Hi Thin, Great to hear you’re having such a good time. Cheers, Bay 😎😎🍷🍷. Bay
This topic contains 11,643 replies, has 174 voices, and was last updated by Mr Data 4 months, 3 weeks ago.
Hi P,
Yes, I agree re: feeling cold on fast days. It was certainly a contributory factor in my failed fast earlier this week. While it’s quite mild, I think it’s the constant damp that leaves me permanently chilled.
You really are seeing the worst of British winter weather!
Thin,
Great to hear that you’re maintaining with ease. Your holiday sounds just perfect.
Hermaj,
When are you off on your travels?
I’m staying put in the northwest, hopefully doing a bit of walking, and spending time with family and friends.
We’re off on Tuesday, Happy. Over to the Netherlands where it gets, shall we say, a little bit brass monkeys at this time of year. Flying to Amsterdam, staying in Haarlem for 5 days, a combination of museums, walking by the sea and in the national park, visiting the surrounding area in the hire car and probably some fairly injudicious eating – but the cold and the walking will hopefully take care of that, as it did in Germany in the summer. A kilo gained and lost in a matter of days. Celebrations start on Saturday when the nicest members of our family, my niece-in-law and her boys, descend for the communal cook-outs – one each day. Me and elder boy doing the mains, mum and little boy doing dessert, and Himself baking bread and generally keeping the show on the road.
Hope the weather in the north-west is kind. BTW, do your moggies get Christmas prezzies? Our didn’t as they were often in the cattery, but they always had a cheese or Marmite sandwich, cut into small mog-friendly pieces, on their birthday.
Well the Moggies are spoiled year round I’m afraid! I did buy them some new catnip sachets, but they could smell them in the parcel…so Christmas came early! Their favourite toy at the moment though is a large cardboard box…good job we’ve got a large kitchen…and aren’t too houseproud!
I love the sound of your family baking weekend, great idea to share the cooking and the eating! How old are the boys?
16 and 6 – the sons of the tosser we have in our midst but thankfully much more like their mum. The eldest one is a good mate. We’ve done a lot of cooking together and so far have had three annual theatre trips with just the two of us. I’m hoping that now he’s nearly 17 he won’t decide that escorting mad old bats around the West End is no longer his sort of thing.
The six-year-old is the usual combination of sweet angelic little thing and right little bugger, last seen on his mum’s FB page dressed as a camel – one of the supporting cast in the school Nativity play. At last year’s Christmas gathering he helped his mum make dessert (which as usual involved chocolate), dressed in his pristine white Buzz Lightyear suit (don’t ask). It didn’t stay pristine for long.
Anyone else been watching ‘the secret life of 4/5/6 year olds’ on channel 4. ? I’m way behind, but have downloaded for belated watching and am working my way through. I ask because there is a glorious section involving small boys and chocolate cake in episode 3 which made me laugh so much it seriously challenged my bladder control. Do catch it if you can.
Glad someone else has a tosser in their midst (though sorry really, hermaj.). We had one of those, too: kept my mouth shut for 13 years but was so relieved to see the parting of the ways before the next generation caught some fairly nasty attitudes. Sometimes the rise in divorce rates (and the possibility thereof) is a cause for thanksgiving….
I must track the secret life programme down, Fast, especially the little boys with the chocolate cake. I know sometimes when our 6-year-old goes into his drama queen mode displaying deep distress because things are not going his way, it’s often very hard to keep a straight face. You may guess I love him to bits but acknowledge that he can be right royal pain in the neck.
Indeed we have tosser in our midst, but I won’t bore everyone with the details. Let’s say his mid-life crisis has turned my nephew, once a lovely man, into an A1 bastard who has managed to hurt a whole load of people, not least his wife, with his totally bonkers behaviour. Divorce proceedings are under way, but in this interim period he is threatening his wife with all sorts of things, including fighting for custody of the kids, but can’t be arsed to open any correspondence from his solicitor or the conciliator, or even the petition, which has been sitting there since Saturday. Bless her, she says coming to us will be like finding a safe haven. It’s true, we always have a great time, but we’ll be making a special effort this time to ensure she has fun and a listening ear in what for her is a place of safety.
So sorry – and no joking matter – my thoughts are with you all. You may or may not be asked for advice ( you will already know it’s harder not to be!) but if you are, something I ended up having to say (and have since been thanked for) was that while you fight with all your being for what really matters – ie the kids – it’s worth knowing which things are worth less than your sanity, and better let go than allowed to destroy your health, physical and mental. . She’s a lucky woman to have your love and support – which her all the best from me and mine, please X
Morning all,
I seem to have got away from my upper limit!! 58.5 this morning 🙂 Very happy, especially considering the time of year! And not forgetting my three course Xmas meal yesterday…
I think I’ve been swept along by Carolann this week!
And only one more dqy’s work before two weeks off. Now if only the sun would shine…
Well done, all – especially those on holiday. I’m sure you could all have done it, with or without this thread – but I reckon we have a lot to thank each other for, as another year comes close to its end and no-one is over-limits! How’s that for the power of mutual support?!
My celebration breakfast yesterday was lovely in terms of company, disastrous in terms of food. Long story short, I was so determined to avoid a 3rd serving of processed pig within 2 days that I made an exceedingly bad menu choice, was then hijacked by upbringing (‘you ordered it – you b****y well eat it!’) and spent the rest of the day weighed down by an almost entirely carb meal. Yuk! Couple of carb-free days coming up (the usual Friday cake-day is definitely cancelled) – not to atone, but just to apologise to my body and make it feel better. Bang in the middle of my acceptable weight range, so no real worries – but I’d prefer to go into the next couple of weeks at the bottom of it – and more importantly, not feeling sluggish, as I do this morning!
Safe and happy travelling to all, and healthy, indulgent and festive eating! X
Excellent result Happy!
I am on my third day of CHO and sugar free and a very low weight currently. I am just waiting to see if I hit a PB tomorrow. If I do then one has to assume that I lose a lot more weight being CHO and sugar free.
I know that’s what most of you recommend but I was having good results without doing that and love my fruit and grains and didn’t want to give them up.
Will see what tomorrow brings!
I know for one that I would never have got where I am without the forums on this website so thanks everyone. For me, it was reading posts from people who were already maintaining a new weight that was the clincher and realising that it wasn’t some kind of fad.
You guys are hilarious and It will take me forever to catch up on all the missed post fun when I get home. One good thing about bringing only an ipad mini between three is that no-one has much incentive to log on. But I know I am missing out on here. I love the chatter about the annoying family members.
If I don’t maintain the fasting on these hols, at least in some form, am I at risk of getting out of the habit? My plan was to fast once a week and be very careful the rest of the time while enjoying sampling new treats. On each of my planned fast days, I have woken up at a lower weight and been tempted not to bother. Today I am under 59. Can I get away with not fasting at all if my exercise level is much higher than normal? Or am I just fooling myself? We are renting this house for three weeks so in theory this would be the easiest time of the entire trip for me to fast. Shall I be guided by my weight or is that just temtping fate?
Thin,
Since reaching my goal in April 2014 I have been an intermittent intermittent faster. I’m not sure how many proper fast days I will have done over the summer months, but you can probably count them on your fingers. I guess I meal skip occasionally and still keep refined carbs and sugars low. It’s only really when the days are short in winter and I’m less active that I need to fast regularly.
If you’re maintaining without fasting, go for it. If you gain a bit you can always do a fast. But if you’re worried about getting out of the habit you could still fast, but not so strict on calories.
Lots of options really. You just need to trust yourself a bit!
Ok, thanks happy. I think your’e right, I need to trust myself. OH is making noises about me not needing to lose anymore weight and I wasn’t sure whether to interpret that as “please don’t fast any more on this trip as I really want to eat”. I was just afraid that I might get complacent and it would all catch up with me before I knew what happened. As you say, we all know which tools to bring out if that happens.
Yep. Trust yourself Thin. I am also sailing along, 1kg above my norm at home but still happily well below my panic stations trigger. I only manage one ‘almost’ fast a week, but am careful the rest of the time and travel with my stash of salad to add some protein to.
Thanks Fast for reminding us all about the enormous benefits of this great band of sisters. Thanks gang for all the support. P xx
Thin, weight wise I haven’t needed to fast every week either. For a while I was doing it roughly once a fortnight only because I didn’t want to get out of the habit of fasting. I was afraid if I stopped for too long it would be very hard for me to get back to it. I say drop the fasts while you’re on holiday, be mindful of what you eat and enjoy!
So, drum roll please – new PB of 58.1 all because of no CHO or sugar. Monday morning I was 60.7 and now Saturday morning I am 58.1.
I was only meant to cut out carbs and sugar for a few days until abdo pain went. In my mind a few days is about five which would mean tomorrow is the last day. Abdo pain has actually gone . The penny just dropped too that no carbs or sugar is the paleo diet (I think).
So now to reintroduce some carbs and sugar. i will need to think about this for a while but my initial thoughts are definitely no carbs on a FD followed by a carb and sugar free day and see how that pans out. I love carbs and I like fruit so need to be very careful of not falling back into the trap of consuming too many again.
Any tips from anyone on how you are doing it will be greatly appreciated. Happy you mentioned you only do carbs and sugar on weekends?
Thin,
My first holiday at maintenance was summer 2014, I was terrified of relaxing my grip on fasting and waking up, overnight, a heifer. P reassured me that I’d be fine, and I was! It was only a week admittedly, but there were puddings and alcohol every day. I managed to assimilate those but avoided bread and cereals, and kept away from snacks.
In the interests of marital peace and harmony and holiday enjoyment…well if you did gain a kg or two, you could easily lose them again. You know that!
Hi Carolann,
Congrats on the pb! And even better that you’re pain free.
I’m not strictly low carb high fat, because I don’t really count carbs from vegetables, but I have massively reduced my refined carbohydrate intake.
My weakness was white bread and pasta, both of which featured nearly every day. Now I probably have 4 slices of bread per week and pasta and rice maybe once.
I’m finding, nearly 2 years on from starting 5:2, that my food preferences are still changing and vary from season to season.
If you’d told me two years ago that the day would come when I wouldn’t actually want white bread…well, I’d have thought you were deranged!
Thin, go with the flow, enjoy yourself, and know you have the tools to deal with any increases.
Well done, Carol !! I have no carbs on FDs, and have reduced them (slightly) on other days. A little less bread, potatoes, pasta, crackers etc, and more aware of fruit, but still enjoy the other treats such as ice cream and wine.
Well bizarrely, having thought I’d be at or over 60kg for Xmas and new year, I appear to be back on track! 58.2 this morning. More importantly, this week I haven’t been plagued by the dreadful insatiable need to eat I’d experienced previously. Was it psychological or physiological? I guess I’ll never know!
Fast, I hope you’ve recovered from the carbs?
Thank you all so much for your comments, I really appreciate your insight and wisdom. You’ve given me permission to slack off a bit. I see many of you have a trigger weight and I’ve decided to take your advice and only do another fast if I get to 60kgs. We won’t be indulging in any of the usual Christmas fare (we’ve only just worked out which day of the week is actually la dia de navidad) and we’ll continue exploring these mule tracks with their steep switchbacks so hopefully that’ll be enough.
Well done to all of you who are maintaining and managing the sily season so expertly. Glad you’re feeling better Carol. I hope you have a lovely time with your families. Safe trip herma.
I think we all deserve a collective pat on the back! 😄
My earlier post was shortened due to having to answer the phone. But wanted to say this forum for me has been a godsend. I’d read the book, seen the TV program but the forum added the ‘how’ bit which has been so important.
So thanks everyone, you’re a generous, great bunch of people! 💐
I’m about to duck under the radar for the next few days and may or may not mosey on by next week, depending on what kind of signal we’ve got in Holland. Just gearing up for two family days – they’re on their way as I speak -, much of it spent together in the kitchen and then sitting down to the results.
I seem to remember as a kid seeing cards on sale to mark the Jewish New Year, wishing family and friends “Well over the Fast”. Maybe we should all wish each other “Well Over the Non-Fast”. 🙂
I accept I may fall off the wagon – but not too heavily. However, unlike some – nobody on this thread, I hasten to add – I won’t whinge if it takes a couple of weeks to compensate, promise. 🙂
No, I’m not completely off the radar. Busy getting stuff ready while also recovering from a fun and sometimes riotous weekend with family – including a much-loved but totally out-to-lunch (which is sort of a compliment) six-year-old. I made the mistake of explaining to him about puns. He promptly proved to be already enough of a wordsmith to come out with a series of quite good and perfectly clean ones.
So thank you for your good wishes, Purple, Bay, Happy, Carolann, thin, Fast and any other names I may not have mentioned. Have a great Christmas.
Hermaj xxx all round.
Indeed, Purple. We hit Haarlem about 19.30 local time tomorrow and from then on we shall indulge in what you so elegantly call “cultural research”, hopefully counteracted by lots of walking. Unusually, it’s going to be quite mild for the time of year in the Netherlands, so we’ll have to do some extra walking rather than use “keeping warm” as an excuse for stuffing our faces. You can certainly have my share of the mulled wine Have a safe journey back to Scotland. 🙂
P,
How is that mulled wine research going? Have you sampled enough yet to compile a league table?!
I had some at the weekend too! I can quite understand why you’re drinking it 🙂
Hermaj,
Glad to hear your weekend was fun! The six year old sounds most entertaining!
Nothing to report here really, except for feeling slightly sick thanks to the offcuts of marzipan adhering to my hands and only being removable by suction… I’ve never made my own before. Couldn’t decide whether it was the sugar or the brandy that makes it so moreish 🙂
Happy, it’s probably fortunate that I don’t like the fancier kind of cake as I would probably end up feeling a bit Moby Dick. When it comes to home baking I tend to go for plainer stuff like apple cake, carrot cake, banana bread and beetroot brownies, mainly because I’m too ham-fisted to do the more complex stuff.
However, over the weekend I had my fair share of a beautifully-crafted and very naughty chocolate Yule Log made by our 6-year-old’s mum. He usually helps with anything involving chocolate but went awol to watch a DVD of Madagascar. He made up for it yesterday by helping me with the fish curry. On Saturday, his big brother worked with me on what turned out to be an excellent boeuf bourguignon before embarking on his own party piece, gratin dauphinois.
Maintainers! Thank you all for being here. Jan 4th is my 5:2 anniversary, and I’ve been slim now for 21 months. Many cooks might spoil the broth… but many maintainers bring a wealth of invaluable experience, knowledge and advice!
Looking forward to another year being slim, aided and abetted by my slim and healthy mates 🙂
For all my wonderful maintainer mates, have a glorious Christmas, and may 2016 bring further understanding of the road we travel together. And OH starts Christmas Day with a new PB!
I love the technology that allows us to chat with my brother in England and our children in Sydney via Skype, for daughter-in-law to update baby photos on FB for family members, and for me to have the joy of your company.
Barata xx
Well done HappyNow. Just checked and it is six months ago that I reached my goal weight of 125 lbs and I decided to make this my maintenance weight even though I did do down to 115 lbs for a long time. After an exceptionally delicious Christmas Day lunch yesterday very pleased to report the scales read 123.6 lbs this morning. Hoping to fit in at least one fast day before 31st December to get off to a good start in 2016.
Hi Galexinda,
Congratulations on successful maintenance. I had previously read your experiment in carrying on with 5:2 to see where it took you. Are you just doing 6:1 now?
I must admit I’m a bit overful after a few days of entertaining guests, and eating a bit more than I’m used to. I will definitely be having one fast day before new year…although we’ve got a bit of food to eat up first… 🙂
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9:05 pm
17 Dec 15