gained.

I know we're supposed to ignore minor ups and downs on the scale, but I'm depressed to have gained three pounds in the last week. I've kept to my window but was eating at restaurants. And some weight gain might be hormonal. I'm feeling overall a little thinner. But seriously... this sucks. I'm losing soooo sloooooowly. I keep reading blogs and forum postings by people who lose 15 or 25 lbs in the first month. Perhaps they're more overweight to begin with, so it's a smaller percentage of their total fat? I'm happy for their success -- I just wish I could share it!

Emotional

I've been absurdly emotional over the last week. I had a smallish crisis the beginning of the week and I'm under some stress (who isn't?) and I've actually burst into tears at awkward moments. I haven't had any desire to indulge in "emotional eating" but as soon as I break my fast in the afternoon the clouds clear and I feel much better. Anyone had the same thing happen?
Is it an emotional detox type thing or just a sign that I should break my fast earlier?
Thanks for any responses.

aspirational pants

I had too much free time in a big city -- shopping ensued.
I bought a lovely pair of pants. I can wear them now but they'll look a lot better about 5 pounds from now. I rarely do this; usually I buy clothing for my current weight or a little loose. It's a gesture of confidence in Fast-5 and confidence that I'll stay on the program and keep losing.
Can't wait to wear them!

plateaus

I've read that plateaus tend to happen at weights that you held for a long time in the past. Also, after losing 8-10% of your bodyweight, your body will halt weight loss to reorganize itself. The hormone system that manages fat reserves is so complex that it takes time for the body to adjust itself to having less fat. Your appetite needs time to shrink to match your body.
The point being, it's very unlikely that, even if you keep the same diet and exercise, you'll lose weight at a constant rate. Some people switch up their routines to break through plateaus. Others just wait them out. I fall into the latter group. Of course, I'm also losing veeeeeeeeery slowly.
What has your experience been with plateaus? How do you break through to start losing again?

losing slowly

I weighed myself today for the first time in five weeks.
Since I started this 8 weeks ago I'm down a total of just 6 lbs. Better down than up, of course, but I wish it were going down faster!!!
This puts me at a BMI of 23.7.
I'd like to get to a BMI of 21.
20 lbs to go.
It's not easy, but it's definitely possible!

This whole effort started at Christmas, when I realized that I'm fatter than any family members and -- to add insult to injury -- I weighed myself for the first time in a long time and found out my BMI was over 25, making me officially overweight. I was not happy. My first action was to cut sugar and flour out of my diet. (Sugar is evil; that's why I love it so much.) That brought me down about 8 pounds in 14 weeks. I stumbled across Fast-5 and decided to incorporate it in April. Since then, in 8 weeks on both Fast-5 and no sugar/no flour I've lost another 6 lbs.
Total of 14 pounds.

shoot, this is hard

If you're on a roll, stay on it!
After taking a break from Fast-5 last week I'm having a hard time getting back into the groove. Counting the hours till break-fast again. I'm looking forward to getting back to the peaceful mental space brought by regular fasting. But it's definitely a challenge to get there again!
Much easier to be regular with this way of eating than to start and stop.
That much more motivation to do Fast-5 every day, regardless of social constraints.

context

I was recently lucky enough to have an extended stay in Spain and France -- places where I'm considered large in every sense, both uncommonly tall and pretty darn chubby. At first I noticed the general thinness of the population but I became accustomed to it. Towards the end of the trip I did see one obese woman, and seeing her made me realize she was the ONLY one I'd seen the whole trip.
When I landed back in the States I was amazed by the number of people on a subway car (8 out of 12, I counted) who looked downright fat. Both men and women. Before this trip and being surrounded by people with BMI's probably between 20 and 22, I don't think I would have noticed that all those people on the train were probably in the range of BMI 28-30. I expect that if you had talked to them, most would have said they were overwieght but healthy. Bla bla bla about overweight and healthy. Fat! We need to recognize that we're simply too fat. I can't help but wonder if our national psychosis about being thin has to do with the fact that so many of us are so overweight. If we had a healthy relationship with food and weight, we could stop obsessing about it.
At the risk of sounding smug -- I think Fast-5 is a wonderful method for managing my relationship with food, regaining control, and hopefully even losing some of this darn weight (yes, I'm one of the fat ones).

ouch! fell off the wagon

I had the good luck to stay with some wonderful friends in another country for a long weekend. They were kind enough to prepare vegetarian food for me along with the family meal and I just didn't have the heart to explain that besides meat I also wouldn't be eating white rice, bread, or anything with sugar. And I'd only eat between 5pm and 10pm.
So...
I still skipped breakfast but ended up eating from 2pm to midnight, and I included foods with flour (bread, pasta) that I usually avoid.
Result...
I felt uncomfortably full when eating every 4 or 5 hours. And puffy. Do carbs cause water retention? I'm back on the fast-5 plan today and my body is craving the feeling of an empty stomach. To be honest, once I realized it wouldn't be socially feasible to fast or do no flour/no sugar, I enjoyed the break. But my digestive system is now reminding my why it doesn't like the refined carbs and I'm more convinced than ever that Fast-5 is the best eating style for me.
Back in the saddle!
In other news, exercise is at a standstill thanks to an injured foot. I can't wait to get running again.