4 week fasting countdown to March 2024

[Fouramclub]

Hello all

just starting a new thread to carry on the good work of @peae@HarpQuartet tagging others @welcometothenightcourt @loveyouradvice

and anyone else who wants to join! I couldn't tag everyone for some reason as some usernames don't seem to work!

checkins are on Fridays but feel free to check in anytime for support/musings/a rant/anything else!

Well done everyone for plugging away! I am not sure who mentioned this - possibly @loveyouradvice, but we don’t have to put our actual Friday weight on Friday the weigh in. Another option for people who weigh every day is to work out your average across the week and give the average or like @StealthLaSilkySightHound to also log cm loss. I might try these methods next week.

the general consensus on here recently was that wine causes weight gain for most of us on this group. I think I am weird with alcohol as I don’t crave it unless I have been drinking - if I have a week without drinking I lose interest. Last month I was drinking red wine for health benefits 😅 and begun to find myself wanting it more frequently. Coincidentally my weightloss plateau has coincided with drinking more during and since Christmas so I am going to try and give it a miss for a while.

It was me @StealthLaSilkySightHound thank you for replying.
I used to drink a lot (I dont mean in a dangerous way, just would enjoy drinking and go out and stuff). I had a child and so didn't drink for 10 months or so, and now I'm one/two glasses of wine done - which given what I used to drink is quite the shift. I think it's more I enjoy the feeling on a Friday night of being able to have a drink and feel like that's a mini celebration / relaxation / treat. but yes, totally empty calories. It's painful to think how much I used to drink (and then eat - takeaway, crisps etc ) and what damage I was doing.......which I now have to repair.

@StealthLaSilkySightHound
Thank you for the idea!! I agree the mini goals do motivate every week coz otherwise thinking I have to lose another 6 kg (eg) can be a bit
Awesome idea!

Late Friday check in, oops
SW 195.5lb
CW 182.5lb
GW 150lb

Am using an app called Happy Scale which tracks weight trends & helpfully breaks down your goal into steps, as well as indicating when you’ll hit goal if you continue on your current trend. It’s very helpful. I’ve lost 21% of my extra weight so that’s good.

Yesterday did a 20 hour fast and loads of exercise, heavy weights, housework so giving self a day off today. Only fasted 14 hours and had decadent breakfast (mango & plain yog with nuts & seeds, half a ham & cheese toastie). Noticed I am full after much less food and not craving bread and cheese like before. Lunch was shrimp & corn, dinner salmon, spinach, avocado. I’m not counting calories but must be eating half what I was eating before. Also not craving wine.

NSV: 2 inches off waist.

good luck over the weekend/half term/Valentines week everyone. Hoping for flowers not chocs this year

Don’t forget pancake day, one of my favourite food holidays. Will fit in with IF though as it’s only one meal. Yum.

Thanks for the music reccs everyone I’ve put them on my gym playlist!

Re alcohol: I love wine and cocktails etc but I only have it on the weekend at the moment, usually a couple of drinks with DH on Friday/Saturday evenings. I really want to keep it up it feels like a ritual that carves out a bit of kid-free time for us.

I think measurements would be a great idea for me too as I have been really holding on to weight since starting weight lifting instead of cardio. I also think mini goals will be great so gonna add some below.

I was reading the previous thread to get some inspiration this week (I hope that’s not weird) - I you guys were writing things you were grateful for and it was lovely - wondered if we could give that a go this week?

Before I had my DDs, I oscillated between 58-62 but my eating was very disordered (periods of restricting a lot then bingeing and generally very bad view of my body). When I had DDs I ballooned because it was the first time I hadn’t restricted etc. So I’m a bit scared of restricting sometimes as I fear the depression/body dysmorphia my creep back :(
When I joined this group my goal was 62 which was my ‘bigger’ weight when I was pre-baby. But i’ve now made my goal 60 as that’s what I’d really like. FYI I’m quite short so I don’t carry the weight very well… and a lot of is around my middle which I know is unhealthy as mentioned above in that vid (thanks for sharing, v interesting).

So anyways, I’ve put some mini goals down and I’ll also be measuring waist, hips, upper arms & upper thighs to see if that is where the difference shows.

Does anyone here weigh everyday? I feel like it helps motivate me in the evenings... but yeah maybe not a great idea. But as long as I've seeing a trend go down...

GW 60
SW 08/02/24 66.8
09/02/24 66.4
CW 12/02/24 - 65.9 (on my period, after 2x coffees and water, so happy with that!)

Mini-goals
Feb 23 - night out - 64.9 (better get my act together and cut down on the milk in my coffee)
Mar 1 - 64
April - girl’s trip to Cornwall - 62
May - Work trip to Germany, bringing DH and the girls too very exciting! - 61
June - Summer! 60 ish.

Well done @Welcometothenightcourt

Love the mini goals and the looking ahead as well!

Like you I carry the weight in my tummy and it's so difficult to shift isn't it?!

I get what you mean about worries about disordered eating. I think a benefit of IF is that it does seem to shift relationship with food to encourage people to eat when they are hungry not just for the sake of it.

I read previous threads too @Welcometothenightcourt – anything that stokes our motivation is powerful in my eyes, and I often need that extra boost.

Let’s add gratitude again this week ... yes, twas lovely ... as is the self-care. How to choose!!! I do weigh everyday – I find it helpful to keep me on track and any reluctance to weigh is a powerful indicator to me that Im going off track for longer than a day.

I would love to know what an “ideal” fasting day for people looks like – those days when you can choose just what you want to eat and when, undistracted by social or work commitments. And contributes to weight loss of course!!

For me? Working from home or a restful day off. I start a 5 hour window when hungry, which could be 11 am or as late as 2pm. I have a large bowl of defrosted raspberries and blackcurrants, with lots of additions: linseeds, oatbran, psyllium husk, chia seeds + homemade yogourt and kefir, perhaps some cottage cheese as a protein boost, a scattering of home made muesli and some extra cacao nibs. I find it seriously delicious and deeply satisfying

Then half a square of 85% chocolate, 3 almonds and a small glass of kombucha.

A few hours later I typically have fish, chicken or venison with loads of veggies, some sauerkraut, a spoonful of lentils or similar, and perhaps some mixed leaves. Possibly a small piece of cheese. And then usually a few berries, a square of dark chocolate and a couple of almonds.

It usually comes to 900-1200 calories – I don’t add up obsessively but do a ball park figure, fully accepting I may be underestimating by 100 calories or so. Its only when weightloss stalls that I add them up meticulously and aim for 800 in a 1-2 hour window for a few days– though as often find a longer window with a bit more food or a 26 hour fast can be the nudge I need. I'm aiming to lose a pound a week at the moment, knowing that I would need to stick to 800 a day obsessively if I want to lose more.

Wow amazing results @StealthLaSilkySightHound and would suggest you are holding on to muscle mass etc but losing fat which is the main aim

@loveyouradvice your food sounds amazing and you pack in a lot of variety for your calories!

i am finding it hard to motivate myself to do longer fasts at the moment I am at 22 hours right now but think I will break it soon. I think a daily short window is probably going to be my best bet for a while. Read something interesting in gin Stephens’ book about a daily window of less than 5 hours is helpful for staying in fat burning mode. I am definitely out of fat burning mode at the moment.

my food is very haphazard and not that healthy at the moment. I nearly always have fried eggs and toast (usually sourdough or keto or liv life bread) - with butter or maybe with avocado if we have some and leaves if I am being healthy. dinner is often things like bean chilli and rice, salmon and quinoa, potatoes and chicken etc however often this is leftovers for lunch as the meal I skip least is lunch. I am still having upf stuff in between so time restricted eating is something I need to put in place at some point.

@Welcometothenightcourt i weigh every day and like @loveyouradvice if I don’t it is usually because I haven’t eaten well.

Huge thanks for another interesting link @StealthLaSilkySightHound - and MEGA CONGRATS on such positive changes, deeply inspiring reading how you are shrinking jean size by jean size and loving that you are becoming A sunny, calm, optimistic, energetic person through IF ... that is seriously phenomenal!!

@Clearingaspace I'd forgotten that Gin Stephens' recommendation about less than 5 hours for fat-burning... I'm going to employ tomorrow when I get home after 48 hours away with colleagues, lots of eating and drinking socially and although I am proud of the good choices I made it was much more than I'd normally eat and in much longer eating windows. Did you manage much more than 22 hours?? I find it intriguing how sometimes it is so easy to do a long fast, and at other times much harder: I'm not sure what to read into this, but I am definitely in a phase of going with the flow more at the moment and just accepting the slower weight loss

I don't get back until the afternoon tomorrow so will be posting my weight on Saturday....

And what do people fancy going for alongside posting weights tomorrow? Self-care for the coming week? or something we're grateful for or even both?? I think I'll probably do both...

And of course - how did your plans for self-care go last week?

Hello happy Friday everyone!!
And almost Friday to UK peeps!!

Last week 63.6kg
Today 63.2kg
Total drop since Oct23: 9.3kg!

It's coming off a lot slower now! It's the hard slog to the goal weight!

Glad I've seen any drop this week as it was period week this week and I generally don't see any drop. So very surprised!

Might not make my goal of 61.5kg by Easter!

Good luck everyone!

As always, thank you everyone for your contributions - I really appreciate the information, wisdom, camaraderie and openness.

Last week: 79.8kg
Today: 79.5kg, -0.3kg

I'll take that as a win: my attitude is quite poor at the moment, I'm in a mindset of feeling deprived if I do without something (e.g. chocolate after dinner), so I have it because I know myself well enough to know that it's actually worse for me to feel deprived.

At my best, I simply don't want the chocolate (or whatever) and actively enjoy exercise, whereas at the moment I'm actively digging my heels in to avoid exercise.

BUT I went outside every day, and reintroduced more fibre by adding salad to several meals, which were my two goals. I logged my plant intake and was very pleased to reach my goal of 30 plants a week with little effort - good to remind myself that basically I do have a good diet, so that core habit is a good one.

My act of self care is to set a timer for three minutes five days this week to do some simple exercises. If I want to add thirty seconds to that, or a minute, or more, than that'll be a bonus. Doing the first three minutes as soon as I post this!

Wishing everyone well xx

No change again for me this week - still stuck at 9st 12lbs after a drop of 6 lbs in Jan.

But I'm not surprised, this week it's been half term and my period so a few treats with the kids although I've stuck to my eating window. Although it is a bit disheartening.

Next week I'll be back in routine so things will be easier (no pizzeria lunches!) and for self care I will go for a walk each lunchtime for at least 20 mins even if I'm busy at work! I think I'll also try and go for a couple of runs, to mix up my exercise routine a bit. I do 2/3 strength training classes a week but I wonder if adding in some runs might wake up my body a bit and remind it to burn some fat!!

Setting a mini goal of losing another 4lbs by Easter too.

Hope you ah e all had good weeks!

Friday check-in:
SW: 202 (18/09/23)
01/01/24: 195.2
LW: 192.9
CW: 192.4

Half a pound loss in a week is actually the biggest drop I've seen in ages, so I'm pleased with that. Been to the gym quite a bit too. Food choices could be a lot better, but I can work on that (after half term!)

Friday weigh in and I have lost 1lb this week which is disappointing but does make 10 since 1st January.
It is half term next week and I will be busy with days out and probably lots of cafe/mcdonalds lunches. So I may not lose weight but I will aim to keep my 6 hour eating window and enjoy time with the dc.

Does anyone do running on here?

I normally run 4-5
A week. Currently recovering from surgery so can't run as I used to. BUT when I've tried to run (in or out of fasting windows) I've felt dizzy and fatigued.

Having done a bit of reading it seems like there's a view that running without having eaten is not great (for performance but also puts strain on immune system as well)

Any advice ? Anyone found a way round this? I'm finding IF working well, but the running is really important for my wellbeing.

SW 05/01/24 66.1 kg
02/02/24 62.7 kg
09/02/24 62.7 kg
16/02/24 63.3 kg

Terrible week for me. Perimenopause is definitely starting to mess things up, a week later I'm still waiting for my period to arrive, feel crampy and bloated but still nothing. And this is after my cycle last month was only 25 days.

I don't even know what to do know.
Should I give up on Nurture Phase and do a longer fast?
17-18 hour daily fasts over the last week done nothing and I actually put weight on, so frustrating.

@desikated I run a bit, have not done much over the winter though. I did a 5k this morning (sticking to my intention for the week!) and always run first thing when it's light enough after a quick black coffee. Even before I did IF I have always preferred to run on an empty stomach. However I don't monitor my performance much or do any kind of races so I am not the one to comment.

Maybe you need to switch up the timings of your runs see what time of day you feel best? (If you can). If running is that important for your wellbeing I would prioritise that above all else though, IF won't help if you are feeling rubbish because you can't get out for your runs.

Meeting myself where I am, such a great concept