The FastDay Forum

This time last year I was seven pounds over the target weight that I reached in July 2013. This year I am three quarters of a pound under my target weight, which I regained in March this year. That means that, this year, I have been at, or around, target (except for holidays, of course! ) for nearly eight months. I have never in my adult life stayed so close to target for that length of time! I am rather pleased!

Now, in the next nine and a half weeks, I only have to negotiate a holiday in Germany, a cruise to the Canaries, Christmas with the family and the New Year celebrations! I cannot guess what my New Year weight will be, but I'm sure that it will involve some heavy duty fasting to get me back to target again! Damage limitation will be the name of the game!

How will my fellow maintaineers approach the festive season to maintain your target weight?

@StowgateResident. Well done!!! What an achievement and inspiration to maintain for such a long period. You have a lot of food to negotiate over the next three months but of course you now have the tools and experience to counter any slight gain. I don't really have a plan apart from keep on fasting which i hope will reduce my carb cravings.

How will my fellow maintaineers approach the festive season to maintain your target weight?

Perhaps sneak in a fast here and there, but enjoy the food that is available. Of course you could be aware of the fact that the final extra serving seldomly tastes as good as the first ones (so could be left alone...). Actually it will taste better as the first one on the next day.

So if I buy a lot of different food, there's no time to eat it b4 it goes off. One of the difficulties of living alone I guess. Ah well I'll work on it

Perhaps organize a few dinner sessions together with some people you know? (or get to know better by eating together?)

How will my fellow maintaineers approach the festive season to maintain your target weight?

This is my 4th festive Winter Holiday season that I will spend with an IF schedule so we're more or less acclimatised to it now. We've just been agreeing which work/social Christmas/Diwali/Hannukah/New Year invitations we'll accept/decline. By and large, we're passing on set-piece 'obligation' dinners at restaurants as the food is rarely acceptable and the social aspect is seldom worth it never mind the usual hassles of relying on public transport or coping with poorly-maintained roads during iffy weather.

We've kept to our fasting schedule in past years. I can't pretend that it doesn't take some juggling at times but even DH is coming round to the viewpoint that there's little point eating more food than you actively enjoy or is of a quality that you wouldn't normally eat (unless there's a strong family reason to eat it - and even then, I don't do that any more tho' DH does). For a long time, we've usually volunteered for Christmas-New Year coverage for organisations for which we volunteer during the year (e.g., The Food Chain) so our friends and family have grown accustomed to us not attending all of the big set piece events.

It might sound a bit Grinchy but it suits us and it means that we have an easier time maintaining than otherwise.

Hi all, I managed to not only maintain well this month but also lost another pound so I now have my comfortable buffer zone I was hoping for. Looking forward to maintaining in November with all of you. See you over on the November maintenance thread.

[Tracieknits]

@Stowgateresident, When I'm maintaining, like now, I weigh daily, as that really really helps me not pile pounds back on. My scale goes to within 2/10ths of a pound or 100g. While I know that we normally exist within a range of about 3 or 4 pounds, I do what I can to not go above. If my weight is near the top of the range, I watch myself a bit more that day. I make myself more conscious of allowing time between meals, perhaps skipping breakfast, and making better choices. But even when my weight is near the bottom of my range, I try not to overdo. I know the first half of a treat tastes way better than the second half of the same treat, so I have been splitting desserts or even wasting food and throwing half out. I don't deny myself anything I want, but I usually try to reduce the portion sizes.

I'm planning to start fasting again when my thyroid gets under some semblance of control after my ablation in December.

8st 11 this morning. more than pleased with maintenance this month. Now, if I can get down to 8st 7lb that will give me a 7lb buffer and even holidays shouldn't take me over my 9st target.

Am still 5:2ing, 16:8ing, mfp'ing, fitbitting, lowish carbing and daily weighing. Enjoying the odd meal out and not having to worry about that piling on the lbs.

Well done to all fellow maintainers for the month of October. Hope we get more maintaineers joining our happy band in the coming months. Might get some from the Christmas Challenge thread

@WendyDarling Wow,well done!!! A 7lb buffer is fantastic. You are a vigilant girl. I love your 16:18 regime. Please let me into your secret how you can have 34hr days. I could do soooo much more with my life.

quote="StowgateResident"]
How will my fellow maintaineers approach the festive season to maintain your target weight?[/quote]

It will not make much, if any difference to me. Christmas Day lunch ( FOUR courses ) will be all I will eat on the 25th and all the other days I will just mix and match and move my window around to accommodate social arrangements as per usual. I have never really been a fan of party food anyway so all the sausage rolls, pizzas etc do nothing for me. As I always drive I also will not be overindulging in alcohol either but I will have a great time, no hangovers and no New Years resolutions about going on another useless diet, such freedom, bliss!!!

Ballerina x

Well done @Wendy Darling!
I think I will venture back into the tent next month, not just as an observer - perhaps once I have lost the extra I will be putting on this weekend...!!! (see my posts in fasting today Thurs 30 Oct).
I am now fairly close to the minimum weight I have previously achieved following 5:2, which was lower than my initial goal weight, but I where I feel more comfortable. So I have changed my old goal to be an interim one, and set a new one - though I don't think I should go under the new goal apart from just after a fast. I will probably say that maintenance for me should be to stay within those 2 bounds.
The Christmas challenge has helped with motivation to lose the couple of kilos I keep putting on - now that they are gone again, I want it to stay that way. But weekends like the one ahead, and Christmas, I know will mean extra eating quite often - will just have to try to find times when I can fast, and exercise more. And try not to pig out too much on chocolates - that was my main problem last Christmas... (Tho I am so looking forward to some Quality Street choccies, which we only seem to get at Christmas time - just as well!)
This has been quite a busy thread this month, I look forward to next month with you all and, as Wendy says, hopefully some new mainteneers

This has been quite a busy thread this month, I look forward to next month with you all and, as Wendy says, hopefully some new mainteneers

Yes it's nice to see so many of you around and hopefully many more to come. Thought it might be nice to extend this topic to the entire year, in order for it to become a real informal Xmas non-challenge. So I edited the title

Good idea,@P-JK! Love the new thread title and it saves setting up a new one!

Thanks to all of you who have shared your Christmas/ New year tactics. There are quite a range of strategies out there. I am still undecided which I shall adopt. I suspect that it will vary from day to day - or even hour to hour!

Wow, @Wendy Darling, you are so disciplined! Well done! As are the rest of you who can eat half a portion of things! I still struggle not to clear my plate even if I'm full.

I have been experimenting the last two weeks with no fasts and my weight is remaining quite stable. However, I have noticed more chocolate and desserts creeping back, so I will need to monitor my weight closely and cut back on them!

Good luck for next month, fellow maintaineers! Stay strong!

Here's my high and low this week: 136.5 lbs. and 135 lbs--135 being the target. I'd like to get some lower lows in there so my variations can hit something actually below the target once in a while. I've had to fast twice a week the last two weeks in order to maintain, but confess that the fasts are not as strict as they used to be. I've also been falling down a little on my exercise lately. I usually do my aerobics video three mornings a week, but have been lucky to get it in once a week this past month. I'm still going to Strength Class twice a week, though. I think the problem is that I'm staying up too late reading, then sleeping later in the morning. Then I think I don't have the half-hour to exercise before breakfast (pretty silly for a retired person )

As for holiday strategies, I find I don't tend to eat a lot at social events--too busy socializing -- of course, wearing a waist cincher to look good puts a damper on how much I eat, too. And last night (a fast day) I discovered that club soda with a few lemon and lime wedges tastes very good and has no alcohol calories, of course. I ordered the highly caloric baked brie platter but only ate half and brought the other half home for another day--our local ersatz Irish pub is probably not the best place to go on a fast day, but it was good to discover that I don't have to have a drink or to eat the whole thing in order to have a good time.

Good luck to all maintaineers!

The last day of October and things are looking up, not only am I writing down my fast day foods and calories which is a great help, but I now have TWO fasting buddies. I'm fasting today which I wouldn't have done without them so at the moment everything is hunky-dory.

November here I come!

Last day of the month and I am1/2 lb below target