Day zero

This is the journal of my 5:2 lifestyle.

After listening to the audible version of the book this afternoon, I was left feeling very optimistic about this being a real weight loss program, which is doable and attainable and not just another hyped up load of bologna diet plan. I felt inspired listening to the folks who contacted the authors to tell them about their successes, ordinary folk like me. Wonderful!

I officially start tomorrow, March 30 2015. I did only have my first meal today at 4 pm having drank water, tea and coffee today in order to counter act the previous day’s cake and ice cream binge. Dinner was not calorie reduced, but I did manage to go without eating all day and I didn’t suffer. So I am not hesitant about repeating this tomorrow but with a calorie reduced dinner of 500 calories.

I look forward to posting my progress, good or bad, and to getting to know my fellow 5:2’ers!

Cheers.

Day 2

Mood: upon waking – groggy
upon leaving for work – peppy, bouncy and optimistic

So, I did not have a snack later last night as I thought I might have to based on the 390 calorie supper I had. Plus, I wasn’t hungry this morning either.
I did have a breakfast sandwich once I got to work which I haven’t had in so long as it is taboo on every previous diet I’ve been on. So enjoyed that with a side of guilt-free.
I didn’t have lunch. I had coffees and tea and plenty of water.
Now dinner will be a non fast dinner and no calorie counting, including dessert, again not something I would have had previously.

Felt great all day and positive.

I even ran up the stairs at work!

Hi there,

I’m re-reading The FastDiet and Michael Mosley says at some point that your experience will be as you expect it to be. If you anticipate the worse, that’s what you’ll get. If you go in hopeful and determined, it will be a better experience. It is after all just one day and then you can eat as you wish the next day.

Good luck and I hope I can read about your experience. 🙂

Day 4

Mood: Fantastic. Playful. Positive.

I can’t believe how great I feel! It’s pretty surprising actually.

There was a point last night a few hours after my fast dinner that I thought I might want to eat, what Michael calls limbic hunger – not real hunger but habit hunger, and I had a large (2.5 cups) water with the juice of half a lemon and that settled that.

Today is shaping up to be a great positive, humming away, kind of day.

Fast #3

Mood: calm, balanced.

Today’s fast was a little harder than the first two as I am off today for the long weekend and found that not eating was not quite so easy since I didn’t have work to keep me busy.
But I made it until 5 pm to eat and it seemed like a long time at times. Dinner was delicious, very simple and quick but delicious.

I also read another book on intermittent fasting yesterday and watched another YouTube video on the subject, it’s quite interesting concept that’s for sure.

Also, I actually woke up at 4 am this morning! Not sure if that is the fast or not, but I did not have hunger until about 11 am, then it was a lot of water and tea and coffee to settle the rumble.

Fast #5

Mood: steady. energetic. calm.

Today was rather easy to get through with very little hunger and cravings. I find that black coffee is like an appetite suppressant.
I did notice that since starting the 5:2 diet I seem to think quite highly of myself. I wonder if anyone else feels like that?
It’s not a “look down on others” kind of feeling, but rather a “I’m doing something really good for myself” feeling and it carries through the rest of my day, my posture and the energy I emit. Isn’t that strange? lol!

Doing more research on line about IF, I’ve come across other similar diets such as the Warrior Diet and although I did attempt to try it about a year ago, I just couldn’t manage it past the first two weeks (and they were rough), I was food obsessed the entire time. Not sure why this seems easier now? I think it might have something to do with having dessert and such if I want rather than crossing an entire food group or two off my “I can’t EVER eat this again – EVER!” list. I had pancakes last Saturday for the first time in about 2 years or so. I ended up leaving about 1/4 of them behind, I just didn’t want more then I ate. That alone is amazing! I was a carb junkie and the fact that I could leave some on my plate was pretty awesome.

I’m not telling anyone just yet as I don’t want all these well intentioned people giving me (bad) advice on something they know nothing about, you all know of what I speak.

I’ll just wait for the evidence to present itself and then I might tell people about 5:2 if they ask me what I’m doing.

Here’s to a successful fasting day and can’t wait until tomorrow when I can have cream in my coffee! haha! oh, and dessert too!

Observation.

For the last two Saturdays (non fast days), I have been going to Tim Horton’s and having the breakfast sandwich combo #1 with a donut instead of the hash brown. It’s been a couple of years since I have eaten this as it has always been a non compliant food on whatever diet I had been on. But, after reading The Fast Diet book and watching videos on The Fast Diet and 5:2 diet, I allowed myself to eat this food, which is really an egg mixture (I doubt it’s real egg), processed cheese with processed sausage patty on a biscuit, a donut and coffee (cream no sugar). And for the last two Saturdays, I’ll eat again in a few hours, then a few hours after than and graze all day it seems and be looking in the cupboard for something else as I feel peckish. But during the week, even on non fast days, I can go all day on water, coffee and tea – eat my big meal around 5:30 and not eat again until the next day’s fast is over around 5:30.
So, it seems that eating highly processed foods triggers cravings and hunger that can’t be quieted easily.
Isn’t that interesting?!
Glad tomorrow is a fast day.

update on the rest of my #7 fast.

I found that the hunger pangs and cravings eventually did leave me and I didn’t suffer or die from not eating when my stomach was having what I’ll call a temper tantrum. Like a 3 year old throwing a fit, if you don’t give in, it tends to settle down and moves on to something else.
I distracted myself with a change of scenery and watched some youtube videos during the lunch hour.
When, I got home, I had some low cal broccoli soup, then the main course was heaps of leafy greens, salmon and butternut squash from yesterday.
It was so delicious! I’ve just finished my low cal hot cocoa and that will be it for calorie consumption until tomorrow’s dinner, which will be a higher calorie version (steak) veggies, leafy greens and a dessert.
Another fast under my belt!

I made it to dinner! It wasn’t all that hard. I do find that if I am not busy at work, the day tends to drag and I think about not eating which I find tedious.
Trying not to think about thinking about food…

I found a new tea today, blueberry white tea. It’s pretty good. Less bitter than green tea and it has more of the good stuff that green tea has. And it has a blueberry taste and aroma, which is nice. It’s slightly sweet tasting without sugar. Must be because it’s less bitter than green tea.

I have a pair of jeans that I had to squeeze into before, they made me feel like a stuffed sausage. Well, I don’t know if it’s my imagination but they seemed looser today. I haven’t measured my waist yet. I will wait until April 30th to do that. It will be 30 days since starting the 5:2 WOE, so I’ll be patient.

Some benefits that I hadn’t expected: I like people more. I am nicer to people. I whistle a lot more. I hum or sing a lot more.
I’m still getting night sweats though, I’d like for this WOE to take care of that, so here’s hoping!

Until next time

5:2
And
Carry On!

Fast #10!

Wow, it’s been 10 fasts already! That’s pretty amazing if I do say so myself. My energy was very good today. My mood was calm and balanced. My hunger was minimal and was quieted easily with water.
I ate later than other fast days as I had a late appointment and got in around 6 pm, prepared my meal and feasted!
It’s interesting that I enjoy my low calorie break-fast meal more than I do my non-fast meal… very odd indeed.
Here’s another observation. In the common area where I work, there is a vending machine with sweets and chips. I pass by it every single time I go to the washroom or get off the elevator. I see these candy bars and other snack foods and they aren’t calling my name on fast days. It helps that I don’t carry cash but the fact that I could just as easily go down to the lobby and buy them at the store just doesn’t entice me. I have so much resolve on fast days that even the smell of food doesn’t do much. I know that if I want it, it will be there tomorrow. And so far, I have included snacks on non-fast days just because I can, and I feel guilt free doing it.

This is the best WOE ever!

Cheers

@aquabliss – It’s interesting that by limiting food, we lose our obsessiveness over it, or it over us lol 🙂

I guess ADF is similar to M-W-F fasting then?

Fast #11

I was looking forward to the fast ending today! I found it a little tedious and I was hungry today. But I managed to hold out until dinner and had my break-feast!

I’ve been buying these ready made soups, no fillers or preservatives, just good stuff. Low cal and quite tasty too. I’ve never really been a soup person, but I am enjoying these. Creamy broccoli and butternut squash so far are my favourites. Tonight I had soup, a slice of quiche with loads of curry cauliflower and steamed brussel sprouts and a 50 calorie hot cocoa for dessert (with a dash of cinnamon for decadence). Very tasty and filling.

My jeans are looser too! I actually caught myself pulling them up as I was walking. That hasn’t happened in years! woohoo! 🙂

This thing works! Amazing!

Until next time,

5:2
And
Carry On!

Fast#12!!

Wow, 12 fasts already – how time flies. Nearly a month since starting this WOE.

Since I wasn’t busy at work today, time really dragged and the hunger pangs were noticeable and distracting.
I got the kindle version of The Every Other Day Diet book by Krista Varady, and it is also a good book to read for intermittent fasting as it was the study that launched The Fast Diet book and WOE.
I guess one could say that I am doing the every other day diet as well seeing how I fast M-W-F.

Fast #13

I found today was a tad hard at first. I felt nauseous for some reason in the morning. I drank black coffee and tea and lots of water and the nausea passed eventually. My break-fast meal around 5 pm was delicious and satisfying. I made a roast pork yesterday and today it was leftovers with mushrooms and cauliflower with a soup starter and a 45 calorie hot cocoa for dessert.
Felt good overall, despite the slow start this morning.

Fast #14!!

Oh yeah!!

Today was an easy fast day. It went by fairly quickly. I am cooking my break-fast meal as I type this. Can’t wait as I am getting hungry.

All the junk that would normally call to me – didn’t. The high sugar treats that I would usually cave to, weren’t worth caving in to.

I found a tea that took away my desire to eat any food whatsoever. It was so vile that it made me feel nauseated. I thought when I bought it that it would be delicious as I like licorice, but this tea by Stash was horrid and the disgustingness of it was traumatizing! lol! Good thing it was a sampler only, but now I wonder about the other flavours in the box…

Anyhoo, tomorrow is the official 30 days since starting fasting WOE. I will take my measurement first thing in the morning and will post it at some point tomorrow.

Excited to see what the results are!

Correction: I started at 40 3/4 inches, now I am 38 1/2 inches, so that is 2 1/2 inches lost.
Don’t ask me to do math at 6 am!

Thank you. I am quite surprised to tell the truth. I knew something had shifted, but….
Let’s hope it keeps all downhill from here 🙂

Yes, I am measuring only at the moment. I can find the scale affects my self esteem. Weight is so subjective based on height, bone density, water retention and so on. All things that shouldn’t affect self worth, yet that stupid number can derail me faster than anything.

@paulssl – yes, this is encouraging for sure. I am very pleased.