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I haven't followed the plan properly because I've been living in a hotel since forever, but I have managed to avoid spuds, pasta, white bread and rice, had salads instead of butties for lunch. I have eaten brown bread at breakfast and occaisionally I have had cereal but I've still lost around 5lbs in 3 weeks.
If and when I'm back at home I'll probably give it a good go because my SO is a veggie and lives off beans/lentils etc.
LeeW.
Considering you're staying in a hotel, I think you've done quite well.
If your SO is already eating that kind of stuff, then you have an inside track on meal ideas for, as you put it, if and when you get home.
😀
Thanks, it's amazing the difference losing 5lbs makes - I can put my hands on my hips and they stay there resting on the hip bone rather than sliding off the flab. 😀 😀
Molgrips, I think you miss the point to an extent - you get carbs from the veg, beans etc, but if you are lacking in energy you need to up your fat content
Wel yes you get carbs from the veg and all, but not that much. When training, you need a lot of carbs, and I couldn't eat that many beans.
Upping your fat content will do nothing apart from make you fat. It doesn't replenish your muscle glycogen stores, and (as I understand it) your body uses dietary fat and stored fat in the exact same way. In other words, fat you eat is just more fat you have to burn up alongside the stuff around your waist.
Solo, if youre asking what XO is you are not a proper fan of Marmite.
What are other peoples experience/advice regarding energy levels and endurance on the diet?
I started on this on Monday and went out for my first off-road ride last night since being on the plan - I felt good and had plenty of power for most of the ride, but I felt my endurance was well down and nearly bonked after a long climb. Last week on the same route, I had less power (sun/mon road riding probably helped increase that) but had no problem with the endurance.
I've stuck to the plan, so didn't take any additional carbs to those allowed through the "approved" food types.
The weight is dropping already (about 4lb in a week), and I feel slimmer too so I'm keen to stick with the exercise and diet, but am concerned that I may not be able to do as much exercise as I want to do with the energy provided by the diet? Doing the Exmoor explorer in just over a week so I need to make sure I will have enough endurance for that - should I maybe make my off-day the day before so that I can load up on "banned" carbs ready for the long ride?
Is this a phase that I will probably push through after more time on the diet?
Any similar findings or comments appreciated.
I have found that in general my energy levels are not the same as they were before I started the plan. I just dont seem to have the same energy for shorter bursts, my endurance hasnt really been affected but I do feel a bit more lethargic. Like you mentioned, Im hoping its a phase.
quick update 2 1/2 weeks in. 9 1/2 pound lost. Felt crap for the first 3 days the rest of its been pretty easy. No real diffence in energy levels.
Gave up on the thread as there was too many weiners knocking around. sad because there were a few really good people to bounce ideas and thoughts off.
anyway
I did it for 2 weeks and started on 12stone5/6 and dropped to 11stone11.
Im now eating better regularly but back to "normal" and maintaining the 12stone whilst putting on more muscle
I have taken some valuable lessons from the idave diet and eating habbits have changed and food awareness.. for eg this morning i had some fresh spinach with balsamic vinegar and a poached egg rather than something greasy or stodgy.
lots of other meal ideas that the people who tried it would know.
I think it was a worthwhile plan and the fact that im still 12stone confirms that for me as its not a 2 week fad.
In the interests of scientific advancement, I took one for the team and went back to the 'old diet' for three weeks.
The data is back from analysis at CERN, and I conclude that.....
I put on 7 pounds
Felt lethargic
Mind not as sharp
Food bill went up
The change in diet wasn't huge. Biscuits occasionally with a cuppa, toast and cereals for breakfast, rice, potatoes and pasta. Odd bar of chocolate, packet of crisps. But not a huge shift to ready meals and pizza etc.
As of now, I'm back on the true path. As I said in my first post on the subject I have never been 'on a diet'. This is a shift in what I eat.
There is a diet I've read about this weekend called the paleo diet, which seems to resemble this plan, but without the calorie spike day. And with books to sell etc.
As someone reasonably well educated, with a good level of understanding of how the body works, I would have to say I'm now convinced - if nothing else that refined carbs and simple sugars are big fat bastards.
Well i lost a stone in 4 -5 weeks and i'm sticking with it. i'm now finding i'm having to go out of my way to eat something on the "band" list on my off day. Although the sugar and milk in my coffee on a Saturday morning is bliss.
I've also discovered ASDA's "make" more veg than just carrots and peas 🙂
The rest of the office, who doubted the plan, are now trying it out. Two questions they have raised.
1. is cous cous allowed (i've said no)?
2. can they have sweetener (in their porridge/coffee) again i've said no?
Thanks for the plan iDave.
Any chance of a wee linky linky to this famous plan? Could do with shifting a few pounds after a year of operations, illnesses & eating!
if nothing else that refined carbs and simple sugars are big fat bastards.
Hmm, I vaguely remember reading somewhere that different people handle carbs differently. Given the differences in reported experiences on this thread, that would seem to be a possibility. Some people report lethargy, bloating etc etc when eating lots of carbs - I can honestly say I've never experienced this.
Lost 2.5kg so far over the summer (the traditional way) which is quite remarkable for me - never managed to lose weight whilst speed training before.
After losing 8-10 lbs at peak, I decided to ditch the "diet" for a couple of weeks to see what would happen. Have somehow only put on a couple of lbs in that time, and that's with me eating rice/curry/spag/potatoes/bread/ciabatta/cereal/crisps/chocolate and drinking beer/wine and also biking only a couple of times.
Will return to it shortly and see if I can shift the next few lbs and generally create a more aggressive base weight for winter training.
All in all I believe it works - it's just a case of adapting it to your lifestyle and mindset.
I've incorporated the suggestions and lessons I've learnt, into my ongoing eating habits.
I have like a bean salad type thing of my own design, in the mornings, which I much prefer to the two or three rounds of dry-white-toast, I use to have.
I was having soup for lunch before I discovered all this, and as I really enjoy my soup, thats an ongoing thing too.
Dinner is veg and lean meat stirfry, salads, veg chilli, steamed veg and fish, loads of different stuff, too many to list.
Weight has gone down and I have stayed with it, in my own version of it, and expect to continue to do so. I don't miss anything, and on the "Day off" I may choose a sandwich or something, but its no great shakes.
I never ate pasta, rice, spuds regularly anyway.
Simple.
🙂
Ive lost 1 stone in 5 weeks which I think is great. I havent been able to exercise much as Im really busy at the moment, but managed a couple of rides. Felt better, although the first ride I had I crashed on the couch afterwards and felt ill. But since then been having something to eat when I got in and thats helped. Generally feel a lot better, had a dry skin issue on my legs for ages, and this has cleared up completely. Still a long way to go for me as I was 20 stone when I started, want to get to 16st. Looking at this as the long haul so doesnt feel like a stress to follow it. And the foods you can have are very tasty so all good. The other thing Ive noticed and not sure if its related, but my heart rate is returning to normal a lot faster than it was doing previously when I stop exercising.
Weighed in this morning: 15st4lb. That's a total of somewhere around 13 pounds loss in 3 weeks (hard to be precise as I started the plan without really getting a base weight, but it was over 16st). The loss has slowed in week 3, but I've been doing less cycling last week as in week 1 and 2 I was getting miles in for the Exmoor Explorer.
Have made tried to make saturdays my day off, the last couple of weekends it's been from Friday night to after lunch Saturday because of various social plans, but on those days off I tend only to stray slightly and have porridge in the morning, maybe a couple of biscuits or a pizza or something through the day and a couple of beers in the evening. Would like to see the weight continue to drop to around 14st.
I am still trying to work out how to manage eating around exercise as I do find that I have less endurance, but I have read that lower-carb diets can take 2-4 weeks for your body to acclimatise to so I'm sticking with it for now and seeing if things improve. My thoughts are to continue with the healthier style of eating but to perhaps start to introduce some carbs back into the diet in moderation, and take simpler carbs for fuel during workouts.
A couple of questions though:
* People seem to be still eating porridge, is that allowed with something like Soya milk on?
* As someone mentioned above, is couscous allowed? I've been saying no as it's durum wheat, just like pasta, but all the low-gi reading I've seen say it's low-gi? What about Quinoa?
* What is the idea behind banning dairy, is it the fat content or something else? The lack of cheese is the thing I miss the most and the thing I enjoy most on my days off.
idave. Re your weight gain. Back of fag packet sums make that an average of around 1200 extra calories a day for three weeks. That's not exactly a minor change
nick, i hardly gave enough detail for any calculations, but have you factored in 2 rounds of toast actually being fewer calories than a chorizo omlette for breakfast? i didn't have biscuits/crisps everyday etc. how are you getting 1200kcal a day???
almost 1 stone in 2 weeks.
Saved me buying another spring for my coil shock it did!
Tried it again after my MTB alps holiday but couldn't stick it, I blame stress at work but will go back to the iDave diet again for more weight loss later in the year.
It wasn't that bad considering the weight loss.