My small contribution to this interesting thread. I previously tried the 5:2 diet for some months, but I found it too hard to continue all the time. Also MyFitnessPal logging. But it was too tedious to keep inputting data, and not much Japanese food is in there. Then a thin Japanese lady </tautology> in the office mentioned over a pasta lunch that she was on a low carb diet. This seemed incongruous, given the linguine and crusty bread being consumed, but as an avid bread and pasta eater/maker, I was intrigued. In the interests of science, I decided to try it all out. If I was to simplify, and I realise I'm forgoing a fortune here by not writing this into a best-selling diet book, but here you go:
- Reduce sugar spikes and insulin overload. This is not new. But how, exactly, given everyone has other stuff to do and motivation and discipline are hard?
- Be reasonable: low carb is not
no-carb. If you are at a business dinner, or a friend's house, don't feel the need to doggedly pursue the diet
- Your body is capable of taking variation, and indeed, monotony is an enemy of success
- If you are able to make a choice, then do so! Don't eat crisps, beer, white bread, potatoes, cereal, pasta, fizzy drinks... anything loaded with sugar or quick-acting carbs
- There are alternatives. Whisky highball or bloody mary instead of beer. Low carb pasta made from veg. There are lots of choices if you look
- Don't think of it as dieting. It's choosing
- Do some muscle-retaining activity, ideally something as part of your day, like walking or cycling
Anyway, sounds all a bit pious but I gave it a go. Unlike the 5:2 I don't feel hungry and I'm not mentally or actually counting calories. I still have toast in the morning (one slice not two though, and I make the bread myself) and I still eat pizza with the same bunch of old blokes I always eat pizza with. No food logging. No calorie counting. I eat a
lot more vegetables and fruit. I make soups. No cakes or biscuits or fizzy drinks or chips or doughnuts. Bacon is nice
I measured the results with some Withings scales. I'm lazy so I appreciate that these update the 'phone app with my weight and fat percentage automatically. To avoid losing too much muscle, I cycle a bit (errands and commuting, no lycra for me) and do some press ups each day. My mantra for the latter is "don't think about it". Just do some, in one continuous rep. Don't think. No target. Just until you can do no more. It's easy to put off, but once going, it only takes a short while. I'm up to 40~50 now. The cycling and walking takes care of the legs.
Here are the results. As previous posters have mentioned, a single weight measurement can be quite misleading. The app shows the data points and the line width the variability, but you can see the trend:
So far it seems a very low impact way to lose weight. I wish everyone success.