I’m changing my fast day from tomorrow to today, but I feel much more confident about my reasons for switching after doing it the last time. It really isn’t anyone else’s business and I do need to be protective of myself. Thanks again to everyone who got me there.

If there were any lingering doubts that IF was right for me, today’s Wednesday Weigh-In results would kick them down the stairs. I dismissed another 4 LBS this week!!!

This truly works and I am beyond grateful.

20 st./6 lbs.

Had a busy day yesterday, but it turned out very well despite my concerns. Perhaps because of my concerns — because they prompted me to plan ahead.

I had family to dinner and I’d spent quite a few days trying to work out a normal-looking menu. I’m not ready for any discussion on weight loss methods, and really don’t ever intend to have a chat with them about fasting! I didn’t want to cook food I shouldn’t eat just to please others.

As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. Low carb was easy to adapt and no-one noticed anything but delicious food. Any leftovers (and there weren’t many!) were perfectly okay for me.

I also realised that I can pick my way through other people’s meals with a little care and some advance warning. It helps that people already know that I can’t eat wheat, so I usually have a safe out there.

Much as I enjoyed the visit, I was relieved to wake up this morning to another fast day. I’m trying something different today, doing a water fast until dinner. Not sure if there’s more benefit to that for me than having soup all day, but it’s worth a test to see how I do with it.

Thanks for the exercise recommendation, Austrian — there are some things I’d like to try out on that site. The walking is going well. I’m can do 20 minutes at a stretch now, but after that I begin to run into trouble with my back and hip (former injury) so I am not trying to push myself beyond reason. I definitely am feeling stronger though, and there’s a real sense of accomplishment in sticking to my promise. And yes, I’ll even admit that it’s — gasp — enjoyable! At least, it is once I stop procrastinating every day.

I was surprised how easy it was to fast until dinner yesterday. I realised last week that I was already practically doing that with my soup by drinking the broth during the day and saving the solids for later. But I wasn’t quite ready to let go of that nice warm security blanket on the stove until now.

As it turned out, I had a 22 hour fast between dinners, drinking lots of water and some tea — and I felt perfectly fine! No drops in energy, no fatigue, no hunger until about an hour before dinner. And that hunger wasn’t a crazed starving thing — just an awareness that I was looking forward to dinner. And when I finally ate it, I was satisfied with well under my 500 calories.

And now, it’s time to review my first 4 weeks and my commitment. I can’t believe it’s already been a month!

I began with a cautious commitment to 5:2, Monday/Thursday 500 calories. From the first week, I have been doing 4:3 and loving it. Then I let go of the sugar, followed by starches, which led me fairly naturally into lower carbs. Research took me to LCHF — and that’s where the whole picture came into focus.

LCHF combined with IF is the winning formula for me. I feel WELL! I have wonderful food yet the weight is dropping off. And I have a hope for the future which I never thought to have. I am, according to my bemused doctor, no longer in imminent danger of diabetes.

So, here’s my commitment for the next 4 weeks: I will continue 4:3, generally taking Monday/Thursday/Saturday for fast days of 500 calories. Further commitment will be to follow 16:8, as I’m practically doing that already.

I can’t believe it’s actually ME being able to make such promises with confidence that I can keep them, but this has changed my life forever. And I couldn’t be more grateful.

I’m also fasting today, Dragon Fly, so luck to us both! We are definitely the stronger for good company on this road.

Welcome to my little corner of the forum, Karen! Always nice to have visitors. My apologies for the lack of cake with your tea but the menu here has undergone some serious reconstruction lately!

Everyone’s needs are different, so you’ll find a pattern that works best for you, but I’m happy to share what’s working for me.

Letting go of sugar is daunting, I know. The thing is, I’m like an addict with it. It triggers binge behaviour along with a whole range of negative stuff. So why did I persist with it? Ask an alcoholic why he/she drinks. To me, it’s the same. Some people can handle it, I only know I can’t.

Your body can be cleared of sugar in three days. You can use willpower to get through that and then you’re free. Not saying it’s easy but it’s definitely an insight into what’s driving your appetite.

You may be thinking that STAYING free is the hardest part, but what you don’t realise is that once you are there your body is no longer craving sugar. At that point, it’s all in your mind and now you have the upper hand.

This is the point where you can chart a course of behaviour. Now you’re working on changing habits, creating the new responses you want to old stimuli. Reading up on cognitive therapy may be helpful here.

With the sugar gone, it may seem impossible to imagine what to eat! Don’t panic. Things will fall into place as you progress. Be self-aware and evaluate. You will know when you’re ready to advance. Your thoughts then won’t be the same ones you have now, so don’t try to project the “today you” too far into the future!

For me, my body is responding well to Low Carb High Fat eating. But again, everyone’s different. We can all fit whatever we do into IF, which is bloody amazing! You only have to read the experiences of so many people here to see that you can do it, too.

I do suggest that without the sugar, whichever path you choose will be easier. It’s not an essential food by any means! Good luck to your efforts and just keep moving forward. All the pieces of the puzzle will come together for you if you do.

Your question is exactly the one I asked myself when I first looked into LCHF, Karen. Even though I grasped the principle, my low-fat diet conditioned mind was saying: “How can I lose weight eating butter, cheese, cream — and BACON??”

There are excellent authorities out there to seek out for more scientific information on why high fat works (I highly recommend Dr Jason Fung for his ability to communicate clearly) — but I’m happy to share my experience any time.

So, here’s what I found. From the start with 5:2, I kept careful note of everything I ate so I would be able to stay within my TDEE. At first, I was eating along low-fat lines with rice, rice noodles, rice cakes, and oatmeal as my grains, beans and lentils, milk and yoghurt, veggies, fruits, small amounts of lean meat, and some eggs. Almost no oil. This was essentially low-fat/high-carb and I was calorie counting.

When I flipped fully into low-carb/high-fat, I could scarcely believe I was being urged to eat bacon and eggs and add butter to everything! Surely that couldn’t really be right? Welcome back, my old friend cheese! Oh my goodness — avocados!! But I did it for a week, lost 4 lbs, never felt hungry, had energy to burn and felt wonderful. I had zero cravings, no desire to binge, and none of the sudden drops I was accustomed to.

When I changed to LCHF, I continued to keep careful record of calories although my new focus was carb levels. Here’s the bottom line: I was eating fewer calories with high-fat than I was with high-carb, and feeling more satisfied.

I can live on this food for the rest of my life and not feel deprived. I continue to monitor it, but I don’t actually need to calorie-count again. If I get the carbs right, everything else is fine.

As I’ve said before, the sugar had to go, regardless of which direction I took. But I missed it with high-carb, and I don’t miss it at all now.

Everyone finds what works for them. This is working for me. I wish you all the best in finding the right fit for you, Karen, and I hope this helped a little.

Karen, there are varying levels of carb restriction, generally from below 20 at the strict end up to 100 at the moderate end. I am still working at finding my optimal point, but if you want to do a little research online you’ll find lots of information. I can recommend dietdoctor.com for their clear approach (available in multiple languages) and excellent recipes. Happy reading!

Well, it’s Wednesday Weigh-In already and I am delighted to report a dismissal of 1.5 lbs. It’s all finally coming together and I couldn’t be happier.

20 st./4.5 lbs.

I appreciate your kind comments, Apricot. This site is a goldmine of experience and I’ve learned so much here. I do wish I’d known about IF and LCHF earlier, but perhaps I just wasn’t ready to see it. I certainly see it all around me now!

I agree with you about the fruit. I thought I’d miss it more than I do. I do have some berries and the occasional apple, but more because I have some residual thoughts that I “ought to eat fruit” rather than needing to.

I had a slight advantage with the bread issue because I was forced to give up wheat 6 years ago. I loved baking, so that was hard. At the time, I couldn’t imagine how to eat without wheat. And yet it’s quite easy once you figure it out, and that helped me see that I could adapt again to go sugar-free.

My personal choice is to go with food that is itself, if you see what I mean, rather than a poor imitation. I’ve always disliked margarine and sweeteners. Gluten-free bread was a fail so I stopped trying to make sandwiches or toast and I defaulted to rice cakes. On the plus side, zero problems now in letting go of rice cakes!

I want real food. Food that makes other people look and say, ooo I want what SHE’S having. I can do that now. 🙂

I prepared a dish two days ago, a glorious casserole of aubergines, pork and cheeses. Absolutely within low-carb and caloric limits. It was so delicious, and I set aside half for today’s non-FD although I didn’t really want to stop. For the first time in weeks, I found myself thinking too much about food — and what I wanted was those aubergines!

I’m going to listen to my “Warning, warning, danger, danger!” meter on this one, and gently release aubergines back into the wild for now. No other food I’ve tried recently has had that effect, and I am on high alert for anything remotely connected to a binge trigger. Plenty of other fish in the sea.

Please do not click on the link provided by Caroline85. It’s promotional, and I have asked for it to be removed.

Thanks – Lolly

All this energy I seem to have found is leading me to seriously bizarre behaviour — like cleaning out closets. Where did all this stuff come from?? And why am I holding on to things I don’t even know I have?

With back issues, housework isn’t exactly my favourite activity. Waist-height up all is tidy, but there’s ALWAYS something more amusing to do than clean floors. Or closets.

Closets exist to hide things away. But today, it looks like my sitting room was attacked by an exploding charity shop. WHY do I have a toaster when I haven’t eaten bread for 6 years? Do I really need a third tea service? Did I think that this hideously yellow jumper would improve with age? Fifty pens. None working. Presents I bought for Christmas and forgot to give.

Some rubbish, more to donate, and a few old friendships to re-visit. Now my closets can be pounds lighter, too.