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I've been on it three weeks and shifted 4kg's, which I am very pleased with. I only wanted to lose 5kg's in total so this as been a really effective and fast way of reducing body fat %age. Thank you iDave.
If you feel like you would like to lose a few pounds (or more), and it seems like there are plenty on here who do, why not give it a go for 3 weeks? What's the worst that can happen??
Aside from the weight loss I've actually really enjoyed thinking about my diet and what I put in my body. I've learnt a lot of new recipes (thanks to all who have contributed!) and realised that with a bit of prep it's actually not difficult to cut out bland sarnies in the lunch box everyday.
It was my "rest day" yesterday, I arrived back from a 150k ride to find the table spread with buffet food. I think I over did it a bit. Still feeling stuffed now and I'm actually looking forward to 6 days of healthy eating!
Disclaimer. I have never met iDave but I would happily buy him a [s]beer[/s] red wine if we ever did meet!
BB
Is there any science behind the cheat day other than it keeping you motivated?
Have dieted in the past and always tried to zig zag calories, is it a similar idea to this? (not letting body get used to any one calorie level)
If i remember correctly it was muted the cheat day helps to pick up things you may have reduced through the changed diet. For example without any milk, a typical calcium intake may be reduced, although there may be other foods which have plenty in. Perhaps some vitamins and minerals, although if you're eating vegetables all the time on the diet then that shouldn't be an issue. I would imagine the psych aspect is pretty important, it is to me anyway. mmm, ribena 🙂
Hmmm, not going too well here.
No change in weight for 3 weeks despite sticking strictly ( as far as I know ) to the plan.
7 pounds down in the first two weeks, nothing in the next three. Still plenty of blubber to shift.
Could I be converting fat to muscle hence no weight change or is it just not working for me ?
TM - are you drinking plenty of water through the day? how much exercise?
idave - lots of water, maybe 4-5 pints.
exercise, 10 mile/45 min commute to work and same home 5 days a week, 1 x 6 to 7 hour/40km mtb epic at weekend.
TM, consider a cheat week instead of a cheat day perhaps?
I think the cheat day does something to your metabolism like stop it entering a steady state. Remember your body doesn't actually want to lose weight. Something to do with hormones and sensitivity.
Is it simply an age thing - has eating whatever you liked in no moderation when you were younger finally caught up with you?
I think age definitely has something to do with it... although having more money to spend on food also comes into it. Still, Carter USM got it right:
Mogrim that is a quote from the TV series Red Dwarf, by the way 🙂
don't have a cheat week, just keep going. you'll get another drop in a week or so.
will keep the faith, got to better than salad and perpetual temperance.
really interesting thread. i've been struggling with my weight since losing a load last year and then getting utterly demotivated but trying now to get back on track (should'be been the 1st of jan, but hell you know!!). but how do you do the whole i dave thing when you don't like or can afford to eat heaps of meat? as per my thread on this a few days back, i eat lots of lentil/bean curries, how do i knock out the rice?
Heaps of meat is not ideal. What you need is legumes, cos that's where your carbs come from. With chilli for example I just put loads of extra beans in it and eat from a bowl without rice. For curries you could make various kinds of dhal to go with your curry, or just veg bhajis ie spicy veg.
Tomato = fruit or not?
molgrips - Member
Heaps of meat is not ideal. What you need is legumes, cos that's where your carbs come from. With chilli for example I just put loads of extra beans in it and eat from a bowl without rice
Kidney, borlotti and aduki... yummy
plenty of protein in beans too, they're ace.
Kev
Just a quick note on the cost of eating as it has been mentioned. I am a student living with my gf, and previous to starting this diet we would eat our way through £50 of food from 1 weekly shop. I'm a bit tight, so this included little snacking and booze, mostly healthy meals cooked from raw ingredients (normal amounts of carbs, veg, protein), a few luxuries such as fruit juices, nice coffee, all good quality meat cuts. Everything cooked from scratch. Eating well I would say.
iDave has said this shouldn't cost any more, and for most people what is typically spent on junk and processed food, this would be true, and it just costs more time to prepare. For us, our weekly food bill has gone up to around £60 (done twice now, so reliable), plus perhaps £10 top-up of fresh veg midweek. This has gone up because of more portions of meat, and I tend to buy quality meat. So with the increased frequency of eating meat (now at lunch and sometimes breakfast, where I would have had some pasta, or a sandwich), cost has increased. Carbs (dried pasta, potatoes, rice etc) are a cheap way of filling yourself up, and so replacing with meat is fairly expensive. I am going to try and bring cost down now by consuming more beans/protein to fill myself up, and buying cheaper meat (not worse quality though), such as buying whole chickens and filleting myself (2 chicken breasts at £3-4 when a whole corn fed free range is £5!!!)
Day off has gone quite well, missed ribena now that I have it, but during the week it didn't bother me sticking to water. Lots of sweet things have been nice, but rather than craving them (which i expected) i've just been eating them purely because I am allowed.
RE tomatoes, I've been having them. Not sure about the technicalities of fitting in with the diet, pretty sure they have been discussed in other iDave threads (have a look for them as they have lots of good recipes) and suggested they are fine.
RE rice with curries, as has been mentioned, give the curry some substance with lentils/beans etc, and forget about the rice. Works quite well. If you must substitute it with something, try lots of cabbage.
I found 'gram' flour today, which is ground chickpea flour apparently. Not sure if that would fit with the aim of the plan. Chickpeas allowed, normal flour not, due to GI/sugar content, but also perhaps because in the processing of making it flour, you are reducing the complexity of the sugars making it easier for the body to digest, increasing the GI? If so does this make ground chickpea flour also high GI? If anybody has an answer to that I would be curious to know.
you can make chickpea flour by slow roasting soaked/tinned chickpeas in the oven for a couple of hours, leave to cool and grind up - hey presto flour!
I've been eating a lot more beans lately and i'm defiantly farting more and going to the toilet 🙁
For those looking for recipes:
I've been eating a lot more beans lately and i'm defiantly farting more and going to the toilet
You say it like that it's a problem??? (Let's not forget that timeless piece of wisdom, true when it was first written and still true today: "Beans, beans, good for your heart...")
(And molgrips: I know it was from Red Dwarf, Rimmer's voice is instantly recognisable!)
Major success this evening with cauliflower rice - grate a whole cauliflower and fry with some caraway seeds (other herbs/spices are available). Yum.
OK folks just started on this as I need or would like to lose at least 15kg to get down to 100kg. I am on day 2 all going well as feel full which good for a diet, staying well hydrated but seem to be getting headaches is that a normal response to the sudden change in diet?
SbZ will be along soon to rejoice at your headaches...
I've never come across headaches being an effect.
landy813 - I started this diet last week and had headaches for the first couple days even though I was drinking lots of water too.. No idea if it was due to the diet or a cold I had at the time.
I was a big sugar junky before the diet (too much cake etc) which could also have had something to do with it.
A pal mentioned this over the weekend and has lost a few kg on it so I'm gonna give it a try as I've been trying to lose half a stone / stone for a while but even upping exercise hasn't done anything.
Only thing that worries me is that when I've tried cutting out simple carbs in the past I've felt a bit weak and lacking in ebergy. Has anyone else had this? Does it pass? I am training at the moment so don't want to screw myself up; I've always been a fan of loading up on carbs post exercise to prevent any low the next day. I shall try this and see...
Just started giving it a go. Headaches at end of second day, maybe not enough water, too much espresso, change in diet I assume it'll settle down.
I managed a couple of months on the Mark Sissons Primal Blueprint diet. Went well for the time I did it, but I like the idea of being able to have beans, peas, pulses which are off that diet.
I'm interested in the 'fruit' definition though.
At the moment I'm going with the 'if it goes in the fruit bowl' it's off the list, but if it goes in the fridge salad box it's in, so tomatoes, peppers, cucumber are OK. Obviously not scientific in the sense of definition of a fruit, but it sort of makes sense.
I guessed it would just be an initial temporary thing I'm sure it also happened when I had a go at the Atkins years ago. Lack of sleep maybe too revising for an OU exam so had a couple of late nights.
I also found that green tea helps to stave off hunger.
Can we have sweet potatoes or are they off limits too?
Sweet potatoes are 'low GI', but this isn't strictly a GI diet as dairy isn't allowed, so would say not, unless someone with underestanding says it won't affect the mechanisms of the diet.
Green tea, sparkling water and coffee work well for me to stave off hunger, although that is one surprising thing, I don't really feel hunger so much any more.
RE Fruit - custard test. DWISOTT. Anything sugary will go with custard, anything not - won't, is my reckoning. As scientific as it gets 😀
personally I take the diet at face value
Sweet potatoes are 'low GI', but this isn't strictly a GI diet as dairy isn't allowed, so would say not
as they aren't on the don't list I eat them as part of the regime
I would wait for iDave to ammend the list to clarify
I've found it can be hard to get enough carbs this way because I can only get so many legumes down me. I can start to feel worse and worse towards the end of the week before cheat day. I sometimes get headachey when I don't have enough carbs so sometimes when I feel really crappy I just top up with something bad. Possibly doesn't help the diet but it certainly helps my general state of being.
I think headaches could be a risk for us sweet tooths coming to the diet.
Dave, in your emailed notes (from last year) you said you soak a load of beans/pulses once a week and then split into portions. Do you just keep these in the fridge? Or do you freeze them?
Just asking because IME chickpeas last 3-4 days in the fridge; lentils 2 days (before going squidgy), and other beans maybe 3-4 days too.
Are you getting a full week out of yours once cooked?
Ta
[i]Dave, in your emailed notes (from last year) you said you soak a load of beans/pulses once a week and then split into portions. Do you just keep these in the fridge? Or do you freeze them?[/i]
After boiling, etc. Beans are diveed up into portions, bagged and frozen.
When I have time, I will boil up some beans. Favs are Pinto beans, chick peas and Cannellini beans.
When I'm pressed for time though, its the tetra packed beans from the usual supermarket suspects.
I'm mostly on the tetra packs at the moment.
I'm currently on salads, beans and the odd stir fry or chilli, along with that winning Combo, lentils and bacon.
I'm interested in the 'fruit' definition though.
If you're being strictly botranical with your definitions then fruit = contains seeds.
So tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, aubergines and many other things we commonly call vegetables are in fact fruits.
As far as I understand it, the iFruits are those with high sugar content so in other words your fruit bowl items.
The 'custard rule' is about as good as it gets really 🙂
bagged and frozen
That's probably what I'll start doing then. Have been doing them in batches and always keeping in the fridge until now.
lentils and bacon
Defo. Has to be smoked bacon though - preferably with red lentils, chicken stock, garlic and a few spices. Major nommage.
Spot on HillDodger.
The Custard rule, err.... rules
😀
[i]Has to be smoked bacon though - preferably with red lentils, chicken stock, garlic and a few spices. [b]Major nommage[/b].[/i]
Most definately.
😀
Question.
When is the "week of will and mind" ?. Is it during February ?.
😆
my missus also wants to know about sweet potatoes
she has made a huge vege-mince shepherds pie, topped with sweet potatoe......
its currently in the freezer awaiting her 'rest day' unless someone can advise
save it for the rest day.
and sweet potato on shepherds pie is just wrong 😉
Just had my favourite meal of the week. Chicken, chorizo and chickpea stew with mashed parsnip and steamed garlic spinach.
Hard work huh ? 😉
You poor thing, being forced to eat that muck. And having to send me money all the time too.
iDave = sadist.
Just had my favourite meal of the week. Chicken, chorizo and chickpea stew with [b]mashed parsnip[/b] and steamed garlic spinach.
I've just had (lean) sausages, brocolli, leeks and spinach, along with mixed beans and mashed parsnip in place of the chips the rest of the family had.
Now I'm wondering whether parsnip chips are kosher within the idave diet scheme of things? I love parsnip chips and I can't see why not. Looks like I'll be tucking into them two or three times a week then 🙂
Can we make it a rule that if you use the expression Nom when describing food, and you're not 12, you have to punch yourself in the head?
parnsip chips are fine
nom, twack...