On alternate day fasting - not 16:8 but fasting for 36 hours then eating anything you want for 12 hours. E.g stopping eating at 10pm on Sunday and not eating until 10am on Tuesday. Eat all you want until 10pm and the cycle continues. No calorie counting but essentially cutting calorie intake in half.
Thought about trying it for ages but never in the right headspace. Watched a Michael Mosley doc on Netflix out of respect for the great man and saw him talking about it again (welled up a bit when he was talking about wanting to live longer I must say) then just decided, F IT. I’m doing it.
Age 53. Starting at 18 stone 4. Aching knees and back, swollen ankles, couldn’t go upstairs without needing 5 mins to get my breath back, DC complaining that I’m heavy breathing over them 😳, high cholesterol, high risk for T2 diabetes, high blood pressure also hypothyroidism and deep in menopause,
In just over 4 weeks, I have lost 20lbs. Now 16stone 12. I absolutely love my food on feed days. I thought I would overeat but I don’t. In fact I haven’t got time to eat everything I planned (oohhh, I’ll have you tomorrow kind of thing 😃).
I work out in the gym on feed days so I go every other day instead of pressuring myself to exercise everyday and then not do any at all! I eat chocolate bars, big meals etc. I have started making overnight oats ready the night before feed days which I am loving and really fill me up. Drink tonnes of water etc. I have cut out normal bread and have gluten free instead just because it made me extremely bloated after fasting (wouldn’t have otherwise), gluten free pancakes with syrup too. More natural gravitation to healthy food now.
On fast days, I drink loads (as well as electrolyte water), have coffee with sugar, herbal tea with honey and two milk shakes with protein powder and ground flax seeds for extra nutrition. I will probably switch to fruit and veg smoothies when I get fed up with them but not yet!
I was worried I would be dizzy or have headaches but nothing! First few fast days were hard but now it’s so easy. I look forward to eating the next day and even fasting afterwards when I feel stuffed (!) and think about what I want to eat. I’m not starving when I wake up after fasting either and feel very cleaned out so to speak.
I have a busy household (2 adults - 4 older DC), I WFH, and it works fine. Don’t mind cooking for family as know I can have it tomorrow. Honestly I never thought I’d ever find a diet I’d keep up for more than 2 weeks which was my limit. I can’t keep up with calorie counting or denying myself nice food for months on end, so depressing.
I can see the benefits already to my skin, so much less tired, mental fog lifting, no swollen ankles!, dress size gone from tight 20 to comfy 18. I can almost run upstairs and the difference to how hard I can work out in the gym is amazing in just a month which is due to the fasting IMO. In addition there are internal benefits from fasting which will be adding up. I feel 100 times better than a month ago. I know the weight loss will start to slow down but I expect to reach a reasonably healthy weight before Christmas and can then do occasional fast days if my weight starts creeping up again.
Honestly, I really want to advocate this way of losing weight. It’s not a fad, we are designed for feast and famine. No extra costs, actually save money on fasting days as two shakes cost the equivalent of £2 and I’d easily spend more than that eating 3 meals a day especially if I was getting a cheeky Costa, McDonalds, or Subway for lunch although I can and have had that on feed days!
AIBU to think this is amazing and think more people should try it before resorting to spending hundred of pounds on weight loss injections which can have damaging side effects and are affecting Tyoe 1 diabetics getting life saving medication and equipment for that medication?
Obviously fasting is not for pregnant women or people with contraindicated medical conditions but most people could do it if I can!