Dieting From Home

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!...