Countdown to Christmas

[ItRainsItPours]

All welcome!

Supportive thread for setting goals including self care and fasting, and chat in between!

@EmbraceTheBeans so lovely to have you back! Love that you have returned as a tougher but still elegant hound 😉 Great that you have been able to cut milk in your tea. I started having coffee with cinnamon for a while and it was pretty ok but back to milk at the mo. I do feel a bit bunged up so will probably ditch it again soon.

Well done on your 20 hour fast @GameOfJones, lovely when it comes naturally!

i am doing the minimum possible in terms of fasting 12-14 hours, and no evening snacks and milky drinks. Once I stop progesterone (hrt for perimenopause) in a week or so I will try and do something a bit longer.

I have lost 4 ish holiday lbs but still have 5 more to drop 😫- my yo-yoing is disheartening but I think if I can crack sticking to 3 meals a day when I am off the wagon that would make a huge difference.

@EmbraceTheBeans I really admire that you are taking such a healthy approach. I kind of long to go to do something similar but I am stuck in an unhealthy rut. I keep thinking I will go to bed early, have a good night sleep and then get up and exercise- and it never happens! I have just had a ridiculously obvious lightbulb thought that when I used to exercise regularly I would set my alarm and just get up and do it - if I switch things round and exercise first then maybe I will be more inclined to get to bed at a healthy time. And then also I might be more inclined to eat healthier options as well? I have just set an alarm for tomorrow am so fingers crossed!

@Clearingaspace you probably already know this, but just in case not: the helpful nudge is to lay your exercise clothes out, or have your strength training video (or whatever it might be) bookmarked or the yoga mat laid out. What exercise are you planning?

@EmbraceTheBeans would you feel comfortable sharing what the course was, please?

Thank you, that's a wonderful explanation xx

@HarpQuartet and @EmbraceTheBeans thank you both soo much for the great suggestions - I feel like I need a notepad and pen so I dont forget these. I normally get 20-40 mins deep sleep 😳 I don’t often wear the watch as it gives me a rash!

I have 1 day of kindle unlimited left - any suggestions for a self help book? Typically disorganised, I should have asked a month ago!

hope everyone is having a great weekend

I agree with much of the recent discussion but will add my pence worth. I think habits, both good and bad, are a bit like a snowball rolling down a hill. You do one thing right and you feel better so then you do another thing right and so on. So you exercise and get a better nights sleep so wake up refreshed and ready to exercise. Or the other side of the coin is you eat rubbish, feel awful so don’t want to exercise.
I have lost weight this year, so I am happy to make plans with friends to go walking in the hills. Last year I would have been too worried about being a bright red sweaty mess.

Hi all, just catching up with the thread and some really interesting discussions. I totally agree about habit formation and the more you do, the more you want to do.

Fasting has been really enlightening for me. I've had an interesting week with one day of starting to fast at 2.30pm after a big lunch and then on Friday I did my first 24 hour fast. I would have never thought that possible before.

Both of those are fasts I'm not planning to do often but it has almost been a form of brain re-training. Not eating just because the clock says it is a certain time, or if I've had a really big lunch feeling OK to not have dinner. Previously I would have eaten the big lunch then eaten again anyway in the evening just because it was "dinnertime". Those are the habits that got me to over 15 stone.

I feel less bloated, have more mental clarity, my digestion is better and my sleep is so much better. I do need to focus on the quality of the food I'm eating but feel more able to do that now I have the fasting as a solid routine.

Joining in as I really need a boost to get me to Christmas and a healthy weight. I've piled on 2.5st since lockdown, I was 2st over weight to start, and now getting to the morbidly obese weight.

I find I'm really good at starting but I'm in perimenopause and I get a lot of rage / hunger / migraine with my pmt. Which seems to be every 3 weeks now.

I've not yet managed to stick to fasting long term but I want to build a habit like others suggested.

I'm trying to make this an identity / a life style "I don't eat after 6pm and before 12pm" but I know I will need to deviate at some point - low blood sugar makes my vertigo much worse... I can keep it in check if just in my usually routine as other triggers are managed but if we drive for a weekend away early morning or have visitors or anything out of the ordinary sets it off.

I'm still digesting bits of Fast Feast Repeat and seeing what I can use to help me stick to it.

Welcome @Amazonmulu - I think I will have a reread of fast feast repeat. funnily enough I chose a book on blood glucose as my last book on kindle unlimited yesterday. I didn’t read it all but one interesting fact was that stress can cause low blood sugar. That was amazing to me , but it lines up with what you are describing.

@GameOfJones well done on 24 hours! It’s crazy how sometimes an hour without eating feels difficult yet we can actually go 24 hours and it’s somehow doable,

@ItRainsItPours so true about the domino effect when off plan. It’s that old thing of not catastrophising if if we eat the wrong thing or forget to exercise I guess. Also this is why at some stage I want to splurge and buy the official glucose revolution book as I am really intrigued by hacks that might allow me to eat a treat but hopefully if my sugar is controlled it won’t spira into out of control eating?

confession - I switched my alarm off and stayed in bed. However I was up late waiting for dd to come home from a party and once I finally got to bed there was a really scary thunderstorm 😆 I did do a decent walk with dh this morning at least.

@Amazonmulu I too have the variations in mood associated with perimenopause. HRT helps but I think I may request an increase in estrogen at my next review. Losing weight and doing more exercise has also helped this year. I wish you luck.

@Clearingaspace I eat chocolate peanuts when I need a sweet hit. The peanuts are high in protein so fill you up better than other carbs. I also measure out the amount I want to eat before I sit down. I’m mostly too lazy to go back for more 😩

I am having a lazy Sunday, will pick up the pace tomorrow.

I've been off the radar for a bit. Back on it today (hopefully).

Sorry I've not managed to read all the posts since I was last on.

Hope everyone is doing ok.

Welcome back @imperialqueen , we are all trying to get back on track after the Summer holidays.

I weighed today and have lost 4lbs since 1st August. I am happy with that loss given all the Summer fun. Not happy that my gallbladder is now complaining. This always happens when I lose weight, but a few days on a plain diet tends to sort it out. Last time it was very bad I was referred under the two week wait in case it was something ominous. By the time they saw me the pain, and therefore gallstones, had all passed. Sat here with a hot compress hoping it will all settle down on its own.

Oh no @ItRainsItPours i hope it passes as painlessly as possible. Fantastic to be down 4lbs over August, although frustrating to be in pain as a result

@imperialqueen i am trying to get back on track also! Yesterday I downloaded a habit tracking app and unfortunately I had fallen down on two of the habits within 24 hours! I am on track for avoiding highly processed food at least! Maybe my mistake was too many habits from day one - probably better to build on the good habits in a sensible way.

hope everyone is well

@Clearingaspace it wasn't the Holland and Barrett app by any chance? Had it advertised to me on Instagram yesterday.

Going to be on holiday for a few days so won't be checking in this Fri, see you all soon though.

@HarpQuartet the app is called ’Days Since’, but I will check out H&B now out of interest. Have a lovely holiday.

Hi all, I've lost 1lb making that one stone exactly off my starting weight

SW: 15st 1lb
CW: 14st 1lb

I also had my cholesterol test results back and although still high they have come down in six months from 6.5 to 5.6 so I'm glad the changes I've made have had some effect. Hopefully by continuing on I can keep going in the right direction.

17 hour fast
Lunch of porridge and raspberries
Dinner of falafel, hummus and salad wraps

Thank you.

When I got my previous high cholesterol reading back in March it was a shock. I knew I was (and still am) an unhealthy weight but it was the first time a doctor had said to me I really needed to make changes.

I now take omega 3 and garlic supplements every day with a benecol drink. Other than that I have tried to increase fibre, legumes, oats and healthy fats in nuts, avocados, olive oil etc. I still have dairy but definitely less than I used to. I used to have a latte every morning and now have a black coffee due to clean fasting. I definitely don't have a perfect diet still but it is improved a lot from what it was.

I have no idea whether it's the diet, supplements, a bit of weight loss or the fasting that's made the difference but I'm really pleased it has so I'm just going to keep on with all of it.

I think all we can do is make improvements and try to make them stick. It is great to see improvements in such real areas as cholesterol.
I am feeling much better today, not back to fasting and deliberately put the brakes on weight loss. Will see how I am tomorrow and maybe try to ease back into it.