I’m kind of on my second or third day of it, and it’s going alright.
Sunday was Cheat Day, which coincided nicely with a christening I attended and some nice dessert.
At about 7 or 8 PM I stopped eating and didn’t eat or drink anything with calories until about 8 PM Monday, making the first 24-hour Fast Day of the week. In case anyone thinks this fasting thing is dangerous, my own personal example was that I basically drank plain or slightly flavored water all day long, then went mountain biking for a couple of hours in the evening. I didn’t feel any better or worse than when I would ride on a normal (eating) day, but with all the extra body water I was sweating puddles the entire time.
After the bike ride I stopped in with my ride partner at Burger King and wolfed down a Triple Whopper Meal (with Diet Coke). I was going to get just the burger and leave out the fries, but the full meal was a little over £1 more, so I decided to have it.
Today I had a breakfast of scrambled eggs with salsa and cheese, and for lunch I had a big lettuce salad and half a roast chicken – I should have prepared the chicken at home but I didn’t have salad anyway.
I’m going to try to stay with a full-on low-carb diet, meaning less than 50 grams of carbs on most days (which is surprisingly easy if you stay away from breads and cereals) and about 145g of protein per day (based on 1.5g per kilo of body weight) because I’m exercising – this protein suggestion comes from the latest Atkins diet book.
I’ll have to avoid having potatoes and bread and all that stuff, for the most part, which shouldn’t be too hard, but I can have a small amount for lunch or for an early dinner (up to about 6 or 7 PM)…and of course on cheat day!
I think the key for me to remember is that if I can’t follow THE DIET 100% that’s OK, as long as I follow it most of the time – this is what many people (trainers, health practitioners and even life coaches call the 80/20 rule: follow the plan 80% of the time…the rest, well, whatever. Some trainers suggest a stricter 90/10 split, but the idea is to stick to your plan most of the time. The ‘cheat’ time helps psychologically and if you have actual food cravings.
Anyway, like I mentioned before in previous posts with this ‘Xtreme’ diet out of the way, I am now used to doing regular exercise, sticking to meal plans, tracking my food, etc. This makes this next sort of ‘phase’ of dieting easier for me to follow, because I’ve done the crazy hard bit and hopefully I can lose weight steadily – and if I don’t lose actual body mass I’ll be losing fat and gaining muscle, which is fine by me.
Let me be frank! 