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January 2014
Low Carb Way Of Stopping Eating Binge
19 Jan 2014, 07:26
Target Weight Achieved Once Again
13 Jan 2014, 07:46
Time To Repair The Festive Damage
06 Jan 2014, 07:46
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
My Intermittent Fasting Journey
My progress on Intermittent Fasting will be posted here with updates on my weight being posted daily, and with updates on my waist size and body fat content being posted on a weekly basis on a Monday. My weigh-in day was a Monday but I will now be weighing in every day in order to keep everything on track, and I now fast on a Monday on most weeks (although that will often change depending upon my circumstances at that time). More information about my weight loss background and my goals for the future on intermittent fasting can be found on my first forum posting which can be seen by clicking here.
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Comments
Congratulations johncs2013 . Fantastic effort and I love that you are switching it around to find out how it works for you. Keep it up. Jenn
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Introduction to the 5:2 Way Of Life
by johncs2013 on 26 Sep 2013, 07:17
Prior to starting this diet, I had done an experiment to see if I could get away with increasing my calorie intake without any weight gain and I had done a similar experiment not long beforehand, only to discover that I had gained two pounds during the first week of that experiment. That was fine at that time because it takes time for the body to adjust to any calorie increase in a traditional calorie controlled diet and will try to hang onto what it can. However, I then gained another pound of weight during the following week and that told me that I really was eating too many calories which meant that it was time to abandon that experiment.
After losing that weight over the following few weeks, I then repeated this experiment once more before starting the 5:2 diet and this time, I added only one item to my daily diet instead of a number of items. This meant that if there was going to be any weight gain from that, it shouldn't be by as much as what it was during the first attempt at that experiment. Yet, I still went onto gain that same two pounds of week and from that, it was clear that I was never going to be able to find that happy medium which would result in me successfully maintaining the weight which I had got down to and since I was tired of calorie counting, and bored with what felt like a restrictive diet, I decided to try the 5:2 diet.
I had previously restricted my calorie intake to 1200 calories per day and so it wasn't going to take much to bring that down to under the 600 calorie limit on a 5:2 diet fasting day. My last failed experiment with increasing my overall calorie intake left my weight at exactly 12 stone with a waist size of 32.6 inches. However, I was skeptical at first about jumping right into that and so I prepared for it by eating less than 1000 calories on the first Tuesday of this diet on 20 August 2013. After getting through that, I was then ready to go all the way for my first proper fasting day on the following Friday.
I must admit, I felt very hungry but that passed over time and I was fine by the evening. I even managed to get to sleep on that night, though only to wake up during the early hours of the next morning and find that I can't get back to sleep. In the end, I had done what was technically a 6:1 diet week as I had consumed more than 600 calories on the first low calorie day. Despite that though, I lost two pounds of weight during that week to take my weight down to 11 stone and 12 pounds. I also lost 0.1 inches from my waist to bring that down to 32.5 inches. The following week started with a chocolate binge on the Monday followed by a few beers on that night. However, I was then sensible after that and had completed my first proper 5:2 diet week with each fasting day becoming increasingly easy to deal with, as they caused me to feel less hungry over time.
On a fasting day, I would skip breakfast but have a couple of scrambled eggs with couple of slices of ham during the mid-morning period, followed by some grilled fish and salad for my evening meal. My gym performances were poor to begin with as my body adjusted to the new regime but these performances were now showing signs of improvement. Furthermore, I also lost another half a pound during that week, although this weight loss wasn't enough to change the fact that my weight was still 11 stone 12 pounds as at 2 September.
The following week once again started with a chocolate binge as that was always going to continue as long as I continued to lose weight despite that. The rest of the week continued in the same vein as the previous week except that my gym performances got even better with a few personal bests being set. By now, my levels of concentration and my energy levels were much sharper than ever. I will add though, that my binge days continued to be confined to a Monday whilst my eating habits on my other feasting days were much more sensible.
That in turn was rewarded with a further 1 pound weight loss which took my weight down to 11 stone and 11 pounds. That also took my BMI down to less than 25 which meant that I was no longer officially overweight. My waist size also dropped by 0.3 inches to 32.1 inches which equaled my record for my lowest ever waist size that I had set a few weeks earlier before I had started this diet. The following week went the same way again and began with the usual binging day on the Monday and those few beers on that night. However, that was to result in a record-breaking week which already started to show its true colours on the Sunday when some more personal bests were set in the gym.
However, it was on my weigh-in on 16 September 2013 that the real records were set as I lost another two pounds to take my weight down to 11 stone 9 pounds. That in turn set a new record for my lowest ever weight during my entire adult life stretching all the way back to the 1980s. At the same time, my waist size went down by another 0.3 inches to 31.8 inches. That is also a new record for my whole adult life which actually goes back even further because even back in the 1980s, I can remember wearing jeans of a size 34" which were a bit tight on me. This is therefore, the first time that I can ever remember wearing trousers of a size 32" or smaller and feeling comfortable in them and so, that record for my lowest ever waist size probably goes all the back to when I was a schoolkid during the 1970s. Furthermore, this was also the first time in all of those years that my waist size had dropped to below 32 inches.
That gave me so much confidence that I actually increased my calorie intake even further on that Monday with an even bigger binge. However, that was to end up being a bad mistake. The rest of the week continued in the same vein and I continued to do well at the gym, although without any record-breaking performances this time. I was still confident of a good result at the following weigh-in, but I got a shock when I discovered that out of nowhere, I had gained back those two pounds from the previous week. That took me back up to 11 stone and 11 pounds and on paper, that looks like the same weight as two weeks earlier, but it was actually very slightly higher than that and that was enough to take my BMI back up above 25 and cause me to be officially classed as overweight once again.
After reading other posts about how the weight tends to fluctuate and possibly even increase on the odd occasion during the early stages of the 5:2 diet, I didn't feel quite so bad about that. Furthermore and although my waist size had also increased, it had only gone up by 0.1 inch and that meant that my waist size was still below 32 inches at 31.9 inches. This week, I have reduced my usual Monday binge to see if this will prevent any further weight gain, and I have also experimented with saving up all of of fast day calories until one bigger evening meal on those occasions. My next blog entry will show the results of that experiment but despite the setback of this week's weight gain, the 5:2 diet has already broken some new records for me in terms of lowest ever weight and waist size, and my best ever gym performances. I am also much more focused, much sharper and much more alert than ever before. Since that is only with just a few weeks of this regime, you can't ask for a better start than that despite this week's setback on the scales.
Lower Trend Weight Limit: 70.0kg (11 stone 0 pounds)
Upper Trend Weight Limit: 73.0kg (11 stone 7 pounds)
Last Weigh-in Date: 1 Mar 2014
Actual Weight: 74.3kg (11 stone 9.8 pounds)
Trend Weight: 72.6kg (11 stone 6.0 pounds)
Body Mass Index: 24.83 (actual) / 24.26 (trend)
Current Method: No Fasting
Low Calorie Days: As Required
Trend weights calculated from Libra Android App