Agreed - Dr. Herring even recommends 'working up' to a full 19 hour window for folks that initially have a challenge with it. Look, I've gotta say this too -- I appreciate the way Jessica put "cheating" in parentheses, because seriously - to me this is not a diet! Your diet is made up of what you eat; this is all about approaching your diet in a different way. If you have a day where you don't make your 19 hour window, and then you beat yourself up about 'failing' or 'falling off the wagon,' so to speak, then you're completely missing the point. Following a plan like this, at least for me, provides a primary benefit about not having to spend all day thinking about what you can and can't consume. Of course I'm speaking to folks that don't have other dietary issues or physical issues other than excess weight. The benefits come by consistent application and by paying attention to your body. Perfection comes after you die, and not before, so just aim for 'constantly improving.' :-) If you're starting this plan to lose fat, here are some tidbits of advice that I'd provide: - Stop thinking about losing weight -- think in terms of losing fat. Don't throw the scale away but don't look at it as gospel either. You can celebrate losing two pounds and have it just be water; at the same time you can beat yourself up if the scale didn't move, but you've actually lost fat. Concentrate on how you look and how you feel.
- Baby steps! Consider the idea that you can tweak your food choices after you've settled into the plan. Think of all the times you threw yourself into a 'diet' religiously only to make it short-term. Structured diets are almost always short-term. That's why there's always room for someone else to take your money with a new 'diet revolution.'
- Clarify your goals, and learn to reset them based on how you look and feel. When I was over 400, my goal was to get under 300. When I was 300, I aimed for 250. I started Fast5 when I was around 230. Now I'm at 210 and have added 10-20 pounds of muscle over the last three years (I'm 6'4"). I've already surpassed any goal I ever placed on myself physically, and there's room for improvement. I'd like to lose another 15 pounds of fat and add some more muscle. At 42, it's just a matter of saying "hmm. . .how good can I get?" And yes, I still eat cookies, ice cream, fried food, chocolate, etc - just not every day (although once in a while I'll eat them all at once, just like the next guy!).
- Don't be afraid to modify your window based on the fact that you actually have a life. Got a lunch meeting that happens three hours before your window arrives? Simple -- stretch your fast the next day until you're back to your normal window. Holiday breakfast with lots of potential calories? Eat light the day before and cut your window back. It's not difficult, but you might notice that old fears crop up after all the other diets you tried and failed.
- Aim for 19 hours every day. Put a check-mark on the calendar every time you score, a circle every time you get over 15 hours, and a big X every time you said "ahh, screw it!" My guess is that you'll get to where you want to be if you can keep the X's down to two or three each month. Maybe more if you're a hard exerciser!
- While I'm on my rant (laughing), don't operate out of fear or self-hate, because if you do, make no mistake: you will validate your feelings by failing. Take back your self-view if you've allowed others to create the belief that you're less than wonderful. Getting healthy must include your self-perception. Think of this or any other program as a way to show affection to yourself, not as a form of self-loathing.
- Drink a lot of water.
- Smile a lot.
--- On Wed, 10/21/09, Churyl Zeviar <churyl@tmail.com> wrote:
From: Churyl Zeviar <churyl@tmail.com>
Subject: Re: [fast5] Help!!!!
To: fast5@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 10:48 PM
On Wed, 21 Oct 2009 9:24 pm, Jessica Pearl wrote:
> Commit yourself to 15 days or something and don't cheat no matter how
> bad or good you feel.
*****
Just a different perspective. .. I usually subscribe to this method when
trying new things. But they invariably are too difficult, I can't
comply, I fail and then give up.
So with fast-5 I let myself take it easy. I definitely 'cheated' at
first... baby steps. And every day I got closer to my goal of a 5 hour
eating window. Now it has been 4 weeks and it is sooo easy to do the 5
hour window because my body is used to it. And I got here much more
easily than if I were to not 'cheat'.
So choose your method depending on your personality.
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