The FastDay Forum

@Sassy1 thanks very much. I looked at all members trackers (thank you!) who have posted on Feb thread. The majority including you are maintaining within a range I think was set for maintaining, and all have been looking good in the bigger picture for some time. Winter is - well it's BIG bottom. I hope we work out how to ride this bottom out - especially our N Americans/Canadians. Well done you maintainers! 4lbs range is acceptable? I can't see you have bounced significantly above or below a small range, perhaps I have missed your point. I'm learning! @Ssure @Carorees.
Yes I'll start a foodie me blog, I gave up all sugar 35 years ago after being poisoned in my teens a bit like a nut allergy - also gluten free for a year. What next?
Feeling good Hope everyone is good today

Hi again @Lizbean. I sometimes think that giving up sugar is the most sensible solution to eating issues, but I don't seem to be prepared to do it.

Re my tracker, I often don't weigh myself immediately after a binge, and also I haven't put in recent data as I don't seem to be able to enter the data from the iPad anymore.

However, you are right that I have maintained within a reasonable range - but only through fasting. I really would like to be able to manage my weight by eating around my TDEE every day, with only the very occasional over-eating, which could be followed by a fast day.

I have been trying to only eat my TDEE allowance, instead of fasting, this week. Started ok, but the amount I have been eating has gradually crept up. I have been trying to work out why and then find other solutions. If I have any great insights, I will share!

You seem very well placed to maintain successfully - best wishes!

Well done you maintainers! 4lbs range is acceptable? I can't see you have bounced significantly above or below a small range, perhaps I have missed your point. I'm learning! @SSure @carorees.

@Lizbean, for me, this is the healthy/unavoidable neurosis of being in the early years of maintenance. I don't know how other people use their range but I know that I use it as a guideline as to what I'm doing. I'm not surprised by a 2 lb bounce if I've eaten something salty; or I've missed a couple of kayak sessions; or I've eaten a little more than usual. But, if there hasn't been an obvious change in my food intake or activity levels, then I pay attention to what else might be happening - and notice whether or not I've some joint swelling.

My weight drifted up for 5/6 weeks last November. I didn't appear to have changed any of my patterns so I held my nerve and didn't alter my food intake and then my weight abruptly shifted down again. But, I spent time drifting, and I only hit 109.x lbs once. This time, my weight didn't drift, it jumped - and I've now been in the 108-109lbs range for 10 consecutive days iirc - and that's not happened before to me in maintenance and so I'm paying attention because it's novel.

I'd like to think that my weight will shift down again as it did last year. But, I need to be wary that there may be more subtle changes that contribute to this (such as my speculations about my NEAT above). If I gain more or stay at the top of my preferred maintenance range then I may need to rethink some things.

Another thought-provoking post from Dr Barbara Berkeley on the topic of maintenance: http://www.refusetoregain.com/2015/02/s ... tions.html

Weight loss is not a slide downhill. It is not a journey that lands you in a new and different land. It is not a happy progression to a healthy place. It's not necessarily a cause for celebration. This is what it is.

Weight loss is a gradual triggering of the body's desire to regain. The more you pull, the more the body wants to return. My personal hypothesis is that this occurs because our bodies are completely unaware of how much weight we accumulate. On the other hand, our bodies respond strongly to weight loss and perceive it as threatening. These two characteristics fit with our ancient genetics. Humans evolved over millions of years during which fatness was impossible, so likely did not develop programming to combat it….or even measure it. By the same token, loss of weight from starvation or illness would have been highly threatening, so programs to reverse the process would have been vital. It is this programming that is causing the problem we face in the modern environment.

I've come across the argument that although we have some good agonist-antagonist balances in our bodies, there seems to be a point at which they're breeched and then we don't seem to have a 'No More' point. My difficulty in embracing this is all of the set-point research and the indication that NEAT varies so much from one person to another as part of this. However, I find Berkeley's hypothesis to be a useful narrative that makes some sense of what is happening to some maintainers and it will pretty much have to do until such time as there is decent research (or any research in the area).

@SSure, The kind of limitations you described are what I have been living with since 1998 when I burst two discs in my lower back. It's getting even worse now that I'm older and my neck discs have gone, too. I also have serious ongoing problems with my shoulders and feet if I over do it. Weight lifting is completely out and that includes picking up a gallon of milk or, sadly, a child.

I did manage to lose a decent amount of weight and maintain it over this whole period. I weigh about what I weighed 20 years ago before developing the disc problems. So it can be done. It's just that your TDEE will be much lower and the older you get the lower it gets. But it can be done and the back and joints really do appreciate keeping the weight off.

[carorees]

I think that the description of weight loss and maintenance by Dr Berkeley is very apt. The point about celebrating maintaining some kind of loss even if you can't keep at your target is something we should be doing.

On that note, I am currently at the very top of my maintenance range due to having gone away for a long weekend. Instead of panicking I shall take @SSure's advice and use watchful waiting to see whether I go back down.

Last week's stats then: max weight 65.2kg, min weight 64.4kg, trend 64.8kg (maintenance range 63 to 65 kg). Hoping I don't have to reassess my maintenance range.

ugh. I've screwed up again. I shouldn't be allowed to leave home for more than a day. Every time I do, I gain weight. Up almost 2kg after this last trip. I hope it's easy on-easy off, but I'm not holding my breath. I even managed several good fast days on this trip, so I thought I'd be ok. Stupid California. Too much good food!

But but I am only 0.5kg above my newly defined maintenance window of 63-65kg. Try to be positive, MaryAnn.
/peptalk

p.s. It was Barbara Berkeley's post that led me to the Lancet article I posted in another thread: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(15)00009-1/abstract

Well I watch my journey in a detached way. Some days I can't manage to restrict my calories, usually when I see a madly busy day looming. Means I will have an 11 hour stretch from home to home and eating with dogs jumping all over me standing up or driving and eating has limited appeal and practicality. So I shall watch with interest to see what happens with my 2 days of 1000 cals this week. My skinny clothes still fit, I'm close to goal weight, I just don't want to get into further bad habits And go back up. For me, restricting 3 days a week has appeal. I don't touch alcohol, I tend to eat healthier and whilst I still FEEL restricted, I think my black n white, all or nothing personality needs some discipline I'll experiment about and see what happens. I think all this walking, racing about I do, must allow me to consume quite a lot of calories without gaining.

No fasting this month and no exercise as well, as my hernia is bothering me again. So weight is creeping up slowly. Seems like some fasting is bound te be needed next month.

I'm currently in Germany and eating everything that isn't nailed down! I know from experience that this will result in a weight gain of about seven to ten pounds and will require several fasts to remove it! However, I am enjoying myself and will deal with it as soon as I return!
The month is nearly over and I wonder how we will all do with our maintaining next month?

I have been fasting on my usual 5:2 schedule and was at 140 lbs this morning after yesterday's fast. I was a bit better about controlling carbs this past week, which may have helped. Unfortunately, Dunkin Donuts came out with a Donut of the Month that is the single best donut they've ever sold, and it will be gone Mar 1, so I have had a few more donuts than usual. Usually I just have a couple munchkins (donut holes at 80 calories a piece) and since most of their other donuts aren't that good, it's easy to do. But I have been enjoying my brownie batter donuts and will probably get another one today.

Still, with two donuts last week I didn't gain anything, so that is encouraging. Cutting carbs the rest of the time to balance out the 45 g in the donut helped a lot. I've been eating more LC breakfasts, too. Bacon and egg rather than toast and peanut butter.

There are rumors that there will be spring but no actual sign of it. The temperature surged up to 33 F a few days ago and we were all exclaiming about how warm it was even as an icy wind had us pulling our scarves more tightly around our faces.

Reporting in this week with a high of 137 (2 pounds over goal) and a low today of goal 135 after a fast yesterday. Back in the fall I started recording here and on tracker my high and low for the week, hoping it would help those who tend to lose heart at every increase. It's the trend that counts--ups and downs are normal.

Peebles--here in upstate NY we have another below 0 F night forcast for tonight, but next week on Wednesday it might get up to 39 F!--but with rain and snow

Best of luck to us all

107.2lbs - so, for 3 days now, I've been in the middle of my range which gives me a sense of so much more breathing space than the top of my preferred maintenance range. @Lizbean, I've just reflected that you won't see any of this drama played out in my tracker (for technical reasons, the tracker won't allow me to enter my actual weight, so I always have to record the 'nearest acceptable weight').

Difficult month. I hope March is more straightforward for all of us.

Some interesting discussions, blog posts and that Lancet piece on weight-loss maintenance - much of which highlights the paucity of helpful research in this area. For such a substantial Public Health issue, there really shouldn't be so many unknowns and such a poverty of evidence-based advice.

Last day of February and I am still within range-just but that's OK.
I have done 1 fast this month-I didn't find the not much food a problem , but it was followed by not much sleep[Far worse than when I was fasting regularly] and I can't cope with that.
Hopefully I will be able to manage next month by skipping lunch and being careful when the scales are unkind.

Well I watch my journey in a detached way.

That pretty much describes my whole fasting experience. I watched myself go down to goal, then gain a couple of pounds, then hover about where I am now.

Also bemused when my half-hearted stabs at losing those 2 lbs again don't work. Because that's what they are, half-hearted.

On the other hand I am grateful that my eating window lets me get away with all sorts. Eating a whole bowl of chips because they were there. Comfort eating - like a 175 g bag of unsalted pistachios last night because yesterday was a string of minor annoyances. It's like being in a play pen where you can do silly things with no real consequences. Anyway, the stats:

Maintenance Month 008, goal weight 120 lbs, method 7 x 19/5

Entry weight, 122, exit weight 122, average 122.43
Highest 124 (3 days), lowest 122 (19 days).

Last month average 122.55, this month average 122.43

So the impression that I am slowly drifting up is incorrect.