The first week found us both googling caloric values of foods; the first fast day (we chose Monday's and Wednesday's, they can be any two days so long as they are NOT consecutive) he had two hard boiled eggs with his black coffee, I just had coffee. For lunch we each had a packet of tuna and half an avocado, for dinner we each had chicken noodle soup. On Wednesday I discovered the amazing powers of green beans - for my lunch and dinner I had taken one can of chunky sirloin soup and split it between the meals, adding a full can of green beans to each meal (I mixed the soup and the beans, and at dinner added mushrooms, too).
This yummy, tummy-filling concoction was only 190 calories!
Both of us were surprised that we weren't ravenously hungry the next day, and the Buckeye had still hiked on his fast day with no issues. Over the weekend we both noted we were more aware of our food choices, and I found an app, Lose It!, that helped us chart our calories. That next Monday I had a bunch of veggies for lunch, my chicken noodle soup for dinner and savored 17 baked sweet potato chips as I used up my calories. For my fourth fasting day I saved all my calories for a magnificent rotisserie chicken breast, green beans and carrots dinner, accompanied by one shot of my favorite rye mixed in zero calorie peach iced tea.
The Lose It! app had given me a caloric intake of 1756 calories a day if I wanted to lose one pound a week, so I used that as my non fasting day guide. As one who often finds themselves grabbing fast food or nothing at all, I was able to easily stay in my calorie range by simply making good choices - I continued to see my weight drop despite a whopper with cheese and a Big Mac last week. As of Friday morning, I was a full 8.4 pounds lighter!
And then we went on a date.
The Lose It! app had given me a caloric intake of 1756 calories a day if I wanted to lose one pound a week, so I used that as my non fasting day guide. As one who often finds themselves grabbing fast food or nothing at all, I was able to easily stay in my calorie range by simply making good choices - I continued to see my weight drop despite a whopper with cheese and a Big Mac last week. As of Friday morning, I was a full 8.4 pounds lighter!
And then we went on a date.
He had Key Lime, I had berry empanadas with coconut ice cream....!!!
It was a glorious date; I wore a new little black dress and my handsome Buckeye had slicked his hair. We dined outside in the beautiful Phoenix autumn; stars overhead and soft jazz with a live band playing. The food was Latin-infused Mexican; it was one of the Buckeye's favorite places and my first time there. We indulged - the appetizer of empanada's with a spicy mango salsa we split, I had seafood chiles relanos, he had crusted tilapia with cheddar chipotle mashed potatoes. We each ordered dessert, and with two drinks and coffee under our belt (and doggie bags full - he had 1/3 of his entree, I had 1/2 of my entree and 1/4 of my dessert) we went home very, very stuffed...each of us remarking how we could not have eaten another bite, and surprised by the amounts we brought home. He decided not to try and figure out his calorie intact (it was not a fast day!) but I did...and was rather shocked. Even at half portions I was crazily over my calories - nearly doubled! Still, we don't go out often; as date's go it ranks as one of our best. We are five months in as a couple and nine months in as friends; it was wonderful to share such a meal while dieting.
That night I was up first; when he followed two hours later we had to admit we had mild food poisoning. I joked it might cancel our calorie consumption; he ruefully pointed out he had gained a pound when he weighed himself that morning! Knowing it was the shared empanada's, we did decide to eat our doggie bag remnants for dinner (it was that good!!! lol!!) and indeed, we were fine.
Although a bit heavier...!!!!
The BEST thing about Mexican food is you can stir it all together and it tastes even more amazing. My seafood chiles and corn and cornbread was incredible after a long day...and I knew my calories would be over. I thought I didn't care, until I stepped on the scale this morning. At 175.4 lbs.
So my long-held suspicion that my calorie consumption (rather than fats/carbs) was my culprit is correct...and your body doesn't cheat (even though you might when you enter portion size on the Lose It! app) when counting them. So instead of proudly reporting an 8+ pound weight loss at the beginning of our third week, it's only 6 pounds. The Buckeye? He's lost 4.5 pounds (and I can see it, too!) What's wonderful is our cheat night taught us one entree shared would have likely filled us (same with the dessert!) but in the end didn't hurt the fact we both had significant weight loss in our first two weeks.
His fasting lunch last week; its shocking how filling mixing a can of green beans and mushrooms is!!
Thus far, we've both noted that being veggie fans it's pretty easy for us to load up on a ton them and not be hungry. Twice now I've been over full when finishing a meal on a FASTING day - it's pretty awesome knowing you're stuffed on a diet. Because its only twice a week - it was easy to push through the desire to have more (I'll be honest, I really wanted a second shot of whiskey. It's only 109 calories) knowing the next day you *could* have more if you wanted. From my research, this diet "works" as a jump start to your metabolism; you don't go into starvation mode as you are eating enough calories on the fasting day to avoid so you do burn the fat instead. We both agree that counting our calories on the non-fasting day is super important; even though we both desire less food, it's easy to go over with a drink or snack that had a high calorie content you weren't previously aware of.
So, exercise...??? Golfing once a week is on me, but the app tells me I walk about 5000 steps a day (it's tied into my pedometer on my iPhone, which I don't always have on me.) The house remodel has me constantly busy; even if it's scraping caulk for hours. The Buckeye hikes at least once a week and plays rugby once a week as well; plus the golf night we share with Special Olympics.
My concerns on this diet is sodium content on fasting days - soups from a can are higher as it is in my canned veggies. Of course it's only twice a week - plus I due trend towards fresh veggies (but usually not mushroom or green beans as the season is wrong and time snapping!!!) at other times. For now, knowing that prior to our big cheat meal I had lost 8 pounds while pretty much only eating fast food on my non fasting days last week was HUGE. It just showed me I was easily capable of making better choices, and I was never really hungry save for golfing on Monday night. Despite having quite a bit of stress with the house remodel reaching a crescendo, I've only once been tempted to break the diet and didn't as I knew the next day I could have more. We are having fun figuring out different fasting day meals (and being one who doesn't mind meal monotony, its nice for me to know what works and stick to it!)
This weekend I tried on my jeans, and still none of the fit. My tops are all fitting better (sigh, my cup size dropped immediately!) which is comforting; I've got this crazy hope that I might actually fit into them sooner than later (165lbs is my max on my "fat jeans", 160lbs and most fit).
Strangely, this diet has me wanting to have a fondue party....
So that's the end of week two on our diet; having a partner is what is making it doable for me. Without the Buckeye I would have forgotten I was on it and wouldn't have the accountability I so desperately needed. Thankful that at least in this aspect of fitness I'm seeing some change!
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