Survived... just!

It's official, I survived my first intermittent fast (IF) night/day - 24 hours - or whatever you want to call it. I don't really see it as being a total fast, as it's a mix of fasting and then very low calorie eating. To say it was hard and pretty uncomfortable at times would be the truth.

During the IF period, I did a little supportive reading by looking at articles about IF and other fasts. I have fasted before, so the sensation of fasting and emotional reaction to the sensations was not a complete surprise to me. At the same time, it is really tough to start with. My body pretty much protested from about 4 hours in (yes, how lightweight is that?) and my tummy growled a lot when I was trying to get to sleep. The amusing thing is, there are many times in life when I go without eating for more than 4 hours and I don't feel starving, so I feel there is some psychological component to this reaction.

Anyway, I managed to get a 16 hour window of fasting in before I ingested a tea with milk. Then I waited a while before having a 200 calorie meal, and later had a 300 calorie meal as an early dinner. To be honest, the 200 calorie meal didn't really work for a 5 hour period. My body wanted something in-between! I had some coffee with a little milk, and another cup of tea and finally cracked and had 1 plain cracker type biscuit/cookie. I ended up in-taking just under 600 calories.

I weighed myself yesterday and found out that I have put on 10 pounds since I last did calorie counting. That's a lot! I thought I would be more upset by this than I am, but I think because I already have a plan of action in place, the news is not upsetting me as it normally would. I feel matter of fact about it - okay, so I have put on 10 pounds, but I can get those 10 pounds off. I am still not at the same place I was this time last year, which is a boost. The weight is, as usual, gained pretty much on my thighs/hips and middle, my arms a tiny bit, and the rest of me is much the same as pre-gain. I knew this just by sight. I look very big around the thigh/bottom/hips and this is further accentuated by my small waist. It is not a good look for me personally and is definitely not the look I am going for!

So now Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are regular eating days. I am roughly calorie logging to keep an eye on intake. I want it to be no more than 1,800. Today, I would be happy with 1,700ish as this would make up for the 600 instead of 500 intake of yesterday. I am hoping that once I get maybe a month or two of this new plan underway, I may be able to avoid counting on regular days and just log on intermittent fasting days.

Anyway, something else I am going to blog about is an exercise concept I noticed while researching yesterday. It has been investigated by the same man - Dr Michael Mosley - who inspired me to try the intermittent fasting. He looks at whether really short bursts of intense exercise - 3 minutes - can be as effective as longer periods. Of course, given my health problems, this ideas interests me, as 3 minutes is definitely more doable than 30. More of that in another post.

In the meantime, if you are interested in Intermittent Fasting, you might want to check out Mosley's co-authored book - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fast-Diet-Intermittent-Fasting-Healthy/dp/1780721676/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357650492&sr=1-1

2013

Yes, I am back.

I will weigh tomorrow. I have put some weight back on, but not all. I am still wearing my 'new' clothes size from last year's weight loss - which was about 2 sizes smaller than I was in January 2012. That I am still in my new clothes is good news, but I am not happy about having put any weight back on. Therefore, I am going to try a new approach.

This time around I am doing Intermittent Fasting (IF). There is plenty of information on the web about it, and there was a BBC Horizon documentary aired last year that looked at its benefits. These benefits are not just weight loss, but health related - better blood work for starters. I am all for health improvements.

So as of 6.10 p.m., I have stopped eating, and am going to allow 16 hours before my next ingestion of 'food/drink' aside from water or an unsweetened herbal tea. This means that tomorrow my total calories will be no more than 500. I am aiming to do this 5:2. So 5 days of normal eating, and 2 of the very low calorie eating with a fasting period. Fast/VLCD this week is on Monday, and will probably also include Friday. I have to pick non-busy/non-strenuous days.

I shall keep updating with stats, thoughts, measurements etc. The whole point of IF is to do it long term. Wish me luck!

Weigh-in

I have lost 1.25 pounds.

Pleased? Yes :-)

Continuing? Yes

It has not been too hard. Now that I have the app, I can log easier and keep better track throughout the day. I am going to try to keep this up as long as possible. Even if I have a not-so-great day, I am going to attempt to not let it put me off track.

Logging

I am back... to the blog and to logging.

Previously, I had given up or taken a break - whichever fits... both, I guess. I was focusing for a while on my health issues. Focusing on them did help me, but like dieting, it becomes tiring and tedious after a while.

The reason I am back to logging my calories is two-fold. Firstly, I now have a nexus 7 tablet, which gives me the ability to lo easier with an app and secondly, I have managed to maintain my measurements since I blogged the penultimate time. Actual weight, I am not sure. Anyway...

I needed to get new jeans and I managed to comfortably fit into a pair from Marks and Spencers that were a size or two smaller than I would have fitted at the beginning of the year. This being the case, I do not want to get any bigger. I would be pleased to be between 5-10 pounds smaller. Obviously even smaller would be better for me with my mobility struggles and my issues with my legs, but even 5 would be great too.

As I was having some success with losing by logging, I decided to revisit it and see what happens. I have just finished day 2 of eating up to 1340 calories and logging via My Fitness Pal app.

Aiming to weigh once a week for now - Thursdays.

Moving on to something new...

I am moving on...

I am about the same size in terms of measurements as when I last posted. Last week I started overhauling my eating. I am now eating a gradually increasing proportion of raw food (vegetables and fruits). I have always eaten some raw, but now I am aiming for about an average of 50 per cent raw per day. I haven't quite got there... some days I am probably doing that and others not so much.... I will have to start keeping note and tallying up to get a better idea of it. In the long-term, I would be happy with eating 60% raw.

Part of this decision comes from this: I am really conscious that in order to deal with my weight, I need to deal with my WHOLE body - holistically... I have been doing a lot of research into how I can facilitate this and I realised that I need to find a way to improve my overall health. I am leaning towards the Hippocrates 3 week eating plan/Ann Wigmore's diet. The Hippocrates Institute in Florida (and many other similar and cheaper clinics/retreat centres) have amazing results in helping people with diseases (especially cancer). I don't have the money to go to a clinic or the Institute. If I am to have any chance at achieving any results, I need to do it by myself. So I am making strides in that direction.

In other news, I have been somewhat more active, but I am so stiffled and frustrated by the fact that I am so stiff and swollen, in a lot of pain, and have little stamina to do anything whether it be physically or cognitively (even going out of the house is a major event for me).

One thing this journey so far has taught me is that whereas I thought it was all about my weight, it's actually very little about my weight and very much about my whole. That is to say that regardless of whether I weigh what I weigh now or slightly more or slightly less, if I am still this unwell, I am still going to be unhappy. Health is pretty much everything in this world and for so many years I have not had the blessing of healthiness... I am going to try to get it back or as much as I can.

Wish me luck!

Getting Active

Yesterday was an active day. Yay! I took my dog on a walk - and gave myself a blister in the process... not so yay - and...

I got out into the garden and did about 1.5 hours of gardening, which mainly consisted of pulling up and hacking off (trees) my nemsis: ivy. The day before I did a little 'taster session' where I cut a box bush into a ball... but the ivy really started to annoy me, so that was somewhat motivating to continue yesterday. Apparently this strenuous activity burnt between 400-500-ish calories. I'll take that! Anyway, there is plenty more ivy where that came from, but unfortunately, the weather has taken a turn for the worse and is TIPPING it down...

Boohoo!

The challenge for me this week = to log Monday to Friday. I have a 'housewarming' lunch to attend on Saturday and Sunday is Father's Day, which means homemade treats. I am under no illusions over the futility of trying to log those days; it's bad enough trying to log 'normal' days. Anyway, I have made a good start.

This blog is real...

So I could lie and pretend all was well in the weight loss department.

The truth - Nope...

This is HARD. When I started my next phase, I forgot that this weekend (just gone) was a holiday that went on for 4 days. Holiday = holiday food. The result is more like this:

I am enjoying being honest. I have a diet buddy who I share my successes and failures with. I have found it cathartic to be honest with her when I am going wrong... e.g. yesterday when I ate 2 ice creams and today when I ate a cream cake. I have had so much guilt and shame over eating things I shouldn't in the past, that I have found being open about it when I am eating so-called bad foods (they are not bad, they are foods that are treats and should not constitute the largest part of your diet if you want to get all your nutrients) to be novel and take away some of those shameful feelings that I am bad, wrong, failing...

I went out today and bought a lot of fruit and vegetables. I am going to make some fresh juice tomorrow and on Thursday I hope to make a nice soup and have more juice... flush my system with some vitamins and minerals and get back on the wagon.

If anyone ever reads this blog, especially if the person reading is a person who has struggled with their weight, I want them to see reality... that this is hard, that it's not an automatic thing - e.g. you start 'dieting' and lose weight and this continues till you hit your target weight... some people do manage that and some people don't. If I wrote how amazing I was doing and there were no slip-ups or hard patches, I don't think I would really be dealing with my 'food issues'.

Anyway, I am still of the mindset that if I could get back to exercising it would definitely help offset where I am slipping up with my food. I have decided I am also going to focus on this. Anything is better than nothing right?