As today  marks the mid point of the year, it means I have now been a retired dieter for 18 months.

On Jan 1st 2009 I stepped on the scales and was 231lbs. today 18 months later, I am 165lbs. No diet, no rules to break, just a clear understanding of what my daily calorie needs are, and a simple process to stay within those limits month to month.

Learning how to finally control my weight  after all these years can only be described as liberating.  The day I stopped listening  to all the diet bullshit was the day I finally was set free from food guilt.

The diet companies want you to eat more, but the real answer is actually to eat less and enjoy the foods you eat. No need for diet pills, magic shakes , specialist meals. Just learn how many calories you need ( it is less than you think )  and find the way that works best for you to restrict the calories you eat. For me that was intermittent fasting,  and now 18 months on, it will always remain as my way of controlling my weight, it is now part of my life.

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Weetabix Diet – What Is It ?

So can you lose weight with the weetabix diet ?

Weetabix diet

As we start a new year, many of us are looking for one diet or another to help us lose weight. Just over a year ago  Post UpdateFeb 2010o over 2 Years Ago, I was in that same position.    With over 4 stone ( 56lbs) to lose, my situation was a little different than someone who felt they had put on a few extra pounds over the Christmas  holidays and needed to get back in shape. If you need to lose weight and keep it off, my opinion is the weetabix diet is not going to help you long term. Would I have been able to stick on the weetabix diet for the time it took me to lose 56lbs ?  No chance. I lost that weight by still enjoying the foods I love, no way would I want to be eating weetabix every day. If you love weetabix, then go ahead and eat them, but if your looking for a weight loss solution, I don’t think weetabix will the be the answer. Keep reading though, because I just may have an answer

So why are people looking for the weetabix diet ?

The advantage with Weetabix is they are an easy portion control. You can be fairly accurate as to how many calories are in each weetabix biscuit.  Calories still matter, so anything that makes measuring calories easy is going to be popular. So ease is important, but at the end of the day, you need variety with the foods you eat.

Want to know what other options for weight loss there are other than the weetabix diet ?

Ok I am going to take a guess here and figure your chances of sticking to the weetabix diet beyond a week or so are slim ( pardon the pun ) with that in mind, why not learn about an easier way to shed that unwanted body fat .. go on, I promise it’s easier than the trying to stick to the weetabix diet. Take a look at my Anything Goes Diet Review.If like me you need to beat your battle with weight loss, then It’s time you got to know what really matters, and trust me after my own weight loss success, I know it’s not the weetabix diet. If you want to finally lose weight and keep it off like I have, then at least read my anything goes diet review

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The Baked Bean Diet

Lose Bean Diet

We are snowed in today, and as my son Joe  has a snow day from School I made a quick video with his help  to talk about the baked beans diet.   Essex mechanic Neil King lost weight on a baked beans-only diet, but is it  viable for long term weight loss ?

Baked Bean Diet – Why It Works

While not the most varied diet for losing weight, if you can eat baked beans as your main calorie source, then it will be hard to overdo the calories. By the same token, you could have the cauliflour diet, or the carrot diet, but again for any long period of time we need variety. Eating the same foods over and over again, no matter how much we like them will not be an advantage in any long term weight loss plan. The easier solution is just learn how many calories a day you need, and look to eat less. Baked beans can certainly help, but not at the cost of everything else you like.

Simple fact – Only calorie restriction will help us to lose weight. It is a simple process of calories in versus calories out. Your only focus is to eat less. If the baked bean diet is your way of doing that, then good for you, but in my opinion there are easier ways.

I don’t know about you, but no way could I have done what Neil King did.  I lost 4 stone Neil lost 10 stone, so credit to him, but long term, I think I will stick with  intermittent fasting , as that is what has worked for me.

No Baked Bean Diet for me

I like baked beans, but not for every meal, if you want to do the baked bean diet, then go ahead, but I hope you love baked beans !

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A heavy weekend left me looking forward to starting my Sunday night fast.

Saturday was Rugby day.I watched the British and Irish Lions take on South Africa , this meant a fantastic farm shop Steak Pie for lunch and of course, a few pints of beer through the course of the afternoon, certainly drinking  more than I would usually do on a Saturday left me feeling rather bloated by Saturday evening. Sunday morning I still felt bloated so I went for a  nice 5 mile walk, but as it was fathers day I also indulged in a couple of special beers for the occasion, well 3 to be exact, 2 imperial stouts, and Thornbridge Halcyon IPA, all above 7% ABV. I also matched these with some strong mature Cheddar cheese and some french blue d’auvergne cheese.

As you might guess, I love strong flavours, and I certainly enjoyed matching these beers and cheeses. It made for a very pleasant Sunday afternoon. I fasted from Sunday evening for 24hrs and now my stomach feels back to normal.

It is too early in the week to know if the weekend will mean I pay the price when i weigh in on Friday, but a few days of sensible eating should correct the weekends excess. Again this is one of the great things about intermittent fasting, you are more in tune with your body and how it reacts to what you eat and drink, and I actually find I want to fast after I have eaten or drank more than usual so I lose the bloated uncomfortable feeling and get back to a normal balance. I have been using Intermittent Fasting to lose weight for almost 6 months now, so my routine is now simply part of my normal lifestyle. If I have a couple of days of social indulgence, I just look to correct  it over the days that follow by eating less.

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It is exactly 12 weeks today since I first started using Intermittent Fasting to reduce my weight. This week I lost 1 kilo ( just over 2lbs) . I now weigh 90 Kilos, or 198.4 lbs, In only 12 weeks I have broken the 200lb mark, I have lost 15 kilos or 31lbs something I did not expect to do for another 4 weeks.

The fat loss from using Intermittent Fasting has surprised me.Remember, at no time during the last 12 weeks have I not eaten what I wanted to eat, no food is off limits. Notice I say ” fat loss ” because the weight I have lost is body fat, not muscle mass. Our focus is to burn body fat for weight loss, not to lose muscle mass.The more body fat you have, the less likely you are to lose muscle, so it is possible I will lose a small amount of muscle as I get leaner.I have,and continue to use body weight exercises to maintain muscle so I am not concerned in this area. I have noticed over the last month, my body shape changing, even though the weight loss has been slower during this period, the physical changes have been much more noticeable. I will have my body fat percentage taken at the end of the month at the same time as having my body measurements done. I did take photos at the start of this year, and also after 6 weeks, so there will be some photo evidence too.  I have decided that this first 12 weeks will be called stage 1 of flexible fasting programme. Once I decided to become a retired dieter, I had to find a way to control my weight without feeling I was restricted, Intermittent Fasting has allowed me to do that. Depending on how much weight you want to lose, you can  work intermittent fasting around your own lifestyle to ensure get the results you want.  At the start of this journey I made a target of losing  4 stone/ 56lbs, or 25 kilos. From my starting weight of 105 kilos, this would mean I will be around 80 kilos, so I have 10 kilos to go, however, over the next 12 weeks I will use body fat, waist measurements, and how my clothes fit, rather than just what the scales say.

Over the next 12 weeks I will document more about the type of exercise I am doing, trust me it is not much !, I am not one for the treadmills, though I do like to get outdoors and walk .

So my original target was to lose the weight over a period of 12 months, based on steady weight loss of  one or two pounds per week. I now feel even at a fat loss of one pound per week I will manage this by September at the latest. So my goal is now to be in shape by the time I turn 45 on Tuesday September 8th 2009 .

So the highlights of the last 12 weeks of  using Intermittent Fasting For Weight Loss :

I have consistently lost weight every single week for 12 weeks, no plateau, no weight gains, just pure fat loss every week.

I have more energy, no tiredness in the afternoons, when using Intermittent Fasting.

I have noticed a significant improvement with my Asthma  symptoms.

Unlike a diet, Flexible Fasting fits around my lifestyle, I don’t fit my life around Intermittent Fasting.

Tomorrow I will post a typical fasting day for me.

Read My Eat Stop Eat Review For more detailed information on fasting to lose weight.

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Intermittent Fasting has proven an easy way for me to reduce body fat. As the weeks have passed, I have found my fasts have become easier to do. Other than not eating for a set period of time, there are not really any rules to follow.

I have been using the intermittent fasting plan of not eating from 6.30 pm to 6.30 pm  twice a week. Fasting for 24 hours twice per week is based on the eat stop eat ebook.
The first week I started, I fasted from a Thursday evening ( this was New Years Day ) to Friday evening. I then ate normally over the weekend, and started my next fast after my evening meal on the Sunday. The fact my first fast went well for me, meant I was happy to do a second fast a few days later. I have then continued with these 2 days ( Sunday evening and Thursday evening ) as my I.F. fasting days. This works for me, but you may be different, you start with only one fast per week and build up once you get used to it. The great thing about Intermittent Fasting is you get it to fit around you, you don’t fit your life around a diet, I have certainly found this to be one of the main benefits for me. This week, because I am finding using intermittent fasting so easy, I am experimenting a little. I realise I eat more on weekends, this is because of social gatherings , visiting family etc. I also find that during the week, while working I find I am not hungry at what would be lunch time. I think with the greater understanding of hunger I have developed over the last month or so, means, if I don’t actually feel hungry at a set time , I now don’t eat.In the past I would have been concerned at missing a meal. I guess you would say I have developed a more ” eat when I am hungry ” mentality. If I am on a day I am meant to eat, I simply wait until I feel hungry. I have found that this means my first meal was getting pushed back towards mid afternoon. With this in mind I have decided to see how I get on with waiting the extra 3 hours to my evening meal.

On a weekend I am unable do this.When we visit my parents, we arrive for lunch, and eat around 1.30. Not eating at that time is not an option.The routine I have got into on a Saturday is that I just have coffee in the morning and then we set off to my Parents for lunch. I actually find that when I arrive , the smell of food soon triggers the stomach to rumble, so I can’t say I have problem to enjoy it !.

If you are considering using Intermittent Fasting to reduce your weight, I would liken the process a little to training for a marathon or a fun run. You would not just turn up on the day of the race and just run, you train for it. So is the case with Intermittent Fasting. I have in effect trained myself over the last 7 weeks to listen more to my body, and also develop my own routine for using I.F that fits around my lifestyle. The way I am using Intermittent Fasting to reduce body fat, may not be what works for you. I want to try an increased fasting period during the week because it seems to fit my daily life. I have come to that conclusion only after reviewing how I have been using Intermittent Fasting over the last 7 weeks. Again there are no rules, if tomorrow I am going to meet someone for Lunch, I will go, I will not think I can’t go because I am fasting. It just so happens that for me , and the way I work, restricting calories during the week is easier for me.

Intermittent Fasting does not need you to buy any special foods or supplements, if you want to try it, all you need do is pick a time to try it and then give it a go. The only thing to remember is no calories.  During my fasts, I drink black coffee, fruit and herbal teas ( I  just can’t drink normal tea without milk ! ) diet drinks such as diet coke etc. I do use 1 Splenda sweetener in my teas and coffee.

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