pussycat's diary

[liza]

Good for you for coming up with a plan

I've never heard of OMAD. I know i couldn't handle it but I'll be interested to hear how it works for you

 

[Llama]

Glad to hear you're thinking about all the facets of your plan. Great work!

 

[kittycat1]

Good for you for coming up with a plan

I've never heard of OMAD. I know i couldn't handle it but I'll be interested to hear how it works for you

Thanks !
It's actually not always just ONE meal, but sometimes more like two meals in period of 2-4 hours.

Today I was hungrier than yesterday during my fasting period (mostly between 12pm and 4pm), which makes sense because the day before I had significantly fewer calories than I usually do.
I broke fast at 4pm, made some nice tomato and beans soup, 2 baked potatoes, 200g piece of salmon and some veggies. But I couldn't eat complete meal in one sitting so after the soup and a little bit potatoes I took 1.5hrs break and then ate salmon and rest of the veggies. I could easily not do it second time, but I was afraid that I'm not going to get enough calories and that I would be tempted to eat later in the evening. Also, I used only one spoon of oil for potatoes so approximately there was less than 1000 kcals. I think eating all food I planned for today was smart choice because now I will definetely be full till tomorrow around noon.

Oh yeah, and I had some chesnuts for dessert with some lighter cream. It was a bit too sweet, so tomorrow I will rather have something healthier, like I did yesterday (banana slices in home made keto chocholate)

Tomorrow I have some family lunch around 2pm, and I'm starting with my fast now so I can get at least 18 hours.

And that's the one good thing with fasting, you can go to family lunches freely and eat a plate of whatever without feeling guilty. I like that. It's so uncomplicated.

So far, only negative downside of this kind of IF is hunger which hits after aprox 12hrs of fasting state. But I believe I can get use to it. It's not that strong, but it can be irritating. So far, I can occupy myself with something and that really helps.


I have also decide to weigh myself only once or twice a month. In the meantime, I will focus on my chlothes or measurements.

 

[Cate]

You sound like you have this under control, Kit. It's good to have a plan that works for you & your life.

 

[kittycat1]

Thank you Cate

SUprisingly, my body is so funny!
I barely ate all food I have planned for yesterday, but I still felt some light hunger at the evening - more like 'snacking type of hunger'. And when I woke up 8 hrs later - poof, hunger was gone. Totally disappeared.

So I somehow realized that my funny body recognize tiredness as hunger! So yeah! I'm gonna try to REALLY work on my sleeping pattern!
I know I said I'm gonna try to go to bed earlier, but still I'm not manage to do that as I thought. One day I went at 10 or 11pm, but still stayed awake til 1am. That's because there is so many things to do, watch, create, read, etc... I need to make some meaningful schedule for all that!

Other bad thing I'm (NOT) doing is drinking water. I simply have to force myself to drink during fasting hours And if I don't have bottle near me I would probably forgot.
I'm not even thirsty!
I drink before meal simply because I'm usually around the sink, and I get some liquid with soup and I have glass or 2 after my meal with all my vitamin supplemets. It would be great to incorporate at least few more glasses during my fasting times.

I actually have perfect setting for all of that because my husband is temporary away due to work, so I have all time and space for myself and my body and health.

I am sure you will, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you do it!

I need to update inches situation! I calculated wrong, it's not 37 but 39!! But I will fix that

 

[kittycat1]

I am sure you will, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you do it!

I need to update inches situation! I calculated wrong, it's not 37 but 39!!
But I' more like pear-shaped (actually something between hourglass and pearshape I would say) but stilll it's deff too much!

 

[Llama]

I think drinking enough is in part just habit. Maybe set an alarm for every waking hour to remind you to chug a glass of water?

 

[alligatorob]

So far, only negative downside of this kind of IF is hunger which hits after aprox 12hrs of fasting state

I have never done any IF, but when I first started this diet I have a lot of hunger times. At that point in my life just going 4 hours without eating felt like I was fasting. It does get better as you adjust to it, it may take a while but it should happen. It also helped me to work on sorting out true hunger from food cravings, for me I still have more craving than hunger but I am getting better at knowing the difference. And sometimes for me just drinking so water, coffee, or a diet drink can help. So can getting up and doing something different to take my mind off of it.

You got this, you're doing it. Good for you.

 

[aiminglow]

...my funny body recognize tiredness as hunger! So yeah! I'm gonna try to REALLY work on my sleeping pattern!

What a great realisation - and terrific forward plan!
Our bodies are such interesting, amusing little engines/animals/systems/whatever - one of the great side-benefits I've found in this dieting lark is the fun of observing and admiring (and learning from others) how bodies (and bodies/minds) work.

 

[-Cory-]

I am really interested in your experience with IF. My brother did a 4 hour eating window for a while and really liked it. He generally either did OMAD or had a pretty small lunch and a bigger dinner.

 

[kittycat1]

I have measured my blood pressure today. It was 128/90
I always had other one under 80, this is new for me. I measured few times and it was between 85-90.
They said that one is stress related, but hopefully I will be able to lower both down with this diet.

 

[Cate]

It's not too bad a reading, Kit, especially the upper systolic reading, but should come down with a healthy diet & exercise.

 

[kittycat1]

I think drinking enough is in part just habit. Maybe set an alarm for every waking hour to remind you to chug a glass of water?

Yes, I think that as well. I'm probably going to keep a bottle on my desk.

I have never done any IF, but when I first started this diet I have a lot of hunger times. At that point in my life just going 4 hours without eating felt like I was fasting. It does get better as you adjust to it, it may take a while but it should happen. It also helped me to work on sorting out true hunger from food cravings, for me I still have more craving than hunger but I am getting better at knowing the difference. And sometimes for me just drinking so water, coffee, or a diet drink can help. So can getting up and doing something different to take my mind off of it.

You got this, you're doing it. Good for you.

Since I already done 2-4 days of fasting during my lifetime, I already learned when I get REALLY hungry. It's approximately after 36 hours, that's when REAL wild hunger hits me. and it's hard to endure (although it's possible because I did that few times)
I actually divided hunger state in stages.
1. Full, but I could snack a little more because it's so tasty
2. I'm not fulll any more, and also not hungry, but I'm bored/stressed/sad/in pms and I could snack a bit
3. Ok, now I feel some kind of hunger, but I could probably endure a little bit more without eating
4. Ok, now I'm seriosly hungry and I have to eat NOW
5. Ok, if I not eat something RIGHT NOW I will kill myself (this one is a joke)

It's sad that most of my life I was circulating between 1 and 2.. Taking another portion, snacking some leftovers, actually being full for hours, but also not hungry but still feeling like I could snack something just out of boredom, or because it's time. Most of the mornings I have really weak appetite but many times I have felt a need to eat breakfast because 'that's how should be done'

I am really interested in your experience with IF. My brother did a 4 hour eating window for a while and really liked it. He generally either did OMAD or had a pretty small lunch and a bigger dinner.

I was thinking about IF/OMAD for literally months, like idea is in my head all the time, and somehow I knew what I had to do, but I was never brave enough to start, till now. So yeah, I think this can be good and so far - it is.But it's been only few days

Fasting was always intriguing to me, I was reading some materials long time ago, back in 2011., lot before it got popular, and scientist and doctors started to publish videos and interviews on YT. I have read some russian practitioners back then and actually learned a lot there, but it wasn't ideal because we have more insights and practitioners in western hemisphere today, all backed up with science.

For example russian advised to stop 3 or more day fasting with some kind of fiber vegges (carrot, cabbage) or even fermented yoghurt, but I have learned (on my own example) that that's not the best thing, because lot of fiber, gluten, fats and dairy can really mess up with your digestion if it wasn't working for few days.
The best way to break fasting is with lean protein. Fish, egg, lean meat are the best, and that's what you can find out on YT today.

What a great realisation - and terrific forward plan!
Our bodies are such interesting, amusing little engines/animals/systems/whatever - one of the great side-benefits I've found in this dieting lark is the fun of observing and admiring (and learning from others) how bodies (and bodies/minds) work.

Thank you Means a lot. Yes, bodies are amazing!! Also, I noticed I'm sometimes interpreting thirst as hunger as well, especially if I were engaged in some kind of activity. It's soo interesting to try to know yourself better!

It's not too bad a reading, Kit, especially the upper systolic reading, but should come down with a healthy diet & exercise.

You think?
Well I'm somehow worried because it's near 130, and doctors already used to point that out when I did checkups. Like, it should be lower, especially with your size and so on. I agree with them, and I'll try my best to low it down.

 

[aiminglow]

Yes, the mistaking thirst for hunger is pretty common - it's something I have to double-check in myself.

With the blood pressure - yes, stress can zap it up the scale, and this includes feedback stress if you start stressing about how high the reading was! If your several readings were all in the one session ... well, it's quite possible that a few hours (or a few days) later, your reading could be quite different.

 

[-Cory-]

There's definitely an art to fasting, in some ways. And it's so individual. I can definitely see why fermented foods or fibrous vegetables would be difficult to break a fast with. That's got to be a shock to the system.

 

[liza]

I actually divided hunger state in stages.
1. Full, but I could snack a little more because it's so tasty
2. I'm not fulll any more, and also not hungry, but I'm bored/stressed/sad/in pms and I could snack a bit
3. Ok, now I feel some kind of hunger, but I could probably endure a little bit more without eating
4. Ok, now I'm seriosly hungry and I have to eat NOW
5. Ok, if I not eat something RIGHT NOW I will kill myself (this one is a joke)

I like that! I don't like my hunger getting to stage 4 even. I tend too eat too much if i let it get there. Really trying to stop the stage 1 eating --that's my real downfall and, in fact, that happened to me today!

 

[alligatorob]

Your stages are interesting, they are worth thinking about.

For me I don't think of 1 or 2 as real hunger, just food cravings; 3 is the one where I am never sure what it is real hunger or craving; 4 I almost always eat a low cal snack to suppress, unless its meal time; 5 its something else I want to kill, not a good time to be around me.

I always enjoy your posts, thanks for them.

 

[kittycat1]

Aiming,
I have measured my BP today and it was 121/81 so I guess I should't be very worried.


Thank you all for reading and support!

Spent my day at the office today. It was actually good, I had lot different tasks to do, and also some meeting. On the one hand being without food is great, I managed to be ready for work faster than usual, and felt some sharpness of the mind. Body is working slighlty different when not occupied with digestion. Also, I always had BIG problem what to eat at work. I'm not of big fan of carrying food around, and I'm avoiding going to lunches because it's always hard to focus after I have big meal on work. So I usually had some snacks or sandwiches which I got in supermarket near the office, and snacked a whole day while sitting at the same time - not good at all!
I had good days sometimes, and bought some low fat cottage cheese or bananas or something but basically food is big pain in the ass for my while at work because I always felt like it demanded some extra effort and I prefer being focused on my working tasks rather than thinking what and how to eat.

Also I'm not big fan of food preparing for later or tomorrow, I already wrote that I think. Yes, I'm doing plans and going to shopping but I like to have my meal freshly prepared when I come home.

So today's office fasting experience was good until somewhere around 3-4pm, when I got REALLY hungry. It's already been around 20hrs without eating so I headed home and managed do have a meal around 5pm. There was a bowl of broth soup again, 100g of pasta with with mashed aromatized veggies (like a sauce) and cca 150g of very very lean beef meat. I could probably switch carbs with more fat, but right now I feel it's better to have full plate (carb food is bigger in volume than fats). Also had 20g of parmesan cheese with pasta, a bit of beet salad, and some sponge cake leftovers which I got on sunday from my family. I spreaded one spoon of cherry marmelade on sponge cake.

Still not tracking calories, I have some approximate idea of it, and I'm aware of portion sizes. And yeah, really trying to have soup and salad with every meal, it fulls my stomach and they are lower in calories so they are great for consuming while on diet.

I will se where I will be in a month, my TDEE is between 2200 and 2600 cal a day (3000 if I really do some prolongued cardio, long walking or so on). So I guess anything between 1500 and 2000cal a day would be enough for me to lose weight in this first months.


And YEAH, I already feel so much better! I feel lightness during the day and my chlothes is already a bit more comfy around my waist and legs. That's a great feeling!

 

[kittycat1]

And yess!! I drunk lot of water today! Finally!
Made sure to have a glass on my desk and refilled it whenever it got empty.

 

[Llama]

Yay for water! If your eating window is very short maybe concentrating on low-cal food isn't as helpful. A fattier cut of meat would likely keep your body satisfied longer than carbs (especially if it was white pasta).