The FastDay Forum

Ok, I'm kicking off our September thread inspired by @WarriorPrincess the last post of August thread ...

This has been very enlightening - thank you everyone. That I can even think about reaching a maintenance weight is astonishing ... but it probably is a fair way off. I do tend to maintain between the 5/2 Forum challenges - but that's not a choice, just what seems to happen when I've not got the focus of a challenge!

I'm sure a challenge will happen soon. When approaching maintenance I visited this tent to see what was happening ... for that easy landing. I thought it would be hard, it was much easier than I had anticipated. I kept to my routine so it did not feel uncomfortable to me. x
We have long term maintainers, can you remember how you felt approaching goal?

Good to have this topic, in between summer season and the winter/X-mas challenges ahead. One month of 'regular maintenance' for most of us. On your question: for me the change from weight loss to maintenance marked the change from being 'on a project' (losing) to 'maintenance as a part of 'ordinary life'. You miss the excitement of focussed attention and achievement, but it is also relaxing to get more flexibility in activity (no longer exactly 2 days of fasting for me). The main point is to not see maintenance as stopping with fasting, but just as another stage where fasting is more flexible, but should still be used to keep results within your maintenance range.

Thank you Lizbean for starting this month's maintenance topic. Somewhere for me to be
I am maintaining after all the excitement of summer - which is not over yet. but doing 6:1 at the moment. weighed 52.9 kg this morning. That is a bit over the kilo leeway. But last Thursday when I maintenance fasted I actually lost 800 g overnight. So I am not particularly worried of gaining it back again. Next week there happens to be a surprise holiday in Italy for a week, for Hubby and me . Breakfasts are included in the package. So I'll try to eat much less for the other meals and see how that'll pan out. But we ain't there yet. I do enjoy not fasting too much at the moment....

I think the best description is sort of!!Still have the pesky lb, but have kept it's friends at bay! Hopefully it will at least stay like this

Reporting back, I think I last wrote in the 'fasting today', for yesterday. I tried the same regime as last week, and I lost nearly as much weight. Phew. Now
52.3 kg, which is well within my maintenance range.
In 4 days time I am heading for a holiday in Italy . I will not fast on that week's Thursday. My husband asked me not to fast, because I seem to be much lower on energy when fasting.
I'll try to not to eat too much, be cheaper if I do not, and all that pasta is NOT low carb....
So, will report back in a couple of week's time, I guess.

I started September at 119.6 lbs which is below my goal (maintenance) weight of 125 lbs. However, soon I will be changing from salads to more sustaining food and drinking less water which does take away the hunger as the temperatures drop in Cyprus. I am planning to do two fast days per week and try to keep at TDEE on the other days for the remainder of September to see what happens - purely out of curiosity!

@Margotsylvia Hols Felice di voi! Interesting, steak, onions and broccoli on fast day make a nice loss for you, it's great to find those magic bullets when we need them. Will you try it after your hols? We all know low carb on fast days works, but it makes one wonder if certain proteins or veg are an additional aid, when we need it.
@galexinda good luck in transitioning the season, you are organised and well prepared. Last year, the end of October was my first change towards winter as a maintainer (UK) it was a significant challenge. Quite threw me, autumn to winter challenge - change in day light hours and diet. I added Vit D supplements and experienced a hunger for winter greens, which were shredded and a base of my meals, winter green cabbage spaghetti etc. Once past Nov, I'd settled into a good routine.
It's a beautiful, sunny warm Sept day here in London. I do feel more prepared for winter this year and I'm sure I will learn more too. Thanks for sharing, take care.

[carorees]

I discovered a great feature in the Libra app that gives a range of interesting stats. Today I noticed that compared with 12 months ago my trend weight has gone down by 0.01kg and the app calculates that to achieve this I have undereaten by 12 cals per day! (such precision!)
Seems like successful maintenance to me! #wellchuffed

Numerically, Gary Taubes makes a similar point: How many additional daily calories are needed to transform a lean 25 year old into an obese 50 year old?

Twenty calories.

That's 20 * 365 or about 1 kg (two pounds per year) * 25 years is 23kg, (50 pounds).

After having no problems with maintaining for over a year suddenly my weight has jumped four kilograms in just over a fortnight! That's a bit more than I feel comfortable with so tomorrow will be my first 500 calorie fast in ages.
I have been eating mindfully this last year and only skip breakfast and lunch on two days a week. During winter here I have been at the top of my allowed range, 68.5kg (66.5-68.5kg is my range) but just this morning I weighted 72.5kg. I am in shock. Back to basics for me which means the Mexican pizza from the 5:2 book, our standard fast meal on Monday. Off to the gym now.

I'm without scales for a couple of months which is a bit scary. Hopefully it will be ok. I've gotten in a few half fasts since I've been in NYC. Today I'll do a real one hopefully. My last few weigh ins before the scales got packed were just within my maintenance range. I guess I'll keep an eye on how clothes, particularly trousers, fit.

In theory, healthy metabolisms speed up or slow down so that people can maintain their weight without having to eat the same amount so exactly. I know a few people who are like that. Seeing them after years apart, I am amazed that they don't seem to have gained an ounce. Nor do they diet. Some eat surprising amounts. I'm not one of them, needless to say.

Re the sudden dramatic gain: can it be partly from water retention and constipation? The latter can cause some surprising gains.

I'm going to alternate 5:2 with 6:1 for a while. My weight is holding nicely, but l'm feeling a bit burned out on fasting again. I'd really like to get back to eating a bit less on nonfast days!

It's comforting to see I'm not the only one who gets sudden weight surges out of the blue.
75.8kgs today and always hoping for less, but now Autumn has us gripped and no doubt the Seasonal Hunger will descend with it, so upping my vegetable intake for filling fibre :0)

By the way, anyone watch Michael Mosely's TV programme about the first 8 weeks of life from conception last night? Rather good as usual. More to come. He said if the mother has been eating leafy greens when the baby is conceived, that person will grow to live a longer life. Makes you think eh?

He said if the mother has been eating leafy greens when the baby is conceived, that person will grow to live a longer life.

I'm trying to visualise this, but somehow the image that comes into my head in not very attractive...

He said if the mother has been eating leafy greens when the baby is conceived, that person will grow to live a longer life.

I'm trying to visualise this, but somehow the image that comes into my head in not very attractive...

Unless it's a panda ...