Every other day diet

shell1005 wrote: »

Eating 500 calories every other day?

That is something I couldn't do for longer than 2 months. Or I would be a miserable, mean brat.

Being consistently at a reasonable calorie deficit eating foods I like and feeling healthy, strong and in control....I've been able to do that for months now. Seems easier, seems better, seems healthier.

It's definitely not for everyone, but I actually really enjoyed the plan and had no problems doing it-definitely wasn't miserable And with this format you only 'diet' every other day, which made it easier for me to stick with the whole weight loss phase.

I did alternate day IF for around 6 months, hit my original goal, and then switched to 5:2IF as I began transitioning into maintenance and worked towards losing a few more pounds. Did that for 5ish months and then transitioned into solid maintenance and switched to 16:8IF, which I've been doing ever since.

akitagirl15 wrote: »

thank you so much for all of your responses. I like the concept of alternative day fasting, but the unlimited calories part every other day didn't make sense to me either. I already know I can do the 500 calories, if I drink a lot of water it isn't so hard. I am going to continue to learn about alternate day fasting from other sources as suggested, but in the meantime I am going to eat 2000 calories on my 'feast' days, and stick to 500 calories on my 'fast' days. Thanks again

Shoot me a pm and I can give you some more links for info

yesimpson wrote: »

Alatariel75 wrote: »

If I ate unlimited every second day, no 500 calorie day would save me haahaa

God, me neither. I think on my unlimited day I'd 'panic' eat to a ridiculous extent, because I know I'm going to be crazy hungry the next. My blood sugar levels are a tricky beast too, so a 500 day would probably be a bad idea.

You'd think it would work like that, but it actually doesn't for some reason. I hung out at a alternate day IF forum during my active weight loss phase and it was a common complaint that people were having a hard time hitting their maintenance calories on their regular days (which is really important to do). I have no idea why this happens, but it was an interesting problem to have

yesimpson wrote: »

Sarasmaintaining wrote: »

yesimpson wrote: »

Alatariel75 wrote: »

If I ate unlimited every second day, no 500 calorie day would save me haahaa

God, me neither. I think on my unlimited day I'd 'panic' eat to a ridiculous extent, because I know I'm going to be crazy hungry the next. My blood sugar levels are a tricky beast too, so a 500 day would probably be a bad idea.

You'd think it would work like that, but it actually doesn't for some reason. I hung out at a alternate day IF forum during my active weight loss phase and it was a common complaint that people were having a hard time hitting their maintenance calories on their regular days (which is really important to do). I have no idea why this happens, but it was an interesting problem to have

That is interesting. Did it get easier as you got into it then? I appreciate some people naturally gravitate towards fewer, larger meals with many hours in between, but I imagine making the transition to that would be difficult if that wasn't your default position.

Definitely gets easier. The first two weeks were rough as I got used to the routine, but then after that it was pretty easy going. I also had never tried losing weight before, so this whole thing was a new world for me

While I did alternate day IF I was still eating 3 meals a day/couple snacks on my regular days. On my low calorie days I broke the calories up into mini 'meals' every two hours or so, from 9am-7pm. Others prefer to just do one larger meal in the evening.

Then as I transitioned into maintenance and 5:2IF I started experimenting with meal timing and that led me to 16:8IF

I say if you want to try it, try it!!!! Sometimes you just need to shake it up. I have tried a LOT of different plans and when something stopped working I just switched it up. My personal rule is that if I try something new I stick with it for 30 days. Good luck to you

Sarasmaintaining wrote: »

yesimpson wrote: »

Sarasmaintaining wrote: »

yesimpson wrote: »

Alatariel75 wrote: »

If I ate unlimited every second day, no 500 calorie day would save me haahaa

God, me neither. I think on my unlimited day I'd 'panic' eat to a ridiculous extent, because I know I'm going to be crazy hungry the next. My blood sugar levels are a tricky beast too, so a 500 day would probably be a bad idea.

You'd think it would work like that, but it actually doesn't for some reason. I hung out at a alternate day IF forum during my active weight loss phase and it was a common complaint that people were having a hard time hitting their maintenance calories on their regular days (which is really important to do). I have no idea why this happens, but it was an interesting problem to have

That is interesting. Did it get easier as you got into it then? I appreciate some people naturally gravitate towards fewer, larger meals with many hours in between, but I imagine making the transition to that would be difficult if that wasn't your default position.

Definitely gets easier. The first two weeks were rough as I got used to the routine, but then after that it was pretty easy going. I also had never tried losing weight before, so this whole thing was a new world for me

While I did alternate day IF I was still eating 3 meals a day/couple snacks on my regular days. On my low calorie days I broke the calories up into mini 'meals' every two hours or so, from 9am-7pm. Others prefer to just do one larger meal in the evening.

Then as I transitioned into maintenance and 5:2IF I started experimenting with meal timing and that led me to 16:8IF

Ahh I see. Thanks for explaining it's always interesting to see what works for different people.

This would not work for me. I maintain on 1,900 calories/day, which is 13,300 calories/week. Let's say one week I have 3 fast days (Mon, Wed, Fri) and 4 feast days (Sun, Wed, Thurs, Sat).

3 days at 500 calories = 1,500 calories
That leaves 11,800 calories of my total, divided by 4 remaining days = 2,950 calories.

I know what you're thinking. 2,950 calories is a lot for one day! Remember that's my MAINTENANCE. In order to lose 1 lb/week, I have to create a deficit of 3,500 calories. So let's take that 11,800 which is my feast calories for the week and remove 3,500, since the fasting days aren't supposed to go lower calorie. That gives me 8,300 calories for my feasts for the week, divided by 4 days = 2,075 calories.

I can EASILY eat over 2,075 calories on a feast day. There is no way I would be able to have "unlimited" food on a feast day. Heck, that's less than 200 calories over my maintenance level. Does not seem worth the fasting days just to be able to eat an extra granola bar on a feast day.

Try taking a look at the 2 day diet written by Dr Harvie and Prof Howell - first published 2013 (and i think [though dont quote me on it] this was the first of these 2 day diets that have become so fashionable) - It is very sensibly laid out - explains what you can and shouldn't eat - those 5 days are not unlimited - the phrase used is follow a healthy Mediterranean diet (which they lay out in pretty good detail also - it is predominantly a low carb diet though - and although they do provide a vegetarian version I find their exact meal plan hard to follow as i have some food allergies that really get in the way! However, what ever meal plan you follow the science is explained really well in this book - Prof Howell is an oncologist and he found this diet extremely helpful for the basic health of his patients, including finding a big reduction in cholesterol - and diabetes! (I am not explaining it very well but worth taking a look at the book though) - I followed this in 2013 and lost just shy of 2 stone in three months - and kept it off for over a year, but ill health and resultant lack of activity has seen it creep back on in the last 6 months! - and in fact monday was my first day starting the diet again!