On Six Weeks of Diet Changes

Six weeks in to my on-going change of diet to the 5:2 intermittent fasting pattern and the results are pretty good so far.

Weight is down about 3.3kgs, target was to be down 2.7kgs - so a little ahead of schedule. 14% of weight loss target in 10% of the time. My expectation is that I'll be ahead of plan early in the process when there is more weight using calories and sticking with the food plan is easier. So I'd say the outcome so far is on the good side of expected. Six weeks is probably long enough to see some consistency in the results but also still not long enough that some of the noise in the measuring (inconsistent clothing, drinking or not drinking a pint of water etc) are still showing up in the trend.

Waist measurement is down in line with plan but had a steep drop in the early weeks and is pretty static at the moment. I'm less fussed about this measure as I know the accuracy of the measurement if poor. I think this is one to take a longer term view on. At some point the measuring error will drop out.

Diet adherence has been mostly good. I've been pretty consistent but not perfect about making sure I have both breakfast and lunch on my fasting days so I'm not putting my evening meal under pressure. I'm not being very strict about the calorie content of the evening meal. It's more important that it is both significantly fewer calories than normal and that I'm content eating it for a year than I stick to the exact gram by gram, calorie by calorie regime. I have a big bowl of salad for dinner. So long as I am not making myself a big bowl of potato salad or whacking in great lumps of feta cheese I'll be consuming about the right number of calories to have the effect I'm after.

I'll check in again in another 6 or 8 weeks by which point I'll have added the Man vs Fat Rugby to the mix. Some extra exercise and some weight loss coaching. That ought to keep the momentum up.