First Fast Day Tomorrow, Slightly Daunted at the Prospect

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kampernaut

2:11 pm
5 Feb 14
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Hello Everyone,

I am posting here for a bit of moral support and to ask a few questions from people further along than me.

I’m a 51 year old bloke with a sedentary job. Like many I tend to make new year health resolutions that quickly fizzle out. I’ve never managed to make any kind of diet stick for more than a few months and exercise regimes started in the spring just go by the wayside as soon as the weather gets bad. I hate gyms 😉 As a result I tend to lose weight in the spring and summer but it piles back on every winter. This year things got right out of hand and my BMI is now 29.8. When I discovered this is just a smidgen away from being obese, the shame helped to galvanise some action.

Inspired by re-run of The Truth About Exercise on Monday night, I bought the the fast exercise and fast diet books and just finished reading them. I intend to follow the programmes recommended in both books. I’m attracted by the gym free nature of the exercise programme and the fact that I will apparently not have to avoid any particular foods for most of the week. The will-power required to avoid particular foods for long periods of time is what usually sabotages any diet I attempt follow. Classic I know.

So to my questions:

The book recommends starting out with a single 7-minute Fast Strength workout a week and to do more as you get fitter. How many weeks did it take you to introduce extra sessions? My aerobic fitness is reasonable but I’m as weak as a robin. I can only manage one or two press ups! :blush:

I’m planning my first fasting day tomorrow. I will make sure I have the right food in the house to help avoid temptation at the supermarket. Anyone have any extra tips to help me avoid caving in to temptation that are not already in the book? I intend to keep very busy, drink lots of water, friends phone numbers at hand, bookmarks on the relevant pages in the fast diet book etc.

It seems like following the fast diet and fast exercise advice should represent a double whammy. Each book suggests you will lose 1lb a week by following the advice. Does that mean you can realistically anticipate losing 2lb/week if you follow both?

Thanks!

K

TracyJ

2:29 pm
5 Feb 14
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“Does that mean you can realistically anticipate losing 2lb/week if you follow both?”

Nope! Don’t ‘expect’ to lose anything and don’t weigh yourself for the first month would be my best advice to you. A lot of people get very spun up when they’re not losing and clog the board with “Aaaaaagh I haven’t lost anything…this doesn’t work….what am I doing wrong?” posts. They’re rarely doing anything wrong, their bodies are just not in to the weight loss stage yet. It’s VERY individual and as you don’t know what type you are until you get going, you shouldn’t ‘expect’ anything and you won’t be disappointed.

If you have visceral fat, the diet will attack that first, so you might not notice any inch-loss but you could be losing buckets of weight (that was me).

If you don’t have much visceral fat, it will move onto replacing your fat with muscle (it’s next big trick), but muscle weighs more than fat, so if that’s happening then you might not lose any weight – you might even put it ON!!! – The Horror!!! But you may notice that your trousers start falling down.

Or you may have a combo of the 2.

I don’t know anything about the fast exercise thing, so I don’t know how the combo of it & 5:2 works but as far as 5:2 is concerned. It’s the easiest ‘diet’ EVER!!! The rules are so simple and you just mold them to what suits you and your own preferences. If you think you’ll start nibbling a colleagues arm if you don’t have 3-4 tiny meals throughout the day then do that. If you think you can tough it out until dinner time on just water then definitely do that (the longer the genuine fasting period the better the health benefits). Up to you.

Just remember the mantra “I can resist anything for 1 day, I can have that tomorrow if I still want it!” and you’ll quite often find that you wake up after a fastday with no ravenous hunger calling you immediately to the kitchen and no real cravings for whatever you covetted yesterday. Just pay attention to what your body is really telling you. You’ll be able to tell the ‘lie’ of “Yeah, I’m actually thirsty” from “I’m genuinely hungry and about to faint” within a few weeks.

kampernaut

3:19 pm
5 Feb 14
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Thanks TracyJ! Just printed the mantra and pinned it to the wall near my desk.

Angie090465

4:06 pm
5 Feb 14
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Good luck Kampernault!

wishing you all the best on your journey 🙂 and TracyJ I use the same mantra on fast days lol, I look at the food I cant have and say to myself, tomorrow..
( am not mad really!! lol)

beebop

4:31 pm
5 Feb 14
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Hi Kampernault. I quit smoking 10 yrs ago after reading Alan Carr’s Easy way to Stop Smoking. That taught me so much about the positive approach required.

Don’t start the day with trepidation, start it with gusto and see it as a challenge. When you’ve passed your first regular snack time, there’s an instant victory. Before you know it, your onto lunch. Next hurdle accomplished, etc etc. Then its just an hour until your meal by which point, you are chuffin hungry but why would you want to fail for the sake of an hour.

And so it goes on, achieving day one then becomes achieving a whole week, etc. You wake up after a fast day and think, ‘yeah, I did that’ whilst tucking into a nice breakie.

I’m new to this too but have found the help on here inspiring.

kampernaut

8:56 am
11 Feb 14
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@angie090465 Thanks!!

@beebop Great psychology, thank you. 2nd fast day completed successfully yesterday. Much harder than the first day but I did it and that’s what matters!

Angie090465

9:21 am
11 Feb 14
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Well done Kampernault on completing your fast days!!

it’ll get easier 🙂

kampernaut

9:42 am
11 Feb 14
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Thanks Angie. 🙂

beebop

11:49 am
11 Feb 14
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Well done Kampernault. I’ve now done 2 weeks but did find fast #4 yesterday a really tough experience. Significant hunger all day from 10 and then just 1 hour after eaten my supper.

It is tough. I am hoping as everyone says, it will get a little easier.

That said, I feel good today having ticked off another day. going to try a different approach for Thursday and skip breakfast and have brunch instead, then eat my 300 cals later in the evening, closer to bed.

Will keep trawling for other ideas tho to help get me through the day.

Keep up the great work!

kampernaut

2:57 pm
11 Feb 14
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Thanks and well done to you too beebop!

If it is any help, I found your plan for Thursday works better for me. I also found that a long walk around noon whilst tuned into an engaging radio show or podcast helps me delay it longer.