Countdown to JUNE

[loveyouradvice]

All are welcome!

We’re a friendly group that uses Fasting in one form or another to help or maintain our weight loss. We all have our ups and downs, and welcome insights from others and laughter along the way.

Summer's round the corner so let's enjoy getting our bodies ready for June, whatever that means to each of us!

Fridays are our informal day for weighing-in (optional) and reflecting on the week – often with ideas for self-care and new goals in the coming week.

We cheer each other on, and commiserate when things don't go to plan.

If you’re new to this group, do introduce yourself and share your hopes and plans.

And welcoming regulars to our new thread...

Hello to our regulars
@ItRainsItPours
@Clearingaspace
@Fouramclub
@HarpQuartet
@IDareSay
@StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans

Agreed, good luck to you and your stomach, @ItRainsItPours and hello @IDareSay , hope your tracking is motivating. @StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans how did you manage such a long fast, do you just stop feeling hungry after a while? @loveyouradvice thank you for the reminder of delay, don't deny.

Oh that's kind of you to share, thank you!

@StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans i love the look of this plan - thank you!

good luck @IDareSay - I am weirdly enjoying tracking at the moment!

@HarpQuartet i love really squish medjool dates - I might need to invest in some now you have put the idea in my head! Good luck with 7:00 kitchen close.

really good to hear yiu are doing ok so far @ItRainsItPours - don’t feel like you need to fast to be on the thread - to be frank I haven’t tasted this week and I have no excuse! You could possibly try fasting between three meals a day and gradually stretching it to 5 hour gaps - apparently there are some positives to doing this but I found it very difficult when I tried.

Making my plan for tomorrow:

Zoom exercise at 7.30am with friend; light weights.

Fasting until 11.30 or 12.30 (waiting to have the timing of something confirmed).

Finish eating by 7pm.

At least 5000 steps.

Apparently the hot weather makes our dreams more vivid. I am looking forward to it cooling down a bit.

friday check in

Sw 14 stone 9 - this is from last month
cw 14 stone 2 1/8
gw 13 stone 13
out of obesity 12 stone 5
Healthy weight 10 stone 4

waist 108.5 cm height just under 162 cm, so I am aiming for 81 cm?

Bit gutted as I think I had managed to get to get out of obese range at one point last year. I don’t really understand what happened!

Anyway NSVs/ Selfcare this week:

• copied others and have been drinking more water
• thought of harp last night and resisted milky decaf and managed a mini 13 hr fast
• Taken collagen iron and vit D
• got to bed at a decent ish time x3
• got on a treadmills yesterday!

Those are powerful resolutions @Clearingaspace ... Logging NSVs feels SO important. Let's do more of that!! Early bedtimes are key for me too: I'll do more of those this coming week. I do get the being gutted, but hope you can focus on the 7lb weight loss last month and congratulate yourself on moving forward so strongly.

Welcome back @IDareSay Yes, that first kg will come off fast: I 'll look forward to celebrating that when it does. And sounds like a great clear goal for the end of the month: how many kgs does that mean you aim to lose?

@ItRainsItPours That sounds so good - it must be such a relief to be off the meds.

@HarpQuartet You're powering ahead and inspiring me to go hard-core tomorrow!!

Yes I'm another who likes a post-supper taste of sweetness. For me a square of dark chocolate and a couple of nuts. Interesting @HarpQuartet - why does he eat 3 dates a day???? @StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans My understanding of dates is they are fine at the end of a meal, but solo do still boost blood sugar - or have things changed??

My weekly weigh in:
SW: 14.2
CW: 11.5 so 2lb down from last week, but still 7lbs up from 4 weeks ago
GW: 10.12.... REMINDER TO SELF: I was there, I can get back there!!
GW for this month: 11.2 and possibly lower: fairly relaxed

I've woken today feeling curiously bloated (I weighed 11.3.4 yesterday morning)and unable to put one of my rings on its usual finger... I had the most delicious Trinidian mutton curry last night preheatre with friends: I felt so virtuous eating it with just salad, rather than rice and peas. Perhaps it had a lot of salt in ... but wow, was it good!!!

This month I'm going to do one hardcore day each week (500 calories in a 30 minute window, which ironically I quite enjoy), alongside 16:8 and a longer day once a week if I want it for supping with friends:14:10 or even 13:11

I don't seem to be able to do the 2pm start which used to be so easy just a couple of years ago. Holding off until 11 or 12 is challenging enough! Curiously, I see this as a positive change - that my body likes eating earlier, and finishing earlier: But not sure if it is?? I'd happily finish at 5 or 6 every day and do when not eating with others.

Nice to read everyone's check-ins, the mutual support and encouragement and openness is very inspiring.

I ended up with a 17 hour fast, did my weights as planned and need to do some walking now to get to 5000 steps. Stopped eating at 6pm.

Plan for tomorrow:

Week 2, day 2 of couch to 5k.
Minimum 16 hour fast.

I'm not very good at finding fun things to do, that can be my next goal.

Does anyone have nice bank holiday plans? It’s a shame the hot spell didn’t hold but we are planning a day out in a big city we don’t normally go to. We are going to do a museum and eat out. We are country mice so just getting on the train and wandering about a city is a novelty 😃

Hi can I join you all? I am not a big poster but reading the fasting threads a lot as am doing 16:8 intermittent fasting since 21st March. I want to start posting a bit to help me keep on track.
I’ve lost 7lbs since starting but plenty more to go. I’m happy to do it slowly if I can just keep going and not lose momentum after the initial success. I’ve cut out a lot of carbs especially sugar and have increased protein and not usually too hungry as a result. Aiming to do 10k steps each day, usually don’t get to that number but did today 😊
SW 13st 5
CW 12st 12
GW 11 st
looking forward to some rest and exercise over the weekend.

Welcome @tiredwitless and congratulations on your 10k steps yesterday 🎉

By the way I meant to say, I have never watched the whole video so I don't know why the doctor eats three dates every day, but he looks very happy and healthy!

@ItRainsItPours I'm jealous (but in a nice way) that you've organised a nice trip and I hope you have a lovely day.

Thanks @HarpQuartet
Hi all
I broke my fast a little early today and then left eating window open 3hours after I normally close it - ate quite a bit of hazelnut chocolate but not otherwise too unhealthy. This is the tough stage for me. 6 weeks in, doing ok slow but steady and then I start to wobble. Got 11.5k steps today though. Back to eating between 12 and 8pm tomorrow.
Hope everyone else doing ok.

Welcome @tiredwitless - It sounds like you are doing a great job! Lowering carbs and increasing protein is what a lot of us on here do. Congrats on the first 7lbs... and on the steps.

Powerful commitments @StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans and congrats on the 3kg loss with FMD - some of that will stay off, especially now you are 16:8 or less each day. And I love reading about how you have revolutionised your health with eating and living so well... so inspiring

Ah scuba diving - I used to love that!! Beginning to fantasise that I might do that again....

@HarpQuartet I love that goal - finding fun things to do!! What inspires you at the moment?? I'm enjoying being on your couch to 5k journey vicariously - how's it going?? And thanks for the note on dates - not surprised u gave up watching.

And I love wandering round cities @ItRainsItPours - I hope you have a very lovely day

My hardcore is becoming a little less hardcore - I'm a bit under the weather so doing 16:8/18:6 and around 1200-1500 calories.... That's fine... and I weigh daily so if it isn't working I'll up it again. And this is my commitment to definitely having one low calorie 30 minute eating window before Friday...

the weirdest thing happened, I wrote out a message to everyone of you - was just finishing the last one and my phone deleted it! it was as if I was pressing backspace but my finger wasn’t even on the keypad! bit freaked out by that. I will try again later!

Hello Team. @tiredwitless are you somewhere in a different time zone or were you up in the night? @Clearingaspace I often manage to delete my messages and it is so annoying! My problem is just incompetent fingers though.

Today's check in: broke my fast at 11am = 16 hours (which is the minimum fast I'm aiming for ATM).

Going to buy some bark chippings for the garden, so that's good exercise, plus I'll do the last jog-walk of C25k week 2 this evening.

I did put two Fun Things in my diary for last week but was thwarted: a student rearranged her lesson* so I missed board games at the library (why yes, I am a cyclone of excitement), and I went to a dance class that's no longer running 😆

I'll try again this week.

*I should say, with my consent - she wasn't being a pain, it was connected with the power cuts in Spain so I was happy to accommodate her

Thanks @loveyouradviceand in awe of you keeping calories so low and fasting too.. I am eating healthier but can’t yet entertain the idea of a much shorter eating window or strict calorie counting.. I’ll probably try to reduce my eating window at some point as it happens accidentally fairly often anyway on work days.
@HarpQuartetnot in a different time zone just binge watching a Netflix series last night cos didn’t have to get up for work. (Four Seasons ..comedy with Steve Carrell and Tina Fey.. I’d give it 7/10😊)

its hard to stick with the eating window on a long weekend. I find work and a set schedule helps a lot and without it - and easy access to the kitchen - it’s much harder. I’m going to try to plan a bit more on weekend days to keep myself occupied..

@tiredwitless i am terrible for staying up binge watching Netflix - particularly if my adult ish teens want to watch with me. Or if it’s something really excellent/ addictive. My youngest loves an early night so maybe I will follow her lead once dc2 is at uni!

@HarpQuartet oh no I am so cross for you that you didn’t get to do your happy things- but you planned them out and I am impressed as they sound kind of cool to me!

@loveyouradvice i hope you are feeling better soon and I really like the thought of of the short eating window. I might copy this - it might be a good way to build up longer fasts 🤔

@ItRainsItPours i am jealous of your city visit - did you have fun? Just gardening and tesco big shop here…

@StealthilyEmbraceTheSilkyBeans I hate the thought of the disturbed sleep but the positives from your fast seem like it was really worth going through.

Am watching the Bob Dylan movie with dds now on disney plus then going to have an Epsom salt bath. Had an early dinner so hopefully a 17 hour fast

Looking good @HarpQuartet Congrats on finishing W2 of Couch to 5k... and look forward to your trying those fun things again! Love board games and dancing!!

Planning helps me so much @tiredwitless ... I know when I make eating one of the most important things I do, it makes such a difference.

@Clearingaspace I loved that Bob Dylan movie - and hoping the 17h fast stayed as 17h??