FastDay User Blogs

Well, as Moogie has so kindly set up this blog facility, I thought it was my duty as a moderator to check it out! Where to start? At the beginning of my 5:2 journey I suppose.

It was late October and I was standing on the side-lines watching my son playing in a soccer match when one of the other mums commented that she had been fasting regularly but it had not seemed to have improved her memory though she had lost weight.
"Hang on" I said, "back up a bit. What do you mean lost weight, improved memory?"
"Oh" said she, "did you not see the Horizon programme by Michael Mosley about fasting?"
"Er, no, tell me more."

So she ran through the general principles and I was immediately intrigued...a diet plan that might actually work? With an actual scientific basis? Since having done the Atkins diet quite successfully about 10 years ago, I had slipped back into daily coffee and cake, glass of wine or two, plenty of pasta and potatoes and generally increasing weight until, like most people had put on more than before I started the Atkins. I really felt that a low carb diet made a lot of sense but I could not face a cake-free life! I was despondent about my weight as I could not see how to reduce it without ending up fatter so I had not dieted again and it was taking its toll on my health. It seemed inevitable that I would just get bigger until something gave out and I would pop my clogs. This new idea really sounded like something that would work...I would not have to give up coffee and cake for good, I would still be able to have some wine and to have pasta, all I had to do was to go hungry on two days a week!

As soon as I got home I googled the programme and found a YouTube video of it and watched, enthralled. I did a bit of searching for the published trials of IF and checked out some of Brad Pilon's stuff , found the Mumsnet thread on it , and decided to have a go at it immediately.

Naturally, I went into the whole thing badly prepared and not expecting to feel absolutely terrible all afternoon and evening . I wasn't particularly hungry but felt quite unwell. I had not drunk enough and my body was rebelling from not having a regular input of carbs to keep me going. I had decided not to eat anything until dinner time, that way OH and DS would not know I had been fasting and I could keep it a secret until I decided whether it would work. Gosh I was crabby as I prepared dinner that night ...but the food tasted so delicious, I think I was groaning with pleasure at some points ! As I went to bed I looked forward to the great breakfast I would have when I woke up.

When I woke up? First I needed to get to sleep...I couldn't . I tossed and turned most of the night, with a pounding head and generally spaced out feeling. I thought "Well if this is what its going to be like, I can't do this even once a week let alone twice...forever!" I used some of my sleepless time to search the internet for answers and with some relief I discovered stories that it would definitely get easier. I eventually fell asleep, briefly, for a couple of hours before the alarm went off. Breakfast had never tasted so good. But it was odd, because I had hardly started it before I felt uncomfortably full...how odd!

Well, of course, as you all know, the next fast was much easier, and the next even easier still and here I am now coming to the end of my 35th-ish fast .

I didn't weigh myself for a couple of weeks because I thought I would just see how my clothes felt. I didn't really want to know how much I weighed because I knew it was a LOT. Eventually, I plucked up courage to have a look and yes, it was a shock . I managed to find a place on the bathroom floor where the scales did not show quite such a high figure though. A week later I weighed again and had lost 1kg! Wow, I was quite amazed actually, especially the next week when again another 1kg had gone! And so it continued with 1kg going each week right up until Christmas .

In the meantime I summoned up my courage to tell OH about it. I was keen for him to try fasting even one day a week because he certainly has memory problems (and always has had) I hoped fasting might improve his memory. Amazingly, he was keen to join me and started fasting twice a week but instead of having a calorie restricted meal at the end of the day, he had a proper meal. I'll save his 5:2 story for another day.

At Christmas and New Year I didn't fast for two weeks , though I did skip breakfast or lunch most days and at the end of the holidays had not actually gained any weight!

All this time between November and Christmas I had been avidly following MM on twitter and was busy on the facebook groups. I found both useful but most frustrating to use as it was so difficult to find information . What this needs, I thought is a Forum ! Luckily other people were thinking the same thing

To be continued...