I had someone ask me today what a condensed eating window is. I imagine a few people wonder about it, so I decided to do a quick and hopefully simple explanation of it here.

Depending on the intermittent fasting diet  protocol you follow, the condensed eating window , is simply to the time you take in food.

Let’s take a couple of examples that use this process.

The Fast 5 Diet

The fast 5  intermittent fasting plan, works on a 19 – 5 protocol. So you fast for 19 hours, and have 5 hours in which to eat. So your condensed eating window  on this plan is simply 5 hours.

Leangains

The leangains plan  works on a 16 – 8  plan, so in this case the condensed eating window is 8 hours and you fast for  16 hours.

There is no fixed rule for this eating window, again, you can either follow a plan the like ones I mention here, or simply adjust it to something you feel comfortable with.  I have played around in the past with a condensed eating window as small as 3 hours, again, usually between 5 and 8pm on Mondays and Tuesdays. There are no hard of fast rules here.

Not all intermittent fasting plans have a condensed eating window, for example eat stop eat  works on a 24hr fasting period, so no food is consumed during that time.  So there you go, a condensed eating window is just  a period of time you eat between fasts.

At The Start - All Set

When I first started writing  this weight loss blog  more than 3 years ago, my goal was to make lifestyle changes that would enable me to not only lose weight, but once I had lost it, to remain within a healthy weight range for the long term. One of those changes is well documented here, after all it’s the name of this blog ! The goal  was to become a retired dieter and get off the diet merry go round for good. One other goal I had, I kept private until now.

I had set myself a target of running a marathon before I was 50. The challenge of running 26.2 miles has always had a strange draw to me. Back in the winter of 2008 , at 44 years of age, and with 56 lbs to lose, that goal seemed a long way off.  Well this past Easter Sunday weekend I achieved that goal.

I ran the Hull Marathon in 4 hours 13 minutes and 28 seconds , not too shabby for a 47 year old former fat boy, on his first  attempt !.

Me With My Marathon Medal

I actually entered for the Marathon way back in November 2011, the reason I did not say anything about it before now was simply because  I still felt so much could go wrong before the day, or even on the day !.  As it turned out, other than the last 3 miles, all went well.  Those last 3 miles ? .. oh those were sheer hell, At 21 miles I  was running well and looking at a time of under 4 hours, but at mile 23 my legs went, and my thoughts turned from doing the Marathon in under 4 hours to just making sure I finished it.

Those last 3 miles took everything I had, pysically I had nothing left, it was just sheer mental determination that got me over that finishing line. Today, 2 days after the race, my legs are still weak. In my training I had done regular long runs up to 20 miles, and I was always fine after those runs, but this extra 6 miles has left me feeling worse than the first day I ever started to do exercise .

The training guide I followed did not have me running past 20 miles. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but knowing what I know now, I would have trained beyond the 26 miles I had to run.

This issue of how to train for a marathon, actually reminds me a lot of the typical advice we see about weight loss. There are so many different people telling you how you should lose weight and what is the right way to go about doing it , but as I often say on this blog, the right way is the way that works for you.  Before Sunday I had never run a marathon, so I had no personal experience I could use to help me prepare. I looked online  and of course found many different views on how to train for a marathon, and of course plenty of debate between runners as to what was the right or wrong way to train, the similarities with the weight loss websites out there was very evident to me, It was hard to know what to do. For ” don’t run more than xx miles per day training or you will burn out, you could easily be reading, “don’t cut calories too much or you will go into starvation mode” !.

NOT mile 23 !

Now that I have done the distance myself, I now know what I would do to prepare for it again, even though there would be people telling me it’s wrong, I know for me that I need to run past 26 miles in training so that I know I can do it on the race day. For every person who tells me ” you don’t need to do 26 miles before the day ” I now know from doing that race, for my own peace of mind, I do !.  I am sure there are plenty of runners who complete marathons while only training to 20 miles on their long runs, but for me, that is not going to work.

Weight Loss is the same, there are plenty of different ways to get to your goal, but the right way, is the one that you can follow easily and  not that you have to take every ounce of mental strength to try and  stick to it. You can do that one day, but long term, you have to find a better way to get you over the line.

So this is one goal complete. So what do I set myself next you may ask ?  Well now I want to run below 4 hours next year, so yes I will do it again, especially as I won a free entry to next years marathon as I was the 500th applicant for this years. Typical, the only thing I win in my life is the chance to run another 26 miles !

What is the take home message  from this post ?  well, 2 things really…

No 1. No matter if you are running a marathon, or looking to lose weight, be sure to take some time and  listen to yourself and not just what everyone else tells you. Do what gets you the results you want. If you don’t like to eat breakfast, then don’t eat breakfast if that is what works for you. If you are making progress in what you do, stick with it, if you are not getting the results you want, then make a change.

No 2  Always set yourself new challenges to keep you moving forward, and not slipping back to your old ways.  Keep your goals realistic. I can’t run a marathon in 14 days with no training, just the same as you can’t lose 30lbs in  14 days, but we can start doing the things that help us achieve those targets over time.  The important thing is how much do want it ?

I ran the Hull Marathon in aid of  The Hey Smile Foundation  that link will show you the charities they support. If any reader would like to make a donation, no matter how small, you can do so through my Just Giving Page Here

Need some weight loss help ?  Well I hope I can pass on some pointers from my ongoing weight loss tips series that help get you get where you want to be. This weight loss blog is now 3 years old.  It started  January 1st 2009, and in the beginning, it was my own way of documenting my personal weight loss journey.  Since that time, I have not only lost the weight I wanted to lose, but have remained in my ideal weight range for over 2 years, but it was not always this way….

Prior to becoming a Retired Dieter in 2009 I battled with the same issues  as millions of other people trying to lose weight . I would start a diet, lose some weight, falter, and gain it back.  I would say it took me 16 years of riding this diet  roller coaster before I figured out diets as we know them simply don’t work.  Do a search at Amazon.com for diet books, see how many show up promising the best way to lose weight , then ask yourself , why are there so many diet books, but the population continues to get fatter ?

Benjamin Franklin said that “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Yet every year, this is what we do with trying to lose weight. We pick yet another diet, stop all the things we like, then a few weeks later, it all comes crashing down. We get frustrated, we feel we have failed, and we gain back what we lost and more, only to then try another  new diet later in the year, maybe to be in shape for the beach, the bikini diet anyone ? Then once that one fails we slip back to our old routines, waiting for the next new year resolution and the search for  ” fast weight loss ” starts again.

We are only 6 days into the  New Year, but as I write this, my blog traffic is at a record high. Last January was the same. Every new year we start with good intentions of losing weight, and in the vast majority of cases, the results don’t last.  So if you really want to lose weight, and you want that weight loss to be permanent, then is it not time to break with usual diet routines that have failed you in the past  ?  Dare I say it, maybe it’s time to become a Retired Dieter too ?  and learn what really matters when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off.

I have said on a number of occasions on this blog that weight loss is simple, its just not easy.  Let me explain what I mean by that.

Weight Loss Is Simple =  If you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. A calorie deficit however you create it will bring about weight loss. It really is that simple.

Weight Loss Is Not Easy =  Means you have to find a way of creating that deficit that works for you long term. On top of that, you have family gatherings, social events,  fast food companies advertising to you all day long on tv and radio, all of which are combining to disrupt your weight loss efforts. There is no point making it even harder then, by choosing a diet plan that then tells you that you need to cut out foods , or food groups you like. We have been there and done that, and we know how it ends.  So let’s change it.

I have come a long way in 3 years. I am no longer obese, and I am finally liberated from dieting and stressing about what I should or should not eat.  I now think more than ever, I can help others do the same.

What interests  me, is looking back over the last 3 years I know what I did worked, and how it worked ( the calorie deficit ) but what I am now trying to get a greater understanding of are the reasons behind why it worked.  More than ever, the last 3 years have shown me that losing weight has more to do with the mental aspect than anything else. Let me elaborate on the mental side of things. Here are things that have changed for me that have more to do with the mentality of weight loss or weight control.

1.  I no longer think that if I don’t eat at least 3 meals a day this will have some detrimental effect on my metabolism

2.  I know that if I was busy and miss lunch, I can wait for dinner and save those calories, I no longer panic thinking ” I missed lunch I better eat something now ”  - Again that is mental and it was how I would think in the past.

3.  When you see positive results ( In my case losing 70lbs ) you have more mental strength to ignore the countless people who tell you that how you are trying to lose weight or control your weight is wrong. In my case, this mental strength is even stronger today, it is far easier to be strong in my belief on weight loss, when most people who start this debate with me, are in worse shape then I am, yet think they know better.  Again when I started out 3 years ago, those early weeks, were tough, it’s why I now advise anyone starting out to keep the fact they are trying to lose weight private. Weight loss opinions from family and friends are one of the main obstacles you have to overcome when it comes to losing weight.

4.  I no longer feel guilty about eating foods I enjoy. I don’t obsess over food anymore. Again, this is a mental change, but let me explain what I mean in more detail.

We can’t get away from the fact, that as humans, we like foods that contain fat sugar and salt. Our favourites most likely contain all 3, though you would probably not know it . I still hear many people say ” I should not be eating this ” or ” this is bad for me but I like it ” . You can read everywhere that  Sugar is bad for you, Salt is bad for you,  Fat is bad for you, but the simple fact is those 3 things in one form or another are in just about everything we eat, and you can’t get away from it. Want a low fat yogurt ? then the fat will have been replaced with sugar to make it taste good. Unless you are going to create every single thing you eat at home in a strict way, the chances of you avoiding the so called bad foods are just about zero.

Food companies spend billions on creating and marketing foods that contain all 3 , so from a mental stand point you have to learn how to manage it, saying you should not eat them isn’t the answer, it’s a fight you can’t win. Only by changing how you think about the foods you eat can you overcome this unhelpful  mental issue of good and bad foods. As John Barban is fond of saying ” The Poison Is In the Dose ” . OK well it was actually Paracelsus who said “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; only the dose permits something not to be poisonous.”  But John used it in the diet context. My point is, that we can’t get away from eating these foods, but we can limit the dose. In my view, that is a far better mental attitude than trying to kid yourself you can give them up and “eat healthy”.

I am not a scientist, doctor  or a psychologist, I have no deep understanding of biology  but I am aware that how I look at food, and how I eat has changed. I still eat the same food, it is not like I stopped eating anything that I enjoyed in the past, but there is no question there has been a change. My own view  is that  Intermittent Fasting has to be a major reason for this. I don’t just mean from the point it helps me  in restricting  calories,although that is certainly a factor, but perhaps more in the possibility it helps reset chemical changes in the body or the brain. As I stated earlier,I am not qualified in any way to know if this is the case, but what I do know is the one constant tool in the last 3 years for controlling my weight has been Flexible Intermittent Fasting. This, at least to me means the theory is plausible. I think the science community call it a hypothesis ! So the idea that  I.F.  helps reduce the cravings for foods will be something I will be looking into more during the coming year. As I say, I know what I do works, I have now just reached a point where I would like to know in more details why it works.

So at the start of this  new year, are you going to make a change ?  From a personal point of view I am also making a few changes,and setting some new goals, but more about some of those in a post next week.

If you are new here, then feel free to go through the archives, you can see read from 3 years ago if you have the time. The other thing to do if you want weight loss help, is sign up in the top right hand corner for help and advice in losing weight from someone who has walked that road. If you want to learn more about  fasting to lose weight, then check out  my posts on eat stop eat .  Let’s make this the year of change.

If you are still in doubt about what I write here, or think fasting for weight loss is some kind of fad , consider this…  I am not doing this post after 1 week, 1 month or even after 1 year. I am posting this view based on 3 Years actual experience. That is 1 year of losing weight ( well it took 10 months as it turned out ) and 2 Years of maintaining a healthy weight range. You think maybe, just maybe I might be on to something ?  If you think I am wrong, then Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers are waiting to take your money…. AGAIN.

If you liked this post, and feel it help or motivate others, then please re-tweet, and share on facebook etc.

I welcome comments and debate, but if you are just going to post a comment to get a link to a weight loss site for diet pills,colon cleanse  or the usual same old crap, don’t bother, as it won’t get approved, I do check all links. so save your time and mine. If you run a genuine site and post a good comment, it will get approved.

So here we are coming to the end of another year. The holidays are upon us, and it’s a time to eat drink and be merry so the saying goes.  I could not let the Christmas season pass without my usual Holiday saying , so here is just a quick post on the subject. Yes it’s the same one I say every year at this time of year since I started this blog. So just like last year here it is….

It’s Not What You Do Between Christmas And New Year That Matters, But What You Do Between New Year And Christmas

You see this is less than 2 weeks out of 52.  It’s a time to enjoy with family and friends.  Looking at my calender, I may do a fast on Wednesday the 28th, but , if not, then I won’t to too concerned.  I know once the holidays are over, I will get back to a normal routine and weight I gained over the holidays will soon fall off again. I know this because that has been the case for the previous 2 years. I don’t worry what I eat or drink over the holidays, I just enjoy it, and make the changes needed in the new year.

So just one question left.. Are you going to become a retired dieter in 2012 ?

Enjoy the Holidays wherever you are.

It is now 2 years since I reached my original weight loss target  of losing 4 stone or 56lbs  ( a little over 26 kilos if you want the metrics ). 12 Months later I posted again talking about keeping the weight off  and how I had not only managed to do so, but was now at a weight of  164 lbs  approx 74.5 kilos 11 stone 10 lbs.

Me before a run in my five fingers on October 27th 2011

That post about maintaining weight loss was a year ago today. My weight today, right after the weekend, is 75 kilos, so more or less the same. I have kept my weight in the same range for the last 12 months, and more importantly I have now kept off the weight I originally set out to lose for 2 years.  I find my usual weight range these days is between 74 and 76 kilos.  This weight loss blog will be 3 years old on New Years Day 2012.  Writing my first Retired Dieter post back on January 1st 2009 I said I would never go on another diet again. I wanted to change my view of food, and weight loss. I was no longer going to deprive myself of foods I enjoy, or think in terms of good or bad foods. instead, I would simply focus on finding a way to eat less.  If you have followed this blog for any length of time, then you will know by now that intermittent fasting  , in its many different forms was the main tool I have used.

Losing weight is one thing, keeping that weight off , over time is something else. In the past I had lost weight ” on diets ” but of course the problem was as soon as the weight was lost, the diet was done, and I was ” off the diet ” and back to the same cycle.  2 years of maintaining a healthy weight, without cutting out foods I enjoy from my diet, confirms to me , that diets as they are sold to us, simply don’t work. The reason I was finally able to solve my weight issues, was because I finally understood the only thing that matters when it comes to losing weight, or maintaining weight loss….. calories in v calories out. Even now people still argue on this point, but after losing weight, and keeping it off, nobody can tell me it does not work.You can dress weight loss up in any form you like, but no matter what others tell you, it still comes down to the fact you will lose weight if you eat less calories than you need, and you will gain weight if you eat more calories than you need. So one way or another you have to find a way that works for you that enables you to eat less. In my experience viewing foods as good or bad or healthy or unhealthy won’t help. Thinking you can’t eat a pizza, or a cheese cake, because it’s not healthy or, not good for you only ads to the problems. I do think looking back , that so much of the weight loss and diet issues I had were mental ones.

I would have to say the key factor in the change for me, was just finally getting an  understanding how many calories I need on a weekly basis to stay in the weight range I want to be. How those calories are made up is less important than making sure I am around the number.  The diet industry is still selling more and more products, and people are still getting bigger, but it still just comes down to eat less and move more if you want to lose weight and keep it off.

Close Up Of Paper Click On The Image For Proof of Date

Yes It Is A Current Photo !

]]> http://retireddieter.com/maintaining-weight-loss/feed 15 http://retireddieter.com/flexible-intermittent-fasting http://retireddieter.com/flexible-intermittent-fasting#comments Sun, 31 Jul 2011 11:46:01 +0000 Dave http://retireddieter.com/?p=1523

No matter if you are fasting to lose weight or  just looking to use intermittent fasting to help control your weight, the important thing  is to use it in a way that best  fits with your personal lifestyle.

I have used I.F now for two and a half years, and I would say the main reason I have continued to use fasting  to manage my weight is because I don’t have any set rules for when I should be fasting. I find the traditional  one day on and one day off  way of fasting far too restrictive for me.  Today for example I am going to a Barbecue, I know I can fast tomorrow, and enjoy today, but with alternate day fasting, what would I have done if this was my fasting day ?.  To use a form of calorie restriction ( in this case I.F.) and make it part of your permanent lifestyle  you need flexibility to make it work.

Over time I have played around with how I fast, though I would say even now, my base plan is still  eat stop eat , however I would still say I have created my own personal way of doing  I.F.

One of the big changes in how I eat is , that even on a non fasting day, I will often still miss out a meal. Other than dinner with my family on an evening, I don’t really have a set meal time. I may eat something  late morning, and then not eat again before dinner, or at other times, I may not eat  before early afternoon.

The difference fasting has made in my life is a greater understanding of  when I am actually hungry, and not just eating because it’s lunchtime.

We are all different, but creating your own flexible fasting routine for what best suits your lifestyle will bring you the results you want.

So let me ask you…

what was the trigger for you ?  The straw the broke the camels back, that defining moment, where you took a good look at yourself and said those 5 words ” I need to lose weight ”

It tends to be different for all of us. for some it could be a  forthcoming summer vacation or a wedding. For others, it can be clothes not fitting anymore, no matter what it is that has brought you to this point, the main thing that matters now is how you go forward.

I Need To Lose Weight – Getting Started

The first thing you need to know if you are looking to lose weight, is how many calories to lose weight you need. Get a true understanding of your calorie requirements, and you have laid the foundations from which you can build your weight loss plan.  The resting metabolic rate chart  I have included below gives you a calorie range you should work with. Simply look up your height, and use the yellow ” mean” number for you daily average.

My personal choice is  to take this number and multiply by 7 , so this way, I have a full weeks  calorie total. I advise a weekly calorie total rather than daily simply because you can cycle your calories over the week, In my case, I prefer to save calories for the weekend,when I know this is when I am likely to consume the most. I find it very easy to keep calories low during the week, but you have to do what works best for you, but no matter what your own weekly schedule is, I would still recommend  working to a weekly calorie total

I Need To Lose Weight  - Best Way To Cut Calories

From my own experience of losing weight I am very much in the calories in, calories out is what matters camp. My weight loss success was not down to anything other than calorie restriction. I did not stop eating any foods that I enjoy, I have been there and done that, and it just does not work. This time, I just focused on eating less. The big question you have to ask yourself  is how do you want to do it ?

I can only tell you what has worked for me, but If you are now at a point where you need to lose weight, and you are motivated to do so,  then I see no reason why you can’t adapt  my weight loss methods to work for you.

Your Weight Loss Tools

If you want to lose weight, one way or another, you have to find a way to cut calories below your daily needs. My main tool has always been intermittent fasting.  I like it not only for the fat burning advantage it gives me, but also because it suits my lifestyle.  Eat Stop Eat is what I started using back in January 2009. I also have done a personal eat stop eat review that you can read.

Also along the calories in vs calories out theme is John Barban’s Anything Goes Diet again, you can also read the anything goes diet review and see real weight loss examples.

Because I do this weight loss blog I am often asked what is the best diet plan, or ” what is the best way to lose weight ”  well my answer is always, the same….

The best way to lose weight is the way that works for you.

Let me explain,

My life, is not your life, so doing  EXACTLY as I do will not work for you. What will work is understanding what is important for weight loss, and what isn’t. Once you are clear on that , then its simply a case of working the right things into your normal daily life. The principles in the 2 diet plans I have mentioned are what I have used, and continue to use to keep my weight under control.

I am not special, and I am far from perfect, but I was able to lose over 65lbs by ignoring all the Diet B.S. that you hear from people and read in the media day after day. I was not fat because I had a slow metabolism, in the same way that I am not now lean because I have a fast metabolism. My metabolism has not changed, and my guess is your own reason for saying ” I need to lose weight ”   has nothing to do with your metabolism either, but  it will have everything to do with consuming too many calories, and that is what has to change.

I Need To Lose Weight – Small Steps , Big Changes

If you are just starting out on a plan to lose weight, I would suggest you keep a food diary for 7 days, 14 days would be even better, but certainly for 7. Don’t even think about weight loss at this point, just make a note of your normal eating plan. I remember when I did my food diary, I was amazed by how many cups of coffee with a cookie I had each day… we are talking 600 + calories worth a day, if you had asked me without writing it down, I would have estimated no more than 200. Just being aware of  that one daily habit meant I could save 1000′s of calories per week, without any major sacrifices or changes. That is just one example of how I started to eat less.

This is one of the biggest problems of weight loss, we underestimate how many calories we consume, and we overestimate, how many calories we burn. The result is we keep gaining weight until we correct that problem. Unless you are going to live your life in a laboratory, you have no accurate way of knowing how many calories you eat, or how many you burn, so all you can do is make your best estimate. Round up the calories in the food you eat, and round down the exercise calories burned.

I Need To Lose Weight –  Starting Now

Congratualtions, you made it through this post, but now it’s over to you, saying ” I need to lose weight ” is one thing, but now you need to make a start. So my next advice is start to today, there is no reason to put it off, good habits start today. There is always a party to go to, if you want, you can make excuses for every week of the year, there is always something, so the thing only you can answer  is this….

When you said ” I need to lose weight ” do you want to do something about ?  …. if so, start now.

If you enjoyed this post, please hit the facebook share button and spread the word,  be sure to check out my weight loss tips page, and to get more of my views on weight loss, also please subscribe to the Retired Dieter email list up in the top right hand corner of this site.

Time for another post in the weight loss tips series.

The basic idea of losing weight is simple, calories in vs calories out, the problem is  it’s just not easy, so with that in mind I want you to listen to Chris Gardner, or rather Will Smith playing Chris Gardner in the film The Pursuit of Happyness.

In this scene Chris Gardner quickly realizes the hypocrisy in telling his young son to not pursue his dream of becoming a basketball pro when he himself is going after his own personal success goal. He quickly corrects himself and gives his Son some advice that applies just was well to you if you want to lose weight.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQlzz6jGCfI

The minute you tell people you are going to lose weight, or you are on a diet , they all have an opinion on how it should be done. Many times we will be told by other people that we can’t do something. It can come from people who know nothing about you, work colleagues, but, it can also come from people who you respect and love.

Family and Friends may mean well, but they can be one of the main reasons for your weight loss goals getting derailed.  People who know nothing about Intermittent Fasting, would decide to tell me what was wrong with it. Losing weight is hard enough without the extra burden of others bringing you down  so my advice is listen to Chris Gardner …

“You Want Something … Go Get It…. Period”

If you are just starting out on your weight loss journey, my tip is to  keep your weight loss plan private

The Anything Goes Diet is a great plan to help you lose weight and keep it off.

Also if you are interested in a Fasting To Lose Weight programme, then  check out Eat Stop Eat

This post is part of  my weight loss tips series.

Weight Loss Tips Looking Ahead

When you are looking to lose weight life does not stop, Birthdays, Holidays, Social nights out etc, all form part of our regular lifestyle. I have friends who constantly put off losing weight until after whichever one of these events is coming up next, with the inevitable result they never start. The trick is to learn how to incorporate these events into your weight loss plan.

Plan for what lies ahead

This last weekend I was in London meeting friends, it was also Fathers Day on the Sunday, and we were going out to dinner not only to celebrate Fathers Day, but because my Son had also finished his exams. All of these things were planned for a number of weeks, they were not new to me. I also knew that this meant this weekend woud be best described as ” heavy ” in terms of calories. Meeting friends in London would mean the beers would be flowing more than usual, and I was facing a weekend of eating out. So what weight loss tips do I suggest for such a weekend you may be wondering ?. Do I advocate being ” sensible ” and choosing low calorie options, or skip a round of drinks every now and then ? Well although that is probably sound enough advice, if you are anything like me, it’s just not going to happen that way.

The point here is this is not what I do EVERY weekend, its a blowout weekend, and it is there to be enjoyed, and trust me I did. So in terms of what I recommend my weight loss advice is simple. You know it is coming up, so plan for it, and work it into your overall weight loss plan. Reduce calories BEFORE, and AFTER the blowout. If you are using Intermittent Fasting, ad in an extra fast before and after the event, if you using something like the anything goes diet, just take your calories lower. Heavy calorie days happen, you can’t avoid them, it’s how you deal with them that matters. The wrong way , and it’s the way most people on a diet react is to think they have blown the diet, or have fallen off some imaginary wagon, and now there is no point continuing with their weight loss plan. The right way is look at the event for what it is. A ONE OFF. Though my weekends do tend be more calorie intense than normal weekdays, Last weekend was not typical, and with just a little extra discipline before and for a few days afterwards, I can be back on track. This way I don’t feel deprived of anything, I did not miss out on the weekend, trying ” to be good ” Am I likely to lose any weight this week?  I doubt it, but I also know one weekend blowout does not hold me back too much either.

Weight Loss Tips The Take Home Message

So my take home advice from this weight loss tips post is simply this…..

It is unrealistic to think you can avoid social gatherings and events, they are part of all our lives, and if you are looking to lose weight, you can’t lock yourself away until the weight is gone. The good news is, there is no need to, just look ahead and plan for these events, enjoy them and then get back on track.

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For almost 2 years now I have had no problems to keep my weight under control. For many people, losing weight is the easy part, keeping that weight off is what they find difficult. In my view one reason for the weight coming back is that there was no lasting changes made. You often will see it said that  abc weight loss plan is ” a lifestyle not a diet ” however in the majority of cases, this ” lifestyle ” usually means some food groups should be avoided, this was why diets like the Atkins diet, or the zone  or the South Beach Diet, never worked for me long term.

When I became a retired dieter on January 1st 2009, even though I was not going to go on any more diets, I did make lifestyle changes, I realised I needed to eat less, and after reading eat stop eat, I made intermittent fasting part of weekly lifestyle, and it remains something I do on weekly basis. Intermittent fasting is my main tool for restricting calories, and now 2 and half years later,I know it is something that is a constant part of my normal lifestyle, and a highly effective method of weight control for me.
The other main change I made was to move more. Initially I did this by walking every day, and doing bodyweight exercises 3 times per week. I still enjoy walking, but in the last year I have also started running, and I find it a great stress reliever. So this has become my normal lifestyle, my regular routine if you like, and it was working just fine, then last month I picked up a sinus infection that effected my middle ear and made my head ache constantly. Trying to do any bodyweight exercises was impossible. The effect on my middle ear meant my balance was effected, so I could not walk easily, and running was impossible. All of a sudden my normal routine was disrupted. The only thing I was still able to do was intermittent fasting. The Sinus infection and problems with my middle ear stopped me doing any workouts for 3 weeks,not only that, but then trying to get back after a 3 week lay off, was tough, and only now I am I starting to feel I am getting back to normal. The last 6 weeks my usual lifestyle has not been possible,and I would say it’s been the most frustrating time I have had in over 2 years.

Weight Loss, Intermittent Fasting  and Exercise.

There is regular debate about do you need to exercise to lose weight, well the simple answer is no. It is possible to lose weight without exercise, and certainly when you have a large amount of weight to lose, it is possible to lose it without doing any exercise at all. In my case since I started this weight loss blog in January 2009, exercise has always been something I have done, however I did the exercise for health and fitness benefits, not for weight loss, but certainly in my experience the exercise helps me with my weight. I do believe the focus has to be on diet to lose weight, but I do think exercise has played a major part in keeping my weight under control, and the recent lay off, has made that very clear.
For more than 12 months I have had my weight steady between 74 and 75 kilos., in the last 6 weeks, with little to no exercise, my end of month weigh in shows me at 77 kilos. This means in June for the first time in a number of months I will be fasting to lose weight, and as I am now over the Sinus infection will getting back to my normal exercise routine.  I am looking to get back to 75 kilos by the end of the month.

I wanted to write this post to highlight that certain events can sometimes disrupt our lives, and it is then about how we react to those problems. In my case I know I just need to get back to my usual routine and with a little extra care in what I am eating over the next month, I will be back at where I want to be. I gained a few lbs because I didn’t change how I was eating while I was unable to exercise, and I know I also had a few more treats as a boost for feeling so bad with sinus and middle ear issues. The middle ear problem also meant I spent most of my time sitting down as walking anywhere was a problem, so my activity level has been unusually low for me. One thing that is clear to me is that I now view 75 kilos as my normal weight, even though 77 kilos is still less than October 2009 target weight , I do not feel comfortable at 77 kilos. Hopefully now I can get back to full fitness, and get my weight back at the level I am happy with.