Ninja's diary - fasting and running to lose 50lbs

Sat 19th April - DD

Exercise - 2 mile run, 10 min ab attack dvd

B - nothing
L - copious amounts of black coffee & tea
T - wholewheat pasta with homemade tomato sauce, 1 Quorn sausage and broccoli. 1/2 pot muller fudge pudding

Cals 500

A good day - struggled with foodie thoughts (but not genuinely hungry) for a few hours around lunchtime but made it to 6.10 pm without food. I have to admit, I wolfed down my dinner when it was ready! Tried to slow down but it was soooo good!
 
I bought and read the every other day diet book. It was really interesting, and grounded in science which makes me happy!

I'm taking a few key points from it:
- cut down on sweeteners - I knew they weren't good but I'm using them as a bit of a crutch to get through down days
- chew gum...It helps
- don't exercise after food on a fast day, it makes you hungrier and in studies made people more likely to cheat (before food is ok)
- daily weighing is ok, and studies have shown you are more likely to lose more weight and keep it off longer if you are a daily weigher
- alternate day fasting is more effective than 5:2 (I think I'll aim for 3:4 so I can keep to regular days)
- 500 cals is more effective than zero, partly because of better adherence (social reasons) and also it reduced negative side effects
- she is very anti restriction of any kind on feast days. I'm going to stop counting cals on feast days too because I want to try and listen to my body.

I also really liked her maintenance plan which was basically alternate day but with 1000 rather than 500. And then cut no of 1000 days if still losing.
 
This is the book I use and I found it really interesting. The only bit I don't agree with is chewing gum-fills me full of wind and makes me feel even more hungry.

Sent from my iPad using MiniMins
 
Good to know, I'll give it a go but will watch out for side effects. I know it's banned from vlcds because it stimulates hunger....
 
Woke up at 3 am with a v growly tummy. Drank half a litre of water (I don't want to get into the habit of snacking at that time) but couldn't get back to sleep till 4.30. I really hope this gets better as I get used to fasting.

When I woke at 8am I was starving so made a v yummy breakfast of fried eggs and garlic creamy mushrooms on toast. Yum!
View attachment 134351

I also got a yummy easter egg for later...
View attachment 134354

I love up days!
 
I almost bought that book yesterday in the works but decided against, maybe I will when I'm next in there. I did buy a couple of 5:2 recipe books & it gave me some nice ideas..... Well done on getting through your down day x
 
Im going to start recording my daily weight here (in brackets after the day) I weigh first thing in the morning. At the moment I'm five and a half pounds down! Official weigh in Tues AM.

Wed (13.1) - DD, 3 mile run - DONE :) 545 cals
Thurs (12.11) - UD, cross train - DONE :) 2100 cals
Fri (12.11) - UD, 5 miles - DONE :) 2150 cals
Sat (12.10.5) DD, 2 miles and abs DONE :) 500 cals (12.10.5)
Sun (12.9.5) - UD, cross train

Total miles run this week: 13
Average cals this week (excluding mon & tues):
 
Urrrggghhh. I ate for England yesterday. I gave up counting calories but I reckon about 3000 or more!. I had a good breakfast, then at lunch went crazy...lots of choc (a lindt bunny - and not the tiny ones! - 2 creme eggs and 2 caramel bunnies (mini this time!) Followed by crisps & dip, a roast dinner and mirangue nest with raspberries and cream...!

There, now I've confessed my sins, I'm glad to have a down day today, but know it will be tricky as I'm surrounded by chocolate still...and ive got to get some more marking done before school starts tomorrow. Plus washing, clean the guinea pigs out, mow the lawn and finish the planting. Better get on with it then...
 
This weeks plan

Mon (12.10) - DD, 3 miles intervals DONE 495 cals
Tues - (12.9) UD, weigh in, 3 miles hills & core
Wed - DD, 4 miles
Thurs - UD, rest
Fri - UD, 7 miles
Sat - DD, 3-4 miles
Sun - UD stretch & core

Not sure how to organise my down days. I don't really want to do one on Saturday, but because I need two up days in a row for my longer run (day before and that day) and because we always have a nice Friday evening meal, Sat is my only choice.
 
Last edited:
Shocker! I was thinking about not weighing this morning because of yesterday's mad up day, but I did and...only half a pound up...I'll to take that!
 
A Saturday DD isn't so bad, I do every other day which means I do every other Saturday as a DD and it's fine.

Sent from my iPad using MiniMins
 
IIn thinking about altering the way I do this. I don't have a problem with fasting till 6pm but I do find it hard to stay within 500 cals after that - a few more might stop me going to bed hungry. I wonder if I upped it slightly and was slightly less free on my up days if I might find it easier?

Eg. 3 DD of 700 cals and 4 UD of 2000 cals would still be less than 1500 cals average per day and because I'm eating nothing till 6pm I would still get the health benefits....i might try that this week. See how I get on today.
 
Monday 21st April - down day

Exercise - 3 miles fartlek training on treadmill

5 pm coffee with skimmed milk 15 cal
7pm carrot, broccoli 50 cal
7.20 pm chicken risotto with veg & 20g cheddar 430

Total cals 495

Was going to have a yoghurt to finish up, but wasn't necessary...

Today was definitely the easiest fast day yet. My tummy woke up at around 2.30 pm but a large black coffee sorted that, and I planned in having tea at 6pm but lost track of time, which really made a change from counting down the minutes!

And it just goes to show, I can exercise in the morning, be active during the day and fast. I had loads of energy today...i cleaned out the guineas pigs, and the fish tank, and dug the veggie plot, on top of my usual chores!
 
Last edited:
A Saturday DD isn't so bad, I do every other day which means I do every other Saturday as a DD and it's fine.

Sent from my iPad using MiniMins

Good to know because looks like I'm doing one this week! Do you switch around your DDs for convenience if something comes up or do you alternate religiously?
 
Slept really badly again last night (seems to be a pattern after DDs...) but at least it meant I was up when the 2015 London marathon ballot went live! So I entered the ballot, and then entered a friend too...hope they don't mind!

Am not overly hungry but am exhausted so didn't get up in time to exercise this morning which is annoying. So I'll have to get the mileage done tonight.
 
Oh, and I forgot the big news...official weigh in says 12.9 so that's 5 and a half lbs in my first week! Yay!
 
Back
Top