Starting again – this time, for health

This topic contains 6 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by CuriousCosmo 10 years, 8 months ago.

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CuriousCosmo

9:00 pm
7 Mar 14
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I did 4:3 last year for a couple of months and was incredibly successful. Unfortunately, when I reached my goal BMI, 20, I didn’t quite know what to do. Lots of stressful transitions in my life happened, and I kind of lost track. I ended up dabbling in a lot of other diets out of pure curiosity, and those affected me really badly. For instance, I did a low-carb diet, which eventually caused me to start regularly binging on carbs. Gross. That undid all of my previous weight loss and added more on. I’m still in the ‘normal’ weight range but my body doesn’t feel as harmonious as it did before, so I want to start over. And most of all, I want to unteach my new carb-binging habit.

But this time, I want to do it RIGHT. Last time, I ate whatever I wanted on feast days. Burger? Milkshake? No problem, since I was still losing weight. This time, I want to actually take care of my body. I won’t be young forever, but I can keep my body young for longer if I treat it well. I’ve been using Michi’s Ladder as a general guideline for what I should eat for the past two weeks. I did 5:2 this week as well and will continue to do so. I’m excited about this healthy change, and my second fast (yesterday) was incredibly satisfying. I did some vinyasa yoga in the evening and felt amazing.

I’m feeling trimmer already and am looking forward to health and satisfaction.

Tobias Karlsson

1:04 pm
12 Mar 14
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Hello,

good luck with your renewed initiative! I think we all have our ups and downs, in all sorts of areas in life. Sometimes one may think that it is so hard to know what diet to follow – they are contradicting etc. I personally think it is great with all the science going on today: there are so many ways of approaching any weight issue and we need to take responsibility when it comes to deciding what we think works best for our body, try things out and see what happens. I personally would not want to live without carbs but do try to pay attention to the quality of those – I eat some oats and bran every day but try to stay away from white bread, “white” pasta etc. But for some people low carb works amazingly well. I really felt “home” when I stumbled across 5:2 in 2012. I felt I can do this (although I switched to 6:1 in October) and this seems to work for me. So hopefully you have found “your thing” in the fasting regime! Good luck and listen to your body!

Tobias Karlsson

1:08 pm
12 Mar 14
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… that said, I do think that you should pay attention to the quality of the food you eat on your non-fasting days. It is not only about the calories but also about minerals, vitamins, fibres etc. They are vital for your overall well-being.

CuriousCosmo

3:05 pm
13 Mar 14
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Thanks Tobias, I completely agree about paying attention to quality. While I did not aim for that last year, I am now trying to live a healthy lifestyle (for good).

I used to have a very transient, dynamic lifestyle (student, moving every few months, etc), but now I have settled down in a good home with a good job, which means that I am heading towards stability. So it’s the ideal time for me to begin healthy habits.

I stopped eating white or refined carbs and also cut out unhealthy fats (but still eat olive oil, avocados, etc). I aim for berries, grains, greens, sweet potatoes, seeds, beans, fish, etc. I’ve only been eating this way for a couple of weeks but I’ve already found that it has a huge effect on my appetite. I am satisfied by my meals and don’t feel the need to overeat, whereas including white/refined carbs (or, conversely, eliminating all carbs) caused me to voraciously pursue food.

Yesterday was my fourth fast day, but since I’ve been so (comparatively) healthy, I feel that I am dropping the excess weight fairly quickly. I did not weigh myself at the beginning and I am not weighing myself now; I’m just relying on clothing fit to gauge my success. Scales mess with my emotions too much.

How is 6:1 working for you? I did that a little during my experimentation with other diets, but I still gained weight due to the nature of the diets. Are you losing weight with it or maintaining? Good luck!

CuriousCosmo

5:27 pm
17 Mar 14
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I slipped up this weekend, in terms of health. Pizza, cupcakes, the whole nine yards. I didn’t binge or anything but I definitely overate. Hopefully that won’t fully counteract the two days of fasting I’ll do this week. It’s disappointing to work hard and then have it counteracted by a bit of emotional eating.

I wasn’t planning on weighing, but I have a health screen tomorrow so I guess I’ll find out my weight. I’m a little nervous that the number will be discouraging. I just don’t want to find out that I have farther to go than I thought, in terms of weight loss. Because I’m not overweight, which means progress is very slow…

Speaking of not being overweight, it’s very strange to me how my body feels at this weight. Like, I “look” healthy because I’m not large, but at the same time, my body “feels” unhealthy. It just doesn’t have that same vivacity/energy that I have when I’m about 10-15 lbs lighter. It’s hard to explain, but it’s also frustrating, because people don’t like to see people my weight diet, because they don’t view me as an unhealthy. But it’s not about how you look; it’s about how you feel and how well your body functions.

LadyTexan

10:15 pm
20 Mar 14
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Hi Cosmo, I’ve been lurking around the forums for over six weeks now, but didn’t feel compelled to register and comment until now.

Your “slip-up” really resonated with me, as I’m struggling with a similar issue, so just wanted to offer support. I’ve been doing 5:2 for seven weeks now, and going into week 6, had lost 6.5 lbs. I was over the moon, and then I took a long weekend as a 6:1 but went totally overboard on my “vacation” and as a result, have put 1.5 of those pounds back on (that’s after my first fast day back on schedule, too!). 🙁

But, I feel like if I’m going to treat this truly as a way of life and not a diet, that these things are part of the process. I just need to see the numbers start to fall again to get my confidence back. I’ve been loving the effects of this plan overall. Good luck to you! I also agree with Tobias that quality counts, not just calories.

CuriousCosmo

2:29 pm
21 Mar 14
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LadyTexan,I’m glad you can treat it as a lifestyle instead of a diet. Because diets don’t work! I’ve learned that the hard way. And at least you still have a net loss!

I’m having trouble losing anything other than the initial water weight. That makes sense, as it’s too easy to compensate when only fasting 2 days. If I can, I’d like to up it to 3, which used to be very successful for me. Unfortunately, I just started on new medication that has intense side effects in the early weeks, so I think I’ll take a break from fasting next week. I fasted with it yesterday and the mood swings and discomfort were overly intense.

Good luck losing your vacation pounds!