It has been 2.5 months since I last blogged and that usually means that whatever I was trying did not work out that well. This is not an exception to that rule: It did not work out that well.
I liked the fruit and nuts more than the salads and the salads soon disappeared. I struggled to get things back in balance and added meat back into the mix. No sense going into the details of what did not work.
So why are you blogging now? I am going to try something else: Alternate Day Fasting by Krista Varady. She has written a book by that title (click the link on her name) and I bought the kindle version so I could read it immediately. I like reading on my kindle app on my computer (free download from Amazon) but I cannot print things out to look at them, make notes and take it with me to the grocery store.
Fortunately this program is extremely simple to remember. All I have to do on the fast day is eat 500 calories of food, preferably 400 at lunch or dinner and a 100 calorie snack to finish it out. The other day I can feast -- she says I really can eat whatever I want on the feast day, because the next day I will be doing a low calorie fast. You simply alternate these two days back and forth until you reach maintenance.
It sounds simpler, I think, than it will be to actually put into exercise but I've really got to do something and this sounds intriguing and fun. Krista Varady was one of the people that Michael Mosely interviewed in his documentary "East, Fast, Live Longer" which is what started the 5:2 diet craze in England and beyond.
When I was reading her work she answered the question of why I should eat the 500 calories on the fast day, rather than simply fast on that day. She said that a complete fast on the alternate day would result in muscle loss, but if you eat the 500 calories on the fast day, it helps to keep your muscle loss to a minimum, increases fat loss, and makes you feel better, too.
I really liked her suggestion of buying "ready meals" from the frozen food department based on their calorie count. She pointed out there are hundreds of meals that are less than 400 calories, and lots of 100 calorie snacks available, too. So one meal and one snack make up the fast day, and on the alternate day, you simply eat whatever you wish. Really.
She's been doing research on this idea for quite a while and there is actual scientific proof that it works.... so I'm going to try it.
She also said that the first two weeks are the hardest because it takes some time for the body to adjust to the changes. But... after that it gets much easier.
Ok. I'm going to try it. You will know that it is working because I might be blogging more. If you don't hear from me, I may be trying to hide that it is not working for me. I hope it does work. I'd really like to find the method that works for me. I've liked fasting in the past but was not able to keep up the "no food" rhythms, so perhaps the 500 calorie fast will be easier for me to do and to repeat.
OK. Here goes. Pray for me.
Be back soon, maybe.
Marcia
