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

Cry me a river, Mike

To paraphrase the great frog, it’s not easy being lean.

I started something like this about 2 months ago; 3 days a week I only eat an evening meal, usually a chicken salad, and don’t drink alcohol, the rest of the time I’m my usual gluttonous self (although my appetite has definitely diminished).

Total weight loss so far = just under 2 stone. It’s the easiest form of dieting I’ve ever done and it works. Unlike previous low carb / high protein diets I’ve tried I haven’t once felt ill and once I got used to being hungry it wasn’t a big deal.

Edit: Going out and buying a load of new clothes yesterday made me feel great – for the first time in 20 years I am in size 34″ jeans!

Congrats 🙂 good work, impressed.

Well done RJ, I’d like to try this, but I dont know if I could skip brekkie and lunch for 3 days!. I’d be bloody ravenous.

I managed to get to 20 hours then scoffed the fish I’d got for tea…first day fasting,ill do it again on Thursday…just had water/coffee and my vitamins all day…it’s tough but I reckon I can do it twice a week…off the bike at the mo so hopefully it’ll keep the lard off

Update, just weighed and I’m 12st 4lbs, the lightest I have been for a very very long time. Also doing a light set of weights every other day and I can see the tone appearing. My mojo is back, lock up your daughters 🙂

Update here too. This weekend i ate EVERYTHING… it was my birthday you see. 41. I had 4 decent slices of chocolate caterpillar cake, TGI Frdays for tea, PIzza, cookies and a trip to the pub (no beer, but bad bad food)

The net result mid-week this week is a loss of 1 lb.

This could well be the perfect ‘diet’ for me

currently trying the 2 day a week fasting diet .

First week was hard , fasting on a monday and wednesday .

This week a lot easier .

Dont weight myself , so no idea if lost weight , but felt good .

I’m not really fasting, more just skipping meals.
Today was a small breakfast, no lunch for example.
Still eating the same in the evenings, but I go easy on spuds, rice or bread. And no booze on school nights. Usually. 😉
Have lost 3kg since I last weighed myself about 2 weeks ago.

I read this thread when the o.p first posted around two weeks ago. My “normal” weight is around 15st10 but ideally I’d like to take a stone off that. I’ve dabbled on and off with the iDave/4hb plan but like the o.p I’m weak and tend to lapse after a few weeks. Plus it doesnt really suit to be eating different meals to the rest of the family all of the time.

I decided to give the I.F thing a whirl, pretty much as the o.p has described and so far, so good. I vary my fasting days to fit round my shifts (basically I find it much easier to fit the fasting in around a late shift) and I’ve lost almost half a stone and that’s while suffering a heavy cold and therefore not exercising at all for the last week.

In a perverse kind of way I’ve actually started looking forward to the fasting days too!

Congrats mate. I’m giving up weighing myself for a month now as i’m happy where i am at the moment both physically and mentally with this. I had a new gym session and program with my instructor yesterday. Today i ACHE…. which is weird, as i didn’t really even sweat lol

good work with the fasting & gym. The aching is DOMS and IME comes solely from using muscles that don’t normally see much use. Once you settle into a regular exercise routine you don’t get it anymore.

Once you settle into a regular exercise routine you don’t get it anymore

I have one, it’s not like exercise/gym is new to me…. it obviously just wasn’t doing the right things 🙂

So i’ve moved my fasting days to Mon and Wed due to working in the office on them days, it’s a lot easier when in the office and the temptation of being at home is out of the way.

For anyone asking about performance, today was a fasting day (2nd this week) and i did some rowing sprints. My performance was actually better than any other times in my past

500m Split/interval times
1.46.2
1.47.1
1.46.1
1.44.5
1.45.2
1.46.5
1.46.9
1.45.8
1.47.3
1.45.2
2.59.0 (i collapsed lol)
1.44.4

I started this also doing Mon & Wed’s and I’ve lost 3lbs in two weeks. I have melon & tangerine for breakfast , soup @ lunch and soup & 2 slices of bread in the evening….no booze obviously. Not finding it too hard.

Been doing this since 1st week in September. So far lost 26 lb, although getting past the second stone loss mark is proving trickier than the first. Tbh im not cutting back on alcohol as much as i coud at weekends etc…and i could easiy do more exercise ! this was always my plan having shifted the first 2stone…wanted to save my knees/ankles some unecessary pain when i do go out jogging !…oh yeah i ought to get out on the bike more too hehe

A mate has done this diet with great success – me and the wife are about to give it a go to maybe loose a stone each.

600 calories a day seems ok.

Banana 100
Innocent Sweet Chilli Vege Pot 218
Bag of Popcorn 100
2 pumkin Rivita and 250 of mushrooms with Garlic (microwaved….try it!) 120

I will keep you updated….

600 calories is way too low!!!

‘kinell hoodie, well done mate!.

Is that just 2 days a week, hoodie?

600 calories is way too low!!!

Just on the fast days, no?

er….. a fast day is zero cals surely??

ive done it 2 ways, firstly a 24hr period with no cals, then theres eating in 8hr windows, so naturally eat less. zero calories for 16hrs. if you are eating tho, id say 600 is far too low.

ideally youd be doing this way of eating for ever, so it needs to be something you can sustain. i prefer the 16/8 method, and am doing that presently to lose some gut fat 🙂 still on 2000 cals a day tho and lost around three quarters of a stone over a couple of months.
when im ready ill just up it to around 2500 per day to maintain weight, or mebbes 3000 if im trying to put on some lean mass.

The 5:2 method, that was featured on the Horizon programme as well as in The Times mag the other weekend, dictates 2 days a week at 600kcal for men, and 500kcal for ladies. The rest of the week is business as usual.

ah right, sorry, i missed that. i didnt see the programme, just chipped in with a bit of fasting experience 🙂
without knowing all the details, personally id find it easier to just do a big blank zero for the day, than nibble away at 600 cals and still feel hungry. thats just me tho *shrugs shoulders*

Watched this show last night, been on my pvr since broadcast but found it quite revelatory. Ok it was almost seemed structured as an advertorial for the 5:2 diet but given that I’m sold.

It’s not that I even need to lose weight really, although a few pounds off would be nice, it’s that the idea of being a bit hungry for a couple of days a week could extend your life potentially by years and prevent you from getting any/many of the common illnesses of ageing. BBC blurb here sure it’s been on this thread before.

Gratuitous pic of Dr Krista Varady here>

Just weighed – 12 stone bang on. BOOM 🙂

Evening folks,
weeksy, I’m starting the “horizon” diet next week to shift about a stone.

Was looking through the thread but crap computer is slow so skipped to the end.

Am planning to weigh myself each week but also going to measure my waist etc, did you do any if that?

Good stuff by the way, keep it up! Den

As long as you way yourself at the same time each week, you will be able to track the loss. I do it the morning after my second fast day! (Should be at my lightest)
18lbs gone. I’m exactly 1 minute quicker up the hill from Hathersage to Burbage a 2 mile, 3.5% climb.
Log your rides on Strava and as the weight comes off, watch as you get new PB’s nearly every week.

edit wrong thread

Well the weight is only sneaking off a little bit at a time, however on my non-fasting days i have been VERY bad… bordering on ridiculous at times hahahaha.

Mother-in-Law came over today, first time in a few months i’ve seen her, she arrived with the words “oh my, you can’t lose any more weight, you look far too thin”…. which is obviously quite pleasing to a man on a diet

I can though… i still have 14lb… although i said that 14lb ago

Mother-in-Law came over today, first time in a few months i’ve seen her, she arrived with the words “oh my, you can’t lose any more weight, you look far too thin”…. which is obviously quite pleasing to a man on a diet

Believe me, it gets old fast, when people constantly say “you’re too thin”, “don’t lose any more”, etc. I think most people have been conditioned to think that overweight is normal – and I suppose it is really, these days.

Just got weighed this morning and I think I’m just about half a stone lighter in one month….so really pleased with myself !

Aye, this morning’s weigh in shows that Operation TubGone is going well, 1.5kg lost this week, 5kg in total over the last six weeks 🙂

It’s nothing too scientific either, sort of kind of fasting-ish, or rather going on an empty stomach for a bit, especially after exercise:

Mon, Weds, Fri – coffee on way to work, take breakfast (muesli) to work so have it about 2 hours after I get up. Sarnie and apple for lunch. Normal dinner, no snacks, no booze.

Tues, Thurs – three quarter of an hour ride straight out of bed (rollers, road or MTB, depending on weather). Coffee but no breakfast. Lunch, dinner etc same as above.

Weekend – At least one decent ride. Normal food and booze, but no snacks.

Seems to be working, and should be entirely sustainable.

Congrats lads 🙂

and should be entirely sustainable.

Exactly !. While the how is important and will vary for lots of people.
Sustainability is key. imo.

Carry on !.

Tuesday weigh in: 0.4kg lost this week. Bit less than I was hoping for, but no big ride this weekend due to this and that. Still, it’s continuing in the right direction.

I’ve been going about five weeks on the 2 day fast plan now and have lost just over half a stone…Can I expect to see the weight loss continue for some time or will it plataeu after a couple of months?

Just wondered if any people were still on this diet ? I stopped over xmas but continued with it after New Year. Probably lost about 9 lbs now in about 2 months …though lost some during xmas.

Wondering how long the weight loss may continue?

Stopped for christmas, but started again last week. I’d put on 4 pounds (from my lowest) over christmas, which isnt bad. better than expected.

Dabbled with it for a bit. Seems ok, but I don’t think they have factored just how much I ‘go for it’ on the alleged eat as much as you want days 8)

I suppose the fact I maintained, rather than put any weight on, shows it works.

I also see that Mr Mosley now has a book on Amazon @ £3.85.