Weekly Post (well almost...) - 24.01. - 28.01.2017

flumi_f

4 days of sun, fun and snowshoeing... Ate more than enough, but the scale was quite nice to me this morning. Guess together with with 2-3h of hiking and many meters in altitude (300-800m upward per day), I did OK.

I'm back in the grey fog of the Swiss low lands and feeling a cold coming on. Fasted today....at 600cals. Not sure if I will manage a second one this week, so I will try to keep tomorrow low and start out fasting on Friday to keep it low too....as I don't really enjoy Friday fasts, I won't force it

This is where I was.... and I so enjoyed the time above the fog at 1000-2000m.





Have a great week and good fast!

mamainthekitchen

Gorgeous scenery Flumi!! I love it when you travel!
I am out for lunch tomorrow so considering a fd today, but it's already 10 am and I'm dreaming of sandwiches for lunch! Off to boil the kettle!!!!!

flumi_f

Yes Mama...I'm glad it's 19h here. I'm also on tea only, so CHEERS!

Foamroller

I'm jealous Flumi, that looks just FANTASTIC Lucky you!

Had first official FD back on 5:2. Ended up with: 1 carrot, 1 small avocado, some miso soup with seaweed (iodine is important for fat loss) and a naughty fist of pork rinds.

Had 2 caps of MCT oil and some salt before walking 1.5 hrs up river. All in all a respectable start☺

Good luck everyone (including me) for staying on track for January!

Marmitegeoff

Good Fd for me today until the chocolate in the cupboard started screeching at me this evening. oops. But it will not be there on Thursday.

Karen_can_do_this

Well my fast day yesterday wasn't very successful. I did well. Pre planned my lunch (vegetable soup) and dinner (taco and chicken salad ) So it should have gone ok. However I was Starving with a capital S!!!!!!
So I figured I'd eat some protein to fill me up and keep me going. My mini omelette (just 2 eggs beaten up with about 10 grams of both grated cheese and bacon) put me over by about 100 calories

flumi_f

Definitely not a fail Karen!

Foamroller

@Karen_can_do_this . Don't let perfect be the enemy of good ☺
Be happy you achieved a substantial deficit for the day.

As long as the energy cycling with high and low days is big, you're doing good. Sometimes changing what you have on FD changes your perceived hunger. Experiment to find what works better for you☺

Foamroller

I tried to do another FD today, but ended a bit higher than I wanted. Oh well. The deficit should be OK anyway, cause I'm not counting in all the physical activity at work...

I think I'm gonna aim for FD on Mondays and maybe Tuesdays in the weeks forward. I wanna be able to have dinner with my BF when we meet. My colleagues at work ogle my coffee during lunch. I can see in their eyes they think I'm cuckoo for not eating...

Edit: Please anyone lurking or other people, feel free to share your ups and downs in these weekly threads ! YOUR experience may inspire or connect the dots for someone else

CooCooPuff

Back to back days? How has your experience been with these in the past. Seems interesting but I really don't think I could ever do it.

I'm really glad I reduced my meals from two small to one bigger meal for dinner. It's just been more satisfying that way.

Karen_can_do_this

Second fast day for the week today. So far so good. I'm finding the more I do these, the less hungry I feel. Or maybe it's that I can tell the difference between what I thought was hunger and real hunger. Lots of coffee and lots of water so far. It's a bloody hot day today so it's very easy to fast. It's too hot to eat anyway

flumi_f

@CooCooPuff - I did quite a few weeks with 3 fasts at the end of 2016 because the weekends were food laden... I fasted Mo / Tu / Th, thus did B2Bs. Tbh - when I started 5:2 in 2013 I probably would have had trouble with a B2B. When I did them in Nov/Dec the B2B usually went OK and the Thursday fast was often between 500-1000. But I was OK with that. Now I'm returning to two fasts per week and counting my cals more accurately again on nfds. The not counting is what gets me into trouble

In the end alot is dependent on my mindset and determination. And those two attributes are not always in the same place

To hot to eat - lol - Karen, where I am, we are having the coldest January in ages...-7°C and high level fog (= no sun) for the last few weeks. Which is the reason I so enjoyed those 4 days in the mountains. No fog up there.... The weather man says it we are in for a warm spell next week at +8°C,,,

Karen_can_do_this

Oh wowee!!! I wish it was cold here. Even in winter it never gets colder than 15.C

Mjtckwnow

I had planned to fast on Tuesday and Thursday this week but kept going over in calories by mid day on Tuesday & Wednesday but I finally got a good FD yesterday. I changed it up and instead of having small meals through the day I saved my calories and had them mostly at dinner which left me feeling much more satisfied. Maybe that's a better plan for me going forward. I'll get in my 2nd FD over the weekend.

flossyruby1

Second FD planned today. It's been an interesting week, food-wise. I'll just sum it up by saying I think I've been overthinking it. I'd say the last several months, I've been spinning my wheels. While I'm maintaining my weight, my eating patterns and fasting have been haphazard. Part of me gets so frustrated with myself on FD where I make this effort to fast all day only to have dinner spiral out of control. So while I'm glad I'm not gaining weight, I'm frustrated because I seem to be running around in circles, chasing my tail. I want to lose the last 10 lbs, but I can't seem to find the motivation to stay disciplined on FD. Ugh, weight loss/maintenance truly is a mind game. I need to get back to daily tracking (I get sick of it...I've been doing it my whole life) and revisit my goals. Sometimes, taking a moment to revisit the "why" helps shakes things up again.

flumi_f

I here ya flossy! Self sabotage at it's best. I know it well.

No real fast day this week and only one low day. My cold still has it's grip on me. Hoping a quiet weekend will help clear it up.

Have a good weekend.

mamainthekitchen

Ah Flossy I'm right there with ya! My mind set is exactly the same. I'm so tired of tracking & logging food and I only started oct'15 so I can't imagine doing it my whole life... so right there, you've got discipline!!

I'm trying to have a fd today. I've had my oatmeal & seeds with a tblsp milk & tsp br sugar at noon, then a granola bar just now because I was cold & hungry after being at the dog park for an hour... it's only 3:30pm here and I'm dreaming of wonderfully different dinners because the hubs is away all weekend and I can eat what I want for a change but I'm already at 485 cals with my vitamins included! Oh why did I think I could fast when he was away?? I've got wine & chocolate.... girl movies....

The original motivation was for me to wear nice clothes, get rid of that sweater over everything look, that untucked shirt look, and be able to cross my legs like a lady instead of needing one hand to push & pull either leg into position...I hated that! So, since hovering at a maintenance level for about 10 months now, I suppose the urgency to log or care is no longer at its peak. My desire isn't as strong. Maybe on fast days I should be wearing my tight skinny jeans and tuck in a shirt, show off a belt and drink water from a wine glass... I have to remember that when I work at it, it shows... but when I don't work at it, it also shows!! Off to go for a walk and re-think my dinner plans!!! Hoping Friday is going well for you all

flossyruby1

Mama, your post hits so close to home. All of those details you describe about being overweight add up. I hated shopping so much because of never knowing if I'd gone up a size. But you're right...the urgency, panic, dismay about being overweight is not as strong. For me, the frustration is "you went to all that effort to fast and you blew it". More a feeling of a wasted opportunity. I know my recital will help kick me into gear, but it hasn't yet. Maybe when rehearsals start.

Ultimately, I think it's important to find internal and external reasons to stay motivated. I hate, hate, hate clothes shopping. My history with shopping is wrapped up in so much negativity. But because I now fit into most things, yesterday I bought a couple of outfits I would never have bought before because I would have bought the wrong size (vanity would not let me go bigger) or it simply wouldn't have been flattering. I get caught up in feeling frumpy and middle age. I find adding to my wardrobe keeps me feeling current and more youthful (age appropriate, though). It's so superficial, but hey, I'm human. That seems to be part of my struggle. I have an image in my head about what it means to be middle age and it ain't pretty. Being overweight is part of that"person" (it's a common consequence of getting older). I'm trying to find ways to fight that image. Dance helps a ton, but sometimes I get stuck. That's where overthinking comes into play because I'm grasping at straws to get my mojo back. I know I don't want to gain any of the weight back, that's for sure. But it would be nice to find that "thing" to jumpstart my motivation. I like that feeling of always moving forward.

Whew...that's a lot for a Saturday morning. I'll keep my next few posts brief

mamainthekitchen

^No, I like reading your thoughts! Congratulations on purchasing new outfits! I know it's all vanity for me, so just looking good in a proper fitting pair of pants is what excites me about fasting!!

flossyruby1

I don't think vanity is a bad reason to lose weight or even to maintain it because the other benefits that come through are so much more far-reaching. Feeling good about yourself benefits everyone around you. I know when I feel crappy about myself, my attitude, outlook, everything is affected. So sure, vanity seems superficial on the surface, but it eventually trickles down into less superficial aspects of life. And you cannot beat a great pair of well-fitted pants.

flumi_f

I totally agree Flossy!

I'm still learning to feel and see myself as I am on the outside and I've been in 'maintainance' since mid 2014. It's still strange to see my body slimmer in the mirror. And yes, I need to look at that new body everyday and say good job, you look really good! My body is far from perfect and I have loose skin on arms and thighs. I have scars from my skin removal on my abs/stomach. I still have the 5kg I regained to lose again, thus I'm not 'a perfect skinny minny'. But I do remind myself regularly - hey you lost 33kg from your highest weight in 2000 and 22-23kg since May 2013. Maintaince is work and for me will probably remain so for a long time. Which is why I'm still here on MFP and started logging my food more regularly again.

A little bit of vanity goes along way in maintainance I had the possibility of participating in two makeovers since I've been in maintaince (clothes, hair, makeup, etc). What I thought would be a nice but superficial experience, really changed the way I feel about myself. I still remember how I felt, when I saw that woman in the mirror of the changing room and thought - OMG who is that beautiful woman in the mirror?? Wow...that's me. For the first time in my life, I saw the beauty of the whole me, not just the nice eyes, curls and smile. So, if the nice clothes can improve your picture of yourself, I think, it's a good thing. I like the way I look and feel, I like the ability to do more different things and feel good while doing them.

I also like being fitter, being able to hike an 800m ascent with snowshoes and end at 1900m altitude, without being totally whiped out afterwards...a little sweaty, hungry and tired - yes, but happy and not whiped out.

It's liking how I look and feel now after a life time of obesity, that help me keep the weight off, keep me here and help me refocus, when things get out of control for a while. And then it's stories like those of the other group members, that show me, the ups and the downs are soooo normal. So I just keep chuggin'. I've always been a weeble wobble and I suppose that helps too.