New Beginnings

This topic contains 18 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by Sams 11 years, 2 months ago.

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arkmead

8:27 am
24 Sep 13
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Hi,
I started the Fast Diet yesterday. I am 46 years old woman 5 feet 3 inches tall. In my 20s and early 30s I was a petite size 8. I started putting on weight after a very traumatic divorce and now weigh 14 stones with a BMI of 35. I have tried to follow different types of diets in the past but after the initial success struggled to stick to the regimes. About 36 months ago I lost 3 stones following a very low calorie diet but then as soon as I went back to normal diet I put it all back and some more. Although not a vegetarian I tend to eat a lot of vegetables and beans and small amounts of meat. I tend to drink only socially. My biggest vice food-wise is carbohydrate addiction. I love pasta, rice, bread etc. Also in the past I have been bad at eating regularly and have tended to miss breakfast and lunch.
When I heard about Fast Diet I was a bit sceptical as I had always been told that due to not eating regularly my BMR had slowed down and this was the reason I was not losing any weight. I bought the book and having read it I am excited that this way of eating actually suits my personality therefore I hope that I will be successful at sticking with it.
I have decided to kick start my metabolism with ADF so I had my first fast day yesterday. I did not eat breakfast, drank 4 cups of black coffee spread during the day. I felt a bit hungry at around 3 pm in the afternoon so had 1/4 apple as I was preparing some salad for the dinner. However this feeling soon passed and I had a small dinner of smoked herring and salad (total calories about 470). To my surprise I felt amazingly full and did not crave any carbohydrates.
This morning I woke up full of beans and found I was not hungry at all. I am looking forward to my next fast day tomorrow. Has anyone else started with ADF and if so how long before switching to 5:2. My aim is to get down to 9 stones.

vicki

11:53 am
24 Sep 13
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Hi arkmead, you sound Scandanavian? We visit Danish relatives every 3 years. I am 63 from Tasmania and started the 5:2 in January. Haven’t tries alternate day fasting but after 8 months have lost 16kg (although 9 kg was in the first 12 weeks). This just FEELS GOOD AND RIGHT
I started the lifestyle (I refuse to call it a diet) after my new doctor did the blood tests and said “lose a few kgs or have type 2!” Very scary. I was 90.8kg, cholesterol 7.2, tryglicerides 3.2, BMI 34.18. My aim is (probably) 10.2 stone or 65kg
After 12 weeks 81.5kg, cholesterol 5.9, tryglicerides 0.8 (no more diabetes threats), BMI 30.67 (still obese!)
Now, after 33 weeks 74.6kg, BMI 28.08.
I fast on WATER ONLY twice a week from after dinner day 1 to lunch day 3 (40 hours) and either swim 3km or crosstrain 1 hour 5 days a week. I feel fantastic, more energy than I have had for years and less aches and pains. No problems with sleep, headaches, anything. I think you need to understand that this is not a “diet” it really is a way of life which we can achieve and adopt for life!

Sams

12:26 pm
24 Sep 13
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Hi there,
Welcome to the forum. I started yesterday too. Actually I started in spring, but had to stop. What I first took for hunger pans appeared to be shingles, what made my summer a rather painful one. Fasting felt like asking a little too much. That’s all behind me now, I’m happy to say. I’m a 47 year old woman, 1,70 m and 85 kg (sorry, born and bred in the metric system) I want to lose at least 15 kg (about 2,5 stone) and I’m ready to do just that.
I didn’t opt for ADF. My experience is that I tend to have just a little too ambitious plans that end in failure and frustration. Not having that again. So, I thought about it, but decided against it. I’ve chosen to fast on Monday and Wednesday or Thursday. Yesterday went fairly easy. I just have breakfast (yoghurt, muesli, fruit) as I feel like I need that to get started. Then nothing for the rest of the day, except for a cup of broth at dinner time. Also, didn’t wake up hungry this morning.
What I miss most is a decent lunch break. It just doesn’t feel like a break…
I wish you luck. You’ll probably lose weight a lot faster with ADF than I will. But I’m looking forward to not having to think about fasting, but just doing it. I want to make this a regular part of my life, and with ADF I think I couldn’t manage that. It took me quite a while to get to the weight that I have now, and I’m okay with the fact that losing the weight will take time too.
Are you planning to stay on ADF for a long time? Let’s keep each other posted, maybe if you would like that too?

arkmead

2:00 pm
24 Sep 13
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Hi Vicki,
Thanks for your post. I am from UK. I am so pleased to hear that you are getting towards your goal. I am finding that I am wanting much smaller portions to eat today. Feels amazing as I expected to be hungrier. I haven’t added exercise as yet to the plan. I am so encouraged by your experience. I would like to hear further re your progress, so lets keep each other posted. I intend to stop eating after 7 pm and then break my fast around 7 pm the next day so having a 24 hour period of complete fast. I did drink black coffee, need to drink more water as it is healthier. I am determined to get fitter and have a more positive attitude to life so this is indeed a way of life.

arkmead

2:11 pm
24 Sep 13
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Hi Sams,
Its great to hear from another person who is embarking on this journey at the same time as me. Good luck this time. It will definitely be great to buddy up and keep each other motivated. I started with ADF as I have a very sluggish metabolism and on reading it appears a good way to kick start the process. As yesterday went so much more easier than anticipated, I hope to continue with ADF for another couple of weeks before dropping back to 5:2. Today I am finding my appetite to be greatly reduced, and now I am also waiting to feel hungry before eating rather than eating at particular times of the day. It is definitely a great way to learn about your own body. Although today I will stop eating around 7 pm and break my fast at 7 pm tomorrow. Stay in touch

Sams

2:35 pm
24 Sep 13
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Hi arkmead,
Yes, I feel the same. We will have our difficult moments, I’m sure, so it will be good to find support. I take my hat off for your ADF journey! (thinking about it, I’m not sure if taking your hat off is proper English (I’m Dutch), but it’s supposed to mean that I have great respect for you doing that.) I might try ADF when (or if) I reach this dreaded point of being stuck on a certain weight. Good luck with your long fast tomorrow! I’ll just have breakfast and fast until the following morning.

arkmead

2:40 pm
24 Sep 13
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Hi Sams,
Your English is perfect! Keep positive and yes we will both reach our goals. Good luck and keep smiling:)

Sams

12:26 pm
25 Sep 13
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Hi arkmead,
How are you doing today? I find my second day not too hard, again. Not feeling hungry (as yet). Almost grabbed something off the fruitbowl earlier today, but realised just in time I couldn’t today. Just shows me how often I probably eat out of habit, or just because it’s in sight. Feeling happy because it’s working. I think I really can do this! Hope you are feeling well!

arkmead

1:51 pm
25 Sep 13
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Hi Sams,
Good to hear you are finding today not too hard and were able to avoid temptation. I had a good start today felt hungry about mid afternoon not too bad but definitely noticeable, had a cup of black coffee instead of eating something and now I feel fine as the feeling disappeared. It proves that actually sometime we are thirsty more than hungry and also if you can momentarily distract away from the feeling you could actually overcome the urge. On Friday I am back at work so I am sure being busier will help the time go faster. So far so good I think I can do this too.So good that we can motivate each other.

arkmead

4:42 pm
26 Sep 13
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Hi Sams,

Hope you are keeping well. Enjoying the non fast day today, not hungry at all. I went food shopping and found thatI was not tempted at all by any of the treats on offer. Feel good about the fact that I was able to resist it. I suppose knowing that I can if I want to made it easier not to want it so much. Planning a healthy stir fry for dinner. Also I have found this amazing forum that has a lot of support and also a progress tracker. Its free to join too.
http://www.52fastdiet.co.uk

Sams

5:55 am
27 Sep 13
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Hi arkmead,
Yes, yesterday went quite well. I too went shopping for food. I was tempted by the chocolate that’s always piled up at checkout, but then I remembered I didn’t have to buy that, and moreover, that we had chocolate in the fridge at home. So I promised myself I could have a piece when I got home. Then I completely forgot about it. I went home and back to work (work from home most of the time) and never had that chocolate! Out of sight….
I don’t really eat different on my non-fast days than I did before. The only difference being that I do mot snack (except from fruit) around 4pm) We had steak pie and vegetables yesterday evening. Not exactly fat free but very satisfying. We have the inconvenient situation that my beloved man needs to take care he doesn’t get too thin. His metabolism seems to work for both of us, it’s not fair…
Do you think you’re cutting down on calories on your non-fast days? I do think I’m consuming less than before, but I don’t tell myself I have to. I wish you a good fast day today. I hope your colleagues support you too.
I’m going to have my next fast on Monday and my first weight measurement Tuesday morning.
It’s great keeping in touch in this way!

Sams

6:37 am
28 Sep 13
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Hi arkmead,
How was yesterday? I hope you had a good fast day and that you’re feeling well!

arkmead

3:19 pm
28 Sep 13
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Hi Sams,

I am glad to know that you are managing to avoid temptations too. Great isn’t it when you know that something is not banned you are more relaxed about it. The fast day went great, I felt a little hungry as usual around mid afternoon, but not so much that I wanted to eat so had a black coffee and waited for my dinner. I had a most satisfying 2 egg omelette with 1/2 red pepper, 2 mushrooms, and 1 spring onion with about 2 tbs cottage cheese and stir fried curly kale on side and a white coffee and a pear for desert. It was delicious and very satisfying. This morning when I did my weighing I was pleasantly surprised that after 1 week I had lost 8 lbs and 2 inches of my waist. My BMI was down 1.3 points too and waist: height ratio down to 66%. I was ecstatic. It was really encouraging to know that this way of eating works and I am actually enjoying the discipline of fasting. Today is my non fast day so eating normally to my TDEE approx 1700 calories. I know I am currently doing ADF so the weight loss will perhaps be quicker but I must be honest I did not expect it to be so much. Keep me posted with your progress. Have a great weekend

Sams

5:54 pm
28 Sep 13
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Oh dear, you got to be kidding! That’s spectacular! Congratulations! I’ll be quite happy to get there in a month! I’m so happy for you!
I was home alone for a large part of the day and was sort of tempted to fast, but I decided not to. I’m scared to get obsessed. I easily lose myself when I’m focussing, whether it’s on work, eating healthy (resulting in eating all the wrong things), or sports (resulting in injuries). I promised myself to handle this in a very relaxed and patient way. The most important effect I observe right now is that I feel more energetic. I’m looking forward to weighing and hoping for a positive result! I’ll let you know!
Enjoy your weekend! Are you going to fast again tomorrow?

Sams

5:45 am
1 Oct 13
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Well, today’s the day! I just weighed and I’m happy! Kg went down from 84,9 to 84,0 (so I lost almost 2lbs this week). BMI 0,3 points down to 28,1. I’m not measuring waist or legs, I suppose I will notice loss of inches when my clothes get more loose.
I hope you are doing alright? Are you stil doing ADF?

arkmead

4:43 pm
1 Oct 13
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Well done and congrats Sams. Keep up the good work. I am sure that you will soon be losing inches too. I am still doing the ADF. I am still losing weight which is good so far 9.5 lbs lost. Today is the fast day, feeling a bit hungry now, will make some dinner soon. I am still obese with BMI of 32.7 so can’t wait just to be overweight as a first small goal!!! Keep smiling

Sams

8:09 am
2 Oct 13
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Hi arkmead,
Still going strong! Your weight loss is fabulous. You lost about 5 times as much as I did! I’m happy for you. So, we’ll both be fasting tomorrow I guess. How long are you planning to stay on ADF? Do you find it doable?

arkmead

9:17 am
2 Oct 13
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Hi Sams,
Yes I will be joining you in fast tomorrow. I am sure we both will get there eventually. I am really thrilled at the weight loss but you know if you are large and have more to lose therefore you lose more initially any way. I am sure the weight loss will slow down once I have less to lose. Initially I was only planning on staying on ADF for 2 weeks and then go down to 4:3 and then to 5:2. But as I am finding it to be not too hard I think I will continue with ADF for another few weeks and then review.
Also I wonder if the increased weight loss is also due to not eating as many carbs as I did before. I am normally a carb addict and always had to have pasta, rice, bread etc. Whereas now I am having very few of those and surprisingly not craving for them as much.
Have you made any changes to your food? Enjoy the non fast day today.

Sams

9:39 am
2 Oct 13
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Happy to know that you won’t be disappointed when the weight loss slows down. And good to hear that ADF is doable. So, I can always go up to 4:3 and ADF if I need to because of any plateau I might reach.
No, I don’t think I’m changing much in my diet on non-fast days. Except that I don’t snack as much as I used to. I don’t count calories on non-fast days, I just try to eat 3 normal meals a day, and two snacks, fruit or a pumpkinseed cracker or something like that. Nothing after dinner.
Some time ago I ate following Montignac rules: not eating carbs and proteins at the same time and only eating foods with low glycemic loads. That worked very well, lsot about 10 kg, but I wasn’t able to keep doing that, it’s just too hard and too complicated. So over the last couple of years those 10 kg grew back on me.
The good thing about it is that I learned a lot about which foods to avoid. Not that I actually do, but I’m aware of which foods I shouldn’t have too much of. I know now that eating grapes has about the same effect on your weight and blood sugar level as eating the same amount of sweets. So, grapes have become a luxury for me (like they used to be in the old days). And also that you can compensate for eating high glycemic food by combining them with low glycemic food: so eat a heap of salad right before your baked potato 🙂
It might explain why you don’t crave as much as you used to: foods with lots of fast-absorbed carbs heighten your bloodsugar level quite quickly, which gives you a little bit of a “cick” but after that it gets down very quickly too, which makes you wanting more…. So, fast carbs are addictive, in a way. You’re getting rid of that now, by the sound of it. And that’s great!