Erin's OMAD Diary
EVP_NZ
Posts: 117 Member
Well, I've posted in the intro thread and they suggested I start a thread of my own. Here it is. I'm a married 41-year-old mother of one. I'm also a US expat living in New Zealand and teaching writing at the university level.
I eat low carb, high fat (keto) and have been playing around with intermittent and alternate day fasting for around a month since discovering Dr Jason Fung. Giving OMAD a go. My fasting timer is counting down from 23 hours right now.
Biggest change is that I'm 5 days into tapering off caffeine. Boy, is that no fun. Any tips welcome.
Hi all. Look forward to this journey.
I eat low carb, high fat (keto) and have been playing around with intermittent and alternate day fasting for around a month since discovering Dr Jason Fung. Giving OMAD a go. My fasting timer is counting down from 23 hours right now.
Biggest change is that I'm 5 days into tapering off caffeine. Boy, is that no fun. Any tips welcome.
Hi all. Look forward to this journey.
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Stay off the caffeine and it will go get better!1
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I'm a fan of dr fung too.1
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I found OMAD first, Fung next, reading his book now. I'll be the first to admit, my caffeine monster is walkin' and talkin' right now. I'll work on that later.
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Day 1 in full swing. Had my tapering-down 1/3 caffeine coffee. Rest of the day decaf. Other than that, just water. Feeling fine. It's like every other day (I don't eat breakfast anymore), so no issues. Will check in again later.1
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Bit harder now. Have had a decaf coffee and a couple of cups of broth. I'll plan on weaning off the broth as I get used to the plan. But dinner is only a few hours away, so the hardest part is done.1
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3 pm is my danger zone. Doing the school run and so hungry. However I don't have any food, so no temptation. I will have figure in the hungry hours from 3-5. I know from previous 24-hour fasts that the body adapts quickly. But not without whinging!0
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Day 1-3 are difficult, no doubt. It gets better and more natural after that. That's out there waiting for you!1
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I made it to dinner. Most delicious dinner ever. One plate of homemade carnitas, guacamole, and sour cream. I also had a small bowl for ice cream (totally not keto). Weighed all my food--much easier to track macros when you eat once a day.
First day done. I can do this! Thanks for the support.1 -
Day one check. Now just rinse and repeat.1
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Well, I've posted in the intro thread and they suggested I start a thread of my own. Here it is. I'm a married 41-year-old mother of one. I'm also a US expat living in New Zealand and teaching writing at the university level.
I eat low carb, high fat (keto) and have been playing around with intermittent and alternate day fasting for around a month since discovering Dr Jason Fung. Giving OMAD a go. My fasting timer is counting down from 23 hours right now.
Biggest change is that I'm 5 days into tapering off caffeine. Boy, is that no fun. Any tips welcome.
Hi all. Look forward to this journey.
Hey! Welcome to the forum
How's NZ? I would love to go someday. They say its beautiful!
How many kgs or pounds are you aiming to lose?
I promise it does get easier with time. Especially when you start seeing the lose.
You need to start understanding what motivates you the most, because that helps. For me it's weighing myself daily, inspiration quotes and pics of nice bodies.
Good luck! Looking forward to reading more about your journey!1 -
Day 2--on water-only fasting I hear this is the roughest. So far, so good here, but mornings are easiest for me as I've skipped breakfast regularly for a month. Still on my 1/3 caf 1 shot coffee, so tapering caffeine going well.
Got my first meeting for my dream job (teaching creative writing at a university) and excited/terrified. I don't want to muck this up! That ought to keep my mind off food.
Thanks for all the encouragement and support. This is a lovely, warm group.2 -
How's NZ? I would love to go someday. They say its beautiful!
...
How many kgs or pounds are you aiming to lose?
New Zealand is lovely. It's a lot more low key than Brisbane, Australia, which is where I lived before that, so it took some adjusting to. But the scenery is amazing and the people are friendly. It's just generally a quiet, peaceful, happy place to live--where there isn't an earthquake. That took some getting used to!
I'm looking to lose just 7 kg to start--that will get me to 80 kg, which is what my previous doctor discussed as reasonable (I was 102 kg at the time, so I think she meant to encourage me). After that, we'll see. I think I could probably do to lose 15 kg, but I'm just going to see how the weight sits on me.
Thanks for asking, and thanks for the support! Day 2 is already miles better than day 1.1 -
Day 2 in the bag! Dinner was ham, aioli, and coleslaw. I'll have a decaf cream cappuccino and some peanuts to bring up my calories a bit (only 700 now).
This is so do-able! I get some hunger around 3, but I just remind myself that it's only 2 hours until dinner. Then I drink some water and get on with it. It's just not a big deal. Guys, I'm so excited.
PS my new colleagues are amazing. I'm going to love teaching again.1 -
Day 2 in the bag! Dinner was ham, aioli, and coleslaw. I'll have a decaf cream cappuccino and some peanuts to bring up my calories a bit (only 700 now).
This is so do-able! I get some hunger around 3, but I just remind myself that it's only 2 hours until dinner. Then I drink some water and get on with it. It's just not a big deal. Guys, I'm so excited.
PS my new colleagues are amazing. I'm going to love teaching again.
So good changes all around for you
How did you manage to lose all that weight? from 102 to 87? Pretty impressive. Did it take long?0 -
How did you manage to lose all that weight? from 102 to 87? Pretty impressive. Did it take long?
Thanks and thanks for asking. It's taken four years, all of it after my one-and-only baby who is 5 now!
First, I started running with Zombies, Run! an app on my phone that turns running into story. It's awesome.
Then low carb, high fat diet. I've been doing that off-and-on for two years. I love the food and all the other benefits (e.g. My passport photo this year looks younger than my one from 10 years ago!)
But I hate logging everything I eat. Until now, actually. It's much easier to do one meal and my couple of drinks in MFP.
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Day 3: Oh hubris! I thought today would be easy. Nope! I almost caved so often today (had every "justification" lined up). I did have a heap of cream in my afternoon coffee, so not exactly compliant, but I made it to dinner without eating.
I did it. I don't know how. But it's another block in my OMAD foundation. Day 4, here I come.
Other OMAD women: How do you cope with PMS/your period/menopause and its relation to food? For example, I nearly caved today because I needed painkillers, which can't be taken without food. What do you do? I just white-knuckled it through, but I don't see that being sustainable.0 -
I had an endometrial ablation a month ago and I didn't get a period this month but I still get the pms because I still have my hormones...I get really hungry and want to eat everything in sight especially salty and sweet food...I usually just chew sugarless gum and drink lots of water till my meal time...What kind of pain killers do you take that need to be taken with food? I take Tylenol and don't need food with them. 1
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Other OMAD women: How do you cope with PMS/your period/menopause and its relation to food? For example, I nearly caved today because I needed painkillers, which can't be taken without food. What do you do? I just white-knuckled it through, but I don't see that being sustainable. [/quote]
On a really bad time, I have used my period as a cheat day and just ate so I could take my pain killer and went ahead and ate during the day. I only had one really bad day so It wasn't too bad.1 -
I take naproxen (Aleve) for pain. An empty stomach doesn't stop me. Maybe it should...never really thought about it. Fasting is definitely more challenging for me on those days though.0
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I take ibuprofen, with Tylenol if a pain is really bad--per my doctor they're ok together. (But not two NSAIDs) I never found Tylenol or Aleve to do anything alone.
I personally can't take it on an empty stomach (hurts/makes me nauseated). I tried with rehydrated chia seeds in water per Megan Ramos from Intensive Dietary Management, but I promptly threw up the whole lot, meds and all.
I had a migraine that day, which makes my stomach iffy anyway. I'm not real keen to retry the experiment on non-migraine pain though!
So I put cream in my coffee this morning and took a couple ibuprofen. It was enough calories to technically break my fast, but it should impact my insulin at a low level since it's almost all fat. I'm not going to eat any extra food/meals.
I don't plan to do it every day, but I'm in OMAD for the long haul and I need to make it work for me.
Thanks for your support! Between here and the OMAD and IF subreddits, I'm getting a lot of cheering on.2 -
And it worked! Pain relief without destroying my stomach and I'm not hungry or craving or anything. Hooray! Look out, day 4. I'm coming at you like a spider monkey! 3
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Day 4 done. Feeling like I'm getting into a routine, which feels great. I also feel good having done some troubleshooting and adapting OMAD to fit my real life.
I've dropped broth completely (very reliant on day 1) but may keep some fat in my decaf as needed. Both weaning off caffeine and OMAD going well. It gets easier, instead of harder, as time goes by: unlike evey diet _ever_.1 -
Your doing great and it does get easier 0
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Don't forget to up your sodium/electrolytes during your fasting period. 1
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If i get really hungry I eat 1/2 tsp of coconut oil (about 50 cals) and it will kill hunger for about 1-hr and it will not make me crazy hungry like about anything else I've tried to snack on.1
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Day 5 had a lot of me bickering with my own mind. Watching one of Joe's videos where he describes insulin rising 2.5 hours before mealtime (thus inducing hunger) helped. That's why I'm stinking hungry at 3.
Made it through fine though. Did have one cup of broth and one creamy decaf to take meds. Still do plan on weaning off those. I know zero calorie is best.
Didn't remember to count calories on my dinner last night. Thought of it as I was eating and gave it a miss. Dinner was split pea soup, Fathead pizza dough made into garlic "bread," and guacamole because I had avocado and tomato to use up. Weird combo but delicious. Late summer veg is dreamy.
Today is day 6 and my first weekend day. I'm planning on doing TMAD (lunch and dinner), no snacks, so I can eat normally with my family both Saturday and Sunday.
I'm not splurging yet as I'm not through two weeks. I'm planning on Sunday being my splurge in future.0 -
Will you be weighing on Saturdays? That's the day I weigh...How do you like the taste of the fathead pizza crust?0
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I weigh myself daily--I have a Fitbit Aria scale that tracks everything and syncs with MFP. I'm not going to pay any attention to that at all.
It's just data that I want over time and nothing I'm going to even think about until I've had a solid 30 days OMAD. I'm so guilty of chopping and changing programs that I don't want to be scale motivated. I'm doing this and low carb, high fat for the physical and mental health benefits. If I don't lose, that's ok. I'm just going to keep my head down and stay with it.
I love Fathead pizza. It's delicious and makes great garlic bread or focaccia too.
Thanks for asking. 1 -
Good luck in NZ! My Dad lives in Auckland.1
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Good luck in NZ! My Dad lives in Auckland.
Thanks. Small world @Abm4n. We're in Palmerston North, a couple hours north of Wellington.
I see you're in Brisbane. I miss it so much. Most beautiful city in the world. If there's such a thing as retirement when I get old, I'm retiring to Brissy.
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