1st week of ADF done

This topic contains 4 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by Fuvvie 8 years, 7 months ago.

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idonotdonot

1:52 pm
17 Apr 16
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Yesterday was the completion of my first week on Alternate Day Fasting. My overall summary is, it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Please don’t think it wasn’t difficult, it was, just not devastatingly difficult. Bullet points below:

Tracking weight, at least for me was pointless. Very wide swings between fast and non-fast day. Makes it difficult. I’ll try to do an overall trend analysis monthly

My hunger is less the day after the fast than the day of

The 600 calories does fill me up. I actually thought that would be the toughest part for me, staying with the 600 calorie meals on fast days.

Hunger is much more manageable if I keep busy

I actually have more energy not less even on fast days

My mood overall mood has improved

I consider this first week a success

Fuvvie

11:32 am
5 May 16
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Hello Idonotdonot
I see your entry was a few weeks ago now. I have just started the 5:2 but had a 2 day fast to kick off, then a NFD followed by an FD. I’m not good at tracking, and find the fast days easier in some ways as you don’t have a choice. I’m at the beginning of my journey and have 60kgs to lose, so this could be a long haul.
How have you gone on your subsequent weeks.
Happy FDing.

OhSuzi

1:03 pm
5 May 16
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I am mid way into week 3.
I didn’t find fasting difficult the first week, but I was ravenous the next day!
Also by week 3 I keep nearly fasting & then going a bit off track & having about 800 – 900 cals, plus theres been a a few days on normal days where I have just eaten rubbish.
I am taking it seriously but find it hard to give up all old habits like lots of takeaways & picking on naughty stuff.
However I find that takeaways are slightly less satisfying & I end up craving fresh veg & salads.
Also instead of feeling like F*** It I’ve ruined everything lets give up and binge. I just think, Oh dear my fasting day went off track Ill count it as a very good normal day and fast tomorrow, or my normal day went out of control, but ill just try again tomorrow & eat healthier.
And despite all these wobbles I still seem to be losing weight.
The scales drop dramatically by a bout 4lbs on fast days & then go right back up after a normal day however – the figures are still going down – its 4lbs off 3lbs on, stay the same 3lbs off, 2 lbs on, 3lbs off etc.

So slowly losing weight & slowly reducing my bad habits without feeling like I have to be a saint & miss out on everything, or a total failure who cant eat properly

Agreed fasting is easier when busy! – I choose work days as there’s less pointless snacking opportunities and a structured breakfast lunch & dinner time & 9 hours are spent being too busy with work to dream about cakes!

Good Luck with the 5:2 Everyone
x

idonotdonot

2:10 pm
5 May 16
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@fuvvie Hello fuvvie. I’m in the middle of my 4th week of ADF (one fasting day left this week) and it’s going well. The issues I’ve had relate to scheduling. One thing I’ve found is to not do HIIT Resistance Training on fast days. HIIT Cardio is ok, but for some reason lifting weights makes me very hungry as opposed to Cardio which doesn’t.
Also, making sure I get enough calories in on fast days before 6:30 is sometimes a challenge. I try to make sure I’ve gotten in all the calories needed for non-fast days by 6:30 so I can eat my one meal by 6:30 the next day so I have a 24 hour fasted period.
I also have to make sure that I’ve eaten at least one meal before hitting the gym. I’ve gotten the shakes and light headed when I haven’t eaten enough while exercising.
That gets back to making sure I’ve consumed enough calories on both fast an non-fast days. As it became easier to eat less, I thought “Wow, I’ll reduce my calories to 1600 on non-fast days to go along with the 600 on fast days.” My TDEE is 2825 calories. I can tell you, 1600 calories for me on non-fast days was a bad idea. I could tell the difference in my energy levels and sharpness of mind fairly quickly. It sounds good to reduce the calories by a lot on non-fast days, but I’ve found it to be counter productive.
I try to get in around 2000 – 2500 calories on non fast days.
I’ve been losing about 1.7 pound per week, but the better news is that after not quite 4 weeks, my waist size has already gone down by 2 and all my clothes fit much better and some are to big now.

Fuvvie

10:40 am
6 May 16
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Hello again, Idonotdonot and OhSuzi,
Really interesting names. As you both speak in lbs, I’m guessing you are not in Australia, but could be USA or Britain or wherever. You both sound as though you are really getting into things. I have just had a fast day and am not sure how many calories I had for dinner. I cooked up a kilo of mince with chicken stock and veggies such as red cabbage, carrots, broccolini, onion and garlic, with curry powder. All the family had it with rice, but I didn’t. There were 8 of us at dinner, so feel I would have come in around the 500 calories. I enjoyed my fast day. It is liberating not to have to think of food all day. I went for a walk this morning with a friend so my exercise plan has officially started.
I love the”Oh dear my fasting day went off trackI’ll count it as a very good normal day. I have done that too and it is usually because someone else has come along and I feel that I want to join them to be sociable.
I’ve got quite a bit of gym equipment and feel inspired to lift some weights now idonotdonot. 2825 calories sounds like a lot. I was going to try to cut my calories to 1300 on my NFD but will probably try to continue with AFD rather than worry about calories on my NFD. It is going to be a while before my clothes go down a size.
Carry on carrying on, and good luck with ongoing fasts.