Fast-5 Diet and Lifestyle: Re: [fast5] Suggestions on how to do the fast-5 program more days a week requested

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Re: [fast5] Suggestions on how to do the fast-5 program more days a week requested

xenia,

Your post was very good and pointed out some of issues with weight other than food and exercise.

I have had excellent results with fast 5, and am continuing

slow weight loss and amazing body changes. There have been times when I went off the plan for reasons mostly related to travel, staying with friends and family and not wanting to put out people who planned lovely meals for me. I noticed that when I went off the plan, I was much more hungry and focused on food all of the time.

My other secret is Yoga, which I would highly recommend. It has kept me flexible and balanced with the gait of a younger person.

Now...some thoughts on the major issue of emotional eating. I was talking to someone last week who lost 150 pounds after a gastric band procedure. She slowly gained back all of the weight, because she never dealt with the emotional component of her eating problem. The good news is that she is receiving assistance with the emotional part and is losing weight again. I am trying hard to relax/meditate every day (yoga is good for that) and develop an awareness of eating when not hungry. Fast 5 takes away a lot of the decision making in that regards.

Keep on letting us know how you are doing.

On Jul 16, 2009, at 10:25 PM, xenia.rose wrote:

The Fast-5 program is the easiest program for me to follow compared to other programs ... at least using the method I am using. I don't follow it on Saturday or Sunday's or any other day I happen to be off work (like a holiday or for a doctor's appointment.) I find that on the weekends though I wake up very hungry and I am coming to understand that it may be because I emotionally want to eat and because it is Saturday or Sunday morning. Most of the days of the week I don't wake up hungry... although there are exceptions.

It is so much easier for me to stick to this plan when I am at work. Home alone cleaning house causes me too much temptations. I think that I am not distracted enough about some emotional issues like being lonely in this new place, not being able to walk much due to foot problems, going through a divorce and a recent cancer scare. (Which turned out fine... the results were negative.)

When I ate small meals (3 meals and 1 or 2 snacks) all calorie counted, it was like I was grazing all day long. I was always thinking about what I could have or couldn't have to eat and when my next meal was going to be. I used to get worried that I would get busy and go too long without eating!

I used to get nauseas and even light headed if I fasted for 15 hours once a week for church. (In my faith you are not supposed to eat from sundown Saturday until service is over on Sunday.) Now I fast for closer to 19 or 20 even 21 hours daily and have more energy, not less.

But that was not always the case. The first two or three weeks of the Fast-5, I did have side effects and I have come to see them as withdrawals from sugar ... from soda I am sure but also I used to eat a lot of carbs too. As my body has adjusted, I feel better.

The next step for me is to find a way to break through my issues with doing the Saturday and Sunday fasts. I know I can do them physically, but somehow I have this irrational nagging thought that I need to get enough calories to keep my metabolism from crashing at least part of the week.

I have no support system for this program at all. The few friends I have were I have moved are very against a fast. My closest friend at work regularly tells me that he thinks I don't eat enough. I keep reminding myself that I could go 3-5 weeks without eating at all and survive as long as I was drinking water, so I will not get weak and ill if I follow the fast-5 7 days a week instead of just 5.

How have the others here gotten over the ingrained notion our society has that if we don't eat "normally" and a certain amount of calories we will get weak or ill or at a minimum crash our metabolism and stop losing weight?