Amelia's OMAD Journal: Failure, I will succeed, support and advice needed :)
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ameliabatemanphotography wrote: »Also: no scale so I'm measuring my starting point. around 60 kilos.(recording this for self) Tape measure on "gut"
(below belly button but not at hips):33.5 in. waist:30.75 in.
You can sometimes find scales to borrow from friends. We have two scales, and a friend asked to borrow one from me. It would be good to get a start weight. When I worked at a school the nurse kept a scale in the hallway. Sometimes pharmacies have scales and blood pressure machines. (Just ideas.) Or you can buy one. 0 -
ameliabatemanphotography wrote: »Yes Deb, I hear you. Last year was my lowest in my adult life (56kg) and I felt brilliant, but then came a bout of winter depression and it all came back. Since then I've been trying various methods but all have failed, or I have failed them, not sure, just haven't been able to shift anything at all. I think I screwed up in the first place by losing a lot of weight on a very low calorie diet, then the binge eating made its appearance.
What day do you start?
Deb, I hope to lose 7 kilos by April, so 15 pounds. I will join you on this April Journey. I don't know about you, but like I said, that isn't the end. I am in it for life.
You don't know how much of a help this logging system is to me. I have always been a "lurker" on the internet, never commented on anything, so I am very happy to finally have a place to use my voice, in a productive way. Good luck today everyone, you can all do it!
Originally my plan was to start January New Year, but I've changed my mind and desire to start sooner. I can still make it through the holidays with the one plate method and OMAD. I think I will officially start on Monday. I'm still researching and trying to get up the nerve to deal with the first week. I don't like the fuzzy brain fog or the dull headaches or muscle aches in the beginning. But the second or third week will be worth it.
I was previously on an extended 1200 calorie a day Nutrisystem diet during which my body inexplicably adapted to and plateaued on. It was six small meals a day and was always hungry and looking for the next meal . I get a lot of flack on general boards when I share this fact. Individuals accuse me of lying about my body adapting to 1200 calories after 5 months. I don't know why I would lie about that. I did measure and weigh and was accurate. I'm not lying.
I had to reverse diet to rescue my metabolism and can maintain on 1800 calories. So I am very nervous about dieting again, don't want to plateau at a lower set point and have been on a plateau for a long time. Apparently OMAD will help me break my plateau. I'm successfully doing 2MAD but am still plateaued.
I would be thrilled to lose 10-15 pounds by April. I'm such a slow loser, or at least I was in the past with only losing 10 pounds in 5 months. But if I could lose 15 pounds I would have a "buffer" for fluctuations.
This is the diet time line (with Joe on YouTube) you requested in a previous post. You wanted to know what to expect:
https://youtu.be/fmbctWCacXg
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Brilliant, Thank you Deb! yes it's always good to have a reminder: of your start weight, and of this video and what to expect, of course!
I wonder if you might make the first week easier, like I am doing, by just upping the calories for that first week until your body gets used to the schedule again, then working your calories down? For me it has made the experience more manageable and enjoyable. E.g. (for you) 1800 per meal for the first week, then down to 1600,and eventually down to 1200? (if you haven't planned it already, of course).
I have found "Lite Salt" (potassium and magnesium) helped me a lot with muscle aches and energy. 1/4 teaspoon in a glass of water does the job of keeping your electrolytes topped up.
Also I can't say enough about Chromium and cinnamon. Apparently Walmart does a chromium and cinnamon combination pill (reasonably cheaply). Dulls appetite significantly and lowers blood sugar an astounding amount, might be good for the break in period?
I'm there with you on not losing on a calorie deficient, many-meals-a-day diet. I had the SAME problem
The amount of crazy stupid diets I have done is... I won't say shameful because I don't want to make myself feel shame, but yes, the "egg fast", etc, you name it.
I think I will get a scale this week too, and do my first weigh in on Saturday morning, as well as my measurements (like today). Something to aim for, and also in my case might be a truer picture of my actual weight, as I was carrying a lot of water weight and it may be gone by then...
A little hungrier than usual today but I'm going last, I can do it! The ******* wine always does it, today is my first true test of holding out after alcohol the night before. Normally it's my excuse for a day of overeating but I am not caving!1 -
ameliabatemanphotography wrote: »Brilliant, Thank you Deb! yes it's always good to have a reminder: of your start weight, and of this video and what to expect, of course!
I wonder if you might make the first week easier, like I am doing, by just upping the calories for that first week until your body gets used to the schedule again, then working your calories down? For me it has made the experience more manageable and enjoyable. E.g. (for you) 1800 per meal for the first week, then down to 1600,and eventually down to 1200? (if you haven't planned it already, of course).
I have found "Lite Salt" (potassium and magnesium) helped me a lot with muscle aches and energy. 1/4 teaspoon in a glass of water does the job of keeping your electrolytes topped up.
Also I can't say enough about Chromium and cinnamon. Apparently Walmart does a chromium and cinnamon combination pill (reasonably cheaply). Dulls appetite significantly and lowers blood sugar an astounding amount, might be good for the break in period?
I'm there with you on not losing on a calorie deficient, many-meals-a-day diet. I had the SAME problem
The amount of crazy stupid diets I have done is... I won't say shameful because I don't want to make myself feel shame, but yes, the "egg fast", etc, you name it.
I think I will get a scale this week too, and do my first weigh in on Saturday morning, as well as my measurements (like today). Something to aim for, and also in my case might be a truer picture of my actual weight, as I was carrying a lot of water weight and it may be gone by then...
A little hungrier than usual today but I'm going last, I can do it! The ******* wine always does it, today is my first true test of holding out after alcohol the night before. Normally it's my excuse for a day of overeating but I am not caving!
Thanks for the input about eating at maintenance on OMAD the first week. Joe says it is difficult to go over 1400 calories on a 10 inch plate. I may weigh and count before I put it on the plate to confirm. Plus I can add the juice and Bragg's apple cider vinegar plus raw honey which will add a couple hundred more calories.
I think maybe your idea could help. At least my body won't be dealing with a deficit as well as fasting on the first week.0 -
Howdy!
When I started OMAD, I jumped straight in. I didn't phase into it. It was mentally a little bit of a challenge for a week but I never felt bad physically. You said:
"BTW if it helps anyone, I am eating protein(eggs, tuna), fat (good fat, like olive oil or butter), and low carb vegetables (tomatoes, capsicum, broccoli, etc). For me personally, upping the fat and protein and cutting out carbs and sugar(bread, potatoes, pasta, pastry, sugar, honey, etc) seriously stops the cravings and insatiable hunger urges, like I get on a more carb and sugar heavy diet"
I found that to be true also and I would take protein sups with my meal to make sure I got all the protein I should be getting and I found that made a huge difference on how I felt the next day hunger-wise.
I also don't think a partial success day is a failure day. I think it is better to go OMAD but if you eat at 3:00 and still have a calorie deficit, that is a small success in my mind. I counted cals in the beginning and changed my goal cals to maint so that if I ever went under maint, it counted it as me meeting my goal (that was my minimum goal with the bigger goal of having a bigger cal deficit). Don't beat yourself up mentally because I think a lot of people quite if they can't go all the way everytime - don't use that as an excuse to cheat but be kind to yourself also.
Good luck!0 -
ameliabatemanphotography wrote: »Yes Deb, I hear you. Last year was my lowest in my adult life (56kg) and I felt brilliant, but then cue a bout of winter depression and it all came back. Since then I've been trying various methods but all have failed, or I have failed them, not sure, just haven't been able to shift anything at all. I think I screwed up in the first place by losing a lot of weight on a very low calorie diet, then the binge eating made its appearance.
What day do you start?
OMADing1, Thank you so much for all this support, I can feel it shining at me through the screen of my keyboard How long have you been OMAD?
Yes I understand you, I have/had exactly the same issues, mental guilt and gymnastics, etc. I don't want to be another statistic. I don't want the self loathing that comes knowing I have failed to keep my word to myself. I want to cross that river and join you over there, not be stuck in the "purgatory" of this side of the banks.
I want to do it because I want this change to carry into other areas of my life too.
Day 1 Update: probably a bad day to start OMAD as I was going out for the evening, but while technically not OMAD, this is what I did:
Kept up with my supplements! (chromium and cinnamon, l-tyrosine, glutamine, DLPA, no 5-HTP which is sad because I absolutely love the stuff but it brought my acne back, another struggle). I am on these supplements from years of serious neurochemical/ neurotransmitter imbalance, and my gosh they make a difference. Sometimes overeating is NOT your fault, something might be broken. (Thanks psychologist Julia Ross) Oh, and magnesium after the meal.
I hope this is not too much information, but many reasons contribute to these imbalances. For me, I am an ex-alcoholic with clinical depression, so my dopamine and serotonin were virtually non-existent, which led to a transfer of addiction from alcohol to food. My body was searching for something and not getting it. These things apply to food addictions too, guys. Be kind on yourself.
Ate about a 700 calorie meal (my daily allotment was 1300) and was satisfied! even waited until 4:30pm instead of 3:30, it was a breeze. Had 2 glasses of wine at the jazz concert (and my friend's chicken meatball that she didn't want from her dinner).Yes I know these things add up, but I want to be honest with you and myself.
Came home around midnight (I get up at 5am usually, long day) and had a small capsicum, tomato and pesto (10g) salad with about 10 grams of parmesan cheese. Normally when I drink alcohol I'm ravenous, so despite this fact, I did well, I think. I know this sounds like I am justifying a non-OMAD day to myself, but I don't have children and probably never will, so this kind of social life is incredibly important to me, that is my "child", so to say, it sustains me.
I ate and drank less than I normally would, and I'm determined to be OMAD at all times with occasional evenings out, eating and drinking "normally" (i.e. moderately).
Today I feel good, have a student at 11, will write some lessons plans after that, clean the house, work on the photography and Italian to keep busy, eat at 4:30 (1300 calories) and be happy.
Mid next week I will re-introduce exercise. (Bodyweight and Samba dancing), and hopefully be at a mealtime of 5:30-6:00 pm, ad work on getting down to 1150-1200 calories.
The reason I am updating this with so much information is to keep me on track and have a record of what is working, what is not, and also if anyone wants pointers or details on what I am doing, if it worked for me, and if they can then incorporate it into their own program.
Many thanks DebSozo, and OMADing1, and all of you!
Deb, I hope to lose 7 kilos by April, so 15 pounds. I will join you on this April Journey. I don't know about you, but like I said, that isn't the end. I am in it for life.
You don't know how much of a help this logging system is to me. I have always been a "lurker" on the internet, never commented on anything, so I am very happy to finally have a place to use my voice, in a productive way. Good luck today everyone, you can all do it!
Hi!
I started OMADing June 29th, 2016. OMAD has absolutely changed my entire life, especially my "thinking"--which is/was at LEAST 80% of my weight and life challenges and issues I've either been in denial about or outright just stubborn/hard hearted and hard headed about.
I'm thrilled you've come out of lurking and have joined us--so GLAD. You're going to find, as you take some of the focus off of yourself and try to help/encourage others...wow, just break-thrus you will and already are going to experience. Ya know, the ole "I really felt horrible about not having new shoes, until I saw someone with no feet" type of thinking. Depression and woe are so REAL, and so is change! Change (changing the way we think, speak and live) can be force "mess" to take a back seat. As we help encourage and inspire others, it's amazing how we ourselves are helped. As we learn to say NO to what disturbs/upsets/moves us and YES to what we need in our mind/heart/thoughts and lives, BOOM--here comes all kinds of good stuff, including self-control, patience and all kinds of excellent stuff.... at least this is/had been my experience since starting OMAD/fasting.
You're on your way, and once more...I'm so GLAD you're here!!!
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Thanks so much Blambo and OMADing1, you've all been terrific.
Well to continue the diary, yesterday was... Wow when you start this you finally realize how much you have allowed all the "ups and downs"(to be polite) of life get in the way of your goals. Yesterday was a nice, big, clear warning signal about letting the events of life disturb my goals and strength.
First of all, I held out until 5, which was great! Even though I had hunger pangs the will is much much stronger now, and I feel like I'm beginning to adapt.
Then life got in the way. Let's just say, something very difficult happened at home,(may have needed to find a new home as well, slightly stressful, you could say) and a friend who helped me sort things out ended up buying more wine than I wanted to drink, but I let myself be guilted into drinking it.
I will count yesterday as a failure/success.
Failure because on my own, I would have easily succeeded. I need to analyze how much I let myself be swayed from my goals by social pressure and "kindness".
Success because I think I am easily adapting now to Omad. I need to say no to things that will get me off track.
what a real bummer, dudes.
But I'm not quitting. I actually REALLY like OMAD, I guess this was the next hurdle I had to learn from on the journey. SAY NO to well meaning friends, don't let yourself get in a position of feeling obligated. Speak up about your needs and don't let other people order drinks/ food for you.
Now I've got an infernal hangover, but I have to stick to OMAD.0 -
Give yourself time to adjust. I think that making it to 5 pm is progress. I haven't been able to do that yet.0
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You can do it!0
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Im sorry to hear about your situation at home.......I just want you to know that I'm thinking about you and always remember. To try is to lie! Just commit!
And yes.....if you get hungry to early and you just cant stand it anymore....have dinner earlier...its not a crime I do it often. I eat around between 4 and 8 every night. I dont have a set hour, but its always within those hours.
Much love to you.
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Ah Thanks Guys!!! It really does help to have a community, doesn't it:)
Yesterday ended up being a normal day, but back on track today.
Thank a bundle Kitty, How are you going?
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ameliabatemanphotography wrote: »How long can I expect for an adaptation? a week? 3? (If I can hope for something in the future, it might be a bit easier)
I believe it's an individual thing/issue and how "serious" and committed you are to PERMANENTLY change. For me, it was about 3 days of suffering, before I got accustomed to it (only eating one meal per day and at the same time each day, no matter what)--but that is because I was 100% committed and fed up with my lifestyle of laziness, negative/nasty attitudes about just about everything, blaming all my issues and woes on everyone and everything except myself, or using some bogus self-destructive blaming of myself, but really not taking responsibility--just indulging in a yucky, unproductive game of pity parties, woe is me and selfishness, disguised as blaming myself. I was sick of obesity and yucky/stinkin thinkin ruling and reigning in my life--not to mention looking fat, flabby and unhealthy as all get out. I personally was ready for DRASTIC changes in my life, just ready to change from the inside out, no matter what. Everyone is different--so what may take someone 3 days to get into it, may take someone else 3 weeks more or less.... Watch this video, friend and after you watch it...watch it again :
The Power of Indecision (on Effort, Gimmicky, Inflexibility, and Faux Productivity)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuKy6lx_KNM
THANKS JOE!!!!!!
I'm hoping it will only be 3 days! That would be AWESOME !0 -
ameliabatemanphotography wrote: »Ah Thanks Guys!!! It really does help to have a community, doesn't it:)
Yesterday ended up being a normal day, but back on track today.
Thank a bundle Kitty, How are you going?
I like this community also. 0 -
You can do it Deb:) We both can. Don't worry, a few days and you'll be back on track! How is your first day going?
Back on track today. Was supposed to eat at 3, became a bit cold and tired, busted out some samba at home, then went for a walk to my local markets, came back home and ended up eating at 5. (I always have a really big hunger pang around 3 and can't concentrate, so I'm using the most of the day for intellectual chores, then doing something that keeps me from the kitchen like a walk or the supermarket for the last hour or two. This is helping a lot).
Just ate what seemed like a HUGE meal, tons of vegetables cooked up in fresh tomato, tuna and an omelette, I'm stuffed hang in there!
One thing I've noticed from the fast is that everything is sweeter, I'm singing in the shower for the first time in years because it feels so grand after the fast and then a full belly.
Go Deb!1 -
1000 cals, btw. Hopefully I can keep at this calorie intake.0
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your dinner sounded awesome! (im having dinner soon, so my body is reacting to your meal hahhah) Singing in the shower.....oh man, seriously, that sounds so good, I should try that too!!
Im REALLY happy to hear that your going well. Im sorry it took me so long to find your thread ...I had to kind of dig for it. Maybe im getting old, but I cant seem to find anything anymore!! blah!! hahah!!0 -
ameliabatemanphotography wrote: »You can do it Deb:) We both can. Don't worry, a few days and you'll be back on track! How is your first day going?
Back on track today. Was supposed to eat at 3, became a bit cold and tired, busted out some samba at home, then went for a walk to my local markets, came back home and ended up eating at 5. (I always have a really big hunger pang around 3 and can't concentrate, so I'm using the most of the day for intellectual chores, then doing something that keeps me from the kitchen like a walk or the supermarket for the last hour or two. This is helping a lot).
Just ate what seemed like a HUGE meal, tons of vegetables cooked up in fresh tomato, tuna and an omelette, I'm stuffed hang in there!
One thing I've noticed from the fast is that everything is sweeter, I'm singing in the shower for the first time in years because it feels so grand after the fast and then a full belly.
Go Deb!
You're doing great! I so can relate to "everything is sweeter..." AND the feeling grand after the fast, having a full tummy, it's wonderful and helps you stay satisfied all the way until the next day, it's amazing! REALLY helps me appreciate food and life actually so much more, I LOVE this OMAD lifestyle!
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ameliabatemanphotography wrote: »You can do it Deb:) We both can. Don't worry, a few days and you'll be back on track! How is your first day going?
Back on track today. Was supposed to eat at 3, became a bit cold and tired, busted out some samba at home, then went for a walk to my local markets, came back home and ended up eating at 5. (I always have a really big hunger pang around 3 and can't concentrate, so I'm using the most of the day for intellectual chores, then doing something that keeps me from the kitchen like a walk or the supermarket for the last hour or two. This is helping a lot).
Just ate what seemed like a HUGE meal, tons of vegetables cooked up in fresh tomato, tuna and an omelette, I'm stuffed hang in there!
One thing I've noticed from the fast is that everything is sweeter, I'm singing in the shower for the first time in years because it feels so grand after the fast and then a full belly.
Go Deb!
Sweet! I get hungry about the same time and the walk/jog totally makes the hunger go away for a couple of hours. A full belly does feel good!0 -
ameliabatemanphotography wrote: »You can do it Deb:) We both can. Don't worry, a few days and you'll be back on track! How is your first day going?
Back on track today. Was supposed to eat at 3, became a bit cold and tired, busted out some samba at home, then went for a walk to my local markets, came back home and ended up eating at 5. (I always have a really big hunger pang around 3 and can't concentrate, so I'm using the most of the day for intellectual chores, then doing something that keeps me from the kitchen like a walk or the supermarket for the last hour or two. This is helping a lot).
Just ate what seemed like a HUGE meal, tons of vegetables cooked up in fresh tomato, tuna and an omelette, I'm stuffed hang in there!
One thing I've noticed from the fast is that everything is sweeter, I'm singing in the shower for the first time in years because it feels so grand after the fast and then a full belly.
Go Deb!
Sweet! I get hungry about the same time and the walk/jog totally makes the hunger go away for a couple of hours. A full belly does feel good!
3:00 I will need to find something to keep me busy.0 -
Amelia, how are you doing?0
