Heya, I’m Jey. 26 year old female, 171cm tall. At my heaviest I was 95kg. I saw a photo of me sideways and was appalled, but made no real effort to lose weight except to walk the dog every day. Holidays rolled around and my mother visited for two weeks: cue massive portions of carb-heavy comfort food (rice, pasta, potatoes, bread), three takeaway meals a week (KFC, Red Rooster, Hungry Jacks etc) and little-to-no exercise. By the time they left I was pushing 90kg again and disgusted with myself.

I immediately started back on walking every day and reasonable portion sizes. A coworker mentioned he was fasting four days a week, lost a lot of weight and had never felt better, fitting into shorts he hadn’t worn for 7 years. While bemused by the idea of 7 year old shorts, his story inspired me to do some research.

As such, I’ve been fiddling with fasting over the last three weeks, two weeks after the holidays, but have decided to do this properly until I’ve reached my goal weight of 70kg – the last time I was 70kg was in high school, almost 10 years ago. I’ll then fast once a week for maintenance. Or who knows, maybe try for 60kg! By fasting I mean not eating anything at all during the fasting period – I don’t want to have to count calories or even think of food during fasting days.

WEEK 1 – 17 July – 89.7kg
My first fasting day was from 3PM Wednesday to 7AM Friday morning and while the first 20ish hours were fine, the rest made me nauseous. I was incredibly surprised that I could survive so long without food. Not eating is actually super easy. I drank a lot of water at work and made myself busy with tasks at home + indulging in some fanfiction reading. I did learn that 40 hours of not eating anything at all was not something I wanted to attempt again, however. I also happened to be overcoming a cold at the time, so actually ended up throwing up twice Thursday night. I joked that fasting is secretly just a gate-way drug to bulimia. I probably shouldn’t joke about such things.

WEEK 2 – 24 July – 88.2kg
I fasted from Wednesday dinner (around 5PM) to Friday breakfast (7AM). Second time around of fasting was much easier, as I knew what to expect. I felt like I was missing out when my colleagues were eating a delicious looking chocolate cake at lunch, but didn’t cave. The difference of a few hours not eating is actually huge. 36 hours is much more manageable.

WEEK 3 – 31 July – 86.7kg
Now that I was getting the hang of things, I made a decision to fast twice a week. I fasted Sunday (7PM) to Tuesday (7AM). Monday was a little difficult for me, as my partner decided to have pizza that night =.= I fasted again Wednesday dinner to Friday breakfast. This will be my standard fast schedule from now on, so I won’t mention it again. On Friday morning I was actually at my lowest weight, 85.9, that I have been since the last 5 years. Friday’s are my worst days for eating, as my work has a provided lunch and my partner and I go out to dinner. The weekend is also very lazy and with access to the fridge at all times, bad for controlling how many calories I devour.

I’m keen to see what the end of Week 4 brings, if I actually limit my non-fasting days, as opposed to overeating on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Weight loss in 3 weeks: 89.7 – 86.7 = 3kg

I think about that first week a lot. How much more of my fat would be gone if I had fasted twice that week? I have also thought of fasting on alternative days, but it just doesn’t suit my home or work life. I think a loss of 1kg a week is safe. I do understand that it won’t always be 1kg a week, I’ll take any loss as long as I’m getting closer and closer to my goal of a healthy weight of 70kg.

Anyway, this is my accountability journal and I’ll be back in a week 🙂

Cheers,
Jey

WEEK 5 – Starting Monday 14 July, Ending Sunday 20 July – 84.5kg

So I did some research into 4:3. There aren’t that many comprehensive posts out there that I could find, but the ones I did read just said it was just as good/if not better than 5:2. With that in mind I did try to add a 3rd water fasting day this week. Sort of didn’t go too well. I tried to fast on Saturday and was doing fine until about 1PM. I had been watching recipe videos most of the day (self-torture) and just felt the need to eat something. I wasn’t even necessarily hungry, I just felt as if I was denying myself food – which isn’t something I had felt on any of my other fast days. I ate an English muffin with butter and jam/marmalade with grated cheese. After eating this I actually felt unwell, like my body was confused as to why I ate when I had psyched myself into not eating.

I think this first week of 4:3 I’ll stick to the 500 calories/2000 kj fast on my 3rd day to make the transition easier. Perhaps next week I won’t need to eat at all, but for some reason the psychological fear of not eating has returned for this extra day. I’ll get over it, I’m sure.

DINNER MEALS FOR THE WEEK
Monday – Water fast
Tuesday – Pork mince and chicken sausage Singapore noodles
Wednesday – All you can eat buffet (lol). After doing this we agreed we’d never go again. It was nice, but too much – too expensive, too much food, too many people, too tempting to fill yourself to stuffed just to get your money’s worth. It just wasn’t necessary. To make up for it, we’re not going to have take-away food for the next two weeks.
Thursday – Water fast
Friday – Beef stew with dumplings
Saturday – Sweet chicken and corn soup
Sunday – 500 calorie fast. I’m unsure yet what I’m going to eat. Possibly just a few cups of tea and a cup of chicken and corn soup (which is apparently around 300 calories, yikes!).

Starting Weight: 89.7 kg
Current Weight: 84.5kg
Weight lost since last week: 1.3 kg
Total weight loss (5 weeks): 5.2 kg

So despite (again) not so great eating habits this week, I’ve still managed to lose weight. I did go for an extensive walk Friday afternoon, so maybe that contributed to some of the energy consumed. It does make me think about my life prior to this change: had I really been eating so much that I was maintaining and even gaining weight? How is it possible for this to occur? I’m not going to say it’s “easy” to not eat an entire day, but if only someone had told me after I left high school that I didn’t need to eat a full breakfast, big lunch and huge dinner EVERY SINGLE DAY. Of course in the back of my mind I knew that I didn’t need to eat so much, just eat when you’re hungry. But now I’m not even eating when I’m hungry and it’s working so well.

I don’t know the answer, but fasting at least once a week should be something any overweight or obese person should consider. It is a life changer. If there’s anyone reading this, still sitting on the fence about whether to make this lifestyle change – just try it! You don’t have to go full water fast. Just try the calorie restriction. I think you’ll be honestly amazed at your own resilience.

Something I’ve noticed in general is that I’m more satisfied after smaller portions of food. I still have a tendency to overeat and go for seconds, but I don’t need to anymore. My resolution this coming week is to stop eating when I’m full. It’ll be hard, because I was raised to finish everything on my plate, but it’ll be worth it.

Last thing: Saturday morning I was at my lowest weight in years. I think it had been 3-4 years since I was anywhere NEAR 83 kg, and being 83.7 kg shocked me. I made the mistake of buying a pair of pants two weeks ago to wear to work and they already are way too lose around my waist. I’ll keep wearing them and get a belt, but wow. I’m just happy how this is all going.

Sorry for the novel!

Seeya next week!
Jey

WEEK 7 – Starting Monday 28 August, Ending Sunday 03 September – 82.7kg

I just want to clarify my meals… I tend to only really eat large dinners and small breakfasts/lunches. So I’m going to start including the significant extra things I eat every day, instead of just my dinners – just assume I have one or two teas or coffees on my non-fasting days. That way this becomes a sort of food diary too – I won’t include the small boring things (think crackers, a mouthful of canned peaches etc). I think you may be interested in what I eat, and how much I eat, but still manage to lose weight. I’m very humbled by fasting.

MEALS FOR THE WEEK
Monday – Water fast
Tuesday – Caesar salad with chicken, bacon, feta and croutons (so yummy)
Wednesday – Mashed potato with savoury mince (pretty much Shepherd’s pie without the pastry). I admit to eating way too much of this. Had a great taste and so easy to eat.
Thursday – Water fast
Friday – Delicious chicken, egg, salad sandwich on grain bread. Cheese and bacon pie with wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce.
Saturday – Red Rooster chips and gravy, buttered toast, glass of Moscato, large chocolate Mars bar, Gingernut biscuits – just a day of random things, no real meals
Sunday – Satay chicken with rice

Starting Weight: 89.7 kg
Current Weight: 82.7 kg
Weight lost since last week: 1 kg
Total weight loss (7 weeks): 7 kg

I think I’m two weeks away from 80 kg. I’m so excited! I mean, still 13 kg from my ideal weight of 70 kg, but getting there!

I also figured out why I’ve been throwing up pretty much every fasting day. It was never consistent, but it always followed or was directly in the morning of a fasting day. It’s because I have been taking the Pill on an empty stomach. Pretty much whether it was in the morning of a fasting day, in the evening of a fasting day or very early the next morning after a fasting day, I’d throw up just water and bile. I’d immediately feel better. I had been attributing it to the cold nights and mornings here and my running nose. Crazy to think I had let it happen for 7 weeks without really questioning WHY I was throwing up so much.

So my question is – to those of you also on the Pill, how do you take one on fasting days when all you “consume” is water?

Signing off ’til next week!
Jey

WEEK 9 – Starting Monday 11 September, Ending Sunday 17 September – 81.7kg

MEALS FOR THE WEEK
Monday – Bacon and lentil soup with crusty bread
Tuesday – Water fast
Wednesday – Leftover soup
Thursday – Water fast
Friday – Chicken, bacon, feta, capsicum, red onion, lettuce and crouton salad
Saturday – Leftovers, sausage on bread with onion, carrot and cream cheese muffin
Sunday – Pork roast with potatoes, pumpkin, beetroot and onion, rosemary and red wine gravy, homemade apple sauce

Starting Weight: 89.7 kg
Current Weight: 81.7 kg
Weight lost since last week: 1 kg
Total weight loss (9 weeks): 8 kg

Catcha next week!
Jey