Because I’ve been feeling the desire to shed the extra tummy floof I acquire over the winter, and because I know that I’m not going to stick to a diet that requires long stretches of calorie-counting, etc. (I just won’t), I was interested to read about The Fast Diet. This type of eating plan is also known as a 5:2 diet, in that two non-sequential days out of five, you have a modified fast (5oo calories for women; 600 for men).
I’ve had plenty of experience with fasting, as it’s part of the prep process for my regular colonoscopy. It didn’t seem daunting to go one-day-at-a-time without eating, and the science behind the plan is solid. I downloaded the e-book from Barnes and Noble, and started reading. I enlisted a couple of my Sunday Lunch Club friends to be fasting buddies.
As I write this, I’m in the middle of my first Fast Day. I am not going to dissemble: despite having had a good breakfast and drinking liters of water, I feel like crap — trembly-shaky, massive headache, constantly growling stomach, and a level of flakiness unprecedented even for someone whose nom de plume is Rubiatonta. I am glad that I decided to start on a day when I don’t have to meet a deadline, because I’d miss it by a mile.
But I’m also hopeful. If this works — and I believe it will — I’ll be able to stick with it indefinitely. After all, it’s only one day at a time.
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March 15, 2013 at 6:07 pm
Duchesse
I’m just the opposite- loathe the idea of fasting. Why should we have to reject food? I assert you could count calories if you wanted to. MyFitnessPal.com is easy and all the foods are listed. I’ve lost nearly 30 lbs since last August, by eating to a specific calorie allotment, using that site.
March 16, 2013 at 12:17 pm
The gold digger
I get a headache if I eat lunch an hour late. I can’t imagine fasting!
March 16, 2013 at 5:44 pm
Tiffany
When I’m very busy or focused I can sometime end up having a semi-fast day simply because I forget to eat – but if I told myself not to eat I’d be ravenous the whole day and obsessing about food. I couldn’t do that style of diet. I prefer to make very minor modifications – less wine, another half hour of walking a day, a slightly smaller dinner – and let the weight come off slowly.