The Maintenance Chatbox… come and share your success with us!

This topic contains 11,627 replies, has 174 voices, and was last updated by hermajtomomi 7 months ago.

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Auriga

8:36 am
30 Sep 15
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I’m SO glad this thread is still going! A maintenance thread that’s still alive is a rare bird. Thank you all for being here when I needed you!
There I was thinking I’d be ok and getting on with life and the dreaded fat was creeping on. Only 4kgs, but stealth like creeping!
Today I put on my tightest jeans and will suffer to remind myself to keep fasting. I’ve done a few now but the weight isn’t shifting. At least it isn’t going up! I also know I could be exchanging fat for water so onwards and downwards.
So glad you’re here and can put up with my ramblings! 🙂
It was far easier to lose the weight in the first place than keep it from coming back. This is definitely a life time commitment.

Judyf

9:19 am
30 Sep 15
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Yes Im with you Auriga. Im so glad of this thread too. It seems we all struggle with the same thing. Although not yet retired, hubby and I have been going a month or two big holidays every year for the last 5years. We all like to socialize over a wine or two 😉 Im having a fast day today and am doing well. Ive got some friends coming soon and I will resist the biscuits with coffee!!! I will!!

Judyf

9:30 am
30 Sep 15
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I did have a laugh at Happy eating frozen cake 🙂

FastFastSlow

10:49 am
30 Sep 15
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I’m glad you’re impressed by my discipline, but as someone else once told me – if I were really disciplined, I wouldn’t need to play games with myself – I could just say no! Respect to you, Judy, if you can do it!

bayleafoz

11:23 am
30 Sep 15
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Hi Auriga

Me too! I have always found it harder to maintain than to lose. Fast day done and dusted. Off to bed now.

Cheers, all. Bay 😆

Carolannfud

2:38 pm
30 Sep 15
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Bayleafoz, I’m with you – my OH has to cook his own meal on a FD. He usually does pasta which I can’t eat anyway (gluten). So I don’t feel deprived.

Re the sugar: I noticed that tummy bulge too Bay which is why I knew I needed a FD even though I’m not weighing and my clothes feel OK. I haven’t really eaten a real lot but probably had a few days in a row where I had something sweet each day. I find I need the FD to reset the sugar cravings, bad habits etc.

Happy you crack me up! In my wild younger days I used to have Tim tams sometimes (think Tim tams are world wide but in case they’re not they are a very sweet chocolate biscuit). I noticed I was having a few too many of them so started to put them in the freezer so there were some if I had visitors pop in. I told my friend (?) this and she promptly told me they taste fantastic frozen! And they do lol! Anyway pleased to say I am well and truly over the Tim tam phase. If I have sweet now I at least make sure it’s quality! 🙂

Auriga

2:46 pm
30 Sep 15
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Well in the fight against flab returning I’ve started a brand new tracker. It wasn’t available when I first posted on here, I did have a tracker on another website but as I’m mainly on this one now it seemed like a good idea to keep better tabs on myself even in maintenance mode….. or rather remedial mode!
I too laughed such a lot at the sucking of frozen cake! The lengths we go to 🙂

Carolannfud

3:18 pm
30 Sep 15
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Auriga, what is your tracker and what does it track?

Auriga

3:24 pm
30 Sep 15
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Carol it’s the tracker on this website, you fill in your details ( weight, measurements and your goal weight and measurements and it tracks it all on a graph for you ) . I just started a new one from scratch. As you progress the graph makes it easy to see what you’ve achieved. 🙂

Lichtle

9:11 pm
30 Sep 15
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Yep, I am being flushed out of lurking, too. Lurking from hotel rooms followed by busy weekends visiting family. I have not been able to do a proper fast until today and somehow I find it difficult to contribute, when I am not fasting. The bad news is I am still 3lb over my goal weight (for the last three months now) and the good news is that I am only 3lb over goal weight after abysmally few amounts of successful fasts. I seem to be maintaining my pudge.

OK, I am motivated now and completed a successful fast today. Second one on Friday. DH is away for a few days and can’t lure me into his plentiful and delicious meals – so no excuses for me.

My resolution is to blitz this now by doing 4:3 (as when I was losing weight) and I am giving myself until November to get down to goal again. At the end of November or so I am hoping that the advent sugar challenge will keep me straight.

BTW making cake and freezing the rest does not work for me as the microwave is my accomplice and before microwave I have been known to warm the cake in alufoil on the stove. Any cake with enough fruit or cheese content only needs semi defrosting and can be eaten like ice cream. What does work for me is to bake smaller cakes (7″) and freeze them whole so that I only defrost them when we have company. So much self deception surely can’t be virtuous.

Purple Vegie Eater

10:36 pm
30 Sep 15
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I feel sorry for the enthusiasts who think reaching a healthy goal weght is the end game. We all know the thrill of reaching that pinnacle, but the hard work has just begun!
Happy, you are so right that it is so much harder to fast when the scales indicate “you don’t have to”. 🙁 And Bay, spot on! The smallest amount of regained weight goes straight to the tummy area. 🙁
I should be fasting today (2 weeks of birthday and anniversary celebrations coming up) but woke up not feeling I could, despite a heavier weight. Then I read this thread. Thanks guys! Thursday fast here I come!
A little anecdote. … I’ve had lots of cats over my lifetime. Our current moggy, 9 years old, has become increasingly aggressive and demands food with claws. The vet suggested changing to dried food, not sachets. My cat loving son commented that the sachets are like junk food for kids. Well, they were correct! 2 weeks after changing her diet she is a lovely happy pussy. No aggression at all. I read the label on the sachet….sugar!!! Now why would they do that? I think we know! Creates addiction! A message there for all of us! Keep up the maintenance friends, we know how good a healthy body feels. P

bayleafoz

10:45 pm
30 Sep 15
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Hi Purple

Good to hear from you. Had a really good fast yesterday. Will continue fasting 4:3 until flab gone again. We all have stricter guidelines now that we choose.

Going bowling with kids. Cheers Bay 🙂

bayleafoz

10:46 pm
30 Sep 15
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Keeping it short as posting from phone. Grr. Hi to Auriga Carol Fast n Lichtle. 😆

Purple Vegie Eater

10:51 pm
30 Sep 15
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I can’t seem to find a 3rd full day to fast at present, Bay, but I do skip breakfast and not eat until nearly 2 most days.
Have fun bowling with the kids! We grannies get lots of varied exercise in the school holidays, don’t we! P 🙂

Carolannfud

11:17 pm
30 Sep 15
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Thanks Auriga, I will look for the tra key and start using it.

Oh Lichtle you made me laugh! Good idea though about the smaller cakes. Will try that too.

Seems we’re all having a more challenging time at present for various reasons. 🙁

After my good fast yesterday spoilt it today with a cake. Never mind, tomorrow is another day!

bayleafoz

4:35 am
1 Oct 15
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Hi Thin

You would be most welcome to stop lurking and become part of our maintenance group when you feel like it. Congratulations on your fantastic weight loss. 😉

Purple, I’m finding fast days wherever I can. Fasted Wednesday as first day home in a week, then kids today and tomorrow. Then a fast day on Saturday, followed by a low carb day. I guess you would say two fast days and a low carb day per week. Then kids to stay Tuesday to Friday. Fast again on Saturday. And so on 😆 Off to Brisbane on the following Tuesday to see Mum. More days away than at home.

Auriga

I’ve been posting on my tracker on this website for 15 months. It is absolutely connected, that eating carbs and sugars expands the waist and the hips. I came to this website looking for support after losing 15 kg. Maintenance is hard and a matter of permanent vigilance. I look forward to the sugar free Advent challenge, when I don’t have a choice.

Cheers, all. Bay 🙂

Purple Vegie Eater

7:25 am
1 Oct 15
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Ghastly thought came to me as I hiked up to the shops today. Just 2kg extra around the middle is the equivalent of 8 packets of butter strapped around your waistband.
Vigilance indeed, Bay. Another hour or so until a light fast dinner. Kept busy and away from food all day. 🙂
Come on Thin….show your face. You are more than eligible on the maintenance thread :Wink: P

Purple Vegie Eater

7:27 am
1 Oct 15
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Ghastly thought came to me as I hiked up to the shops today. Just 2kg extra around the middle is the equivalent of 8 packets of butter strapped around your waistband.
Vigilance indeed, Bay. Another hour or so until a light fast dinner. Kept busy and away from food all day. 🙂
I’ve been using the tracker since I joined up here too. Like Bay, I was already at goal, but the measurements are still interesting.
Come on Thin….show your face. You are more than eligible on the maintenance thread :Wink: P

FastFastSlow

7:37 am
1 Oct 15
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Mornin/evening all –
I’m wondering why quite a few of us who’ve been maintaining nicely are suddenly needing to fast more, and fighting the odd lb or two? We can’t all have been mainlining sugar? Do you think it could be about the change of season? We in the N hem are laying down fat ready to get through the winter; those in the S are emerging from comfort food!
I’m doing 4:3 this week, to shift the birthday sugar fluctuation, then back on the wagon next week, now that it’s properly over…

Auriga

7:47 am
1 Oct 15
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Good morning too you all too! I was wondering that as well FastFast!
So we have a lurker called Thin do we? Are you psychic down there in Australia or is Thin on another thread? Come on Thin stop lurking and join in!
It’s a fast day for me today again going to step on the scales in a minute. Short post too as I’m on my phone as well.
I quite like butter so perhaps lard might be a better image for me Purple and 8 packs of that isn’t pretty! Especially as it too is round my waistline. We must all be apples! 🙂

Auriga

8:02 am
1 Oct 15
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P.S.
Carol the tracker is a very handy tool. If you fill it in regularly, I’m going to do it once a week, it would show a trend eventually….hopefully in a downward direction in my case. I am kicking myself that I did not employ it in maintenance as it would have told me my waistline was expanding as well as my weight in an upward trend!
🙂

Purple Vegie Eater

8:15 am
1 Oct 15
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Yes Auriga. Thin is a highly motivated and successful 5:2er from Perth WA. She posts on Southern Hemispherites thread (silly name, cos we are really divided in time between western and eastern hemispheres 🙂 )
Bay and I have long contributed on that one too (same time frame, same shops etc)
I’m still unfed and surprisingly calm! P

thinatlast

8:23 am
1 Oct 15
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Hello and thanks for the invitation Bay, PVE & Auriga. I have been lurking a bit and a regular contributor to the ‘Southern Hemispherites’ thread. Bay and PVE were my marvellous mentors when I signed up to that thread in August 2014 as a newbie and I owe them so much for continuing to post long after they’d reached their goal weights.

My profile tells more than you probably want to know so I won’t re-iterate; I’ve been at the same weight now (60-61kgs) for about 3-4 months having dipped briefly into the 59’s (long enough to get a photo of my feet on the scales). I’m keenly aware that fasting is a life-time commitment and complacency isn’t an option. I love the discipline that goes with two days of fasting and have no difficulty with it while I’m at home or on a self-catering holiday.

So what’s my problem, you ask? Well, we typically take a 6-8 week overseas holiday and my biggest fear is succumbing to the impulse-driven style of eating that goes hand in hand with exploring foreign lands, coupled with losing control of my strict fasting regime to the plans & desires of others. I’ve listened carefully to my forum mates as they embark on trips with great intentions, gradually to declare it was all a bit hard and then a resigned oh well, we now have the tools to deal with it when we get home. My problem is, I really don’t want to come home every year 3-5kg heavier and having to ‘deal with it’. I believe we can do better.

So, yesterday I compiled a rambling missive (not yet posted) to start a serious conversation about this – we’re all intelligent people and I think we can come up with a travelling strategy that fully embraces the 5:2 lifestyle. Then I just saw Carolannfud’s post on this subject which hadn’t previously appeared in my search of this site. One key to my successful FDs has always been planning. So, I’m looking for a repertoire of FD foods that can reliably be found internationally & where the cal count is easily calculated. Sticking to rigid FDs would surely minimise damage done on the other 5 days?

For those in the UK, I believe a Tim Tam is the equivalent of a Penguin. But p-please don’t “p-pick up a penguin”. (You’d have to be born in pre-1960s England to understand that.)

Purple Vegie Eater

9:31 am
1 Oct 15
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G’day Thin. Welcome. 🙂
I agree wholeheartedly that accepting an increase and having to claw back regularly because of a trip seems an odd approach.
We did 7 weeks overseas earlier this year. Neither of us gained weight on the trip…I’ve put on a little over winter at home, but well within wriggle room 🙂
We found weighing every single day on travel scales kept us on track. We ate well, but skipped a lot of meals. I don’t count cals any more. Avoiding breads etc and sugar, eating lots of salad seems effective.
We are off to the northern winter over Christmas, so will apply the same principles and wear warm clothes!
Keep up the excellent fasting Thin. We maintainers still need each other. 🙂 P

Auriga

10:18 am
1 Oct 15
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A very warm welcome to you Thin! It doesn’t take me as long as 8 weeks to put on weight, I’ve only got to go to France for 10 days and wham! the weight piles on. I have to be ever so careful when we stay in hotels. Self catering isn’t too bad except we usually go away with friends who have no intention whatsoever of watching their weight.
If I could come up with a plan to stop my friends eating their way around France I’d be fine. I have to have a will of iron when I’m away. It doesn’t always work and like you I have resigned myself to losing it when I get back. 🙁 This year though that plan failed me and the weight (4kg) has crept back. Which is why I am grateful for my friends on this thread to keep me on the straight and narrow. I’m fasting again for a while…..trouble is I’m off to France again in two weeks time with my food loving friends (AND it shows and they know it, but they can’t stop!).
As for Penguins, the chocolate sort, I used to love those when I was a child (they were around in the late 1950’s), they were a great treat. Haven’t eaten one of those for some time and won’t be picking one up.

thinatlast

11:00 am
1 Oct 15
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Thanks for the welcome Purple. Wow, that is so encouraging to hear – and lovely that you have each other for potential meal sharing & a common health goal. I’ve bought my travel scales. Where are you heading for Christmas?

thinatlast

12:43 pm
1 Oct 15
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Thanks for your warm welcome Auriga. I’ve just read your profile and impressive fasting journey. It’s so encouraging to hear of people like you who’ve decided they’re never going back to the old ways. Great that you & your OH can support each other even if your friends are eating their way around France!

bayleafoz

12:47 pm
1 Oct 15
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Thin

Great to see you over here on Maintenance. To cheer you up, I don’t always put on weight when I go on holidays. It depends where we go and what the food is like. It also depends on how hot it is. I find it way easier to fast in hot weather.

For instance we spent two weeks in Hawaii and I self catered on fish and salads and a glass of wine. No weight gain.

We spent three weeks in China eating vegetables with small amounts of fish or chicken, and lots of chilli and other strong flavours. No rice or wheat food. Had a beer each day. Gained no weight.

For me and weight gain, it is totally connected to eating sugar and wheat.
Cheers, Bay 🙂

bayleafoz

12:50 pm
1 Oct 15
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PS. I do not eat beyond my TDEE. I find I cannot eat more than a small portion. Fasting has been fabulous in resetting my appetite and the amount I can eat. Keep cheerful, Thin 😆

bayleafoz

12:58 pm
1 Oct 15
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Hi Auriga

Just a suggestion for France. I found it easy to have only a coffee for breakfast, and go as long as possible without food. Save all your eating for dinner with friends. Don’t eat anything white, except lean chicken. Have a glass of wine.

Cheers, Bay 😉

Lichtle

1:24 pm
1 Oct 15
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Hi thin – what a great name. ? A warm welcome from me too and wonderful to see the numbers on this thread increasing. My take on the holiday situation is that most people find it difficult to keep doing full fasts when on vacation. My holidays are never more than a week or ten days away and in that short period I don’t deprive myself with fasting but try not to go overboard by having one delicious main meal (in the evening) and a snack early afternoon or brunch followed by some fruit in the afternoon and an evening meal. That way the damage is contained and can be tackled if I put my mind to it.

The problem is, during this summer I have just not put my mind to it so well and now I want to get into a routine again. We are going away in November for a week and I want to be below goal for that.

I believe it is not such a negetive thing to have to lose a bit of weight because as it was mentioned earlier this week, we find it hard to fast when at or below goal. A few pounds give us the oomph and motivation again. I don’t mean putting all the original weight on and start all over again but just a few lbs to kickstart the health benefits of fasting. Is that controversal?

thinatlast

1:51 pm
1 Oct 15
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Hi Lichtie, thanks for your welcome and interesting insights. What you say makes good sense. If it’s hard to fast at goal weight, then striving to get a few kgs off (after a holiday say) should be more motivating. I’m from the southeast of England too – Sussex.

Hi Bay, thanks, you seem to cope remarkably well incorporating a daily beer and wine. I’d happily forego alcohol on holiday in favour of extra food just because I know I could get that anytime. You’re up late in the east, no?

FastFastSlow

1:59 pm
1 Oct 15
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More accidental than controversial, Lichtle (and welcome from me too, Thin ) – but for me it emphasises the importance of that daily weigh-in. I’m someone who hates conflict – will back away from it until I have to face it, and then come out fighting – and it’s taken me years to learn that it’s usually better to face it earlier, while I’m feeling less threatened and can still fight cleaner. I realise I’m taking the same attitude to the scales: if I suspect I’ve put on a bit (and for me, too, it’s ALL about the sugar!) I’m tempted to skip them ‘until I’ve lost it.’ But I’m learning that it’s not only better to know the damage, and how much I need to do to undo it – it also means the damage is limited before it gets really out of hand. I’m still within my range, but back to fluctuating – which is what sugar does to me – and I don’t like it! So – 4:3 this week, and the sugar will have to go – but if it weren’t for forcing myself to face the scales every morning, I know it could be a lot worse! The scales are now beside the bed, so if I try to ignore them I trip over them – it’s my latest version of self-manipulation!

HappyNow

2:09 pm
1 Oct 15
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Hi Thin, and all,

I’m in the camp of, don’t really want to go on holiday and put a significant amount of weight on. I was always someone who would come back from 2 or 3 weeks away at least 7lbs heavier. I don’t want to be the old me anymore! I didn’t like her so much… I want to be new me, who can sample the delights of foreign cuisine without being a glutton. The new me increases her activity levels when she’s on holiday too, and that helps with maintenance of course.

Having said that, a few extra lbs to motivate you could work. So long as it doesn’t become the new norm!

Carolannfud

3:10 pm
1 Oct 15
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Hi Thin and welcome! I don’t have travel scales and prefer to save that space in the suitcase for holiday purchases so don’t intend buying any. So I fly by the seat of my pants when I’m away really. However, so far, touch wood have not needed to do any extra fasting when I get home because I’ve only put on my wriggle room allowance. Don’t know wether that is good luck or good design! Because I don’t have the scales I am very mindful of what I eat. I know I now eat smaller portions of everything and my idea of overindulging is totally different to what it used to be. My weakness is the same as Bays – wheat and sugar. As soon as I have the wheat my body starts to react so I have a constant reminder I’ve done the wrong thing which probably also helps. In my earlier post I mentioned I fasted on Monday then had a cake yesterday, but then had a very small soup for lunch, a small tea last night to compensate for the cake. I was actually hungry when I went to bed. I try to counteract the damage the next day by cutting back. We don’t go away with friends but are often staying with someone so there is more opportunity for wining and dining. Just realised this is a very rambling post and don’t know I’ve added anything that will be of any use to you:). I think what I’m really trying to say is we modify naturally and almost automatically now and in my situation I have luckily done enough that I haven’t had to lose heaps of weight when I get back. PS I’m not a big drinker and can easily pass on wine although I still have 2-3 glasses a week.

Lichtle

3:14 pm
1 Oct 15
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I understand both of you, Fast and Happy and of course I agree with you – I weigh daily too – that is not my issue. My issue is “do we expect to be within a lb or two (at least I do) every day for the rest of our lives?” Is it really so terrible if we gain a few pounds on holiday?

As I said I am not talking about negligence or letting ourselves go, I just think that we are not machines, we are people with good days and bad ones and go through difficult and easy days, Fundamentally it’s about being kind to ourselves. Now that could mean fasting because being overweight or unhealthy (making us unhappy) is not being kind to ourselves, or it might mean to give ourselves a bit of slack in order to relax and enjoy life (or a holiday). I am acutely aware that I have not lost as much weight as some of you, so maybe I don’t have the same fear about suddenly losing control and gaining a lot of weight. We all have different histories, so I understand that some fear that they might snap back into old habits.

I suppose it takes time to lose this fear and again we need to be kind to ourselves, but we all support and draw support from each other as we are in different stages of maintenance.

(Now I hope I get a point here as I have managed to avoid the word “journey”) ;-))

Lichtle

3:15 pm
1 Oct 15
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Oh thin, am I right in understanding that you don’t live in Sussex anymore but in Australia?

Carolannfud

3:53 pm
1 Oct 15
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Excellent points Lichtle!

Do you dislike the use of the word ‘journey’? My pet hate currently is the term ‘moving forward’. Every time I hear that I could scream and then horror of horrors I heard myself using it the other day!

Auriga

3:54 pm
1 Oct 15
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Great debate going on! If I ever let go of the reins I’d be back to square one quite quickly.
If only I didn’t like food……… 🙂

FastFastSlow

4:17 pm
1 Oct 15
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I totally agree with you both, Happy and Lichtle – I was actually talking more about everyday, since (for a variety of reasons, no violins necessary!) we no longer do holidays. I guess for us, birthdays, Christmas and celebratory meals with family and friends (and the presence of chocolate in the house!) are the temptations – and life would be very diminished if we spent all our time in self- denial and calorie-counting. It’s great that after a while of 5:2ing, compensatory cutting back next day becomes second nature – but the scales are helpful to reinforce it!

Lichtle

5:50 pm
1 Oct 15
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@carol. Oh yes we groan when we hear the word. Why don’t people learn or have experiences anymore but instead have to go on journeys And yes “moving forward” has replaced “from now on” and “at the end of the day” has replaced??? I don’t know. At work we don’t “do” we “own” projects but the worst as you say is when I hear myself say these phrases. Ha ha serves me right.

Lichtle

6:04 pm
1 Oct 15
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Oh Fast, I totally agree that we need to weigh regularly. For me that means daily, too.

Kyle17

6:39 pm
1 Oct 15
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Under my TDEE by about 200-400 every Non fast day is that good and will it help? 🙂

Auriga

7:07 pm
1 Oct 15
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Kyle if you’re a teenager? then you should eat well on the days you’re not fasting you’ll need the calories, just make sure you’re eating really healthily. You can’t rush this and you shouldn’t try too hard on your days of eating normally.
Hope that helps?

Purple Vegie Eater

8:50 pm
1 Oct 15
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Agree Auriga. Kyle, your brain is still growing rapidly and our brains use at least 20% of our calories. It is vital you eat good healthy food. I would be concerned about you restricting your intake on feed days at your age….but stick to lots of varied healthy foods. Good luck. P

Purple Vegie Eater

8:53 pm
1 Oct 15
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Wedding anniversary today, so, as Bay said about travel, no breakfast, a little salad at about 2pm, then a celebration (romantic) dinner. ? P

HappyNow

8:59 pm
1 Oct 15
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Happy Anniversary, Mrs and Mr P! Hope you have a great day and a lovely romantic evening.

Purple Vegie Eater

9:04 pm
1 Oct 15
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Cheers Hap ?

Auriga

9:28 pm
1 Oct 15
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You’re up with the larks Purple! Happy anniversary to you both.??
Have a great evening. X

Purple Vegie Eater

10:08 pm
1 Oct 15
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Ta Auriga. 8 am here. Daylight Saving starts this weekend, so we WILL be up even earlier next week. Then you change back on 25th. SO confusing.
Talked for an hour with my UK daughter early today. So good to have WiFi phone connection. Can’t wait to get over again to see her. 🙂
PS We have cockies (white cockatoos) that wake us. No larks. ;)?