Two Weeks On The Alternate Day Diet

This is what happens when
I have a bad day

I've been doing the ADD for just over two weeks and there have been good days and not-so-good days.  I wouldn't say that I've had "bad" days, just times when I've not been as focused as I should be.

One of the things I have realised is that I'm a comfort eater.  In other words, I eat when I'm feeling down or angry so any diet will go downhill at these times.

I'll admit that I cheated big-time on Sunday (what should have been a "down" day).  It started well with my usual protein shake, got slightly worse at lunchtime with half of a roast beef and mustard wholemeal bagel, then got a zillion times worse at dinner with homemade burger and chips (or fries).  I'm afraid my money worries got the better of me and this resulted in the pig-out dinner.

However, I made up for it on Monday when I got back on track and the week, since then, has gone pretty well.

Weight loss hasn't been as great as I would have liked, but the experts do agree that slow and steady is the best way to lose weight.  A total of 5lbs in two weeks will do me fine and if I keep this up, I will have lost a total of 17lbs by the beginning of August.

By the way, I should mention that I'm losing weight without doing any exercise (bad girl!), but I do walk the dog every day.  I just need to start making those walks a little bit longer and faster.  Molly, my dog, is an old girl and tends to amble along so I need to walk at her speed.

Note to self: must go out on my own with runners and iPod and walk for at least an hour, briskly.

Induction Period - Day Seven

Well, it's my first weigh-in day today, and I've lost a total amount of 4.2lbs!  While that may not seem a huge amount, when you consider that I've been eating normally for three days of the last seven then I think that this is a great result.

For example, on my up days I've eaten Victoria sponge cake, a whole 10" pizza, coleslaw, sausages, bacon rashers, white pudding (an Irish delicacy!), fried egg, etc.  Of course, not all on the same day, but I can honestly say that I haven't denied myself anything that I've fancied when I'm on an up day.

I know it's only been a week, but I'm beginning to think that there's something in this way of eating that does seem to be of benefit.  Not just the weight loss, but I've noticed a couple of other things as well.

My pants seem to be a little bit looser around the belly/bum area and my double chin doesn't seem to be quite as wobbly as it was ;-)

There also seems to have been an increase in my flexibility, in that bending down to the bottom cupboard isn't as much of an effort and a problem I had with lifting my left arm and straightening it appears to be getting better.

So, all things considered, it's looking good and I'm happy to keep going with it.

In a previous post I mentioned that I was finding the Ultra Lean a bit too sweet and gloopy for my taste, so on the last two down days I switched my evening shake for a ham salad - same number of calories, but the fact that I actually got to CHEW on something made the day go a lot easier.

I've been using myfitnesspal.com to track my food intake and I've been finding it relatively easy to use. I can highly recommend it if you're looking for a food and weight tracker, what's even better is that it's free.  There's not much you can get these days for nothing, so I would grab it and use it while you can.

50 Foods With 50 Calories Or Less

Although I'm still using the USN Ultra Lean on down days, I will be going back to eating some food once the induction period is over.

While trawling the net for other people's take on the Alternate Day Diet, I came across the following article, which lists 50 foods that have 50 calories or less.  This will definitely be a great help when it comes to putting together small meals on my down days.

I also came across an organic fruit and vegetable powder that can be used on down days instead of the Ultra Lean.  It's currently out of stock, but I intend to get some when it's available and I'll be posting a review here.  Personally, I'm finding the Ultra Lean quite sweet and gloopy (I'm a savoury kind of gal) so I'm hoping that this new product will suit me better.

Stay tuned for the details!

In the meantime, click here to be taken direct to the article in the Daily Mirror.

Induction Period - Day Two - My First Up Day

I woke up this morning with a bit of a headache and I'm not sure if that was because of lack of food or because I had the best sleep I've had in a long time. So many dreams, vivid ones too, someone was painting a house.  I think that's a subconscious hint for me to get my act together and just do it!

Anyhoo, the day has gone well and I've managed to keep under the 1400 calories I'm supposed to eat.  That's not because I tried very hard, it was just that I wasn't really that hungry, which makes me think there must be something to the science behind the ADD, because Dr Johnson mentions that in his book.

At last, I might have found the right kind of lifestyle for me....yippee!

In fact, I was so full of the joys of Spring (the sun was shining - a rare occurrence in Ireland;-) ) that me and my OH took to the lanes for a quick walk.  Only 40 minutes but it's a start and the plan is that one day I'll start running.  Me? Run? Not done that since school days which was, errm, quite a long time ago, so that will be a very special day when that happens.

You might be wondering what triggered this insane desire to run?  The OH got that running book, you know, "Run Fat Bitch Run" and left it lying around long enough for me to be intrigued and pick it up.  Damn him!  Ruth Field writes well though, so now I need to channel my inner fat bitch to make me move off the sofa and out onto the lanes.  We have some lovely walks around here so I should make more of an effort.  Today was just the beginning.

At least I had the chance to do my good deed for the day.  A small terrier followed us home and, after checking with the local vet to see if she had been microchipped (no such luck), managed to find her owner.  Thank God I have such a great memory for trivia (ie junk).  I had this vague memory that the dog's name was Polly and she lived up the road.  I was right and the dog lived happily ever after (and her name was Holly, so I wasn't too far out).

The Not So Secret Diary of a Grumpess: Saying Goodbye To My Curves :(

The Not So Secret Diary of a Grumpess: Saying Goodbye To My Curves :(

Although I've only just started my journey along the Alternate Day Diet, I came across this lovely post by a similarly-aged lady who's had great success with it.  I can only hope that I'm as successful as she is and if I can lose 40lbs, well, you'll be able to knock me over with a feather.

Read it....it's good fun!

Induction Period - Day 1

My Choice of Diet Shake - So Far So Good!

Dr Johnson recommends that you keep it simple for the first two weeks and recommends that, if you can stomach them, stick to diet shakes on your down days.  I did exactly that and opted for a strawberry flavoured shake,  USN Diet Fuel Ultralean, which seems to be available only in the UK and Ireland.

Although I got it from my local health food store, I know that I would buy it online in future because it's a much better price, i.e. the equivalent of buy one, get one free!  Ireland is such an expensive place to buy health food and supplements, but that's another story.

My aim was to get the equivalent of 500 calories out of the shakes and that turned out to be approximately 500mls.  It doesn't sound very much, but the Ultralean turned out to be quite filling, so when I added in a few cups of fruit and herbal tea and several glasses of water, I wasn't hungry at all.

That said, by the end of the day I would have loved to have had some food, if only for something to chew on.  At this point even my dog's biscuits and sausages were extremely tempting!

Taste-wise it was good.  My first attempt turned out very thick because I used a Vitamix blender at full speed - huge mistake! - and there was an after-taste too. The second attempt was much better because I used a little more water and blended it at a lower speed so it was less "gloopy".  This turned out to be a good thing because not only did the after-taste almost disappear, it meant I had a little left over for later, so I ended up sipping it for the rest of the day.

I can honestly say that I didn't go to bed hungry and had the best night's sleep that I've had in ages.  Whether I can attribute that to the Ultralean or simply put it down to the fact that I wasn't stuffing my face with carbs and junk, I'm not sure.

Anyway, so far so good.  Tomorrow is an up day and I plan to eat carefully because I don't want to jeopardise any good that I've done so far.

If you would like to check out Ultralean for yourself, click on the picture above.

Starting Out

Before I started the diet, I thought I would need some inspiration so bought the book and made sure I understood what the diet was all about.

It's simple enough: In the induction phase, which lasts two weeks, you eat between 25%-35% of your Resting Metabolic Rate on "down days" and eat normally on "up days".  If you would like to calculate your own RMR, please go here.  No cheatin' now!

I've highlighted the words eat normally because a lot of people have the misconception that on "up days" you should binge eat to make up for what you haven't eaten the day before!  Absolute nonsense!  Taking from what I've read on other forums, the tendency is to eat just 100% - 120% of your normal intake.

I will let you know what my intake of food is like when I reach my first "up day".