Hi everyone. I'm Jessica

I've been a lifelong yo-yo dieter and have recently started to feel quite down about my recent gain. I have bounced more than once between 100kg and 73kg in the last three years. Quite a difference! At 73kg I was very happy and confident, size 8-10 UK, though I did struggle to maintain the weight without severe restriction. I have recently cut back a lot and got back to 82kg from around 88kg. However, I was recently hit by some bad news (boyfriend moving away), combined with major problems at home (mother's severe mental health issues) and had a binge for about 10 days. I wasn't outrageous all the time, but had a good few takeaways and lots of alcohol. To my horror, ten days on, the scale said I'd gained 18lb! I was really upset as I've worked 2-3 months to lose this. I'm guessing some/most is water weight, but it's still horrible to see that on the scale.

I seem to have got myself into a bad cycle of binge eating and feeling guilty. So I've decided as of tomorrow I'll be documenting everything I eat on here. I'm going to try and do this for at least 40 days, but may continue beyond that.

FYI, part of my lifestyle does include intermittent fasting/water fasting. Hopefully this is not a concern to anyone, as there's lots of information on the benefits of both online

Pretty happy with day one.

Food:

Breakfast: x 2 coffee, 150 ml milk. 96 cals
Lunch: 250 g of cottage cheese, 150 calories
Dinner: Sainsburys Italian salad (90), mayo (133), chicken slices (110).

Total: 559
Exercise: 20 k steps/long run.
Carbs: 21g

A good day and not too hungry Aiming for a liquid only fast tomorrow, but will listen to my body.

That looks like a dangerous diet. You should be eating a lot more than 559 calories per day.

I suggest focusing on learning healthy, sustainable eating habits. Extreme methods like water fasting will only set you up for failure.

Whilst I totally understand your concerns, perhaps I should have added that I do intermittent fasting. I don't plan on doing this indefinitely. I like to fast 3-5 days occasionally to give myself a kick-start. My productivity and general mood usually improves significantly during my fasts. There's plenty of recent studies suggesting that short-term fasting (500 calories or even water only) have incredible benefits for the mind and body.

Here's just a few snippets:

Michael Mosley's documentary, 'Eat, Fast and Live Longer'

MM's recent book, 'Fast 800'(involves eating just 800 calories a day, low-carb) reversed Type ii Diabetes in some participants.

Numerous studies showing the benefits of fasting on lifespan, chronic illness, and the brain (I can't post links yet, but a quick Google search will yield plenty of results).

As someone who has lost 6 stone in the past using 'sensible, sustainable' nutrition, I know what a healthy diet looks like. I meticulously logged micros, ate 1500 calories and exercised daily. As someone who is metabolically challenged, whilst this worked it took me nearly 4 years to lose weight using this method.

I'm not suggesting a 'crash' diet or a dangerous diet - but intermittent fasting isn't either of those things. It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea or preference, but it's not unhealthy as long as you don't take it too far.

As far as my habits are concerned, with the exception of the last few weeks (which are the most I've eaten in years by a long shot) I think my habits are pretty OK. I don't need to learn what a healthy diet looks like - I already know. But I struggle with occasional emotional eating, but I continue to work on this.

As someone who struggles to shift more than a few lbs a month on a standard 'diet' I know the fasting helps me get on track quicker. It's not all I do to stay on track, but it can be an important tool and absolutely vital to success for some.

Anyhow, on with today's diary...

Breakfast: Coffe with milk x 2 (96 calories)
Lunch: mocha (188) and options Hot choc (40)
Dinner: x 60 g cheese, (133) chicken slice (32)
37 g carbs

20 k steps

The most common form of intermittent fasting involves eating all of your meals within a certain time window (e.g. 8 hours), but you would still be eating a normal amount of calories. As far as I know, this type of intermittent fasting is safe.

Unfortunately my library doesn't seem to have the Fast 800 book, but I just looked at Michael Mosley's website, and he recommends two diets: the 800-calorie diet (eating 800 calories per day), and the 5:2 diet (restrict calories 2 days per week). I can't find any citations on his website to support either of these two diets.

Where does the 800 come from? Is it backed by science? Even if we assume that 800 is safe, you're eating less than 800, and you say you're planning to do it for 3-5 days. Where's the science to support this? If you can't post links, can you post the title of the study, so I can google it?

Nice day 1 journey.

Hi Nightingale. How refreshing to find someone who also dabbles with intermittent fasting (IF). Personally, I've found it to be the best 'diet' for me as I struggle if I'm told what I can and can't eat as I end up feeling deprived and inevitably binge eat. When I've done IF in the past I followed an 18:6 fasting regime which worked well for me. I'd eat my evening meal at around 7pm then wouldn't eat until approx 2pm the following day. I find it liberating in that I didn't obsess about food all the time.

I'm currently 10st 11lb and would like to get down to 9 st 4lb ish. I realised when I turned 40 last year that I'd spent half my life obsessing about my weight and tbh that's quite a depressing thought. My every waking thought it either food related, obsessing about needing to lose weight or comparing myself to anyone and everyone who is slimmer than me - then mentally beating myself up over how fat/stupid/lazy/pathetic etc I am.

I'm tired of this negative self talk and so I am embarking upon a fresh start. With the aid of the techniques in Paul McKenna's 'I Can Make You Think' plan I intend to lose the weight, re-ignite my love of exercise and focus on the positives in my life.

If you fancy becoming diet buddies I'm happy to do daily check ins :-)