Dieting From Home

Today is the last day of the Very Fast 800 diet. My last two weighings were 78.8Kg and 78.9Kg about 1 week apart even though I have been consistently on the diet in that time.  I will do one more weighing tomorrow morning but anyway end the diet at that time. By those measurings I have lost over 29Kg.  I believe it is within error of my target of "over 30Kg".  Certainly it is well below the maximum "normal" BMI weight for my height of 82Kg. So, given that, and based on this calorie calculator , I should now move to 1993 kcal/day to maintain weight. My plan is to work up to this level, following, broadly, Mosley's Mediterranean Diet  - so still keeping attention on approximate caloric intake.  I will check my weight weekly.  Possibly, I will go to 800 kcal/day again if my weight seems to be spiking. In the short term I will allow myself some luxuries - and, for instance: a beer.  I feel that reward is in fact appropriate. I do not see this as the end of...

This last week - and it will be my last of the diet proper - is the first that I've unambiguously felt the mental  effects of ketosis. It's quite profound. It's been very clear: a drug-like effect.  Searching through my youthful experiences, during which, at various times, I sampled most mind-altering drug/chemical types, the closest similarity would be Betel nut .  Betel nut (consumed in Taiwan and other places in East and South East Asia) gives a significant and pleasant euphoria.  Such is Ketosis for me this week. According to some research  the Ketosis mechanism has similarities to the date-rape drug GHB!  Betel nut's active ingredient is  Arecoline  - it's brain chemistry is likely not much related to the Ketosis effect in fact.  My experience resembles it however. It's a pleasant fairly continuous positive mood that is quite noticeable.  Others notice it too: my wife says that I speak and move more slowly.  As an adaptation to...

This post is a sort of TL;DR for the whole blog thus far - I'll dispense with most of the discussion.  Some of this includes corrections from what I actually did with the benefit of hind-sight.  I'll briefly note those parts. Fundamental Rule : eat very low carbohydrate food.  So cut out bread, rice, pasta, most fruit.  Check the ingredients lists and avoid anything with a carbohydrate level above 10% by weight. You should : Drink great amounts of water.  An effect of the diet (part of ketosis) is to dehydrate rapidly.  You must drink many litres of water per day. Add salt - a significant amount.  Another ketosis effect. Take vitamin pills. You should not : Change your activity level.  If you don't exercise much - don't suddenly start doing so in conjunction with the diet.  You will lose weight more rapidly if you do add exercise - but will likely regain it afterwards.  You can start extra exercise after the diet has concluded.  You...

I was pleasantly surprised that my weight loss proceeded linearly for the first few weeks - not just the first days of the Very Fast 800.  After those weeks however it did  taper - so I took the decision to reduce calories to 700, which did have the desired effect and my weight loss rate has basically been maintained. Now, however as I come to being within (based on BMI) normal weight range, but wish to continue weight loss to be closer to the middle of that range, my body seems to be reacting again and restraining my weight loss.   The exact mechanism for this is interesting - it must, basically, be that I'm using less energy.  Therefore one solution is to voluntarily use more  energy - to exercise.  However I prefer not to do that since it requires me to change my normal habits and it will potentially destabilize the next phase of the diet process (in which I come progressively out of the diet).  I should counter the lower energy use by trying t...

Cons Possible headaches - remember, drink very large  quantities of water.  Moseley states that you should "urinate 6-7 times per day" as a result of your water consumption.  I found that if I didn't drink to that quantity, headaches were likely - and that I saw the skin of my fingers start wrinkling and I would use that as a cue to drink more.  I took to drinking sparkling water - it's become an expense! Mild mental effects - probably due to ketosis . If you check " Adverse effects " there you'll see there aren't many.  Specifically, what I've found is some sense  of dizzyness - or something like it - but without an actual  loss of coordination or balance.  And again a sense  of confusion - without actually losing my train of thought or misunderstanding anything (I've been able to work effectively throughout).  Occasionally I've felt light-headed after getting up quickly - low blood sugar? Overall, these "negative" effects ar...

Early on in this diet as I was experimenting with different foods, I took the lead from the Fast 800 book.  The recipes quite reasonably are for low-calorie attempts to duplicate pre-diet meals.  Typically, there'll be a trace of high calorie foods.  I tried putting together similar meals myself, until I realised just how high in energy some foods were.  Cheese - especially hard mature cheeses - are often over 400 kcals per 100g.  But they're very flavoursome so I tended to add a little to many meals.  I entirely dispensed with butter.  I would occasionally add nuts - but with energies approaching 700 kcal/100g I could throw in only a few! But the biggest shock that I avoided entirely, even though it contributes so well to salads, taste-wise: oil.  At nearly 900 kcal/100g olive oil had to be rejected entierly.  Better to add greater quantities of meat or cheese. But, the astoundingly high energy oil contains gave me an idea.   In th...

The following photos represent 1 recent week of meals.   No other intake of energy besides these meals was consumed.  The total energy intake was 4900 kilocalories, that being 700 kilocalories per day.  Therefore each of the meals shown was about 350 kcal.  

The change from 800 kcal/day to 700 has had effects.  No particular hunger.  It may be psychological.  But I do feel that I am restricted by the diet from normal activities.  I walk around my neighbourhood and see other citizens enjoying food, beer, snacks.  They laugh and they smile.  They are enjoying life. I have become mindful of the act of eating - and aware of the phenomenal plenty  of a typical grocery shop. I've now consciously witnessed a similar luxury of life that this Western world economy provides. Restaurants and fast-food.  Kiosks and bars.  Each competing in their niche, providing us with a way to push back the stress that economy necessitates for our roles in it.   But I can't participate. That exclusion is palpable.  It's a loss that is disappointing.  The feeling of weeks without this part of life seems a measurable reduction in my life experience.  But it also reveals to me the remarkable power th...

Last weekend we went to a great Sichuan restaurant in Paris' Chinatown - which, by the way, is the biggest in Europe.  Most residents are actually from Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia (though of Chinese ancestry).  Tian Tian Wang  however is a legitimately Chinese establishment. I did my best to keep to my diet, however I had no real way to determine either the true caloric content of what I was eating, nor the quantity.  But I felt  I was over-eating and simply the sense of fullness I had after the meal, I had to admit, confirmed the fact. Lamb hot-pot Of course, there's no disaster in breaking the diet in such circumstances.  I simply go on with the same routine as the previous days and forget this slight aberration to have a good time with my family - no drama.  Yet, I felt the need to compensate. Beyond that, I'd realised my rate of weight loss had tapered somewhat.  I'd expected this, but I'd been pleased to see it hadn't happened as early as I'd ...

I have passed the half way mark.  That is if I decide to end the diet at the advised 12 weeks.  I may not: I have a weight target.  Initially I stated 80Kg  - in fact I'd like to get to 78Kg.  I expect that may take a week or two more than 12 weeks. During the 6 weeks I have lost 13.8Kg.  That constitutes a successful diet.  I have maintained it without particular effort; without suffering significantly.  It has required a little discipline.  For instance, last weekend I went with family and a friend to Marseille.  Of course we ate out.  In social environments there is some pressure to join in whatever festivity is occurring.  I think this is primal - part of what it is to be human. At one restaurant, Carlotta With , seeking something low-cal/low-carb I chose their roast cauliflower.  But of course, being baked, it is (deliciously) covered with oil.  I ended up eating half (doggy-bagging the rest).  I ate the rem...

My version of the Very Fast 800 has given me a unique opportunity to examine the specific motivations for eating.   Of course, biologically, I must eat in order to have the energy needed to live through respiration and move - to function. But, why, specifically , do I choose to eat when I do?  It is very rarely because I'm actually hungry .  That may be the underlying cause of my progressive weight gain - that I don't wait for a natural sense of hunger to arise before eating.  So what is it that motivates me? Because, due to this diet I have been in total control down to the single calorie of all nutritional intake, I am now aware of each incidence of those motivations.  They're a little surprising. Though it's not prescribed in the diet, I eat exactly twice per day, once at 10am, once at 5pm and both times almost exactly 400 kcal.  At no other times do I eat - I drink black coffee or sparkling water.  Nevertheless, interest  in food remains ...

The Fast 800  recommends dieters stick to the Very  Fast 800 diet for between 2 to 12 weeks.  Therefore at the conclusion of 4 weeks I feel I can make some statements about the diet. TL;DR - it's fair at this point to say it works . That is a reasonable conclusion for one reason at least: I have lost 10.4 Kg in 28 days.  I have not suffered in that process.  In some ways my "eating life" has been better  in fact. I think it's worth going into the details of those statements. Losing Weight I put my starting weight and other details in a calorie calculator .  It told me: Those figures are in calories.  However, the Very Fast 800  requires no more than 800 calories per day.  Therefore less than a third  of the calories to maintain  my original weight.  It's less than half  the calories to "lose weight fast"! So, the Very Fast 800 is an extreme  diet.  Seeing these numbers, if it weren't for Dr Mosely's credenti...

As I started the diet I was moderately inspired by the recipé section in the book (The Fast 800): it at least showed a good range of tasty looking choices.  As I've suggested however, I don't like wasting time in laborious (or much at all) preparation.  As the days have gone by, I've realised two things: By the time I eat, at about 10:00am and 5:00pm it's been either 16 hours or about 7 since I ate last.  I'm therefore hungry (though not desperately so).  As a result, almost anything tastes good. I eat much, much less. This means that I'm close to guaranteed that there will be enough food around.  In the fridge, on shelves or in the fruit bowl.  It's there due to normal shopping for my wife and son.  And this food will be adequate to sate my appetite. Also I've come to realise that so long as each meal is about 400 calories and is very low carb, I can eat practically anything in any combination. For example I have an idea for an experiment some time:...

I decided to take stock with the progress of my Very Fast 800 attempt at the 2 week mark - that was this morning, a Sunday. I have lost 5Kg.  My first feelings were (perhaps surprisingly) mild disappointment - I wanted to be shocked (perhaps 7 or 8 Kg would have had that effect).  Now that I think more about it, 5Kg is a good result - what is reasonable to expect. My reaction is partly due to the knowledge that this pace is unlikely to continue for subsequent 2 week periods.  To reach my target 27Kg weight loss I need to keep up the pace.  To be honest, I haven't thought it likely to lose this complete amount in the 12 weeks and have been musing about my strategy following that: continue?  change to a 5:2?  something else? Another part of my reaction is "competitive": I tend to go into activities like this with the view to "beat" others who do the same thing.  I've read (in the book) of those who lost 7Kg in the first 2 weeks - I didn't beat them!...

About 310 kcal Very low carb. Lemon sole (fried in olive oil) Goat's cheese Green beans Cherry tomatoes In his book Mosley provides many recipes and also combinations that reach 800 calories.  But I find recipes frustrating.  I prefer to make sure I have a few ingredients around and then throw them together when it's mealtime.   The Soul of the Lemon Goat The above meal is a good example.  I found some reasonably priced fish at the local grocery and after checking the marked calories, realised it could be part of two meals.  I also found some a seafood terrine I could use on a later occasion.  I saw the green beans then went to the dairy section.  Goat's cheese seemed to fit the mix. Here's another example - but this was more difficult.  I wanted to get about 300 calories and of course low-carb.  But I also wanted fibre and a range of nutrients.  I thought "nuts and berries": About 320 kcal Low carb. Ricotta cheese Raspberri...

I have spent most of my career working 9-5 (well, typically 8:30-6 in fact - if I'm lucky). I've made effort and spent more to be able to live close to where I worked. I don't accept the idea that I should lose precious hours of my life to the commute. I'm willing to forgo income for that. The ultimate expression of that sentiment is of course to work from home. This has never quite been possible for me, working as I have in the financial industry - one of the most conservative. But entrepreneurship (I co-run ProfitView ) and Covid-19 suddenly made this not just possible but necessary for me. One positive aspect of this, or so I thought, was that I'd have better control of my time and therefore be able to live more healthily. I wouldn't be going to cafés or the work cafeteria for high energy, rapidly eaten lunches. I'd be able to schedule exercise. To my consternation and shame this did not happen. For some years I'd researched recent theor...