The FastDay Forum

This tent is for those people who no matter how willing, how persistent and determined find that their holy grail of being their goal weight is just not happening

While on the detour we may as well have some fun support each other , go blah . .. yes having a long whinge is also allowed especially when you know you are doing your fasting but your body is not responding .

This is also the place where you can say you have stalled, plateaued, come to a halt, have a famine reaction or find you seem to be in the position of reluctantly maintaining when you would rather be a big loser

So come on board if you find yourself flagging in spirits or even though you are all fired up and getting with the program your body has decided to take the slower scenic route

Here in Wales, we have some very scenic routes, with plateaus, peaks and troughs and I have been along most of them in my year's weight loss journey. I wish I'd had this thread alongside me.
Having lost 3.5 stones, I will be popping in here for the last few pounds and then maintenance.
Thanks gillymary for such a fab thread xx

Not only have I been taking the scenic route, I have become positively lost since Christmas. Thanks Gillymary for setting up a tent for us wandering lost souls

I think I could feel quite at home here - could I bagsy a corner?

I'll kick off with my story, I am fluid fasting some times twice a week but even though that gets me under 350cals, I am just hanging around 74.9kg at my lowest low for months which gives me a BMI of 27 using my Progress tracker calculations, as you can see way off a healthy BMI. Heart foundation calculator reads me at 24 BMI and still this is just into the parameters.

I know what has happened to me is possibly a famine reaction and I actually need to find the balance for my body and to eat my way out of this position hence my adopting once a week fluid fast. I did loosen up eating more over Christmas obviously not enough. I also have a day where I eat later like 2pm starting with a nice protein like salmon with salad and have a smaller meal with some light carbs. I like my fasting days and fluids only which controls the hunger switch.

I am frustrated but also resigned as something is going on which I don't have a true handle on. Considering carb refeed approach as with low carbing as I don't seem to be able to go for protracted periods without some bread as I get fatigued. Off to the GP this week for my annual check up and will ask for some bloods to see how I compare to pre 5:2.

There is good news I feel fantastic and I am now incorporating FIT into my regular personal gym program of cardio, weights and stretches. Also down to clothing sizes so replacing a complete wardrobe so what is not to like. Still feel the need to sort the belly fat as that is the last bit to shift. I know you are out there come on in, we might just find our solutions and have fun doing so!

I don't know if I count really since I've only bean fasting since last October but Christmas set me back BIG TIME and now I've resorted to the "Every Other Day" diet by De Krista Varaday, which, in a weird way I am rather enjoying. In addition I am daily weighing and that is just hilarious!

Kidding myself, huh? Well, only time will tell

Bean

You are most welcome, come on in. I just got a reply from Dr Amanda from The Don't Go hungry Diet, have signed up for her newsletter and plan to purchase her book. I am hoping our tent attracts some interesting articles on our specific problem of very slow going despite our sticking to the rules. Something else is afoot. Would like to know your story.

@nursebean Christmas was a killer for me too. I'm very tempted to join you lot in the ADF experiment, just can't quite commit yet.

Oh come and join us @Wineoclock it's much easier than you think! Actually, when I think about it, it's more difficult fasting 2 days a week because of the lengthy gap between the fasts...just leaves me open to temptation for too long!

Bean

Oh I am most definitely taking the scenic route! Looking at my progress tracker it's pretty much a straight road with a few bumps!!

I have been on that path for pretty much most of last year. I'm happy to say things seem to have improved now that I am completely off my thyroid suppressing medications. But boy do I get it about the scenic route!

I can't help but think that some of the other things I'm doing are also helping:
- I wear a fitbit so I can get a more accurate daily determination of what my TDEE actually is, and I get 10K steps a day now (took me a couple of months to work up to that). Amazing how it changes on a day to day basis!
- I look long term at a weekly calorie deficit of 3500(ish) instead of at the short term, which is very forgiving. The fitbit actually tracks my weekly deficit for me!
- I do one proper fast each week, usually on Monday, and aim for a 1750+ deficit, which is half of my goal, then and there. For Tuesday-Friday, I simply wait until noonish to eat. I also make sure I get in at least 1 mile walk before I eat, in order to burn up any glycogen stores in my liver and make sure I'm in fat burning mode. Pretty much, I have found that just skipping breakfast allows me to eat reasonably, healthfully, and satisfyingly (with small treats!) for those four days and end up with a calorie deficit of about 500 per day, bringing me to my weekly goal. On Saturday I splurge, and on Sunday I mop up any excess - doing a bit more exercise or eating a bit less, depending on just how much fun I had on Saturday.
- I read Dr. Amanda Sallis' book, and have a good think before and while I eat - how hungry am I? How satisfied am I? If I'm not particularly hungry - easy peasy - don't eat! I try to really assess while I'm eating how satisfied I am. I don't care if there are only three more bites of sandwich left - if I've actually had enough food, I will throw it out.
- Half the plate should be veg, for at least two meals of the day. The rest of the plate can be divided between carbs, fats and proteins. I'm not particularly fussy about the details, and I cook almost all of our meals from scratch.
- treat yourself! Schedule treats and rewards, no matter how small. I have at least one small reward every day. I have a nice supply of small chocolate squares that are between 72% and 86% dark chocolate and are between 50 and 60 calories each. There's even room on a fast day for one of these beauties, which I turn into a lovely affair with a cup of decaf nespresso.

So far, the scales this month are very promising! Of course then I got sick this week, and so the scales are looking marvelous and I'm hoping I can keep at least some of this loss.

Now I have to say, most of this strategy was worked out by my hubby, BruceE, because he's stalled in his weight loss efforts. He had lost his first 40 pounds easily just fasting two days a week and not thinking about it the other five -- very frustrating for me to watch him on the fast track while I took the scenic route and we did - and ate the same things!! But now he's on the scenic route and he's had to make quite a few adjustments, because his old way of doing 5:2 just wasn't working for him any longer. Since they seemed like super sensible things, I joined in.

Hope this helps!!

Wineoclock wrote: Not only have I been taking the scenic route, I have become positively lost since Christmas. Thanks Gillymary for setting up a tent for us wandering lost souls

OH @Wineoclock I'm with you and nursy deffo!!!
Lost my way since bloody xmas and am hibernating next time coz I now hate xmas and what I've not achieved
As you all know I'm restarting my "proper" fasting again tomorrow I've pledged that I will do 2 x 500cal fasts this week, Mon+ Thurs.
That's my plan so until normal service is resumed and my early December weight not only returned but blown out of the water can I rest awhile with all of you lovely people?.

@gillymary, thanks for setting up this tent, I'm standing right in the middle. I got down to my lowest weight of 11st 6lb last August, yes, that's a 5 month plateau.

In the new year I decided to look at reducing and/or switching carbs, not necessarily low carbing but trying to get off the sugar and white carbs. However, since then I've become unwell and await diagnosis. It might be a some time before I am fit and well again but I can't use that as an excuse to let things go. As my problems involve my heart it now becomes incredibly important now that I keep my weight down. One of my symptoms is brain fog so it I find it really difficult to concentrate an anything. I have quite a collection of new/second hand cookbooks down the side of the couch that I can't wait to get into but I am struggling to focus on them at the moment.

As you can see I have a healthy BMI and it feels like a button has been pressed that has switched off my ability to lose any more weight. Perhaps it is psychological? That said, I think I am one of the few people on here that have been fasting for a while but who hasn't really seen much of a change in appetite on non fast days. I don't tend to overeat any more but I do think I eat too much. My 2 liquid fast each week are usually quite successful.

I can't wait to feel better soon and get rid of the last 12-14lbs, it'll do me a power of good. I could be in this tent for a long time...I do hope I don't get a bad back from sleeping on the ground .

@wildmissusnyou can luxe it up with a fancy fold up bed and comfy camping mattresses we are after all glamping. Did you get a load of the suggested maintenance residence of @caroees suggestion.

If anyone can find us a luxury looking tent I am thinking like circuses now use with turrets and all as I am thinking we ought to plan for the future and no need to squash ourselves in as well we can have all the mod cons eg expresso machine for making those bullet coffees. I am personally wanting a sort of a divan with lots of coloured cushions, nice carpet, couple of side tables. Pass us over those cook books, my favorite occupation while I while away here looking up some yummy recipes to feed myself and move that famine reaction along its way. Also we need a pamper section in the tent where we can do wonders with the coconut oil for our skin and hair. Oh that means a resident hairdresserbeautician with the appropriate sink and comfy chair who is expert in washing out coconut oil we have conditioned our hair with eh @Ballerina

wildmissus wrote: @gillymary, thanks for setting up this tent, I'm standing right in the middle. I got down to my lowest weight of 11st 6lb last August, yes, that's a 5 month plateau. .

WARNING: TOO MUCH INFORMATION!

That's one hell of a plateau @wildmissus And you've done amazingly well not to crack up with that alone.
As you know at roughly my 6months in stage I reduced my carb intake with what I thought were small changes ie: 16:8 so none of my usual carb laden cereal plus dropping the bread from my lunchtime sandwich it all goes on a plate now and plenty of it believe me, I have probably halved my potatoes and now trying a few alternative veggies.
My rice + pasta reduction is very minor indeed but obviously these changes were the right ones for me plus yes they kickstarted my weightloss after what I thought was a plateau.
These changes are small to me but have proved to be an enormous benefit on certain health issues of mine and as someone said today its not a one size fits all you adjust it to suit your possibilities, go small baby steps to begin with to see how you adjust.
Take care of yourself and I really hope you get some good news soon regarding your health problems because they sound horrendous and I know how it feels to go undiagnosed for in my case a very long time.

put down your campbed next to mine but I'm moving out soon. Lol here's hoping eh x