Sparkled Beauty

This week is going to be quiet on here guys. I'm officially burned out packing two weeks before the move. It was a gorgeous, sunny and warm weekend and I didn't even make it outside :( Needless to say, I did not have a trace of makeup on and only wore a strengthening base coat on my nails. And I missed Super Redemption days, gasp!

So we talk food today :) I started the FastDiet two weeks ago, before all this craziness rushed in but it is still not very good timing. But again, it's never a good time for dieting, is it? Don't worry, this is not a sponsored post.

I'm tired of being tired all the time and putting more weight on slowly but steadily, so with a huge doubt of myself being able to do this, I tried anyway.

Emily Eddington (emilynoel83) mentioned this book by Dr. Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer in one of her BBLive sessions, so I went and read it. I never tried any diet systems before, mostly because there were just too many restrictions I just knew I couldn't follow. The way the FastDiet works is do-able and makes sense. "You have nothing to lose but weight" - they said.

Basically I need to do a 500-calorie diet (1/3 of my regular level) two non-consecutive days a week. They called it the 5:2 diet, as you eat normally 5 days of the week and fast the other 2 intermittently. Fast days pretty much include light breakfast and dinner, no lunch, no snack, lots of water and non-sweetened herbal tea (my drink of choice). Mondays and Thursdays work well for my schedule.

The prospect that I can always come back to my regular diet the next day is what gets me through fast days but, never counted calories in my life before, it's surprising how little food it takes to reach 500 calories lol.

Product labels and myfitnesspal helped me a lot in counting the calories, so my job is just trying to slow myself way down with food intake, especially snacks. I survived my first few fast days with only some tingling feeling on my fingertips (don't know why), a light headache at the end of the day and having to go to bed early (so I wouldn't be tempted with more food and snacks).

The morning after, I was not starved and did not faint - 2 things I worried about the most :) Obviously my body adjusted itself and got through the day with that little food. And believe it or not, fast days kinda train your body to eat more controllably on non-fast days, which leads to overall less calorie consumption.

My goal was not losing a huge amount of weight so I did not weigh myself at the beginning but I no longer feel heavy at the end of the day nor feel like I want to eat more. It's awesome to admit that I did not need that much food to go on. Weekends were hard because I was surrounded with snacks in the apartment but I managed not to go over my regular calories. The most visible result of this "diet" to me was when I felt bloated after eating an Original combo at Harvey's on Friday, which was not big by any means (but the calorie and sodium numbers would scare you lol). So I know I am on the right track and will keep going. Cheer me on?