Day 21– Colorado, USA– NFD

Typical Saturday on tap for us:

First, I’ll enjoy a light breakfast with DH. It’s our time to chat & catch-up on how our weeks went.
Always enjoy a leisurely Saturday breakfast with him before we knock out our grocery shopping & errands about town.

Then back at home, we power thru our household chores.
After that, we head to the gym for our work outs. I lifted heavy weights yesterday, so it’ll be cardio for me today.

Home to shower & gussy-up for Date Night out.
Aaaahh! Saturdays are always busy & fun. Hope you all have a great day!

Day 21 / Sweden / NFD 93.3 kg

A lovely sunny winter day in Sweden, +3C and no wind. Went for a 10k walk. MFP says that this is my 70th day of the 5:2 plan and I’m down 9.2 kg (20 lbs) in that time so I’m well pleased!
Still have 16 kg to lose but I feel this fasting method is very doable. I’ve tried other diets in the past (lost 13 kg 4 years ago using LCHF but it all came back within a year when I went back to my old eating habits). With 5:2, I can eat the foods I want to 5 days a week, in moderation, then limit my calories on 2 days and still effectively lose weight.
Tracking my calories on MFP is very helpful. Instead of reaching for the whole bag of nacho chips,I measure out 50-60 grams, log them in MFP, and then enjoy them guilt-free!
I have to remind myself to be patient during the days when the scale goes up, it’s just a natural part of the cycle.

Keep up the good work out there!

Day 21 – Canada – FD

OK. I have just spent 90 minutes reading through the posts for the last three days. I was not planning to fast today but now I feel encouraged to give it a go and make it a success. Please take my hand and help me stay focussed. I know we all have our ups and downs from time to time and right now I’m trying to climb back up the hill.
I plan to check in several times today, watch some of Dr. Fung’s YouTube interviews and make my first batch of bone broth.

Wishing you all good Saturday.

Day 21 Ireland NFD
Thanks to the pocketeers and the idea of b2b fasting I managed Day 19 and 20 as FD just about. Yesterday I had a chicken veg broth for lunch which was about 250 cal, and then because I was swimming in the afternoon ( 30 lengths) I felt rather empty/ light headed so decided to be sensible and eat a normal dinner in the evening with the family (mashed potatoes and mince with veg)
Anyway, the scales said 9 st 6.6 lbs this morning, which considering they haven’t shifted since Jan 1 st is a good sign. I know they’ll probably fluctuate up a bit after a couple of NFD, but I’m finding i have a reduced appetite today so maybe the scales won’t go up too much!
It is interesting that it has taken 3 weeks of doing 5:2 to see any weight change. Perhaps it is because I have less to lose ( about half a stone) that it takes longer… or maybe the changes are happening but there is a delay before the weight changes… the whoosh effect? 🙂
I have to say, I’m so glad I stuck it out for week 3 and did the pocketeer fast as I was nearly ready to abandon it all when after 2 weeks I had had no weight change.
Committing to tthis group and reading everybody else’s posts is very motivational. Thanks everyone x

Day 21 Canada, CD

Hi Reid, I’ll hold the hand of my fellow canuck, I know you can do it! This has just been a little blip that you will get through and continue on with your success.

2 weeks ago I was struggling and feeling bad,when I read someone’s post about being kind to ourselves. IT resonated with me and I started smiling at myself when I looked in the mirror. Also changed my goal to be recording my food intake every day instead of losing x amount of weight. Wow, now I am succeeding and meeting my goal every day which makes me feel good. Don’t get me wrong I do want to lose the weight too, but too much focus on the scale and it’s capriciousness was discouraging me.

I think our Canadian winters are hard to get through, it is soooo cold. And the urge to eat comfort food is strong. I am treating myself to lots of warm herbals teas instead. Also, I am trying to focus on the coming spring and my dream of getting back into a fitted top, instead of the loose saggy tops I am wearing now to hide the rolls.

Day 21: Pacific NW USA, b2b will end sometime today, not hungry at the moment so probably a 16:8 NFD today.

Just checking in – will catch up later. Today was the first time I’ve stepped on the scales since Jan 1. I know there have been ups and downs since then but today – good news, I’m down 3 lbs to the elusive 150’s at 157.6 to be exact and BMI = 23.3!

Hip-hip-hooray and thank you to the pocket fasting team and everyone on Fuvvie’s forum!

Day 20. Québec. FD

What started as a great fd was kinda spoiled when I fell in junk food in the evening. Ggggggrrrrr why ? Why ? Why ?

Second post

@Fuvvy. Wow ! You are a physiotherapist ! They helped me often and I have great trust in their expertise. Have a great day my dear 5:2 friend x

Day 21, New York, USA – NFD.

My pattern for weight is INVARIABLE — very interesting to see the method (pattern) behind the madness (what it feels like when the scale goes up & down). I lose (sometimes very little, like 2/10 of a pound) two days in a row — then I gain a day. The next two days register a loss again, then a gain. Overall I’m down from 165 (before I started 5:2), to 160.2 today (159 lasted only a day or two, but now I trust my pattern), and I’m feeling, like so many of you, that this has changed the way I eat very profoundly for the better, and it’s going to be something I can sustain.

Riding lessons are getting fewer now, as my instructor is going to Florida to show some horses and ride a bit and do the circuit. So one lesson next week and then a week off. I have time to work on core strength and back strength, both really necessary. My back feels MUCH better after my chiropractor’s visit. Thanks for the sympathy everyone re: back pain. I’ve had worse, and I know it can really lay one right out.

@laddie10 – funny that about wanting your mommy. 🙂 made me laugh.
@peli: when I get anxious, I now think to myself, “this is what it feels like to be anxious.” and then I go through all my sensations: “my head feels funny, my stomach feels bad. I feel hollow in a weird way — like I have no body inside my skin. This feels a little frightening. I am blinking a lot. I feel like I can’t sit still, but when I walk I feel worse. I sort of want to cry but not enough to actually cry. I feel very fragile. My stomach feels a little nauseous as well as just generally bad. This is what anxiety feels like. I can’t finish a thought. I feel defeated and like the world’s evils are too much to bear, and they feel like my responsibility. I feel jittery. I can’t take in what I’m looking at and have to look somewhere else. This feeling will pass. This is what anxiety feels like. It is familiar. I have felt this before, and even though it feels like it will hurt me, it won’t. It is a feeling I have had. IT will go away in time. It may take a while.”

and after that, I take three or four slow breaths, focusing on my EXHALATIONS. Not worrying about deep breathing or counting, just exhale and feel the pleasure of that, like a dog when it lies down on a mat — a nice long relaxing exhalation. Raise and then drop my shoulders. Open my eyes wide, and then let them slump down, to relax my face. (I carry tension in my face. Why? No idea.) It will get better.

You might want to try describing your sadness in a lot of detail, like above, body part by body part, feeling by feeling, thought by thought. And then breathe, and then see if you can wait just one minute – or two minutes — or five minutes — before you eat. Then extend that time.

But I find if I get a little closer to my anxiety by describing it in a lot of detail, its power tends to dissipate oh-so-slightly, which helps. Also reminding myself that this is a familiar feeling, it is not mysterious, it likes to pretend it is the most important thing going, but it is not, in fact, all that important. It’s a passing feeling. It will pass.

But mostly I’m sorry you had that episode. Hope this helps and if not IGNORE. 🙂

Day 21 / NFD / Oman

Aussie day 22 another FD over OH sat and ate chocolate yesterday funny how this wol changes you I would have broke my fast and ate some 21 days ago no interest in choc now.

Day2, NFD, New Zealand

Hello UK day 21 CD

Havent caught up on posts on page 35 and 36. Will catch up later. Broke my fast at about 66 hrs with only a bowl of veg soup, coffee, water and sugar free gum in that time. As with previous extended fasts I was not very hungry but took my Dad out to lunch to celebrate his 88th birthday. Broke my fast with a super food salad and despite his best efforts of persuasion I declined a tray bake for afters – I was full and satisfied.

Maybe this post from a previous challenge may be interesting to some.

Thought I would share a blog from mfp
It’s late. You’ve just had a hell of a day juggling your job, kids, expectations and never really being able to step away from your inbox because you have a smartphone. You finally make it home after a 90-minute commute that’s really only 25 minutes without traffic, open your fridge to a plethora of healthy green food choices and think:
“Screw it.”
Then you order a pizza.
This scenario, or one like it, plays out every week with people trying their best to change their health and fitness habits. No matter how motivated we are in the morning, we can get driven to the edge by life and lose touch with why we’re on this crazy journey in the first place. Or sometimes it’s frustration with what we perceive as a lack of results. But no matter what kind of ledge you’re on, there are ways to get back onto the path you started. Here are just a few that have worked for my clients.
Enjoy that pizza. No really. The choice was made. Now it’s time to move forward. So throw out those leftovers and get back on track as soon as possible. A few slices will not ruin your lifetime of health and fitness, but the longer you nurse that case of the “screw its,” the longer you delay success. So enjoy the indulgence! And use this as an opportunity to learn how you can bounce back even faster.
Make a fallback plan. Almost every Thursday, my clients write their fallback plan for the weekend. While you’re in a good mood, before you come across the “screw its,” sit down and think about what the minimum-minimum is—what’s the ONE THING you need to do to feel like you’re still on track? Is it eating vegetables? Drinking water between adult beverages? Doing 10 push-ups?
Be realistic. Any healthy choice is still moving forward. Now write down your fallback plan, or take a picture of it on your phone so you’ll remember it just before the “screw its” happen.
Ask yourself, “What have I done well? What have I learned?” Most of us get fixed on outcomes. Weight. Sizes. Results. But evidence from 40 years of motivation research has shown that focus on the process rather than the outcome leads to better results. So when you’re feeling discouraged, take an honest self-assessment. What have you learned? What’s gotten easier? And what are you doing well that will help you for a lifetime?
Remind yourself that no weight-loss journey is linear. There’s always plateaus. Always, always. Even for you. Yes, you. You will have plateaus. If I sound redundant it’s because no one thinks this applies to them. But the people who successfully lose weight and keep it off are the ones who keep going. Like Winston Churchill said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going!”
Tell someone what you’re thinking. Eighty percent of my job is showing up and listening, which you don’t really need training to do. Seek out a friend or a forum and let people know what you’re thinking. Most of the time just saying stuff out loud to people you know are sharing your struggle is enough to see things in a different light.
Remember that the average American gains a pound a year. So even maintaining your weight means you’re above average

Day 21 : Cheshire, UK : NFD

A very mindful LCHF day!

My relationship has hit a bump again. I really hope I don’t sink and become paralysed with emotion and fear. I think I’ve had enough of that over the years. It is a relatively new relationship compared to many of you – 6 years with a 19 month break in-between. He wants space because I really upset him last weekend. I accept that my behaviour hurt him but it was bore out of an insecurity that was triggered by him, just a year ago. Even so I accept that it was hurtful. So now I’m back to waiting to see if he breaks it off but he knows if he does there is no going back. In the very early days, he was forever breaking up for, what I felt, was minor things.

There is no doubt we love each other but I still don’t feel he is totally committed to me if there still is a chance that we can break up.

Sometimes I feel weak for loving him so much but this time I can feel that I won’t let it affect my eating or my daily life in general.

Thank you for ‘listening’.

Or this

Sometimes we turn to food not because we are physically hungry, but because something is “eating us” emotionally. Many of us were taught that food can “soothe a mood,” and that by eating something when we’re upset, we will find comfort. Can you remember being a child when you fell down and scraped your knee and your mom gave you a cookie to make you feel better?

Even into adulthood, we continue to use food to soothe our moods, only now with negative consequences: We realize that we still haven’t dealt with what was bothering us in the first place after we’ve consumed an entire tub of ice cream, plus we’ve eaten way more calories than our body needs. And we usually end up getting mad at ourselves for overeating. This sets us up for a vicious cycle of stuffing feelings with food (and thus not dealing with them), possible weight gain or excessive exercise and self-recrimination … until the cycle starts all over again. How frustrating!

Three emotional states in particular often lead to bouts of emotional eating: sadness, anxiety and anger.

Sad Eating

Let’s face it—when heartbreak hits, eating a tub of ice cream seems like a good idea. A bit of sweeteness to drown out your sorrow. But before you know it, you’re caught in a self-perpetuating negative cycle and it can be very difficult to get out of it once it’s started. You eat because you’re sad, then you feel even more blue because you’ve eaten so much; this can lead to a “what-the-heck” attitude, increasing the likelihood of overeating when the next bout of the blues hits.

Healthy alternatives:

1. Talk it out. If you’re feeling blue, it probably has something to do with an upsetting incident that has happened and you may feel a whole lot better to get it off your chest by calling up a friend and sharing what you’re feeling.

2. Exercise. Research has shown over and over again that one of the best ways of battling the blues is by moving your body and getting your heart pumping. Even doing 30 minutes of moderate exercise boosts the “feel-good” chemicals in the brain.

3. Boo Hoo it out. This is the non-technical term for having a “pity party for one.” Really indulge yourself here: Take a hot bath and light candles, listen to sad music, and cry until you run out of tears. You’ll feel a whole lot better after.

Anxious Eating

Many of us eat in an attempt to lower anxiety and a way of self-medicating ourselves. In fact, research has shown that carbohydrate-rich foods actually boost serotonin levels, a chemical that makes you feel calm. This explains why we often reach for carbohydrate-rich comfort foods when we’re stressed.

Healthy alternatives:

1. Take a nap or go to bed early. Research has shown that people who are well-rested are less susceptible to anxiety and stress, and are better at resisting the urge to overeat. Strive to get at least 8 ½ hours of sleep each night to reduce the urge to overeat in your waking hours.

2. Do something relaxing and calming. We all have different ways of relaxing. The next time you feel stressed and anxious and instinctively turn to food, resist the urge to run to the cupboard or fridge and, instead, practice one of the relaxing activities you enjoy the most.

Angry Eating

Often we will eat instead of focusing on what is “eating us.” We stuff our anger down with food to cope but, unfortunately, this doesn’t get rid of our anger. It simply buries it and if we don’t deal with it, it will keep popping up until we do. To make matter worse, we hurt our bodies by overeating and then add the feelings of guilt and shame to the anger we started with.

Healthy alternatives:

A way to get out of the “angry-eating trap” is to delay eating (even 10 minutes will do). Sit down, take a deep breath, and tune into what you’re really feeling and what you need to do to let go of your anger. Ask yourself the following questions:

What happened today that may have made me angry?
Why did that event stir up angry feelings?
What do I need to do in order to let go of this anger and feel peaceful

Hi Goldensun hugs x sorry things are not too good for you at the moment. Maybe my posts above can help when you are going through an emotional time. But keep posting here. We can listen even if we can’t make it all better. x

Well, day is done and I made it through a good Fast Day, finishing off with a small serving of sautéed vegetables, a scrambled egg and half a banana, approx. 350 calories. Having an early night.
Decided to pass on the bone broth. Spent an hour tidying up the garden. We had a lovely sunny day today and it wasn’t too cold, so it seemed a shame to spend the afternoon in the house. Weather forecast predicts cold and snow on the way. Listened to Dr. Fung – interesting, had a good walk with the dog and hunkered down with my book for a little read. All in all – a “me” day.
Thank you @In It to Win It, @lilymartin, @fuvvie, @lynzm for your kind words, holding my hand and pulling me through the day.
Good night all.

Day 22 – Brisbane, Aus – NFD

Day 22 / FD / Oman
I need a FD today….went way over tdee yesterday. Oh well it’s a brand new sunny day here!

Day 22 NZ NFD
So we arrived home from our holiday tonight.
It’s good to be back and I’m looking forward to a FD tomorrow and a refocused resolve to track and manage my NFDs so that I see real progress downward for the last part of January and with all going to plan I should realistically reach my goal weight of 58kg within the next six weeks.
I’m excited to make progress again after really only aiming for maintenance over the last couple of weeks. I’m even looking forward to tracking in MFP for a few weeks to get the NFDs under control…and I truely loathe counting calories so I must be feeling positive and ready for progress!

Day 22, Australia NFD

Jarbia I’m in for a fd tomorrow with you. I was planning a b2b too. I have done the mon, tues, wed b2b2b before, but not sure that I’m up for that yet. Really want to get back into it though so hopefully I can get through Mon and Tuesday and go from there. I’m making my leek and lentil soup tomorrow so I can have that in the evenings. Really want to get this but lacking a bit of confidence in being able to do it so very grateful for this wonderful supportive group, it is so much easier because of you all.

Hi UK day 22 CD

@lou Belles and Jarbia looks like we have the beginning of a list for our pocket. I’m in too.

@anna6 I wish you well for your procedure. I hope this woe with its health benefits has helped protect you x

@goldensun how are things today? Been thinking of you – sounds like your partner has issues of his own in that he seems to run when things get uncomfortable or tough. He really needs to stick around and talk things out. If you both think it’s worth saving what about seeking counseling? Sometimes they can identify reasons and a clearer way to go forward. Even just talking things out with someone who does not take sides but just listens may help. It may not be easy and will take a bit of effort from both of you. Sometimes though love is not enough and no matter what you do in order to feel loved and secure you have to let go. For you own self worth But do all you can first so you can say hand on heart you really did give it your best shot. In the meantime be kind to yourself – you do not need to harm yourself by comfort eating as that has the reverse effect. Go for a walk get out and keep on plan – you are so worth it x