Hi All,

I’ve seen a lot of posts on this forum explaining how difficult the first day is, so thought I’d share my experience to balance out the reviews. I’m certainly not trying to gloat, but I’m conscious that an overwhelmingly negative appraisal might put people off.

I should start by saying this is the first time I have embarked on a structured diet. My BMI is around the 26.5 point, so I definitely need to lose weight. Me weight started to slide when I took my first office job around 3 years ago (I previously worked in retail and was reasonably fit as a result of running around a shop all day).

I was not looking forward to my first day, but I actually found it to be OK on the whole. I have problems with committing to regime change, so I decided to make a monetary commitment and buy a three week starter plan from the fast diet kitchen.

Knowing specifically what I would be eating for lunch and dinner but still having a choice really, really helped. I find meal-planning soul destroying, especially when it’s calorie-controlled, so having this responsibility lifted helped me focus on the reasons as to why I am dieting, rather than on the restrictiveness of the diet itself.

I absolutely got the hunger pangs around late afternoon, but I coped by going to the gym which actually suppressed my appetite until I got home for dinner.

I find that mental attitude is the most important aspect of tasks that require high levels of perseverance. I read a great post on this forum about how one person referred to the ‘barracuda’ that lived inside their belly. Hunger pangs were merely the barracuda chomping away at excess fat, and thus the pangs were mentally justified. It may sound childish, but I’ve found using an allegory like this makes it much easier to adopt a good mental attitude to dieting.

I did find I had a headache in the evening, so from now on I’ll try a miso soup around late afternoon to restore salt levels (keeping well within the 600 cal limit).

Sleep was fine but I did find I woke up this morning with noticeably lower energy levels. These were quickly restored after breakfast.

All in all, I found the first day to be quite a positive experience. My next fast day is tomorrow, and although I can’t say I’m looking forward to it, I’m not dreading it either.

Of course, different people react differently to fasting, and I Was the best of luck to anybody who is embarking on this journey.

A