Granny's home and well.

ION: absolutely shattered. Tried another day of starving. 200 cals this morn in form of banana + yoghurt and 300 cals this evening in form of leftovers. Red bull to keep me going durin the day (sugarfree). Tiring day in itself made more difficult by the computer software and setting things up for the flu day this week. Having eaten 510 cals today, I'm lying in bed tired, not fully sated, with cheesecake in the frige and 70% lindt in the cupboard. The willpower is going to have to be strong tonight.

Might have cheesecake for brekkie though.

How have you been finding it?

I've been strategically doing intemittent fasting for a while with 18hr fasts virtually every day. It was working well until work fracked up my schedule and now I'm just eating all the fracking time.

In hospital, hunger wouldn't bother me and I'd often feel myself flagging and slowin down before I ate or rested. With no physical activity to take my mind off the food, the first day last week was horrendous. This is the second day I have fasted and better - it didn't feel as bad. The horrendousness of work made me more tired.

If I feel up to it tomorrow, I plan to go the gym on the way home. Figuring out what to have for lunch so I don't pass out on the treadmill. Original plan was to fast Weds and either Mon or Fri but having gone through today, I reckon I could fast Mon/Weds/Fri because I'm at work all day. Tues and Thurs I finish early so plan to go gym then.

Did it affect your blood or your weight? My weight has slowly crept up and I'm around 2 stone heavier than when I left hospital. My glucose and cholesterol are all normal. How did you do your fasts? I might prolong mine as I eat brekkie at 0730 and supper at 1930.

My weight dropped slightly. No other measurement available, as I'm not in medicine

Subjectively, I felt better in myself and had more energy, I consumed less calories and I ate better food generally. I ate dinner (cooked by my mother, so with veg, but also way too many carbs and calories generally) around 1900-2000 and then fasted through 1200-1300. At which point I generally ate 3 organic, free-range eggs (scrambled), an avocado, some tomatoes and a plate of spinach. I would then wait for dinner again. It was easy to cook, and therefore made the whole thing easy to achieve.

If I needed a snack, I went to almonds, but only 10 or so max and I had recently added Manuka honey for winter immune boost.

However, as I said, work has recently interferred. I'll be back on it as soon as possible. You're right that being busy is the key to success. The major thing I learnt is how much I eat purely as something to do. Ridiculous. And I only weigh 78kgs.

Quite often on a few days I could easily miss brekkie without realising it but paid for it at lunch time. I find it very easy to go hunting for food when I'm sat on my backside at home and bored.

The difficult thing has been keeping calories to 500kcals. Whenever I skip meals, I'm more likely to overeat to compensate. The difference here is the fact that you've only got a few hours until you can eat normally again, which helps with motivation.

Yeah, I get hungry at work all the time, then I helped my future brother-in-law re-insulate his roof last weekend and we worked from 8:30 until 17:00 and I didn't really feel any hunger, until we stopped.

Have a read at http://www.leangains.com You'll understand the chemistry better than me, no doubt. Also try "4 Hour Body" by Tim Ferris. If you are only eating things like protein (eggs, chicken, fish primarily), green veg and legumes you can eat as much as you want to ensure satiation, then you don't need to snack. I'm of the belief that a lot of snacking is driven by foods with high glucose or fast acting carb content. You think you're full, but your blood sugar is all over the place. Cottage cheese, houmous (low fat) and celery, eggs, tomatoes, spinach and avocado will all fill you up, but don't mess with your sugar/energy levels. And they taste good in the right combos!

I used to eat a high protein diet when I was weightlifting. The protein stopped the hunger but there was always the need to "chew" so I ate sugar free gum to help.

^^^Will read the links later.

I really love avocado. However, they're rather expensive and whenever I buy one I it's under ripe and then suddenly ... over-ripe.

Here's hoping I get to catch my next one at the peak of perfection...

I don't think I've ever tasted avocado. I always imagine it tastes something like peach.

No it really doesn't! It's very high in fat so has a creamy taste and texture. It's slightly savoury rather than sweet like most fruits.

It's probably most commonly eaten mushed up with lemon or lime juice as guacamole, a most excellently green and glupy dip. It also goes really nicely in a well dressed salad with chicken or nuts and seeds.

Its rather good baked with cheese peppers and ham.

Avocado is evil, like green mushy butter.

Bit harsh. It's too bland to be evil


Sour worms are rather nice. Wasn't too impressed at first.

Back to work tomorrow. Ten hours a night of solid sleep. Bliss!