The FastDay Forum

We'll be waiting for you when you return Stowie @stowgateresident so enjoy yourself until then. That's what buddies are for

No offense intended to any Germans on the forum (and my family comes originally from Germany) but I think the cuisine there is still basically meat and potatoes. Is that your experience, Stowgate?

Perhaps I can sit here reading instead of overeating and it's much cheaper to buy kindle books rather than the paper ones, I do love turning the pages and the smell and touch of them though.

So grab another book while reading on your computer. Touch, smell, turning pages doesn't have to be the book you are reading I guess?

Checking in part way through the month - as per signature, 108 lbs this morning and I seem to be holding in a range somewhere between 107.6-109.6lbs which feels like a small range as I used to allow for fluctuations of 5 lbs (and still would if I were compensating for horsefly bites, some medications etc.).

I'm due to book some surgery soon and will need to rely on family to provide meals and generally lend assistance for a while. Even tho' my DH fasts with me, I find that if I ask him to serve a portion of something (e.g., yoghurt) he has no idea of the appropriate size and tends to serve too much. Likewise, he rarely cooks so has no idea of how much to prepare or serve; and if I ask him to buy fruit and vegetables he'll return home without any useful choices and with lots of inappropriate ones (figs, peaches, mango, pineapple, all delightful but about to ripen at the same time).

It feels ridiculous that I'm even contemplating this but I'm so apprehensive about weight re-gain, I'm considering cooking and portioning 20 weeks' worth of meals to stash in the freezer so I know that the food has been prepared and portioned appropriately. (Yes, I'd need to buy another freezer as our current one is a large chest and I'd need an upright one for which I don't really have the room.)

What have other maintainers done in similar circumstances?

Hi @SSure, sounds like the surgery could be quite major? Trust it will give you the outcome you want.

I am lucky that my hubby has always done the grocery shopping and he also used to cook all the meals when I worked full-time. (I am the one who returns with lots of foods I perhaps should not buy, on the odd occasion when I do the shopping!!) (and I am the one who used to eat the most too, so if he gives me "his size" portions, that is fine! Needless to say, he has never had a weight problem.)

I am sure you have already spoken with your DH and other family members re how to manage your recuperation period. Perhaps time for another chat? Could you give DH a shopping list - write it out for him. And if he still serves large meals after another chat, if you can be strong and not eat everything on your plate, he might soon get the message.

I would hope that your family will be able to rally around, as having to prepare so many meals in advance sounds like a task you could do without.

Best wishes for sorting out a workable arrangement, and for the surgery.

Sounds like a case for online shopping. Then relax and don't worry too much, sounds like you'll need all your strength for recovery if it is going to take 20 weeks.

*waves* Hi everyone! I'm sticking my nose in here for the first time, as it looks like I might just be ready to play with the big kids now!

Looks like I have a lot to catch up on...but for now I'll just say I'm going to start with 6:1 as my maintenance plan with 70-72kg as my range to aim for. I'll keep daily weighing for a bit and see how it goes. Looking forward to reading up on your tips and experiences!

Welcome, just keep up the good work and you will be fine!

*waves* Hi everyone! I'm sticking my nose in here for the first time, as it looks like I might just be ready to play with the big kids now!

Can I sit with you @peonyblue!

@Ssure, your pre-op prep reminds me of my pre labour prep! The freezer was stocked and I left lists of everything from what housework had to be done to recepies and weekly menus. Otherwise, I know there would be no sheets changed, or toilet cleaned and we would live off pizza. Hubby still laughs at my baby preps!

I finally got to goal yesterday. I have spent about 6 weeks hovering 1-4lbs above goal though. I even bounced below goal a couple of times, but not on a Monday, official weigh in day!

Now that I am here I am really worried. I have got to goal (and lighter) several times over the years, but the weight has always crept back on. Im hoping that my 5:2 skills will help me stay here.

Secondly, I'm worried that I will have to continue 5:2ing and low carbing and calorie counting, as that is what I gsve bern doing on the plateau. I dont mind a fast a week, and perhaps 2 fasts if I have an event. But I really hope I don't have to do 2 fasts and low carb on feed days just to maintain. I still have 23% body fat and I would like to reduce this to about 20% while building muscle. Will the strength training mean a continued diet?

I haven't been posting in the maintenance threads lately because I'm feeling like a maintenance failure. My weight is about 4kg above goal at the moment, and basically since reaching goal right before Xmas last year, my weight has been above goal weight. Anyway… I'm not here to whine more about it, I'm here to put it in perspective. My 6mo progress is a bit depressing, but my 2y progress is still pretty darn impressive. I have to keep reminding myself of this!

@MaryAnn it IS impressive! I bet people tell you all the time. You sound like u r having fast fatigue (from other thread). Why don't u try 3x 800 or 1000 as I am doing? You can try? I'm sure that having more on fast day will make us feel less hard done by I think (read hope) that it will be more moderate than hungry/overeat repeatedly. Well it feels less restrictive to me. Will do 1000 tomorrow and hopefully that will make me more reluctant to carb up on Friday. There's been a sort of feeling that if I eat 'bad' food, it's ok cos tomorrow I starve lol. I'd like to try to be more moderate like my dear mother used to preach to me.

Hi GMH

Sorry it took me so long to respond. It certainly seems worth a try. Nothing else seems to be working! Or rather, I've been trying since Xmas to get back to goal, have gotten close, only to put weight on again during a holiday or business trip. I guess I only hesitate to try your method now because I want to get back to goal before maintaining. I do wonder if eating more evenly (like doing 16:8 everyday) or more on fast days (your method) would get my binging under control, while maintaining at this (slightly, in the grand scheme of things) higher weight. Once I sorted that out, perhaps I could go back to 500 cal fasts to get back to goal. Decisions decisions

[carorees]

I seem still to be drifting downward weight and waist wise. Libra now puts my trend weight at 63.4kg this morning and my waist is 69.5cm. That's 1.6kg below my (much amended) target. My waist has dropped 1.5 cm since starting maintenance. Interestingly, scales say that the fat % has also dropped from 30% to 28.3%. I don't think I'm looking gaunt and my BMI is certainly not near the too low end of normal! I have asked friends and family and they say I'm OK, so I'm not trying to stop the drift for now. It is very slow and, of course, I was able to gain weight on holiday and stay below target so that's a great reassurance! Especially with Christmas coming up! Maybe, I set my target too high?

I'm going to a bit of a "do" tonight in my Karen Millen number, so I might get OH to take a pic to compare with the one in my success story page and we can see if I do look any different.

Hi, all! @wendyjane, sorry to have ignored your post but I haven't been back to this thread since my return from Germany. It's true that, when we eat out in Germany, vegetables don't seem to be high on the menu but, fortunately my daughter had left a freezer full of meals that she had prepared in advance for us (she and her husband were away) and a fridge full of fruit and vegetables. However, it's the bakeries that are my downfall and, part-way through the week, I realised that we had been eating cake twice a day plus a few biscuits every now and then! I came back a few pounds heavier but they have already been dealt with by a couple of fasts!

@MaryAnn, stop beating yourself up! You have done brillianly! If you really want to see some spectacular gains, losses, gains, then check out my Tracker! My maintenance plan is to count nothing, except maybe occasionally in my head, eat whatever I want and then deal with it by fasting until the gain has gone! It does lead to ups and downs and, in the run up to Christmas last year the fasting didn't happen so I regained nearly 14 pounds, but since then I have managed to lose that and keep my weight more or less in check. I always regain when I am away or have visitors but a few fasts sorts it out. You have done really well and when your head is in the right place you could have a few proper fasts and see that weight come falling off!

@carorees, looking forward to seeing the photos! You've really got a handle on maintenance haven't you!

@scubachick and @PeonyBlue, welcome to the madhouse which is maintenance and well done to both of you! Onwards and onwards!

@Ssure, some pre-op training for your husband and family in how to use a set of scales and read a recipe sounds like a good plan -with instructions on appropriate portion sizes and shopping guidance into the mix! If you do regain some weight, remember to get rid of it as soon as possible - once you are recovered! Good luck with your surgery and recovery.

@Wendy Darling, thanks for your good wishes. I had a lovely time with the granddaughters and have lost the weight I gained, so all is good!

Good luck to all with maintenance! Just keep on keeping on!

Thank you all for the advice about handling the surgeries and rehab - I've been thinking about it and wondering how radical I need to be because the non-weight bearing period lasts for 20 weeks after each knee operation and I don't think that the shoulders are hugely different. All in all, the surgeries and recovery will take about 2.5 years, if all goes well and I overlap some of them. It may be a bit longer if they can't be overlapped or not everything is straightforward. (I am, of course, hoping to set a record in the speed of the recoveries. )

I'm currently experimenting with shifting the bulk of my food intake/calories away from the evening and more towards the early part of the day. In that way, my family can eat from the freezer and mostly fend for themselves - and I won't have the portion creep problem if I don't eat that food but have broth/yoghurt instead - so we'll still have shared social time, we're just not sharing an identical meal. It should be easier to do this as everyone's schedules are at the point where there are lots of social/work/academic commitments so we're used to sharing meals with whoever is home and meeting up together 1-3 a week for dinner.

It may seem rather a drastic shift but I'd rather do that than have to contend with rehab and weight regain (because the latter would make the former more difficult and, beyond a certain level, might trigger other metabolic dysregulation that would likewise impair/impede the rehab).

However, I'm still refining my plans to enable me to continue to maintain so these may change again if they don't work or circumstances don't support them.