A real mystery but I'm delighted !

This topic contains 11 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by Stef. 10 years, 3 months ago.

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Arcadian

11:26 am
17 Nov 13
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Hi all, not sure what happened really but when I tried the diet for 3 or 4 weeks at the beginning of October I found if anything that I gained a bit of weight.

Male and aged 65 I’d been stuck at about 15 stone 4/5 pounds for quite a few years and nothing I ever tried seemed to work, so always had to give up and go back to buying all the same old usual supermarket stuff such as microwaveable and convenience foods, including vegetables, salads and so on as well as the odd pint or two of beer a week. Then I read about the fasting diet and thought this could be just what I’m looking for, yet disappointingly I put on 3 or 4 pounds within the following couple of weeks or so. However I did notice that on the fasting days (something I’d never tried before) I was much more aware of hunger pangs than usual, in other words the urge to eat/snack something at random times during the day.

Obviously I had to give up the diet because it wasn’t working but because of the increased awareness of hunger pangs, which I’d never taken notice of before, almost out of desperation I decided to reduce the quantity of food at meal times, at the same time deliberately ignoring them only allowing a maximum of 2 or 3 a day which I used to coincide with breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was very hard at first as the urge to grab a couple of chocolate biscuits etc. at any time during the day by then was so ingrained !

Amazingly within about 3 to 4 days my weight which by then was about 15 stone 9 pounds had dropped to about 15 stone 4 pounds which I just couldn’t believe as it looked like it was going to be the first successful diet ever. So ever since I’ve been concentrating on ignoring the hunger pangs only allowing about 2 or 3 which I’ve used since to coincide with normal mealtimes.

Well now it’s been about 2 and a half weeks and my weight this morning was 14 stone 6 pounds which I am really over the moon about however it’s left me really puzzled as to what could have happened ? All I can think of is that over the years my hunger pangs must have somehow got out of control consequently I would immediately eat something the moment I felt it assuming that it was necessary. All I know is that I hardly get any hunger pangs at all now compared to at least some 5 or 6 a day beforehand, though I’m still off the beer !

If anybody could shed some light on this great side effect or has heard of something similar before I’d be very interested indeed to hear and learn more about it !

symba7

11:55 am
17 Nov 13
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Well done on the weight loss, maybe try the 5.2 again and cutting down to smaller portions during the non fast days. Keep the hunger pangs there to remind you.

Something is working….keep doing it and loosing….

Auriga

1:06 pm
18 Nov 13
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Well this is a very simple explanation, but if you eat frequently and also eat refined carbohydrates often then you keep your insulin levels high and the higher the level of insulin in your blood then the more weight you’ll store and the hungrier you’ll get! . The less often you eat and the fewer carbohydrates you eat the converse will happen and that’s it.

Arcadian

2:46 pm
18 Nov 13
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Thank you Auriga very interesting and all news to me ! If I understand it correctly then, to get the ball rolling all one has to do is to initially ignore all hunger pangs and only eat reduced amounts of food at normal mealtimes for two or three days, then presumably most people including myself will start to lose weight ?

Seems a bit too easy somehow…lol

Cathyork

3:38 pm
18 Nov 13
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Hi Arcadian, the biggest thing I have learned on this diet is to match hunger with eating.

I know that this sounds a bit ridiculous, but I think, possibly like yourself, that if I felt a hunger pang it was my body telling me that I MUST eat and if I didn’t then I would become weak, light headed etc.

Well I know now that this is simply untrue. Yes I feel very hungry sometimes on fast days but even when I am really busy – at work – travelling or whatever – I know that I can just have some water or fruit tea and eventually this feeling will subside and I can easily hold out until my (500 calorie) evening meal, which I really savour. And I only have to do this twice a week.

Another important aspect of this is that I listen to how my body reacts to food when I am eating. I was brought up to eat everything on my plate – but that is crazy when I myself pile my plate far too full in the first place! So I really try to stop eating when I feel full (something previously unheard of) and I have found that this has gradually started to happen sooner, which can only be a good thing.

It is lovely to be back in control 🙂

I really wish you luck in losing more weight.

Arcadian

4:10 pm
18 Nov 13
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Thanks Cathyork very relieved to find someone else having the same experiences as well ! All this is very interesting too because I haven’t been on the 5.2 since about the beginning of November ! 🙂

What I am finding out though is that there are degrees of hunger pangs some mild and some much stronger, so I’m filtering out the weakest ones until a strong one arrives when I play safe and like you have a cup of tea or a glass of water which usually does it. Yesterday afternoon however was really interesting as I had my first stomach grumble for years so quickly had an emergency microwave Shepherds Pie I’d kept by just in case ! I guess the bottom line then must be the old stomach grumble ? 😀

Best of luck too in your quest….

Nika

6:27 am
19 Nov 13
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Haha I actually love those stomach grumbles. I thought those were what you meant by hunger pangs…

There is quite an extensive explanation to your body becoming less hungry when it becomes more balanced. It’s all hormonal. There are several hormones that tell your brain you’re full, which are mostly triggered by protein. However eating carbs can tell your brain you need to eat more so you can get ravenous quite quickly.

I’m just happy about the fact I’m feeling healthier and losing weight..

Arcadian

2:29 pm
28 Jan 14
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Hi again a quick update. I’m now as of this morning 13 stone 11 lbs which since I started just over 2 months ago is close on 2 stone (15′ 9″) lost which is simply unbelievable !

The solution for me personally without question has been porridge – nothing else. Besides the above great advice I can’t remember where I read the idea about porridge originally as I’d been having problems with the diet as I said to begin with. But I have a really large helping, at least double or treble what I used to have, for breakfast plus a cup of tea or similar which has then stopped me from feeling hungry nearly all day, especially when I’ve been very preoccupied and busy. Or to put it another way I now feel really full up until the evening. And because I’ve always hated preparing food or cooking anything, I now get by quite happily until around 6/7 pm when I’ll have a small microwave meal say shepherds pie or lasagne from Sainsbury’s. And that’s my daily routine now with hunger pangs much reduced if not gone entirely, though to avoid it all getting monotonous I do have toast and jam or similar for breakfast now and again.

And it’s so inexpensive too plus I’m definitely feeling much fitter all round. I’m now never out of breath when climbing two or three flights of stairs as I used to be, nor after the long 1/3rd mile walk up the steep hill to the local shop, even dropping into the pub opposite as well afterwards for a couple of pints every week or two on top ! But it’s when you think that two stone is 28lbs, which is almost six five lb bags of potatoes to carry, that it really sinks in !

My goal now is to get down as quickly as possible to about 12 stone exactly from my original 15′ 9″ and which I hope will finally remove the horrible tyre around my waist I’ve had for years ! 😀

Do hope this is of some help to anyone else still struggling….

Stef.

4:32 pm
28 Jan 14
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Well done on your weightloss!

I have found that a huge plate of veggies is not only very filling but also very healthy. Combine this with a chicken breast or some eggs and you get tons of proteins that satiate your body for a long time.

If you can you might want to try to replace your lasagne and sheperds pie with something that is not processed food. At tge end of the day though we all have to find a way that works for us.

Good luck and happy dieting
Stef.

Arcadian

4:43 pm
28 Jan 14
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Thanks Stef 🙂 Interesting, how much weight have you lost with the veggies as I’d no idea you could lose weight with this as well ? At this rate I’ll be skin and bone….!

Arcadian

5:21 pm
28 Jan 14
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I’ve just realised leading on from this that I’ve no real idea of the difference between having a good appetite, like looking forwards to a big fat juicy rump steak chips and peas in a good restaurant, and being hungry ?

I think this is why I have the shepherds pie and the lasagne, especially their beef madras all at a £1 each, all of which are good value and for me anyway quite appetising….

Stef.

5:26 pm
28 Jan 14
Permalink

I have lost 13.2lbs in 7 weeks.

Personally I strongly believe that in the long run a good diet is necessary to keep the weight down. I had a hard look at what I was eating and I started to cut out as many bad calories as I could possibly do: no more pop drinks, such as Coke (Diet Coke is equally bad); no more sugar in my coffee, in fact I cut out coffee completely. As little processed food as possible, i.e. no more pizza, ready made lasagne… Hardly ever white pasta or white rice, no more potatoes…

One good rule that I have read somewhere is: if you grand mother would not recognize it as food then don’t eat it! She would not know what a frozen pizza is, or ready made meals, but she would recognise peas, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts potatoes, chicken, eggs, meat and fish to just give you a couple of examples.

There is a very good book out there called The Calorie Myth, where the author explains very nicely the difference between the so called good calories and the bad calories. Your body needs a certain amount of nutrition and it doesn’t get it from pasta or rice, processed food or pop drinks. Vegetables, fruits, fish, chicken and eggs on the other hand give your body what it needs and you will be less hungry because you are not starving your body of necessary nutrition.

I got very good results from the 5:2 fasting, but I got even better results since I changed my diet completely.

Best of luck
Stef.