Now that I’ve passed my first year on the fast-diet, I thought that it’s time to share some of my experiences with my fellow fasters (and apologies in advance, this might prove to be a long rambling read!). Like many middle-aged men, the gradual increase in age, weight and girth came as a bit of a surprise. Despite being relatively fit and healthy (I regularly cycle), the final straw came when I realised I was finding my 40” stretch-waist suit trousers uncomfortably tight. At the start of (cliché alert) my journey when for the first time in too many years I measured my belly-button circumference, it was a truly shocking 47 inches!

So what is the headline after twelve months? The results, to date, have been astounding! Although the rate of weight loss is rather erratic, the continuous effects on my profile (diminishing) and wellbeing (increasing) have been beyond belief! My old fat-boy clothes have long-since been consigned to charity bags as have several sets of “interim” clothes and even my current “interim” clothes are hanging off me.

In fact, I have measured my progress not so much in terms of weight-loss, but rather in the amount of clothes that have benefitted various charities. For example, after a couple of months on the fast-diet, I started a new contract and celebrated with a new suit with regular 40” waist trousers – flat-front and no stretch waist-band – they were still a touch on the snug side, but I felt good. Within 6 weeks, I had to replace those suit trousers with 38” waist trousers. After several months (can you guess what’s coming?) I had to replace those 38” trousers with 36” waist suit-trousers. I’ve now swapped my 36” suit trousers for a couple of pairs of 34” waist suit-trousers (and already these are starting to show signs of sagginess!). I haven’t replaced my suit jacket because it spends its life on a clothes-hanger in the office acting as an impromptu wardrobe bag for my shirts and trousers (I cycle to work every day); amusingly, just the other week, I went for a walk at lunchtime and wore my suite jacket – when I saw my reflection in a shop window, I looked like a kid who had dressed up in his dad’s jacket – it was absurdly too big! On the subject of reflections, when I do catch sight of my full reflection in a mirror or shop window, as long as I don’t look too closely at the grey(ish) hair and the worn and weather-beaten features, it’s like seeing me as a young man again.

So, after one year, what have I actually achieved? My weight has fallen by 24kg (that’s a tad under 53lbs or 3st 11lbs) – in other words, just a smidgeon over 1lb per week; though as I observed above this was not a steady weekly loss, it happened in “fits and starts”. My waist (belly-button measurement) has reduced from 47” to 34”. I have endless energy and feel great. My friends and colleagues (even the chaps!) continually tell me how good I’m looking. For the first time in 20+ years, I’m starting to wear clothes that might even be called stylish, rather than the shapeless “fat-boy” clothes that have been the norm for a depressingly large part of my life.

From the point of view of fitness, when I go cycling, I am travelling further and faster for less effort and I’m actually looking forward to hills! My daily commute (a moderately hilly 24 mile round-trip) is completed with average speeds between 17MPH and 20MPH (previously I was elated if I managed to average 15MPH on any ride, let alone the difficult start/stop of the daily commute). I’m even extending my daily commute because I’m feeling so good when I’m out on my bike (for example, just the other day I cycled 26 miles in the morning on the way to work and 23 miles in the evening on the way home). If further evidence is needed, I took part in the Virgin Money Cyclone B ride in June (64 miles and over 4000ft of climbing); by the time I’d cycled to the start and then home afterwards, I clocked up 84 miles on the day and was over an hour faster than the last time I did it. Most importantly of all, there are a couple of short but particularly punishing climbs that have previously defeated me – this time I dispatched them with relative ease! The only downside is that I seem to feel the cold more when I’m out on my bike – perhaps it’s because there’s less fat to insulate me now, or it could be that I’m just getting older!

Before I get carried away with my success, it has not all been plain sailing. In the early stages of the fast-diet I did suffer from some quite bad headaches and occasional light-headed and/or shivery feelings, but these disappeared after a month or so. I have also had quite a few 3 or 4 week plateaus where the scales have stayed stubbornly stationary; to begin with these were somewhat depressing but I always tried to remind myself that this was a long-term project and not some quick-results fad that would ultimately leave me worse off than when I started. However, even during the worst of the plateaus, I continued to shrink away from my clothes; it seems counter intuitive to be not losing any weight and still becoming slimmer, but that has been my experience! Of course, it could just be dodgy sensors on my bathroom scales 🙂

So how have I achieved these results? My fast-diet methodology has been simple. I fast on Monday and Thursday with only two meals per day – lunch and dinner. I have nothing to eat between supper on the previous day and lunchtime on the fast day. Likewise, I have nothing to eat between dinner on a fast day and breakfast on the following day (after I have cycled to work). On fast days, after I have cycled to work, I allow myself a cup of black coffee with a small dollop of honey and mid-morning and mid-afternoon cups of tea or coffee (with a teaspoon or two of semi-skimmed milk and no honey or sugar). Lunch on fast days is normally a Batchelor’s “slima-soup” (typically Minestrone Soup at 52Kcals). Dinner is invariably a Marks & Spencer “Count On Us” meal (sub-300 Kcals). I realise a lot of people will be affronted by my use of ready-meals and packet soups, but I’m a firm believer in the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid!) so I make my fast days as easy as possible and don’t do anything clarty-farty. In the early days, I also tended to have a slice or two of wholemeal brown bread with dinner to make my calories up to 600 for the day. After a while, I realised that I didn’t need the bread to fill me up, so I stopped and now I regularly have sub-400Kcal fasting days and also rarely eat bread on non-fasting days.

So, the overriding message is this – I have achieved (what I consider to be) unbelievable results by simply fasting on 2 days a week and eating normally on the other 5 days (and this includes chips and other evil foods 🙂 ). My appetite has reduced by a huge amount and I seem to be better at regulating the quantities I eat. Perhaps the only non-standard factor is that I cycle to/from work every day (when contracts have allowed this, as has been the case since October 2014). It is worth noting that when I looked back through my fast-diet spreadsheet, the overall rate of weight lost in the first three months (with no daily cycle commute) was the same as that for the following 9 months (with daily cycling).

In summary, the fast-diet may or may not be the secret of eternal youth and a long life, but it is improving the quality of my life in leaps and bounds – I have ridiculous amounts of energy and stamina, I feel great, my cycling has improved beyond recognition and, of course, I am just a shadow of my former bulk (we recently had our wedding anniversary and I’m lighter and slimmer now than when we married 24 years ago). For the first time in countless years, I am in control of what and how much I eat and consequently my weight; even to the extent that I can happily over indulge every now and then without being tormented with guilt or affecting my progress.

What next? Well according to the NHS website, I’m still overweight and have about 1½st to lose before I reach my “Healthy Weight”. I think it’s fair to say that all these targets are generalisations and should be taken with a pinch of salt (I even think salt’s allowed these days) so I shall review the situation after I’ve lost another stone (probably by the end of the summer). If I’m healthy and comfortable, I may well stop short of the NHS target and transition to “maintenance mode”. Of course, as I carry on losing weight, my cycling continues to improve – especially my ability climb hills. My great cycling ambition is to ride over some of the mountains that regularly feature in the Tour de France; in previous years this was nothing more than a fantasy but now it’s becoming a realistic goal. Perhaps this time next year I’ll be able to report on my success (or otherwise) on the mountain passes of France!

Happy fasting everyone 🙂