Countdown to Easter

[ItRainsItPours]

All welcome!

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

@StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans I think for me it is both habit and addiction. I have had phases where I have successfully replaced tea with ‘white tea’ it’s like green tea but milder and you don’t add milk. It’s not flavoured so shouldn’t have an affect on glucose. Unfortunately my coffee addiction has gotten worse since then and I doubt it would satisfy me now. I think sometimes the first cup of tea is the hardest to say no to and if you can switch that first cup for boiled water after that it gets easier to carry on saying no to yourself and gradually increase the time actually water fasting.

@ItRainsItPours good luck with coming off your meds -,it’s very difficult to know what’s best isn’t it. No wonder it’s so hard to be healthy. In some respects the reason i find itchier ti give up coffee is because i keep reading that it’s good for us! Well I think we can keep to this little corner as this is where we started and people’s journeys are bound to evolve, maybe the next thread can be called chat for fasting frauds

Itchier ti should be ‘hard to’

I'm huddled under a blanket also feeling like a fraud, but just so you know, Stealth, I think of you as an inspiration, not a fraud!

I've been on a little holiday and now have a stinky cold/cough, god only knows what I weigh but it won't be good.

BUT some positives: I completed Week 1 of couch to 5k before getting sick, and will be well enough to continue at the weekend I should think.

And I accidentally did a 16 hour fast yesterday/today and will aim for the same tomorrow.

And thirdly, we're having a Hello Fresh week next week and when the current crisps and chocolate are finished I'm not planning on replacing them (which is the point of doing Hello Fresh - not needing to go to a supermarket where I'll be tempted).

@Clearingaspace @ItRainsItPours @loveyouradvice I'm catching up on your news too, reading backwards up the thread!

I find online shopping so much easier. I try to eat low upf and on the odd occasions I do a big shop in the shop I am shocked at how much space is taken up by all the processed food. Full aisles for fizzy drinks, crisps, biscuits, chocolate. So much easier to do a shop sat on the sofa full after dinner, no impulse buying of the bag of doughnuts that looks so tempting in the shop.

@StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans I have read some of Mark Hyman’s stuff - doesn’t he suggest paleo but with the addition of beans/legumes? I tried it and felt good on it too but I am rubbish at sticking to things that are working well and didn’t maintain. I definitely agree about chopped veg - dh and I have stir fry veg most days as it’s so easy to cook it up and have a variety.

@ItRainsItPours that sounds the perfect way to do grocery shopping. it doesn’t seem to work so well in our house - I think my lack of meal planning is to blame and we end up with too much junk as the dc and dh chip in with suggestions that I would normally skip saying I couldn’t carry it! Dh is all about healthy eating now so maybe it’s worth trying again in a more organised fashion.

Btw who do you all use for online shopping - I use Sainsburys as they do £1 delivery slots, but they don’t provide shopping bags and it hurts my back trying to unpack it all at the door!

I am just finishing my fast - I managed 19 hours 20 mins but did have a coffee in hour 1. Bit annoyed I didn’t go for 20 hours!

NONE of us are frauds on this thread... it's what I love about this group, at different times, each of us is struggling or being successful: our helping each other along the way with different insights emerging, and a level of deep honesty as we find our way forward.

we all have shared goals of using IF as one of the foundations for a long-term healthy way of eating as well as losing weight... and each of us is exploring how it best fits into our life.

Those are lots of successes @HarpQuartet - especially completing the first week of Couch to 5k! Loving the accidental fasts... yes, let's grab those opportunities as they happen. Hope you are beginning to feel better

Congrats on 19h 20 mins @Clearingaspace - that's terrific

I'm taking advantage of meeting mates at the theatre tonight to create an 18:6 day, maybe even 19:5.... slowly getting back in action again. It feels GOOD!!!

I'll join you in peeing a mango @StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans - that made me laugh!!

I'm going to use "pee a mango!" as an exclamation of surprise from now on.

That is a very cool image, Stealth!

@loveyouradvice if you don't mind sharing, what are you seeing at the theatre?

Ah good luck @StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans i have been wanting to do this but just keep putting it off as I am useless at planning! What is your food for today if you don’t mind me asking.

i am so fed up of my weight and it looks like I have 2/3 options or some sort of combo.

1. solid fast 800 for 12 weeks
2. 2 x 30 hour plus fasts a week
3. mounjaro

I have been intending to do fast 800 properly ‘tomorrow’ for weeks but my energy and will power seem to be completely gone! I am coming to the conclusion I might need mounjaro to even be able to actually do options 1 or 2! My bmi is 35 and no other conditions so would need to pay a lot for this and my eating isn’t really the type where I will save money on it (no takeaways and not much alcohol etc).

@HarpQuartet how is couch to 5k going?

@loveyouradvice and @ItRainsItPours hope you are well

Note to self... when I don't post here on a Friday morning, it means I'm a bit out of touch with my eating... Hmm. Its a good signal to myself that I need to get back on it .. my other touchstones are weighing daily and noting down everything (roughly) I eat and how long my eating window is.

I'm away for a long weekend with friends (but yes, I did bring scales and am weighing daily again, phew!) and plan to focus on food again from Tuesday.

My plan:

• Tues eating 600-800 cals in 90 min window, and do this weekly moving forward
• Other days: normally a 4-8h window with around 1100-1400 calories
• Longer eating windows no more than once a week if socialising
• See where I am after a couple of weeks of this and adjust accordingly

And embrace more exercise - particularly the joyful kind! For me dancing - my daytime discos when they happen, a weekly Thurs morning dance class and now Scottish reels! I grew up in the Scottish borders and I'd forgotten how much I love reels until I danced last night at friend's party. Wow, I feel alive and love it - Im a bit rusty but basically know them... going to start going to sessions in London again!

@Clearingaspace hello 👋 Cto5k has taken a pause as I'm not very well (nothing to worry about, but v nasty cough/cold) but I do intend to carry on. At present I can't even tidy up without developing a thin sheen of sweat, I'm still only 70% well.

I see a lot of MN threads about Mounjaro but haven't followed. Does it work by making you feel as if you're already full?

@StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans I'm in awe - don't mess with you and your chain saw!! But seriously, huge congrats on weights and you inspire me to start doing a bit of daily strength training (just 10 mins a day) from Tuesday when I'm home.

And HOW is Day One of DIY FMD going? If next time, you want a couple of Prolon bottles of their special drink to preserve muscle, Ive got a few spares - Im planning to use them when I do a DIY version myself, but keep not quite getting round to it.

@Clearingaspace I so get your challenge. I'm a big fan of Fast800 - combined with IF, it's how I lost my first big chunk of weight over 12 weeks (which I have never regained, despite my regular faffing around going up and down)... which gave me the motivation to keep going. The other options are both powerful... how are you going to decide??

And I so get the lack of motivation - I've not felt as focussed these last weeks, and keep overeating by just a bit even on normal days... I need to find my way back to it.

@HarpQuartet - how's couch to 5k and the rest of life going? I'm so impressed.. and I remember my sister doing it, and saying she kept repeating weeks when she lapsed but got there in the end!! Theatre-wise, I think that's when I saw the most brilliant play The Years: five different women playing the same woman at different stages of her life, alongside the other characters she met from 1942 birth to being an old(er) woman... fabulously sensual (great scene when she's about 50, with her younger lover, symbolised by a chair when they're making love on the floor)... Sadly finished now, but one of the most powerful thing I've seen. How often do you see a West End play with just women on the stage??

So agree re online shopping @ItRainsItPours - I buy far healthier stuff!!! At least when my fridge is full of yummy healthy things I'm likely to choose them! How are things for you at the mo?

@HarpQuartet cross posted - so sorry to hear this and hope you feel better fast.

My understanding of Mountjaro is that it cuts out the food noise, you just don't want to eat as much, so it makes eating less much easier.... it does also have side effects, minimal for some, quite significant for others. I haven't known anyone take it but like you am curious.

@HarpQuartet oh that sounds horrid, get well soon. Yes it slows digestion and controls blood glucose (sorry not good at remembering exact science terms!) some people also find that they develop aversions to unhealthy food and it turns off their ‘food noise’. A certain percentage are non responders or need to take higher doses and it becomes v expensive. Side effects such as nausea, diarrhoea, rashes are pretty common. It seems for some people it’s life changing and has extra benefits and for others they regret taking it.

And my belated Friday check in....This is getting serious... I need to refocus and use the incentive that weight that's come on fast tends to come off fast IF I ACT SWIFTLY ... Tuesday is that day (with today and tomorrow aiming to eat modestly but sociably with friends)... I hope to be posting a loss of at least a couple of pounds by Friday....

SW: 14.2
CW: 11.7 so 1lb up from last week, and 9lbs up from 2 weeks ago
GW: 10.12.... REMINDER TO SELF: I was there, I can get back there!!