It's been a while since my last post during which I have been experimenting with the ADF regime, I have found that for me a Feast/Fast paradigm doesn't work, or at least isn't working for me right now.
This realisation left me feeling a little torn, I like the concept and the framework for extending my fasting but found that for me the strength of this method for some was the source of the problem for me.
Once again this illustrates to me the need to be pragmatic and not dogmatic especially in matters as serious as your health, if you are following a regime that is not bringing you tangible benefits just because, then you need to look at this from another angle and get to a place where what you are doing is working, and working well.
As a brief recap, the idea between ADF is a feast/fast model. One day you feast (eat whatever you want), the next you eat low calorie diet. For a more detailed run through see my earlier posts.
For some people the fact that you get to eat every day, and that every other day you get to splurge is a great incentive to get them to reduce their total caloritic intake, and take a step forward to healthier living.
All sounds great doesn't it? And yet it just wasn't working for me, here's my breakdown of why:
Feasting days with no limits were too liberal, without an upper limit the possibility for abuse was too easy. Not that I ate excessively but I did eat a lot more than i normally would on a normal eating day, and the items that I tended to eat were not as nutritious. So I was eating more food of a lesser quality - Ouch!
Fasting days - were not real fast days (in my opinion) as they were not complete abstinence but a low calorie intake (1500 cals). I found these days harder than completely fasting, rather than getting the break from thinking about food (and the digestive overhead of processing it) I was spending time planning low calorie meals which results in a fixation on restriction - another negative.
And yet I still liked the idea of being able to extend fasting beyond my current 40/64 hour weekly fasts. In the end I came up with what I think is a workable solution, it's doing a 'real' ADF routine. There is a period of normal eating, and then a fasting (no food ) period, over a 2 week cycle it looks like this:
M T W T F S S
F F E E F E F
F E E F F E E
There are 3 periods of 2 days eating followed by two days fasting, and a 1 day fast / feed cycle. This results in the consumption of 1 weeks worth of food every 2 weeks, or more plainly it halves your intake and expenditure.
I am 2 weeks in so far and am finding it easier that the typical ADF routine, as I mentioned previously I will continue this until the end of year and see how I am doing at that point before planning my goals for next year.
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