The FastDay Forum

In a bid to learn a bit more about our community's fasting habits, motivations and other interesting foodie/fasting stuff we're going to be running a poll each week and would appreciate it if you could take a moment to cast your vote on the matter!

For this week's poll, we are asking:

If you've been a faster over the festive season before, did you lose, maintain or gain weight?
It would be great to know how you've got on over the festive season while you've been a faster, even if you chose not to fast over the holidays themselves (you may have eaten more mindfully, had a smaller appetite or skipped meals instead, thanks to what you've learned from fasting).

Do bear in mind that most people apparently gain a staggering 7-10lbs over the holidays, so anything less than this should be classed as success in my book

Feel free to reply to explain your answer further, or if none of the answers are close enough for you.

Over to you!

I had to check my tracker for the answer and I'm pleased to say that I kept within a pound or two of my goal weight the whole time. I hope to do as well this year.

I lost a few lb over last xmas as at the time was going great guns with 5:2
Ate what i wanted but didnt seem to want a great deal! Has some goodies tho and a delicious xmas eve & xmas day dindins
(Pity that feeling didnt extend into the New Year! xx)

I've lost when in weight loss mode and maintained when in maintenance mode so couldn't tick any of the above

This is my 4th Winter/Festive Season as a faster.

None of the above. I stopped weighing just before Christmas and didn't weigh again until I'd put in some fasts in January.

I had to check my tracker too and I gained 4 lbs. but then lost 2 of those pretty quickly in January. so I chose just a little.

Checking my Tracker, I lost 2 lbs between 23 and 30 December, which was my first week on Fast-5 after doing 5:2 for 4 months. However we are very quiet over Christmas and I dislike traditional Christmas food - mince pies, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding - dried fruit in fact - so it is not a challenging time for me foodwise!

I reached my goal just before Christmas (17th December), and stopped weighting myself at the same time. In the beggining of 2014 I had lost enough to be considered underweight. FYI, at 48 kgs I have a 18.44 BMI so underweight and at 49 kgs I have 18.82 BMI so a normal weight

I did the same thing I'll do this year, 2 fasts a week, only did one big meal, on Christmas Day (I fasted on Christmas eve and New Year's eve), eat a bit of everything, especially mince pies a weakness of mine , but in small proportion, only had 2 glasses of wine during the day, never take something twice . Also I didn't buy chocolates but instead made truffles big big difference

I've done 2 Christmases since starting 5:2. The first time I had been fasting for 6 weeks. On 24th December I had a loss of 2lb which took my average weekly loss to 1lb a week . By 31st December I had put on 3 lbs. I got back to my pre Christmas weight by 21st January and started losing again from then.
Not quite the same the second year. Again on the weigh in before Christmas I had a loss of 1.5 lb ( quite exceptional for me by then). I put on 3lbs in the Christmas week again but this time I didn't get back to my pre christmas weight till 3rd February and didn't start losing again till 2nd March.
Must do better this year!

Edited to say I have just remembered that we had a 5 day break in Iceland in the middle of February so the delay to resumed weight loss was not all down to Christmas

This will be my second 5:2 Christmas. Last year I lost a whole 300 grams over a festive fortnight that was spent away from home and with many, many family gatherings complete with tables groaning with food and drink: I just continued with my usual two days' fasting a week, and didn't beat myself up if I hadn't been quite as rigorous as usual. After 18 months of 5:2, 19 kilograms lost, and a completely different relationship with food, I'm happy to accept that there will be weeks when nothing budges, and that Christmas actually only comes but once a year! Enjoy yourself!

I voted that I maintained. It really depends how you look at it. I actually gained 2kg but lost them within 2 days by being careful, so I don't think that really counts.
I know that ANY time we feast (going out for dinner, or having friends around) then I ALWAYS have a temporary weight gain, but that's all it is, temporary. A quick 16:8 & I'm immediately back on track.
Maintenance for 15 months now

dewetha wrote: After 18 months of 5:2, 19 kilograms lost, and a completely different relationship with food, I'm happy to accept that there will be weeks when nothing budges

Hello @dewetha, congratulations on such a successful 18 months and the new relationship with food. I look forward to learning more about you and your goals in your introduction.
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