Thanks Jade.

First FD in a couple of months and it all went well, so why was I worried? Planning another at the end of the week too. My plan is to stay away from the scales and the tape measure until the end of February, but continue to try on clothes once a week. I remain convinced that scales are such an arbitrary measure of success.

I am always hungry after a FD, so really have to watch what I eat the day after. Today is no exception and like you Jade, I will have to keep a tally on NFD too, just until I can get used to what amounts look like.

I do struggle to stay away from the biscuits when it is cold, but one day at a time. I need to get more lentils into our meals as well.

Poof went a previous post as I was in the middle of it! Darn it.
Briefly, I was agreeing Queen that we have those “normal days” (and by the way, that’s some progress!) but boy wouldn’t we love to know the cause. That way we could know that, on that day, having the “potential trigger” food is OK. Instead, I just assume I should avoid them. As Chubster says, that makes for a long inventory of off-limit foods. Thanks for the mention of Dr. M, yes it makes me feel better too, to know someone like him has to lock up the chocolate 🙂

Yesterday I tried limiting myself as you do, Chubster, no starches all day. I felt fine after my protein-carb dinner. But felt slightly hungry at around 9 p.m. (was still below tdee), so had a slice of wholegrain bread. Immediately felt that little tickle of wanting more, and I could tell it was not from hunger but that other feeling, that please just drown me in bread now. In contrast, I was well-satisfied with my dinner, felt the normal click-off of appetite. So I went to bed wishing I hadn’t had the bread at all. I was hoping if I had the tickler foods later at night, they would not cause that reaction, but nope.

I’m left to think that only by limiting myself to foods I don’t care that much about will my appetite stay normal. Nothing against those foods but they aren’t really fun. So it’s a solution of sorts, but kind of boring!

One thing occurred to me though, which might work for us. When I had some health issues last year I read up on IBS and FODMAPs. People with IBS can vary widely in what triggers those problems, so what they do is eliminate all potential triggers for awhile (and there are a LOT so it’s well worth trying to pare them down), then gradually try adding back in, one at a time, to see if there is a reaction. Turns out I did not have IBS, and I’m plenty happy about that.

But maybe there is a point at which I could do the same here, avoiding the potential trigger foods for a bit to scrub my appetite-memory clean of this unwelcome reaction to wholegrain bread and grapes and the like, i.e., foods that are nutritious but that I can go off the rails over. Just a thought. Thank you all for sharing ideas here, it is fascinating to me as well as very helpful. xxxx

Reading everyone’s posts I am relieved to see that I am not the only one suffering from Groundhog Day syndrome…. My first successful fast day of the New Year two days ago was followed the next day by the ‘congratulatory binge’. Followed by the ‘fast of shame and necessity’ today. Hmph.

Well done Annette on your successful FD. Hope your fast on Monday worked Spring – you are right, weight loss is never steady, up and down. Like you, I really have to do the weigh ins it to keep myself accountable. That said, I’m still avoiding it.

I’m going to have to give those lemons a go since so many of you are suggesting them. Hello and welcome LA (although your name confuses me – I imagine everyone in LA walking around looking fantastic in yoga pants, carrying a small dog – so LA Chubster seems like a contradiction!). And yes LA, we are all women here except I think Simoceluv who pops in occasionally to direct us to research and reason, otherwise it is generally a lot of ranting and rambling but the very BEST kind of ranting and rambling.

But having read what you manage to avoid eating, LA, I just can’t understand how you can be overweight? Your diet reads like a ladies magazine dream (no grains, no nuts, no fruit, little cheese) – what on earth do you eat my dear? I am full of admiration that you recognized your grain issue and then have been able to avoid eating them. I’m still very much at the ‘recognizing my issue and then eating it’ stage….

Queen – yesterday I think I had eaten my entire day’s TDEE before 9:30am, so believe me I know where you are coming from with the overeating when it is there. I just Googled Dr Mosley’s diabetes diet and you are right, it was comforting to read that he (a normal, sane man) has to exercise control over himself when buying packets of biscuits in the supermarket and can’t keep ‘treat’ food in the house. So maybe we’re not all so different after all.

Love to all xx

I am laughing so hard at these posts. WHAT, Chubster, tell us you at least carry a small dog, even if you have a weight problem, I mean you do have an LA rep to uphold! And yes MCCA you described Simcoe’s occasional interventions so well, I mean come on Simcoe stop being reasonable we’re trying to have a good rant here! Don’t anyone dare tell him that his point about sugar in bread might have had some validity – shhhhh. Listen guys (well, ladies I suppose), I had corn cakes today, because Costco, and they were these rice-cakey things but made with corn, and otherwise just salt and oil. Not terribly exciting but I was hungry and the first bite wasn’t repulsive. I had 3 cakes (45 cals – not what I’d call “cake”) and waited for Godzilla. And non sequitur, we should definitely make a movie together someday called Waiting for Godzilla. Anyway, Godzilla never showed up.

Then dinner was chicken, some melon, and some smoked salmon on bakery whole wheat bread. Long story but our tiny town has a lovely bakery just opened by an adorable young man, so I want him to succeed. Went in on my way to this morning and bought a whole box of pastries and this bread. Thank God he tied the box up with string so I couldn’t get at it while driving, well not without some difficulty. Well NOW what, I thought – I have this whole box of sin, so hmmm, I could just leave it in the faculty lounge, but of course I would then untie the box myself and probably sample 1 or 2 or oh hell all of them probably. Then I had the brilliant idea to give it to a colleague recovering from a bad illness who’d lost way too much weight (not jealous – not a fun illness). So I gave him the box and said he needed some goodies to feel better. So good deed done, baker helped, goodies out of reach.

So why did I write all that – because something did NOT set me off today. The corn didn’t, but was it because there was no sugar? The dinner didn’t, even though I had bread, but was it because I had it with all the protein and veg? I don’t know! One thing I do know is that I am not “cured,” but maybe something about the lack of sugar or just having the bread with a ton of protein was the key. I’m going to think about it. Believe it or not, thinking is good cardio for me – I can burn a ton of energy when my brain gets going.

Anyway thanks for the laughs – makes me happy to be in this group, normal schnormal. xxx

Hi Chubster – yes lots from the UK but folks are really from all over. We had ladies here from Texas and Oregon, not sure if they’re still reading (but we miss you, Michel and Penguin!) – and I’m from Georgia (Atlanta area). I had to laugh at the notion that my good deed yesterday kept the appetite monsters at bay – I must be one heck of a b**** most days lol.

And yes, Dr. M is most widely known in Great Britain, I suppose. I discovered him by googling “how to lose weight fast” last spring. Pretty funny, but I tried it and it works better than anything else ever has. Plus all the warm-fuzzy health benefits are nice, and I really do like trying to figure out appetite control. Such an individual thing, but until you know that, geez the mountain of conventional diet wisdom makes you just want to stick your head in a bucket. A bucket full of Ben and Jerry’s.

Going for FD #2 this week, so far this week I’ve played nice with M(F)FP, so I am hoping to de-plateau, speaking of mountains. Whee, onward and downward Fast Club! xxx

I have a couple things that are working for me today.

First, I pushed my lunchtime back from noon to 2pm yesterday. It made a shorter window between lunch and dinner (7ish) and less hunger to deal with. I’m repeating that and plan to incorporate it for the future. Next maybe I can push dinner back an hour so there’s less time to not be snacking before bed.

Second, I read somewhere that I should set an alarm and get up and simply move every 30 minutes. Alas! My computer will announce the hour OR the half hour but not both but even so I’ve been moving every 60 minutes. I just take a stroll around the house — probably not much more than 100 steps. Still, it’s more activity than I’ve committed to in about 5 years so that’s a plus.

I don’t know that it’s gonna put me on a track to a marathon but I think it does clear some cobwebs from my brain and that can’t be bad. 😏

My husband has a work thing for dinner. I’m contemplating going out for Indian. Just me. LOVE Indian but I’m not sure what’s in the sauces. Ground nuts as a thickener, I believe. That’s a bit of a risk for me. I’ll skip the lovely naan. But there will be rice. Maybe I’m ready to take an occasional chance on some rice. And then there will be lovely, lovely, lovely chicken tikka. Nothing but good about that!

I may spend tomorrow white knuckling my way back to my happy 5:2 place but it will be just one day and then I’ll do my 2 days of fasting so that should put me back on track.

Yup! LA actually *is* like that.

One day I was in a small shop buying ski boots for a planned trip. Tiny place. Just me and the shopkeeper and then another customer walked in. He and the shopkeeper seemed to know one another. They chatted. Then the guy sat down next to me and wanted to know about my trip. Turns out he knew my destination (Whistler in BC) and we were both enormous fans of Vancouver so we had a very pleasant extended chat. Round little me and this attractive younger guy.

When he left the shop the shopkeeper asked me if I knew who he was. Know who he was? I’d never seen him before. Why would I know who he was? Turns out he was the star of a show that had been some kind of hit some years before. Harry Dean Anderson. MacGyver. I’d never seen it so who knew? And I don’t know if I’d recognize him if I ever saw him again either in person or on the screen. But he was a warm person with very good taste in cities so there you go!

Never went out for Indian. I’m sitting over leftover meatloaf and tomato soup as I type.

My husband loves Indian too so I’ll save it for a night when we can both go. That way we can order more and we can both get plates with tastes of lots of stuff. …and leftovers to last for days more. YUM!

Don’t worry about a bad day. Just remember what Mary Poppins says: tomorrow will be a different day. 😏

“I tend to add an additional adjective that starts with f :)”

You are *hysterical*, JadeLark! I speak a mean AngloSaxon myself but I assume you’re referring to “fabulous” or “fortuitous”. 😈

“I have found out one of my problems … multigrain bagels,”

Listen! Life is learning and the more we learn about ourselves the better we can manage our lives, right? If you give up one trigger food after another you’re going to see results. And you can keep telling yourself you don’t have to give anything up forever — as soon as you prefer feeling fat or plagued by cravings or having high blood pressure or whatever you can go back to bagels, right? 😏

I’d just once before I die — just ONCE — like to experience what it feels like to be normal. Then maybe I’ll go back to my breads and pastries. 😈 Or maybe I’m going to *like* it and never want them again. It’s just an adventure I’m on, KWIM?

I’m pulling for everybody! At 60 we *deserve* this success and satisfaction!!! Let’s be on our own side!

” At 60 we *deserve* this success and satisfaction!!! ”

Well, that was pretty dopey of me! I thought I was on another thread. Bet you guys are all Babes in your 20s and 30s and destined to have whole long lives of “normal” because of what good care you’re taking of yourselves now!

Off to a quiet corner where I can continue being senile on my own. 😔

Let that freak flag fly! 😏

That sounds terrific, Chubster, go you – nothing can stop you with that attitude. Amazing how a little thing like just making yourself move every half hour can end up with a new swimsuit (ha you never know what you’ll walk out with at Costco) and thinking of hitting the gym! I’m assuming it’s one where there is a pool? Not one near me but I love just getting out and walking. Sometimes OH goes with me and it’s maybe 2 mph, but ANY activity is good for the soul, the mood, the bod, everything.

What an interesting project you described with the photos – you sound very creative. We have heard that about you folks in LA 🙂 – well, someone has to be! Oh speaking of creative, Steven Tyler is on the Late Show w/ Colbert right now (I’m trying to decompress from a long day at work, really ought to be in bed) and he is one crazy looking guy! But seems very kind. We non-Californians tend to think most people out there look like him lol.

Good night all – have a great weekend, and KEEP MOVING. xxx

1) Personal TRIUMPH! Good for you!

2) What a valuable piece of information to share! I am putting that in the back of my brain. I figure at my current size and wishing to lose 20# in the present year followed by diminishing losses in subsequent years, I will be ready to try out some sugar and remedy it with lemon in about 7 years. Hope my Alzheimer’s doesn’t kick in to disrupt that plan. 😏

I am really thrilled for you and I bet it gives you increased confidence going forward.

So what’s cooking? I’m doing a soup that a friend has recommended for me at least 3 different times. I’t called Persian New Year Soup. It smells wonderful and I’m anxious to try it when I get a food day again.

I hear ya about spiffing up the water. I drink mineral water for exactly that reason. S. Pelligrino has just a nice amount of carbonation that does that for me. I justify the price by what I’m *not* spending on food.

Speaking of that, it’s amazing how long a bag of chips or peanut butter pretzels, etc lasts around here now that I’m not devouring everything at night! Hooray for everyone else who wants a shot at them!

So, I pulled up my big girl pants and took a look at that “How Fat Am I?” picture file in order to add my new ones. Turns out it was more encouraging than discouraging. At my current size I’m roughly halfway between my highs and lows of 5 years ago. I’m still 3 sizes of jeans bigger than I was at my best but I didn’t do as much damage as I thought I had. I didn’t do myself any *favors*, mind you, but it wasn’t as awful as I thought. So I can probably get down to 10s by the end of this year and then it will be onward and upward (or downward) from there.

BTW, 10s might sound fairly svelt (at least I’d think so) but I’m only 5’1″ so, for me, it’s probably only beginning to look typical-American-overweight type normal.

Anyway, happy weekend, JadeLark and everyone else out there! 😏

Yay for a lovely night with friends and sensible but festive goodies! Are your friends aware and supportive or are you going the stealth until they can’t fail to be gobsmacked by your trimness route? Hope you got an appreciative nod or two!

Oh no – hope you’re better today, Chubster. Good call on not adding lemon juice to the fire. But kudos for turning to chicken broth, always good for what ails you as they say. Sometimes I find a little plain yogurt helpful too – despite having some lactose problems otherwise, I get along with yogurt. Like an idiot, I bought OH’s favorite ice cream at the store yesterday, and he hasn’t touched it but I can hear it whispering through the freezer door. I shall hide behind a stack of lemons.

Fingers crossed for you – though remember every day need not be a raging success, sometimes you just have to do what makes you feel better, then get back on track. xx

Ice cream shouts from my freezer Jade!

Very clever of you to find out about the properties of lemons. If it works for you Jade, then that is all that matters. I am still drinking the sugarless tea, doesn’t set my world alight and I suppose I drink less than I did before, so that is good too.

I am fine avoiding sugar as long as I don’t have any of it. The problem is that once I start, I find it difficult to stop and then have other things as well. So, the plan for this week is to have 2 FD and NO BISCUITS..at all. They are definitely a gate way drug for everything else…

The irony is that my first FD in months last week, was easy. I do think though that I struggled because we had a pudding with ice cream on Sunday(we haven’t had one in months) and that set me off, searching for my next sugar fix. I had a couple of chocolates at work and felt rubbish in minutes, so maybe I am going to need much longer to reduce my sensitivity to the white stuff. It has been a major part of my life for such a long time, I shall have to be patient.

I agree Annette, sugar is a gateway to more sugar. I feel better without it. And life is more pleasant, as you say, Chubster, when smells and also tastes are more intense. I enjoyed rediscovering hunger and the appreciation of having simple food to break a fast with.

Annette keep fighting those biscuits! Seriously you might try chomping a lemon wedge before or or even during the skirmish. It might work! I know you are made of stern stuff, but don’t be too hard on yourself. Winter is knocking me for a bit of a loop, because I do not like being inside so much. Way too close to the screaming ice cream 🙂 I know, what was I thinking. Not as though OH asked for any. The seal hasn’t been broken yet so maybe it will just stay there and rot.

Chubster, nice going with the walks and weights, all these steps you’re taking are so positive. And yes we can do anything for a day, then the next day can be different. Though I think you do the 2 FDs consecutively right? OK so you can do anything for one day and then turn around and do it for one more 🙂 xx

Waddaya gonna do? Those things are fairly inevitable… We’re not machines always turning out the same results.

Sounds like you’re already over it tho. Hooray for that!’

I got through yesterday. It wasn’t as bad as Sat. The gastric juices didn’t start up till around 7:30pm and shortly thereafter I had Downton Abbey to distract me.

I told my husband over *his* breakfast that I was ravenous. But I really wasn’t. It’s not a body thing. I can feel that it’s all in my mind. I’ve made 3 things since Fri that I really want my share of. And I took a piece of salmon out of the freezer on Fri and I really am looking forward to grilling and having some of that too.

I’m grateful my husband is going to be working late the next couple weeks. I can stop cooking and adding to that tempting inventory in the fridge.

No, the bad snow mostly snarled things further north – wow the photos of NY city – terrifying enough to drive there on a regular day.

Very important point you made, Chubster – so much of the struggle is mental, in addition to the blood sugar mess I make for myself. I am rarely what you’d call “ravenous” but something does go on inside somewhere, which my head interprets as “you need more of [insert sugary substance] or you will grow fangs, keel over, die, etc.” We have the power not to play nice with that little voice.

Sadly I could not feed meringue to the squirrels yet, because it was raining this morning. And of course I did not throw it out, ha. I suppose I could freeze it for later squirrel feeding – I like your idea of a video 🙂 it would be an interesting experiment to see how it affects them. Then again, they’re squirrels. I think I act a lot like a squirrel already when I have a sugar high. Hmm.
Take care all, I’m trying my best to get through this gloomy day with hot coffee – yum…? xx

Feeling sad for the squirrels but that’s how life goes I guess. …even for squirrels. 😏

I prefer black tea to green myself but I’m glad there are green teas and white teas. But, in re, black teas, there are soooo many more than just English Breakfast and Earl Grey. When I lived in Canada I was surprised how stuck they were on EB, EG and Orange Pekoe. But it sounds like our preferences on that score are quite different, annette.

Wonderful to hear that you’re active! I bet that’s a big part of why you’re doing so well.

So I will enjoy my image of you hiking through Bath and I hope you don’t mind if I picture Jane Austin along with you. Being American and never having been fortunate enough to see Britain I have always been fascinated with why Bath features so prominently in her novels. But now I”‘ll assume it must be the pleasure of hiking up that hill with you. 😏

Tell me about the torment of cooking when you can’t eat! Sometimes it doesn’t bother me at all but, man!, it was hell on my FDs over the weekend. You’re smart to do a big load of things so the boys can eat from the freezer on your coming FDs. My husband has been a sweetheart. I cook about 3 days a week and he’s content with leftovers or something from the freezer on the other days.

I am still managing my fast but I woke up really lusting after food this morning. That’s sooooo uncharacteristic for me. Would be weird whether I were or weren’t fasting or dieting.

It’s so persistent I’m beginning to wonder if there’s a sensation of genuine hunger that I’m just not familiar with. Happily, I can chow down on some of the things I’ve been obsessed with in a little more than an hour. Would you guys believe me if I said one of the things was grilled asparagus left over from Friday? Whoops! I think I’ve got it bad!

It’s beautiful here today. I think when my 30-minute alarm goes off I’m going to do 5-minute strolls on the treadmill. Maybe inclined. It’s in a room with big windows on 2 sides so I’ll get to enjoy the sunshine and not have to bother to put my shoes on. I like that!

I know. Everyone is jealous when we get Spring first but no one wants to trade once we get temps in the triple-digits F (40+ C).

I’m due for another treadmill episode in 10 minutes or so. I’ll try out your method.

Chubster, you are right, Spring sounds fabulous but I would melt in 40C+!

Have a look at High Intensity training(HIT), there is some information on this site too. The idea is that you work as hard as you can for a very short period of time with rests, so that the overall exercise time is much reduced. I run a bit and have found that running between 2 lamp posts as fast as my short legs will carry me,and then walking or slow jog, then repeating that, certainly improves my endurance and trims inches too. Plus, you don’t need to do it for long! I now focus on running a much shorter distance, but working much harder, which seems to work.

Jade, why put yourself at risk with the meringue? I have to buy a cake, and hopefully it will be gone before my next FD, but I try not to have the lovely stuff around as it is just too tempting. If it isn’t there, then there is no siren call to try and ignore. Besides, the boys are having less sugar now, and that is going to benefit them, so I no longer feel guilty about not buying chocolate mousse for them.

Sounds good Jade. I might try this lemon idea on my next FD, the evenings are tricky for me. Onwards and downwards fast friends….

Congrats on a fast day managed, JL, and you were able to have lunch with a friend in the process!

annette, I rather enjoyed the treadmill yesterday. Managed close to a mile and a half with a decent amount of it running in short bursts. But this morning my knee is not happy about it. Both are arthritic but one had a broken patella that took out both cartilage and the bursas. The only cushioning in it is what silly putty remains from a series of injections about 9 months ago.

I need to have it silly puttied again but I thought I was managing the little bit of pounding while I was doing it.

When thing heat up I’ll be able to do it in the pool where there isn’t a load on the joints. But, for now, I think I need to go back to a brisk walk up an incline. And I don’t think my treadmill can change the incline nearly quickly enough for this HIT approach. …OTOH, maybe if I did 15 minutes on the treadmill qt 1-hour intervals… …it’s just that 5-minute episodes were so do-able and not enough time to get bored.

Hope the boys’ appetites are ravenous and the polish off the cake before you know it!