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!

On holiday

Hola to my loyal follower(s)! I am on holiday in Zahara de los Atunes, and, through the marvels of modern technology, can type my blog and post it to the internet! How cool is that?

It has been a while since I posted, I know, but it can be a bit disheartening pouring out my thoughts onto the World Wide Web, where there is a possibility that they could be read by millions, if not BILLIONS, of people, but in reality, they are only being read by my one loyal follower. I have tried to encourage/persuade/bribe a few other friends and relatives to read my blog, and they have promised faithfully to do this, however once away from my nagging, they conveniently forget all about it. I mean, anyone would think they had lives to lead! Oh well, I guess I will have to continue to purge my mind of this meaningless drivel for no other reason than to please myself and my number one follower (well, my only one follower...).

So, I'm sure you're dying to know how I am getting on with the fasting/fitness/alcohol deprivation plan, and I can happily report that it is still going pretty well. The weight loss has plateaued, but that is fine because it is most definitely in the right place. I am continuing to do my two days of fasting each week, which should be leading to a little more weight loss, however I think I am being a little more indulgent with myself at week-ends, so if I every want to get into only one day of fasting, I will have to cut down on the extra treats I am allowing myself. Alcohol wise, I have managed to stick to the abstinence from Monday to Thursday pretty well every week, except when there is a very occasional night out on one of those days, I continue to log my drinks on that wretched website, and it does like to tell me that I am at "increasing risk" if I have more than 2 glasses of wine each night at the week-end. I get a bit cross with it, and will not be telling it how many drinks I have this week as I am on holiday and I know I will be in such big trouble for drinking every single day this week. I know it will be sending me emails telling me that I have "forgotten" to log my drinks this week, but I will not be intimidated! I will DELETE them! Ha! Still wearing the Fitbit and trying for the 10k steps per day, but not doing too well as the weather is so cold that it isn't very nice walking outside. I will most definitely be getting back to the strict 5:2 regime on my return, but for now, I'm off for a beer! Salut!

Fast reading

I mentioned in my previous post that Dr Michael Mosley's book was out soon, and, sure enough, it is now in the Amazon store in Kindle or Paperback versions.

As the 5:2 approach has worked so well for me, I am interesting in finding out as much as I can about the research into fasting, and the additional health benefits it can bring.  I am, therefore, reading up as much as I can find, and was tempted to buy the book.  Before going ahead with the purchase, however, I decided to read the introduction, which you can do on Amazon.  I read through the background of Dr Moseley, and how he benefitted from the approach not just in a significant weight loss, but in a reduction in his cholestrol and a lowering of his risk factor for type 2 diabetes.  Fair enough.  I move on to read about Dr Moseley's co-author, Mimi Spencer.  I am immediately suspicious of anyone called "Mimi" - sounds a bit like a poodle or a chihuahua...  Anyway, Mimi has also benefitted from following the 5:2 approach to lose a stone.  Great! Further evidence that the approach works, and very useful to try out the diet you are writing about.  This woman, however,  doesn't live in the same world as normal humans.  She is a journalist, and inhabits a world where anything above a (UK) size 6 is considered obese.  She went from a portly nine and a half stone down to below eight and a half stone, which is great, except that she is five foot seven.  She describes her 'before' BMI of 21.4 as "OK".  OK!!!!  That is at the lower end of the recommended 20-25, and she now has a BMI of 19.4, which is probably still higher than the women who inhabit her planet!

 

5:2

Hello again, and a Happy New Year to all my loyal readers!  Yes, I have now doubled my followers, and I am confident that I am on track to get a follower who isn’t related to me J. Anyway, I would like to welcome my new follower, who has already given me some positive feedback about my blog (and that’s NOT just because he’s married to me…).

It's OK - I practice intermittent fasting

Well, it’s a brand new year, and the most popular time for starting new diets.  I am planning to continue with the “5:2” plan I was following for the last few months of last year, as it was working really well for me.  I am so “on trend”, as it is, most definitely, THE diet of the moment.  I started following the 2 day fasting after watching the BBC Horizon programme, where Dr Michael Moseley investigated various different fasting options and ended up trying the 5:2 approach with considerable success.  Michael Moseley’s book is due to be released this week, but a number of people have already stolen a march on him and released books based on their own fasting experiences.  There are lots of blogs (including this one!), there are Facebook groups and Twitterers (if that’s the right term).  Interested in other people’s experiences, I read one of the ebooks, plus looked at some of the comments and questions on Facebook and Twitter.  Now the thing is, one of the reasons why this approach has worked so well for me is its simplicity;  I don’t have to weigh or measure anything, or look up the calorie values of every crumb that passes my lips. For five days a week, I just carry on eating as usual (with the only change being no alcohol from Monday to Thursday), and for the two “fast” days, I eat no breakfast or lunch, then have a light meal for dinner.  This is just a slightly smaller version of a meal I would normally eat in the evening.  No weighing, no fuss, no hassle!   Simples!  Not so for many of the others that are following the plan, it would seem.  From what I can gather, everyone seems to be carefully weighing their lettuce leaves and counting every calorie that passes their lips.  Now, if that works for them, who am I to knock it?  OK, so my approach might mean I am consuming more than the 500 calories I “should” be having, but what the heck?  I am losing weight.  In fact, by one week BC (Before Christmas), I had lost a stone in total!  That was as much as I wanted to lose.  A few pounds crept back on over Christmas, but will soon be banished with a couple of fasting days this week ( I managed 1 fasting day in Christmas week and 1 this week).  I might have to move to one day a week soon to STOP LOSING WEIGHT!!! (Never thought I would be saying that!).   



Back again!

I thought I’d better check in and give a quick update as it’s been a few weeks.  Although the initial enthusiasm for starvation and increased exercise is somewhat reduced, I have kept up with some of my goals...  First the good news – since the holiday, I have got back onto the mid-week wagon, and have managed to stay off alcohol from Monday to Thursday.  I am also keeping up with the 2 days a week fasting, which is just as well because I have had a couple of fairly indulgent week-ends.  There has been no permanent movement on the scales, only a few mid-week fluctuations either way, so the fasting is managing to balance out the over-indulgences! 

The thing that has gone a bit awry is the daily 10k challenge!  It was difficult enough to get that many steps in a day in the good weather, but over the last month or so the weather has turned miserable, wet and cold, and does not entice me to get outside and walk.  I’m no longer walking round to meet the school bus as the evenings are dark and the walk home is along unlit footpaths – it also means a considerable upping of the whinge level from my son if I dare suggest a walk when it is cold/dark/wet.  On-the-spot walking at the bus stop is all very well, but doesn’t go far enough towards getting to the 10k.  I am contemplating buying a treadmill, but DH is very sceptical and is convinced it won’t get used!  I would like to prove him wrong, but past purchases of steppers, re-bounders, gym balls, weights, a cross-country skiing machine, an “iJoy ride” (don’t ask) and a surfing machine, have not given him confidence that a treadmill will be any different.  I am looking out for a reasonable one on eBay that is not too far away.  This time it will be different....

Further Fasting

This is now week 6 of the Intermittent Fasting, and it isn’t getting a lot easier.  Having said that, compared with watching what I eat 24/7, it isn't that bad!  It has also had some amazing results in that I have lost 10 pounds!  No diet that I have ever been on in the past has achieved that sort of a result in such a relatively short space of time.  My body fat percentage has also gone down a few percent, which is a great result too, and shows I am not just losing muscle but am losing some of the lardy stuff clinging to my waist and stomach.  I am comfortably back in my size 10 trousers and feeling much better about myself.  I will be happy with just a few more pounds off, then aiming for long term maintenance, however, I am going on holiday next week, and am unlikely to spend the week off food and alcohol.  Hopefully a couple of fasting days on my return will rectify any overindulgence. 

Two of my male work colleagues have also been following the Intermittent Fasting plan 2 days a week and, like me, they have had some great results.  It is good to have other people to compare rumbling tummies and drool over our other colleagues' sandwiches.  There are, of cause, the well-meaning know-it-alls who like to share their deep nutritional knowledge gleaned from a mixture of alleged "well-known facts", TV adverts, cornflake packets, and what their mother told them.  I have been told on more than one occasion that missing meals is bad for you, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, your metabolism slows down if you go too long without food, blah, blah, blah....  It is difficult to challenge conventional wisdom, however what we are being told about what is good / bad for us is constantly changing as science advances and more research is done into every aspect of what we eat, drink or inhale.  When you cut through all the variety of diets on offer (eat more/less fat/carbs/protein; eat grapefruits, eat only raw food, eat for your body 'type', etc, etc), the overriding factors for successful weight loss are simply eat less and move more.  This doesn't have to mean living every day constantly counting calories and resisting all the nice things we like but are so bad for us.  Our weight isn't determined by our worst or best eating days - it is determined by our average intake over time.  Therefore, by severely restricting intake to around 500-600 calories on 2 days out of every 7, that will provide the body with a calorie deficit over the week of around 2500-3500 calories (dependent upon your sex, weight, activity levels, etc).  Depending on the intake on the other 5 days, this deficit can either be used to balance out any small over-indulgences (the type that tend to slip by un-noticed, but result in a gradual upward movement of the scales and the waist size), or, for those struggling to lose weight, an overall weight loss with relatively low effort.

Research has been carried out and, although still in early days, appears to be demonstrating many other health benefits that can be gained from periods of fasting, including improvements to blood sugar levels, reduction in ageing hormones and improvements to the brain.  It has also been proved that the body doesn't go into starvation mode after missing one or two meals - so the metabolism doesn't slow down.  People have been fasting for religious reasons for centuries, and have felt many health benefits that have not been recorded widely until fairly recently.

A few articles about fasting:

http://www.fasting.com

http://www.doctoryourself.com/juicefast.html

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/18/fasting-protect-brain-diseases-scientists

Eating / not eating

As I said in my introduction, it is not all about weight loss.  That said, it is most definitely in SOME part about weight loss - about 10-14 pounds.  Not a huge amount in the scheme of things, and not particularly noticeable - the sort of amount that can be hidden under well structured clothing, such that people say "You - you don't need to lose any weight…", but you can't hide it from yourself (or your trousers!).  This is the amount that, over the past 2-3 years, has, very gradually, crept on, slowly easy its way around my middle, the result of not dealing with excesses of holidays, Christmases, special occasions, days with a 'Y' in...

As I have spent over 30 years being "careful" what I eat, I should be an expert by now on how much I can eat each day to lose or maintain weight.  Knowing is one thing, and doing is an entirely different thing.  As I don't tend to eat a lot of junk in the form of fatty food, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, sweets, etc, there isn't much to give back on that front.  Calorie reduction can only come from cutting down the wasted calories consumed in liquid form (and I'm not talking about tea and coffee here...), and from managing portion sizes of my meals.  One other option, and one I am going to try, is  to actually miss out some meals.  There are lots of opinions and research about whether or not you should be eating 3 meals a day, and many people saying that you should never miss breakfast, etc, etc.  There is also a lot of research that shows that periods of fasting can not only improve your health, but can significantly increase your expected life span.  [It is at this point that I should be linking through to pages of official research that I have done on this, but hey-ho...].There are many different ways of fasting, including alternate day fasting, fasting for blocks of days at a time, but I am looking for the least inconvenient and painful method.  Having watched a Horizon show on this topic, the presenter tried various methods, and the method he found easiest to live with on an on-going basis was to have 2 days each week with a very low calorie intake (600 calories for men, 500 for women).  This can be split into a couple of small meals, or eaten in just one meal.

My plan is to try this for 2 days a week, eating just one meal on those days.  It will be an evening meal, as I have to prepare meals for DH and DS.  On other days, I will continue to eat sensibly, but not counting every calorie, although I will try to be more aware of keeping portion sizes a bit smaller.  More details of my plans/attempts to follow, but information about the fasting can be found on the BBC website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549.  I don't think the program is available on iPlayer any more, but it can be found on YouTube.  This is my second week of intermittant fasting, and I will update my progress soon!

Another new start?

I’m back, with news of a brand new me!  Well, that is the plan anyway... I am in the early stages of my “journey” (as I would describe it, were I to be interviewed for my reality TV programme).  Still the ‘old’ me at the time of writing, but hoping that by blogging my progress, there will actually be some!  So, as you are no doubt dying to know what I am waffling on about, I will tell you dear readers reader: I am going to improve my health and lose some of the excess podge that has slowly been growing around my middle!  Not radical, I know, and not something I haven’t attempted in the past (on MANY occasions), however I am going to try a few different approaches in the quest to feel better, look better, ensure that my twilight years are spent in good health and, hopefully, add a few more years to my life expectancy.  Nothing too radical - just a few variations on the eat less/move more theme that is the only way to lose weight sensibly.  

So, why do this?  

• Well, as more and more birthdays come and go, each year seemingly quicker than the previous, it is becoming ever more difficult to battle the gradual upward creep of the needle on the scales (ok, my scales don’t actually have a needle as they are digital, but it doesn’t sound as good... anyway, I digress..).   
• Secondly, the wine drinking has become far too much of a habit, as confirmed by the overflowing re-cycling bin each week.  
• Having been in denial for the previous 12 months, I finally had to give in and start buying a few pairs of trousers in a bigger size as I thought it might be nice to be able to breathe during the day
• Having lost both my grandmother and mother at relatively young ages to pancreatic cancer, I feel that I can't fight the overwhelming amount of evidence that shows that lifestyle is a major factor in the likelihood of an individual developing many of the cancers.  
• I want to look, and feel, better in my clothes 
• I want to be around when my son grows up

Back soon with more details of my approach, and my progress so far