My ADF diet

[Moopsiepuffs**]

I'm starting an Alternate Day Fasting experiment today. The idea being that on an "up" day I eat my usual amount of calories and on "down" days I eat no more than 500-600 calories.

Today was the first day and I decided to start with a down day.

Berry smoothie and grilled chicken with noodles was all I ate. I felt hungry during the day but keeping hydrated with water helped a lot with the cravings. Tomorrow is an up day so I will be eating a lot but it will be healthy!

This is a slight variation of intermittent fasting and the supposed benefits of weight loss and overall health meant it was worth a shot. I will try and update daily and we'll see how I get on.

Wish me luck!

 

[IgnorantBloke]

Conceptually I like the idea but I fear it'll lead to binging on your feast days.

Keep us updated.

 

[Moopsiepuffs**]

Day 2 - First "up" day

Scrambled eggs on toast
Apple
Peach
Subway sandwich
Chicken and pork with noodles

I've not been counting calories but that looks like a sensible amount of food for an Up day.

 

[Moopsiepuffs**]

Day 3

My second "down" day of the experiment.


Cup of strawberries
Cup of grapes
Chicken and noodles
Nectarine
Cheese on crackers

Felt pretty much the same as the first down day but it was a little easier because I had experianced the feeling of being hungry on Day 1. I've consumed plenty of water throughout the day and my energy/mood has not been negatively affected yet.

The best thing by far about this diet is looking forward to the up days. Knowing that I can eat all the lovely fruit I want tomorrow has certainly helped me through today. I'm feeling a little hungry right now but more water will help with that and maybe another cup of berries.

 

[Moopsiepuffs**]

Day 4

Another "up" day, but I think I went overboard on the number of calories;


scrambled eggs on toast
banana
roll with bacon and black pudding
two BLT's
chicken with noodles
peach
berry smoothie

I was working at 6am so I needed something to charge the batteries. The eggs worked like a charm but the bacon roll later followed by two BLT's made me feel a bit guilty. Tomorrow I hope to just have fruit and perhaps a subway sandwich during my lunch hour.

 

[Seriously-Dead]

Interesting to see someone do Alternate Day Calorie Restriction. It's not a very popular model in the dieting community, but its worked in clinical settings. On the low day, are you eating everything at once or spacing it out through the day?

 

[Moopsiepuffs**]

Interesting to see someone do Alternate Day Calorie Restriction. It's not a very popular model in the dieting community, but its worked in clinical settings. On the low day, are you eating everything at once or spacing it out through the day?

Spacing it out. I eat first around 3pm and then dinner time before something small at about 9pm. That way I know at least I have something to look forward to.

 

[Moopsiepuffs**]

Day 5

A Down day, and the first time I have fucked up but we all make mistakes, right?

2 bacon rolls
egg and cress sandwich
fruit salad
BLT
Red Bull
Potato Chips
Spaghetti Carbonara
Raspberries and Strawberries

I was working from 12.30pm until 9.30pm which was problematic because I was out of the house for both lunch and dinner. I had the bacon rolls for breakfast thinking that would fill me up for the duration of work. However rushing around and reasonably heavy lifting takes it's toll. By my first break I was hungry and went for the pretty healthy option of egg cress and a fruit salad. However, my shift sucked and by my break in the early evening I was run down (hence the red bull) and needed to eat something tastey just to make me feel better and get through the rest of the shift (old habits showing up and fucking me over).

When arriving home I had the spaghetti already made and couldn't turn it down, followed by a bowl of raspberries and strawberries. In the end, I exceeded by 600 calorie limit by a huge margin, however I think it was bound to happen during my work shift. Limiting myself to 600 calories has sapped a bit of my energy during these early days and I simply could not put up with it today. From now on it seems I will have to arrange my eating pattern so that Down days do not fall on work shifts where I am not home untill 10pm.

 

[Moopsiepuffs**]

Day 6

An Up day, and my Birthday! I didn't go too crazy due to yesterday's failings.

I went out for a meal and had Tapas (mixture of foods) which included;

squid
chicken
potatoes
goat's cheese with marmalade
mackrel
chirizo sausage with black pudding

Later I had some leftover pasta followed by some strawberries and birthday cake.

I'm looking forward to my Down day tomorrow as I feel a little let down after yesterday. Time to get back on track.

 

[Moopsiepuffs**]

Day 7

One week in so I want to share my thoughts and leave the log open to tips and suggestions.

Basically I feel this diet is achievable but not for everyone, particularly in the long term. Can I really see myself doing ADF for 8-12 months or even years? Simply the answer is no. I understand the benefits and I do feel better, even if it is just all in my head. I am so used to feeling full all the time that having days where I eat very little does make me feel that I am slimming down and my clothes feel a little loose around my body.

On the other hand, I opened the fridge this morning and saw all these wonderfully healthy fruits and salads and just felt it was all going to waste. If I want to eat a fruit salad or grilled chicken with a garden salad then I feel I should be able to without feeling guilty about it.

In the end I gave ADF a shot (albeit a short one) and have came to the conclusion that it is not for me. Even if the weight does melt off fast, I just don't feel it is worth feeling so damn hungry 3-4 days of the week. Opinions and comments are welcome but I think by the end of today this thread will be about me eating healthy foods everyday rather than limiting the amount of overall food intake.

 

[IgnorantBloke]

Thanks for this. You didn't by any chance record your weight or body fat %?

I was thinking for this semester doing something similar.

Mon- 1200 cal
Tues- 1500 cal
Wens- 1500 cal
Thurs- 1200 cal
Fri- 2500 cal (Maybe every other week I'll just have a free day)
Sat- 2000 cal
Sun-2000 cal

In theory, I should lose about two pounds a week doing this. I'm pretty inactive during the week as most of my time is spent in front of a computer or in a lecture hall.

 

[Moopsiepuffs**]

Thanks for this. You didn't by any chance record your weight or body fat %?

I was thinking for this semester doing something similar.

Mon- 1200 cal
Tues- 1500 cal
Wens- 1500 cal
Thurs- 1200 cal
Fri- 2500 cal (Maybe every other week I'll just have a free day)
Sat- 2000 cal
Sun-2000 cal

In theory, I should lose about two pounds a week doing this. I'm pretty inactive during the week as most of my time is spent in front of a computer or in a lecture hall.

Sadly I couldn't record my weight. I replaced my old school scales with fancy electronic ones that of course broke

Instead of limiting myself to 500-600 cals every second day, I'm just going to eat healthy everyday. The chance from eating a lot to eating very little was too drastic for me to adapt.

 

[Moopsiepuffs**]

Day 8

Smoothie made of 2 kiwis, a plum and some watermelon

Smoked ham with some mustard

beef in a tomato sauce stuffed with a spinich sauce

finished off my birthday cake

strawberries and grapes

plenty of water throughout the day as always

 

[Moopsiepuffs**]

Day 9

Bacon cheese burger with fries

Pasta with cheese and tomato sauce

Bowl of blueberries and strawberries

2 pints of beer

Water

 

[IgnorantBloke]

Is your plan of action from now on just to watch food quality and serving size?

 

[Moopsiepuffs**]

Yeah I'm working towards a calorie deficit. The thread won't be as interesting but it is still a useful way for me to track my progress and monitor my eating habits.