Has anyone heard about the Intermittent Diet? I'm thinking of giving it a go

[NotMostPeople]

www.genesisuk.org/media-centre/articles/The%20Intermittent%20diet%20.html

It's not specifically for women who want to prevent breast cancer although who doesn't? The idea was to look at alternative ways of dieting to the standard calorie counting/Mediterranean diet as people find it hard and it's important for cancer prevention to keep your BMI in the heathly range.

I'm thinking of giving it a go as a part of my inevitable New Years loose weight resolution and it would be great to hear of anyone else who's done it or would like to give it a try.

My plan is to start a general 'good' diet tomorrow, throw out the booze and chocs and once the dc's are back to school at the end of the week start the intermittent diet.

I saw this in Good Housekeeping and I'm giving it a bash. Today is my first VLC day. Bit fuzzy round the edges but mostly OK. Husband is bringing emergency cottage cheese . This should be achievable and it's simple. This is the bit I like the most. Simple is good. Simple does not screw with my head and mess with the majority of my life.

I'm doing the plan as I read it. Two consecutive VLC days with all the milk stuff. When I get my brain around it I might tinker with the protein and stick some eggs in there. Maybe split the days. For now I'll do it like it says on the Genesis website.

Reasons for doing it.
I want to live to a very ripe old age like the rats in the study.
I'm a lardarse and I need to come up with a solution that works and is sustainable.
I cannot "diet" "count points" "count calories" "choose red or green days" for the rest of my natural. It is too complicated.

hah, there are a few of us now, great! could anyone post a link to the GH article?? googled with no luck and am not in the Uk so can't buy it either, thanks!
RH like your reasons for doing it, oh to be like one of those rats...

Yes this is getting to be a good group!

Love your reasoning Helen - so similar to me - could not keep up calories or colour counting for more than ... 2 days .. so this should work!

where's the OP? I've got her to thank for noticing all this!

I had a look for the GH article online. It's not there. GH is on allaboutyou.com for some reason! The diet and all the info is on the Genesis website though and the mag is still in the shops for anyone who hasn't got it yet.

I have my mil to thank for this one. She forced me to buy the mag so I got it and bingo. Here I am.

Right.
I have printed all the bumph from the genesis website. Have shopped for cottage cheese, muller yogurt, milk and veg. So tomorrow is going to be my first day. Going to try two consecutive days before the weekend.
Wish me luck !!

Go leopard. It's not too bad after day one. I'm a bit hungry but it's not going to kill me. Tomorrow I may eat my offspring... or some cottage cheese!

2 days done .. And offspring still intact! Not too bad - did find a can of diet coke helped at the point of chewing on dd arm. Interested to see if scales show any impact of my dedication!

Is it bad that I am already hungry in anticipation of tomorrow?!

He! He!

May I join? :o

I've just done the first 2 days and am pleasantly suprised how easy it's been, hunger has really only just kicked in this evening and I've managed to cook for the family without snacking on the ingredients and leftovers

Am sooo looking forward to eating normally tomorrow, there's a pork pie in the fridge with my name on it (literally, if dh eats it there will be bloodshed!) but other than that I'm planning to stick to sensible portion control and no silly chocolate binges.

I love the fact that I can tell myself 'it's only 2 days', I've never managed to stick to a diet for longer than a few days anyway so by next week I should be motivated again, and hopefully I'll remember the hungry days and not want to ruin the good work already done.

Thanks to OP for posting (and others, esp. ZZMum) :)

I'm still here. I wasn't intending to start until tomorrow, but my veg box that was delivered inspired me to make a huge veg soup so I've been doing it sort of. I haven't actually counted calories, but all I've eaten is the veg soup, a tuna steak with salad last night and a veg stir fry (not fat) tonight. It's been fairly easy, but this evening I've been almost doubled up with stomach cramps and running to the loo (sorry tmi). I'm not sure if it's because it's such a contrast to the crap I've eaten recently. So I'm going to log the calories this evening, eat sensibly tomorrow and then do the ID properly.

Is the article in this months GH?

My reasons for doing are partly because I do have a high risk of getting breast cancer, vanity and the desire to want to be fit and healthy as I get older (am42).

poor you, still that's one way to get those calories...; )

i'm still wondering whether to do second day today or tomorrow, may as well go for today as already after 10am and not eaten yet..

eat full (healthy) dinner last night and felt awful, SO full it was uncomfortable! is this what we're meant to feel like but don't notice as we habitually overeat? makes me wonder..

"get rid of " meant to say.
Seriously, hope you feel better today though.

Ok my thoughts on sustaining weight-loss in the long-term based on quick google research/gut feelings...I'm fairly new to researching all this so bear with me pleaSE. This was just a v quick search of academic-type articles - not checked whether fully peer-reviewed etc etc so stand to be corrected...

Anyway, apparently to sustain weight-loss long-term requires you to maintain, for example, a 20% calorie reduction to sustain a 10% weight-loss (due to body's evolutionary propency to store fat in times of perceived "need" ie you cut, it'll want to store more...)

Obviously this does depend on how much energy you expend. One study found that women exercising an additional 5 hours a week managed to maintain their weight loss long-term, but this is additional so how realistic is it to maintain the target level of weight-loss in the long-term??

Maybe if we set a target to aim for we then need to allow for slippage in the long-term. So, if we want to lose a stone, we need to accept that even with a diet such as ID we're likely to maintain 1/2 stone loss rather than the full stone..Maybe accepting this is key to avoiding the yo-yo dieting scenario which is so exploited by the dieting industry?

Also re exercising, as musle obviously weighs more than fat,it is not a clear cut picture to focus solely on wieght loss. should we rather focus on inches lost, dropping dress sizes etc? What are you using?

Apologies for stating the blooming obvious.. Food for thought, excuse the pun..

Thanks zog and welcome!

So am 2lb down! Now to see if it stays off over next 5 days.... Weirdly only wanted yoghurt for breakfast when was sure would have ran to greggs for a pasty!

meant to say, that example was based on a 10% target weight loss of 1 stone from an original 10 stone weight, so a sustained 5% weight loss would be 1/2 stone, if that makes sense

Interesting thoughts there expat.. Did not know that but I guess for me it is not about what I weigh - for me that is a very blunt tool to quickly measure progress but my aim is health and reduction in body fat as this seems to have some strong links to cancer. My aim is to be able to run every day for 30 mins or so and maintain a stable size and not land up a size 20 at 50 which seems to happen to women in my family. I have always Ben about 1.5 stone overweight all my life and lack will power to diet plus have a dd and want to show her a better way to manage weight and health. This plan would allow me to do this as easy to hide the 2 zero carb days and I can take her out running with me.

I am very focused on doing this long term as I really have no choice now age wise - I read a quote recently that stuck with me when I was avoiding exercise using all the usual excuses of no time, sat on ass swigging wine. It said something like "you need to make time to be healthy as you will have no choice about the time being ill takes"

Having seen impact of chronic Ill health and the impact on quality of life in late middle age, I am determined to be one of the pensioners doing marathons and climbing kilimanjarao and not the ones always at doctors complaining about their knees!

So to finish, my measures are fitness and fat levels... But in early days will weigh as the other two take longer to show progress

hi again, I@m already in my early 40s so can relate to that ..Tend to be all or nothing so did the vanity marathon for my 40th and now have the dodgy knees to show for it! I've had to cut my exercise and am struggling to find equivalents to running ...otoh don't want to be injuring my knees more so that I struggle to walk in my 60s! All a balance, isn't it? Something I continue to struggle with.

may I join you? Thank you so much for this thread, I am inspired! I need to lose 2 stone and I am fed up with yo-yo dieting. This could actually work long term even to sustain the weight loss which has been my problem in the past. I will do my low calorie days from today (although I had carbs for breakfast before I read this thread)

I just want to be able to get my jeans on and not feel like death at the end of the baby swimming class I teach. Anything else is a bonus [grin}

I seem to be one of those women designed to survive famine effectively. One of my many gifts it would seem.

I meant

that is a good way to look at it Helen, I never realised my thunderous thighs were a gift and key to my survival... I shall see them differently from now - although do wish they could be sent back and exchanged for something smaller!

So, today the day I can eat what I want, what do I eat - almost nothing - this did not happen last time as I guess I hated the milk days so much I really needed food I liked - whereas yesterday ate my sort of food but only 20% of it and so not feeling the need to gorge.. hope this continues!

Well day 1 of 'normal' eating is going well, I think my stomach might have shrunk in my 2 fast days as I can only eat 3/4 of my (much anticiated) pork pie, I'll have to give the other bit to the dog quick before I find room for it :o

Weight-wise, I'm 6lb less than I was first thing New Year's Day
My weight tends to fluctuate 3-4lbs throughout the week anyway so not as impressive as it sounds, but still v.promising, and very motivating to eat sensiblyon my normal days.

I've read quite a lot of diet theory over the years and I can actually see this one as being a keeper. The 2 days IMO isn't enough to send the body into famine mode and lead to yo-yo weight loss and gain, and hopefully the hungry days will remind me what a normal diet feels like and stop my portions gradually getting bigger and bigger over time.
It's flexible enough to be able to fit it into life long-term without becoming a diet bore (can you tell I've been called this before...?)

sorry, rambling...

Well my last two days intake each came to about 750 calories, so not too bad considering I was just guessing and I did eat three small chocolates. I'm keeping to a healthier diet today, but not as drastic as the low cal days ie. porridge for breakfast, salad for lunch but pasta is planned for this evening. So far I'm not missing the booze.

I have a very sweet tooth and drink endless cups of tea normally, which I think is for the sugar (not to mention loads of chocolate). What's been really working for me is to drink hot water with lemon, I've sliced loads up and put it in the freezer. Then when I get a sugar withdrawal moment I'll have a tea or coffee with sweatner and that does the trick. I'm really enjoying the lemon water.