Yesterday was a fast day, and I managed to stick to it during the day. I did snack a very little around dinner though, so while still a very low calorie day I did slightly exceed the 500 - not by much though.
Today was a food day, and I was determined not to go off the rails. To help myself I have a few strategies:
1) no change in my purse so I can't raid the vending machine - this technique worked out today, as I got as far as checking my car for change and didn't have enough to buy chocolate with, a fact I was pleased about later.
2) no going out shopping so I can't make change, buy food on my credit card, or be tempted by all the takeaways on the High Street.
3) bring planned meals & snacks so there's no reason to feel hungry or have to think about what to eat.
Breakfast: gf oats & buckwheat flakes, Goji berries & raisins soaked overnight in a mixture of water & skim milk then mixed with whey, flax, blueberries, dessicated coconut, and flaked almonds
Snack: raw smoothie of strawberries, kale, avocado & mint
Lunch: raw soup of bok choy, kale, romaine, cucumber, avocado & miso
Snack: same as lunch
Dinner: basil tofu with salad (cumin slaw in coconut miso dressing from Ani Phyo's Fat Blaster book)
Plus an apple & a pear in the morning, and a few nuts in the evening.
I also need to incorporate some exercise, which I've been very very bad about lately... so today, in sets throughout the morning, I did 81 pushups.
At the weekend, while finalising my ongoing diet plan, I was supposed to be still following ADF with a fast day on Saturday. On Saturday's I typically do my big grocery shop for the upcoming week. Lesson learned: if Saturday is going to be a fast day, order your shopping for delivery on Saturday morning so you don't have to enter a store. And ideally order it on a food day, when you're not hungry or anticipating hunger...
I binged on Saturday then again on Sunday. The Sunday one of course falls within the letter, if not the spirit, of ADF - eat whatever you want on the eating days - but I want to feel more in control so I'm not happy about it. This next weekend my fast day is Sunday, so that's no problem, but the week after I need to remember to order the shopping early in the week. Then I can avoid all supermarkets on fast days...
This morning I was invited to a work's lunch as a thank you for some work our team did over the weekend. I was so torn for most of the morning between missing a fast day to be sociable or missing the lunch to stick to the plan. I know from lots and lots of experience that I don't do well with flexibility when on a diet - if I have one treat meal it tends to turn into 3 days of non-compliance. In the end, 3 minutes before the team left, I decided not to go, and turned down the invite. Even now I'm not sure if that was a good decision because I want to commit, or a wussy decision because I don't trust myself. Either way, I didn't go - and I know I ate fewer calories because of it, so in the long run I hope it was a good choice.
This is what I'm going (to try to) do, starting with a fast day tomorrow...
Alternate day Fasting with 400-500 cals of healthy foods on the fasting days, ideally in a single evening meal 24 hrs after the last meal eaten on a food day. (if absolutely necessary I'm willing to entertain an instant miso soup or cup of beef stock made with a stock cube but that hasn't happened yet, so hopefully I won't need to going forward either)
Food days - no, you can't eat whatever you want if you're trying to lose weight!!! Not if you're inclined to binge on chocolate anyway... (One of my aims, in addition to losing weight and improving my overall health & fitness, is to get control of my sweet tooth.)
On food days I will base the majority of the food I consume on another diet I tried - but tweaked to remove the issues that led to me failing at it! This diet is the Ani Phyo 15 day Fat Blast - a vegan raw food diet that I tried to use as a detox though I'm not a vegetarian much less a vegan. The diet is very heavy on raw soups (really delicious) and fruit smoothies, excludes all grains & processed foods as well as meat, fish & dairy, and even soy except for raw soy sauce and miso. It is quite high in healthy fats from nuts, seeds, coconut oil & avocados, but lowish in protein. I really missed having chewable food last time so my plan is to modify the diet so: breakfast will be overnight-soaked gluten free oatmeal with dried & fresh fruit, flaxseed and nuts. Morning snack, lunch & afternoon snack will be based on 1 sweet & 2 savoury shakes from the plan, but with the option to add a piece of fruit, raw veggies, and possibly hummus to lunch. The evening meal will be homecooked food based around protein & vegetables but with some form of unrefined gluten free starch - gf bread/pasta, potatoes, rice, buckwheat or quinoa etc. And if I'm really not in the mood for that, there will be scope for the occasional less healthy homecooked meal, takeaway or restaurant visit. Once I reach my goal weight and switch to maintenance I'd like to carry on ADFing but boost the food day calories with a more varied diet and see how I get on.
And now, having mentioned the words goal weight I guess its time to state what that actually is... This morning, following a fast day, I weighed 10 st 12.5lbs, or 152.5 (english) lbs. I want to reach 140lbs in the end, 10 st exactly. I'm 5 ft 6 tall & sufficiently well endowed that I tend to look gaunt in the face if I try to go lower than that. Wish me luck...
Hi, my name is Christine, and I'm a serial dieter...
A good few years ago I lost 3 stone (52lbs to be precise) through calorie counting and cardio. I kept the weight off for several years, then it started creeping back on and now I'm about 16lbs above where I want to be - that doesn't sound like a terrible problem even to me as I write it, but here's the thing.... Constant calorie counting and restriction just isn't working for me any more. I resent it, I get angry with myself, I binge and try to lose weight fast through fad and extreme diets. It's not good! So about a month ago I started trying the alternate day fasting diet. It started well, like they all do, then I started bingeing on the food days and even on one fast day the other week.
BUT I STILL BELIEVE IT WOULD WORK FOR ME if - if - I can eat more healthily on the food days. So far I've mostly maintained, which is pretty good going given some of the crap I've been eating and the fact that I've lost the plot as far as training goes. Also, I feel great on fast days (apart from the waves of hunger at breakfast & lunch time) and I don't want to lose that feeling...
Now I've been blogging for several years, and during that time its gone from a blog about maintaining weight loss and enjoying food to a blog whining about a catalogue of failure and self-pity.
So much so that I haven't even posted about the ADF on there as I imagine my readers thinking 'here we go again' with rolling eyes... Instead, I'm starting this one for a fresh new beginning. I may at some point link the two, but for now I want to start from scratch, and if any readers stumble upon this blog I'd like them to do the same... So welcome to my new Alternate Day Fasting blog. I'll try to give you a reason to stick around!
