It’s my second day on the plan. I downloaded the Kindle version of the book over the weekend, and decided to begin right away lest I build up a fort of excuses. So yesterday, Monday, was my first fast day.

I didn’t manage to commit to black coffee yet, but I put just a little low fat almond milk in it, the best substitute I think I could manage, and it was fine. I only had one cup, and drank more water than usual. I decided to continue (at least for now) putting the soluble vegetable fiber (Benefiber) in my morning coffee; it has 15 calories on the container. I don’t typically eat breakfast, and I opted to skip lunch as well, having some hot mint (herbal) tea instead. For dinner I had some leftover vegetables I had grilled the night before (zucchini, mushrooms, sweet peppers, onion) and a large tomato, chopped and tossed with basil and flavored vinegar.

The fasting wasn’t too hard, though it was a little uncomfortable to feel hungry later in the evening when I was watching TV. I knew from a three day “cleanse” I’d done some years ago that mint tea does seem to soothe that feeling. Toward the end of the day I had a slight headache but that was probably due to less caffeine than usual. I woke up with no headache, and did have some coffee early (with a little milk and fiber). Found I didn’t really feel like I needed to eat until 2pm even on a day “off”, because today is coincidentally my 51st birthday, and I know my sweetie and I are going out for a treat meal tonight. 🙂

Incidentally, I first learned about Dr. Mosley and the “Fast Diet” due to his interviews on The Diane Rehm Show, a US public radio show. I am re-listening to his first appearance today as I work.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-03-13/dr-michael-mosley-fast-diet

I have lost weight through calorie counting and exercise before. The process is usually slow for me, so I have patience where it comes to moving the scale (I hope.) What really got my attention was the research and anedcotal information on other health benefits. I used to be quite obese, but was lucky enough to never have an issue with blood sugar, cholesterol, or blood pressure, until recently when blood pressure has been higher. I just had tests recently, and though I have worked to reduce blood pressure by adding things like celery seed and hibiscus tea to my diet, and being mindful of salt intake, I am sure that losing some pounds should help, and I am hoping this plan will give me the structure that I need to get started.

Day two and I am already much more mindful of what I am eating. And encouraged. I do like the psychology of the short sprint… fasting days spread out. I’ll be trying Mondays and Fridays, until I determine whether I am feeling well enough on a fasting day to go to my exercise class on Thursday evening straight from work.

I opted to

Thanks, Tracy! I decided to log my calories in from yesterday and attempt no judgment. Even that splurge of a restaurant birthday meal only put me in at less than 1800 calories total for the day, thanks to not snacking during the day or evening.

And yes, I’ve certainly tried the “little meals all day” approach. It never seemed to work for me.

Regardless of whether the actual science of intermittent fasting will improve my health faster than just calorie restriction, it really is bound to make a participant more mindful of what s/he is eating, at the bare minimum. I think, too, I’ll be better prepared for Friday than I was for Monday.

Thanks, Simcoeluv! Good advice. I know that for myself, weight loss will be a very slow process. I usually don’t weigh myself at all in the beginning so that I’m not adding the frustration of the numbers not moving. Then I can focus on feeling successful if I’ve been faithful to my plan, rather than my weight. (This isn’t 100% true, of course, but lessens the pressure.)

Third day problem: curiously, it’s giving myself permission to eat “normally.” I’m trying to keep the non-fast-day attention on not grazing and snacking rather than being too much about calories. Except for some higher than expected sodium in some deli sliced smoked turkey, it was still a healthful and varied late lunch: turkey, small bit of cheese, some quinoa salad with edamame, baby carrots, and a yogurt.

I should have been more specific. By “normally” I meant the 1800-2000 calorie daily range which supposedly would maintain my weight (or 4X the fast day level.) Not the overeating I had fallen into.

When I’m calorie counting, my target is more like 1250-1500 calories per day. 1250 is the level I had left in my long-disused “MyFitnessPal” account.

Just added up my calories from today. 1380. I didn’t feel deprived, had a bite of chocolate, a couple of tiny grape tomatoes out of the garden (they are coming ripe so slowly!) and milk in my morning coffee. Which, if this feeling continues, was a pretty rapid reset, instead of the struggle it might have been for the first week, without the initial fasting day behind me.

I just realized Friday evening I am going to a fundraiser event, with food and drink. It’s going to be interesting. I could move my fast day to tomorrow, or Saturday, which might be easier than trying to find something 500 calories or less to have there. 🙂

Second Monday. It’s Memorial Day here in the U.S., so a work holiday for me. I had considered it might be easier to move the fast to tomorrow, but decided to see how it went when I was in and out of the house with food at hand.

So far, so good. We had a crowded Jazzercise class this morning, then I went for a 5km walk and it only started to rain when I was three blocks from home.

Stef, thanks for the encouragement. I do enjoy most vegetables, so that helps. The previous days I had eaten all vegetables or mostly, and I honestly just needed to cook those chicken cutlets before another day went by.

Lasopa, welcome! Congratulations on your first fast day going so well. If you’re hungry at night, try some peppermint or other herbal mint tea. It seems to soothe the stomach and is so relaxing.

Let us know tomorrow how the whole day went.

Three weeks in… I went with Monday and Thursday this week, and this morning kept it to coffee because I plan on eating lunch out. I still haven’t weighed in but I do feel lighter, and I can see the difference in my face.

Now I have enough tomatoes to have had a salad last night with four of my smaller tomatoes cut up in it. Still waiting the fully ripe Cherokee Purple heirloom variety. I’m tempted to put a screen around the one ripening one to keep that bird off it. You’d think the keeper of a feral cat colony wouldn’t have issues with brazen birds! My footsoldiers are slacking!

This is my 12th week. I’ve tipped past the 20 pound weight loss, and the other things I’m noticing are how much less joint pain I am feeling in my feet, even with increased high-impact aerobic dance and going out dancing Saturday night. I also find my skin is looking very good, though part of what helped was the facial I had decided to schedule as a reward for eight weeks’ faithfulness to this plan. It turned out to be less of a spa “pampering” facial and more of a cleanse-every-pore treatment, which was wonderful.

People have definitely started to notice the weight loss. I don’t tell everyone what my strategy is, but I did end up buying a hardcover copy of the book, because I couldn’t pass along my Kindle version. I just hope I get it back eventually. 🙂

Hope everyone is well.

Best,

Ann