Thanks, @Meghan509 and @KateNkognito I'm sure I'll be feeling great in no time.

So jealous of a vacation, though I do get to go to Las Vegas in two weeks for "work," I'm sure I'll be enjoying a bit more than a typical week of work. LOL. This will be my first time being away since starting fasting. I've told myself that if I maintain for that week, that will be a huge win! Still kind of formulating my game plan for the week fasting/feasting wise. But think it's going to look something like this, complete fast on my travel days, and 18:6 (ish) on the other days. I'll skip breakfast, eat lunch and dinner. I'll try to keep it low carb, but also keep it balanced with enjoying myself.

One thing I've learned over a lifetime of dieting is you need to balance life with your diet. Weight loss benefits aside, that's the thing I love most about fasting is the flexibility to change your day or your week around your social engagements without feeling like you've "fallen" off the wagon. You fast a bit more prior, or after and it frees you up to enjoy events and activities that include food.

@mamainthekitchen LOL! Could you please send your son to my house?

@A_Dabauer That is the thing that has kept me coming back to fasting. I love the flexibility to let it fit into my lifestyle and then slowly make healthier choices to add to it.

Yesterday's fast was a bit of a flop. I started feeling gross in the evening, so I had some Ramen and some cheese. That put me higher than a fast, but still a low-cal day. I skipped breakfast this morning to make up for it. I have hormones going on, so I am not expecting a loss tomorrow. But, after 4 fasts next week, I am hoping for a really good loss. Enjoy your weekend!

@loulouowens Welcome to our group! Congratulations on your first fast! In answer to your questions: whatever works for you. The 5:2 as described by Michael Mosely says to eat normally on the 5 days. BUT, a lot of people do shorten their eating window on non-fast days. That is kind of the best part of fasting, you get to make it fit your lifestyle. Ask any questions you have. Look through the posts at the top of the forum. Welcome to our group!

Haha ‘snacrificed’ ?????? Hahaha
Love that Kate!!!
And YES, Meghan, how DO you do it???? Sometimes I think I’m better saying no out in public, but not at home. It certainly doesn’t help if I’m shopping down the candy isle either!! I figure it’s cheaper if I buy a larger bag of wine gums, and convince myself they’ll look cute in a little dish on an end table.... then later while watching tv, I grab some... then well, you know where this is going! But how do you not buy it??? Argh !!
Yesterday was my 31st wedding anniversary!! Being a rainy dull day (not like last year when it was full blue sky and we took that seaplane tour over the big city!!) so we headed to a cute little restaurant for appitizers and a glass of wine... nice being a quiet day we got the best table!
Made an omelette this morning with bacon on the side for lunch then had coleslaw & chicken for dinner... other than the entire bag of wine gums, I did just fine!

Hope everyone else is staying strong! Have a good day!!

Welcome, @loulouowens! As the other ladies here have mentioned, make fasting work for your life, there is no "single" way to fast. For me personally the key thing that I try to achieve is keeping my insulin as low as possible as frequently as possible. Insulin is your fat-storage hormone, and keeping it low really aids in your weight loss efforts! While most of us are aware that insulin is raised when we eat carbs, all foods have an impact on insulin. So the key is to increase the length of time between eating (not reduce calories as most diets recommend). In a traditional alternate day fasting schedule or a 5:2 schedule, which it seems that you're describing, you'd eat 18:6 or 16:8 on your eating days. When in your eating window, you want to focus on eating a full meal and not snacking if possible. Again, this is just basic guidelines, lots of us follow many different methods and strategies. For myself, I look at my schedule for the week and then decide what method I'm using what days. I use everything from 18:6, one meal a day (OMAD), alternate-day fasting, all the way up to a single 100 or so hour fast in a week, depends on how I'm feeling or what's going on! Good luck and feel free to ask as many questions as you like!

So it's been a bit of a challenging week here. Not surprisingly, taking an antibiotic gave me nausea and the like, I had no energy and generally felt like crap all week. I added a probiotic into the mix and that has helped with the GI effects thankfully, but the week was mostly a write-off in the weight loss category. I floated 3-5 pounds above last week's low most of the week. All in all, considering how fast I've been losing prior to this, I'm not upset at a single week stall in the slightest, just a bit annoying. LOL! And then this morning, 24 hours after taking my last antibiotic, the scale found a new low again. Only half a pound lower than last week, but I'll take it!

Next week is going to be challenging for a whole other reason. I'm going to Vegas for a conference, so food choices will be limited unless you count alcohol as a food choice. 🤣🤣🤣 My plan is to fast on my travel days, and 18:6 or maybe even OMAD on the days I'm at the conference, I'm certainly aiming to balance fun with keeping on working that scale in a downward direction! In some ways, this will be a good test of the difference between fasting and my old normal. Other times I've travelled even being careful as I can with food choices invariably I put on at least a pound a day while I'm away, and then I would lose those pounds at a snail's pace on my return. It was so frustrating. In theory, anyway, keeping your insulin low overtime is supposed to help with resetting your leptin sensitivity. Leptin is the hormone that makes your weight loss rebound. So here's to seeing how I rebound or don't rebound.

Thanks for the info @A_Dabauer and yes Meghan’s had amazing improvement with her inflammation by changing her diet! Oh and yes wine is a food group!!! Although judging by how I STILL feel, I’m going to omit that group for a while!!

I’ve got a ton of housework here and it’s gorgeous outside!!! My daffodils are almost in full bloom!!
Off to have a boiled egg and leftover ham.... then power through my chores!
Have a great Saturday people!!