The FastDay Forum

@Wmr309 you sound like you've got things going really well!

No calorie counting for me either - though I'm still fasting 1 or 2 days per week, but rather than count the calories for a 500 dinner I just eat whatever meal happens to be on the menu - just a small portion.

Still think I may need to keep and use calorie counting as a tool for getting back on the wagon after holidays or particularly festive food weeks

I'm weighing in tomorrow and hoping its the same weight as last week.

Happily mainteneering

(PS edited to say sorry this is so long, sometimes don't know when to stop. Of course now it is even longer, )

Hello fellow maintaineers, and those who will be soon.

I've learnt a lot by reading others' strategies, so here is mine for what it's worth:

1. Continue the version of 5:2 I did to lose weight (see 3), since my weight loss had just about stopped at the point I decided was goal. If I get 4 pounds below goal, I'll have a week of 6:1.

2. Weigh a couple of times a week. Post on my maintenance thread on 10th day of every month - this concentrates my mind considerably coming up to posting date! Because I am NEVER going to post that I am above goal. If I ever see a weigh-in above goal during the month, I will revise the strategy. Probably to challenge what I eat on the feast days - not as far as calorie-counting, but to cut out some of the known high-calorie indulgences. Then if I'm not at goal by the 10th of the month, I'll cut off my hair. Then my toes ... Just kidding. I think.

3. My version of 5:2 is:
(a) Eat and drink absolutely anything I want 5 days a week.
(b) 2 days a week cut calories to about 700-800. This includes about 600 calories worked out reasonably exactly and aiming to be fairly healthy, lowish carb, plus as many veggies as I want (which can be A LOT!). Drink diet coke on any lean days that coincide with a pub night. I used to spread my eating over the day, but under the influence of this forum I now skip breakfast on the lean days. On lean days I have early lunch, early dinner and a little supper.

I have to admit to some amazement that my maintenance strategy is working, considering what I consume on 5 days a week, but so far the scales say it is.

This makes it all sound easy, but it isn't, quite. What I find hard is:
(a) I get pretty grouchy on the lean days - husband can confirm! I certainly don't enjoying fasting (although compared to what others do, I guess I don't actually fast). I sometimes think of going to 6:1, but then I'd have to be more careful on the 6 days. I did have a 6:1 last week and my non-lean Friday felt like the most wonderful holiday.
(b) Although I think that my appetite may have got smaller, and I'm not so strongly attracted to large amounts of poor quality junk food, I still don't feel in control around food. I still get feast days when I feel like a bottomless pit that needs to be filled, and snacking becomes almost continuous. The whole thing seems a bit precarious somehow. But I have 50 years of yo-yo dieting behind me, so a few months of maintenance is early days for me really.

On Thursday it will be 3 weeks since my last fast, yet I'm having a long stretch (6 or 7 days) of being right at or a pound or two below my goal. I don't what I'm doing any differently.

I weigh every night and morning but don't get obsessive or worried about it. If it shows weight creeping on, then I schedule a fast day for the next Monday or Thursday. (It's too hard hanging around the house thinking about food on the other days when I don't have scheduled "out of the house" activities).

I love how easy it was to take off and keep off the 14 pounds I wanted to lose. I've learned so much from this forum and have so much admiration for those who've had a lot more to lose and often struggled with medical and other issues, but who keep trying. to all.

I was on holiday last week for 5 days and put on 4lb - no holds barred!!! Within 5 days of my return including one fast I have lost 2 of them and weighed in this morning at 1lb over my target. Very pleased.

I am struggling to get into the sort of maintenance regime that I had hoped for - 6:1 or doing 2 lean days as per kentishlass, or just 2-3 16:8 days. But I am still needing to do the strict 5:2 to make up for too many evenings of too much snacking - tho I do feel a bit better having read that kentishlass also can struggle this way. So I am hoping that knowing others struggle similarly may give me the resolve to resist temptation - does that make sense??

I will let you know!

But I am still needing to do the strict 5:2 to make up for too many evenings of too much snacking

So the choice is simple: 5:2 with snacking or less fasts and less snacking

oh dear. I went away 5 days for a trip and have gained more weight. I'm about 3kg up from my low before Xmas. And I have another trip coming up. I know I can get serious about getting back to goal (and a bit below for good measure), but I really hope I can manage to not put any on in the meantime. I can probably manage a few fasts on this trip, unlike the last one.