The Alternate-Day Diet, Day Seven -- I Surrender
I just couldn't do it anymore. I had planned on a full two-weeks of 'dieting' and then just sticking to a light maintenance diet, but I just caved today. I was starving the whole time, not just on my down days, but impossibly hungry even on my up days. I didn't lose an ounce, and my fat/muscle ratio actually went up.
At first I did have more energy as promised, but later I was napping all the time, mostly because not eating enough on my down days triggered a nasty sort of tension headache from hunger which would stay with me throughout part of my up days. The numbers on my peak flow meter (for my asthma) improved, yet I have a suspicion my meter may need replaced. So I can't say this diet did much of anything for me.
AgtOrange, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. He's using SlimFast Optima shakes for his down days, and today (his 9th day) was the first time he's even said he was hungry before his quota of calories ran out. He's lost maybe a pound or two without much trouble, and says the shakes are tasty. I can't drink them, as they possess milk, canola, and Splenda -- the trifecta of stomach discontent in my book. If I had tried one, I would have certainly lost weight, but not in the manner I'd intended.
So maybe this diet works if you don't have much of a metabolism and are seriously overweight. AgtOrange never did eat as much as I did, and I've never been more than ten pounds over where I wanted to be. I guess I naturally have a higher metabolism. I'm also more active as a whole, although that is changing as my mystery illness perseveres.
So that's my take on the whole dieting thing. I surrender, now pass the ice cream please.
At first I did have more energy as promised, but later I was napping all the time, mostly because not eating enough on my down days triggered a nasty sort of tension headache from hunger which would stay with me throughout part of my up days. The numbers on my peak flow meter (for my asthma) improved, yet I have a suspicion my meter may need replaced. So I can't say this diet did much of anything for me.
AgtOrange, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. He's using SlimFast Optima shakes for his down days, and today (his 9th day) was the first time he's even said he was hungry before his quota of calories ran out. He's lost maybe a pound or two without much trouble, and says the shakes are tasty. I can't drink them, as they possess milk, canola, and Splenda -- the trifecta of stomach discontent in my book. If I had tried one, I would have certainly lost weight, but not in the manner I'd intended.
So maybe this diet works if you don't have much of a metabolism and are seriously overweight. AgtOrange never did eat as much as I did, and I've never been more than ten pounds over where I wanted to be. I guess I naturally have a higher metabolism. I'm also more active as a whole, although that is changing as my mystery illness perseveres.
So that's my take on the whole dieting thing. I surrender, now pass the ice cream please.