Fast-5 Diet and Lifestyle: [fast5] Re: Fast on! Fast off!

<<Fast-5 though, has the issue that people do it, then just do it. There isn't much to talk about. "Hi! I didn't eat today again!".>>

haha... that was funny, great point. :)

David - thank you for the laugh, I really enjoyed reading your post, hang in there, sounds like you're off to a great start!!

As for me, I started Fast5 in June, lost 15 lbs in about the first couple of months and have plateaued. I have maintained my 5 hour window (mine is 2pm - 7pm), but have not lost any more weight. I have to admit that the issue is probably "what" I'm eating in my 5 hour window... I really do eat what ever I want to eat, but I don't eat a ton of food because I hate to feel stuffed. I figured I would be fine since no matter what, I'm still eating less calories than I was before F5. Nevertheless, I'm stuck at 15 down. I'm at 228 and need to get to 190. I did start exercising in the past week, but with my crazy scheduled it's very, very difficult to maintain consistence in a workout program for very long. I need to regain my discipline on my water consumption (one thing that has slipped since I started F5) and try to eat a little healthier during my window and that will hopefully get me over the hump.

Any other advice from anyone? I was wondering if I should eat one or 2 days just to throw a curve ball at my system...? The 19 hour fast barely even requires any effort anymore... almost makes me think that's why it may not be working? :)

Thanks for any advice, I'll take what I can get!

Travis

--- In fast5@yahoogroups.com, Heather Twist <HeatherTwist@...> wrote:
>
> Congratulations to you! Clearly you are thinking about
> the philosophical aspects of all this.
>
> It's interesting to me that you mention the "Sumo" aspect. Sumo tradition
> has intrigued me for some time. Mainly because the average Japanese person
> is both lightweight and healthy, without working too hard at it. Sumos work
> hard at being heavy, and strong. But the [rather secretive] Sumo diet is
> different from that of the average Japanese, and I think the differences
> will tell us a lot about how genes work. I've also met Korean kids who were
> brought up in America on the "American diet", and their physique came out
> much like those of my family (which are kind of Sumo-esque too).
>
> I think Fast-5 triggers some kind of insulin reaction, which works nicely to
> help lose weight. I think food choices trigger some of the same
> insulin-related things too, although none of this has been studied enough.
> It *could* be that some of these unexplained plateaus are related to some of
> these issues, mainly food choices?
>
> The things I've been studying are kind of varied. One big one is vinegar.
> Yep. Vinegar. Vinegar has a big effect on insulin, possibly because it
> interferes with iron metabolism. It also helps a lot with appetite, and I've
> been drinking "Poor man's soda" in the morning which pretty much blocks any
> kind of hunger. Poor man's soda is:
>
> 1 oz vinegar
> a glass of water (or cooled tea)
> 1/4 tsp baking soda
>
> Makes a fizzy drink, which isn't sour. A little like Perrier. It can have
> honey in it too, although that wouldn't be compatible with fasting.
>
> Another thing that changes hunger is fish and eggs. When my diet has more of
> either one, I eat less, and am more satisfied, compared to beef or pork.
> Again, I don't know why, but I do know that the rumored Sumo diet has more
> beef and pork, less fish and eggs.
>
> The Sumo diet is also rumored to be based on wheat noodles, rather than the
> usual Japanese rice. There are a number of people looking into this too.
> Wheat does weird things in the body, some of which might be related to
> weight gain.
>
> Also, the Sumo diet uses beer, rather than tea. Beer has hops in it, and
> hops are used in herbal tradition to increase appetite. Tea ... sheesh, tea
> does a lot of things, I don't begin to understand it. But the tea-drinking
> cultures tend to be thin.
>
> Anyway, if you "got past a plateau" ... it could just be your body is now
> ready to let go of either the fat or the water. Or something else changed.
> If it was me, I'd analyze both.
>
> As for traffic being light ... I'm in a number of groups, and I never have
> figured out the traffic patterns. Fast-5 though, has the issue that people
> do it, then just do it. There isn't much to talk about. "Hi! I didn't eat
> today again!". In some groups there are a lot of recipes (how to make
> crackers with zero carbs!) or support (I really, really, need a cookie!
> Please stop me!). But if you look in to the archives, most people are ok
> after a couple of weeks, so there isn't much to talk about. Also, Fast-5 is
> now on Facebook, and some people prefer that format.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 12:19 PM, entermittenedfaster <
> no_reply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Well, down another pound and a half this morning... yippeeee!
> >
> > Defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it?
> > NO, SENSEI!
> >
> > I have been wobbling back-and-forth on the edge of a stubborn plateau for
> > the last couple of weeks, and am hopeful now of attaining a more rapid
> > descent down into the fabled valley of lightness and well-being.
> >
> > I am nearing the end of my daily fasting period, that enjoyable stretch of
> > emptiness when I know my insulin levels are efficiently low and I can enjoy
> > for the last couple of hours a bounteous buffet of sumptuous, predigested
> > appetizers, happily nibbling away upon my own accumulated belly fat.
> >
> > So, that makes a grand total of 26½ pounds down from the moment I crested
> > at 290 pounds (there, I said it!) – an enviable sumo physique, I might add –
> > maybe 5 months ago, but the accompanying pain in the hips and knees and the
> > limited mobility prompted me upon that fateful day to make a solemn pledge
> > to get down to my old college fighting weight, or thereabouts. Under 200
> > pounds, let's say... a bodyweight that begins with a one in the hundreds
> > column sounds about right (I'm 6 foot one and male, for the sake of full
> > disclosure)... I'll fine-tune my goal weight once I arrive in the
> > neighborhood.
> >
> > For now, it's one day at a time.
> >
> > I don't want my first post to be too long, and it would be great to hear
> > back from some of you old-timers. The traffic is a little light on this
> > group's site of late, which also prompts me to write to you today.
> >
> > One thought hit me this morning though, which it might be useful to share.
> > I notice that I never wake up hungry. The transition to fat burning as an
> > energy source that takes place normally during our nightly fast doesn't stop
> > just because we open our eyelids and start moving around. Cruising from
> > wake-up time to break-fast time (somewhere between noon and 3 PM for me)
> > without eating feels easy and natural. I think it's perfectly normal
> > Paleolithic behavior not to be thinking about food in the morning. And for
> > this reason we are scolded with the adage: "Breakfast is the most important
> > meal of the day!"
> >
> > We have to be *told* that, reminded of that "fact" regularly by our
> > parents, because it is not obvious to us. And it is not obvious to us
> > because our body is not telling us that message itself. And it's not
> > telling us that message because the message is a *lie!*
> >
> > So I'm learning to listen to my body and reinterpret its messages more
> > skillfully. When I feel somatic hunger, I don't take that as a command to
> > eat immediately, necessarily. I look at it as a status update from my gut
> > to my conscious mind that it is currently dining on body fat and can happily
> > do so for a few more hours. Why else the hell was I storing up 100 extra
> > pounds of butter cookies inside my own skin? For just such an occasion!
> > Mangiare! Bon appetit!
> >
> > Oh, good (ho, hum)... it's time for lunch...
> >
> > All the best,
> >
> > David
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
> --
> Heather Twist
> http://eatingoffthefoodgrid.blogspot.com/
>