she provided the sausages in the beans 'cos I resisted my cravings yesterday. This does make me wonder what dark force ensured that none of the local supermarkets had the Walls Microwave sausages in stock....



or perhaps and more likely....

[carorees]

that cracked me up! Serendipity!

Fast day today which is going well.
Had a brisk lunchtime 30 minute walk. I finished work at 4.0 pm and went straight to the gym. I haven't felt like doing this for quite literally years. Which must say something.

Exercise Bike: 1 minute, no pedalling, pulse at the end = 79
Exercise Bike: 16 mins, 150 calories
Stepper: 16 mins, 150 calories
Cross Trainer: 16 mins, 150 calories
Treadmill (walking at an incline): 18 mins 250 calories
Total Calories: 700
Fixed weight machines: About 12 (4 between each of the cardio sets).
Time in gym: 1:45 hours (just under)

In recent years I've always felt too shattered by the end of a full day to manage going to the gym or doing anything really, other than heading straight home and sculpting 'my spot' on the couch! My workaround was to use up annual leave and finish early if I wanted to go to the gym mid-week.

So I think I see this as a 'health improvement'.

Jamie doesn't look like that anymore...

A couple of years ago I was dieting and exercising like a maniac. I bought one of those Ki fit monitors like they wear on Biggest Loser and decided to really go for it. By the end of the week I calculated that I should have lost at least 8lbs!!! When I got on the scale at Rosemary Conley the instructor cheerfully announced that I had lost 1lb. I wanted to grab her by the throat and shake her until all her teeth fell out. I just stood with my mouth open disbelieving. I had just about moved in to the gym and I wanted my reward!
Your posts just brought it all back to me. I've got my fingers crossed for you for weigh day.

Is God Jamie then? Or is Jamie a God?

Jamie is the 'Evil One'

Nooooooooooooooooo!!! He's not evil, he's cute and funny!!! images/icons/smile/mrgreen.gif

A couple of years ago I was dieting and exercising like a maniac. I bought one of those Ki fit monitors like they wear on Biggest Loser and decided to really go for it. By the end of the week I calculated that I should have lost at least 8lbs!!! When I got on the scale at Rosemary Conley the instructor cheerfully announced that I had lost 1lb. I wanted to grab her by the throat and shake her until all her teeth fell out. I just stood with my mouth open disbelieving. I had just about moved in to the gym and I wanted my reward!
Your posts just brought it all back to me.

OMG! You poor thing!!

A couple of years ago, I reasoned that if I could burn 1200-1500 cals a day in the gym and keep my food to 1800-2000 cal a day then my weight would drop by 0.5 pounds a day or thereabouts (2500 - 500 difference). I logged everything in a program called "DietPower". I lost a stone in a month, but it wasn't sustainable. A lot of it might of been water!.. The food wasn't healthy (slim fasts and M&S Count on Us). As quickly as it came off, it went back on. I currently dream of losing just 1.5 lbs a week on average but plan for just 1 lb a week (and which has been a struggle of late); but I'm in it for the long haul this time.

I've got my fingers crossed for you for weigh day.

Many thanks! I've got a feeling I'll need it. When I got home from the gym my wife has been baking: cinnamon rolls, hot cross buns & Easter biscuits. The house smells yummy!!! I think I can last out today, but tomorrow I'm not so certain

I think that's the way most of us feel about this WOE, It just feels like we've all found something we can do forever. And it's sooooo exciting!!!!!

I weighed myself today and was pleasantly surprised with the result!

Progress to date: 4.54 Kg / 10.01 lbs in 8 weeks 5 days. Avg 1.149 lbs per week.

Hi folks!,

Went to the gym early this morning :-

Exercise Bike: 1 minute, no pedalling, pulse at the end = 74
Exercise Bike: 150 calories
Stepper: 150 calories
Cross Trainer: 150 calories
Treadmill (walking at an incline): 300 calories
Total Calories: 750
Fixed weight machines: About 12 (4 between each of the cardio).
Time in gym: 2 hours (just under)

The 'resting pulse' reading of 74 was a new low! In fact, 6 minutes into the warm-up exercise bike 'proper' session, my pulse reading was still lower than the 'resting pulse' during July through August last year (when I was last getting to the gym 3-4 times weekly)!

Exercising on/after a fast day: I'm finding that I actually enjoy exercising on or immediately after a fast day. It isn't a chore and doesn't feel hard, if anything it feels better than on a feed day! Hoping this pattern continues. Yesterday was a fast day and it went well. I went to bed early and we were up in time to get to the gym for 7.0 am. In the last 7 days I've been to the gym 3 times (Sat, Sun & Tuesday), I'm aiming to try a go 3-4 times every rolling 7-day period.

4:3: This last week (Sat to Fri) I've gone back to 4:3. This seems to work for me. The loss since last Friday is 1.6 lbs. So 50% of my loss to date has been achieved during the 3 of 9 weeks when I've done the 4:3 protocol rather than 5:2. I guess I simply eat to much on the 5 feed days!

My overall rate of loss is down to 1 lb a week. I'm not bothered by this, and anticipate that the 4:3 together with trips to the gym, will get this up slightly.

Summary:

Friday to Friday loss: 1.6 lbs

Progress to date: 4.08 kg/8.99 lbs in 9 weeks 0 days. Avg 0.999lbs lost per week.

But: They say, "there's always a but.."

Wednesday this week was BaAAdd! Bad day in work (less said the better), got home and found eldest son sent home from his work after being attacked by a 'crack-head' with a knife. He's OK, no damage, but the worry is what might have happened. Between work and this, I found myself in Tesco express at 9:30 pm with a stack of Stella's and large bag of peanuts in hand. I guess I was pretty pissed off/wound up.
I always get irritated at the checkout by the pantomime of "Any fuel?" then "Do you have a club card?". So I found myself getting all confrontational and when I put the goods by the till, I looked the cashier in the eye and before they could say anything I said, "I haven't purchased any petrol and I don't have a loyalty card"... as the transaction proceeded, within seconds the poor kid said "Any fuel?", I said, "Weren't you listening, what did I just say!". If looks could kill!

Anyhow, calmer now