The FastDay Forum

Two years ago today I hit my goal weight of 120 lbs. This time last year I was 121 lbs. This morning I am 126 lbs.

Still doing Fast-5 every day, I can see no reason to stop.

Although I am a bit heavier, I am eating much more healthily than I ever have - no sugar, no grains, very rarely any starchy veg, no processed foods or trans-fats. I am also on a 10,000 steps a day challenge for the year and so far have missed one day due to a sickness bug.

So as my waist has not expanded and my small clothes still fit I am going to keep on as I am.

Hope my fellow maintaineers are having a good month. So much excitement on the losing front with BSD, fasting + weight watchers, slimming world etc!

Thanks @barbarita for starting this topic and sharing your wonderful approach and results. Keep on inspiring us
Doing fine as well on 6:1 to keep me just within my range My only worry: where is the summer??

Hi Barabarita P-JK and all other maintainers. ...I have drifted slowly down from a high of 10 stone 10 lb BMI 29.5 to to today's low of 9 stone 7 lb BMI 22, 4" still missing from waist, as well as some reductions from other areas. I don't do 5:2 now, I just throw in a fast day if it suits me on the day, I often skip breakfast if I don't feel hungry and I have definitely cut down on carbs since I started in 2013. Fortunately for me I haven't had a sweet tooth since I was about 14 which I think helps tremendously. I think it's the flexibility of IF which makes it so successful in the long term, with feast being just as vital as fast. I mentioned in another post recently that I have many colleagues who have lost amazing amounts of weight using WW, Slimming World, Slimfast, and all the various diets you can think of, but all without exception have regained the weight, plus extra, when they tried to maintain. I am sure it's because it's so hard, mentally, to feel that you are on a diet for life, whereas there's no need to do that on IF.

Hi @Barbarita: Great to see you are still doing well, and keeping very active! I too had a tummy bug a couple of times in the last month, and the first occurrence was immediately after a maximum effort bike ride on a hot day and I struggled to rehydrate/recover for a couple of days - scary, and I lost about 6 lbs in 5 days which took me well below target weight (135 lbs) for a week. I missed a couple of parkruns as a result and the last couple have been slower than usual - to be expected with reduced training.
On the other side of the coin I have been running better than in 2013 (at least in percentage terms) and climbing pretty well and my problem with food is generally getting enough, rather than too much. I stopped being mainly veggie in 2014 and think I feel better for it. I will go for long gaps between meals but nothing as strict as Fast 5, and I use sugary stuff as post-exercise recovery food. Happy to hang around 138 most of the time, especially when I was going to the gym religiously in Spring.
Natural hip is complaining a bit, will probably need attention in the next year...

Hi @creakypete, good to hear from you. I was starting to wonder what had become of all you runners. One day of D and V was quite enough, 5 must have been awful. As for your original hip, if an operation on that goes as well as your first, your opposition will be cowed at the thought of you being completely bionic!

Hey @JLmid, I have another perspective on why maintaining following "every day restriction diets" is so difficult. Although the "scientific PROOF" is still lacking, I do believe we have sufficient anecdotal evidence to say that the "starvation response" to deprivation (physiological) is real; that is, the body responds to significant caloric reduction over a long period by decreasing metabolism and increasing appetite. And we tend to blame ourselves; rather than noticing the huge percentage of those who regain, we see the tiny group that does successfully keep it off. I do know one of those; more power to her, but I could/would never be so extremely disciplined and able to "just say no" to practically everything for the rest of my life. One reason IF works is you keep the body guessing, feed/fast/feed/fast... Though I've seen some on the forum who've had to go through a refeeding period, I've not had that come up, I think because I don't usually restrict myself on normal days.

Hi, fellow maintainers! I haven't been on the forum much recently and my weight reflects that. I weighed in yesterday morning at 148.9 pounds, just a gnat's whisker inside my two pound wiggle room on my 147 pound target, so today I have been fasting. It has gone well and I am hopeful that a couple more fasts will see me back under target. I hope that everyone else continues to maintain in whatever way suits you best.

I'm hoping to be joining you again soon. After two good fasts this week I'm getting closer to my goal (which I'd been maintaining at successfully for two years). In less than a month it will be my 3-year anniversary for starting this WoE so that's an added driver.

Nice work @Wmr309, keep on the good work and make those dots turn black again in your tracker in a month time

Maintenance Month 025
Goal weight 120 lbs, maintenance range 118 - 122 lbs, method 19/5 every day.
Entry weight 126 lbs, exit weight 125 lbs, average 126.29lbs
Lowest 125 lbs (10 days), highest 129 lbs (1 day)

Doing reasonably well, except for the week my friend stayed. I kept to my 5 hour window and we had an early dinner out each evening. Given how lacking in vegetables these are - even in well-rated spots a large percentage are root veg - I tended to have a huge salad first to try and balance things up. Oh, and I hate places that offer "salad" at lunchtime and the "salad" contains pasta, couscous and other carbage.