I have an eight hour drive ahead of me in May, and I plan on fasting during the trip. It's great to hear about your experience with alertness; I am hopeful that mine will be the same, since I'll be driving alone.

Congratulations, Prettylady! You'll be in onederland in no time.

Welcome Penguin!

Rosey, congratulations on quitting smoking! Cutting carbs generally helps with tummy bloat, because we hang onto more water when we're processing carbs, so that's probably why you noticed a difference. When I tried Atkins I gained weight too, mainly because I relied too much on cheese and bacon and those stupid 'Atkins-friendly' heavy cream-based desserts. Now that I'm doing paleo instead I'm having successful weight loss, but of course it's different for everyone.

I bounced back up to 194.2 this morning, which isn't really a surprise. It'll go back down over the course of the week, and depending on when TOM decides to show up, maybe I'll be down another pound or so by next Wednesday. Tomorrow's a fast day so I'm trying to decide what to have for dinner tonight. I've been kind of obsessed with avocado omelets lately, so maybe I'll have one of those. What I do is scramble two eggs with chopped onions, then instead of cheese I slice up half an avocado as my omelet filling. It's really delicious.

Kind of a quick flyby; a busy day today. We went out to eat and neither DH nor I ould remember what time we ate so I think I cut my eating window to 3 or 4 hrs. I have a beauty appt at noon for a perm and then going to the store after so I just may end up with almost a 24 hr fast today. Been wanting to do a 24 hr fast so maybe today will be the day.

Rosey85 - Welcome back. I too have learned that I can have carbs but I don't have to have them. I agree that this is very much a learning experience and I find myself tweaking a lot as I go along. Congratulations on giving up smoking. I remember someone said years ago that we shouldn't try to diet and quit smoking at the same time. Sounds like you are ready now to do the weight loss. Good luck on your journey.

Prettylady411 - Hooray on the couple lbs loss and soon to be under 200.

Italiannie - Thanks for sharing another benefit of IF and about binges.

penguin41 - Glad to have you here.

John - Always appreciate your input. Your story has been such an inspiration.

To all the others I missed

Have a great IF day everybody.

Real dips. I did real honest to god dips today. No assist. BOO-YAH.

I thought I would have a hard time hiding my IF from my mom while she visits (wow does that make it sound bad!!) but since I get up and go to the gym she just assumes I had breakfast before she got up.

Busy day on the board yesterday welcome to the new and returning!!!

Woo hoo! Congrats!

Welcome newbies!

Lunch with dad today, so just a short fast (basically skipping breakfast). But as usual, I'll keep it clean. I did see a small bump up on the scale yesterday, so I'm trying to stay focused.

@Thistoo yep I also was eating all the delicious cheeses and creamy desserts! I also love avocado, will have to try the omelette recipe.

@Pattygirl thanks for the re-welcome!

@Ennay IF is surprisingly easy to hide, as long as you are out of sight for a few minutes you can say yuou just grabbed a snack or something. My work colleagues would think there was something up if they didnt see me eat anything all day!

It looks like today will become a longer fast after all, I haven't eaten my fruit this afternoon so I will take it home with me and eat it while I make my tea so it should be about 24 hours once I have been to the gym. Looking forward to seeing some results and following the rest of your journeys!

Hello all,

Really busy at work today, which is really good since I am fasting today. I just wanted to stop in and say hi.

Hope everyone is having a great day.

:headsmack:

dd is getting nutrition education in school. The bad part about cookies is the fat. Fat is bad. Carbohydrates are good.

Hello IFers!

sapphiregirl, glad your back and hope everything goes well for you.

kelleyb, yay, we about the same, ive been going back and forth from 140 to 139, ugh, but havent been able to stick w my portions as well as Id like..we have the same goal, we can do this together ..Once I reach 135 Im gonna see how I feel and go from there.

Way to go on your loss wvuchick!!

Pattygirl63, I agree that any diet will work but you have to find the one for you. Congrats on your low blood sugar and weight loss ..

thistoo, I also have noticed increased energy, except for this last week, sooo tired, but might be something else going on.
Avocado omelette sounds delicious.

Prettylady411, Welcome!! its so great to find a place for support and everyone here is so great. The great thing that Ive found with IF is that you can alter it to fit your life and your needs.

Welcome BKLady4, I have been doing IF since Feb and I still cant seem to get my eating in check,,I feel like I eat so much during my window and I eat not as healthy as I would like..portions seem too big,, but I am still losing weight just at a slower pace.

Welcome penguin41, Good luck on doing IF to you and your husband and losing the weight!

Good job on quitting smoking Rosey85 and with Operation Bikini (i like that name you gave it). Good luck on your fast today.

ennay haaaaaaaa! I guess I won't go as far as to say that carbs are wholly responsible for our society's weight issues, but I'd almost say it...

Congrats to everyone on the excellent progress!

I'm super interested in starting IF (particularly the 16/8 fast), but I have a question: When you are fasting, should you just be drinking water? Or is coffee, tea, diet sodas ok?

I think as long as there are no calories in whatever your drinking, it's fine. I'm sure even a little cream or sugar in your coffee would be no big deal, either, but I'm new to this as well so it might be a good idea to check that with the more experienced IFers.

I drink coffee all morning long with a little cream and a little unsweetened almond milk. It's something you have to figure out what works for you

KTucke7 - its also that all fats and all carbs are equal in their eyes as well. Refined crap = vegetables.

I remember one time when we went to FL to visit the kids who live with us now. DGS was studying nutrition in school. When he found out I was low carbing, he said "Oh Nannie, you have to have carbs". Now that he is older, he has found out that eating less carbs helps him think better. Funny isn't it?

summerlove - Welcome. I drink 1 cup of coffee in the morning with about 1/2 T FF half and half and a t of stevia because it doesn't raise my blood sugar. I also seem to be able to drink tea... green, oolong and regular with no problem. I don't seem to have much a problem with diet soda except that it raises my fasting blood sugar. So I think as long as it causes no problems for you that it would be okay to drink coffee, tea and diet sodas.