I have no idea if my story will be of interest to anyone but me, but if nothing else it will serve as diary entry, but if it encourages one person to give it a crack then that would be great.

So a little back ground on me; I am a 41 year old man, who is six feet, two on a good day. I have weighed upwards of 220lbs and have struggled with that weight for as long as I can remember. I once heard Vince Vaughn describe himself as skinny and fat at the same time. That pretty much sums me up, but I had no idea just how potentially dangerous of a combination that waas until I saw Dr Mike’s Horizon.

Anyway on to the details, when I started the plan I was 208.6 (nowhere near my worst). After being inspired by the programme and with the support of my wonderful (and extremely) svelte girlfriend, I decided to give it a crack. Well now I have completed 6 fasting days; to break them down the first two I felt hungry but persevered, since then it’s been surprisingly easy. Without wishing to sound altruistic if I have a few days of ‘normal’ eating I actually find myself looking forward to the fast days.

I have found the best combination for me is skip breakfast, take a light lunch with me and a nice dinner. So far I have been using all the recipes from the accompanying book, but I am sure to pillage from this forum soon. I am British but I live in New York so sometimes it can be a challenge to find good quality foods as they put fructose in literally everything. Thank god for Fresh Direct and Fairway!

Also like many other people, on my ‘normal’ days far from gorging myself I have more self-restraint. I put this down to: a) not wanting to undo all my good work b) being more aware of the calorific values in things (without obsessing) and c) schooling myself on the difference between being ‘full” and being “satisfied”. I hasten to add that in the 3 weeks I have been fasting I have still had a couple of blow outs due to the combination of not having monastic discipline and living next door to Bonchon – they finest Korean fried chicken out side of Seoul.

Finally, I have to add that I have started the couch to 5k before I began fasting, so I have continued that in Tandem. I am now able to complete 5k and am working my way to cracking under 30 mins for a PB.

So after this long ramble what’s my progress? Well my ideal was to lose 2lbs a week, I would (begrudgingly) accept 1 lb (at east I was heading in the right direction) but in fact so far I have lost just over 10lbs!!! Weighing in at 198.4lbs this morning.

This is the lowest weight I have obtained in a long while and I have plateaued here before so the next few weeks are going to be really interesting. Still I feel a real sense of achievement, I am feeling more energetic and healthy and genuinely believe this is a way of life that is really easy to maintain.

So if you are undecided about doing it or not, I say go ahead do it. if my experience is anything to go by, you really won’t regret it

I realize that I was stupid calling this 6 fasts in as I am now double that amount. I am at the end of week 7 (14 fasts I think) and continue to exercise (through cardio only) and my weight loss has continued. Although it’s a bit less than before, that actually makes me feel more confident in this diet/lifestyle/plan. Today I weighed in at 192lbs, meaning I have lost over 16lbs in 7 weeks. To be honest I really hoped for an average of 2lbs a week but woud have accepted a pound or less – well actually any progress at all. I don’t find the fast days too problematic. I wouldn’t say they are a complete breeze but really it’s no hardship and seeing the results makes it all worth while. The only negative is promised my girlfriend a present for every 5lbs I dropped and they are coming thick and fast (if you’ll excuse the pun)!

Thank you Jeanius – that is a eally sweet and supportive message. Much appreciated!