Fasting and Feasting

I know, I know!  It has been a while….blah blah blah…  In honour of my new follower (yippee!!), I thought I would put fingers to keyboard and waffle on a bit.  It’s also a celebration of a year since I started out on this “journey”, and I just wanted to mention, once again, how amazingly impressed I am with the IF WOE (Intermittent Fasting Way of Eating…). 

Although I was thrilled to see the weight dropping off, I know from many past experiences just how difficult it is to keep it off.  With the best will in the world, it is very difficult to continue, on an on-going basis, to deprive oneself of all the nice things to eat in life, such as cakes, biscuits, chocolate, ice-cream, desserts, wine, curry, bread, etc etc.  It only takes a holiday, Christmas or just a bad week-end to start back on the rocky road to letting the pounds slowly creep back on.  At the risk of sounding rather evangelical (once again) about this particular approach, I truly believe that it is a do-able long term solution to not just losing the weight, but KEEPING it off!  Whilst it isn’t exactly enjoyable going through a day until tea time without a calorie passing my lips, the knowledge that it is only for that short period, and the next day I don’t have to think about dieting gets me through. 

Yesterday was a fasting day.  I drank my way through a couple of litres of water and a couple of black coffees, and made it until 6.00pm, when I had an M&S salmon and grain salad meal for 375 calories.  I also had some melon, grapes and asparagus, and a couple of cups of (white) tea.  Today is a “feast” day.  That doesn’t mean (unfortunately!) that I can stuff my face with absolutely anything I fancy, but just that I don’t have to think too hard about watching what I eat today.  It is someone’s birthday in the office, and that means cream cakes – yum!  I will still opt for the “least bad” option (a chocolate éclair at 185 calories), but I will enjoy it without any guilt or worry that I have blown my diet.  On previous “diets”, giving in to a cake would have the negative psychological effect of making me think “oh no, blown the diet again – might as well continue to pig out and start again tomorrow…” (or next Monday!).  I know, I know!  It isn’t logical or sensible, but I can’t be perfect all the time!