4-week fasting countdown to the New Year

[HarpQuartet]

Welcome all, this a thread for Intermittent Fasters who want a weekly check-in on Fridays. Chat and insights between the check-ins are welcome too, share as little or as much as you like. I weigh myself in between, others don’t, some of us are in kg, some in stones, it’s all good.

Here is a roll call for those who may wish to continue with accountability, encouragement, sharing your wisdom, wins, or woes. All are very welcome plus of course anyone new who'd like to join us. Sincere apologies to anyone I’ve inadvertently missed out; and if your name’s here but you’re not planning to join this thread, then wishing you well.

@Fouramclub
@pottypotamus
@trainplane
@TheShellBeach
@Clearingaspace
@putthehamsterbackinitscage
@MegBusset (hope you are still on your happy plateau)
@iwantavuvezela
@Clearingaspace
@Blackeyeliner
@Thereyougo10
@bluejay5
@gettingolderbutcooler
@Scentorii
@BackSeatDriving (would you like to continue stiffening your resolve? Such a good phrase)
@Sonnet
@Catherhino
@loveyouradvice welcome to the December thread!

Morning everyone,
Would you mind if I joined?
I previously fasted for about a year and lost a lot of weight, felt very healthy and mentally alert.
I’ve lost my fasting mojo. I do it for a bit and then lose consistency.
I’m 11.6 and would like to lose a couple of pounds and then maintain until after Christmas.
I would like to get to around 10.5 stone in the new year.
My aim at the moment is I’m to not really worry about weight but consistent windows.
I’m aiming to do 19:5 with a 20:4 most days. I’m used to fasting this long so should be ok.
I want to reduce sugar unless it’s a special occasion.

I tried MIndy Pelz earlier last year. I agree with whoever said you have to listen to your own bio individuality . Her routines didn’t really work for me.
I find the Intermittent Fasting Stories a really motivating podcast. So will listen to that to.

@Fouramclub nice to lose a kg and great you are feeling better!

hi @Cozytoesandtoast00 great plan and will likely to mean you have less to lose in the new year

I am trying to decide what kind of fasting to do this week. Think a mix of 1 2 and mad. Possibly 1 x24 hour rather than extending. Have a good week everyone

Oops that should have said mix of 1 2 and 3! Feel a bit like I might be getting a cold so nothing too challenging. I also need to get in the vitamin d - I keep forgetting to take it.

oh also - I keep reading that it is best not to have coffee within 2 hours of waking due to a surge of insulin at this point. I accidentally had caffeinated instead of decaf and it had a noticeable effect on me. I anlso became even snappier than normal. I think I do feel better for swapping a lot of my at home coffee to decaf.

Darn.... kitchen table overflowing with Hotel Chocolat boxes and packets... it has been for couple of days as need to sort for Mum's care home and hospital wards.... Thought I was safe.

BUT OH NO!!!!! Emotional rant with husband and FOUR little salted expresso martini chocolates got consumed.

How am I going to survive Christmas with my weightloss intact??

ps Not had them before - they were delicious!! Perhaps will keep another pack here for us...

Welcome @Cozytoesandtoast00

And to those exploring Zoe.. I think it is brilliant: I learnt masses and main change for me has been to eat some beans/pulses a few times a week and nuts/seeds in small quantities every day. As expected, my blood sugar control was very poor but delightfully my fat processing is very good, and my carefully-cultivated (yes, I always imagine it as a garden) microbiome is in tip top shape!

One gentle warning tho - Zoe when I did it 15 months ago sold itself as a weightloss programme as well as a health one. It isn't!!! I took on board all its messages about listening to your body, and eating more x y and z and put on 10 lbs just from eating loads of nuts! Yes, of course they have loads of calories - I wasn't immune to that because I was eating the Zoe way!! I don't imagine I was the only one as the weight loss aspect is no longer promoted....

Welcome @Cozytoesandtoast00 .

I too am fascinated by scanning my cgm. I think I'm really going to miss it. I have learned that Diet Coke does not seem to cause a change to my blood glucose. This is in line with what the Glucose Goddess claims, but not what Gin Stevens reckons.

It’s funny with the glucose goddess as people discredit her but a lot of people seem to have real success with her methods.

I am at 19.5 hour point of fast - I have a headache and am finding it a slog so am going to break it in a minute!

I saw something interesting on one of the fasting Facebook groups which was suggesting that men lose weight quicker than women initially but at 8 week mark it picks up for women so they maybe be losing more fat at that point - it kind of chimes with our thoughts on it’s worth fasting now so that weight loss can pick up in the new year. Sorry I have searched but can’t find the article

I think we all need to bear in mind that just eating fewer calories than we need to ingest on a daily basis will inevitably result in weight loss.

I've said this before - if you just eat Smarties, as long as you only eat (for example) only 1700 calories' worth in a day, you'll lose weight.

It's very easy to get drawn in by faddy diets.

The reason I'm fat is because I overeat. That's all.

I only do fasting because it means I literally can't eat anything after 6pm. It stops me from grazing.

Sorry, I can't keep up with all the posts on here so apologies for not replying!
How do you all keep yourself motivated through December? I started the month resigned to maintaining - based on the fact my weight had stalled over the previous few weeks and I wasn't bothered about fasting hard over December. Then I had a difficult week or so, and couldn't wait until lunch time to break my fast. The past couple of days, I've had milk in my morning coffee and late breakfast. Part of me is annoyed with myself for "giving up" but the other part of me is thinking "oh well, I wasn't losing weight anyway, I may as well f*ck it until January"!! Give me a kick or a boost please!!

I have about ten cups of tea a day, all with milk and sugar.

@Catherhino I have only been doing this a month so am at the annoying stage where I am totally convinced this is the best solution and answer to all problems, however my motivations will be:

• I have just seen some really unflattering pics from a recent Xmas party! *damage limitation - the fasting gives me a pause and my first meal is usually on the healthier side. It feels better to have some breaks and I enjoy my food more. if i give my self permission to have a complete break it will turn into non stop junk munching
• I am having days off where I don’t really fast at all and can enjoy Xmas events but making up for it with at least one longer weekly fast *less to lose in January - I could probably gain a stone in December if I let myself go wild now *there maybe health benefits and good things going on I can’t see *fasting goes along quite nicely with a bit of feasting - I am trying to adopt the suggestion of saving the Xmas treat like mulled wine, mince Pie etc for after meal but I am also find I can have hot choc when out and about doing lots of walking

for you maybe you need to change it up a bit. If you are doing 16:8 everyday maybe only do that when it fits in with how you are feeling on a given day and have more days off but also try to do one longer fast each week, if you do this make sure to have a tiny piece of sea salt under your tongue with a glass of water when you need to. Tea with milk prob won’t break your fast if it’s just one - but also experiment with plain hot water - I prefer it to black tea and it has been a real eye opener.

@Clearingaspace and @StealthOps , thank you so much for your positive replies. I’ve taken a screen shot and I’m going to look back at those when I need a reminder. Tomorrow I can do a longer fast, might even do OMAD if I’m feeling motivated. I have my work’s Christmas meal on Thursday so that will be a “feast” day 🤣 (I may also need comfort carbs on Friday aka hangover food 🤣)
I usually do 17:7 so I’m definitely going to try to push myself to at least 18:6 at least once a week if not longer. I’ve got some Himalayan pink salt crystals that I bought when I read that you could put a pinch in black coffee to make it more palatable, but 🤮😂 I’ve not tried having a grain under my tongue yet so I’ll give that a go too. Sparkling water is my go-to as I find it fills me up more than still (must be the bubbles!) and tastes better imo. Will try hot water for a change too.
Small habits build up (have you read Atomic Habits by James Clear? I think I’m going to re-read this in the NY)
I think I just needed to feel I wasn’t alone in the struggle; I’ve been overwhelmed with MN notifications so I’ve remembered to turn them off for other threads now so the only ones I get will be for this thread so hopefully I won’t feel too overwhelmed again and can keep up for motivation! Thanks!

@StealthOps what a deeply inspiring post!! I need to do more of the early beds - it helps SO much with fasting.

I'm teetering at the moment - so it's good to be on this thread, and telling all of you that I'm not going to eat a lot when supping out tonight.

My Health's not great at the mo, so my eating window tends to start earlier, which is great if I stop eating mid-afternoon but not so good for socialising....

Taking a DEEP slow breath now - I can do this!! I've worked so hard for this weight loss, I am NOT going to put it back on in Christmas weeks. It's just NOT worth it and need to remind myself of that ... and to tell myself Delay Dont Deny with a mischievous smile on my lips as I look after my health.

Just a couple more questions from me:
Do any of you use apps to log your fasting? If so which? I use(d) the BodyFast app but I don't pay for the coach, so I found it a bit of a faff changing my fasting times to suit me (lazy!) The other one I've used is LIFe, efficient is great as you can literally start/stop the fasting but I got a lot of unsolicited messages 🙄
Also I saw mention of Facebook groups. I was in the BodyFast one but I found it a bit annoying; heavily USA centric and too many people posting about long fasts, so I found it difficult to relate to. There was another I joined (can't remember what that was called now) but that was the opposite in that posts were few and far between, and posts had to be approved by admin. I asked a question one day; it got posted 5 days later so I didn't even need an answer anymore!
As much as I'm grateful for this thread, sometimes a FB group is just easier to navigate and view 😂

Do any of you use apps to log your fasting?

No, I just look at the time on my phone.
If it's between 5 pm and 11 am then I am fasting.
It's the same every day so I see no reason to log it anywhere?

I guess if you stick to the same time every day then that works well for you ☺️
I have found that logging fasting helps with accountability, but maybe that's my diet mindset that I want to lose!

@Catherhino I use life but have stopped sharing my fasts as I got an unsolicited message also! I am on the fasting method network by dr Jason fung and Megan ramos. Also fast feast repeat.

you can definitely do it @loveyouradvice - I think we can all hopefully enjoy Christmas celebrations and keep our fasting going to some extent!

I'm also an overeater, so the discipline of a "hard stop" works well with my brain (I think it's because I was brought up to obey rules unthinkingly - bad in some situations, useful here!).

If you want a simple "time started fasting; time started eating" app then Zero is free and does just that.

Thanks @HarpQuartet I’ll have a look at that one. I’d love to be able to have a fixed “start/stop” time but unfortunately I can’t always plan that way. Or maybe once I get more used to the fasting lifestyle, that will become easier!

I have the app Fastic downloaded.
It has 'helpful' notifications for reminders for when you are coming to your start of fasting or end of fasting. I think there are other things you can log as well but find the many options a bit overwhelming. But I think it's good if you like the reminders.

If you want a simple "time started fasting; time started eating" app then Zero is free and does just that

Can't you just set a reminder on your phone though?

I don't start and finish fasting at a particular time, and I don't have a set number of hours that I fast. So an app suits that better than a phone reminder.

i think the app just helps with motivation.

Any time I try to make changes I need tools to keep me on track - buy books, join groups, get new food, sign up to apps - particularly if they are free. The more I invest into a woe (even if just time researching etc) the more likely it is I will have a good amount of success.