The FastDay Forum

Checking in again with my weekly high--137 lbs--and low--136 lbs; goal of 135. I haven't fasted for 2 weeks because of lots of appointments, medical stuff, etc., etc.--lots of excuses; but still keeping pretty well under control.

Next week is Thanksgiving here in the states, so I have definitely scheduled a fast for Monday. This year we are entertaining our local children and grandchildren at a T-day buffet at a nearby hotel http://www.thehotelithaca.com/pdf/doc-t ... 076507.pdf. Looks good, but I find I don't eat much at these occasions--too busy socializing.

Good luck to all of us in getting through the holiday feasting without too much damage

I'm in the states too, and will also be doing a down day on Monday, and then after that it's going to be a free for all for the rest of the week I plan on eating my weight in pie, by the end of next week lol.

But seriously, we don't do a traditional Thaksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving day-I think we're doing ham, which I don't care for. So I'll focus on a large salad and then a few of the sides (and yes, pie!)
Wednesday and Friday will be the trickier days, as hubby and kids are off of school and work, and we're going to be out and about quite a bit. I know for sure we're going out to eat on Wednesday at least once, possibly twice (yikes!). I might be able to fit in a second down day on the Saturday after though!

eta-scratch next Saturday-just realized it's our anniversary, so we'll be going to our favorite restaurant for steak dinners

After going half a stone over my maintenance weight last month and struggling to fast, I remember enthusiastically saying at the end of October "November here I come!" Now a few weeks later I'm back at my goal weight and it's thanks to my two buddies. A big thank you to @Ieramuland @stephd, I couldn't have done it without your help!

Hi Coffee, well done, you did it all by yourself. Steph and I are very proud of you. We can keep an eye on each other so that we don't go too far from our goal as it's much easier to lose a few pounds than a few stones.

What a great boost to the maintenance camp - Weight loss and diets are useless if we can't keep the weight off. Let's see if we can both keep the weight down (mostly) over the Christmas period.

Time for a short update. Almost sedentary life does not seem to result in short time weight gain in my case (tomorrow 4 weeks after surgery and no fasting in these weeks). Weight is still creeping down (at least on some days, not really visible in average weights that I use for the tracker... or am I hesitant to enter numbers below my lowest maintenance range ). Anyhow, began some walking exercises and hope to start cycling to work on Monday, instead of using the car. So let's see what happens after that.

I'm well and truly back on the maintenance path again, this morning I was 'under' my maintenance weight.
Woweeeee!!!!

Well done maintainers, looking good!
I've gone up and back down 4lbs this month, currently 72.4kgs, 11st 5lbs, all due to a bit of comfort eating against the Autumn Feed Syndrome. Hoping to drop a bit more (as ever, when aren't I) by Xmas but who knows what the VaryFairy will bring?
Onwards m'dears, forwards :0)

Well done, everyone.

My high for this week was 135.5 lbs; low was 134; goal is 135, so I'm happy. Waistline is holding steady at 29", below my goal of
29.5. Daily weighing to determine whether I need to schedule a fast day seems to do the trick for me.

Off for a holiday weekend--hope I don't overdo that nice apple-blueberry pie I'm taking to Massachusetts tomorrow when we visit OH's side of family.

[carorees]

Well I've pulled back from going below my minimum weight, maybe a bit too far! Libra trend is going up...I'll be glad when it levels off again.

My max weight this week was 64.0 kg, min was 63.1; trend is 63.5 which is about where I'd like to stay. Put in a good 19 hour fast today with a 4 hour eating window which I expect to halt the increase. Watch this space!

Maintenance Month 005
Goal weight 120 lbs, initial weight 123 lbs, method 7 x 20/4
03/11/14. 123 lbs
10/11/14. 123 lbs
17/11/14. 124 lbs
24/11/14. 123 lbs
All down to eating beyond full. I comfort eat not because anything particularly bad is going on in my life, but because it is dark, grey, damp, cold and uninspiring particularly as regards saddling up and going for a ramble. Not SAD just demotivated. Roll on Spring and getting up early to jog.

106.8lbs which is within my range so

@Barbarita, for the last 5 weeks, I've been irritated by an upward drift in my trend weight. I think it's been taking me a while to adjust my food intake to compensate for the loss of so many paddling sessions during the week (I've gone from 4-5 to 2-3 and one of the latter is indoor which can never be as intense as being on open water). So, in my case, it's not that I am eating more, but that I'm much less physically active.

Bah - the UK outdoors. No snow down here to make something like cross-country ski-ing a good activity. Just missile and gloom. Bah.

Well, that's another month gone and an interesting one to come. Might be testing for some of us, but a month to enjoy in any case. Good food and good company should be enjoyed. And after treating others and yourself, just remember: the extra portion (and the one after that), might actually tast better the next day

Hi, just checking in that whilst I have maintained, I did slip to the top of my range last week. A thorough fast (36hr water fast) on Friday and reasonable eating at the weekend have brought me more to the middle of my range again this morning.

At this time of year, I have to be extra careful and keep up the two fast days.

Maintenance still on track, although I am very much surprised after this weekend of total loss of control. It is always the weekends that are tricky for me. Today I am fasting to re-gain my equilibrium.

I am very much surprised after this weekend of total loss of control. It is always the weekends that are tricky for me.

Not wholly germane to you, @Ieramul but there was a recent mailing about control from Isabel Foxen Duke.

I recently told a client who was struggling to “eat like a normal person,” that the key to “normal” eating (i.e. not dieting, not binge-ing, and generally not thinking about food too much unless hungry or grocery shopping) was to stop trying to control food and weight altogether.

Surrender.
Give up.
Don’t even try.

Of course this completely freaked her out.

She immediately said to me:

“If I stopped trying to control my food and weight, all hell would break loose.”

to which I replied...

“No... it’s because you’re trying to control your food that all hell is breaking loose.”

After all,

Are you even in control right now? Is that why you’re working with me? Because you’re so good at controlling your food? Or are you here because you’re not succeeding at controlling food to begin with?

To be clear...

My suggestion is not to “stop controlling” food and weight — my suggestion is to “stop trying to control” food and weight — two very, very different things.

After all, you’re likely reading this email because you recognize your inability to control your food and weight in the long run anyway...whether you try to or not.

What I’m really suggesting here is...

it’s the “trying” —
it’s the fighting for control that you simply don’t have —
that ultimately makes you eat more in the long-run, rather than less.

It’s your grasping for control — and your inevitable failure at achieving that control — that leaves you frustrated, anxious, ashamed of your perceived “failures,” and therefore, keeps you binge-eating.

tbh, I never know what I feel about Foxen Duke - altho' she's correct in many ways, it feels like the sort of thing that is known to be true in maintenance but I've no understanding of how it transforms into advice for living for those who are struggling with weight issues and would prefer to lose weight (by which I mean, desperate - and it's a huge focus and energy drain for them). But, I know this is an on-going intellectual issue for hunger-directed eating/intuitive eating in general.

Do you know what it is that is tricky about the weekends, @Ieramul?

I was waiting to see this topic! I have now recently managed to write both to fasting today and now to this maintaining. This means that I am a bit confused about what to call my way of fasting/ eating. I was 52.8 kg this morning. Which is about a half a kilo less than I would be on a normal day. I am doing a 5:19 window fasting/eating in Advent. I have not eaten anything yet today.
It is an old Christian tradition to fast before Christmas. This is part of my overall strategy for maintaining. If I have some extra room before Christmas, it will not be such a disaster. My maintenance weight is 51.7 kg and I find it really hard to stick to that. I tend normally to be about 53.3 kg. sigh! So I am hoping I could achieve a bit lower maintenance weight that 53 kg. I have not lost very much weight doing this window. I read in the 'Fast 5 ' -book that the first two weeks do not cause weight loss. This little fast is only about 3 and a half weeks.... By the way, I am small and small boned, my BMI is well over 20.
It is very, very cold and gray and dark here too, so a bit hard. 2,5 weeks to go on this way of .... it feels like fasting!!!