Yes,Good luck on your run Annette.

Sorry, all, about the mince pies 🙁 MountainMyst can probably tell you that we have our own tortures like pecan pie and candied sweet potatoes- the last we call a vegetable and pretend is good for us.

About water gain: even my six year old granddaughter can lose more than a lb overnight and she only weighs 44lbs.

Epic achievement!
Time not important – you’ll go faster in the next two runs when you draw on the confidence from your achievement.
Fabulous!

Congratulations annette I hope you have the rest of the day pampering yourself.
I am afraid my exercise regime is a bit hit and miss – must get more organised on this.

Annette, congratulations on making the 10K, sorry you had to do it alone. Heck, just finishing is a big accomplishment, never mind the time it took,AND you didn’t fall on your fanny!! sounds like a win to me! AND those two lbs disappeared, just a blip on the radar! glad your running buddy is feeling better.

hey, Reluctant multi-tasker, I can see it know, the mince pie diet! all you need is someone to do a commercial saying how wonderful it would be (only 2 pies a day and you lose weight) that would be right up there with the cabbage soup diet.. 🙂 Hope that made some kind of sense,sometimes my brain is a really strange place. LOL. I agree that we don’t need to put too much pressure on ourselves about the holidays. we all know this works and we will do just fine.

oh, Piper, you have that right! pecan pie must have a thousand calories per slice. LOL. Sweet potato casserole, yup, that’s a vegetable all right. 🙂

take care all. Phyllis

Hello to the Looser Clothes mob. I’ve not posted for a while and not sure why I’m bothering now since I’m STILL not under 70kg and I usually only post to brag. I do read from time to time and I’m glad this thread continues with such positive support and feedback. News: summer has finally started in Tasmania and I’m spending time teaching primary school kids to row traditional wooden boats. There are loads of social events in the calendar from now on, some of which I’m cooking for. The challenge is going to be to not gain any weight. At least I can wear summer clothes that fitted five years ago.

I’m still fasting from time to time and still enjoying it. 5:2 still rocks.

Hi all, hope everyone is having a good Monday.

well, speaking of blips….. I gained .6 this week!! ah, well. probably those crisps I ate last night. I was craving salt, which probably resulted in water retention ,excuses, excuses.:)

heck, I’ll worry if it goes up again next week. tomorrow is fast day, onward and downward. good fasting to all you Monday fasters. Phyllis

Have just spent the last hour reading all the most recent topics and it’s so good to see us become more aware of our triggers/reasons for eating/tools we use or are developing, taking personal responsibility, learning and sharing and the success people are having – with added health benefits as well as weightloss. I know all this could be dismissed by scientific folks as “anecdotal” compared with empirical evidence but I for one am more than happy to honour the wisdom offered by fellow fast friends who are on a similar journey even if such advice might not work for me personally. We are the experts on our own experience 🙂

Let us in on your food thoughts Annette, we are getting fed up on salads on these cold dark days and I’m not a fan of vegetables, OK in a soup.

Not a lot for me in the recipe book a lot of strange things…………We have porridge every morning on fast days! Not a great lover of that now….but needs must.

Any ideas would be nice fast friends.

Hi Annette,

Please may I add my 10K congratulations, (and the 2lb loss) truly fantastic.

Aud x

Hi FF.. Perhaps we should share any fantastic 500 calorie food ideas, if and when we happen to stumnble across one.. but maybe that is supposed to be on another part of the forum! Sparkling mineral water with a squeeze of fresh lime has been the answer for me on those days when the fast seems a long one.

I like the idea of my Mince Pie diet, MountainMyst, (two on fast days and five a day for the rest of the week) but I’m not sure that’s going to win any healthy eating awards… or get me a book deal!

I’m sure the seasons do make a difference to our eating habits – much easier to enjoy salad in the sunshine – and the long, dark evenings here in the UK make us want to hibernate and eat hearty food (casseroles with lashings of mash or treacle pudding and custard..)

I guess we all get our down days or the fast days which don’t quite go to plan. But Annette, I think you should blame your 10k on your difficulties in fasting this week! Have you fasted the day after the run? If you’ve covered a fair few miles in training and in the race, I bet your body is asking for a bit more cherishing – and calories – right now..

For Symba and you non-veggie fans, are stir frys any better? There seems to be quite a good range in the supermarkets these days and if you are anything like me, and want to keep cooking to a minimum on fast days, it’s handy to open a bag and cook something up very quickly. My teens aren’t good with veg, but stir fries seem more acceptable – lighter, colourful (less green?!) easier to eat? Nice with a touch of soy sauce..

I tried quorn chicken pieces for the first time in a chinese stir fry recently. Marinaded it in light and dark soy sauce and a touch of sherry and then cooked it with garlic, spring onion, fresh ginger, sprinkle of chilli pieces and some hoisin sauce. Served with brown basmati rice (non fast day) and vegetable chow mein – but you could eat it with just stir fry veg and no carbs. Surprised how good it was. Fewer calories than chicken. Ready to go without chopping up!

You keep up the svelteness Annette. It’s odd when people seem threatened by change – as your looking-up-and-down colleague appear to be. I’m amazed your friends at work aren’t signing you up as their fitness guru, given your success with weight loss and running.. Well, their loss is our gain on the forum!

Hello, Fast Friends! I must say, I LOVE all these emails flooding my inbox. It keeps me motivated!!

Last week was a rough week for me. After straining my back working out & it was that time of the month…ugh…I only managed 1 fast day. As a result (plus the meds I was on for my back) I was up 4 lbs!! Have mercy!!! I weighed the next day and was down 3 lbs, but that’s still a plus one for the week. Yikes. Which puts me back at 10 pounds to goal weight. Grrr.

This week I’m off all meds & my back is much better. Plus after a complete physical & x-rays with my doctor I’m completely healthy. He was astounded at how low my cholesterol is plus all the other tests he did. Always good to hear!!! I’m experimenting with 4:3 this week. I fasted Saturday and today (Monday) and will again Wednesday. Hopefully that blasted pound will be gone for my Friday weigh in.

Since we’re talking food….. I’m a vegetarian so y’all might not like what I eat on my fast days!! I stay away from carbs, because that’s my trouble area. I eat grape tomatoes, strawberries, kiwi, cheese, almonds and sometimes a broth-based vegetable soup. Or chili, full of black and pinto beans. And like any good Southern girl, lots of iced tea with lemon. Unlike most Southerners, I don’t like sweet tea. Just unsweetened with copious amounts of lemon. Or Perrier with tons of lime.

Despite the weight gain for the week, yesterday I had trouble finding anything to wear to church. Everything is too big!!! And I received a plethora of compliments at church about how “skinny” I am. Even from people who felt awkward telling me!! I assured them I loved hearing it!!

Ok fast friends, here is the recipe for the stir fry in case you prefer following actual measurements. Please note though that Ive never worked out the calories for it!

Can use chicken breasts or skinless boneless thigh fillets – or quorn chicken pieces.

Marinade:
ground black pepper
1 tsp sugar (I never bother with this!)
2-3 tsp light soy sauce
1-2 tsp dark soy
1 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry (can use medium sherry too but omit sugar if you were tempted to add it in)
2-3 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)

1-2 garlic cloves
spring onions (2 or more) cut into short sections
inch fresh ginger, grated
4-6 dried red chillies (seeded, soaked and chopped) or sprinkling of crushed chilli pieces from jar (works fine) to taste
2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce (can also use yellow bean but I think hoisin works better)
1/4 pint chicken or vegetable stock
veg oil for frying

Method: chop chicken into bite sized pieces. Or open packet of quorn pieces!Put in bowl with marinade ingredients and leave in fridge for half an hour or longer.

Heat oil in pan or wok. Add ginger, spring onions, garlic and chillis and stir fry for a minute (make sure garlic doesnt burn) and then add chicken or quorn pieces. Stir fry for 2-5 minutes until chicken/quorn lightly golden on outside. Add hoisin or yellow bean sauce. Add stock, cover with lid and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice during cooking.

Serve with stir fry vegetables, pak choi etc for a low calorie meal – or add a serving of rice (brown basmati the healthiest option) or vegetable chow mein if you want a more substantial meal.

Hope you enjoy the result!

I always try to cook dinner according to an International Football Association England opponent –
Pichelsteiner stew for tea!
Barolo wine for slurps – what a confused international incidient.
Hey, went to a meeting to help me get on to a different IT job ladder and ended up having a semi health MOT.
My body is 15 years younger than my real age 🙂
Somehow I am supposed to weigh 11st 8lb – 6ft – I would blow away – so, I take the first compliment with a pinch of salt – that would blow away with my supposed ballerina desired weight (I’m a bloke BTW).
Frikin nonsensical health opinions/facts!!!!!

The weigh in was on a Tanita scale – results possibly gathered at Houston Space Center – or more probably Worthing Guildbourne Centre – adur and worthing wellbeing can help ‘yer – with all sorts of health/lifestyle paths – lovely people!
Height=72″ Waist=35″

Sorry to be flippant about feed day food – but to be perfectly glib, total fast days lead to sloppy feed day fun! And pure fasts lead to quicker transgression recovery.
I got an email today telling me that the bike I ordered two months ago is coming – who’s want a new bike just as the temperature outside is officially -1 celsius? Pedal faster I suppose.

Doing some charity voluntary work in an office – first almost proper day of work since May.
Means that I’ll probably not do my 12 miles of treadmill desk walking.
8 days ago I was the heaviest I’ve been this year and today was the lightest for about 20 years.
So, upped exercise and stricter fasting has at last busted my plateau.

Hi, glad to hear all the good stuff. mommabear, glad your back is better.

had a couple of days of computer problems. hopefully they are fixed. good fasting all. Phyllis

Hi Annette, ooh don’t beat yourself up! You’ve done amazingly well so far and we all have the odd lapse – and no wonder you are hungry with all that running and not sleeping well.

You are only 2lb adrift from your plan and we all know that life is just not that predictable. I am sure you’ll get there – maybe not this weeek, but soon.

Tomorrow’s another day – hope you feel a bit brighter then 🙂

Cath x

I’m sure bad days and good days are all part of the experience – just as sometimes you seem to be able to run without too much effort and on other days it feels a hard slog from the first stride.

I found the fast days last week quite straightforward but this week has been more of a struggle. I’m doing better eating just one meal earlye evening – as at least that can be reasonably substantial! – but even so I do get a craving for the odd piece of chocolate or a tortilla chip.

Must be hard cooking for others on a difficult fast day Annette – maybe you should make them cook their own supper (even if it is the odd ready meal!)

Maybe all your training means that your body is signalling very strongly that it would like more calories? But to be 2lbs away from your target sounds excellent and very attainable, given what you’ve achieved so far. A good Christmas present to yourself!

Hope you sleep better tonight. As snedger says, Ashes cricket on overnight (radio 5 live sports extra if you dont have sky..) Murmur of voices might even send you to sleep..?!

I wonder if it is harder to lose weight as you get nearer your target? Does the rate slow down?

Do any of you find you crave food you didnt expect to miss? For some reason, I often long for a piece of toast at the moment – brown with marmalade or white with marmite (sorry all non-Brits who may not have tried it..) And for some really strange reason, Im longing to have a fish-finger in brown bread sandwich.. have no idea why! Meanwhile, I havent eaten a single mince-pie, even though I made a batch at the weekend.. Strange but true..

Anyway Ive made my first rather frivolous weight target – to be lighter than my (male and admittedly very skinny) trainer at the gym…

Here’s to encouraging and happy weekends for all!

Well done annette,think I’d be happy at 64kg. I think I was probably that when I got married 40 years ago! Must try on my wedding dress again sometime.