New Fast Dieter here, with 40+ lbs to lose.

This topic contains 50 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by Phillip Beer 9 years, 10 months ago.

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primalesbiana8

5:31 pm
26 Nov 14
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Hello everyone!

Just getting started this week, on Monday. Any tips and advice welcome!

Background on me: I am a 24-year-old female, currently weigh 177.8 pounds at a height of 5’3″, and I eat a (mostly) paleo/primal diet, except for when I eat French fries and gluten-free baked goods from time to time. I started off gluten-free (after reading Wheat Belly), then transitioned to paleo over a year ago. In that time, I went from 208 pounds to my current 177 pounds, my skin cleared, my seasonal depression and anxiety disappeared, and my period regulated. My blood-work became phenomenal. I also experimented with carb restriction and eating high fat, low carb during that time as well – used ketostix and everything!

I felt amazing while in ketosis recently, and it is what helped me get from 188 or so to my current 177, but then the weight loss stalled. I tried a carb refeeding to reset my leptin levels, but then found it so difficult to motivate myself to get back into ketosis – I love French fries too much! I decided low-carb was not a sustainable lifestyle choice for me.

I did some research and happened upon this lifestyle, and decided to give it a go! I’ve experimented with intermittent fasting in the past, and have used strategic 24-hour fasts (successfully) to combat weight gain after days of overeating. It never occurred to me to use it for ongoing weight loss though.

My goal is to weigh 135 pounds. I lift weights, sprint and walk frequently, so I am also hoping to be a very lean, muscular 135 pounds. My waist is currently 36.5″ – hoping to reduce that as well. I am a size 16 in bottoms, a now very loose 16, but my goal is to be at least a size 8.

So far:

Monday, 11/24/14 – FAST DAY
Weight: 177.4 lbs

Tuesday, 11/25/14 – FEAST DAY
Weight: 176.6 lbs

Wednesday (today), 11/25/14 – FAST DAY
Weight: 177.8 lbs

I want to make sure this is normal. What kind of fluctuations can be expected?

I am planning to fast Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with the occasional Saturday or Sunday thrown in. I want to lose at least 1.5 lbs per week, but will be happy with 1 lb as well.

simcoeluv

8:08 pm
26 Nov 14
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Hi primalesbiana8 and welcome:

Here is some information that might help: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Your weight can vary up to 2 or more pounds a day regardless of any diet you might be on, so you just have to get used to it – or not weigh so often.

Good Luck!

primalesbiana8

12:07 am
27 Nov 14
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Thank you, the post that link led me to was very helpful!

Phillip Beer

7:38 pm
27 Nov 14
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Hi primalesbiana8, I am on a very similar path to yours. I too went gluten free after reading wheat Belly and at the same time I read The fast diet and started intermittent fasting on the 5:2 model at the same time. Another good wheat book is Grain Brain. Have you read it? I believe you can never know to much about how your body works and how you can make it work as it was meant to. I am currently reading “The Blood Sugar Solution 10 Day Detox Diet by Mark Hyman, MD. He is a favorite doctor/author of mine. It is a very informative book. He authored a book titled “The Ultra brain Diet which got me started reading his books. It was a very fascinating book full of possibilities and they are all based on eating the right foods and excercising.
Some of the things I like about fasting are 1. It is so easy to do. I was apprehensive about it the first day. I thought I would be starving to death by the end of the first day but it was remarkably easy. (That is remarkable because I have always had a huge appitite and I love to eat and I like everything and big portions.) The thing that makes it so easy is that I know that tomarrow I can eat whatever I want. 2. The other health benefits which are many like balancing sugar, lowering blood presure longevity and much more are all things I definitely want to take place in my body. I have inflamation especially in my knees that has decreased significantly as a result of my fasting and dieting. 3. It works in concert easily with other diets and thus double ensures results. I am not gluten sensitive but gluten sensitivity does not as I am sure you are aware always manifest as celiacs desease. There are many negative ways it effects your health besides manifesting as celiacs. After reading those books it scared me very deeply and it also gave me a new understanding of the dangers of genetically modifying our food supply. Corn for example that is 3 times sweeter and has a much longer picking window is probably 3 time as fattening and who knows what dangers those changes might effect that are not as easily recognised. Dr.Hyman calls the dwarf hybrinized wheat we are growing world wide Frankenwheat.Food and especially proteins are not just sustinance but information to our body. They set a whole chain of reaction in motion in the body. The wrong foods start a very negative chain of events that make us fat and sick. The right foods set into motion healing and vibrent health. In other words food can be either good medicine or poison. As for the french fries we all have our weeknesses. My sugestion would be to try not to eat them often but just once in a while. On my non fast days I eat some things that are not so good for me like potato chips but not to many of them. I try to eat lots of non fried fish and lots of vegitables especially cruciferious veggies like broccoli. I am close to being a paleo man but not entirely. Good luck with your diet and weight loss. You sound like you are definately determined and committed and that is a good possitive place to be in your mind. Let me know how you are doing and I will cheer you on.

primalesbiana8

5:09 am
28 Nov 14
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Hi Phillip Beer, thank you for your encouraging and informative response. I actually recently read Grain Brain and loved it. I did the Grain Brain challenge, which is when I went into ketosis, and I still take all of the recommended supplements, plus a few others, and feel excellent on them. I’m going to have to check out that book by Mark Hyman, MD – sounds right up my alley.

Your reduced inflammation in your knees is wonderful, among other things; I have quite a few members of my family who are chronically inflamed and suffer from knee pain and swelling, but won’t try paleo/primal or gluten-free, but perhaps fasting could help them.

Interesting you mentioned corn – I used to be lax about it, but now I have come to recognize very immediate symptoms after consuming it, including leg pain and shakiness. (I realized that the feeling I always thought was “growing pains” as a teen was probably the corn I was consuming!)

Yes, the French fries – I allow them every once in a while, thankfully, I’ve gotten better about avoiding them. It’s quite convenient that one of my fast days falls on Friday because will help me avoid the specialty French fry food-truck that parks by my job on those days.

Thank you again for the encouragement and advice. I plan to continue updating this post with my progress. Today was Thanksgiving here in the great US of A, and I ate terribly, though I did high intensity exercise this morning and spent much of the day fasted. I’m pretty sure I still managed to eat about 4000 calories this evening though!

Tomorrow, I plan to fast, possibly a total water fast since I am feeling so incredibly stuffed!

Phillip Beer

2:11 am
29 Nov 14
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Hi Primalesbiana8 how are you today. Hope you are back on track today. I think you are because I can tell you are a trooper. It seems we are on such similar diet paths. You started out at 208 lbs and have lost 30 lbs at 178.8. I started dieting at 230 lbs and am now around 200 lbs. 30 lbs. also. I was about 198 last weighing but you know how much it fluctuates up and down a few pounds either way. It has been very encouraging as I have watched it creep downward little by little. My immediate goal is to drop below 190 lbs. That will be a real mile stone as it will be the lowest my weight has been in years. I have got to tell you that at 60 years old and 230 lbs. I felt physically terrible. My arthritis and muscle aches hurt all over and my knees hurt so bad that I could hardly walk. Walking was especially bad on the concrete floors in the factory where I work. My gut was getting so big and tight I felt like it was about to explode. The presure on my organs made me feel very bad. On top of everything else I was disgusted with myself. I just kept getting bigger and bigger. Up until I was in my late 40s I ate like a horse and was skinny as a rail. I am a city councilman and at 230 lbs. all my suits were getting so tight I couldn’t get them on any longer. I knew that I had to do something about my weight. That was mid Sept. when I started restricting carbs. In mid Oct. I went gluten free and started the 5:2 diet fasts. My goal is to get down to 175 lbs. and then determine wether or not I want to lose any additional pounds. When I was around this weight my wife and I attended a Civil War re-enactors Ball and I wore her father’s old Night’s of Columbus tuxedo and cape with my vitage beaver skin top hat (like Abe Lincoln’s top hat) and people were saying how much I resembled John Brown (from John Brown’s raid just before the Civil War). My goal is to wear it again. At 24 perhaps I seem like an old man to you. I remember how old that seemed to me when I was your age but once you get here you think that there is still lots of things to live for and lots of things to do. At 230 lbs. I felt like I was about to die and I am not ready for that so I am fighting back and am going to take charge of my life now and I am not letting anyone shove birthday cake in my face anymore or say come on just this one time won’t hurt you. I have walked away from some of my favorite foods such as pizza but that is ok. I think it helps if you have a paradigm shift of consciousness. It helps tremendously if you begin to see a pizza or a double gulp drink or a coke (including diet coke) and so many other things as poison then it become easy to steer clear of it. Some things can be eaten very sparingly with careful consideration but mostly if we want to be healthy and slim we must embark on a new path. My family has a history of diabetis. My mom had it and my brother and sister have it. I am trying to warn them but you can only say so much to people before you anger them and also it is hard to say things if you are not the model of health yourself. So I guess I must consentrate on me, stick to the program, and reach the goal and then maybe others will listen. America is becoming a nation of fatties so our country needs people to show others how to loses the pounds. Lets do it. I plan to start some kind of light excersize soon to help me even more. Your old guy diet friend Phil

primalesbiana8

1:28 pm
29 Nov 14
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Yes, we do have similar weight loss journeys! I could definitely have ended up at 230 pounds too – I was definitely working my way there. As for today, I weighed in at 175.4. A loss of 2 lbs since I began at 177.4. (I am fixing my official weigh-in day on Saturdays.) I am impressed.

My own immediate goal is to be 169 pounds. Just to be back in the 160s will feel so great! I haven’t been there since 2009, and though I will still have more weight to lose at that point, I remember feeling nice at that size. I’m very hourglass-shaped, with some more concentration in the hips, and when I was last in the 160s, I had really no belly at all. I’m looking forward to that. I’m almost there!

I too have come to view certain foods as “poison” and it works so well. I’m no longer tempted by wheat products for even a second – I have a very vivid mental picture of what happens when I consume them, and it truly freaks me out. It’s hard for me to watch others consume poisonous foods. Not in a judgmental way, but it always makes me worry for them and what they are doing to their bodies everyday, all day long. Working in the medical field, for this reason, can be quite stressful.

I totally understand about friends/family getting angry with you. I too have come to realize that I need to finish my own health journey successfully before most people will follow. That is actually what motivates me more than anything at this point – the powerful story I will be able to share, the “before-and-after” that I hope will open people’s minds to nourishing their bodies and not just giving in to the onset of chronic diseases and cancers.

katser12

3:11 pm
29 Nov 14
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Hi primalesbiana8, I have been fasting for about 2 weeks now and have lost only 3lbs. Not as well as I had hoped but recently worked out my tdee and realized I was eating too much on non fast days. I need/want to lose 7lbs by Christmas so am really trying hard. I have had a very long relationship with weight control and was only truly happy for the first time last summer when I went on holiday and actually wore shorts that fitted. My biggest problem is my husband (whom I adore) but he is totally against fasting. I can only fast on days where he is away at work for long days, which is only twice a week. The rest of the week he often cooks and, understandably, gets upset if I don’t eat what he’s lovingly created. It’s really difficult but this time, I am more determined to shed those huge UNWANTED POUNDS and be the smaller person who is desperately trying to get out. Please let me know how your journey is going. I think having a support network is the only way forward for me.

Phillip Beer

4:24 pm
29 Nov 14
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Hi Primalesbiana8 and Katser12, I came here looking for a weight loss social network as well. They say that it is easier to lose weight with a social network. I sympathize with you as far as friends and family resistance are concerned and sometimes even friends and coworkers are obstacles to success. Sometimes I think they are threaten by our efforts and fear that they will be presured to do something with their own lives if we succeed. I don’t talk with to many of them about what I am doing especially at any length. I to look around at what people are doing to themselves but I can not be to judgmental as I have for so many years done the same. It is to bad Katser12 that you can not get your husband to read the fast diet book and see all the deeper health benefits to fasting. It sounds like he is afraid of you becoming anorectic and is actually worried about your health. He may also like you at your current weight. /don’t be discouraged about losing only 3 lbs. That is not a bad loss for 2 weeks and remember weight varies with the time of day and fluctuates up and down. as long as you are moving ever downward little by little it is good. Your goal is not unreasonable and I think you have time to reach it. Are you exercising at all?
Primalesbiana8: Yes won’t it be nice to hit that 160 lbs. mark. With every 10 pounds it feel so much better and we feel so much lighter. gotta go though so we will talk more later.

katser12

5:32 pm
29 Nov 14
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Hi Phillip Beer thank you so much for your message, it really helped. I don’t think my husband is worried about me being anorexic, he often comments that I need to lose weight. I am 10 st 7 lbs and should be 9st 10lbs so have a long way to go. I totally agree that the social help network is the best way to succeed and for me, I think it’s the only way to succeed. Thank you so much for your advice and I look forward to hearing from you again, good luck.

Phillip Beer

3:54 am
30 Nov 14
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Kaster12 : I feel like a dumby but I don’t understand what you mean by “10 st 7 lbs” what is st ? Please explain to this dumb old guy.

Phillip Beer

4:50 am
30 Nov 14
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Primalesbiana8: One of the things that feels so good to me about losing weight is the feeling of being lighter. The pressure on my stomach and organs is much less. It makes me think how much better I will feel when I take off another ten pounds. I will tell you guys my own funny way of looking at my weight loss. In trying to visualize what would give me a visual image of what would represent each pound I take off of my fat gut I came up with it in the grocery store. You guys are probably going to laugh at the old man but I bet you won’t be able to get this out of your heads. I looked at a 1 lb. (16 oz.) pack of bologna and it hit me that each pound of fat that I burned off in my diet was like one of those packs of bologna. So I have so far burned off 30 packs of bologna. If you loose 3 lbs. that is 3 packs of bologna which is no small amount to melt off your body. Maybe you are laughing hard by now but it is just how I visualize it and it helps me to envision what each pound off amounts to and how much 10 lbs amounts to.
Now on a more serious note do you know how much importance omega 3 plays in your diet? It is a major reducer of inflammation. Inflammation makes us get fat. It is also extremely important to the cell walls throughout your body. Think of it this way. Other fats and oils turn to solids when they get cold. Fish oil remains fluid. It is much more pliable and therefore makes your cell walls much more flexible so that it diminishes greatly insulin resistance. If you are not like me (I eat sardines and all forms of fish including anchovies.) you should take lots of fish oil supplements.You should take 1200 mg. two to three times a day. If you eat lots of fish you should eat lots of cruciferous vegitables such as broccoli and eggs and nuts and seeds so that your brain can make plenty of glutathione which will carry out poisons like mercury. Sardines are one of the safest fish to eat as well as one of the highest in omega 3. The ones in olive oil are the best for you as well as better tasting. I imagine if you are like so many people you just can’t stomach eating them so be sure to get it from supplements. Just a thought. It is an important part of helping your body to burn sugar instead of pushing it into fat cells. Perhaps you already knew this but I thought I would bring it up just in case.

katser12

10:32 am
30 Nov 14
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Hi Philip Beer, one ‘st’ (stone) is equivalent to 14lbs, so I am 147 pounds, hope that helps.

katser12

10:38 am
30 Nov 14
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Hi Phillip Beer, in answer to your question do i exercise, yes but only walking, about 30 mins 5 times a week and yoga 2 times a week. It really interesting what you said about fat and fish oils . I have an arthritic hip, which I was advised to have replaced 2 yrs ago, but as I as self employed and do not agree that surgery is the only answer, I started to take for the past 6 months very high doses of omega fish which really help.

primalesbiana8

3:55 pm
30 Nov 14
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Phillip Beer, love the mental picture of the 1 pound of bologna! I am totally going to use that now, especially when I struggle with feeling like the weight loss is slow.

I am big on omega 3s myself. 🙂 I take fish oil daily and I use grassfed butter (Kerrygold) in my cooking and even drink it in my coffee! Ever heard of bulletproof coffee? It’s very delicious and I find that it’s not only a great way to incorporate more healthy fat into my diet, but an awesome start to the day as it provides slowly absorbed energy for hours. I think so clearly and feel so creative and energetic when I drink it. I’m planning to drink it for breakfast on most of my fast days.

So update on me – I pigged out yesterday and ate more than I should have, but I am making up for it today by eating very light (my official fast days are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). Thanksgiving leftovers + a late night out with a friend. I love that I don’t really feel guilty though – no more beating myself up and thinking, “I’ll start again on Monday!” This way of eating is fantastic.

Phillip Beer

2:17 am
1 Dec 14
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Katser12 If 9 st = 126 lbs. + 10 lbs then you only need to lose 11 lbs. You can do it I am sure.

Phillip Beer

2:19 am
1 Dec 14
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Katser12 It sounds like you are on a great exercise program. I plan to start walking this week.

Phillip Beer

2:27 am
1 Dec 14
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primalesbiana8 I have read of the butter coffee. I believe it comes from a Tibetan practice of putting Yak butter in tea. I have heard it is very good for you. Glad you are all doing your omega 3s The cell wall pliability also lets oxygen into your cells to burn in your cells mitochondria which are your body’s power plants. Exercise causes your cells to build more mitochondria. Oxygen stokes the fat burning fires.

katser12

8:27 am
1 Dec 14
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Hi Phillip Beer, How you doing? I have just finished another week and lost 2 pounds, really pleased with that. Going to be really positive and just take one day at a time. Omega 3 oils have made a huge difference to my hip pain, I very rarely take any pain killers at all. I also think drinking a lot of water helps but I’m not very good at that so this week my goal is to drink more water (and be more positive). Off to see Peter Gabriel in concert tonight, can’t wait, speak to you soon, I hope, and thank you for all your encouragement.

Phillip Beer

6:46 pm
1 Dec 14
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Kaster12: I always try to drink a big glass of water when I am packing my lunch first thing in the morning. If I am sitting reading a book I have a glass of water by me. I take a couple of bottles of water in my lunch. Drinking water and staying hydrated takes a bit of conscious effort. It is easier on fast day because they say that often when we think we are hungry we are really thirsty. They also say a glass or two before a meal helps you to not be tempted to eat to much. Well I am on break and have to go back to work. Have fun at the Peter Gabriel concert tonight.

braxtondylon

9:26 am
3 Dec 14
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weight loss is never so easy for any one. A proper diet plan is required for weight loss and we also needs a regular diet plan. There are many exercise plan syou can pick up for weight lose.

abop

3:21 pm
3 Dec 14
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Goal: Get to under 200lb by christmas
28/09/14: 223lbs
05/10/14: 216lbs (-7lb)
12/10/14: 214lbs (-2lb)
19/10/14: 212lbs (-2lb)
26/10/14: 210lbs (-2lb)
02/11/14: 207lbs (-3lb)
09/11/14: 205lbs (-2lb)
16/11/14: 203lbs (-2lb)
23/11/14: 201lbs (-2lb)
30/11/14: 200lbs (-1lb)

Total loss: 23lb (1lb left to go)

hey primalesbiana8, thought I would share my weightloss journey with you as I also do 4:3, fasting on Monday Wednesday and Friday, been doing this for nine weeks. I am female, 5ft7 and weighed 260lbs after having my son 3 years ago, have lost weight through various methods but never managed to stick at diets for very long. I try to mind the carbs a little bit as had gestational diabetes when pregnant with my daughter, who is now a year but apart from that don’t worry about what I eat on my eat days too much but do count calories in the week to make sure I am not going way over. Found this woe so easy and sustainable, you have already done so well, hopefully you will have continued success with weight loss whilst you do 5:2, it has definetly worked for me 🙂

jenalys

7:08 pm
3 Dec 14
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Hey primalesbiana8. I thought I’d reach out because I have similar goals. I am also 24 and have gained around 40 lbs over the past year and I am absolutely fed up. I was always around 125lbs so to gain this much has been difficult to say the least and I barely have any clothes that fit! I was doing keto for about a month but when I screwed up at the end of October, I have been pushing back starting it since then (vacation and Thanksgiving got in the way) So I am actually going to try and do this and keto for at least my first month and then ease my way back into eating carbs because I like you am tooo in love with fries and really anything with carbs to give it up forever. I also used to do paleo but that was even harder than keto for me personally. I am holding off on weighing myself for probably a month. I would love to read everybody elses comments but I am at work right now so I will write more later!

primalesbiana8

1:09 pm
4 Dec 14
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Abop: Your weight loss is so inspiring! 😀 I shared it with my mother and friends who are also participating in the 4:3, and it really encouraged us all. Thank you so very much for sharing! Please continue to update with your progress.

Jenalys: We have very similar backgrounds.. and yes, aren’t French fries the best?! Lol. I could just never give those up long-term. As for paleo being hard – I actually do more of a “primal” lifestyle, and probably about 80-90% of the time. I love Mark Sisson’s take on paleo – it’s a lot more sustainable and you still reap many of the benefits. For example, he supports those who choose to consume dairy, but encourages one to eat raw or grass-fed dairy, etc. (I’d be hard-pressed to give up cheese.) For me, it’s become easier because I feel like crap when I eat certain foods. It’s helped me understand my body more.. I know, for example, that dairy causes me to have sinus congestion, but doesn’t give me the depression, anxiety, and bloating that wheat does, so I still eat it sometimes. What I really love about this whole fasting lifestyle is that it seems to undo a lot of the damage we do to our bodies by eating inflammatory foods. I’m really impressed by it.

Please keep updated with your progress as well! 🙂 My official weigh-in is on Saturday mornings, so I will post progress on those days.

Phillip Beer

2:32 pm
5 Dec 14
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Hi primalesbiana8 and Jenalys. We all have food weekness. I love cheese. I have been thinking about doing the Blood Sugar Solution 10 day Detox diet where you have do give up gluten, dairy, any sugar filled processed foods and more and then reintroduce them after the detox one at a time to see how your body reacts to them. Like you guys and fries I would have a very hard time giving up cheese. I agree that that is one of the beautiful things about fasting is that it makes up for what you eat (within sensibility) on the non fast days. More later. I have been extremely busy.

primalesbiana8

12:25 pm
6 Dec 14
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I have always wanted to do one of those detoxes, but not quite so motivated, haha. I just know that, like you, cheese is not something I plan to give up.. I just moderate it and try not to keep it in the house all the time.

Update: I weighed in at 174.2 lbs today. 😀 I’ve lost 3.2 lbs since I started 4:3 just a little less than 2 weeks ago, just a bit over what I expected to lose. I lost 1.2 lbs this week. I’m very happy with this way of eating; I really hope to continue to lose weight. It’s so easy for me!

How is everyone doing? 🙂

Phillip Beer

1:16 pm
6 Dec 14
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primalesbiana8 it sounds like you are doing great on your fast results. 3.2 lbs. is very good. Won’t it be so great when we reach our goals. Week by week a pound, a pound and a half, 2 pounds is great. Before you know it we will be there. When I was slim it seems people treated me with more respect. Perhaps I had more self esteem and self respect. I want to be able to look in the mirror and like what I see. Not that I want to be a player at 60 years of age but it would be nice to look slim and trim and healthy and be looked at as an attractive older man. I too think this fasting is very easy to do compared with other diets. I am just below 200 lbs now and am moving down slow but sure. I want to get into an exercise routine to help move it along and also to build muscle rather than lose muscle mass. Once I reach my goal I plan to fast once a week just to reap its many health benefit. I consider this as a new way of living. Stay on coarse you are doing great. I know you can do it.

jenalys

12:09 am
11 Dec 14
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How is everyone doing? For my last fast I went 27 hours without eating. I ate a 500 cal lunch at 11am and didn’t eat until 2 pm the next day. I have realized that I need to get in the habit of cooking. I have been eating out all the time lately which makes it nearly impossible to correctly count calories plus restaurant food is always loaded with extra calories! So silly of me!!

Phillip Beer

11:55 pm
11 Dec 14
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jenalys, it sounds like you are holding fast to the fasts. Don’t beat yourself up to much on not being strict down to the calorie. I think as long as you get close to the 500 calories it is what is important. I think most of us indulge in certain foods but I know for me I have always been a big eater and 600 calories for me on the average is probably a tenth of what I would eat on a normal day. I am 60 years old and up until I was in my late 40s I ate like a horse and was skinny as a rail. The point is that I don’t think any of us can make up for the calories we slash off on our fast days. You just can’t eat that much. I think that is one of the beauties of the fast diet. Most people when you mention fasting get this terrified look on their face like they are thinking Starvation. They just don’t understand when you tell them it is easy to do. They think we are doing some kind of outlandish thing. As for me I am just below 200 lbs. I have noticed that my weight fluctuates plus or minus 4 or 5 lbs. but as I diet it move slowly down. My weight now is staying below 200 lbs. The other day it was about 196. I don’t know exactly because we do not have a digital scale. Anyway I hope everyone is doing fine and losing weight.

primalesbiana8

10:23 pm
13 Dec 14
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So a quick update on me: I now weigh 173.8 lbs as of this morning, the lowest I have seen in years! I technically only lost .4 lbs this week, but I’m happy with that — there has been a consistent downward trend and that’s all I can really ask for. It is also that time of the month for me, so I know that I am a bit heavier anyway. I’ll be interested to see what I weigh next Saturday morning once my hormones have settled down and my stomach doesn’t feel so bloated!

Either way, I am so satisfied with this way of eating and won’t be changing it. I have such vivid dreams on my fasting nights too – I literally look forward to going to sleep to see what my brain will come up with next!

Hope everyone else is doing well! 🙂

Phillip Beer

3:10 am
14 Dec 14
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primalesbiana8, Sounds like you are moving down, down’ down and that is great! I am also moving slowly but surely down. I weighed myself this morning and I was 197.5. I haven’t been under 200 for a long time. I believe we are on the right track and we can really do it. I’ll be cheering you on. Like you I like this way of eating and I plan to make it my way of living. Even after reaching my goal I plan to fast once a week. It gives the body a break. It is kind of like rebooting your system. Wow! 4 lbs. that is really great.

Phillip Beer

12:27 am
18 Dec 14
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I know everybody is busy with the Christmas Season at hand but I would love to hear from all of you if not before Christmas then after. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years. I hope you are all successful in your weight loss endeavors and in all other aspects of your lives. I am fasting today again. It is now my way of life. I’d love to talk with all of you when you get a chance.

Phil

primalesbiana8

12:50 pm
18 Dec 14
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Hi Phillip Beer, thanks for your encouragement! Yes, things are definitely busy around here with the Christmas season.

This week has been a particularly tough one for me; I’ve been disciplined on my fasts days, but truly feasting on my feed days and eating way too much sugar! All those dessert trays brought in by vendors at work. I’ve stayed away from gluten, but ate plenty of fudge and crust-free cheesecake to make up for it, lol. Interestingly enough though, I’ve been weighing less after my feed days, in comparison to my fast days! 0_0 Fluctuations are so interesting.

For the next 2 weeks, my goal is to fast on Monday and Friday (skipping Wednesday). I’m bringing it down to 2 days so I can be realistic with myself and enjoy the holidays.

I am actually viewing these next 3 weeks (including this current one) as something of an experiment. I’m curious whether my feasting will completely offset weight loss, whether I’ll maintain my weight or simply lose less. In her book on alternate-day dieting, Krista Varady found that people just don’t eat enough on their feast days to make up for what they didn’t eat the day before; study participants were consistently in a caloric deficit. We’ll see!

I’ll be happy to just maintain my weight over the holidays, personally. We’ll see!

Phillip Beer

3:28 am
19 Dec 14
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Hi primalesbiana8, Yes the holidays are a real challenge to us. We had our Christmas party at work today and I didn’t do to bad. I am far from perfect when it comes to eating right but it helps if you get to see food in it’s proper light. so much of it is little more than poison and as addictive as heroin. I silently watch so many of the people around me killing themselves with the food they eat. They love to eat the worst things for them and hate to eat the good things. They say that the average American eats 22 tsp of sugar daily. Roughly 4 grams of sugar = 1 tsp of sugar. I was looking at the cheap hot dogs I usually buy and eat without a bun. they had 2 grams per dog so 2 of them have a tsp of sugar in them. Spaghetti sauce has 10 grams in a half cup, my vegetable juice has 8 grams in a cup. It is in everything. National Geographic says we eat 77 pounds of granulated sugar per year but some other sources say we eat more like 150 lbs per year. I believe Geographic is not including High Fructose Corn syrup (HFCS). Sodas for example are about 45% HFCS. Just think 150 divided by 5 equals 30 five lb. bags of sugar is what the average American consumes each year. So of us eat a lot more. If you get a chance read National Geographic’s aug. 2013 issue. The cover story is ” Sugar: Why We Can’t Resist it.” It is a real eye opener. To quote from it. “Recently the American Heart Association added its voice to the warnings against too much added sugar in the diet. But its rationale is that sugar provides calories with no nutritional benefit. According to Johnson (Dr. Richard Johnson who is an Nephrologist at the University of Colorado Denver)and his colleagues, this misses the point. Excessive sugar isn’t just empty calories; it’s toxic.” It is truly an addiction. The more of it you eat the more you crave it. However the less you eat it the less you crave it. As foe your 4:3 fast. I don’t think it will hurt you to do the 5:2 for a while and I think you will still lose weight. We can not eat enough on feast days to make up for what we cut out on fast days. I have always been a ferocious eater. I probably ate at least 4 or 5 thousand calories a day. So if I on fast day eat 600 calories on fast day I am cutting out 3 to 4 thousand calories per fast day from my diet. It is not possible to eat enough to catch back up. I will talk more with you soon.

Phillip Beer

1:35 pm
19 Dec 14
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primalesbiana8, being realistic with yourself is a good thing. This is meant to be a very pliable diet where you can switch fasting days to accommodate your schedules and if you are doing 4:3 you have more room to modify like you are contemplating in going to a 5:2 for a while on the holidays. If you schedule your fasts around your schedule you can literally have your cake and eat it too. Remember that there are actually no food restrictions on feast days other than rules we self impose on ourselves like no gluten or no sugar foods, no carbohydrates or whatever else we are adding to the fast diet. The fast diet is meant to work regardless of what we do to help ourselves reach our goals. Just remember that just because a loved one makes something is not a reason that we have to eat it. I did perfectly well on Thanksgiving without stuffing, limited potatoes, and no desert. Well actually I did have a couple of no bake no gluten chocolate cookies made with coconut oil. You know it is true that if you make them see we are serious then most often they will try hard to make something special that we can eat. In all seriousness though at your young age you can not see as clearly as I do the life and death struggle with being over weight. It can make all the difference in having a long life vs sickness, disease and a life cut short. What we eat is so very important to our life and health. Hope you have a great holiday and are successful at resisting most of culinary temptations. Remember if we fall off the wagon we have only to jump back on. Good luck.

jenalys

12:34 am
20 Dec 14
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Hi everyone! I’ve realized I need a scale because I have no clue if any weight is coming off!! Sounds like everyone is doing well:) the holidays might get the best of us on our feed days but no reason we can’t pick two days to fast on, am I right?! I guess it’s easy for me to stay, I’m working most of the week and won’t get to be around family and have no holiday parties to go to. That’s what happens when u move to a new city and work retail. Phillip you make a good point when it comes to sugar. It’s in everything these days it’s so stupid!! I’m trying hard to eat only natural foods and nothing in a can or package but it is tough to be perfect. Can’t decide if I will get out of keto during Christmas or just give myself a break and eat some sweets!!

Phillip Beer

4:21 am
20 Dec 14
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jenalys,educate me. If I am right Keto is the state of fat burning when you cut off the carbohydrates which forces your body to switch over to burning fat for fuel? Am I right or a million miles off? Sweets have never been a big problem for me. For me it has always been a big pile of mashed potatoes and gravy, an equal amount of stuffing, a lot of everything else on the main course both good and bad and then seconds. I love good food. I might eat desert but usually I didn’t have room for it. I went gluten free and I have committed myself to never eating these foods again. I am sure that there are gluten free alternatives to most of these loved gluten foods like spaghetti, and pizza and a million other gluten foods but I am firm on this no gluten thing. So that eliminates 90 % of the sweets. I will eat fine deserts made with Cocoa like my wife’s no bake chocolate cookies made with coconut oil. Yum Yum! I will however limit it to just a few at a time. I like you am trying to include more and more toward natural foods like our ancestors ate. I am always trying to include more vegetables in my diet and a fair amount of fruit. I do have my short comings though. I love hot dogs in a pinch and eat them without bread but they often have a fair amount of sugar in them unless you are willing to buy the expensive ones. Today I found a brand at at Aldi food market called “fit & active Turkey franks” for just $1.29 a pack with 0 grams of sugar. Do you have the Aldi markets where you live? Just remember to try to put the brakes on a bit over the holidays, fast, and remember that most of us are not going to be perfect either but I believe we will do much better then we think. If we fail though we have only to get back on the train to head for a better body, better health, and a better state of being. Together we will all do it.

jenalys

4:52 am
20 Dec 14
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Yes you’re right I try to limit my carbohydrate to about 25 g a day. I’m allergic to wheat so I try to be gluten-free but sometimes it’s hard!! No I actually have never heard of that market. And when I comes to meat I only eat organic and humanely raised meat so I don’t have to worry too much about sugar because organic products tend to not have too much when it comes to meat. I know that I definitely won’t eat as badly as I am used to eating over the holidays but I’m definitely not going to completely limit myself either 🙂

primalesbiana8

2:45 pm
20 Dec 14
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So my weigh-in this week! Very happy – I weighed in at 172.6, so another 1.2 lbs lost this week. 🙂 And I have to say, I truly feasted on my feed days. I’m really thinking I’ll be able to meet my goal of being back in the 160s by the time I start the new semester of school (third week of January).

@jenalys – Shame you have to work so much of this next week! :/ When it comes to staying in ketosis or eating some carbs, just see how you feel perhaps? It can be good to have a carb refeed and reset your leptin, so the holidays may be a perfect opportunity to do that.

@phillip Beer – Thank you for your constant encouragement. 🙂 It really helps me stay focused!

Have you guys ever heard of Weilos? It’s a really cool app, a weight loss community. I like it a lot – lots of inspiring before and afters and opportunities to encourage and be encouraged by others. My username on there is lezbprimal if you do check it out.

jenalys

10:19 pm
20 Dec 14
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Great job girl!! You’ve got a point about the reset but last time I got out of ketosis it took me a long time to get back.. But my bf is going to do it with me for the month of January so that should help. I finally got a scale . My official first weight in today I was 165. Let’s see that number go down !!

primalesbiana8

1:10 am
28 Dec 14
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Hello everyone! 🙂 I hope you all had an excellent holiday week.

So my Saturday update is as follows – I weighed in at 176.6 this morning! >_< 4 lb. weight gain this week. I really ate a ridiculous amount of sugar each day (didn’t end up fasting until yesterday) and paid dearly for it, not just in weight gain: I experienced acid reflux, heart palpitations, I was grinding my teeth at night with anxiety, woke up feeling depressed and even tearful a few days into my sugar-devouring.. it was bad!

I actually did a total liquid fast yesterday, drinking just coffee, tea, and beef bone broth. (Yesterday morning, I weighed 178!) I did the same today, and depending on the weather, may just drink broth tomorrow. I knew I might gain 1-2 pounds this week, 4 lbs! When you’re losing weight at a pace of .5-1 lb. per week, that sucks! Lol.

Anyway, I’m curious to see how much of it is just “water weight” and how much was actual fat gain.. We’ll see what I weight next Saturday! I’m planning to be a good girl on New Year’s Eve – no pigging out on sweets, just drinking and enjoys a few appetizers if that. I really want to get into the 160s before I start school.

How did you all do?

Phillip Beer

3:29 am
28 Dec 14
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primalesbiana8, Don’t feel to bad about 4 lbs. I don’t know about the rest of you but I seem to always fluctuate within four or five lbs. I rearranged my fast this week to Monday and Friday because of Christmas Eve and Christmas day. It was a good example of my fluctuation in the differences of my weight from fast to feast days. Yesterday (Friday) I weighed in the mid morning at 195 lbs. and was pleased as it was the first time I actually hit that weight. Later in the evening I weighed in at right about 190 lbs. and was elated. I just weighed myself at 196 lbs. I seem to be moving slowly but surely downward. My point is that 4 lbs. is not that much to gain and if you are at all like me in the up and down fluctuation I think you are well within the bounds of what is normal in weight loss. The holidays are very trying times for any type of dieting and not easy to get through for any of us. If you got through them with a moderate 4 lbs. of weight gain I think you should be proud of yourself. I know you will quickly be back down and within days you will be below where you were before the holiday gain. I am laying my bets on that. I know about anxiety over weight. I feel it too. I could never get below 200 lbs on earlier attempts to loose weight so I have been a bit anxious over dropping to 190 lbs. but little by little it seems like maybe I can do it. I want you to know that talking with all of you helps me stay focused too and I appreciate your friendship and encouragement. I think we are all going to do this thing together. I want to live to be a skinny little old man at age 100 plus with a sound mind and able to get around and chase the (well never mind).

primalesbiana8

12:26 am
6 Jan 15
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Lol, Phillip Beer, your last sentence made me laugh.

So, on Saturday morning, I weighed in at 177.6 – heavier than when I started this thing! However, I didn’t fast on Friday like I usually do. After my last post, I liquid-fasted (just bone broth) for 2 days in a row and got back down to 173.. but then the second holiday week derailed me! >_<

Anyway, I have felt bloated and uncomfortable so I am excited to get back on the fasting wagon. I really do feel like crap when I eat a lot of junk. I took a shot of apple cider vinegar tonight to help bring down some of the bloating and get myself feeling better. I’m also going to have my period again soon so that doesn’t help..

How did you guys do this last week?

Phillip Beer

12:58 am
6 Jan 15
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primalesbiana8, the holidays have not been easy on us dieters. I got down to 192 then back up to 200 then back to 196. Up & Down. I just weighed myself at 194. I am fasting today and will be fasting again on Thursday. I think we are on the right track with this fasting. My New Years Resolution is to start walking. I guess I will get started soon as I am running for re-election on our City Council and I have to go door to door to get signatures before the beginning of February to get on the Democratic Primary ballot. I will be busy all week in meetings but I wanted to touch base and tell you all that I am hanging in there and encourage you all to do it too. I look at it as though we are all in this together and I truly want to see all of you on this forum reach your goals as well. Once we get there we can help others be lending advice from our own experience. The middle school in our little town is open for inside walking all winter in the evenings so I intend to start walking. Several of the other officials want to walk as well so we are going to start shortly. I also want to start a bit of dumb bell excercises. It is good to hear from you.

jenalys

4:22 am
8 Jan 15
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Hey guys! I totally am with you on this. Two days before NYE I did a back to back fast and lost a whopping 5.2 lbs but then after all my drinking and eating the days to follow, gained it all back. Finally back to 163 which was what I was after the 5 lb lost so at least it went down fast, right? I feel like I need to be good for at least 6 weeks straight to notice a really good difference to where I’m not going to yoyo back to my starting weight again. Also I am trying to be really good the next couple of weeks because I am seeing my mom at the end of the month and she has been quite judgemental about my gain :/ and the only other thing worrying me is my birthday is mid February so I need to make sure not to go too crazy so I don’t ruin my losses again!! Just have a nice birthday, not a 5 day birthday week like normal, haha. I just set up my fitbit so I am excited to see how many calories I can burn in a day. Good to hear from you two

thrivealive@135

9:44 pm
8 Jan 15
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Hello there!

I am new to this… I have about 40lbs to lose… Today is my second day of IF since I started on Monday, and I am exhausted and hungry! How long did it take to get used to it?

Phillip Beer

1:22 pm
9 Jan 15
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jenalys. Sounds like we have all had similar experiences over the holidays but we didn’t do to bad. Now we can get back in the groove. I am at work so I can’t say much but I am rooting for you. We all have to stick with it and reach our goals. I have about 21 lbs to go. My imediate goal is to take the battle below 190. Down, down, down little by little. Let’s all do it.

Mamie Muse

4:43 pm
9 Jan 15
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Hello Fasting Peoples,

I’ve just started IF after the holidays and I have approx 65lbs/30kg to lose. I’ve lost weight before on low carb when I topped the scales at 242lbs (at 5’5″ that is vastly overweight) but I’m hoping this strategy will work better.I’m starting at 220lbs this time. I love reading how everyone is doing and how they are managing with the fasting aspect.
I have no issues with the fasting at all, I drink tea all day and I don’t miss the food. I think this will be a really good programme for me.
Any suggestions for maintaining the will to go on when a plateau hits? that’s when I lose impetus and feel deprived (even when I’m not).

Phillip Beer

3:47 am
10 Jan 15
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thrivealive@135 & Mamie Muse,I’d just like to welcome you to our group of Fasters. There are many variations to fasting. I for example am doing the 5:2 diet. (5 feast days and two fast days.) Did you read the 5:2 Fast Diet book? Some of us do a 4:3 fast. Some do the days back to back others stagger the days. Nothing is written in concrete except that you fast and on those day you only eat around 600 calories for a man and 500 calories for a woman. Many of us add elements of other diets to our plans. I for example am gluten free, I don’t drink any soda drinks any more not even diet soda. I eat almost no sweets and try to eliminate as much sugar from my diet as I can. Did you know that the average American (U.S.) eats the equivalent of 22 teaspoons of sugar per day in all the processed foods we eat. That is around 32 5lb. bags of sugar per year. It is mixed in all our processed foods. It is one of the reasons for the fat/diabetic epidemic in this country and the world and it is literally killing us. In truth it is poison. Wheat even 100 % stone ground wheat bread for example is higher per slice on the glycemic index then a teaspoon of table sugar or a snickers bar. The sugar spikes cause us to store fat and lead us to endless cycles of eating and always feeling hungry and craving more. I think the thing that helps me beat the hunger the most is a change in consciousness in the way I look at food. I view most of my old favorite things to eat as toxic and poison because they lead directly to type 2 diabetes and that leads to so many other complications in your health like heart disease and stroke to name just a few. I am not perfect in my diet but I have cut out the majority of the bad habits. Sugar and high carb processed foods are extremely bad for us and they are even more addictive than heroin and cocaine. A bottle of soda for example is nearly half high fructose corn syrup which is much worse for you than table sugar. I am just telling you what works for me. If one changes the way they think about food it is much easier to fast and stick with it. Fasting though is a stand alone diet method which does not require you to give up anything. Fasting a few days a week eliminates a huge amount of calories from your weekly diet that just can’t be made up for on feast days and over the long hall it leads to a steady weight loss. Anything else we add to our plan can only help us achieve our goals. Lastly we are all friends here and just talking with us will help you stick to it and succeed. If you fall off the wagon just get back on. We are here for you. if you are on a plateau talk to us and we will give you advice and encouragement. Come along with us. We can all do this together. Remember when you are having a hard time of it that tomorrow is feast day.

jenalys

5:54 am
10 Jan 15
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Hey all! To ThriveAlive: it only took my a couple of weeks to get used to fasting. I def felt like my stomach shrank quite a bit and it got easy pretty quickly. However I went a little crazy during the New Year and the following few days after and I am still waiting for it to get easier!! But don’t give up, it will definitely happen <3

I would like to invite you all to visit my blog. I am part of a Facebook group that is a 5:2 inspiration and motivational type group. There are a few thousand members and people are always asking questions about what people eat day to day and if they exercise etc. So I decided to start a blog, mainly for my personal benefit but also to possibly help others, to document my journey with the 5:2 diet. I just started it a few days ago but I will be posting what I eat every day, tracking my weight loss, posting about recipes I try out, how many calories I burn according to my fitbit which I just got (if you don’t know what it is, google it!) and things like that. Hopefully I will end up with some good results after maybe a month of this and people will want to keep up with all of these details of my life so they can see that they can do it to. Anyways here is the link:
http://jenalysonadiet.blogspot.com

I have received lots of views, but no comments. I would love to see a few just to know it’s worth it of me <<3 talk to you all soon!