Countdown to Christmas

[ItRainsItPours]

All welcome!

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

It's because I've got out of my 16:8 habit. When that runs smoothly I don't feel hungry, it's only when I've had an emotional eating phase that my body can't cope and it just takes a few days to retrain.

I will join you. I need to eat some proper food today as I'm ill and run down with a bad cold. Yesterday I was feeling sorry for myself and had crisps and chocolate but it didn't make me feel any better. I need some simple, nourishing food today.

Good plan, food as medicine.

Just started IF again. Eat from 12pm until 8pm , although tend to stop around 7-7:30pm. Second day in, I did it last year for a few months and felt great!
I do cheat a bit and have a cup of tea at night and coffee in the morning though. Will build myself up to letting my coffee and tea go!

hopped on the scales yesterday morning 15 stone 3lbs! arrrggg this seems to be my go to weight when I fall off the wagon. Anyway i did 18 hour fast then had sushi for lunch and a veg heavy chilli for dinner with a small ladle of pasta and a square of 90% chocolate finished the day on over 10k steps. I'm nearly at 18 hours again now lunch will be prawns and salad and dinner bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes which sounds incredibly dull but is really tasty with some garlic and chilli, will take the dog out after lunch to make sure i get at least 10k in again. I'm really hungry right now but it's only 20 mins to go!

Fwiw, I was thinking "yum" about that dinner 😊

@EmbraceTheBeans I have made this 'no rubbish' decision for today only. I will check in again tomorrow and see what I am able to pledge for tomorrow's 'one day only'.

I agree that one day at a time is best. I have a lot of weight to lose and am losing an average of 0.5lbs a week which feels so incredibly slow...if I look ahead to needing to be a further 3 stone down it feels overwhelming. So I keep plodding on and focusing on each day and how much better I feel when I've fasted and then eaten something nourishing.

@HarpQuartet I like the saying "food as medicine". I have definitely felt like that today.

I managed to fast for 18 hours despite this horrible cold. Just focusing on drinking plenty of water this morning and resting.

Lunch at 1pm was a pre-made grain salad that DH picked up for me from the supermarket with some hummus and oat cakes.

I'm just having a cup of bone broth as a drink which I tend to have when I'm feeling run down.

Dinner will be some chicken with new potatoes and broccoli. DH will be taking DDs to their swimming lesson so I'm planning on putting the new potatoes and chicken in the air fryer and just microwave steaming the broccoli. Simple food that isn't too taxing to prepare or eat.

I am at least 1lb down since last week so it's not all bad 🤣

I opened my window, ate a salad, and just now had 4 small slices of toast 🙈🤦🏻‍♀️ Epic fail.

I'm going to try and rescue it by closing my window as early as possible tonight.

But the carbs were delicious 🤦🏻‍♀️ Sadly.

This is a good reminder to check the thread each morning, I think if I had seen your post @HarpQuartet i would have gone junk free in solidarity but sadly it’s too late as junk has been had! @GameOfJones I like the idea of food as medicine - I really want to start feeding myself better so that I feel good. I am so tired and blah and carbs feel good initially but there is always the slump.

I haven’t been fasting much to be honest - I wish I could get back into it. @EmbraceTheBeans how was your fast today.

@mickandrorty your good sounds delicious!

I missed lots of messages so apologies for not name checking everyone. I think @Fouramclub mentioned calorie counting- I am also thinking about that - how’s it going?

Good luck with early closing window @Amazonmulu - I will join you in that and skip the evening snacks 🤞

I seem to be back on the wagon at the moment, have had a mostly good week. I didn’t see the posts about the junk free day but did manage a upf free day. I find it so much easier to fast when I do this. It did of course include some home made treats but within my 4 hour window. I don’t think I could manage without any sweet food. I also seem to throw colds etc off easier if I eat well but when you feel ill that goes out the window.

Snap: for me, a homemade biscuit is fine. I've got a much less structured/busy day today, which I find much harder in terms of sticking to goals. I'm committing to TRYING to having a rubbish-free day, which for me means having a sit down and a chat with myself if I feel the pull of crisps, just to make sure that's what I definitely definitely want to do.

Do you think you're on the mend yet, @ItRainsItPours ? Lurgies really throw me off course x

I’m feeling ok at the moment @HarpQuartet but I seem to be having the back to back minor bugs again this year. It happened last year but I thought that was because I was low on vitamin D. Maybe I need to ask for a retest. I did try to book onto the local flu jab clinic but have been fobbed off despite qualifying. Hey ho.

@ItRainsItPours do you think being fobbed off is yet another sign/consequence of a threadbare NHS?

My check-in is that, having hovered around 77kg for months, I'm now 78kg! It's ok, not bad all things considered.

My two rubbish-free days were good, probably best not to mention the rest. Been out for a 5k this morning, first in a while, hope it'll help reset my brain and remind me whose side I'm on. Strictly tonight, maybe a small glass of wine - I find it hard to get through such a long programme without "treats"!

Wishing everyone a good weekend.

I know think tanks and spending money on consultants is seen as throwing money away that could be spent on wages, vaccines etc but I think we need to look at where the NHS is working and repeat that everywhere. We’ve all heard stories of ambulances queued up unable to deliver patients to A&E but we don’t hear about the emergency departments that are coping well. I think basic healthcare like vaccinating those most at risk saves more money than it costs in the long term. Political rant over 😀😀😀
I am having a rubbish weekend as in lots of pain with an old whiplash injury that flares up every now and again. Probably not helped by a busy week with lots of travel. Hey ho, I have a warm cat resting on the sofa with me and lots of trashy tv to watch (in between making sure everybody gets where they need to be).

@ItRainsItPours yes to fixing the NHS please 🙂

And v important to know what trashy telly is going to keep you going while you get better.

Hi all, how are you all doing?

My check in is that I'm experimenting with a much shorter eating window than usual today. Mainly because I'm really busy with ferrying DDs to clubs tonight. I have just eaten a portion of leftover lasagne from last night for a very early dinner after the school run. DDs will have theirs later when we're back from clubs as they've had an after school snack.

So a 3 hour eating window today as I had avocado toast and a yoghurt earlier.

If it goes OK I may try it again as it's certainly easier knowing I don't have to think about food again today with a busy evening ahead. I also need to batch cook more like I did yesterday, make double of a home cooked dinner so I have something decent ready to heat up on busy nights.

Hi @GameOfJones let us know tomorrow how it went, hunger-wise. I need to do a rubbish-free day tomorrow: I've hardly been out today (combination of work and rain) and am currently nursing a sore tummy from eating allllll the rubbish 😕

I do lots of batch cooking @GameOfJones , if I am cooking I do 3 or 4 meals for the family in one go. That way I always have something easy in the freezer to pull out and warm up. Also cheaper as you can bulk buy things like meat.
I ended up September with a 4lb loss which I am happy with. Currently on three meals a day so I can take ibuprofen. Will get back to fasting once my soreness eases up.
Currently sat with the wood burner on and a cat snuggled up keeping me warm.

Thank you @ItRainsItPours , and I hope you are feeling better soon.

@HarpQuartet it was absolutely fine, more of a mental hurdle to get over of not having any "dinner" in the evening but I genuinely wasn't hungry. In fact, it meant I did my longest ever fast to date and did just under 26 hours! Honestly, it wasn't a problem. I was in meetings all day at work so the time whizzed by and I wasn't very hungry at all which I'd have never thought possible.

I am however out for the day with DH on Friday and will be having three meals that day so I'm building in a couple of longer fasts this week to balance it out, rather than the 24hr(ish) fasts being a very regular thing.

1lb lost this week officially taking me into the 13s at 13st 13lb. Over a stone lost so far so onwards and downwards!

@GameOfJones I'm going to try the same today - see if I can do a longer fast (usually do 18-19h) so I can open my window at 6pm as I'm out for food with friends. It's my first time trying OMAD. I'm in the office today and then running around with DC and dog later so hopefully the next 8h will fly by 😳🤞🏻

@Amazonmulu good luck with the omad. Sounds like a good plan, if you can manage it. I think keeping busy helps.

@GameOfJones 26 hours is fantastic. well done.

I have been away for a long weekend, ate lots and drank lots. I've been trying to eat better for the last few days to make up for it. Not sure it is working.

Well done to everyone who has managed to lose weight in September. I am hoping for a 3/4 pounds in October now. Though I might have another few days away in a week or so.

OMAD was surprisingly easy yesterday. Did 27h but was quite hungry by the end. Had a Mexican style tapas of 3 plates and water.

And this morning I'm same weight as yesterday. Which should feel like a win as usually after a night out I'm way heavier.

The only thing making me feel meh is that I've been hovering around 13'9-13'10 for two weeks now. I had hoped changing things up would help.

I'm planning to just carry on with 18:6 as I feel good and my body shape seems better even if on the scales I'm at a plateaux.

How have you managed plateaux's and how long did they last?