6 Weeks of Intermittent Fasting…

Well I’ve been hesitant to write this to be honest, because in typical Mia fashion, I’m feeling slightly disappointed with what is actually pretty good progress! Let me explain.

Last fortnight, my Monday weight was 71.9kg. I happily reported my progress here, thrilled and relived to be finally cracking the scales after a plateau. The next day we set off for 5 indulgent nights of beaching, pooling, chilling and wining bliss at the coast- the longest beach holiday for our family ever. It was awesome. How did I work the 5:2 into this you may ask?

I didn’t. Quite simply. That would have been far too painful and really, life is too short. I did, however, make an effort not to blow out. I really didn’t want the scales to be up the following Monday (and it wasn’t!). I fasted the Monday before we left, and ate fairly ‘normally’ (i.e. not diet friendly but not bingeing) the rest of the week. I ran 6 out of 7 days that week, and evened that out by liberally drinking wine with Chab 5 out of 7 nights. It’s a holiday! No holiday for me is complete without wine. No weekend is either, for that matter…We met in a wine bar in the south of France 10 years ago. This is just the way it is and I’m pretty fine with that!

So last Monday (week 5) came around and I was relieved to see my weight hadn’t changed. I also had a nice tan, thanks to Dad’s Armenian blood and the Australian sun, and we all know we all fancy ourselves slimmer and trimmer with a tan! The next day, I weighed 70.4, and I continued to weigh 70.4kg all week. I felt hopeful that I could crack the magic 70 by the following Monday. So I continued with 5 days of 800 calories, 3 of which fell on night shifts.

Aah night shifts. My old friend. I hadn’t done any since starting this program, and I wasn’t sure how to manage the time restricted eating (TRE) element over this period. Usually I have at least 12 hours of fasting overnight, i.e. no calories consumed between 8pm and 8am. Embracing my ‘go hard or go home’ tendencies I decided to trial extending the overnight fast to last between 8 pm (start shift a few hours later, drink lots of tea and water throughout, get to bed around 8am) and consume calories after waking up the following afternoon around 2 pm. This wasn’t as challenging as it sounds (especially when it was busy at work) and I had an emergency protein bar snack in my bag in case I felt dangerously tired or unwell, particularly for the drive home. I didn’t need it in the end, and managed 3 x 18 hour fasts. Winning.

But then, it was Saturday, and I’ll be honest, it blew right out. All week I had been looking forward to joining our best friends for nibbles, dinner and drinks Saturday afternoon. I was so excited I even made tiramisu, which was pretty delicious, and not diet friendly by any stretch of the imagination. I always feel victorious after surviving night shifts, and on this day I was further buoyed by the lightheaded headiness of three consecutive extended fasts, just 14 hours combined sleep and 2400 calories over 3 days. It turns out BFF was also keen to let her hair down after a particularly stressful week, and between the 2 of us we quite unwittingly threw back at least 3 bottles of wine, AKA 1800 calories. This is easily twice what we would normally consume on any other special occasion (=the weekend), so our usual conversation changed pretty dramatically, but as this blog is about my weight loss journey, I will spare you the entertaining details that come with unwinding a little too far!

Fast forward to the morning after, when I very cautiously eased my sorry, head-spinning self out of bed, the scales still said 70.4kg. Yesssss, I thought, I got away with it! Maybe I will see a 6 at the start of tomorrow’s official weigh in after all!

Well.

It bloody said 71.4kg didn’t it! Of course it did. I think it’s fair to say I felt deflated after that EVEN THOUGH I know all about weight fluctuations and ignoring the scales to a large extent. This morning I was back under 71 at 70.9kg. (Gastrointestinal activity does have an impact people, sorry for the overshare but it’s true!). Tomorrow I’ll probably be 70.4!

But it’s all good, it’s all progress, and I’m actually very pleased overall. I am just getting a little bored with salads and just eating so much less than usual! I miss being able to have a nibble on something just for the pleasure of it- not because I’m hungry or thinking of meeting my protein intake for the day… just because it’s enjoyable. I stuck my finger rather unceremoniously in the leftover tiramisu this morning, just to check it was still good. Pleased to report that yes, it is still delicious, and I’m wondering how I can enjoy this again and stick to the 800cals a day. I’ll just cross my fingers and hope it’s still good (surely the alcohol content is preserving it nicely!) on Friday, when I plan to have a non fasting day… or maybe, I’ll move the non fasting day to tomorrow and enjoy it then! This is why I think people love intermittent fasting. It’s flexible. You just have to match its flexibility with motivation and discipline and the results will come.

Have an awesome week guys! Please feel free to share your stories with me too, I’d love to hear.