I hit 18st 11lb's beginning of Dec and decided to do something about it but me being me I chose the riskiest way possible. I spent most of my 20's yo-yoing between anorexia and bulimia which is partly why my weight slowly ballooned over the next 20 yrs as I was determined never to restrict food again. Dieting doesn't work for me, the whole 1500 calories bit doesn't work, I used to do 12 hr shifts in a glue factory with an egg cup full of porridge oats which I would eat individually one by one over the course of the shift. I would then go down the gym to work them off. So I know for me it is possible to eat a lot less and still function. My last diet was when I got married, it lasted a week before my wife stopped me, I started at 1500 but by the end of the week was down to 300 and couldn't see the problem with that. Suffice it to say that I have a very unhealthy relationship with food.
Then I discovered intermittent fasting, it took a 2-3 months to get into it as initially I was in the "Ive gone this long, I might as well leave it to tomorrow now" frame of mind, then my wife would feed me 2 days of food the next day to make up for it, we had to find a balance. For me it really works and is the best of both worlds. Im currently doing around 18/6 or 17/7, I can eat what I like in those hours and drink whatever I like during the 18/19hr stretch as long as it has 0 calories. I've discovered Korean black teas
I completely get that for people with my history it is risky, but it also works for people with my history and we get to restrict, we get to eat in a narrow window and we get to think about food a lot. That is how our brains like to work. It is like having eating disorder traits without the actual disorder.
Before anyone says anything, my wife watches me like a hawk, she seems happy with what I eat during my window, she wishes I was doing 16/8 or 14/10 but seems OK for now. I get it, eating disorders are the same as alcoholism - you are never cured but learn to manage it. However, I am most definitely not in the same mental frame of mind that I was in during my 20's, I have grown up and am a stronger person, and Im happy that I have found a way to manage losing weight that doesn't destroy me.
Anyway the reason why I jumped in here was to post the following, Im really proud of myself
