The FastDay Forum

Down 2.6 lbs this week (for a current weight of 160.4 lbs) after a rough week of plateau-ish numbers! Yaaaaay! It's funny, even though so many people mention that sudden drops happen after plateau, it's still rough when you're in one, even if it's only for 9 days. This will be a great reminder to myself to make it easier the next time it happens to keep the faith and follow the plan. The exciting part is that yesterday it was 160.0 and I got the chance to see the scale finally flicker into the 150's!!!

I feel bad mentioning how happy I am when there are others who have remained the same or gone up! It's tough when you have high-calorie events in your path. At the same time, I'm excited that you guys got the chance to enjoy some delectable goodies! I know soon enough the holiday season will begin and I'm trying to remain calm. Even though I now have this amazing tool in my arsenal to counteract extra goodies (which I've used successfully already to counteract special event eating), there's just going to be SO MUCH FOOD for two whole months..... I haven't figured out how to wrap my brain around it in such a way that I could be around all of that calorie-dense goodness without eating it ALL!

Do you guys have any tips for making it through the holidays without being thrown too off track? I mean, I'm definitely going to be eating delicious food -- that's a given and one of the main reasons I chose this WOE and why it's been working for me so far. That's the delight of this WOE is that I don't have to worry so much about indulging from time to time. But what can I do to make sure that it doesn't become an everyday habit again due to be surrounded by it for two months? I mean, I do indulge on a daily basis, actually, even on fast days, by eating small things like ghiradelli squares. I've improved leaps and bounds over how I used to eat, which generally included eating the whole bag of squares instead of one or two like I do now. But there are limits to my willpower if the temptation is constant and people are offering goodies with love or expectation (and free, to boot). Any ideas?

Thank you guys so much for being here for me to check in with!

Dear @fancyfinch

Congrats on your success to date and, more particularly, your wonderful positive attitude, which should help a lot in getting you through the holiday period. Holidays are my downfall too...

No magic tips to help, just the usual things. Only eat the calorie dense foods that you really fancy, and have a small serve and really savour it. Think about how full you feel. Try to have time between eating the next such food. Practice polite ways to say "no thanks", or other ways to avoid taking food, when you are offered food that you don't "want" to eat. Try to have some days when you don't eat any such foods and eat mainly whole foods. Exercise a bit more if you can. I am sure you can think of other strategies that would work for you.

Good luck!

My second week checkin. Not too bad a week - certainly better than a "normal" week. No serious overindulging, though I did eat more than I needed on a couple of days. Managed one lighter day.

The FODMAP rules are still helping, though most days I end up breaking them for various reasons (eg going out to eat). But overall my IBS symptoms are better, so another benefit - as well as feeling good for not overindulging, and possibly having lost a little around my middle (bit hard to tell, is mainly less bloating I think!).

Rather quiet again in the forum...

I'm happy to say that I'm down 1.8 lbs. this week! I'm only .8 pounds away from my challenge goal. So, hopefully I will exceed it I splurged a little this weekend, but kept in check, that and getting my walks in both days probably helped!

We are at the halfway point of the challenge. How is everyone else doing?

Down 2.2 lbs this week (even though I'm on my monthly cycle)! I have 3 lbs to go to my challenge goal weight of 155.2 (which feels totally doable in the time frame we have left. The good news for me is that the fasting this week was much easier. I always feel at least a little hungry (often more hungry) on fast days no matter what I do. I know it may change again in the future, but this week's fast days I really didn't feel hungry at all, which is such a blessing, since I usually want to pig out right before my cycle.

I'm glad to see others are doing well this week, too! I can't believe we're halfway there! I can't believe it's October!

Hello
Just checking in! I have not been doing well on this challenge - or even with checking in on this challenge! Work has just been nuts lately.
So I still weigh the same, so that's good. I have stayed off the sugar and tried to be low carb. I haven't fit in any real lengthy fasting, and I think that is my problem. I always lose more when I fast. I've been skipping breakfast, so that's about a 16:8 but it's still not as powerful as doing 24 or 36 hours like I was doing this summer.
Good luck to everyone and I'll try to get my act together!

I have just been nosy and looked at some trackers - it is interesting to see how others are going and I do appreciate it when people share this info (I don't generally remember from one post to the next what someone's situation is, without this extra info).

@Fancyfinch, you have had quite an amazing rate of loss, you must be feeling pleased. And @nycnyc2013, from your tracker it appears that you have lost all that you regained - you must feel good about that - so a little time to stabilize at your current weight is probably a good idea before trying to lose some more.

As for me, well... Third week of my challenge was not good. I was back into all my bad habits.... I let some FODMAP foods back into my diet, and didn't stop myself eating in the evenings. No commitment... I haven't hugely over indulged, but have certainly eaten more than I need. Clothes are feeling tighter again... We have friends visiting this weekend, and we will be eating out all the time (I don't like having to cook for others). Maybe I can get back on track once they have left - it will then just be 2 weeks until our holiday. So that might be a period I can focus on better eating behaviour.

@sassy1- thank you! yes, I've been having a lot of success, though it has certainly required focus. This past five days have been difficult due to my monthly cycle, and I've gone outside of my normal consistent bounds, but I'm back on track. If I pay attention to what I'm doing then weight loss will continue to follow. I find I have to be precise in order to keep it up. I eat my TDEE on Non-Fasting Days and 25% of TDEE on FD. I also generally do more than 5:2 per week, even if it's just an extra partial FD (like 900 calories). I need to weigh myself everyday in order to remind myself of what I'm working towards. And keeping calories just for something sweet has helped a lot, too. Also recently I've begun weighing some of my food as some foods don't measure out easily in cups or spoons (it's really, really easy to underestimate portions!). So far 5:2, and my accompanying personal rules) has felt like a game, which has helped. I'm so sorry about your FODMAP diet issues! It's crazy how sometimes what has been somewhat easy to do suddenly becomes unmanageable and you want to eat everything in sight. Not sure where that feeling comes from, but I am certainly no stranger to it myself. I hope you are able to enjoy your time with your friends without worrying too much about it, and I'm sure the last two weeks of the challenge will work out well for you, as shorter time frames are much easier to work with motivation-wise. This has been a long challenge, and long challenges are hard to stick to when you're far away from either edge of it. Good luck!

@Sassy1 I really think that it is hard for you because you aren't really measuring anything. Not necessarily your weight but calories or carbs or something. Do you have a hard deadline for when you want to stop eating? I just think that your goals are too vague and it's hard to keep them that way. I know that by counting carbs (and to an extent) calories, not only am I recording everything I eat, when I want to eat something I have to see if it's going to put me over my limit or not and if it is, then I decide not to have it. If I wasn't keeping track, I'd think "Oh just one will be ok" or "I think I've been good today, it should be fine", etc. And I know the values are probably not exact, but still it keeps me somewhat in check. And then of course the scale on top of it, provides such valuable feedback. I'm so happy when I do well and see that my work has paid off and don't want to ruin it. But, if I don't lose, that makes me evaluate what went wrong and try harder the next week.

I don't want to tell you how to reach your goals, but it just seems like you are struggling and I feel like the lack of measurement could be part of it!

I'll stop now!

Thanks @fancyfinch for your supportive words. I really admire your positive and realistic attitude - and your commitment!

Thanks @cblasz, what you are saying does make a lot of sense. And I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.

Most days I do generally keep a mental track of what I have eaten compared to the amount I think I need, but that clearly isn't enough to stop me overeating.

As you know, I used to weigh myself regularly but became obsessive about the stats, and then ended up eating more than I should as a reaction, whether the scale went up or down. And I also realized I was fasting to maintain, meaning I was overeating on other days.

As you also know, I want to be able to eat according to hunger, which I can manage during the day. But in the evening, the eating for reward, enjoyment, comfort, habit, etc takes over and I haven't been able to find a long term solution to stopping this. I have tried banning foods, restricting foods, making lists, finding alternative activities, placing time limits - every strategy suggested - but I do not stick with any of them. I am not keen on rules, and would rather use being mindful, but don't stick with that either...

But I do agree that some form of measurement (and reward) is a great help when trying to make a change. I will give some more thought to this. (Though as you also know, I spend too much time thinking about my eating and related matters....)

@Sassy1 - I wish I knew what else to tell you! I do understand to some extent though. While I'm doing good with my eating, there's a lot of other habits I'm working on that I have trouble with...e.g. getting up and walking in the morning, doing stuff at night when I get home (I don't eat, I fall asleep watching TV!), getting more reading in, etc. A lot of my problem is due to lack of time and being tired now that I'm back at both jobs, but I'm keeping at them. I may have mentioned this before, but I do use a goal tracker to keep track of the things I'm trying to implement.

There are a bunch out there, but the one I use is very simple, it's www.joesgoals.com. You just set up the things you want to do/not do and the days and then you can just check them off each day. You can have it be a positive point a negative one. I use it for weight related (drink water, walk/exercise, carbs under 100g, etc.) and non-weight related.

It seems that the forum and this challenge are really dwindling!!

Anyway, the scale is up for me a bit today. Slightly over 1/2 pound. I ate out more this weekend than last weekend and I didn't get any real exercise in. I was too tired on Saturday and yesterday we went to the Dr. Seuss museum and some other museums, so we did some walking, but not enough!

I realize that even if I have plans on the weekend, I can try to limit myself. Yesterday, we ha a great lunch, and then my friend and I split a big chocolate chip cookie. It was good that we split it and it was good, but I really didn't have to have it. Things like that! I also need to make sure to get my exercise in on the weekend and try to get more in during the week.

The good news is that I am off today, so I will get a walk in (before it rains again) and will eat healthily! I hope to have a better week this week!

Hi @cblasz and everyone - anyone?? It certainly is very quiet here, but it has been good to see some posts from "oldies" who don't post very often and some newbies. And good to see a post from Tracie!

Hope you managed your walk, cblasz, and are feeling motivated for the week ahead!

My visitors have gone and at the moment I feel I have some renewed enthusiasm to manage my eating a bit better, so hopefully I will. (But how many times have I said that...)

Seeing P-JK's results and his attitude has helped with my motivation, plus viewing the trackers of others who have successfully maintained for a number of years. And coming across the photos of me when I was at goal...

I am extending my challenge period until Christmas (and there may be a Christmas challenge after this one, maybe...???). I do have a 3-week holiday in that period, but I don't want to use that as an excuse to overindulge. I am going to go back to the basic 5:2 and try some "proper" fast days as well using whatever strategies I can to stop the evening overeating. I am hoping that having "suffered" through fast days, I am not going to want to undo the good I have done by overeating on other days. That is the plan/ hope.

I will have a look at joesgoals and also have some ideas for daily notes I can make that may help me stick to my goal and also measure progress.

We have a gorgeous day today - blue skies and sun certainly help my attitude. It could be that our grim winter didn't help me with good eating habits... And also now that we have daylight saving and it is light til later, it will be easier to keep busy for longer. I do have A LOT of weeding to do in the garden...

Anyway... Would love to hear how everyone else is doing.

I did get my walk in and ate pretty well yesterday. However, I have become addicted to these Parmesan crisps that I bought. They are no carb of course, but still I ate way too many. Especially since they are not cheap! They are hard to find, so I bought 2 packages on Saturday and they are both almost gone! Still I did pretty well and ready for the week. My week is so structured, even after work, that it is easy for me during the week!

@Sassy1 - glad you are feeling motivated this week! Perhaps you can run the Christmas challenge?

Happy to run the Christmas Challenge, though I will be on holiday for 2 weeks after the current challenge finishes and may not be able to check the forum every day. But don't suppose that will be a problem...