[nicolae]

ok so after watching a tv program and reading up online im going to start to alternate day diet starting monday with a down day (eating 500kcals)
or as close to 500 as possible. 2 slim fast shakes and a low fat soup with water to drink. it seems to work for the people that are on it and it sounds like somthing i could do as i know that no matter how hungry i am on my down days ill have an up day the next day where i can eat (dare i say) naughty foods, where as now naughty foods are deffo off limit completely.
does anyone on here have any tips?

[stef]

Hi, and good luck.

My biggest tip is to get your Down Days organised. The JUDDD version suggest slimfast shakes (2 a day) to get your head off food and into diet mode for the first 2 weeks. I continue to have slimfast available so that if I forget to make a DD meal I can still DD without thinking.

So my home and work fridge both have a multi pack of slimfast shakes in them and probably always will. Thankfully that's cheap enough to keep stocked you can get them for a pound a pop!

Look online for low cal meals, keep them as close to your normal as possible. That way I barely feel I am dieting. I use BBC Good Food and look for starters and light meals under 200kcals. That way I can add kcals, like a pita pocket, and still be on track.

AND get yourself a calorie counter/diary. I use Myfitnesspal as it has a more UK food bank. Calorie Count has better tools but is very American - I don't even recognise half of the food replacement things they have!

AND THEN keep coming here and anywhere else you can find to help keep you motivated!

[stef]

Do you want to use your thread for recipe swaps? It has a better title than mine

[Pudgebrownie]

I would like to join you ladies :]


I will be grocery shopping this evening or tomorrow for appropriate "down day" foods. I'm reading that Slim Fasts are a good choice for meal fillers. I have a box of Fiber Ones that are great meal substitutes as well. What are some other ideas that are low calorie but somewhat satisfying? I love bread, pasta and potatoes, and it's so hard to go a day without one or all three. Any low cal rice dish recipes that might be a good replacement?


I'll check back periodically for updates.

[PinkWombat]

I have only just started this method but this is what I have found so far

I find that eggs are easy and low in calories. You can have one egg and a couple of whites with a slice of ham and any veg you fancy throwing in.
I am really enjoying salads as well at the moment- particularly rocket and cucumber with balsamic vinegar and tomato.
Soup is always a good option as well- I make my own using chicken stock with asparagus and broccoli (but you can put in any low carb veg) then blend it up with a hand blender till its smooth.
Strawberries and raspberries are really low in calories and last a while if you freeze them.

I think my method so far seems to be finding the foods lowest in calories and eating heaps of them so it feels like I am eating a meal even though its only 200cal.

I am also eager to hear other meal ideas for down days

[MissD]

I'm going to give this a go too. Not just for fat loss reasons. Apparently eating like this can help prevent age related illness, and improve repair of the body, which is my main reason for trying. My understanding is that you need to eat all your calories in one sitting and fast for the rest of the day to give you the anti-aging benefits. Does anyone know anything more about this aspect?

[3CatsMeow]

I'm trying this method too. 500 calories in down days, and trying to be moderately healthy on the others. I may try it for a week and see if I can manage it/if it works for me.

I enjoyed the horizon programme, the scientific evidence presented in it seemed legitimate.

[wana wear a bikini]

I'm extremely curious about this, I was actually talking to my boyfriend about doing a Slimfast kind of thing on weekends last week, not knowing that it was an actual real diet plan! I'm hopeful that just having down days on a Saturday will be enough though - I have a very physical job and I know I won't manage it on 500 cals. Good luck to all you ladies who are trying it, it would be interesting to start a progress thread since so many people are starting this.

I'd love to see that Horizon programme, but can't watch it from Sweden

[BelleinAsia]

Alternate day diet sounds interesting - I've never heard of it before. I'm off to google...

[Nibbles]

I did alternate day dieting for a month. (A more extreme version...I alternate day fasted.) I loved the freedom of knowing that I was going to have an eat day, and it helped me maintain my self control on the fasting day.

However, a word of caution: Do not do this if you know you have gall stones. I didn't know I did at the time, but this diet exacerbated the problem immensely. The gallbladder apparently appreciates more frequent fat-containing meals than this program allows for, and the result for me was hours of stomach pain on the nights of my "up" days even if I ate very moderately.

Now that I know I have (well, had...cholecystectomy) gall stones, it makes sense, but at the time I was baffled.

[Karriegem]

Nibbles, do you mean that you didn't eat anything at all on alternate days?Just out of interest - how effective did you find the diet? How much did you lose in the month?

K x

[3CatsMeow]

My first day of fasting went OK yesterday, dropped a couple pounds of water weight, and at night my hunger was OK. My next fast day will be Sunday.

[mountain walker]

can I just add a word of caution from the old and wise?
When we all did Rosemary Conley in the 1980's it was "lower the fat the better" but actually our bodies do need a little fat for lots of things. Good point about your gall bladder also I found I had terribly stiff aching joints and I was only in my early 20's. It went as soon as I increased my fat intake ( needless to say it was one of my zillion failed diets!)
Hope you all find what works for you!

[Nibbles]

Originally Posted by Karriegem

Nibbles, do you mean that you didn't eat anything at all on alternate days?Just out of interest - how effective did you find the diet? How much did you lose in the month?

K x

That's right, Karriegem. I only ate every other day. I drank a lot of water on the days when I didn't eat, and I may have had a hot tea here and there, but that was it.

It sounds extreme, but for me it worked very well (apart from the gallbladder problem, which not everyone will have).

During the day, I tend not to get hungry until I eat something. So skipping breakfast, for example, is a pretty smart thing in my case because my system just doesn't remember that it wants food until I've put some in it. With this diet, I didn't miss having breakfast or lunch on the fasting days. I'd usually be pretty darn hungry by suppertime, but I would stave it off by promising myself really lovely meals the next day.

The next morning, my feasting day, I would usually eat whatever my family had had for supper the night before. I felt like the extra protein, extra calories in that part of my day was a good idea since I was only eating every other day. Then I would do lunch, supper, and snacks like normal.

A lot of people think you would gorge yourself if you ate like this, but I found it had the opposite effect. I was actually less hungry than I should have been when I did eat, and I ate more moderate portions. So on my feasting days, I was probably eating about 100-125% of my maintenance calories, instead of 200% like you might think.

I lost about twelve pounds over the course of the month, which I could have done through calorie restriction and exercise of course. But for me, it was the convenience that made the diet enjoyable. I didn't have to count calories or debate whether or not I could have something I really wanted. (I could on my feast day; I couldn't on my fast day.)

It took a ton of the forced willpower out of it for me, because there's not really much temptation when you know you can't eat. You avoid the one-more-bite-couldn't-hurt phenomenon, because the first bite is against the rules.

It's not for everyone of course, but I can see why a lot of people choose this route. I'll stick with my calorie counting for now, but I do think fondly of my ADF diet every time I have to turn down a serving of mac and cheese because I've already had too many calories in a day. Obviously, I liked the results enough to keep it up even though I was in pain every other night. Stupid, Nibbles.

Good luck, Guys!

[3CatsMeow]

Started my second '500 cal' fast day today - The weight I lost last fast day seems to have stayed off since then, which is nice. I've been eating at normal maintenance cals the other 2 days, maybe a little less.