My 16/8 / 18/6 fasting 80 pounds to lose journey

[TarasChoc]

I've just started this Woe last Monday and I'm very happy with how much more naturally this comes to me than anything else I've tried. I fell into it accidentally after starting The fast 800 a few weeks ago. I had a few things on and found the low carb and calories aspect hard to stick to but realised I was still in a decent deficit, eating less sugar and doing a 16/8 without finding it all too hard. I've now fallen into 18/6.
I am tracking calories, I'm only eating two meals and the occasional snack so I don't find calorie tracking hard.

I'm looking at losing 70 pounds so I'll be in this for the long haul. I'm currently doing a lot of research listening to Gin Stephen's podcast and reading Delay, don't Deny , The Obesity Code and Fast, Feast Repeat.
I've been weighing everyday to track the trends but my official weighin day will be Monday.

Totally agree with the not trying to be perfect. There's such a pressure to get everything just right these days and it just makes us miserable.
That podcast I linked to a couple of weeks ago talked about the 4 pillars of health: food (including gut health), sleep, exercise and stress. They claimed we have to work on all four. It makes sense that if over-focusing on getting the food right makes you too stressed, then it's actually better to relax a little on the food and reduce the stress to gain an equilibrium. Hope I'm explaining that on a way that makes sense. Ultimately, we have to do what we can but recognise our limits.

Right I'm going to listen to that now @Neeko
Thanks so much for all you share here, I find it really helpful and I'm sure others do too.

I find this thread really helpful too. Thanks for starting it!

Honestly I don't think I could've got this far without all the input from everyone else. It's really helped me focus on the long game.
When we reach 1000 posts and start a new thread I'll rename it to not just be about me😄

Evening everyone - just wanted to add to the love. I find this thread really helpful too - it feels really reassuring to read that everyone has their ups and downs with it. Also, knowing that we are checking in on each other's progress helps to motivate me to get back on it when I'm falling off the wagon. So thank you!

@Neeko and @TarasChoc thanks for the replies and advice - I am going to focus on the windows only and start tonight. I think I told myself I was going to just focus on the windows a week or so a go and then tried to do it all at once (healthier eating, 30 different plant foods, no caffeine or additional sugar) and set myself up to fail. So I'm going to really just think about the window and nothing else.

@mumlikeaboss well done for smashing the 30 plant foods! For future reference, I'm curious to know what it's like? Does it feel easy or do you have to really think about it? I think I tend to eat the same fruit and vegetables each week!

@AnxieTeapot no caffeine? 😱 That would break me for sure. I have 2-3 black coffees a day during my fast and at least one tea with milk during my window. I'd really struggle without them. I did break the Diet Coke habit last summer though and I don't miss it at all.

@AnxieTeapot i wouldn't say it's difficult. I absolutely love pretty much all food, and I do love cooking up different stuff, I get bored if I eat the same thing day after day...

That said, it's one of those funny ones where it's easy to get a wide variety of fruit & veg in a day - but it's also easy to not get any at all!!! I guess you do just have to be consciously deciding to choose a variation. It's perfectly easy to get them in if you have soup, curry or stew, veg sides, fresh herbs to garnish, fruit as a snack, etc... But it's equally easy (if you're not making an effort) to get to the end of the day and realise you've had a "beige day" - ham sandwich, yogurt, crisps, and macaroni cheese with no fresh stuff at all 🙈🙈

So true @mumlikeaboss! I find it quite easy to get 30 different plant-based foods in if I plan ahead but could equally easily have none of I don't. When I think back to my early 20s, I'm sure there were some weeks where the closest I would get to it would have been thinks like the tomato sauce on pizza or in baked beans and some orange juice made from concentrate! Thank goodness I don't eat like that now.

It's back to work for me tomorrow after 2 lovely weeks off. I've stuck to the fasting but have definitely snacked more and eaten much more sugar in my eating window. I definitely feel less well for it despite having had more fresh air and exercise. What I eat and how often certainly has an impact and I do better with two sizeable but time-limited meals a day.
My salad and Greek yoghurt with fruit are prepared in the fridge for lunch tomorrow and I've done some meal planning for the week. The slow cooker will be back out in the morning.
I'm actually quite looking forward to getting back to the proper routine (though not really the work 🤣). Hope you all have a good week.

@mumlikeaboss thanks for sharing - so true that it's easy to go without - I have some really shocking days when it comes to nutrition! Been trying to get a bit more goodness in this week. Hope you're week is going well!

@Neeko I'm back to work this week too and so with you on the routine! I've had a solid few days of being back on it now and feeling a bit more motivated so fingers crossed for another good run. Hopefully I will lose the 4 pound I put back on 😂. Hope you've had a nice few days!

So glad that it's not just me who can have very beige food days. 😊

@AnxieTeapot I've put on a few pounds too. Feel quite confident that things will even out now I'm away from the snack cupboard. I don't drink tea at work and don't feel the need to snack when I stick to black coffee and water. We have a beach holiday booked for July and I have some lovely new swimwear. I'm planning to be walking tall around the pool!

Today and yesterday have erred on the beige side here 🙈

I'm absolutely wiped out after the holidays so haven't felt like spending much energy on thinking about healthy food! Feeling rather sluggish though, so will try and sit down tomorrow to plan some better meals for the rest of the week.

Happy Wednesday to you all tomorrow, may your fast be easy and your food delicious 🥰

How are you all doing? The app signed me out so I haven't been on all week.
@mumlikeaboss how are you feeling now?

Everyone's disappeared!!

@Neeko I'm... Surviving :) thanks for asking. Waiting for some blood test results and a referral to look into my back pain, and trying to juggle all my other health issues... Feel pretty dragged down by it all so just concentrating on keeping my head above water, nothing else x

I know! Where has everyone gone? Hope you have all had a lovely bank holiday weekend.

@mumlikeaboss Hope you get some answers and solutions soon. That sounds hard. Be kind to yourself.

Hi sorry I went awol, I'm trying to take a social media break as my phone has became a big distraction!

I've lost 2.2 pounds in April taking my total loss to 38.8. I'm very happy with this and happy with how things are going overall. I've had another change of hours at work which will be again the foreseeable future. It's taking a bit of adjusting but I think it'll work out very well if I can nail it over the next few weeks.

Sorry to hear you're having issues @mumlikeaboss hope you get solutions soon.

@Neeko I'm loving trying to improve my gut health. Thanks for all your advice on the subject. I've been listening to a lot on this subject rather than browsing on my phone.

I'll "allow" myself to contribute on this thread as I really missed chatting and sharing ideas. I'll just need to stay strong and not wander into the worm hole of active topics 🤣

Morning @TarasChoc and well done on both the weight loss and the reduced phone usage. It's so easy to get stuck scrolling for hours isn't it?
I'm glad you are enjoying the gut-health stuff. The more I read about it, the more interested I am. I think a limited diet is responsible for a lot of what has happened with my body over the years. Im really trying to keep mine varied too and it's really interesting how much better it makes you feel and how much you notice it when you eat a more processed meal.
We went out for dinner last weekend to a restaurant that I usually love. The good was tasty but the next day I felt so sluggish. It's quite difficult to find meals in lots of mid-priced family friendly type restaurants that have options which fit the greater variety/less processed way of eating. That being said, this is not a "diet" in a traditional sense and I don't want it to put unnecessary restrictions on my life so if friends want to socialise with a takeaway or the kids want to go out for pizza, I will be doing that and just "cleaning up" my eating the rest of the time.

I'm managing the fasting without any difficulty but have certainly found snacking has been creeping into my window over the past couple of months so I have gained a pound or two. The sugar monster still lives within me! Im trying to keep an eye on that and keep treats as part of my lunch/dinner to reduce the number of sugar spikes. I like that there's so many ways to tweak this way of eating to keep things going.

Hope everyone else is doing well and that you come back to chat soon! 😊

Wrote thiis post this morning but it wouldn't post until now!

It's too easy to mindlessly scroll @Neeko
You're doing really well making fasting a part of your normal life, its really inspiring.
I find if I deviate at all from fasting then it's hard mentally to get back on track and yet after a few short days I'm wondering why I ever allowed myself to sway as I feel so much better doing it.

I'm going to weigh in early this month as I'm off on holidays in a couple of weeks. I'll have two weeks where a lot of meal times aren't in my control so I'm concentrating on reducing sugary snacks over the next couple of weeks in hope that I won't be as keen on them while away.

How's everyone else getting on, I hope life is been good to you all.

Hi OP, came across your post whilst scrolling. So impressed by your progress and that you are just keeping going.

I'm a fair bit older than you and have spent most of my life putting on a stone/losing a stone. After a recent health scare I was prompted to take a look at my eating and realised I'd become very lazy - grabbing a sandwich and a cake from Starbucks for lunch every day; eating butter and jam on toast in the evenings; an occasional banana - that sort of thing.

It didn't seem that bad compared with how other people seemed to eat - I've never eaten chips and burgers or drank masses of alcohol - and I'd never been significantly overweight so thought I was fine. I clearly wasn't and my body started to rebel. Have been checked out and I'm okay now but it was a massive wake up call.

I'm now eating mostly unprocessed food and helping my gut health with masses of different vegetables. I'm so smug about the contents of my fridge 😀 I have just a small quantity of each of veg with herbs and spices and some unprocessed grain and add butter as I need it to taste good. Probably about a dozen or so different plants with my main meal. Also lots of nuts and seeds and occasional fish. Tried having dark chocolate but that gave me a headache.

I'm convinced that a healthy gut is the way forward healthwise and weightwise. Lots of info on YouTube from Prof Tim Spector and many others. Seems Prof Spector, as a young hospital doctor, had a takeaway sandwich, crisps and a bottle of orange juice for his lunch each day for 10 years believing it to be healthy.

What's come as a surprise to me is my reaction now to the foods I used to regularly eat - a takeaway prawn mayo sandwich; cake; toast; very occasional alcohol - all things that I'd have had previously knowing they weren't super healthy but feeling they were okay.

Now after eating almost exclusively unprocessed food for a few months I regard my presumably improving gut bacteria as precious and have no desire to sabotage them by eating as I used to, especially regarding unrefined sugar which promotes the bad bacteria, and am slightly repulsed at the idea of eating as I used to.

Life is precious and I need to help my body to do it's job. Wish I'd realised this 40 years ago but now I know, this is really so easy.

Sorry, that went on a bit. OP keep going and well done on your progress so far and for providing inspiration to others.

@TarasChoc That sounds like a healthy plan for your holidays. I love that you are accepting that meal times might be different and are just going to roll with it. I'm sure you will also feel the benefit of all your fasting success so far. I hope you are going somewhere lovely.

@Veara Hi. I really enjoyed reading your post. I have been reading up on/listening to info on gut health for a few months and find it fascinating. My diet is so much better now than it used to be although I still struggle with the sugar. (I have thrown away the rest of something sugary twice this week after I'd had a portion - in the past Id have eaten it all. I know that food waste wise that is awful but no one else in my family likes either thing and my will power isn't good enough to have it around for another day!) I do really enjoy making sure I have at least 30 different plant-based foods and find I don't feel good if I haven't had enough/much variety that day.

I've started focusing on my strength training using a Hasfit video on YouTube. There's an article in this month's Women's Health magazine that suggests women of my age (mid-forties) should do two shortish high intensity cardio sessions and three strength sessions per week. Apparently too much lower-intensity cardio can increase cortisol and lead to weight gain? Might be true and I could do with a reason to do more strength training.

We go on holiday in two months and I'm trying not to give in to diet-brain. It's a hard thing to do after several decades of dieting. Im going to re-read the book but would appreciate any advise. 😊

Advice!

Hey everyone 👋🏻

Sad that this thread seems to be dying off, although I'm conscious I've not been doing much to keep it alive 🙈 Just wanted to pop on and see if anyone was still around!

Are you still laying low on social media etc., @TarasChoc ? Good for you if so, hope the break is doing your head some good 🤗

@neeko how's the gut health going 🥦🍉🥕🌽🍒 and the diet brain? I guess both things will always be a work in progress, in today's world where we're so surrounded by rubbish quality food and media telling us we have to diet to be skinny and beautiful!!!

I'm still battling the diet brain a little - I'm a good 25/30lbs up since my health started getting worse over the last few months, and that's really depressing... But on a positive note, I've made a bit of progress on balancing thyroid meds and increasing my dose has already had a slight improvement, thank God 🙏🏻 So I have a little more energy now, and am hoping that will let me work on some other things.

Also got allergy-tested for wheat recently and had a very stern talking-to from the lady I saw... Gluten just isn't compatible with Hashimoto's and I can't expect good quality of life if I keep eating it. Find it REALLY hard to deny myself bread, but am going to have to work on that!

I'm still here @mumlikeaboss . Just didn't want to be talking to myself! 🤣
Sounds like you are on the way back up health wise (down weight wise) and that you have a plan moving forwards. I've never tried gluten- free bread. Is it a viable option?

I am doing much better on the diet brain and really enjoying the 30 different plant-based foods way of eating. I've actually given up near and fish for the month to force me into finding some new recipes. I'm enjoying the change but wouldn't want to give up (fish especially) forever.

The lovely weather recently has made such a difference. Sunlight definitely has an impact on my mood. Shame there's so little of it usually!

That's really good news @Neeko 🥰 what sort of recipes have you been finding? I do like to try new stuff and would enjoy some vegetarian meals but definitely not all. And my DH is rather carnivorous and would not thank me for serving veggie stuff 🤣

100% agree that the weather helps one's mood ☀☀ I'm a very fair weather person!! Warmth and sun just feels so good.

I'm trying to make June a low-carb month because I'm absolutely sure I'm quite insulin resistant at the moment and that has a negative effect on so much - my energy, my food cravings, my hunger levels, my ability to fast... And of course all those affect my weight!

Gluten free substitutes... As a rule I'm just not a massive fan. They will never ever taste or feel anything like the real thing to me! Also if I have a lot of them they really mess with my gut and give me IBS symptoms so I try to avoid. I do keep some seeded GF bread in stock because it tastes okay when toasted and sometimes you just need a base for your scrambled eggs or smashed avocado or whatever!!

Hi guys, sorry I was mia for longer than intended. I think I've managed to get my phone scrolling right down so hopefully I can trust myself more to post here and not lose a couple of hours after with mindless watching of nonsense!😇
I've been celebrating a big birthday and away on holidays, finally faced the scales this week and it was showing a gain of 9 bloody pounds, some will be water weigh but some are real. I'll be honest I wasn't fasting at all for almost a month and by the end of that time I felt really awful, bloated, uncomfortable and not enjoying a lot of what I ate. I've spend this week trying to get back on track doing 16/8. It is taking a fair bit of effort and making myself knuckle down but I'm getting there. I am going to submerge myself in all things fasting for the next few days to keep myself motivated.
@Veara thanks for sharing, I've became really interested in gut health thanks to@Neeko Sharing useful information. It's an interesting topic, well done to you, its very inspiring to hear when someone else with long time food issues finds a solution.
@Neeko You're making great progress with the plant based eating. What do you eat to keep protein up? How long now until your holidays?
@mumlikeaboss glad to hear your finally making progress with your thyroid medications. Hopefully you'll get the right balance soon.
That diet brain is our worst enemy, we've really got to learn to ignore it.
Re the gluten, my husband is a life long coeliac, as you say the substitutes aren't great but there are a few okay breads/brioche especially when toasted.
He recently found a tesco sour dough long soft roll that really impressed him. It looked and smelt really good.

Anyway I'm drawing a line under my recent time off fasting and gain and moving on focusing on the end of the year. I've been looking back through myfitnesspal entries when I was doing very well and they've inspired me to literally fast and then feast. I'm going back to logging my food diary as that's when I do better and drinking lots of water as I've really let that drop.
Have a good weekend everyone and we'll chat soon.