Horizon 'fasting' diet/lifestyle 3.5 weeks in… updates

Thought i’d write a quick update, i know there’s a iDave thing and revolution on here, but for some like myself the iDave isn’t an option. For me it’s down to eating preferences and food-types etc.

After hearing about the Horizon prog of 2 days a week split of <600cals on them days i thought i’d give it a whirl. So i chose back to back days on week 1, then Mon/Thurs after that.
In under 4 weeks i’ve dropped 1st 0 which i’m totally ecstatic about.. i mean REALLY happy.

I was once a proper porker, topping the scales around 21st. But over a long period of time over 5 years i dropped down to where the house scales were reading 15st 0. This then sat in/around there for nearly 2 years, some peaks, some troughs… but never really much either way. Recently though it was showing 15st 10 at one reading.. which bothered me, especially as i train hard 4-6 days a week. Hence why i started the ‘diet’

For me i can’t psychologically DO a 7 days a week diet… i just can’t.. i’m weak !!! But, it seems i can use the ‘it’s only till morning’ mantra for 1 day a week. It’s not easy at times… but then again, it’s not exactly tough once you get your head around it.

I’m still in the same size jeans, a 34″ but you can see in my face and wobbly bits that the weight is less than previously…

Keep the updates coming – great news

Interesting – a client of mine has just started the same and seems happy with it so far. I should try it -what sort of thing do are you eating on your fast days OP?

So for example on a fasting day it’s 2 eggs, scrambled on a piece of dry brown toast for brekkie. Lunch is an orange and a low fat jelly (god JELLY is great… <10 cals for a large pot !!!!). Evening meal last night was a carton of leek and potato soup from Sainsburys. 216cals all in for a LOT of soup. Followed by half a banana and again a jelly 🙂

It’s weird, i went to bed proper hungry but woke up only slightly peckish. This seems to be a common trait for me on fasting days.

The great thing for me is that this diet means i can eat/do the things i want on other days. I don’t drink for example, but i’m weak with eating ‘stuff’. So me and my lad made muffins the other day, i’ve eaten them… or Sat i’ll go to the pub with my mum and boy for lunch and have what i like… This is why it works for me, as on the eating days i’m unrestricted.

What i’ve found is that it makes you slightly more aware of what you NEED, rather than what you think you want. So in essence you may not eat as much even on the unrestricted days as you previously would have. But i’m not suffering for that… it’s all good.

Tonight is Indian take-away. With Naan bread and 0% guilt.

I’ve had great weeks and average weeks on the scales, 6lb in week one, then about 1.5lb on the others… but 5 i think this week (maybe 4 after an eating day). So don’t lose heart if it doesn’t drop much in a given week.

i’m totally ecstatic about.. i mean REALLY happy

I’m happy for you, glad you’re getting into something that you find works for you.
🙂

low fat jelly 😆

low fat jelly

Sugar free, no? Don’t think regular jelly has a lot of fat in it.

Glad its working for you but i dont understand.. on the fasting days you eat scrambled egg on toast for breakfast, fruit lunch then soup for tea? I thought these fasting diets were supposed to be water only 1 day a week?

Is this a documented regime you are following or something you have made up yourself?

Was considering doing fasting 1 day a week myself, so not criticizing above, just not sure how it works and whether the above would work for me. Glad it works for you though, keep it up!!!

I thought these fasting diets were supposed to be water only 1 day a week

I was told the fasting days were 600 cals max for men and 500cal max for women. I never actually watched the prog myself, just got the information from my boss who did it with great results for 3 weeks before i started.

organic – I think (weeksy, correct me if I’m wrong) the info is from here: BBC Horizon linky

That’s basically it mate yes.. . remarkable his results seem to be pretty much exactly the same as mine.

Hmm. I’ve finally got really fed up with the weight I’ve gained over the last 18 months.

Might add this into the mix.

Thinking I might try this… All it would mean for me on a work day is skipping lunch, and being disciplined about tea (not eating cos I’m hungry in the time it takes me to head soup…)

I’ve hit a brick wall with conventional dieting as I’m now trying to loose weight I’ve had for over half my life. Can’t eat eggs though… Some form of ham based breakfast then I think… It supposed to be very protein filled breaky yes?

Congrats on the weight loss but there is 1 thing i would say… Its taken how to to get to the size you have ( and anyone else who is overweight etc ) whats the obsession with all of a sudden needing to lose like 4-6 a week ? At the amount of weight loss you can guarentee thats not just fat your losing slow and and steady is best 1-2 pound a week max.

No obsession mate, i’d hit a plateau for about 18 months, little up, little down. I couldn’t find the strength to go back to the full on dieting, it was just too mentally tough. Back when i lost the big stones i was at home alone, so could cook what i wanted when i wanted. Now i’ve got a wife and a 4 year old, so it’s not quite as simple, you also get complacent as i’m sure many on here have when having a family etc.

The numbers i lose week on week are not important to me on this one, it’s more about doing ‘something’ that i can work on and work with.

I’ve just had a cracking indian 🙂

have a read of this

Have you noticed any other benefits apart from weight loss? Just wondered if you had noticed an improvement in energy levels or anything else? Any downsides?

I started this first week in Sept. So far I’ve lost 22 lb and I truly feel like its changing my life. Still got another couple of stone to lose but I genuinely think I can keep this up forever. Really really recommend it.

foolishmiracles – Member
Have you noticed any other benefits apart from weight loss? Just wondered if you had noticed an improvement in energy levels or anything else? Any downsides?

Only downside is that on fasting nights i do sometimes wake up during the night ‘wide-awake’ about 3am and take half an hour to get back off.

I’ve noticed no downsides in strength, fitness etc.

I’ve been doing it since seeing horizon. Never kept an eye on my actual weight but I’ve lost the potental beer belly and feel much better/fitter for it. I pretty much eat nothing every other day. I might have the odd small snack or fruit but have found it to be easy after a couple of weeks. The days i eat i make sure i eat really well, lots of whatever and a fair bit of fruit.
I ride to work on the days i’m eating, 15 commute kills me without eating breakfast.

In under 4 weeks i’ve dropped 1st 0 which i’m totally ecstatic about.. i mean REALLY happy.

That is really impressive. Well done!

How far apart should the fasting days be? Assume back to back isn’t poss, but how about say Tues and Thurs?

My mate did Tues/Thurs for first few weeks, for some reason we now do Mon/Turs, but there’s no real logic behind our decision, just personal prefernece.

theres a few different ways of doing it. ive had success with 2X24hr periods fasting per week (so zero cals from teatime to teatime) or using windows a la ‘leangains’, so eat all cals in an 8hr window, zero cals for 16hrs each day.

looked into it quite deeply and it actually seems to be quite a healthy way of eating.

I do Monday tues or Monday Wednesday, no cals teatime to teatime on fast days…feel much less bloated, more focused etc…

Cheers guys.

i just go with every other day. Sometimes i might be going out etc and end up eating two days in a row but dont get to worried about that, probably every two weeks circumstances mean i eat two days ina row. Still works…

Dieting = weight control for lazy people.

seadog101 – Member
Dieting = weight control for lazy people.

Go on then wonderboy, tell me how i’m lazy. I do 1 hr’s cardio 5 days a week and 3-4 hours at the weekend. I train hard, ride hard. I can be found doing 12 hour enduro events… but i’m lazy ?

I’ve been trying this for about 6-8 weeks – As with all competitive cyclists I’m always looking to lose weight and after loosing about 15kg about 18months ago I found I hit a level and only ever lost or gained small amounts.

I have found I haven’t lost a great deal more weight, about 6kg but I’m certainly leaner, ie ribs and jawline are much more pronounced. I found I always train on my fasting days and I feel really strong, I have also found when I do ride I am much more able to ‘feel’ my hunger level so can eat accordingly.

I tend to eat my ‘fast’ allowance in one meal, so can focus my hunger on, wait till mrsTM comes home and we can eat rather than small amounts in the day. Unfortunately, I’m an all or nothing person and don’t do moderation very well, so for me I can be hard on myself and say nothing to eat till 7pm suck it up. May not wot work for someone else.

I know I’ve rambled, so i’ll finish with this. MrsTM’s parents are both diabetic, controlled with pills (type2 maybe) an have found with the fasting they have reduced their overall medication by about 80% to achieve the same results.

I think it works and is sustainable because you are reducing calories in a week thanks to the two fast days plus on the other days it makes you think about what and how much you eat. Add the two together and weightloss should always follow. I find I’m eat much lower fat foods and more fruit. If you can get past the first two weeks it really does become easier and you see the results.

Dieting = weight control for lazy people.

That must be one of the most retarded things I have ever read on stw.

I really bought into this and still have the program on my planner. Weeksy your story is interesting, I’m 16st but would not consider myself a porker however there’s definately weight to shift. I don’t train hard but ride twice a week so I’m getting fairly fit, but food is the big evil – it’s all just so good 😳

Diets are very hard to keep so I think I’ll give this a bash as I’m encouraged by your experience. I often go hours without food so a day should be manageable especially with your advice.

Nice one 😀

Good stuff OP. Keep it up mate.

Total fail seadog101, total troll fail.

Total fail seadog101, total troll fail.

not sure that is true.

if you eat less, you generally lose weight – which is what is happening here.

if you eat the same, but exercise, you generally lose weight.

if you exercise but don’t lose weight then, generally, you are eating more than you need.

that is pretty much what he was saying – what is wrong or incorrect with that?

Id agree that diets tend not to work…because people inherently see a diet as a short term thing to achieve a set weight loss. Soon as you stop the weight generally comes back. With the fasting idea, its something that is achievable each week, potentially for the rest of your life. Which to my mind, is where it changes from being a diet to a sustainable lifestyle choice.

I’ve been following iDave for a good few months now and think it’s great. My 32″ waist jeans are hanging off me now, though.

I might start an “iDiet for non-biffers” thread one day.

It seems to be to be a general principle of not eating as much combined possibly with a way of fooling your body into not going into a ‘starvation’ mode, where it tries to adjust to the lower intake of calories, which would then stop the diet from working.

I bet if you went through the week and just made sure you front loaded the day and then had very little to eat for your evening meal you would lose a similar amount of weight.

Has the OP tried raw jelly cubes instead of jelly – much nicer.

I might start an “iDiet for non-biffers” thread one day.

No time like the present, Mike.

Reading with interest and may give this a shot to shift some “stored energy” from my stomach.