My Journey on the 8 hour diet
Week 1-The beginning
Today is Friday, January 11, 2013. After weeks of research I started the 8 hour Diet. I downloaded and read the book written by David Z. I have read quite a few negative reviews about this but in reading these reviews they all mostly point toward a leangains website. Apparently someone else has written about the 8 hour diet and it has fired up their following. To this I say, it is very clear in the book that the author is not claiming he invented this diet, but rather he researched it. Leangains followers are saying that the 8 hour Diet is a copy but if fasting has been around since the beginning of time,, wouldn't leangains be copying as well?!? Basically this type of eating has been aggresively researched by both leangains and the 8 hour diet authors. We should appreciate both studies and move on.
I have also found that some nutriutionist are not hopping on the 8 hour diet plan train, however they don't really give good reasons for me. I have read you may have mood swings....so what? I don't know a diet that doesn't cause that. How many of us are truly estatic to be trying to lose weight??
They say it's not healthy. How is it not healty to eat during an 8 hour period? Isn't that how man used to eat before we were bombarded with fast food chains and super sized everything? I am 40 years old and I can remember being a child and coming downstairs at what I thought was the middle of the night. In reality it was probably more like 10 or 11pm. I found my father having a sandwich and cheez its. I was horrified. I remember my father explaining that he was not able to eat for whatever the reason and how unhealhty it was to eat at this time and whatever else he said. Can you imagine a child walking downstairs at 10 or 11pm and being horrified their parents are eating that late these days?? Could you imagine a child even remembering something like that?? I would guess no and that's because we have accepted and adapted to this and it's ok to eat around the clock.
I have also heard a nutriionist say she wouldn't want to be driving a car after fasting for 16 hours. REALLY??? Let's break this down.....you are sleeping for about 8 of those hours. You mean to tell me that there's no one in the world who has learned to cut off their eaiting at 6,7,8 at night and then go to work in the morning?? Get a grip!
So with no real reason for me to stay away from this diet, I have decided to go for it. I am on a journey to lose 25 pounds.....the 15 I have gained rather quickly in the fall and winter months and the 10 I am always looking to lose! Here it goes:
Week One: I read the book and what I got out of that book is that you should eat for 8 hours and fast for 16. This gives your body time to digest and rest and break down the fat. YOu are depleting your reserves and burning more fat. I am told you don't start buring muscle until you fast for over 72 hours, and I choose to believe that whether it's true or not... With that said, it all made sense to me. You are also supposed to try to fit in the 8 power foods, which for me was pretty easy. I ate fairly healthy on a regular basis, so adding these power foods was not a problem, except for the berries. However next week I will work on that!
A typical day for me, is wake up, take the dog for a 10 minute walk (which the book also suggests that you do some type of excerise before you eat for at least 8 minutes. This helps the body deplete glycogen stores from you liver, whatever that is. Sounds good though and again I choose to believe it). After I walk the dog I get ready for work. Despite the warning, I drive into work just fine every day, hard to believe I know. In work I busy myself right away. I get tea around 8:30 or 9:00am and then I eat my breakfast at 10am. I then eat a snack at 11am and lunch at 1pm. A snack at 3pm and Dinner at 5:30pm. During this time I am putting the power foods in but not worrying too much about extras. I am not stuffing my face with anything I see for 8 hours. I am not jamming cakes (ok maybe I am eating a slice of cake here and there) but not more down my throat. I am not driving through Wendys. I am simply eating decent. If I want ceaser on my salad for lunch, I'm going for it.
The results: 5 days into this diet, I got on the scale. I would rather weight myself on a Friday then a Monday. Weekends are made for fun and while I realize I need to tame down that fun in some ways in order to achieve my goal, I can't say I will be as diligent as I am during the week. So for me, that works. This brings us to today, Friday, January 11, 2013. I am shocked and happy at the same time to report I have lost 4 pounds!! I can say there has not been a super big change in the foods I eat, just when I eat them. I do need to get those berries in still!! As of this week, I recommend this diet. Make small changes at a time, one day at a time and see where you land! I will be back next Friday to report what I have lost! Please share your journey, we can support each other!
Disclaimer: I realize that this diet is not for everyone, I realize that some people will not like it, I realize and recognize that this has been reported by leangains, I realize there will be skepticisim by some. I am not out to defend the 8 Hour Diet, I am not out to battle the leangains people. I am on a journey to lose 25 pounds and this is the diet I have chosen to try to help me do that...Thank you :)
THE FIRST WEEKEND
Today is Mon Jan 13th and I survived my first weekend! I ate take out on Friday night with Fried foods, not my normal but it had to be done. I did stay in my 8 hr window. Saturday, was the biggie.....perhaps I had a few glasses of wine later into the night and past my window. The eating was so-so. Could have done better, could have done worse. I weighed myself on Sunday and I had gained back 1 lb, so my total is at 3lbs. I will still take it for 7 days of dieting! SInce I don't plan to weigh myself before 7 days is up, I'm going to act like this didn't happen and see where I am on Friday. I just wanted to 'monitor" this weekend for judgement.
I have been throwing in some excersing from walking the dog to a little VERY SLOW jog to aerobics. Today was my first 5:30am excerise wake up call and I have to say........I'm not really a fan of it yet. I am making weekly commitments in regards to excerise so I will stick with it and see if by the end of the week, I'm not kicking the pillows across the room. Stay tuned! Please share your stories, it helps us all get through this!
Mid week........ I am still recommending this "diet". So far things seem to be working well. I do feel more energetic in the mornings. A bit nervous to weigh in on Friday because if the scale is not moving that's gonna be really discouraging........I will check back on Friday
BTW..........the turkey, cheddar, quac and egg sandwich the book reommends is FABULOUS!
WIEGH DAY: Well got on the scale this am and lost another 2 lbs. Down 5 total in 12 days, not too shabby. 20 more to go......Hoping I don't but anything back on over the weekend!
WEEK TWO
Didn't do so hot over the weekend. Actually I didn't stay within the 8 hours on either day, EPIC FAIL...... I did make wiser choices with what I ate and I kept up with the excersing this weekend so I am hoping that does some damage control........Very thankful my weigh day is not until Friday! I still struggle with those berries. Bought a tub of blueberries and pomengrante juice to make one of the smoothies in the book, however my daughters ate all the blueberries! No one has every asked for blueberries in my house. Who knew?!?
